PICO Hogwild Playtest (+ Pre-Gens)

Let me tell you a story.

There was a night, many, many years ago, when everything ended. Bugs aren’t that great at writing things down, so nobody really thought to record the particulars of the event, but the effects were lasting; no more pesticides, no more deforestation, no more fish hooks or bait boxes or flypaper. Pets ran free from newly-quiet houses, and roach motels showed nothing but vacancies.

There’s probably a lesson to be learned somewhere there. Something about the fleeting fragility of existence, a treatise on impermanence, and what we might leave behind.

But, as stated, bugs aren’t that great at writing things down. They’re even worse at existential musing, as a rule.

So the biggest change that most bugs noticed that night was that it suddenly got a lot quieter, especially near those black stone ribbons they’d learned not to cross, and the immense above-ground warrens full of beeping machines and smells so succulent they were almost impossible to resist.

The world hadn’t suddenly become safe - there were still stoats to contend with, and lizards, and snappy little plants. A bug might still meet their end on the beak of a bird, or (if they were particularly unlucky in the lottery of life) under the playful claws of a feline deity. But it had become safer, and though bugs may not be great at recording history, they’re pretty damn good at making the best of whatever situation they find themselves in.

So bugs, on the whole, flourished. And the world opened up to them in return.

PICO is a new Wild Words game from me - Felix Isaacs. You're on my itch page, so there's a good chance you know who I am, at least vaguely. It uses the same basic engine as the Wildsea, but in a far cuter way - to let you create tiny bugs and go on big adventures with them, possibly while riding a cat. 

This version of PICO is a playtest document, coming with 99 pages of content - basic rules, hazards to face, locations to explore. It doesn't have character creation rules, as that comes later - instead we've added a suite of pre-gen characters for you to choose from, which will have to do until the next playtest comes out. 

If you want to support the development of PICO, you can register your interest on kickstarter HERE- we'll be funding pretty soon!

But whether you do the whole kickstarter thing or not, I hope you enjoy the playtest. I certainly enjoyed making it!

Felix, out!