Children around the world have fallen in love with the adventures of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and all the characters of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now there’s a new way for parents to join in on the fun! My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria is a storytelling game that allows children and their parents to discover the realm of Equestria by creating their own ponies and going on their very own adventures; and parents are the guides.

Storytelling games, often referred to as roleplaying games, allows the parent to be the storyteller while the kids have the fun of creating their own, unique Little Pony and going on adventures in the world of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Parents will get to guide the group of game players through stories and challenges that help to demonstrate the power of friendship while experiencing exciting new thrills in a world they’ve already come to love.

As the storyteller, the parents will shape the adventure for the Little Ponies. The storyteller, or gamemaster (GM), is in control of everything that will challenge the intrepid ponies, whether it be monsters, puzzles, or just finding a solution to the latest problems facing the world of Equestria. As the gamemaster, the parent’s first task is to help the gamers create their pony characters. The core rule book for My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria provides a simple, easy-to-follow guide for the gamemaster and gamers to have fun creating their very own Little Pony. It all starts with a few simple questions: “Imagine you were a new character in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. What would your pony be like? What would your pony’s colors be, your talents, your cutie mark…?” From there, the adventure is off and running!

Once all the pony characters are created, it’s time for the parent (as gamemaster) to launch the gamers in to the exciting world of Equestria and guide them through their adventure. It’s as easy as telling a story, but you allow the gamers to decide how they’ll react and what choices they’ll make when facing their challenges. Again, it’s simply a matter of offering a choice to the gamers and then letting them face the consequences of those choices and discovering how friendship is, indeed, magic and can conquer all.

Such storytelling and roleplaying games can be extremely beneficial for young ones. With an adult’s supervision they can learn communication skills, teamwork, problem solving, diplomacy, and lessons on the importance of friendship. They’ll face challenges that will help them define their sense of morality and justice, all learned through the fun of taking a Little Pony on an adventure. The gamers will bond over the events they “live together” in the realm of Equestria; possibly forming lifelong friendships. The gamemaster, who helps the children live their adventures and stories, will guide this important growth and share in the rich experience of the world they all create together within the bonds of friendship.

As the gamemaster, you will decide what challenges the gamer faces, what strategies will be most successful, and how to reward them for their victories. Friendship Tokens are a great way to reward the gamers, and then they can use that power of friendship to help them overcome obstacles. A monster blocks the path? A Little Pony gamer can spend a token of friendship and their special talent of charisma to convince the monster to join them in their adventures as a new friend! As gamemaster, you can determine if this works and if the gamer should be rewarded for trying the strategy of friendship. If a Little Pony decides to attack, and you as the storyteller actually knew the monster was friendly, you could take away a Friendship Token as an opportunity to teach the gamers that thinking first rather than attacking can often be the best strategy.

The core rulebook for My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria comes complete with a story to get the gamemaster rolling with the new adventure “The Pet Predicament.” Other adventure modules will be released with the expansion “Curse of The Statuettes.” Trying out these modules can help a gamemaster learn the in’s and out’s of the storytelling role, and perhaps start building some new adventures that are uniquely tailored to that particular group of gamers.

The most important thing is to always have fun and tell a story. The gamers will help guide the story as they make their choices and the gamemaster will reward and guide them as the story unfolds. So, prepare yourself and the kids for some of the greatest adventures ever in My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria!