Cottage Core Critters
A downloadable game
In this d6 dice pool system inspired by the works of Beatrix Potter, Zootopia, Stardew Valley & Princess Mononoke craft stories as sweet as honey and play them with simple but immersive mechanics that reflect your new life as a Cottage Core Critter.
🌼FREE TEXT ONLY SAMPLE containing the Introduction, Character Creation & Game Play Mechanics is available for download below🌼
Full Storyteller (Game Master) section on world building, the truths of Nature & Magic, the sample setting Falling Lief and one shot adventure with premade character sheets and beginner Storyteller support materials are available in the full book.
🌼THE GAME🌼
You are a group of Cottage Core Critters; anthropomorphic animals who have gotten away from a busier life to a small town in the countryside.
Out here, the breeze is fresh and the meadow flowers glow golden as the sun slowly sinks beyond the horizon. The gentle sounds of nature wash over weary travellers as they are greeted by the scent of fresh baked goods from stalls and shops along the main street. Life is merry and full of little comforts for you and your cosy commune of Cottage Critters. The air is thick with excitement as your small town is most likely preparing for one of the many seasonal festivals or events.
Everything should be fine, as long as the strange things going bump in the night or the weird lights at the edge of the woods mean nothing... right?
The full RPG includes:
🌼A fully illustrated full-colour 88 page RPG for all ages, set in a world filled with natural spirits
🌼 Simple character creation to be whatever Critter you'd like to be.
🌼Easy dice-pool mechanics that encourage interactive roleplaying, building friendships & overcoming fears
🌼Beginner guides to creating communities & NPCs
🌼Form Fillable digital resources
🌼 A sample setting Falling Lief: a quiet little town full of memorable characters and exciting locations
🌼 The oneshot adventure, Falling Lief's Sweet & Unique, with six premade character sheets and beginner Storyteller support materials to jump right into playing the game.
🌼BONUS Recipes for some of the delicious treats mentioned in the adventure.
Written & Illustrated by Scarlet Song
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $20 AUD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Comments
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This is looking lovely already. One of my regular players recently grabbed a copy for me and asked if I would run it for our group, which I happily will! But upon looking at the materials, I see the included adventure mentions 5 pregen PCs which do not seem to actually be included in the rulebook and are also not found at the digital resources link. Am I overlooking something?
Hi Nona! Thanks for letting me know. I knew I missed something with the update. Those will be going up into the digital resources in the next 24hrs! Much appreciated that you brought this to my attention!
Played this at PAX Aus in 2025 and it was a great fun quite and fun which let much more the silliness come through
Cottage Core Critters is like the delightful love child of Wanderhome, Stardew Valley and Blades in the Dark. From that description alone, you should be able to grasp that it is very RP focused, exploring the relationships and shared storytelling between both PCs and NPCs.
While the emphasis of the corebook is on smaller, slice-of-life stories and adventures, there is enough mysterious lore regarding nature and spirits e.g. to make for some more fantastical stories (although what could be more fictional more a cozy slow life?).
If you do decide to give it a go, you can expect to have a fun time creating your own critter, and to end the session feeling better than you did going in.
Needs more badgers.
I will take needs more badgers under advisement!