Ranger Games Publishing

The final entry in the saga of the Cabal of Eight Campaign is up!

The Grand Mook Manual Vol. I (Cat.No#RGS1014) is getting its final touches. A final editing pass and completing the illustrations are all that remain. This manual will have over 90 NPC Mook tables and over 30 bare-bones average mook entries for standard fantasy NPCs. It will include over 70 fully developed NPCs as well. The appendices will have Mage spell lists (based on role), a Clergy spell…

Corpse World: Apocalypse at Zombie Lake

It was a warm evening for January, the horizon viewable through the glass doors at the end of the great room was still golden orange and cloud streaked. Hunched over the table in the open-plan dining room I was sketching a map on the freshly unrolled battle map spread across the dinner table with dry-erase markers. It was a map of the south end of the lakeshore of Lake Ponchateaux. This included…

State of RGS Publishing October 2021

We are doing well. Our third quarter accounting is looking good and we’re finally in the black. As our last quarter of this year begins it looks like the projects slated for release this year may not be out before the end of the year. One project is in full gear, fortunately. State of Current Projects Dark Home: Realm of the Dwarves is well into the writing process. We are working on the first…

Current State of Affairs Aug 2021

Currently, the Ranger Games Publishing blog is on hold. Don’t worry there is still plenty of material for it. The blog will start again in October with the final entry in the Dead World Zombie Horror Campaign. There are more entries for the Cabal of Mages campaign all the way up to the finish as well. The hold is due to the publishing work on two, possibly, three new books for Dice & Glory. I’m…

Can a Sword Smile? Creating a Storied Item

Characters begin to loot the dusty old room after slaying their foe, some monstrous undead thing. They find the typical loot, some coins, a few gems, and a couple of items. Their first impulse is to appraise the monetary value of the loot and calculate what the split will be. Then they find an old sword hanging on the cobweb-tangled rear wall of the room. When they reach it the Gamesmaster does…

The Cabal of Eight II Pt.21: Three times Paranoia

A ghostly blue layer of spiced smog hovered high above the heads of the flowing crowd as they chattered, haggled with merchants, and carried their burdens of purchased goods in baskets, sacks, and small wagons along packed and narrow central pathways in each wing. From the oculi in the massive central dome shafts of smoky sunlight cut through the dim oil-lit atmosphere of the Great Bazaar. As a…

Year-End for RGS Publishing

Well, Ranger Games Publishing has had a decent past year and sales remain strong enough to continue publishing books. So, I am planning a new release sometime in the first quarter of 2021 but I’m not going to set a solid date yet on that. I am hoping to get at least two other projects out in the coming year which includes Storywise. The Black Teeth Adventure module has been shelved although I am…

The Finer Points of a FrankenGame

Games-Masters (GM’s) are already like mad scientists modifying their current gaming system often on the fly. This is through either in-play rulings (e.g. building precedence) or directly fabricating rules or guidelines. This is sometimes to patch deficiencies or fill in gaps discovered during play regardless of the potential for unforeseen consequences. Often, GM’s tinker with their current…

The Cabal of Eight II Pt.20: Hideaway

Fauna (played by Jenn) woke up in a large round silk bed. She luxuriated in the smooth, cool sheets. The druid had taken a long hot bath in the tiled bathing room a few rooms over and enjoyed a hot meal and tea before bed. She sighed. Her mind drifted to the previous night. After following the Wasp and his apprentice Bumble, she had found herself standing in a vast strange hall. The vaulted…

NPC-Craft: Can An Onion Bleed?

Non-player characters (NPCs) populate Gamesmasters’ game worlds providing a life source alongside the vitality injected by the player characters (PCs). Unlike PCs, however NPCs do not need to be complete characters. The level of completeness of an NPC is directly related to their level of intended interaction with the players. And to a lesser extent their role in the campaign or in a given…