## My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: the Role Playing Game

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By Timothy C. Hughes

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and all related content, character and place names are © 2010 by Hasbro
This is a work of fan art and or fiction.

The rules system for this game is © 2012 by Timothy C. Hughes

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Role-Playing Game is a traditional table-top role-playing game. A role playing game is a form of cooperative storytelling in which a group of players assume the roles of pony characters and plays out their adventures. One player takes on the role of storyteller and acts as narrator as well as an interpreter and arbitrator for any questions regarding the rules. The other players assume the persona of their individual pony characters. The storyteller can use pre-made adventures or may create their own, creating a plot and preplanning challenges for the ponies to overcome before reaching their goals. During the game, the storyteller sets the scene for the other players and describes what is happening, and role plays all of the background or non-player characters. Because the players may not respond the way the storyteller originally expected the story arc becomes very dynamic, which is part of the fun of role-playing. Storytellers will often have to ad-lib to respond to the unexpected actions of the players.
In My Little Pony each player creates a pony character by giving her a physical description and outlining her personality. In game terms, the pony character is defined by numerical values representing her physical, mental and magical attributes (innate capabilities), and talents (skills and knowledge). During the game the players, each playing the role of their individual pony characters, will attempt actions in response to the situations or events the storyteller presents. Attempted actions are defined by their difficulty. A pair of 6-sided dice are rolled and compared to the appropriate attributes and talents of the pony character, modified by the difficulty of the attempted action. The result of this die roll determines the degree of success or failure of the attempted actions. Throughout the course of her adventures, the pony character will discover and learn, gaining experience. This experience will enable her to increase her attributes and improve or learn new talents.
To play you will need your imagination, a pair of six sided dice, a pen or pencil, and either some blank paper or a copy of one of the pony character record sheets. The storyteller will need a copy of these rules, and a plan for an adventure or scenario. An introductory scenario is included with these rules.
Author’s Notes and Credits
One of my main goals in creating this game, besides a love of ponies and a love of role-playing, was to create a game with simple rules that could be used to introduce younger players to the hobby. I also wanted a game with a setting that might be familiar and attractive to younger players, and at the same time interesting enough for older players to take notice. Because the game was made with younger players in mind, I have left out things like hit points and the possibility of pony characters dying, and have tried to create a system that best reflects the tone of the show itself. If you are planning to play the game with younger kids I have included some tips for you based on my own experiences with introducing kids to role-playing.
Is this game perfect? No! The game has been play tested and constantly under revision for a period about 6 months by two different groups of players. I realize that some of the things included or described in the game may not be “cannon,” but in play testing we went with what worked best during play. Once the rules are in your hands, as with all role playing games, what you do with them is up to you and your players. It is my sincere hope that some of you in fan community will like the game, and maybe provide me with some constructive feedback and suggestions for improvements. I would also welcome submissions of adventures and original fan art for the rules. While the game may never be perfect, I’m sure that with future updates we could make it at least 20% cooler!
Suggestions, submissions and comments can be sent to: mylittlepwnies@cox.net
Of course I enjoy role-playing mainly because it is fun, and have had an enormous amount of fun preparing these rules.
I hope you have fun with them as well.
Special Thanks to:
Sheila Hughes, my wife of 25 years, for her patience and understanding, and listening to me talk about ponies.
Robert Hughes, my youngest son, for coining the phrase “hoofticuffs” and his assistance in reviewing every little thing I changed from day to day.
Timothy Hughes II, my oldest son, for designing the character sheets and the pony racing pieces, and a number of excellent suggestions on the rules in general.

Subpages (3): Creating Pony Characters Game System Story Teller's Guide