The Excellents

From 9th Level Games comes The Excellents, a game about being an Excellent Princess in an awesome cartoon world. To play, you need a copy of the book and a set of dice, plenty of imagination, and willingness to have a fun time!

I liked the size of this game. At 4” x 6” it fit comfortably in the interior pocket of my jacket, which meant that I could bring it with me to an appointment and leaf through it while waiting. The colours are bright and vibrant throughout and while there’s a ton of information being presented, no individual page feels overwhelming and the flow of information meant that there was no point at which I was left completely lost with no idea how points C and D connected.

One thing I appreciate is how clear this game makes it that anyone can be a princess – gender does not matter. You want to be a Princess? You are one! You’ve got your crown, sword, beast friend, shoes – you’re ready to defend the realm! The biggest decision you make is what you’re the Princess of. Are you the Hair Metal Princess? Sci-Fi Comics Princess? Is Knitting your thing? The options are endless! It’s a light-hearted, fun game, and this comes across so well in the upbeat, playful writing. I find it a fine line to walk between having personality in your writing while reducing the clarity of the information you’re presenting and The Excellents strike it perfectly. 

This is a fun, whimsical game which offers players the option to create their own Princess, or play one of those included with the book! While I’m always a fan of collaborative character creation, I also deeply appreciate games that provide ‘quick start’ options like this. All of them are charming, but I was particularly fond of the Tomato Princess (He/Him) whose design, as you may have guessed, is based around a tomato. 

The Excellents is designed to be episodic. This makes it fantastic for one-shots, and even for rotating players – every show loves its guest stars! There are two ‘episode scripts’ included with the game which provide the episode with its general guidelines. I liked that before starting a session your group has already determined where you are starting off and where you are ending – how you get to that ending is what you’re playing to find out.

I thought of both Sailor Moon and She-Ra when reading this game over, and genuinely suggest picking this one up even if you’re just looking for a light, fun little read! 

You can pick up The Excellents (softcover) for $14.99 USD on 9th Level Games [softcover here, digital here]. I picked up my copy from Ratti Incanti [here] for 20$ CAD, and recommend it to anyone ordering from Canada.

I hope you enjouy your time with The Excellents! Stay cozy!

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