In the days since Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released, I’ve been doing a diligent search for the best Sonic-inspired tabletop games out there. And folks, I’ve found them. Surprisingly, there is no official Sonic the Hedgehog tabletop RPG (yet). Thankfully, the fans are here to save the day. Through some diligent dives, I’ve found two fan-made Sonic games, for two different kinds of players. Rings and Running Shoes and Sonic Tag-Team Heroes are on opposite ends of the tabletop gaming spectrum, but both will fill the ring-shaped hole in your heart — and importantly, they’re both free.
For more tactically minded fans of the series, Sonic Tag-Team Heroes is a more traditional tabletop game with crunchy, Dungeons & Dragons-inspired grid-based combat to play through heroic boss battles. Players choose from one of four types for their character that determines their attribute set: Speed, Fly, Power, and Technique — each following in the path of the major Sonic protagonists. The game itself uses dice pools comprised on d6s and d10s, with a series of corresponding skills. Among those are the expected Melee, Move, Sneak, Deceive, etc you can expect from most attribute-based systems; but there are a few special skills in there like Spin, which has your character curl into a ball to get through tight spaces or attack an enemy. The details of the game mechanics are not too complex, but certainly are for more experienced gamers looking to scratch that combat itch.
If you’re looking to play in the world of Sonic, but want to focus more on story over combat, Rings and Running Shoes is a Powered by the Apocalypse game set in the world of anthropomorphic hedgehogs and echidnas. Like all PbtA games (a system designed by Meguey and Vincent Baker) Rings and Running Shoes is designed to get short, two-hour-long sessions in while packing all the emotional punch of your favorite Sonic comics, games, and movies. Rather than a list of skills to pick from and assign points to, PbtA games operate off of playbooks, a collection of moves and skills centered on particular archetypes. The game prioritizes two things: teamwork and doing cool things. One of the basic moves of the game is called Kick Butt, need I say more?
More than anything else, I appreciate how Rings and Running Shoes prioritizes teaching new players what tabletop games are and how to play them together to tell the best story possible. While the text is a little dense, largely just black print on a white background with the occasional original character art scattered throughout, theres an accessibility to the language that doesn’t feel quite as intimidating as Sonic Tag-Team Heroes.
Whether you want to get into the tactical combat of a Sonic battle, or just feel like a cool Hedgehog saving the day from Dr. Eggman, the fan communities surrounding the franchise have you covered. You can get both titles completely free, at sonictth.com and ringsandrunningshoes.itch.io. While these games might not have the same design as professional studio-made tabletop games, they have a lot of heart and enough foundation for you to go, fast.
