(Header image from the Hogwild Playtest of Pico. Words by Felix Isaacs and artwork by zkarab)

I really wanted to make my header image an HD image of a real life bug because I thought that would be fun and cute, but unfortunately I am learning right now that I have severe bug-o-phobia if the bug is the size of a stock image on my computer monitor. Bugs are fine when they are small. Bugs are much worse when they are big.

Pico by Felix Isaacs (of Wildsea fame) is the cutest post apocalyptic game I have played to date. Humans are gone, they didn’t go violently, and the majority of their footprint remains. And that absence? That is great for bugs and all small little creatures formally oppressed by pesticides, traps, and swatters. The world is now their playground, and adventure is out there.

The Bugs

You don’t just get to fulfill your lifelong fantasy of playing a worm or a rhinoceros beetle, you get to make your own unique, quirky, perfect bug. You choose 3 insect ‘aspects’ such as a paper mâché scorpion stingers, gigantic crushing mandibles, or a wide gigaton shell. This is where this game shines the most to me. Honestly, the aspect system of the Wild World Engine seems like it was originally made for bug creation. Every character is a fun little bespoke mix and match of all the coolest bugs.

And it isn’t just little bug parts. These bugs got drip. One aspect is a leather duster, another with intellectual spectacles, and even a bottlecap shield! Not only do you get to make your own bug, but you get to do a little dress up and accessorizing. The idea of character creation in this game is so much more fun to me than building like an elf with a bow. IT’S EVOCATIVE!

Each aspect you choose serves a dual purpose: they give you your signature abilities and they act as your health. When you take damage, it affects your aspect, and if your aspect breaks you cannot use it, or its relevant abilities, until you fix it. This system is beautiful, far more concrete than abstract HP in my opinion. You can feel the wear and tear to your clothes or carapace as they lose health.

In line with this aspect-as-health system, there is no direct death mechanic in this system, it is always a narrative choice made by the player. Some argue this makes the game less dramatic, lowers the stakes. Let me tell you, death isn’t everything.

My gruff pipe-smoking caterpillar lost his trusty backpack while floating down a potentially deadly river, including all his hard won bits and bobs in it. For some bugs, bits and bobs are everything. That loss pack had every sentimental trinket he kept over his years of travelling, plus several mint books he was carrying for his book-worm scorpion companion. That was the price required to save a drowning fire ant headed to their death. It was serious stakes.

The World

When I play instead of GMing, sometimes it is hard to tell if it is GM or the game doing the heavy lifting to make a world come alive. I must shout out to TundraFundra for making sure we felt like bugs exploring an alien world of humans. It was delightful to hear the description of a smooth wall topped with jagged teeth only to realize it was a picket fence, or fight “trident” wielding frogs (they had forks).

Reading through the quickstart rules, it is pretty clear that this game leans on the importance of scale. You should know that bugs are much, much smaller than most of the living things still left in the world, which adds a bit of danger to the game, but there is a safety in numbers for these smallest of creatures. Mostly this tiny perspective adds to the adventure of the game. Exploring a house gets 100 times more interesting when you have to parkour up an entertainment console to get a better look at the window of crackling light, then repel down to search for more bits and bobs left behind in the house (You know I am going to find a button in a repurposed danish butter cookies box.)

The Mechanics

I have been really struggling with enjoying d6 dice pool systems because the most likely result is a 3-5, a partial/mixed/messy success, or a “conflict” in Wild Words Engine (I hope I am not the only one who just realized that initializes to ‘WWE’, amazing). In theory I love it, something spicy gets added to the scene and blasts the narrative through the third wall into something new and interesting.

In play, what tends to be my actual experience is conflicts ends up as a bit of a nothing-burger. You often don’t really get what you want, or it is completely nullified by the complication. On top of that, it is exhausting for GMs to keep adding more and more complications, and as noted, this is the most likely result. As long as dice are being rolled, chances are another complication is being added. Conflicts just happen too often for my taste.

But WWE has a trick up its sleeve, “Twists.” Twists add something new (good or bad) to the story when doubles are rolled, and can be suggested by anyone. Amazing! Doubles happen less often than a conflict, and being able to source twists from the players reduces the mental load on GMs significantly. Twists work beautifully.

I don’t think Pico is going to end up as my go to campaign game, but I think that is okay. It will sit proudly on my shelf as the most fun, most beautiful bug ttrpg game I own. I will pull it down when the table needs a bit more sunshine and curiosity in their lives, and I have no doubts it will deliver.

Acknowledgments

Pre-order Pico here.

TundraFundra was my very generous GM for this game, and he finally did what the rest of us are too afraid to do: give a frog a toupe made out of a squirrel tail. Thank you to Raggadorr for knowing tons of bug facts, to metr0 for befriending a tailless squirrel, and Zadig for making a bug obsessed with hustle culture self-help books. Thank you to Felix Isaacs, the inspired designer of Pico, and zkarab, the unbelievable artist, for making a bright beautiful book that can’t help but create an unbounded childlike wonder. And a special thank you to the designer of the Secret Sunday Sampler logo kraftpaperhat.

No AI was used to write this blog (because askjeeves won’t tell me how to use it.)

P.S. I played a single session of the playtest for Pico. There is so much more out there to experience, I cannot wait for the full book to arrive.

P.P.S. I am still working out the format for these posts which is why the heading format keeps changing. Maybe that is a feature not a bug (Pun intended).