This project is something very special. Not just to me but to a surprisingly large community. A community that calls themselves Monster Rangers.
I first encountered Steam Crow and the Monster Rangers around 10 years ago (Ugh, what is time) while I was covering Emerald City Comiccon for Geek-o-rama. Danial and Dawna are amazing artists and even better people. The only thing that keeps me from going much farther down the Monster rabbit hole is that my wallet hates international shipping. Especially their yearly Krampus campaigns. Insert sad face here.
They are also avid gamers and have said they often use Evil Hat’s open FATE Condensed system to run games at home and the popular Monstero camps they host for their fans. FATE systems (there are a couple of complimentary versions, depending on the needs of the user) are setting-agnostic and available to everybody little-or-no cost. As the saga of the current Open Gaming License fracas continues, it should be mentioned that FATE is OG no OGL.
The game takes place in the world of Obscuria and a weirder alternate version of 1913 USA: the United States of Liberty. In Liberty, monsters are real. Players are Monster Rangers whose motto is BELIEVE, STUDY, and PROTECT OUR MONSTER FRIENDS. But not everyone feels the same and not every monster wants to be your friend. There’s your elevator pitch. This campaign, which is part of Kickstarter’s yearly Zine Quest, is intended to be the start of the MRRPG. There are plans for at least four sourcebooks and a sandbox campaign book. All of that is on top of the existing lore and more available at monsterrangers.com.
There are three pledge levels available in the campaign. $25(USD) gets you PDFs of the Player’s Sourcebook, Warden’s (GM’s) Sourcebook, Character Sheet, and a full colour map of Liberty. $55 adds physical copies (minus the map), four Fate Dice, a pin and an emblem patch. Jumping to $165 adds a 12×18 map, a total of five patches/badges, plus a canvas dice bag and gaming satchel. There are a bunch of great add-ons, and their webshop has even more great stuff.
I’m trying to contain my excitement and keep this intentionally short so that I have more to talk about when I hopefully review the finished products. I’m also taking the unusual step of posting this CrowdFUNding Spotlight several hours before the campaign actually goes live, because it will only be running from Feb 1-15th. You’ll be able to back the Monster Rangers RPG on Kickstarter at BIT.LY/RANGERPULP.
You can find out more about the Monster Rangers online at monsterrangers.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/TheMonsterRangers. You can also find all things Steam Crow online at steamcrow.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/steamcrew.
Caw!