The Ranger
Wilderness guide for travel, tracking, supply, and old roads.
- HP
- 18
- Load
- light: ≤3 | normal: 4-6 | heavy: 7-9
Your true home is out there. Away from the Old Roads, in the wild places, where you've faced storm and beast alike. But unknown forces are at work beyond the Ringwall, and you fear for your kith and kin. These are strange times. Guide them, ranger, and keep them safe when darkness falls.
The Ranger is Stonetop's eyes beyond the Ringwall: a tracker, hunter, and wilderness scout who reads trails, lays camp safe, and looses arrows where no one else dares walk. Many bond soul-deep to a beast of the wild — a wordless companion they range the Great Wood and the wider world alongside, catching trouble before it reaches the village gate.
Driven by Adventure, Independence, Stewardship, Tenacity, or Wonder.
Through the Worldly move, a seasoned Ranger borrows talents from The Blessed, The Fox, The Heavy, The Marshal, or The Seeker.
Animal Companion
A beast of uncommon loyalty and cleverness, treated as a follower bonded to the Ranger without words. You pick its type (bird, critter, brute, predator, or steed), which fixes its HP, armor, and damage die, then choose extra traits, an Instinct, and a Cost you must pay to keep it. It holds 0-3 Loyalty earned by paying that cost, spent one-for-one to make it overcome fear, resist its instinct, or do something it would rather not. It grows stronger through Magnificent Specimen (more options) and Beast of Legend (exceptional stats or a unique trait).
Worked through Animal Companion.
Playbook Moves
Starting Moves
Advanced Moves (Levels 2–5)
- A Safe Place
- Animal Companion
- Big Game Hunter
- Blot Out the Sun
- Call the Shot
- Improved Stat
- Magnificent Specimen
- Naturalist
- On the Hoof
- Pack Horse
- Pathfinder
- Predator
- Sniff Out Corruption
- Stalker
- Survivalist
- Warden of the Wild
- Wild Speech
- Worldly
Advanced Moves (Levels 6–10)
Backgrounds
Mighty Hunter
The best hunter of the Great Wood the town has seen in generations. You know every part of the Wood within a two-day march.
- **Bonus move:** Expert Tracker
- **Bonus move:** Stalker
Wide Wanderer
You've travelled much of the known world, and perhaps parts beyond. When you Know Things about the wider world, roll +WIS instead of +INT; when you return somewhere you've been, the GM tells you how it's changed. Add Ennis (Marshedge), Shahar (Gordin's Delve), Yannic (the Hillfolk), Tovia (Lygos), and Sasca (the northern Manmarch) to Stonetop's Neighbors, choosing a trait for each.
- **Bonus move:** Mental Map
Beast-Bonded
You grew up civilized, but your soul is bound to a beast of the wild — closer to it than to any man or woman.
- **Bonus move:** Animal Companion