Adorablins

^{review by Alapai}

Adorablins is a role-playing game from Leitman Games for 2-5 players. In it, you play as an adorable goblin trying to make your way through a short adventure.

Adorablins, unlike most RPGs, comes with everything you need right in the tin; instead of a hefty book that you have to read through, it is a small compact tin with all the cards, tokens and dice inside. Rules-wise, it uses a variation of the Powered by the Apocalypse system, my favorite RPG system, where when you attempt an action, you roll two d6 and add a stat to it. If you get a 6 or less, you get stuck which will hurt one of your stats. If you get a 7-9, you struggle which allows you to partially succeed, but with additional challenges. If you get a 10+, you succeed at your action and fully describe what you want to happen.

Adorablins is definitely aimed at young children, but is fine for anybody who is looking for a short RPG session with a simple system. You do need to be okay with the theming as well, as if you don’t want a game with cute goblins going on cute adventures, this isn’t the game for you.

If you want to introduce children to RPGs, Adorablins is a great game for it, as it doesn’t require tons of additional effort before starting. For example, while D&D is a great game, it requires a fair amount of reading on the part of the DM before starting at the very least, with more so if people want to start fully from scratch instead of using the Starter Set. Even with the Starter Set though and prebuilt characters, you still need to explain each of the stats, how saving throws work with the skills, etc. There is a lot to read for a player on the prebuilt character sheets and that doesn’t even cover combat, with your actions, bonus actions, initiative order, etc. By contrast, an Adorablins character card has the art of the character and 4 stats: Smarts, Senses, Speed and Strength. That’s it. Additionally, you get a Companion card that allows you to turn a struggle into a success.

As I talked about in my overall look at RPGs, what works for you will vary depending on your group and what they’re looking for. I’ve brought this up multiple times in this review because this game is more likely to be bought because you want others to play it than because you are looking to play it. For example, games like Star Wars: Outer Rim and Marvel Champions are games you will probably buy because you want to play them; Adorablins is a game you are most likely buying because you want to introduce people to RPGs through a simpler game.

If you want to play a very cute, simple RPG that is great at introducing people, especially kids, to RPGs, Adorablins is a great choice.

Adorablins is available now from our webstore.