Ask River Horse – Your Questions Answered

Each week we will be looking to answer questions from you, our community! You can ask a question via an email to community@riverhorse.eu with the subject “Ask River Horse”, or tweet it with the hashtag #AskRiverHorse to @RiverHorseGames.

This week our question comes from Kristin via email. She asks “What inspired you to make Tails Of Equestria?”

River Horse, Alessio Cavatore, Game Designer

Alessio Cavatore
Managing Director
Original Rules Creator of Tails of Equestria

“A few years ago, my six-years-old daughter was lent a DVD of My Little Pony series 1 by some friends and started watching it. At first, based on my vague memories from the 80s, I was not interested. But then I overheard the characters talking about a manticore… A MANTICORE!? And so I started paying attention… Mysterious forests, hydras and dragons, spells and sorcerous duels… all complemented with very funny, cute and sometimes outright moving storylines and delightful characters. And above all, a very wholesome underlying message – friendship conquers all!

I was hooked and kept watching. It was that kind of multi-level cartoon where the young audience get something they love, but the grown-up watching it with them can enjoy it too, sometimes on a different level. An example: Twilight stares into the camera, breaks the fourth wall and solemnly states ‘winter is coming’… why are you laughing, dad?

And a little bit into season 4, the idea struck me: this was so much like a fantasy adventure, with a very well-developed world… I would have loved to role-play it with my daughter and her friends, teaching them RPG in a world she knew and loved, and perhaps later move on to D&D… And, having a company that makes games, I thought it would be fantastic to make it a real thing, and share it with other MLP and/or RPG lovers. We approached Hasbro with the idea… and they loved it! The rest is history.”

“I had my first experience of roleplaying games, quite traditionally, in a basement with a D&D red box. That was around six years ago, and since then the world of roleplaying games has changed a lot. It’s becoming more and more of a popular hobby, and I think the reason is that more people are picking up on the incredible social experience that RPGs provide. Telling your own story in a world of collective imagination is something that anyone can join in on, and it creates great fun and memories when done in a group.

As RPGs are getting more popular, there has been more opportunity to explore fresh ideas. Personally, I always find myself drawn to running RPGs based on movies, TV shows, games, or any other media that I’m into at the time. Taking a beloved world, complete with history, lore, and characters, is a really fun way of engaging in the stories I love, whether they be Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or even My Little Pony! It’s particularly in the case of cartoons and stories created with children in mind that I think RPGs work fantastically. Stories for children are crafted in particular ways to appeal to the imagination, and that translates very well into roleplaying. Kids pick it up very quickly, if given some support.

When I heard that Alessio and River Horse were making a roleplaying game in the world of Equestria, I thought it was a brilliant idea. I immediately wanted to write adventures for the game, and I was happily able to do just that. Equestria is a world of fantastic creatures, magic spells, and dangerous, unexplored places. That, combined with the creativity of the storytelling in Equestria, makes for a fantastic RPG. Tails of Equestria was too good an opportunity to pass up!”

Zak Barouh

Zak Barouh
Operations Manager
Writer for Tails of Equestria

Join us again next week for more answers and don’t forget to submit your own. You can learn more about River Horse by following our various channels across social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube.