The Loud House #13: Lucy Rolls the Dice by The Loud House Creative Team

Ha, how fitting that I should read this right as I’m running my kids through their very first tabletop roleplaying game campaign!

In the thirteenth volume of The Loud House series, based on the hit Nickelodeon show, whole families get involved in playing Orks, Horks, Wizards, And Pork (or OHWP, for short) after Lynn Loud Sr gets banned from his weekly game. Needing his roleplaying fix, he introduces the rest of his family to OHWP. Hijinks ensue! Soon, not only are the Louds playing but also their friends the McBrides and the extended Casagrande clan (and also goth Lucy Loud’s pals from the Morticians Club.) In a series of loosely connected vignettes, each Loud family member reacts to OHWP pretty much as you think they might. Games are played and won*, and lots of laughs are to be had all around.

OHWP shenanigans take up the first three-fifths or so of the book, which then goes on to tell three other short tales of a) being resourcefully fashionable, or fashionably resourceful, depending on your point of view; b) how rumors and gossip can grow out of control, and c) the importance of family. A lot is packed into this 60+ page volume with, thankfully, a very useful character guide at the beginning to help you sort out who’s who. This is especially essential given that there are ten girls in the Loud family itself, even before taking into account the many other colorful types who show up in the rest of the book!

Overall, Lucy Rolls The Dice is a fast, entertaining read that, like the other books in the series, emphasizes family and friendship, no matter how unconventional those families or friendships may be. It’s really awesome that a role-playing game is used as the focus for all this. I’m hard pressed to knock any media that depicts TTRPGs as a net positive, and this book will hopefully assuage the concerns of anyone who might have lingering concerns in this day and age of the suitability of TTRPGs for every member of the family. RPGs are just imagination with rules, y’all, and I’m glad that the Loud House Creative Team is firmly in that camp of thinking too.

*One doesn’t really “win” an RPG. People win if everyone’s had a good time and advanced their characters’ objectives, but OHWP does seem to have a PvP tactical component to it too.

The Loud House #13: Lucy Rolls the Dice by The Loud House Creative Team was published today August 24 2021 by Papercutz and is available from all good booksellers, including