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Teddy the RPG is for ALL AGES!

Teddy the RPG is a tabletop RPG that is aimed at being accessible to all ages, and even mentioned in the safety tools section that it is likely that this game will be played with kids.  This tabletop RPG was made with kids in mind, and the premise is very kid friendly with a variety of plot options to use for however your kid wants to connect.  

You can choose to fight a monster under the bed, or you can avoid combat and seek out exploration plotlines instead – the mechanics work both in and out of combat in an intuitive way, so this game can be whatever level fits right for you and your players.

Teddy the RPG brings in a fun and approachable setting

The main premise of Teddy the RPG is that you play as teddy bears who wander about and enter dreams to help kids tackle challenges and go on adventures!  It creates a cozy and purposeful setting that gives players the freedom to either just go out and have fun or to tackle life issues (like imagining a first day or school) in a more approachable way.  There is a lot of freedom for creativity available but also lots of rolling tables that you can use to help get ideas for establishing your game.  

Taking a look at your teddy bear character

For Teddy the RPG, you play as a teddy bear!  Character creation is smooth but creates a well rounded and defined character that gives players plenty to work with as a role-playing base.

There’s a very cute bear themed character sheet that you can use to track everything, and you simply choose your origin and then choose (or roll for) one of each trait on the sheet.

The origin is how your bear came to be a treasured companion – Were they a birthday gift?  Baby’s first teddy bear?  A family heirloom?  This sets up a clear backstory for players to either use as-is or build off of while playing. 

Next, players will choose one attribute for each of the five bear traits (gift, experience, mark, charm, and bond).  These help to fill out each character’s personality without requiring a big long story, which REALLY can help with little kids who can’t/don’t want to write or are eager to dive into the game.  If you’re stuck on deciding your traits, they are very helpfully set up into roll tables, if you want to let fate decide for you.

Utilizing safety tools and the PUSH system for Teddy the RPG

Safety tools described in the game document

First off, I want to acknowledge that Teddy the RPG describes safety tools within the game document, explains why they’re still needed in a family-friendly game, and even provides an adorable bear-themed X-card to use in-game.

Safety tools are critical in games where you play with kids because it can get really difficult to express when something isn’t going well (a topic comes up that causes a concern, frustrations rise with multiple missed rolls, etc).  These tools help everyone at the table, and I’m glad to see them integrated into the game like this.

Using the PUSH system’s narrative mechanics

Teddy the RPG uses the PUSH system as its mechanics base but builds on it in unique ways. One of the main elements of PUSH is how narrative driven it is, and Teddy the RPG taps into this and makes the narrative special to this game.  

The oracle mechanic is carried over from the core PUSH system and replaces the GM role, so you can have a table composed of all players.  The idea matrices, trait tables, plot complication lists, and more are all outfitted with some friendly bear-themed adventure hooks and elements to fit the setting without you having to modify any further.  There’s also outlines for creating adventures, a plot agenda, level up rewards, etc that are all translated from PUSH into this new spin on mechanics.

Randomization and dice in Teddy the RPG

Teddy the RPG uses 2d6 (or 1d6 that you reroll) to do all of its randomization – this includes for any actions the players take, the oracle mechanic, or the roll tables.  This makes it a lot easier to track with younger kids who are still working on counting or math!

When you want your character to complete an action (whether during exploration or during combat), you roll 1d6 and check the result to see if it is a strong hit (you are successful) or a weak hit (you do what you want, but there’s a consequence).  If you got a weak hit, and you don’t like the result, you can choose to roll a second 1d6 to add to your roll, but, if the total is 7 or higher, it’s a miss and bad things happen!

This is a very cool risk/reward balance that teaches players how to judge if it is worth the potential of a bad result to try and get something better now – we ran into a few lessons with this when we played, and it was fun learning how to work with this mechanic together.

What did my kid think about Teddy the RPG

My kid connected right away with the teddy bear theme (though he wanted to sub in his kitty stuffed toy, which worked totally fine), and he was able to use the mechanics all on his own!  He had fun having his character fight off a giant spider that had set up under the bed and then finding and rescuing a lost toy car that had been left outside – both of which involved lots of play-acting and some exciting rolls!

Overall thoughts on Teddy the RPG 

Teddy the RPG is absolutely adorable, and it was such a pleasure to try out.  I loved the defending teddy bear theme creating a mix of, what struck me as, cute and tenacious characters whose main goal is to help people.  It’s very positive and focuses on doing what’s right to help someone you love, which is a great theme to present, particularly to kids. The mechanics and story are also accessible with the integrated safety tools creating a further level of accessibility and consideration at the table.  I really enjoyed this game for both its theme and the way it mechanically works, and I hope you do too!

Find a copy of Teddy the RPG!

Find a copy of Teddy the RPG on driveThru RPG!

This game was a lot of fun, and I hope you get the chance to check it out!  If you do, please let me know in the comments below what your thoughts are!

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