Rangers is an RPG set in the galaxy of the 27th Century. The players play Rangers, interstellar lawmen on the Galactic Frontier. Rangers are a cross between the French Foreign Legion, the Texas Rangers, and Bounty Hunters. This setting is unique in that the characters are not military, yet fly advanced combat spacecraft. They wield authority, yet they are not standard police because they fly where they are needed, responding to trouble wherever it develops. They answer to no one except Ranger Support who keeps track of them and sends them on missions. Rangers are typical Player Characters: tough, independent, and unpredictable.
Rangers is similar to Star Wars in both technology level and scope. Interstellar travel is common and technology is sturdy and practical.
Key differences between the Rangers universe and the Star Wars universe include:
- Rangers takes place in our own galaxy, 600 years in the future. This allows for the inclusion of familar Earth references and items without explanation.
- Rangers are law enforcers and have authority, they aren't Rebels or smugglers or Bounty Hunters who run from the law.
- Rangers isn't as mythic or as fantastic as Star Wars. It's closer to the Old West in its scope and type of story.
- Rangers also can cover Star Trek style exploration stories. The Frontier is new and exciting, who knows what's out there?
- There's no mysticism in Rangers. It's purely science fiction on the Wild Frontier.
Rangers uses the Star Wars RPG 1st Edition rules. This allows easy acquisition of statistics, ships, droids, and weapons directly from the Star Wars RPG without modification. Also, it allows the inclusion of the less "Star Warsy" creations of the RPG, such as power armors, covert operations gear, and cyberpunkish technology, to be used without guilt.
Several items not used from Star Wars include the Dark Side Point, which has no bearing in Rangers as there is no Force, and, of course, technological items such as lightsabers or holocrons.
I have decided to stay with the 1st Edition rules and not use the 2nd Edition Star Wars rules for several reasons.
- It is the one I am most familiar with.
- I hate the Wild Die.
- I prefer the simplicity and overall cinmatic quality of the 1st Edition rules over the detail-oriented 2nd Edition rules.
Having said that, I am using several systems from the 2nd Edition that I find useful. I am using the 2nd edition scaling system for it's simplicity.
I have also made some rules changes not found in either system to suit my own GM style. These include:
- Custom Movement rules. Movement uses the Speed Code from the 1st edition, but has several modifications.
- Custom turn order and action order determination. Declaration is based on Perception while action order is based on Dexterity.
The Complete revised Star Wars combat rules, optimized for Rangers are available for download in RTF format.