The How’s and Why’s of a Ranger Knockoff.
I love Shadowdark RPG. One of my first missions in life was to expand the character class options. The four standard classes are great, but I have so many ideas for more. I love the Arcane Library/Kelsey to pieces, and this is not a criticism of Shadowdark at all.
Before I got to back Shadowdark on Kickstarter, I was heavily into a project I came up with for Old School Essentials. Which I really like and may even convert the Shadowdark stuff back someday. My love for these two games and Dungeon Crawl Classics has become my focus over that one game by those Wizards guys.
Shadowdark has so much room for expansion.
It’s a little like getting in on the ground floor of Gygax’s original RPG before a certain corporation got involved and more or less ruined it. Shadowdark is a game unpolluted by thirteen classes each with a minimum of three subclasses and more. My goal is not to jam 39 classes on top of Shadowdark.
My goal is to add caster classes and a few martial/stealthy options to the game. Two of my classes are brand new to any game because I’m creating them from the ground up not to look like a standard wizard or priest character. I love the four core classes, but I want to do more. MORE I say!
I watched Kelsey build the Ranger and the Bard on her livestreams, (Links for the Ranger and the Bard.) The Ranger especially seemed like it could go so many other ways. I’m a big fan of Rangers and Sorcerers, so be aware that some of my ideas revolve heavily around these two classes.
Deciding what to name things.
The word “Venator” is Latin for Hunter. I didn’t want to use English, German, Spanish, or Italian. Hunter is a class in World of Warcraft, and I didn’t want to confuse my audience. I also know Hunter might imply traps and/or pets.
Latin comes up in my homebrew worlds as the language of dragons and mages. Gnomes often speak Spanish. My goal with nomenclature in Shadowdark works is to get away from the everyday terms we’re used to in practically every game there is out there.
I know the debate over semantics came up recently in the OG elf game. My language changes have very little to do with inclusion and diversity, although I do still look out for those issues. I want my sourcebooks to be a safe space for people.
Tossing Feudal Europe and Asia out the window.
My own unique worldview came from looking at Numenera and Cypher System: Godforsaken. They got me thinking about what a fantasy world would look like without all of our medieval European fantasy tropes. What if Conan, Lord of the Rings, and the rest of Appendix N didn’t exist. (For those who might not know, Appendix N is the list of books found in the First Edition 🦆🦆&🦆 DMG.)
Seriously, I think there are a lot of revolutionary fantasy ideas out there if we can somehow divorce ourselves from every campaign needing barbarians, elves, and evil wizards. The same is true of character classes. I have six caster classes in mind that have almost nothing to do with western fantasy as we understand it now, all for Shadowdark.
While this whole concept isn’t very, umm…OSR of me, it is something fun and Shadowdark provides the perfect engine to make it happen. I can still pull in all the same old dungeon monsters we all love. I’m not completely reinventing the wheel when it comes to some spells. I’m still trying to follow Kelsey’s examples when it comes to spells and magic item creation.
The Venator itself is one of many interpretations of the Ranger that are possible.
I wanted a Ranger that was as savvy with ranged weapons as a basic Fighter, but with all of the shiny tracking, hunting, and foraging skills of the Ranger. The Venator is loosely based on Kraven the Hunter from Marvel comics or one of Robin Hood’s Merry Men. They’re civilized folk who are good with a bow/crossbow and prefer to spend their time in nature.
I think the herbalism idea is great for giving the Ranger a separate and distinct skillset from the four core classes, but it wasn’t built to be quite as aggressing as some players would like. One of my next Ranger variants will likely tackle more of the spellcasting/half caster notion. I’m also debating about a more stabby scout class of Ranger closer to the Rogue, possibly.
We all kinda scoffed at the Ranger’s spellcasting ability back in the days of that other elf game. Why would they have Wizard Spells? Did they just sneak off to the woods and read? Huh? Not very Robinson Crusoe in some ways.
I wanted the Venator to be the kind of Ranger that would have made my dear old dad proud. I wanted a Ranger whose primary skills were hunting, fishing, and trapping for “regular” game animals. The Venator was intended to be pretty much a regular North American mountain man. I wanted a character who could live off the land, but still find themselves fitting in with the party.
Changes will be coming to the Venator as time progresses.
The first version was posted the other night. After reviewing the site today, I’ve decided to go back and tweak a few minor things. If nothing else I noticed the formatting looks a little janky. (Oops.) I also wanted to add the fishing component in more clearly.
Venators should be the ideal character for helping their party set up camp for the night. They are also excellent sentries. They are ranged strikers in combat. (*Y’all thought I forgot 4th Ed, didn’t you.)
The trick was not to have the character possess some ability that could trump another class. No one would want a Fighter if they could make a character that can swing a sword or shoot a bow better. No one wants to make a Rogue if the Ranger can out-stealth them and disarm traps.
It’s the old notion of who needs a party if one character can sneak, fight, heal, and/or cast better than the four core classes. Multi role characters that aren’t balanced with other classes make the game less interesting for the other players. I never want anyone to say, “Oh, we have a Venator. Let us know when his turn is over so we can mop up again.”
Thanks for being here today. I appreciate all of you so darn much right now. Our USA day of gratitude rapidly approaches. I’m super happy and thankful to have readers!
Jeff's Game Box 