Alrightreads: Gamesmaster IV

James Bell and Mike Mearls, To Stand on Hallowed Ground: The Ghost Machine / Swords Against Deception

2001 / Paperback / 32 pages

****

I got nostalgic Chaos Engine vibes from James Bell's contribution to this generic D&D third-edition double feature, and planned to reuse the ghosties from The Haunting of Equestria to make a child-friendly version, but expecting her to find her own way around and decipher the clues is too much of an ask. I wouldn't even know what I was doing. I enjoyed reading them anyway, and getting more insight into how these things work.

Mike Mearls, Legends & Lairs Instant Adventure: Darwell's Tower

2001 / Ebook / 16 pages

***

These economical pamphlet adventures are a nice idea, and Mearls' sensory detail breathed necromantic life into an otherwise bogstandard exploration.

Various, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game: Adventure Anthology 1

2014 / Paperback / 87 pages

****

Basic as advertised, untroubled by concerns of realism like where the tower's guard creatures take their dumps.

Gavin Norman, Old-School Essentials Official Adventure Scenario: The Hole in the Oak

2020 / Ebook / 35 pages

****

This could be a fun entry point when she's ready for something more traditional, provided she doesn't plan on getting attached to her character. Even if not, seeing it all laid out and the usual florid descriptions whittled down to efficient bullet points was educational.

Various, Dungeons & Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh

2019 / Ebook / 256 pages

*****

I've been sleeping on D&D books as literature all these years. This is like reading through a writer's extraordinarily detailed world-building notes before the plots are finalised. There's so much more impractically here than necessary. It's glorious.

Alrightreads: Comixxxxxxxxxx

Walter Simonson, The Mighty Thor, Vol. 2

1984-85 (collected 2013) / Ecomics / 240 pages

****

Long-drawn threads are tied as I continue my unquenchable thirst for birth-year releases to see what was going on.

Jeremy Sorese and Coleman Engle, Steven Universe, Vol. 2

2014-15 (collected 2016) / Ecomics / 112 pages

**

Non-sequituring its way to early cancellation, hopefully the replacement series will be more substantial.

Si Spurrier, Rob Williams and artists, Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor, Vol. 4 – The Then and the Now

2015-16 (collected 2016) / Ecomics / 128 pages

**

Casual readers presumably being shaken off by this point, the series caters to the remaining hardcore with full-on canon wank. I hate it when that happens.

Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson, Freak Show

1970-83 (collected 1997) / Ebook / 64 pages

****

No more sensitive than Todd Browning's version, but nicely ghoulish all the same.

Tom Peyer, Paul Constant and artists, The Wrong Earth, Volume One

2018-19 (collected 2019) / Ebook / 192 pages

****

Supreme already did this multigenerational roast, but if you weren't allowed to retread Alan Moore, there wouldn't be many avenues left. It's a shame the pastiche didn't carry through to the art, though with characters displaced on both sides, it could get confusing.

Alrightgames: My Little Pony RPG – In the Land of Shadow (Adapted)

My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Dark Skies Over Equestria – In the Land of Shadow (Adapted)

2023 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2–6 players

****

Skipping over the monochrome noir filler chapter that didn't look appealing, this gauntlet of elementary anagrams, roleplaying chores, obstacle courses and dungeon delving was more like it. I could have saved myself a lot of time by keeping us on a linear path and not bothering to prepare the other three quarters of the dungeon we didn't visit, but that's hardly in the adventurous spirit. And it's not like I don't enjoy the paperwork.

Junior Gamesmaster: Tails of Equestria – Big Insect Monster High (DIY)

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Big Insect Monster High

DIY roleplaying game adventure

The five-year-old GM came up with a cosmic horror story at school that we played out, featuring a planet-sized interdimensional insect, verbatim scenes from a Monster High movie and a musical interlude, culminating in a cataclysmic dice fest courtesy of One Deck Dungeon. It was genuinely better than the equivalent third chapter of our ongoing Dark Skies Over Equestria campaign that I'd planned to skip anyway.

Alrightgames: My Little Pony RPG – Day Becomes Night (Adapted)

My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Dark Skies Over Equestria – Day Becomes Night (Adapted)

2023 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2–6 players

****

This magical steampunk mystery was reminiscent of the best of Tails of Equestria, and it was no trouble dumbing it down to that level to save me from reading a 300-page rulebook. It was only let down in the execution, as a player preferred to brute force her way through and threaten anyone who stood in her way – friend, foe or filly – with exsanguination. I think we need an intervention.

It's handy that Darkvision is our system's introductory spell, which she'd already mastered. My less magical horse had to eat lots of carrots and squint. A plastic marble run represented the broken gizmo as we dallied dangerously around the slippery slope to LARPing.

Alrightgames: My Little Pony RPG – Lost in Shadow (Adapted)

My Little Pony Roleplaying Game: Dark Skies Over Equestria – Lost in Shadow (Adapted)

2023 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2–6 players

***

A nice conspiratorial mystery that kept the young player engaged. Her pony cabinet provided the dramatis personae for the talky part before we tracked the beast to its lair for some more traditional dungeoneering and gave it a jolly good talking to.

Streamlined for the more dad-friendly Tails of Equestria, this semi-standalone module from The Other Pony RPG's Changeling campaign doesn't require committing to the whole thing, but we both enjoyed it, so I guess this is going to be the story arc for our current troupe. Elissabat's growing magical proficiency will need a worthy adversary, while my less useful horse can carry our stuff.

Alrightgames: Adventures on a Single Page – Troubles in the Ruins (Adapted)

Adventures on a Single Page: Troubles in the Ruins (Adapted)

2020 / Roleplaying game adventure / 2+ players

***

When I came across these poorly-explained, minimalist RPG scenarios for kids last summer, I didn't have much of a clue what I was supposed to be doing with them (like having the initiative to draw our own map, for a start). I know how to fill in the blanks better now, and this was a suitable prefab diversion when I needed something to plonk in the Everfree Forest, after requisite ponying up. We don't have elfin golems in the accessory pack, after all.

On the way, we finally made use of the forest's bespoke random encounter table from the Tails of Equestria introductory adventure we skipped in another life, but the real story was her Monster High doll practicing with the spellbook she gained last episode. The player was rolling perfect dice consistently by the end, so may be roleplaying on a deeper level.

Alrightgames: Outfoxed!

Outfoxed!

2014 / Deduction board game / 2-4 players

***

She didn't need a Junior Cluedo, but the clever clue gadget is an appealing feature, cooperation makes a better atmosphere than competition, and the jeopardy of 50/50 dice rolls is reliably entertaining. I probably didn't need to buy both Cat Crimes and this, especially for consecutive half terms, but half price for a damaged box swung it.

Alrightgames: Castellion expansion

Castellion expansion

2015 / Solo/cooperative tile game expansion / 1-2 players

A piffling single expansion makes one of my least favourite Oniverse games look even less appealing, but in fairness, the distinct expert level already serves some of that function, and there are various suggestions for putting the Menace figure to use too. Still, with only one expansion proper to turn the game around, it had better be bloody spectacular...

The Pantry ***

Six tiles that do nothing except fill mandatory space (and depict "yucky food" at that, according to a junior player). I throw them in because they're there, but they only get interesting if you find yourself up against the worm.

The Shadow of the Menace **

What it lacks in expansions, it makes up in ways to give the figurine something to do, modestly classed as appendices rather than expansions. The prison's quite fun, at least.

Ahoy, Mates!: Nautilion >

Alrightgames: Castellion

Castellion

2015 / Solo/cooperative tile game / 1-2 players

***

This customarily-convoluted tile-laying gravity puzzle looked like it was going to be the runt of the Oniverse litter, and I'm only on the fence because it's more distinctive than Urbion and my five-year-old likes it. As with Sylvion, the expansions are equivalent to difficulty modes rather than bolt-on modules, but faster and trickier. This probably makes it the better game, but it feels too boxed in. I'd rather play Carcassonne against myself, where you get to build things larger than 6 x 6.

Babyliography CCX

Susanna Davidson and Isabella Grott, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: Snow White and Rose Red

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

**

The art aggressively confounds expectations (you thought Snow White was the one with black hair?), and the story's a bit stupider than the rest of the series, but still probably better than the other Snow White.

Various, My Little Pony: Friends Forever, Volume 4

2015 / Paperback / 100 pages

***

We'll leave the dull looking political one until last, if ever, but these generally meet the brief for more of the same pretty well. She was as smitten by the pink-haired dragon as Spike was.

Various, The Booktime Book of Fantastic First Poems

2008 / School book / 32 pages

**

Visibly abridged from the original collection, but that spared me. She didn't let me choose the two line ones.

Zanna Davidson and Barbara Bongini, Fairy Ponies: Rainbow Races

2014 / Hardback / 96 pages

**

She knows the formula by now, and predicted punctual trouble the moment they started enthusing about how wonderful everything was. If I'd known how much these plots were recycled in Fairy Unicorns, I might not have stockpiled them all, but too late now.

Madeline Tyler, Step Into STEM: Senses

2019 / Library book / 24 pages

**

She needs taste at school too, dumbass book.

Babyliography CCIX

Unknown, Ladybird Readers Beginner: My Little Pony – Zipp and Pipp Find a Flower

2023 / Library book / 24 pages

**

These oversimplify the plots, but she read it all herself, which counts for something.

Ben Clanton, The King of the World!: A Tater Tales Book

2024 / Library book / 96 pages

***

A nice fairytale. The prolific puns lost some of their humour when every one needed to be explained, but it's growing her vocabulary.

Mo Willems, Elephant & Piggie: I Will Surprise My Friend! / Pigs Make Me Sneeze!

2008/09 / Library books / 128 pages

***

She didn't feel like reading them herself, which is most of the point, but it was Easter break.

Rosie Dickens and Alessandra Santelli, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: Clever Molly

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

***

Authentically unsqueamish and illogical. Molly's cleverness mainly seems to be in contrast to all the dumbasses around her.

Andrew Prentice and Maria Surdican, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: The Sleeping Prince

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

***

Pleasantly fantastical with its casually personified elements and their domineering mothers.

Babyliography CCVIII

Unknown, Where's the Narwhal?: A Search and Find Book

2019 / Library book / 40 pages

**

Is it too easy or is she too adept? Probably both.

Rosie Dickens and Maria Surducan, Usborne Forgotten Fairy Tales: The Wise Princess

2020 / Library book / 48 pages

***

Too clever for Disney. She wanted to read it again immediately.

Raina Telgemeier, Sisters

2014 / Paperback / 208 pages

****

More chapters in her favourite teen reality comic. Less bloody than Smile, but with dead animals making up for it. She would have read it in one sitting if it had been up to her.

Various, Read with Oxford: Stage 3 – Non-fiction – Fantastic Nature

2019 / Library book / 104 pages

***

Level 3 isn't so intimidating, it's only some of the camouflage that was scary.

Rhiannon Fielding and Chris Chatterton, Ten Minutes to Bed: Happy Halloween

2024 / Library book / 10 pages

*

They've done the groundwork, now they get to cash in with the lazy seasonal board books.