Official Adventure Time RPG Uses New 'Yes And' System

Fans of the popular Adventure Time cartoon will be pleased to hear that the official TTRPG is on its way--using a new game system called the 'Yes And' system, which features custom dice and a storytelling approach. It's coming to Kickstarter in late summer, and also includes an introductory adventure design to teach the system.

Publisher Cryptozoic Entertainment is also working with other publishers to bring the game to additional rule systems. There's no details yet on what those systems are.

Cryptozoic Entertainment, leading creator of tabletop games, trading cards, and collectibles, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products, today announced the upcoming Kickstarter campaign for the Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game. Fans can sign up to be notified upon launch.

Based on Cartoon Network’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning animated series, Adventure Time, this innovative roleplaying game offers an immersive and accessible experience for both novice players and seasoned RPG enthusiasts ages 12 and up. At the heart of the Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game is the "Yes And" game mechanic, developed in partnership with Forever Stoked Creative. The “Yes And” system determines success and failure via a custom set of dice, while encouraging collaborative storytelling and ensuring that players are always engaged. The game’s intuitive storytelling approach will eliminate the need for complex calculations and allow players to focus on the narrative itself.

“Adventure Time is one of our favorite properties, so it was the perfect choice for our first roleplaying game,” said John Nee, CEO of Cryptozoic. “The series is rich with stories and characters with real heart, and we cannot wait to let players lose themselves in the world, whether they are RPG experts or this is their foray into the genre.”

The game allows players to get as silly or heartfelt as they please, offering a wealth of character customization options. Players can choose from a diverse range of abilities, mixing and matching to create unique characters that suit their playstyle. Alternatively, fans can step into the shoes of beloved Adventure Time characters like Marceline with ready-made character sheets.

The game launches with a variety of adventures, including a learn-by-playing introductory adventure that allows new players to dive into the world of Adventure Time in minutes. As they progress through the initial adventure arc, players will create and explore their own stories.

“We’re excited because the customization options make the possibilities endless,” said Matt Fantastic, Creative Director of Forever Stoked Creative. “Adventure Time fans will love it, but so will anyone who loves to dive headfirst into the world-building and problem-solving that comes with a quality RPG.”

As part of this ambitious project, Cryptozoic Entertainment has partnered with renowned designers and publishers to create zines and supplements that enable players to incorporate different core rule systems. This enables fans to explore Adventure Time using alternative popular roleplaying engines and play with an incredible array of optional rules.

The Kickstarter for the Adventure Time: The Roleplaying Game will launch in late summer. Fans can sign up to be notified when the campaign launches. For the latest campaign news and sneak peaks, including reveals of some of the amazing talent that will be adding content to the campaign, fans can follow Cryptozoic on Facebook and Twitter.

https://cryptozoic.com/blogs/articles/adventure-time-rpg

 

[Afroconan]

Curiously, this is not the first Adventure Time RPG. There's an older one by a Spansih publisher that I suppose never got translated nor sold beyond Spain (and maybe south America)

Hora de Aventuras: Juego de Rol Hora de Aventuras: Juego de Rol : Sueiro Abad, Manuel, Sánchez Iglesias, Iván, Ramos Villagrasa, Pedro, Vergara Egido, Sergio, Jos Vielcazat, Cecilia, Charro Martínez, Javier: Amazon.es: Libros

It was a d6 dicepool system with success at 4 and 5, and "cool success" at 6.

Here's a page through for those interested, but it's in Spanish


I suppose their license ran out and Cryptozooic grabbed it

 

[sevenbastard]

I love the concept, but not sure if the And/But is great for young first time gamers? Lots of pressure on the game master. But maybe I just underestimate because I'm old and can't rember being 11.

 

[overgeeked]

I love the concept, but not sure if the And/But is great for young first time gamers? Lots of pressure on the game master. But maybe I just underestimate because I'm old and can't rember being 11.

This and similar arguments always confuse me. Kids are really imaginative and most would have a far easier time thinking of a good or bad consequence to an action than having to input their ideas into the vast page count of mechanics that is a game like D&D 5E, then figure out how to apply all the exceptions, then spit out a result. I mean, the point is even made in the article I linked.

Compare task resolution in (what we know of) both systems.

Yes And. Referee picks a color-coded die Yes/No die and tells the player to roll it along with the And/But die. Player rolls and the referee narrates based on the result. So a little thinking about the odds, but most of the brain power goes to imagining the fictional situation and the outcome.

D&D 5E. The referee has to know how abilities work, how ability checks work, how the skill system works, how tool proficiencies work, how attacks work, how damage and HP works, check that the PC has the relevant skill (or at least what their bonus for it is), come up with a relevant DC for the action (or check the book), the player has to make the roll and do the math (yes it's simple math for some, but not for others), report the result to the referee, then the referee narrates based on the result. So a lot of thinking about the mechanics and systems and the odds, but only a little thinking about the fictional situation and the outcome.

Yes, as (mostly) adult gamers who've played RPGs for years and D&D variants for (likely) years, we assume that running heavy mechanical games is easy for everyone because it's second nature to many of us. But there's a lot more "homework" that goes into a game like 5E than a game like Yes And. The kids' imagination is going somewhere. With 5E it's into the rules and mechanics, with Yes And it's into the story. Kids are going to have an infinitely easier time playing something mechanically simple rather than something mechanically complex.

Also, on a personal note, I remember being a kid and a first-time RPG player. I had a lot of ideas that didn't fit the mechanics of D&D and so was told no quite frequently. Cool character concept that didn't fit the mechanics, no. Cool action idea that didn't fit the mechanics, no. On and on. It took a few years for me to stop trying to be imaginative when playing D&D, but it eventually happened. I found other games and other ways to express my imagination. It's a weird paradox of RPGs. They're games of supposedly limitless imagination that also tend to come with hundreds of pages of rules specifically detailing what you can and cannot do. It's one of the reasons I love FKR, rules ultralight, rules light, and generic systems. You actually can do anything. They fulfill that whole a "game of pure imagination" thing that most RPGs promise but utterly fail to deliver.

 

[Tonguez]

I still think Fudge dice (++--00) are more aesthetically pleasing and more intuitive to read and play. FATE is still my favourite system

 

[darjr]

Note from the above linked article

the game will be converted to support D&D 5E’s rules via a separate zine

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I love the concept, but not sure if the And/But is great for young first time gamers?

It's pretty close to how make believe works. If anything, it's going to require veteran gamers to unlearn things and loosen up.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

While I'm definitely interested in checking out this system, I hope one of the additional systems modules created early on is an OSR one, since that will make it work with a whole lot of D&D and D&D-type games.

 

[aramis erak]

I love the concept, but not sure if the And/But is great for young first time gamers? Lots of pressure on the game master. But maybe I just underestimate because I'm old and can't rember being 11.

I spent fifteen years teaching elementary grades... it's probably not too hard for most kids in the age 10+ range. The mechanic is simple enough, and much of student writing these days is "Use this prompt..."

 

[Parmandur]

Note from the above linked article

the game will be converted to support D&D 5E’s rules via a separate zine

How odd. Really feels like they could have led with that?

 

[Tonguez]

How odd. Really feels like they could have led with that?

Why would they lead by advertising somebody elses game?