The Free Rangers Club

The backyard is a kingdom. Lunch is the deadline. The Free Rangers Club is a group of neighborhood kids who treat every Saturday like a campaign. In this issue you follow the Walsh brothers—Ethan, Andrew, and Travis—plus their neighbor Billy Reed and the family’s golden retriever, Moose. The Queen has charged them with recovering a magical wand. If it is not back before lunch, a brood of trolls may trample the kingdom to bits. What this is: A complete solo tabletop RPG about childhood imagination, written for the adult who still remembers it. Combat is light, silly, and decisive: gravel goblins steal shoes, a crow might be a spy, and two failed rounds in a row means a heroic retreat to the last safe flagstone. Sessions are short enough to finish in an evening. What you need: This booklet One four-sided die A standard deck of playing cards Paper and a pencil for notes Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a cozy, low-prep solo game that still has a map, a quest, and a fight when the garden gnome moves. It is written as a G-rated, child-safe adventure, and also as a nostalgia piece for adults whose inner child still knows exactly which bush was the Spider Queen’s lair. If the game is received well, I have ideas enough for future supplements of The Free Rangers and introducing more of the neighborhood kids. We'll see how it goes.