Dragonfruit Pie

Artistic Statement

This game was a combination of the lighter themes of my Magpie book. Cute little dragons, wizards, baked goods, a Ratatouille/Overcooked inspired kitchen escapade. Collaborative games were some of the things I highlighted as being fun, and while TTRPGs are often inherently cooperative, I wanted to add some specific actions players could take to help or sabotage their teammates. The Dazzling Scales skilled action, for example, allows a player to defend another by diverting attention to themselves, which came up way too frequently in my in-class playtest (my poor little dragon was turned into a punching bag while the others completed objectives).

I wanted to make something silly and whimsical. My Magpie book was decidedly taking itself too seriously, or was quite genuinely depressed, and this serves to counter that. As a result, the themes I am exploring aren’t taking themselves seriously either. The graphics are colorful and doodle-esque. Your ultimate goal is stealing baked goods from a magic elderly man. It’s not that deep.

In terms of mechanics, they are mainly dice-based. The skill-based or strategic elements arise from navigating the kitchen and avoiding getting caught. There is no GM or equivalent, as I was imagining a very gamified experience without one person needing to take the brunt of the narrative workload. Personally, I prefer games with a guide, but from our experiences with TTRPGs, the lack of structure made the story fall flat in particular instances, which was something I wanted to avoid. Additionally, when making a single page game, including two sets of instructions was proving difficult in the space provided.

The dice-rolling system began to resemble the many if-then statements of video games. I may have gotten a bit carried away, but I wanted to account for as many circumstances as possible given I don’t have a guide to right the ship should something go wrong. The use of tokens, keys, traps, etc. strangely felt reminiscent of overcomplicated Call of Cthulhu RPG board games. These games have hundreds of little cardboard tokens and icons depicting different effects or items, and watching my dad play them was my first introduction to RPGs when I was a kid.

This likely ties into the themes of childhood mischief (I would rig my Dad’s games horrifically by accidentally pulling the absolute worst monsters “at random”) absent of real consequence or incredibly deep meaning. I hope players walk away with a cute story of mischievous dragons, having worked together and dodged the menacing adult. What is essentially a fantastical exaggeration of stealing cookies from a cookie jar will hopefully impart some good, childlike vibes. These themes tie into the gamified elements of entertainment for a younger age group. Strategy is present, but not advanced. Character design impacting gameplay is a staple RPG element and often present in playing make-believe as a kid.

My playtest group from class were a bit overwhelmed at first by the rule system, however, as the game progressed and they learned the mechanics, the game became very fun and narrative. Class inspirations specifically included Birds on a Plane, Gods of Rock, and a segment of the full class word-by-word story round. All graphic elements are my own art.

In terms of CATS:

Concept – This is a game about baby dragons stealing pie from a wizard. It’s chaotic, with elements of random chance (searching, the wizard’s patrol of the kitchen, etc.) and of strategy (use of tokens, movement, and teamwork to complete the objective.

Aim – The dragons work together to find keys hidden around the kitchen, while avoiding the wizard. Like many kid’s games, players can be impeded or set back, but there aren’t really any lose conditions. The dragons will win when they collect all the keys and bring them to unlock the fridge. The closest thing to “losing” is getting caught by the wizard, which costs time and keys, but they can all eventually be recovered with perseverance. Following the whimsical tone, I wanted this game to be casual. The randomness of wizard teleports still adds tension and conflict, but winning is typically a matter of time. The focus is on the story being told along the way. For example, in my playtest game: one of the dragons served as a distraction to protect the others, but by the end was lauded as a hero for taking so many hits.

Tone – For the most part, this gameplay is casual. The tone is mischievous, and while how players tell their dragons’ stories can differ entirely depending on the player, the mechanics of the game typically prevent it from being darkly dramatic. The chase could be compared to Tom and Jerry or end amicably if players choose to share with the wizard, for instance.

Subject Matter – I doubt this game will have any uncomfortable ideas. The most problematic topics might be the questionable elder abuse of the poor wizard, but players can choose how they treat him and hopefully that won’t be a problem. 

Thank you for playing! 🐉.𖥔🥧 ⊹°•