Hoofnar's Gods are Real

I've always been a guy with multiple worlds in his head. And it feels like all of them have sort of collapsed or coalesced into two distinct worlds that are, as far as this writing, not connected.

One of them is Pan-Gea, which encompasses all of my work on Black Pudding and the new comic Hellion Cross as well as the Troika!-based RPG books I've done. It is all one grand setting, just spanning a lot of time. The connective tissue between them all is a pantheon of gods, demigods, and immortal beings such as Nest the Moon, Seer the Sun, and the Worm Witch.

Contrasting this is another world I call Yukkara. This world is about funny animals. Why is it distinct? Because in my lizard brain I NEED and WANT a world that is entirely comprised of talking cartoon animals (along with demons, dragons, wizards, etc.). No humans, you see.

The world of Yukkara is largely "governed" by six powerful gods pictured here in this sketchbook drawing. Each of these deities have "clever" names that are word plays which I will unpack for your pleasure and entertainment. If I'm not terribly mistaken, this is the first time I've posted about these guys. I know I conceived them years ago because I have multiple documents and journal entries that mention them going back in time at least a decade.

• Owldina is the Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom. She is represented by an owl. I don't remember Owldina's name referencing anything other than she's an owl. Which is funny because she's a knowledge goddess... get it? There's no extra knowledge to uncover on that one. Hah.

• Jehawkva is the God of the Skies. He is a hawk or some other raptor. Jehawkva is a play on both hawk and jehovah. Clever bastard.

• Marduck is the God of War. He is a duck. Marduck is just a play on Marduk, who isn't specifically a war god. But it also sounds like Warduke, and he's a war guy.

• Buddacuda is the Deity of Truth and Mindful Doing. He is a fish. Buddacuda... seems obvious to me.

• Porkus is the God of Death. He is a pig. Porkus is Orcus but a pig. It's been done before, but that's fine. Something as obvious as Porkus is gonna get done over and over. Same with Marduck. It's fine.

• Eweweh is the Goddess of the Earth. She is a sheep. Eweweh is a combo of ewe and yaweh. Clever bastard. I even threw in a little bit of lore, as the kids say, that Eweweh is often characterized as a male god, which pisses her the fuck right off. Which is a nod to the fact that Yaweh is a masculine god figure. The layers of my cleverness are rich and myriad.

Hold Critter

The classic Hold Person spell becomes Hold Critter in a world of talking animals.

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.

Rub It Review: Quack Keep

Quack Keep

The legendary Jennell Jaquays along with Darcy Perry deliver the goods with this 56 page adventure setting. Ducks are PCs. 'Nuff said.

The book is quite lovely with full color on the inside. The art by Jaquays and Perry is deliciously evocative (check out pages 5, 16, and 18 in particular). There are lots of NPCs with which to interact, such as Bigus Duckus, Coduck the Barbarian, Daisy Ladyhawke, and The Grey Moulter.

The entire region of Reedy Bend seems to live in fear of the duck-like dragon Daffyd Platypyros, a horrifying monster to be sure.

This book is FULL of playful language and puns. When I was writing Rabbits & Rangers I was dipping my toes into the "funny animal" genre. But truly Quack Keep dives in head first and I absolutely adore it for that reason. In fact, the first thing I realized upon flipping through it was that this book, being system agnostic, is PERFECT for use with Rabbits & Rangers! And I have it on my bucket list to run a little Reedy Bend campaign for R&R.

There's a lot more to this than I have touched upon. There are maps, lots of encounters and magic items, story hooks, and all kinds of fun and funny gems about roleplaying the Fowl Folk.

Get it.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/247210/Quack-Keep

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.

Hoofnar the Barbullian!

The age of beasts, witches, and sorcerers! A time red in tooth and claw! Witness now, o traveler, these tales of daring deeds and hirsute heroics. Truly these are the days of furious four-fingered adventure!

Hoofnar is a comic character I've been thinking about for a few years. Probably posted about him before. I did this cover mock up in a moment of inspiration. Maybe this might lead to an actual comic book? I do love my funny animal comics.

NOTE: I actually have no memory of how I ended up with two distinct comic book character ideas that are reddish-skinned, horned adventurers. Zarp and Hoofnar are vastly different in tone, but have certain shared traits. In fact, all my Hoofnar art prior to this cover shows him with very red skin and I labelled him a "red bull". I moved to a brown skin here to distinguish him a little bit more from the skinny little devil character.

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.

Rabbits & Rangers Character Sheet

Here's a sheet for your funny animal gaming fun!

PDF

Rabbits & Rangers in PDF and Print

Bears? Tigers? Stoats? Fossas?

Yes to all.

Rabbits & Rangers, a Labyrinth Lord supplement, is now available in PDF and print. If you like funny animals and fantasy then I got you covered.

Rabbits & Rangers!

At long last, Rabbits & Rangers is live and available for download! It's rascally.

Rabbits & Rangers Update

Rabbits & Rangers is a game supplement for use with Labyrinth Lord. The book will give you the necessary rules to play cartoon animals in fantasy settings. It includes 50 animal races, each with unique perks and drawbacks, and it includes a small selection of optional rules that help promote the “cartoon” side of the idea.

The text is written and edited and playtesting has been going on for many weeks. I’m working on art and I hope to have the whole thing put together in a few months.As I get closer to finishing I’ll narrow that down to a more specific date.

I plan to follow the book up with further animal races and perhaps some adventure modules. We’ll see how that goes. I also want to invite others to publish materials compatible with R&R, once the book is “in the wild”.

I started thinking about this game years ago and I have written several versions of it using original systems, which I may or may not publish in the future. But this version is purely OSR and I wanted it to be firmly grounded in Labyrinth Lord rules. I tried not to add any extra baggage, though as a necessity there are a couple of rules that should be observed in order to get the flavor across.

For example, size really matters. So I include in the game a very simple way to deal with the mouse who fights the elephant.

I also include a “luck point” system inspired by the old Conan adventures published in the 1980s. This is the kind of system I use in all my OSR games and I felt it would be a good fit here too.

Animal PCs have a “nature” that reflects a strong emotion or other characteristic. This is a way to convey behavior similar to cartoon characters who have an exaggerated personality or physical schtick, such as being grumpy or greedy.

For the truly cartoony campaign, there is a whimsy rule. This can be used if you want those pianos falling from the sky or PCs painting doors on the sides of walls and walking through them.

All of these are optional. You can use all of them or none. The list of animal races, which is the meat of the book, can be utilized in any OSR game without the need for nature or whimsy. My goal was to make this book usable.

Here's an example animal from the game. The art is not final.

Wolf

Medium mammal

AC Mod: no adjustment

HD/hp: d6 min

Move: 120' (40')

Abilities: +1 to any two ability scores

Tooth and Claw: 1d6 bite; 1d4 claw

Night Vision: 30’

From the scruff of your neck to the pads of your feet, you are the romantic subject of every Bard expressing her inner animal nature. Rightly or wrongly, you are seen as the original wild animal who can’t be tamed by the fineries of civilization.

Howler: You can issue a haunting howl from a distance, causing your enemies a -1 to hit for their first attacks against you and your allies. You shake their nerves!

Loyalty: You gain +4 to saving throws against magic or other effects that would cause you to betray your friends and allies. When acting in direct defense of an ally you gain +1 to hit and damage and +1 to saving throws for 1d3 rounds.

Pack: When coordinating attacks with allies you gain +1 to hit for 1d6 rounds. You must actively engage in coordinated attacks to gain this advantage, requiring at least 1 turn of planning prior to the battle.

DCC Class: Chainmail Chicken

I'm always thinking about how to put funny animals into RPGs in a way that feels right for me. So here's a pass at doing a DCC class based on the ubiquitous chainmail chicken...

Get the PDF here...

CHAINMAIL CHICKEN

You are no mere seed-pecker, no simple egg-layer. You were born under a brighter star and will submit before no man or rooster. With a hefty blade in your feathered hand you hack, slash, and cluck your way to a heroic destiny.

Hit Points: You gain 1d10 hit points per level.

Weapon Training: You can use any weapon that is common to your place of origin. Upon using a new weapon for the first time you lose 2 die steps on your attack, but this penalty vanishes immediately.

Alignment: You are a free spirit, often battling against an oppressive hierarchy. You lean toward neutrality or chaos but may also be lawful.

Warrior Tricks: As a clever fighter you share the warrior’s Mighty Deed Die and can perform awesome Deeds. You use the warrior’s level advancement table.

Initiative: You add your level +1 to initiative rolls. You are perhaps a little too keyed up.

Aura of Awesome: Something about a chainmail chicken fascinates her enemies. When you issue a challenge to your enemies before striking a blow they must all pass a Will save or be temporarily impressed, suffering a -1d3 to all attacks against you until the save is made or until you take a blow or miss an attack. The DC for this save is your Luck score + Personality modifier + half your level, rounded down.

Flogger: In combat you sometimes go a bit nuts, launching into a wild flurry of attacks that, while awkward and clumsy, can be quite devastating. When you have lost half or more of your hit points in a single fight you can flog. If you do not wish to flog you must pass a Will save vs. a DC equal to the last successful attack roll against you. Only then can you quell the furious anger swelling in your bosom.

Level	Title
1	Squawker
2	Pecker
3	Seed Slayer
4	Flogger
5	Feathered Champion

A flogging attack must be in melee. During a flogging, you make a number of attacks against any enemies within a 10’ radius equal to your Luck + level. These attacks cannot be Deeds and you do not gain the benefit of a Deed Die modifier, though your Luck modifier must be added to the roll. Each time you miss a flogging attack your Action Die is reduced a die step. These quick, shallow, unfocused attacks deal only half damage. Crits count only as automatic hits but gain no other benefits. A flogging attack lasts one round. Your AC and next attack roll are reduced by 1d3 for one round following such a frenzy of blows.

Feathered Faller: You can’t fly but you do have feathery wings. For every 10’ you fall up to 100’ you may make a DC 10 Ref save to avoid all damage, applying the appropriate check penalty based on armor worn. If you are carrying an excessive amount of equipment the Judge should assign a check penalty for that as well.