#bug games

[theresattrpgforthat]

Now that requests are open, time to drop a request I’ve been waiting on for a while:

Games where you play as bugs. Whether it be the route of Bug Fables, Hollow Knight, A Bugs Life, whatever. Rules light is preferred but I’m open! I just wanna play a game where I can play a Trapjaw Ant interacting with a whole bug bureaucracy that’s as big as a backyard.

THEME: Bug Games

Alright friend, so I think right away you want to look at Cuticorium, which I have talked about in my Insect Games recommendations. It’s about bugs that have gained sentience and also a moral compass, figuring out how to live with each-other in the shade of a magical tree. I’ve also got a few more for you to look at!

Agramabug Hex, by Volpe80.

Have you spent your whole life dreaming about what it would be like to be an insect? To crawl across the floor for a handful of breadcrumbs and a few shabby spells? To clash with the dictates of your religion that is incompatible with the very survival of your species? To trade every amenity you’ve collected in sweat and blood for precious human poo? Well, if that’s what you dream of, I may have something for you!

This is a supplement for Troika that includes a number of buggy backgrounds to choose from, as well as a bug-themed adventure. You’ll need the Troika rulebook in order to play, which is a really kooky ruleset primed for easy character creation and generative adventures.

Depending on the pace of your group, Agramabug Hex may last for a short campaign, with a small hex map for your little bugs to travel all over, and a random village generator to help you populate the map as you go a-traveling. I don’t know how much bug bureaucracy exists in this little world, but the hardscrabble fight of the various bugs for the scraps of human garbage certainly sounds like a conflict that you can throw all of your legs and mandibles into.

Hive & Hill: A Tale of Two Queens, by thebigtabletop.

Long have the insects warred amongst each-other. Hive and hill rarely see eye to eye. Both sides have suffered innumerable losses when war breaks out and prefer to keep their domains separate. Hives rule the skies and hills rule the earth. A singular threat to their way of life binds them together…

Humans have spread across the world forcing the insects into smaller and smaller pockets of the world. Their size and chemicals make them a great threat. While insects are small, they greatly outnumber the humans. In rare moments, the insects are willing to band together to fight the threat.

Upon a checked ground of red and white gingham, the humans have laid a bounty of food. A veritable feast that they seek to consume. While insects on both sides spend a majority of their time seeking out food, even a small sample of the meal that the human’s call a “picnic” would help feed a hive or hill for the long winter. At this moment, both hive and hill have agreed to work together to get the bounty and drive off the humans.

This is a game all about alliances in times of attrition, but placed on a battlefield distanced from human conflict. You use pools of dice to determine how successful each queen is in her manoeuvres, and role-play through blunders and connections between two sides of the field.

Overall I think this game is a bit closer to a board-game or dice game than a typical ttrpg, although the premise might be something that you can take and run with. If you want a collaborative, team-based game, you might want to take a look at Hive & Hill.

Bug Dish: Amuse Bouche, by The One True Ryan Khan.

Bugfolk from every reach come to Tower Lake at least once. You might be here to see the port city of Tower Point, or the golden hives of Honeyflow. Perhaps you’ve come to wander the paths of woven roots in Banyan Cradle, or to circle the lake on the Gossamer Rail.

But you are certainly here to taste the foods of Tower Lake’s Mobile Kitchens. Restaurant crews who travel around the lake creating culinary experiences. Fusing flavours, textures, and aromas with vision to create delectables no bugfolk has tasted before. Whether it’s a traditional dish perfectly executed, or a meal that changes how you think about food, these chefs are masters of their craft.

Bug Dish is a tabletop roleplaying game about bug chefs who travel the world and compete in culinary competitions. Using a bespoke push-your-luck mechanic, spend time to learn about the local cuisine, find out what your rivals are up to, and create meals to wow the judges.

This is a charming little game that casts your bugs as top chefs, tasked with learning the tastes of cantankerous judgy NPCS in preparation for a big cooking competition. I don’t own this game, but judging by the little teasers on the storefront page, your adventures will include various locations to visit and interesting ingredients to harvest in the pursuit of creating the perfect dish. If you prefer to solve your problems with a saucepan rather than a sword, this might be the game for you.

Beetle Knight, by Brooklet Games.

Beetle Knight is a bug-sized role-playing game for your tabletops. It features "contest rolls" where two creatures, or a creature and the arbiter roll dice against one another to determine uncertain outcomes. 

The quickstart for this game starts with a short list of intriguing mysteries that your little characters might find themselves engaging with; from disappearing flies to a water skater trade embargo, to a sudden reticence amongst the court of the Orb Weaver queen. The problems that plague the insect kingdom call for a coterie of buggy knights, called to go where most dare not go!

This game feels heavily inspired by Hollow Knight, and asks the players and GM to engage with contests with e/o every time the Beetle Knights face up against an obstacle. Depending on the foe, this could make play very challenging. Your characters also have a magical resource called Resolve, which can be gained when you roll ties and spend when you want to use the magical items that your knight carries.

The game underwent some fundraising on Kickstarter a while back; there’s no official release of the game yet, but you can still download the Quickstart version of the game if you like. If you want a game with all the fantastical fixings, I recommend Beetle Knight.

Queenless, by Croaker RPGs.

Our Queen is dead! Such sorrow and despair! Without our Queen, our hive, our home, will slowly perish. Our only hope, our only slim hope, is to find, beg, borrow and steal enough Royal Jelly from our neighbours. If we have enough Royal Jelly, maybe, just maybe, we can raise another Queen.

In Queenless you’ll explore the valley, meeting other insects along the way. Your aim is to recover six jars of royal jelly, which your hive will use to raise another Queen. Some insects are friends, such as the Ants who share much in common with the Bees. But some are deadly foes, like the Praying Mantis, who would like nothing more than to eat you up little Bee.

Queenless is built as a solo game from the start with tables, exploration, and other mechanics that will keep you interested and challenge your little bee as it explores the valley on its quest. The core mechanic is based on Firelights, where you use a deck of standard playing cards and dice to determine success, partial success, or failure. You flip two cards and compare them to a dice roll+stats. Easy to figure out and resolve.

If you want a solo game about exploration and survival, but also bargaining with a number of other insects as you search for the things you need in order to raise another queen. Using the Firelights system, you’ll need a deck of playing cards to draw from, using the values of the cards against the results of your dice rolls to determine whether or now you succeed, and whether it will cost you anything to do so. If you want a game that can be be played at the comfort of your own pace, without the constraints of a group, I recommend Queenless.

You might also be interested in…

My Bee Games recommendation post.

This quick Bug Knights recommendation list.

[tangleslime2]

I made an OC!

[maxwaspace]

Idea for a bonus boss in a bug game

(as in a game like bug fables or hollow knight)

A normal sized (thus huge) human skeleton brought to unlife via necromancy as a reference to the yokai Gashadokuro. It would not have any elemental weaknesses so just wail on it with your strongest attacks.

[bumblechub]

Have you played bug fables?

I have not! a little embarrassing to admit, but I do OWN the game, I just haven't started yet 😅 that being said...

PSA TO ALL: PLAY BUG FABLES

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is an adventure-RPG following three heroes, Vi, Kabbu, and Leif, as they embark on an epic quest in Bugaria in search of The Everlasting Sapling, a treasure that can grant immortality! Bug Fables combines colorful platforming with the heroes' unique abilities as they explore a wide variety of areas in the kingdom. Turn-based battles make use of Action Commands that can power up your attacks!

here on Steam! also available on Nintendo Switch!

[bug-s0da]

blehhh...

i made an aa/lawyersona of @snapscube :3 we all know and love the lawyer+silly girl duos of ace attorney but it's about time the silly girl became the lawyer

[funkbun]

go play bugsnax

[cheezitthefuzz]

[atomicpurplegameboycolor]

fall year 3 went well! my first giant crop, first meteor, and the biggest profit i’ve made yet!

[celestial-games]

Making a game about bugs :] this account is for sharing progress related to that and to share the pixel bugs I'm making along the way. This is a sfw space for people who want to follow along with this project or just enjoy looking at bug art :)

Premise of game:

- Turn game on

- bugs come :]

- add new bugs to your collection

- time advances automatically, different bugs come depending on at time/date/ temperature/weather/biome, use bait or light to attract different types

- let bugs run in the background and keep u company while u work

- over 500 different bugs :] maybe more depending on how silly I get with it

Support this project on patreon

[magpie-trinkets]

I've died to those witches an embarrassing amount

[retrogamingblog2]

[michaeldrawrrett]

BUCKET OF BUGS: You have an empty garden, and a bucket full of lovely bugs. A little summer's day microgame, with Programming by @thewaether and art by me. WASD to move, CTRL to crouch, and click to Pour Out A Bug

PLAY IT HERE:

[oooocleo]

hmm hmmmmm hmmm

[horsegurlutopia]

I am literally obsessed with bug games I need more

crossover doodles

[shaeshark42]

I love how Brennan was the first player to really specifically use the “playing a character they will think is someone else” strategy, and then Ally used the same strategy but the completely unhinged version.

[one-1-eye]

the B in LGBTQ+ actually stands for Bug with a Big Ass