A few weeks back I went to a local discount book store and found a small “mint tin” style game. These are generally small, rules lite games that fit into any variety of small tins, commonly associated to mint tins (in this case think Altoids, but twice as tall).
Adorablins is the game that I had found. I went into it knowing nothing about the game, but the whimsical art style is what caught my eye. After reading the back of the tin, and at only a $7 price tag, I decided to pick it up. It seemed like just the kind of game I could play with my kids – rules light, relatively quick, and built around telling a story, not crunching numbers.
In Adorablins, play as a super cute goblin-like creature going on endless adventures! This easy-to-learn storytelling game has everything you need to play right in your pocket!
My first thought was that this would be exactly the sort of simple, guided system that I could get my kids to play. Last week, I had the chance to do just that! After dinner I pulled out Adorablins, spent around 4 minutes looking through the rule booklet and Narrator cards, and dove straight in.
The tin includes 48 cards across 7 types (Characters, Companions, Adventures, Action Cards, Narrator Cards, a Spotlight and Safety Card), a small rule booklet, a folded paper map, two types of chits – snacks and conditions – and four adorable little ~10mm six-sided dice which have tiny goblin heads on the 1 and 6 faces.
As with most games, you choose one person to be the Narrator, often known as the DM, GM, Judge, Admin, Game Controller – the list goes on. That player will facilitate the gameplay and ensure the story moves along. They read the small rule booklet (~20 pages, 1.5″ x 3″) and once ready, read the Narrator cards out loud.
Narrator cards have the overall rules and include getting players setup, laying the foundation of the story, and setting the initial scene through a series of questions that everyone can chime in on and answer. There is a Spotlight card, used to give each player a turn in the storytelling, ensuring there’s not a single player who “hogs the limelight.” Then there’s a Safety Card, which has a large red-X on it, often referred to as an X-card. This is an RPG game tool created John Stavropoulos, meant to give players a way to “tap out” of specific topics or events that may come up in a game – no questions asked.
Character cards depict adorable goblins, each with a specific job and 4 stats – Smarts, Senses, Speed and Strength. On the reverse side of each card is an Ability and Item. For example, the Baker has “Food Magic” which allows them to conjure tasty treats of any flavour, and a “Recipe Book” which has recipes “for any situation.”
Companion cards are simply an image of a variety of companion entities – from Speedy the Super-Fast Racing Snail to Shroomy the Clever Fungus Friend. Companions are used to turn a struggle (failed roll) into a success. Afterwards, they have to be turned over to rest, but it’s OK, they just need a yummy snack to wake them up again!
These dice aren’t quite 10mm in size, but they’re super cute. The 1’s all have a goblin face that has a look of shock on it, as if they just struggled with an important task, while the 6’s all have a smiling, happy goblin who clearly did well.
I wasn’t sure if my kids would want to play, or what kind of story they would try to come up with, but luckily they were excited to play a game with me even if they didn’t know what it was about. In fact, we ended up playing for nearly an hour and a half! Well past their bedtime when we wrapped up (which I was reminded of with how cranky my youngest became).
My oldest has a fascination with warriors and fighting bad guys, he chose The Defender, whom he named RJ. I read my youngest several of the character options and he chose The Baker, which he aptly named “The Cooker”.
To summarize the overall story we ended up narrating together, we started with The Cooker baking chips for RJ The Defender, because he was just out training and worked up quite an appetite. All of a sudden an Inventor burst into the Inn, shouting that a portal had opened near the beehives and his prized painting robot had just wandered into it. Someone had to help get it back!
The Cooker and RJ The Defender were immediately onboard, went to the beehives and walked into the portal (which they described as a “wiggly feeling”). The portal sent them to an alien world with large rock formations all around. My youngest rolled a Senses check and right out the gate had double-6’s! Things were looking up as they found the tracks of the robot and started following them.
After a short exploration through the rocks, they ran into an alien frog! RJ protected The Cooker while he brought out an over-sized spatula and whacked the frog on the head, leaving it dazed, confused, and no longer interested in the two goblins.
They continued on, until they came across an alien village inhabited by rock people (shoutout to Rocky from Hail Mary, which inspired these rock aliens). One more Senses roll later and The Cooker was laying on the charm, chatting with the village leader until they had a lead on the robot. It was heading towards a plateau overlooking “The Valley of Fire” – a valley full of active volcanoes!
They headed towards the plateau and saw the painter robot! It was sitting there, frustrated, as it tried to paint the volcanoes, but kept having to start over as lava flows would move and change the scene. Suddenly, a large, 4-winged, bird-like alien flew out of the valley and started to dive for the painting robot!
RJ rolled a Speed check to run forward and hold up his shield to protect the robot, barely able to push back the alien bird. While RJ continued to defend the robot, The Cooker brought out Wormy, his baking companion, to succeed in a skill check and work on some Food Magic. He conjured up a big, yummy, tasty… buttery bucket of popcorn. This attracted the bird, and gave them a chance to escape, robot in tow.
At this point I realized it was pretty late, so we sped up the tail end of our adventure by having another Speed check to make sure the goblins could get back to the portal and safely deliver the painter robot back to its inventor. My kids had fun making up a silly story, and being brave little goblins. My youngest even spent the time before bed telling my wife bits and pieces of the story.
Overall, this was a great game. It has just enough rules to get you going, includes rolling some dice, and keeps everyone involved by having them contribute to the story. Most importantly, I got to spend some time with my kids, and we all used our imaginations to share in a fun experience.
You could probably take pieces from Adorablins and pair it with bits from other goblin-inspired games, such as Goblin Mail or Goblin Quest, and create your own light-hearted solo RPG system.
Goes to show that you never know what kind of gems you might uncover for your next Pen & Paper Quest!
