Droono Duckshar

In one of the last Rabbits & Rangers games I ran, the PCs went up against Count Drake-Yulla in his forbidding haunted castle. They never encountered his arch-rival, Droono Duckshar the Fowl Wizard!

This was a random thing I drew last night. I am in the midst of a bit of creative blockage so anything I manage to put down on paper (digitally or otherwise) is a boost to my confidence.

This was interesting because the entire time I doodled it I was pondering the direction of the game. As it stands, R&R is a perfectly fine Labyrinth Lord supplement. You can see that I referenced several things from the book on this sheet. But the ultimate question I've been asking since the book came out is what is R&R going to be in the future? Is it a LL supplement or a game of its own? If a game of its own, then I have no reason to stick with pure D&D rules. I've posted many times about this topic. I have written lots of versions of the game that are not D&D-based. But something keeps me tethered to the old rules. It's as if R&R was always meant to be funny animals in dungeons... so why would I use alternate rules? I have no high-and-lofty theme in mind beyond funny animals with swords. I could write this as a standalone game with an original rule set, going the way of Ironclaw or The World Tree. And that would be fine, except I feel like anyone playing it will simply say "this is just D&D with different rules".

And yet there are plenty of people who will look at the current R&R and say "this is just more D&D stuff... with goofy talking frogs."

You can't please 'em all.

When I think about it and let my hair down, this whole thing can be summed up in a simple equation:

Looney Tunes + Conan + D&D = Rabbits & Rangers

So you'll know what to expect when I know what to expect.

R&R: Ready and Willing

Here's a new Rabbits & Rangers drawing for the upcoming project. This was based on a sketch that  had been sitting around for at least 3 years, maybe more. I had actually started inking it over a year ago and finally sat down and knocked it out this morning. Turned out pretty cool, I think.

I don't like predicting what I'll do in the future because I'm constantly changing my mind and in the end what I do is what I end up doing. Hell, that's what Black Pudding is... just the stuff I do, not the stuff I planned to do. There's a difference. If I did all the stuff I planned to do I'd be the most prolific creator in history.

This drawing made me think about flying rules, which I cover fairly well in the current book. I am going to re-write that section to make it simpler, less fiddly. But the point is simple. A bird character can't fly and carry their normal amount of equipment. The bird in this drawing cannot fly without doffing their cloak, at least. I say in the book that you can hold one small item and still fly. So the staff would be out too. But I'm considering some ways in which a flying caster could still fly with a staff, as part of the fabric of the setting. Like a spell or special skill they learn. I'm not sure yet.

Werepig in a World of Piggies

In Rabbits & Rangers I have a short section on lycanthropy. It's a weird idea, isn't it? A world of talking animals... what do the lycanthropes turn into? I suggested in the book that a PC infected should randomly roll what type of animal they transform into. In that way, you could be a duck bitten by a wereskunk and then you transform into an evil, bloodthirsty werepig.

I still like that idea. But in the new game I'm going to leave some of it up to the Ringmaster's discretion. I'm trying to keep my rules and text more open to rulings-not-rules. While I am very proud of the R&R book based on Labyrinth Lord, I still find even that to be a little too fiddly for funny animal fantasy as I want to experience it.

Anyway, yes, I'm currently working on the new game. Still no real idea about when it will be ready. I'll share more as I get more into it.

Also... should I make this game in color or keep the interior art black and white? My instinct is black and white, as that's my wheelhouse. But I suppose I should at least consider doing this in color. Right now I have to be honest: I'm 75% leaning black and white for the interior.

Rabbits & Rangers RPG

While working on the new R&R document I keep noticing little errors and omissions from the first book. For example, I just realized I mention Hawks having the ability to see 80' in the dark but I failed to actually list them with Night Vision. Hah.

I don't actually have any idea how far a hawk can see in the dark in reality. I just know they are good at it. But that's a repeating theme I keep running into when doing research on animals for this game. A lot of animals have a reputation for a certain skill but finding hard data on just how good they are is not always easy. Swimming is a great example. I actually encountered instances where the same animal was described as being a good swimmer in one text but in another text it was said to NOT be a good swimmer.

So all of these descriptions are my best effort at distilling an animal's talents down to simple OSR style modifiers that must be weighed against other critters to make sense. I mean, everyone knows how agile cats are... but have you watched fossas climb trees? Makes me want to wear a "team fossa" tee shirt.

Oh... I guess that also means I'm working on a new R&R. Not sure if I posted about that yet. This is a standalone RPG. I started with basic OSR and I'm building from there. But more on that later.