Pugmire Core Rulebook by Eddy Webb is a role playing game supplement published by Pugsteady through Onyx Path Publishing. This is a role playing game system about anthropomorphic animals as characters; dogs for players in this supplement. The game is based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition SRD and is therefore covered by the Open Game License with some parts considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $14.99, as a hardcover standard heavyweight print on demand book for $34.99, hardcover premium heavyweight print on demand book for $49.99, standard heavweight and PDF for $39.99 and premium heavyweight and PDF for $54.99. The supplement is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed and was purchased for the reduced price of $4.01 as part of a bundle. The PDF is the version reviewed and has 258 pages. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two pages are the front matter, five pages are the Table of Contents, one page is the Open Game License, twenty pages are the Kickstarter backers, fifteen pages are the Index and two pages are the Pugmire character sheet.
Dog’s Guide to Adventure is a short piece of fiction featuring various characters who are mentioned throughout the book.
The Introduction starts by explaining that the setting is our world, but many years in the future. Humanity has disappeared and dogs have evolved (as have other species; cats are covered in Monarchies of Mau and there are some other new sapient species) and Pugmire is a kingdom of dogs. These dogs search for artefacts left behind by the Old Ones – Man – artefacts that seem almost magical. Essentially, this game avoids introducing new technology by using Clarke’s Third Law – Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic (this is mentioned in the Guide’s section of the book). What Pugmire is About says the game is about companionship, mystery and exploration and lists various sources of inspiration for the game. The What Kind of Game is This? and How Do I Play Pugmire? sections are essentially on what a role playing game is, although they are reasonably short. Finally there is a bit on reading the book and a brief summary of the various chapters.
Chapter One: The Journal of Yosha Pug is an in-character narrative by Yosha Pug, written in text meant to suggest handwriting. Fortunately it doesn’t resemble handwriting so much as to cause problems. There are also in-character interjections from Pan Dachshund. This covers various setting concepts. The founding of Pugmire, life in the city, the world (with a map showing Pugmire and its surroundings), the death of Man, ruins and tombs, the Royal Pioneers who explore the word, the Code of Man, magic, pariahs and strays, Mutts, the Monarchies of Mau (the cat kingdoms), Badgers, Lizards and Rats (all also intelligent) and monsters and the Unseen.
Chapter Two: A Good Dog starts with six pre-generated characters, with their stats, history, personality, description and role playing tips. Following this are rules on making your own dog. There are six Callings, which are essentially classes, Breeds, which are collections of dog families rather than individual breeds and Backgrounds, which determine starting skills, rucksack and trick. Ability scores, the standard six, are determined by a standard array, placed as the character wishes. Stamina points are hit points and the proficiency bonus is similar to standard 5E.
There is a listing of skills, arranged by ability score, then tricks, the latter grouped into aptitude, calling, breed and background tricks. The Rucksack is the starting equipment a character has, based on calling and background. There is also a listing of melee and ranged weapons and how to calculate defence, initiative and speed. Finally in this section are personality traits and story, the softer part of character creation.
Chapter Three: Playing the Game explains the three types of dice rolls, ability checks, attack rolls and saving throws, as well as fortune and the fortune bowl (fortune chips, which are placed in the bowl by the Guide, can be used to adjust things in the characters’ favour).
The section on Adventure covers concepts such as time, distance, equipment – dogs are assumed to be adequately equipped, can add an extra item based on needs and make a check to see if they had brought a piece of equipment along; there is no equipment table and money is abstracted – resting, sleeping and healing, visions, traps and ambushes, getting lost and combat, the most extensive part of this chapter.
In Pugmire, characters do not gain experience; they go up in level essentially when the Guide decides they do. There are no levels beyond ten either; once a dog reaches 10th level they are considered an old dog and retired.
Chapter Four: Magic covers how spells work and how to learn new ones. Magic is divided into Artisan and Shepherd magic (essentially magic-users and clerics, although a few spells have swapped classes). With level advancement capped at level 10, there are no spells beyond fifth level. The spells are generally familiar; Components have been removed and in some cases the names changed to reflect the setting, such as magic paw and smell magic. This section has a list of spells.
Guide’s Tome of Mystery is the second half of the book and is the GameMaster’s (Guide’s) section.
Chapter Five: The World of Pugmire is a guide to the setting. The past is briefly covered; at some point in the future various animal species were “uplifted” – granted intelligence, improved health and new abilities – and then at a later point mankind disappeared. Still later, the intelligent animals have created their own civilisations. They don’t live in a wrecked world, but in a post-medieval one where “magic” is leftover human technology – very advanced technology.
Dogs and their rival intelligent species – cats are covered fully in Monarchies of Mau – are explained, as well as animals, which are ones that haven’t been uplifted, monsters and demons and the Unseen.
The History of Pugmire, from its establishment to the current day, is gone into, followed by dog culture, which includes the religion, the Code of Man, relationships, technology and magic (where Arthur C. Clarke is mentioned) and time and money. Both of the latter are rather imprecise. Finally there is a brief section on taverns and some insults.
Organisations and Factions has some details on various factions in Pugmire, both good and bad, and Pugmire, City of Good Dogs, is mapped and divided into quarters with some places detailed in each. Other Notable Locations has various places around the area of Pugmire, including several major settlements.
Chapter Six: Guide Advice has explanations as to what Guides do, creating your Chronicle (essentially a campaign) and the individual adventures that go into it. How to run your gaming table is followed by advice on hacking the game. This has a few options for advanced play, some suggestions on adventuring past 10th level – the author considers that the game starts to break down at that point because characters become too powerful – using other OGL and SRD material and converting the game to another system. Suggestions given are Storypath, Fate Core, Savage Worlds, Apocalypse World, Pathfinder and 13th Age. There is a huge amount of 5th Edition compatible content that could be added to the game fairly easily.
Chapter Seven: Masterworks can be considered to be the “magic item” section – and, indeed, items in it are given standard names. Relics are masterworks that give consistent benefits, fixes are consumable items, such as potions, and Wonders can be valuable in strange and unusual ways.
Chapter Eight: Enemies is the bestiary. As well as various monsters of different types, there are some standard types for the various intelligent races. There is a section at the end on making more monsters, and monsters can be adapted from other 5E supplements.
Chapter Nine: The Great Cat Conspiracy is the included adventure This is intended to be a starter adventure and begins with a bit of fiction. Characters are intended to advance a level after this is concluded.
Pugmire Core Rulebook in Review
The PDF is extensively bookmarked, down to individual spells and items. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of detail and is also hyperlinked. The Index is very extensive as well. Navigation is extremely good – the only ways it could be improved are hyperlinks for the Index and internal hyperlinks when a cross-reference page is mentioned. The text maintains a two column full colour format and appeared almost free of errors. It is extensively illustrated with custom, full colour illustrations up to a full page in size. Presentation is also excellent.
Throughout the text are occasional sidebars from two of the characters introduced, Princess Yosha Pug and Pan Dachshund. Sidebars from the former explain anything hard to understand and those from the latter give more advanced options.
Regarding the system itself, there is a lot that will be familiar to those who are already familiar with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. In some ways, this is essentially a lighter version of 5E with material taken out and some other processes simplified, such as equipment and money. The Pugmire setting is interesting and it would have been nice to see it covered in more detail – less than 30 pages cover the setting in the Guide section of the book, although some other details can be picked up in other chapters. This is far more a core rulebook for a system than it is a setting book.
It’s not actually clear who Pugmire is aimed at. In some ways, it appears to be aimed at younger players, or perhaps new players. In other ways it doesn’t. Consequently, the supplement suffers a bit from a lack of clear, stated focus. Even saying who the principle audience is intended to be would help.
This is well presented and well laid out book. It is easy enough to understand the game, probably even for complete novices, although as mentioned this is also a problem in deciding who the game is aimed at. Players who are more familiar with RPGs, especially D&D 5E, may well find the game a bit simplistic in places. However, given the games relationship to 5E, it will be comparatively easy to add greater complexity to the game. It would also be possible to just reskin 5E a bit to get a similar flavour – but that would largely make this supplement unnecessary, as it lacks sufficient setting and background by itself.
Pugmire is a nice, easy to understand game. The trouble is, as mentioned, it lacks clear focus. The core rulebook lacks enough content to really make it worth getting if any other system is run. Pugmire Core Rulebook is perhaps best aimed at starting players, or those that prefer simplicity, and it can be found by clicking here.
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