A downloadable game.
I was really excited to see this game, since I am gay and love bugs. Bugs get a bad rap, so I'm always delighted to see a cute bug game. However, I was ultimately disappointed by this TTRPG.
When I buy a TTRPG, I typically want to see space taken up by mechanics, worldbuilding, or story content. I mean, that's why I'm buying a PDF instead of just improvising by the seat of my pants, right? To get some ideas or mechanics I can use for my group. If I didn't want extra structure, I would just do it on my own - it's not like there's anything stopping me. But there's so little of this in here. The setting is given no detail, and a lot of the page count is taken up by listing questions the reader might have, and then answering them with "In this game, you can do whatever you want!"
As for mechanics, there's basically one mechanic in this game, which comes in two forms: Fighting and Diplomacy.
In the diplomacy mechanic, you roll Xd6 vs Yd6, where X = the number of PCs, and Y = the number of NPCs opposing them. The goal is for both rolls to be as close as possible. You can assign your character certain bonuses with Fate-like player-improved traits, and the bonuses can be positive (if your roll is higher than the target number) or negative (if the roll is lower than the target number). The part about the bonuses was kind of unclear in the PDF, but I think that's how this works.
(The Fighting mechanic is basically the same, except you're trying to roll over the target number rather than close to.)
I think this is an interesting idea for a mechanic, but it feels kind of under-explained. For example, if I roll 10 on my diplomacy check for a target number of 12, and my only relevant stat bonus is +/-5, can I add only two to hit the target number exactly, or do I have to take the full stat?
I do like that there's no suggestion that all of the PCs should be equal in power - every player has the ability to take on as much power as every other PC, but it's suggested that taking any power at all is optional. I like that - in a novel or a freeform text-based forum RPG, it's pretty normal to have varying levels of power between main characters, but even fairly freeform TTRPGs tend to be shy of this.
I would have liked some guidance on what kind of story is envisioned by this game. Maybe a couple touchstones? I have the vague idea that this is meant to emulate a "My Little Pony" or possibly even CareBears type of story, but it would be nice to have that written down. Maybe a d10 table of story seeds?
