CRASH PANDAS - One-Page TTRPG Review

I recently ran a game for a group of middle schoolers who had little experience with TTRPGs. We only had short amounts of time for our meetings every week, so I wanted to pick out a one-page TTRPG as an introduction to the hobby. After browsing through itch.io’s one-page TTRPGs and putting it up to a vote, we decided on a TTRPG called CRASH PANDAS by prolific One-Page TTRPG writer Grant Howitt.

CRASH PANDAS Summary

CRASH PANDAS is a TTRPG that features a group of raccoons, who decide to become involved in the illegal street racing scene of Los Angeles. They must work as a team in order to resolve their backstories and chase glory.

Character Creation

Raccoon characters are very simple within CRASH PANDAS, fitting on a sticky note or index card. Each raccoon has 4 stats, each ranging from 1-4. Every roll in the game is made with a d6, and you can add the relevant stat to the roll. These mechanics were robust enough for the simple conceit of the game. With some creative leaps of logic, there was never a situation where a more robust system was required.

Further, the characterization of the raccoons plays a rudimentary role. Every raccoon required a backstory and an internal conflict, with each adding a d6 to your roll in relevant situations. This is a fantastic mechanic, as it motivates players to give thought to their backstory and internal conflicts, thinking through how their characters would respond to situations. We ended up with many situations where my inexperienced players might normally simply play as themselves, but were motivated to make different choices because they would get mechanical bonuses from playing to their characters.

The final piece of a raccoon in CRASH PANDAS is the items they have. These are rolled from a table and lean towards the silly and not obviously useful. Examples include a broom, Queen cassette tape, and a fake glasses and mustache. Beyond just being silly flavour, these items prompted creative use of resources by my players.

Driving

The most robust system in the game and, indeed, the only one that scripts gameplay at all, is the driving. However, raccoons are too small to drive human-sized cars. No matter; in CRASH PANDAS, all the players drive the same car at the same time. The way the game implements it is a system that results in the most chaos possible. Characters pick actions that they want to take to drive the car, and they are all resolved in order of action. At the end of the round, every car moves forward equal to its current speed.

For us, this driving system created the expected amount of chaos, and the speed system led to a tense, high-stakes game with an inherent risk-reward scenario.

Takeaways

Above all, our group had fun with CRASH PANDAS. I ran this game with two different groups over the course of a few 30 minute sessions. While, usually, this is a game intended to be played in one session, it ended up stretching into a longer campaign. This pushed the game system a little bit, meaning that I had to quickly bash together rules for combat, modifying cars, and statistics for human enemies.

This gave us a surprising flexibility with the rules, allowing me to run the game for groups of both 5 and 14 players (the 14 players were divided into competing teams that eventually battled it out in a race). The teams met NPCs, both modified their cars, both got into consistent trouble with the police, and competed with people they had met in a final race.

CRASH PANDAS was an excellent teaching tool. In fact, it seemed almost designed to introduce every basic component of a TTRPG experience in a simple and accessible package, with minimal mechanics. From encouraging roleplay and playing to your backstory through the bonuses given during rolls to encouraging being creative with your resources through the items.

If you’re looking for an undaunting game to introduce new players to TTRPGs or just looking for a night of silly fun for your table, I highly recommend checking out CRASH PANDAS. I found it on itch.io, where you can also find Grant Howitt’s other wonderful work.