Teatime Adventures Overview: RPG with Baked Goods

In advance of the holidays, many friends were in Philadelphia attending PAX Unplugged. I actually have attended before, but since moving to the Midwest, we have not able to attend. We followed along on social media and could see everyone was having a blast, including Nicole and Scott Brady. While there, Wacky Wizard Games also announced they would be publishing one of Scott’s designs, this one called Caution Signs.

While we were all snug in our house with the holiday decorations up, our family played Teatime Adventures, a cozy RPG from Snowbright Studio. This role-playing game is not the normal fantasy RPG the genre is known for. In this adventure, players talk to other characters and explore the town. There is no fighting, and its all about having a nice time solving problems with each other without using physical force.

The book contains four adventures, and they include real recipes to make and eat while playing through the game. We planned to use one of the recipes from the book, but decided to stick with our own trusted recipe for this first adventure. Lauren and the kids made some treats for us when we played through the game. All the information you need such as maps and character worksheets are included in the book. I think the kids had maybe the most fun designing their own characters and making them better with one attribute over another. 

Teatime Adventures is all about exploring areas while you uncover a story. The kids and I enjoyed playing the “who done it” adventure. Characters participate in a pie contest, and somehow most of the pies get tampered with. Of course, when that happens there will most likely be a winner who didn’t get their pie tampered with. This got the kids trying to figure out who did it, and that made the adventure a whole lot more enjoyable for them. Of course, they ended up accusing almost everyone! By talking with other characters and using their detective skills, along with a lot of help from the GM (me!), they were able to figure it out.

We are more of a board game family, but heard great things about Teatime Adventures. The kids were getting really excited about the game and making their characters. As with most RPGs, being the GM feels like a lot of work prepping everything, including knowing the story so I could help guide them. Once we started playing, I was able to relax a little and just go with it. And like the book says, just have fun with it. I made sure to do the necessary prep work. Lauren doesn’t appreciate piss poor preparation, as she has told me this many times in our married lives. I wasn’t making that mistake here!

Most of the ideas built into the game were easy enough for the kids to grasp. They did have to learn two types of magic for the game. But it helped with the stories because, again, this is not a combat heavy RPG. Teatime Adventures is different because it focuses on the roleplaying with its storybook-style art. The addition of recipes into the book is intended to invite food while playing the game. Lastly, the setting is Oakenbend, an area where festivals and things happen that you don’t find in other RPG games. 

The game is presented very well. We very much enjoyed the world including the maps, stories and all the details that came within the book. We got a little confused at times, and the prep work took longer than playing the game, but the game is charming, and engaging for the kids. Teatime Adventures lacks attack and combat, which makes it great to play this with the kids. 

If you are interested in testing the waters with an RPG, consider Teatime Adventures. Grab a copy direct from Snowbright Studio or check with your local game or book store. Follow them on Facebook to learn about their other offerings like their upcoming board game release (Harvest Hoppers) and an RPG inspired by Dr. Who, Back to the Future, Bill & Ted’s adventures that is set to release on Kickstarter.

What themes would you use to introduce new or young gamers to roleplaying games?