‘Honey Heist’: This Unbearably Sweet Indie RPG Lets You Play a Bear in Disguise
Honey Heist lets you take a team of not-very-highly-trained bears and pull off the heist of the year at the honey convention.
There are a ton of one-page tabletop RPGs out there. Some are a little weird or confusing, some work better as work or story-building tools than stand-alone games, and some get really weird with the short list of rules. But others are popular, playable, and successful total slam dunks.
Honey Heist falls into the second category. This game has been around since 2017, and since then it’s been featured a number of times on Critical Role as well as Dungeons and Daddies and a few other actual-play shows. But even without the glowing endorsement of some of our favorite comedians-slash-voice-actors-slash-professional-RPG-players, Honey Heist has proven itself to be a micro RPG worth playing.
Honey Heist
Roar.
Like many one-page RPGs, Honey Heist has an underlying theme that’s a little weird and a little out there in the best way possible. Everyone plays as bears with one goal; to steal honey from a local honey convention. You know, a honey heist.
Designed by Grant Howitt- also known for the popular and much more comparatively complicated Blades in the Dark– Honey Heist is designed as a one-shot system. Meaning that you show up, you play, and you’re done. If your group would like to play a new game again later you can. This isn’t the sort of game you continue next time as an ongoing campaign. Either your bears heist some honey or they don’t.
And as you can probably imagine with a premise this silly, this is a game that’s meant to be silly and fun. Joking, improving, and generally doing whatever you think will make for the funniest scenario possible is definitely encouraged.
Gameplay & Character Creation
This is a simple, one-page RPG. So as you can imagine, the rules are pretty light. Bears are easy to design. And once you’re done making your sticky bandit, the rules are easy to learn and play.
To create your bear, pick a descriptor, a skill, a role in the group, and a fun hat. Y’know, for fun. Bears have Bear Modifiers for things bears can do (climb, claw, etc.) and Criminal Modifiers for… everything else. Is your bear able to use a grappling hook for some reason, that’s a Criminal Modifier.
When it comes time for your bear to take an action, the player rolls some dice, and see if you’re successful. Low numbers are good, but too many low numbers may make your character risky or greedy. And larger rolls create plot twists and give the GM an opportunity to make something wacky and unexpected happen.
Eventually, your team of bears will either successfully steal some honey from HoneyCon or they won’t. But along the way, you’ll definitely have a great time, which is the much more important part.
If you’d like to check out Honey Heist for yourself, you can download the game for free here.
Have you ever played Honey Heist or listened to a podcast that featured it? What kind of bear do you think you’d play? And most importantly, what kind of hat would your bear wear? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
