What if your pets played D&D, not with any greater intelligence or saving throws, but just as themselves?

This is superb, everything that regular animals would do if they were suddenly presented with the powers of a D&D party, from the cat continually animating the dead mouse so it can kill it again to the Dog diving off a cliff because someone knocked the mages staff over it and it just jumped...

The artwork is very much in keeping with the current feel of D&D artwork, and while it's not a long book, it's a good laugh, very much in the vein of "Life of the Party" by Travis Hanson, and as such, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

… it would probably happen exactly as in Campaigns & Companions: The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets by Alex de Campi, Andi Ewington and Rhianna Pratchett. To be released on 14.09.2021, Netgalley was kind enough to provide me with a digital ARC.

This is not a guide how your Dungeons & Dragons character can also have a cute dog, cat or spider, but a hilarious collection of small scenes, all with very fitting illustrations, about what would happen if your average cat/dog/turtle adventurer would behave like a real world pet. The answer is: they are kind of jerks. But incredibly funny.

4/5 Duckies

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read!
This made me smile more than once! Typical animal shenanigans wooven into beautifully illustrated and fun D&D style fast-read! Just looking at the pics makes you cackle and fills you with a warm feeling! I loved it with all my heart!

This is a fun little book perfect for D&D and other tabletop gamers who have or love pets. My favorite aspect is definitely the artwork. I love all the random situations the "pets" get themselves into. It's not a long book or super profound or anything, but it's worth flipping through for laughs.

An amusing collection of scenarios imagining what would happen if pets played DnD. It's a fun sort of dip-in book that would be perfect as a Secret Santa present for someone who liked RPGs and animals..

Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.


That was brilliant, it made me laugh from start to end. Can you imagine our pets playing D&D with their natural reactions to things happening during the game, like what if your chameleon comes upon a dragon, so what do you think that might happen? Or what if a player casts a fire ball, what do you think the dog is going to do?

That was funny, smart and the artwork was amazing! This was such a great idea in order to entertain us during this period of time, I enjoyed it so much.

A hilarious little romp in the world of "What if pets played Dungeons & Dragons?" The creative team members obviously all know: A. their role-playing games B. the behavior of various pets with stunning accuracy. Most of the scenarios are very funny, and much of the accompanying artwork nails the situation. The most laugh out loud moments for me were definitely in the scenes with cats. They were spot on. On a personal note, sadly, I've known humans who played D&D with more unpredictability and foolishness than some of the animals described within.

OMG this is adorable! If you do RPGs at all and love your pets this is just about painfully cute. Buy a copy and pass it around your gaming group. Ps, a fine gift book for the gaming nerd in your life!

Cute, silly, light giggle-inducing DND scenarios that pet parents are sure to enjoy.

I had very high hopes for this when I saw it had been added to Netgalley, but found myself a bit let down after I finished reading... which took all of 10 minutes or so (generously estimating).

The scenarios are adorable, and a few of them were sort of “ha-ha” funny, but I felt that it could’ve been SO much funnier if maybe some more time had been spent building the scenarios. It would’ve been better if they were lengthened and more detailed, instead of just a few lines with a goofy punchline. This book reads like a book of memes, similar to scrolling through an album of funny photos on Facebook. I don’t regret reading it, but I probably won’t read it again.

However, the cute scenes were accompanied by absolutely stunning illustrations, which largely made up for the writing, as far as I’m concerned. This book is less of a comedy and more of a gorgeous, silly picture book than what I had anticipated. Enjoyable, but could’ve been better.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

This little book was such a delight!
If you're familiar with the gameplay of Dungeons & Dragons and you like animals, you'd probably enjoy it too. It consists of short D&D scenarios, where the Game Maker usually sets up the scene and the pets react to what they'd do in each situation. And that's all I can say without spoiling anything. Just know that most of these scenarios were laugh out loud funny. The only negative thing I can say is that it was too short.

Would definitely recommend this.

A cute and funny book. If you enjoy D&D and animals, you will like this book. It is a quick read or a good bathroom read.
My only complaint is that it was quite short and thus read like an illustrated set of funny internet memes. Given the name, I had expected more of an amusing storyline or some creative/amusing instructions for including animal companions or playing as animals. Maybe the next iteration?

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read an advance copy of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Let me preface this review by saying I'm a D&D junkie, doing as many sessions as I can a week so I knew I was going to like this on some level. The title is a bit misleading; this isn't a sourcebook or a roleplaying guide, or even a graphic novel, it's more akin to a comic strip or vignettes.

The art is absolutely what makes this little coffee-table book shine, it fits somewhere between the classic fantasy art I grew up with in the 1990s and the animated Robin Hood movie.

It was a cute read, and did make me crack a smile a couple of times, but for the cost I don't think I would go through with the purchase. It would have made a much stronger book if it had been written as a true graphic novel, I absolutely would have eaten that up.

What can I say? This is a book of unparalleled genius and that nobody though of the idea earlier is unfathomable.

What would happen if your pets could play D&D? Well wonder no longer. This book is chock full of everyday RPG situations, but this time your party members are a cat, dog, parrot, snake, iguana and a myriad of other everyday pets.

Watch as dog chases after a fire-BALL!!!!
See cat use their nature skills to get high on catnip.
Wonder no more about how snake would use a pair of speed boots.

It's wonderful and brought to life with some fantastic illustrations. I can't recommend this enough.

The art in this book is what really made it; it was stunning. Some of the book was really funny, other parts really cute, but there were quite a few jokes that fell short for me. I almost wish this had been a full-length story instead of short comics. I love the concept, but I wanted more from it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I was able to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
***
Campaigns & Companions was a hilariously fun read of what if your pets played D&D, how would they play?
This was a quick fun read with short little skits of animals (mostly dogs and cats) in battle or solving a problem but doing it in their animal way. The illustrations were fun and perfectly suited to the book, the artist really caught some of those skits so perfectly I almost didn’t need to read the accompanying text to know what happened.
This was a brilliant read, I’ve already told all my D&D friends about it.

What a fantastic book!

D&D + Pets meant this was instant love for me, but I would say that you don’t need to be knowledgeable about the first to love this book (although it certainly adds to it), but anyone who has ever had a pet will appreciate the humour in Campaigns & Companions, and you’ve probably seen your critter do at least one of these things (just you know without Orcs and Treasure and Dragons, oh my!).

A short but highly entertaining read, that is equal parts funny and charming. Campaigns & Companions perfectly captures the funny side of D&D and the chaos that pets can bring, and combine them into something that is nothing short of perfection. The snarkiness of the humour was right up my street and had me laughing out loud. While the illustrations from Calum Alexander Watt brought the book to a whole other level, and I would be hard-pressed to pick my favourite although the cat in the treasure chest or the raging rabbit are strong contenders, but there wasn’t one that didn’t have me smiling and pausing to admire the art.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves D&D, Pets or both and a perfect present for anyone who loves those things. This is a beautiful book that will have you in stitches by the first page, and these are the jokes that you can tell around the gaming table (when not failing your saving throws of course), and you should definitely make space for Campaigns & Companions next to your Players Handbook.

You know it's August tomorrow when you're reviewing a stupid Christmas gift book. But this is stupid with a great amount of wit about it. Each double-page spread is the same pattern, with one illustration accompanying a tiny bit of dialogue from what might happen if animals played Dungeons and Dragons-styled RPGs. The cat rules amongst the characters – fetching all the treasure out of the chest, only so it can sit in it for a wasteful amount of time, while the dog is just miserable at walking through the underground chambers with the longest possible stick sideways on in its mouth to prevent it getting anywhere. However – catnip. The illustrations are class, and if you've never seen a rabbit wearing woad ready for battle, now's your chance. It's a slight thing, but it's a good thing.

Campaigns & Companions

The Complete Role-Playing Guide for Pets

I saw this book on NetGalley and I thought to myself, I love D&D, and I like pets, and I always chuckle at those “imagine if your pets were playing D&D” threads on Twitter, so I thought I’d like this book. I enjoyed the first few pages. After that, well, hmmm. Have you ever eaten an entire carton of ice cream? It seems like a good idea at the start - ice cream! It’s delicious! But when you eat too much it starts to taste bad and you start to feel bad and then you’re like why did I do this to myself? That’s what reading this book is like. It’d be fine as a gift to someone you don’t know well. It’s the type of book to leave in a bathroom for guests to read if you’re the type of person who buys books specifically for the bathroom.

Snort laughed uncontrollably through most of the book. I can confirm this is exactly what pets would be like if we were able to get them playing our favourite TTRPGS (table top role playing games).

Incredibly beautifully illustrated with perfect attention to detail for each animal, I particularly love the cat just being a true cat with the 'If I fits,I sits' rule. This will 100% make the perfect addition to my RPG section in-store and I have no doubt it'll do incredibly well as a small 'pick up' gift for christmas.

Now please excuse me whilst I attempt to write an entire campaign with these animals for characters....

This was funny and cute. By far the most funny thing I've read this year.
While I wouldn't say every joke hits it's mark, a lot of them do and do it well. A couple of the jokes I honestly, wasn't expecting the punchline and was overcome by giggles.

I enjoyed this book so much, I want to purchase it for every one of my friends for Christmas and I may just do it.