Part Two: Raccoon Wrangler

So you drew the short straw, eh? Here’s some advice for running a game session.

Safety

Everyone at the table, including players and you, the Raccoon Wrangler (RW), should feel safe exploring themes, characters, and storylines that may fall outside everyday conversation. RWs and players should discuss which themes or topics will be in the game, which won’t, and which might appear only briefly.

Everyone at the table must feel comfortable saying the following at any time, without fear of judgment:

• Pause: Take a break from the current scene.
• Rewind: Revisit a prior situation or decision.
• Stop: Remove the scene from the game entirely and steer toward a different scenario. If a Stop is called, don't debate its merits; just move on.

Golden Rules

1. People Matter More Than Games
2. Fun Matters More Than Rules
3. Make Player Choices Matter

Improvisation

First up, this is all improv. Improvisation is simply making something up on the spot. In role-playing games, improvisation allows RWs to create responses to player actions and events in the game narrative that they didn’t anticipate. If you can think on your feet and devise creative solutions, you can keep the game moving and enjoyable even when things don’t go as you planned.

"As a GM [Raccoon Wrangler] trying to bring actor-style improv to your game, it's your job to say 'yes' whenever a player makes an offer and to encourage the other players to make and accept offers as well."

— Filamena Young, Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters (Engine Publishing, 2014).

Never question the whole raccoon thing — play it straight. Run with the hijinks the players dream up, and throw zany encounters and odd situations their way. Make your players make lots and lots of important decisions.

So, when do you roll the dice? As Filamena Young says:

"There will be times when you'll have to say 'no' or otherwise not accept an offer. … In improv theatre, this is called 'blocking,' and it isn't conducive to advancing the story or improving the show. However, you have something that actors don't have! You have dice. As soon as someone blocks an offer, you have a conflict in the game. … Pick up the dice and find out."

The RW’s Prime Directive

Never block your players. If something is risky or uncertain, let the dice decide. Otherwise, just let it happen. “Yes, and” is your tool; never say “no”. Let a dice roll decide “no”, then spin the results back into more hijinks and more decisions.

Complications

When players accept a partial success on a die roll, it’s a success for now, but it comes with a tradeoff: complications. It’s now your turn to shine as the RW. Your players are essentially saying, “Bring it on!” The complications you introduce in response to their partially successful actions raise the stakes and add interesting twists to the narrative.

You can always default to adding a point of stress to the raccoons when in doubt, but introducing additional obstacles and circumstances into the narrative is more fun. Consider:

• Add a new threat: A big dog comes sniffing around.
• Split the party: Clunk. The dumpster lid closed.
• Use up their gear: Ugh, the beer bottles shattered when the car bounced over that speed bump.
• Give them an ongoing condition: The munchies (they really need to find some food).

Make your complications fun, odd, and essential. Bring it on!

Structure

The game session will likely go like this:

1. The smack wakes up at night in a hollow log, a ditch, or another green spot in a large urban setting, ready for adventure.
2. Introduce everyone and review their backstories for inspiration. Important: always address your players by their raccoon names.
3. The smack sets out to find gear and beverages — hijinks.
4. The smack steals a car — hijinks.
5. The smack races their rivals — hijinks.

Place This in an Actual City

Pick a city you all know. Google Maps Street View is now your friend and battle map.

Find an actual park, riverside area, or wooded section of the city to serve as your adventure's starting point. Then use Street View to identify likely nearby dumpsters and parking lots. Zoom in to spot fancy, racy-looking cars parked in those lots. Find some twisting, isolated stretches of road on Google Maps to stage the race.

Always tie the action and encounters to your actual city and its local flavor and locations. The authenticity of imagining raccoons digging in real dumpsters and driving cars on real roads makes for enjoyable sessions. “Oh yeah, I see a convenience store three blocks over. They have a big orange dumpster on Street View. Let’s head there. And you’ll have to run across a busy highway. But there’s a clump of trees in the median. Wow. Check out that Corvette in the parking lot.”

Set the whole adventure during a Spring Break weekend or at a citywide festival or sporting event. That'll provide plenty of potential beer and inebriated tourists for the smack to interact with.

I guarantee you'll always smile whenever you pass a location from the game in real life.

Conducting a Race

The fun of the car race lies in the chaos that erupts when driving actions are revealed simultaneously. The players must never coordinate or collaborate on these moves.

You might randomly determine the opponent’s driving actions or set them manually to maximize chaos and challenge. Throw obstacles in the players’ path and add twists and turns to the racecourse. Go big, go gonzo — jumps, cars ramming each other, a destruction derby, and attackers leaping onto other cars.

Don't play crashes realistically — add a point of stress to all the raccoons in the car, then describe sideswipes, dented fenders, scratched paint, and flying sparks. Introduce a complication or require outcome rolls, but keep the action and the race moving.

Use toy cars and draw a racecourse on paper for in-person play, or load a virtual tabletop with car tokens for an online session. Move the car by its length for each acceleration action. Wing it and make it fun!

Tables

Here are a few random tables to jumpstart your creativity.

What kind of beer?

2d6	Beer
2	Ugh! Skunked
3–5	Light
6–9	IPA
10–11	Dark
12	Ugh! Some fruity mess

Have the munchies?

d6	Desired Food
1	Cheetos
2	Donuts
3	Hot wings
4	Ice cream
5	Pizza
6	Tacos

Trouble?

d6	Trouble
1	Mean kids
2	Drunk college students
3	Puzzled cops
4	Rival smack
5	A slavering dog
6	Animal control hell-bent on catching you

The reaction of the human or other animal?

2d6	Reaction
2–4	Unfriendly
5–9	Indifferent
10–12	Friendly

What's this human's attitude?

2d6	Attitude
2	Mean
3–4	Bored
5–9	Stupid
10–11	Nice
12	Drunk

Opponent's race car?

d6	Type	Color
1	Tokyo drifter	Striped
2	Convertible Volkswagen Bug	Art car
3	Monster truck	Camo
4	Lamborghini	Candy red
5	Muscle car belching flame	Silver
6	Mad Max battle wagon with grappling hook cannon	Rusty