Summary
I’ve often been tempted by the siren song of a return toNeopets. Every time there’s some news about the once-great virtual pet game - the Switch rumors, theNC pet styles, theAnimal Crossing-inspiredTales of Decardia- I always toy with the idea, mention it to my friends and fellow formerNeopetskids. We always seem to come to the same conclusion: it sounds like a fun idea, but our adult lives don’t always have the space for the daily check-ins necessitated by raising a virtual pet. However you slice it, I’m just not ready for another Neopet right now.
Butthe latest news out of Neopia might just be the perfect thing to get me back on the grind. Not daily, of course - I’m too busy writing about Neopets to adequately take care of them. But the nextNeopetsrelease sounds like it’s of a totally different nature, and could bring old players running back to the game in droves. It’s already caught my interest, and apparently, I’m not alone.
I Started Playing Neopets Again After 15 Years & It’s Not At All What I Expected
After 15 years an avid Neopets player returns to the world of Neopia to see what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what was most surprising.
The Neopets TTRPG Could Rekindle My Interest
Over $100,000 On Kickstarter
The newestNeopetsproject isn’t an online virtual pet-raising game -it’s a tabletop RPG. It’s currently part of aKickstartercampaign that’s raised over $140,000 at the time of writing, more than tripling its initial $40,000 goal. The initial release will include a core rulebook, along with a campaign module entitledThe Fall of Faerieland. In other words, it’s a complete package, including everything you need to get started with the game - and for me, it’s incredibly tempting.
Simply put,playing aNeopetsTTRPG would take up a lot less of my time than playing the online version. Instead of having to check in on my pets every day, I could plan a session every couple of weeks (or even more irregularly), play as long as I or my group wanted, and then forget about it until our next scheduled time.
That’s only helped bythe TTRPG’s flexibility, which is greater relative to both the browser game and to other tabletop systems. There probably won’t be any such thing as min-maxing in theNeopetsTTRPG - character abilities and attributes are based entirely on a point system. You gain skill points as you level up, which you’re able to choose to invest in whatever categories you like. There are no classes, and no apparent limits on the possibilities for unique character builds.
Players who contribute $200 or more to the Kickstarter campaign receive a bigger bundle of rewards, including aNeopets-themed set of dice.
What’s more, just like classicNeopets,you can remake your character whenever and however you want. Decided you like purple better than green this week, or just got a cool magic item that doesn’t work with your current color palette? Paintbrushes can change your character’s color instantly. You can even buy transmogrification potions to change your characters' species. And there’s a robust system of skill respeccing, so even your stats aren’t set in stone.
What it all adds up to isa system in which you don’t have to have every aspect of your character figured out from the very first session. No more nights spent hunched over a Player’s Handbook, trying to figure out what the best Background for your bard-barbarian multiclass build is. All you have to do is come up with a vague concept, an original name, and a visual. The rest, you’re able to figure out as you go. That’s the perfect pitch for someone like me - a formerpower user with a now-busy adult life - to return. It’s also, admittedly, veryNeopets.
A Neopets TTRPG Could Recapture My Favorite Parts Of The Game & Its Fandom
Player Creativity Is Neopets' Greatest Strength
The concept of faithfulness in adaptation is never one I’ve found particularly interesting. Different media have different standards, and different requirements - and besides, a loose adaptation’s different take on its source material can be enlightening. That said,when the adaptation serves as a replacement for the source material, as aNeopetstabletop game would for the browser version, it’s a worthwhile conversation.
In the category of faithfulness, theNeopetsTTRPG excels. It’s got everything:jobs, mini-games, the Battledome, Neggs, et cetera. That’s a wonderful thing, and will certainly help its case when it comes to nostalgia. Players like me, who are coming back toNeopetsin a changed form after many years away, will find many recognizable elements to help get them acclimated.
But more so than that,Neopetsmakes a lot of sense as a TTRPG because the two halves of this project have one major thing in common:both encourage player creativity. When I think back on my time playingNeopets, what stands out the most to me isn’t the game itself: it’s the fandom around it. The old-school typing quirks of the Neoboards, the colored pencil fanart, et cetera. It was a unique kind of early 2000s online community that few games since have been able to match.
15 Things You Forgot About Neopets
Remember those virtual pets that never die? No? Here’s a refresher about the sensation that was (and to some, still is) Neopets.
Butevery (good) TTRPG group is a microcosmic version of that sort of community. There’s a shared suspension of disbelief at every session, an unspoken social contract. Edgy characters and cliche backgrounds get a pass. Even the shoddiest character art is praised, not because it’s the polite thing to do, but because it takes effort, and it comes from a place of love.
With the added nostalgia ofNeopetsin the mix, that kind of joy would be almost cathartic.Laughing at the cringiness of your original Neopets' ridiculious names, while still acknowledging that they were indeed pretty cool, is the kind of return to simpler times that many a millenial can only fantasize about.
So, when the Kickstarter rewards are finally delivered (expected to be July 2025), I’ll ask my busy friends not to commit to a daily check-in of theNeopetswebsite, but to an occasional sit-down game of the TTRPG. And it’ll probably work. The novelty of aNeopetstabletop game, coupled with the minimal time commitment, will probably sink its hooks into them as it has me. And who knows - if we enjoy it enough, we may even go back to the browser game afterwards. I suspect there are many other former players out there like me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the TTRPG leads to a full-blownNeopetsresurgence.
