Pico is a tabletop roleplaying game where you play as tiny bugs going on small adventures in a big world.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Books here, books there, books (almost) everywhere!
7 days ago
– Sun, Mar 15, 2026 at 03:23:42 AM
A quick one today, just an update on deliveries!
So as many of you will know by now, the PICO physical rewards have been winging their way around the globe over the last couple of weeks. And, as some of you who haven't had that particular doorbell-ring yet will also know, they're going to be doing the same over the next few weeks as well - distribution is a funny old game, and who gets what (and when) is largely up to a combination of geographical ease and the internal workings of various warehouse chains.
That's why I can show you this lovely picture, of the actual cats that inspired the three fates of the Nekopolis curled up next to Ric Mythworks' copy of the book...
... but I can't show you a picture of my own cat curled up next to mine. This is partly because I don't have a cat (unfortunately) but largely due to the fact that I don't have any copies myself yet (double unfortunately). I'm waiting, mildly impatiently, for the UK rollout to begin!
So on that note, if you don't have your books yet and others do, just give it a few weeks - it's almost all geography. And for the few comments we saw saying that their friendly local gamestore has a copy of PICO to sell eve though they, as a backer, don't have one yet, the only stores that have any currently are those that also backed the campaign (as larger, multi-book orders tend to be processed before singular orders by various warehouses and distributors).
But on a similar note, if a few weeks pass (think the end of this month) and everyone else in your region seems to have their copy before you, that's the time to reach out to [email protected] - delivery mess-ups do happen from time to time, so don't hesitate to get in touch if your mailbox is empty but your neighbour is silhouetted, laughing, in their brightly lit window, book in hand!
LANDFALL: IMMINENT
about 1 month ago
– Mon, Feb 09, 2026 at 09:10:54 AM
A quick triple update for you, piconauts!
It's all been a bit quiet here recently because, as you might have guessed, there's only so much you can say about books being on boats before it gets very, very boring. Sea travel may be pretty reliable, but it sure isn't fast.
And yes, the news is still 'books are on boats'... But there's an end in sight, and that's important!
LANDFALL
According to those in the know, the boats containing our copies of PICO should be hitting shores in the next few weeks at best, end of the month at worst (barring any hideous sea-based accidents). That means that distribution should get going right after that, with books and packages winging their way toward you backers with appreciable speed.
But how do those books look? Well, I even have an update on that for you...
The above images are direct from publisher Ray, who got the first set of final books expressed his way and had a chance to make sure that everything was on the up-and-up, and to take some artful shots for us all (as I don't have the books yet either, I'm in the same boat (pun intended) as the rest of you on that front).
But if you need something else to whet your appetite while paper crosses water, I've also done...
A FREE NEW PICO HAZARD - THE BLADEYBUGS
Complete with art from zkarab, the Bladeybugs (who are ladybugs with blades, as you might imagine) are a new hazard for you to use in your home PICO games. They're available for free on my patreon, with a link right to them HERE.
Bladeybugs are wandering swordmasters, taking inspiration specifically from the Gilgamesh design used in the PS3 era Final Fantasy games. A good chunk of PICO was written with a longplay of Final Fantasy XII on a screen in the background, for some familiar retro noise in my life.
Yes, I'm old.
But as old as I am, I hope you enjoy my terrible punnish name for this new hazard, and also that you get some use out of them during play - there'll be more hazards coming in the future, so you may get another poke in an update here whenever there's something you can grab for free.
AND FINALLY, on the subject of grabbing something cool...
I've mentioned it here before, but just in case you missed it you can head over to the Eternal Ruins KS page to either throw a pledge our way, if you think it's up your street, or to grab the free playtest document we've released. It's a Wild Words game, so the architecture will be familiar to fans of the Wildsea and PICO.
And so far, the campaign has done...
... REALLY REALLY WELL!
But there's still a little over two weeks to go. And to save myself some words here, if you want more info you can watch the trailer for it below!
Anyway, that's it from me - hopefully the next time you hear from me I'll be celebrating the first set of books being in hands, but I can only cross my fingers so much. Either way, hope you all had a good start to the new year, and you'll hear from me again!
Felix
A Tiny Pre-Christmas Update
3 months ago
– Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 02:17:21 PM
Evening people, Felix here!
No BIG news to give, but I thought people might appreciate a small update on the printing process...
The full-book proofs are on their way to the US for the Mythworks folks to look over, and should be with them in a couple of days. They'll be sending me over pictures as well (and I might even get a full video-call-leaf-through experience, same as I did for the individual unbound page proofs).
The Mythworks team have constructed the actual orders (so the printers know how and where to store/send things when the final print run happens). Likely not exciting, but definitely an important part of the process!
And that final print run should start as soon as the final proofs are approved, and then about a week after that the books will exist. Huge piles of the things, all ready to be loaded into the appropriate crates...
... so that those crates can be loaded onto boats! THEN we simply have to rely on the mysterious, ancient art of transatlantic shipping - always a nerve-wracking part of the process for me personally, because at that point everything is completely out of my hands for the first time. And while I can swim, I do have my limits.
So there you have it! Not an exciting update in terms of colourful pictures, admittedly, but hopefully one that reassures people that books are on their way.
Anyway, that's all from me - I'm off to enjoy christmas. Hope you reader do as well, if that's the kind of holiday you celebrate. And, if not, have a good time doing other things instead!
Stay safe, piconauts!
Felix
PICO PROOFS ARE IN!
4 months ago
– Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 08:54:00 AM
What's that Felix? You've got big news?
Well yes, those-who-would-be-tiny-bugs, I have!
I'll keep it light on the words and heavy on the images this time around - prepare for a cavalcade of stills taken from a call between publisher Ray and I, as we went over the PICO proofs that the printers just delivered page by page!
All loose book pages lovingly displayed by publisher Ray's hands!
TIMELINES
... Are what I wish I could solidify today, but unfortunately progress doesn't always translate into temporal certainty.
That's what comes next, I think - basically, until the print job starts, we don't know any dates for certain in terms of final delivery. Hopefully that job will start this week, but when you're working with third parties (even very good third parties, as our printers are), you never can tell.
So I'll hold off on the next update until the books are fully printed (and hopefully in transit), unless there's some kind of significant delay (in which case I'll hop on here and tell you about it). That'll give us a clearer idea of timelines too.
So fingers crossed that the print job all goes well - it's great to see things moving, and I can't quite put into words how good it feels to see book pages in real life for the first time after staring at them on a screen for a year and a half :)
But before I go, I think the publishers would be annoyed if I didn't mention that we have 48 hours left on the crowdfunder for Tigers on the Wire, the new Wildsea adventure. It's a great place to pick up the existing books too. So if you're a wildsea fan, or maybe even a would-be-wildsea fan, give it a look if you haven't already! You'll find the link HERE.
Be safe, people!
PICO: THE DIGITAL FULL RELEASE IS HERE!
6 months ago
– Fri, Oct 03, 2025 at 01:52:21 PM
It's been a long old road, hasn't it? And there have definitely been a few obstacles along the way.
But I'm really, really proud to announce that the full digital version of PICO is now ready to go, along with the digital picodex AND a free set of updated pre-gen characters, along with two styles of character sheet for each (one based on our convention play sheets, one on the true PICO character sheet).
A very simple image, but EXTREMELY satisfying for me to look at!
HOW DO I GET MY DIGITAL REWARDS?
You should get a ping from BackerKit via email. From there, simply follow the download links to our top secret download landing pages and pick up your PDFs!
SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE FUTURE OF PICO?
Well, it means that the print version can be locked as well, which is (as you might imagine) the first step toward actual, hot-from-the-oven books being delivered to your door. Printing and shipping will still take some time, but now we're entering the realm of LOGISTICS - the stuff that, all going well, ensures a smooth transition from 'well this was a cool idea' to 'oh wow this is a real book'.
So I'd like to say thank you, again, to everyone along the way that's made it possible - perhaps most of all zkarab, who has created a truly immense amount of bespoke art for the game in the past four years. This has been my first project working with a single artist, and it's been a rollercoaster.
The fun kind.
And, talking of fun...
INTRODUCING: PICO PAL
And this also seems a good time to mention that, as well as the existing PICO online character creation tools, we have another set geared towards smartphonish types (both Android and IOS)! And, as I often try to do, I'll let the creator speak about their work themselves...
From the Ennie award-winning creator of Mothership Companion and Cyberpunk Red Companion comes a brand-new buggy binary: Pico Pal! Wait no, not that kind of buggy. Here, let me show you...
Pico Pal is an unofficial companion app for Pico, designed to help you create your bug in a matter of moments. It is available now, for free, on iOS and Android, with a Web version on the way.
But don't think that's all I have to announce today! Because as I've waited for corrections and edits, I've been working on two other certain somethings for Mythworks - and I haven't been working alone...
A lone wanderer crosses a bridge, somewhere in the ruins. Art by Sam Carr.
A collaboration between me, Rob Leigh (the creator of When the Moon Hangs Low) and Sam Carr (the creator of, well, The Eternal Ruins), this is a new Wild Words game about exploring a vast labyrinth of wonders and horrors, with a balance of cozy moments and existential dread. The world it takes place in isn't my own, for once - Sam has a youtube channel you can visit HERE, where he's built up the lore of the Ruins over the past few years. It was actually that youtube channel that prompted me to reach out to him, poking him with a 'Hey, this would make a really good Wild Words game' type of message.
Luckily, he agreed.
The Rascal, one of the many paths a wanderer might take as they learn to survive the Eternal Ruins. Art by Sam Carr.
The Eternal Ruins draws inspiration from things like the Legend of Zelda and Spirited Away, following child-like wanderers trying to make sense of the impossibly ancient megastructure they inhabit. It's cute, at times, but like PICO has its darker moments.
Unlike PICO, there are far more of them.
I'll share more about the Eternal Ruins at some point in the future, likely when I have another big update for the PICO printing process. But, for now, you can REGISTER YOUR INTEREST HERE - we're already somewhere in the 800s for followers, which is a lovely start, but if you're a PICO fan there's a good chance you'll find something here that you like.
If you've followed the Wildsea at all (which is likely, if you're a PICO fan, as it runs on the same engine), then you've probably heard about this already, but we're only a couple of weeks away from launching Tigers on the Wire, the next Wildsea adventure!
There will be tigers. Well, almost...
Tigers on the Wire is aimed primarily at those who have a little bit of experience with the rustling waves, but can also work well as an introduction to the world for new players who are feeling particularly brave.
We're crowdfunding this one over on Gamefound this time, as part of an RPG-centric push they're running. If you fancy checking it out, follow this weird green link here!
BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!
(Okay, I didn't actually work personally on this last one, but it is pretty cool...)
Another Mythworks property, the Ennie-nominated Last Caravan is getting two whole expansions that are up on kickstarter right now. But rather than me blather on, I'll let the writer Ted (who I have shared several tables with over the past few years, and who is particularly good at sound effects) tell you about them himself!
The Last Caravan is a game about a midwinter family road trip in the wake of an alien invasion. In the expansions, that family expands — with Lost Highway adding alien character playbooks and Westward Bound offering a total alternate journey where you are, instead, a group of dogs on a road trip to find your humans after the invasion.
Like Pico, this is a journey that has a coziness and a sense of wild exploration. The alien invasion has transformed the continent, seeding jungles of alien flora like Weird Virginia, welcoming species like the song-wielding Aernians and the crablike Ek-Ik-Mak. The core book comes with 23 unique Regions that serve as unique adventures, and the expansions will add numerous new Regions and Scenarios.
Like Wildsea, it’s a game about characters, with vivid and unique character classes and mechanics that lean you into the narrative.
