Raccoon Sky Pirates is just what it says on the tin
The janky trash ship of a game has taken flight on Kickstarter.
The Kickstarter to bring back Raccoon Sky Pirates funded in under four hours! It's now blown through four stretch goals and is on track to unlock three more.
Before it went out of print, Raccoon Sky Pirates was a consistent top-three seller on Indie Press Revolution. Now, Hectic Electron Games seeks to make it available again for good.
Although a previous, canceled Kickstarter tried to make a bigger deal out of the game, with a higher price point, this is the "don't f#ck with it" edition—the original box set that thousands have enjoyed. For dedicated "Advanced RSP" players, the campaign offers extras to expand their piratical horizons.
What Is This Game Exactly?
Raccoon Sky Pirates is a GM-less story game where you play raccoons—or possums, pigeons, rats or roaches—who build a flying ship out of trash, sail it to a suburban house, get in, steal everything you can before the lights come on, and try to make it back home before your ship explodes.
Players can complete an entire epic voyage in as little as two hours, making this the ideal beer-and-pretzels "filler" game. It takes place across three structured acts, with maps for traveling through the neighborhood and four houses to pillage.
On each turn, the player rolls a d12 to find out what they do—because raccoons don't really know before they do it. Based on the player's choices, that action may be helpful or not. When it's unhelpful, the Disaster Track ticks up, leading to expulsion from the house or explosion on the ship.
The mechanics don't overly anthropomorphize the trash animals. They seem like their real-world selves, with the addition of a single—albeit improbable—technological leap.
Ok. So What's the Kickstarter?
At the core of the stripped-down pledge tiers is the box set. It goes for just $29 + shipping and comes with the PDF.
Extras include gems from the canceled Total Chaos Edition, dumped into a second mailer box called the Junk Drawer. Despite the name, it includes work by accomplished artists Robbi A. Burns (Hinterlight, Prince of Hounds, The 7th Order), Kata Kemi (The Chronicles of Exandria) and Strega Wolf Van Den Berg (Lichoma).
Ultimate fans can get all of the above plus:
- A dumpster fire mini at wargaming scale
- A t-shirt and enamel pin, both featuring the panicking raccoon from the cover
- A flat-pack wooden dice tower kit shaped like a dumpster fire
With appreciation toward friendly local game stores, the retailer tier allows FLGSs to order 3 or more box sets at 50%.
The designer, Chrys Sellers, seemed surprised the campaign reached its goal as soon as it did. "I was gobsmacked, to be honest," she said, as if she weren't writing about herself. "We had to scramble to figure out our stretch goals."
The other unlocked expansions are:
- A four-story haunted house, full of secret rooms, unsuspecting monsters, and over 100 spooky possessions to steal.
- "Black Flag Friday," where your raccoons raid a big-box store right before it opens for its Black Friday sale. To be delivered this November.
- "Raccoon-Rockets' Red Glare," imagining your raccoons flying across a sky full of fireworks to raid the White House. What could possibly go wrong?
More expansions yet to be unlocked:
- "Raccoons Save Christmas": After Santa crash-lands in the junkyard, you use his magical belongings to invade a suburban house and leave them your idea of the perfect Christmas gifts.
- "Raccoons Are for Lovers": Find the perfect gift to win the heart of a fellow trash animal.
- "Raccoon Space Pirates": Travel across the galaxy to raid a wealthy imperial planet and, hopefully, return to your Junkworld home.
- "Raccoon Time Pirates": Hop across history to raid the perfect moment. Good luck getting back to your own time, little bandits!
To Follow the Drama
Go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hecticelectron/raccoon-sky-pirates-classic. The campaign runs until noon on October 31st.
