Difference between revisions of "MLP Mechanics"

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This is My Little Pony

This is a Roleplaying Game

This is a d20 My Little Pony Roleplaying Game

When you're ready, flip through the rest of this book. It offers a wealth of options, allowing you to play in the magical world of Equestria . When you play the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game, you create a unique fictional character that lives in the imaginations of you and your friends. One person in the game, the "Stablemaster" controls the creatures and other ponies who live in the world of Equestria. Through your characters, you and your friends face the challenges and explore the mysteries that your Stablemaster sets before you. Anything is possible in the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game. You can have your character try anything you can think of. If it sounds good and the dice fall in your favor, the action succeeds. The Basics section has more details. Now, get ready.

CHARACTERS

Your characters are the stars of the movie, the main characters in the game. We sometimes refer to them as "heroes," not in the "good guy" sense per se, but in the sense of the main protagonists of the story. Each character's imaginary life is different. Your character might be ...

• A tough Pegasus athlete.
• A Unicorn seeking to gain power in Magic.
• A gambler looking to make the next big score.
• A workhorse with a heart of gold.
• A young noble from Canterlot.
• A scout exploring the Everfree Forest.
• A guard trained to defend a frontier town.
• Or any other kind of character you can imagine.

WHAT You NEED TO PLAY

Here's what you need to start playing the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game:

• This book, which tells you how to create and play your character.
• A copy of the character sheet (on page 287)
• A pencil and scratch paper.
• One or two four-sided dice (d4) four or more six-sided dice (d6) an eight-sided die (d8) two ten-sided dice (dlO) a twelve-sided die (d12) and a twenty-sided die (d20).
• A miniature from the My Little Pony Blind Bag line to represent your character (optional).
• A battle map with l-inch squares to put your miniature on (optional).

Players should read the front sections of this book, the parts dealing with character creation, skills, feats, and equipment. The rest of the book is for the Stablemaster, providing advice for running the game, opponents to throw at the players' characters, and a few starting points for adventures.

DICE

The rules abbreviate dice rolls with phrases such as "4d6+2," which means "four six-sided dice plus 2" (generating a number between 6 and 26). The first number tells you how many dice to roll (all of which are added together). the number after the "d" tells you what type of dice to use, and any number after that indicates a quantity that is added to or subtracted from the result.

THE BASICS

THE CORE MECHANIC

The My Little Pony Roleplaying Game uses a core mechanic to resolve all actions. This central game rule keeps play fast and intuitive. Whenever you want to attempt an action that has some chance of failure, you roll a twenty-sided die (or "d20"). To determine whether your character succeeds at a task (such as an attack or the use of a skill). you do this:

• Roll a d20.
• Add any relevant modifiers.
• Compare the result to a target number.

If the result equals or exceeds the target number (set by the Stablemaster or given in the rules). your character succeeds at the task at hand. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail.

THE STABLEMASTER

When you play the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game, you're participating in an interactive story. Players take on the roles of unique characters, called heroes. One player serves as the Stablemaster, a combination director, narrator, and referee. The Stablemaster describes situations, asks the players what their characters want to do, and resolves these actions according to the rules of the game. The Stablemaster sets each scene, keeps the story moving, and takes on the roles of the opponents and other characters that the players' heroes encounter in each adventure. If you're the Stablemaster, you should read through all sections of this book; you don't need to memorize it, but you do need to have an idea of where to find things once play begins.

HEROES

If you're a player, you take the role of a hero-one of the "stars" of the My Little Pony universe that you, the other players, and the Stablemaster all help to develop. You create your character with the help of the game rules that follow, according to your own vision for the type of pony you want to play. As your character participates in adventures, he or she gains experience points (XP) that help him or her improve and become more powerful. For more information on character creation, see MLP Character Creation.

GAME PLAY

This overview gives you enough of the basics to get a feel for how this roleplaying game works. The chapters that follow take these basic concepts and expand upon them.

Important! You don't have to memorize the contents of th is book to play the game. It's a game, not homework. Once you understand the basics, start playing I Use this book as a reference during play. The table of contents and index should help you find a specific topic easily. When in doubt, stick to the basics, keep playing, and have fun . You can always look up an obscure rule after your game session ends, but remember that you don't have to sweat the details in the middle of play.

ROLLING DICE

We've already explained the basic rule that forms the foundation of the game-roll a d20, add a modifier, and try to get a result that's equal to or greater than the target number. Whenever your character tries to accomplish something significant, the Stablemaster asks you to roll a d20. Important! Not every action requires a die roll. Roll dice in combat and other dramatic situations when the success of an action is in doubt. The d20 is used to determine results in combat and when making skill checks and ability checks. In other words, the d20 determines whether or not you succeed at an action. The other dice (d4, d6, dB, d10, and d12) are used to determine what happens after you succeed. Usually, the other dice come into play after making a successful attack roll to determine how much damage the attack deals to the target.

A GAME SESSION

In the My Little Pony Roleplaying Game, the Stablemaster and players get together to tell a story through the play of the game. We call these group- created stories "adventures." A My Little Pony adventure features plenty of action, and a sense of wonder and grandeur. Typically, the game consists of adventures that resemble episodes in the series. One adventure might play out in a single game session; another might stretch across several evenings of play. A session can last as long as you're comfortable playing, from as short as one hour to as long as a 12- hour marathon. Most groups get together and play for two to four hours at a time. The game can be stopped at any time and restarted when the players get back together. Each adventure consists of interrelated scenes. A scene might feature some kind of challenge or roleplaying encounter, or it could revolve around combat. When there's no combat going on, play is much more casual. The Stablemaster describes the scene and asks the players what their characters do. When combat breaks out, game play becomes more structured, and the action takes place in rounds.

WHAT CHARACTERS CAN DO

A character can try to do anything you can imagine, just so long as it fits the scene the Stablemaster describes. Depending on the situation, your character might want to:

• Listen at a door
• Use a tool or device
• Explore a location
• Converse with another creature
• Bargain with a merchant
• Talk to an ally
• Pilot a vehicle
• Search for a clue
• Bluff an official
• Repair an item
• Move
• Duck behind an obstacle
• Attack an opponent

Characters accomplish these things by making skill checks, ability checks, or attack rolls, all of which entail a modified d20 roll.