A Lazy Afternoon of Roleplaying with Heckin’ Good Doggos
Head off in search of delightful adventures and mysteries around the neighborhood with Heckin’ Good Doggos.
Dogs need to investigate and get into minor bouts of trouble on a regular basis, so it was certainly time for me to get the pack together for another solo adventure with Heckin’ Good Doggos! Although not designed as a solo RPG, I had a great time with my initial play. These doggies were ready to race out the door for another day exploring the neighborhood!
Game Overview
Game Name: Heckin’ Good Doggos
Publication Year: 2022
Designers: A. Cybe, J. Giza, J.D. Kennedy, M. Lee, & S. Wu
Artist: Mike Mumah
Publisher: Wet Ink Games
Solo Mode: None (Solo RPG Oracle Required)
In this story-based tabletop RPG, dogs take center stage as the characters who explore mysteries and keep the neighborhood safe. All sorts of adventures are possible, yet the danger level is practically nonexistent. Just a fun romp around to explore new smells and solve problems!
Getting Back Together
My group of dogs consists of Scooper, Darci, Cobra, and Minty. I ended up consolidating their character details onto a single sheet, which is tiny, but legible for me!
To make my play space even more related to dogs, I picked up some thematic playing cards. Game mechanics use dice and cards, so I had to do something to dress it up. Ha!
By extremely rare chance, the first card I drew was dealt to Scooper… And it was the Irish Wolfhound, which he is!
I loved seeing all of the dogs on these cards, and flipping a new card over was a lot more exciting. A great addition!
More Love for Dogs
Collecting dog toys in my childhood definitely paid off! I can’t imagine playing this without Puppy in My Pocket.
This new deck of playing cards didn’t resonate entirely with me since I prefer to only have art, yet having a unique dog on every single card was absolutely the right choice!
I have other dogs my pack might meet on their journeys, yet it’s been nice to simply have them remain the focus.
There were a few other solo storytelling tools I grabbed to add some more to this story and help me add uncertainty. But first, off to create the general idea for this fun chapter!
Once Upon a Time…
When I come up with the general idea for a story, I often turn to a combination of Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game and the GameMaster’s Apprentice.
Not all of the cards need to make sense, but I tend to like the challenge of coming up with something that weaves a tale to connect as many of these prompts as possible.
And so it happened that the dogs found themselves at the local vineyard’s dog-friendly event on a late summer day.
It was a lazy day, but Scooper suddenly spied his rabbit nemesis among the vines, acting very strangely. Onward!
The Luck of the Dice
I came up with challenges along the way, which tended to be a little on the difficult end. Scooper himself failed at first, and then the other dogs took over leading duties.
Partway through the adventure, Darci needed to try to pick up a faint smell with her decent sniffing ability. But it was going to be tough to achieve a total of 8 successes. Yikes!
Yet with the +1 system, lots of luck, and a card added into the mix, she somehow pulled off the nearly impossible.
I liked this moment, not because I succeeded, but because I expected to fail and turn down a different sort of path.
Roleplaying for the Game and Action
One of the most noticeable things about my notebook is how short each dog’s action is. I limit myself to a single line, and even then, I’m thinking about cutting down on the details and just doing the one thing I sometimes lose sight of with solo roleplaying… Playing! At times, I get so bogged down in making sure I’m including enough uncertainty.
I roll to determine which dog will act, draw cards or roll dice to get a feel for what will happen next, and use imagery to stay within a certain mindset. All of my solo tools are wonderful: I love them all! Yet I’m starting to let go a little bit and find ways to sort of free-form my storytelling. Is it so bad for me to decide the details and move the action forward?
It might seem like I’m leaning into writing more than roleplaying, although I think there are still some nuances. I stay within certain parameters and still play to find out what happens… Always with surprises ahead, especially with dogs!
Stories from Pictures
This time, I also brought out my small collection of dice, known as Rory’s Story Cubes. I tend to get the most from images or simple words, and these can be amazing tools!
For instance, the trio I rolled here indicated that the dogs roused the attention of a sleepy vineyard guard. I didn’t need too many details to know that he was close by!
Scooper, Darci, and Cobra ended up captured, yet a bit of watery splish-splashing by Cobra eluded their captor.
Meanwhile, Minty had disappeared to pretend to be a rabbit from a distance as a distraction… All were skeptical.
Unreliable Narrator
I had so much fun with this story! Scooper was the main character, and he definitely was the catalyst for escaping to explore the mystery behind this group of rabbits.
But the whole time, something felt a little off to me. I recalled how one of the initial cards I drew indicated a trick, and it became quite clear that Scooper was wrong.
Those rabbits were ones he didn’t know… And everyone managed to intrude on a very important celebration.
Uh-oh! The dogs don’t actually know what’s happened, yet I now have a story catalyst for the future. Very fun!
Overcoming Conflict
So many dogs! It was a silly sort of adventure that may not have seemed all that important, but there are now many rabbits who have been affronted, mainly by Scooper.
I had plenty of laughs over Minty pretending to be a rabbit and Darci questioning what was going on, only to be roped into participating in the shenanigans. Literally. Ha ha!
Get your facts right, Scooper! It was all silly fun, for all made it home safely and enjoyed getting out of the sun.
Another fun story in the lives of these dogs! Next time, they may need to watch out for these mysterious rabbits…
Continue the Conversation
Have you gone on any adventures with Heckin’ Good Doggos? It’s a very neat sort of RPG system that I’ve been having a great time with! Are there any other dog-related RPGs you enjoy playing? A monthly romp through the neighborhood looks like it might continue for a bit, especially with the way this world is being built out. Beware of the rabbits!
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