Raccoon

Raccoon
P i r a t e s
S k y
A game for 3 to 6 raccoons
"Madcap fun!"
—Avery Alder
Raccoon Sky Pirates
Published by Hectic Electron, LLC
PO Box 14294
Columbus, OH 43214
www.hecticelectron.com
copyright ©2020–2021 Chris Sellers
All rights reserved
Kickstarter Edition
August 2021
Print ISBN: 978-1-7339300-2-4
PDF ISBN: 978-1-7339300-3-1
Printed in the United States
Game Design, Writing, Layout and Illustrations: Chris Sellers
Playtesters:
Bethany Harvey, Brandon Brylawski, Cosmic Beagle, Flavio Mortarino - GrumpyBear-
Stuff, Horst Wurst, Jason Yoakam, Jeffrey @JeffreyJeffrawr, Lowell Francis, Mander
Zander, Matthew Arcilla, Michelle Welcks, Mike Sellers, Nicholas Timperio, Paul Sand-
els, Scott Lanski, Sean Tu, Shelly DeForte, and Stephen Smith.
This game was made on the ancestral and contemporary territory of the Shawnee,
Delaware, Myaamia, Seneca, and Wyandotte peoples. They were officially robbed
of this land in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville, then forcibly removed by the Indian
Removal Act of 1830. Despite all this, Indigenous people continue to live and thrive
here. Please support them at https://narf.org.
Contents
1. The View from the Rooftops��2
2. The Shared Story��3
3. You, the Facilitator��4
4. Choose Your Raccoon & Define Your Relationships��5
5. Build Your Ship��6
6. Set Up Complications Decks & Draw Cards��7
7. When to Roll��8
8. Resolving a Roll��9
8. Example:��10
9. The Scenes of the Game��11
10. Arming the Neighborhood Watch��12
10. Playing Complications Cards��13
10. Example:��13
11. Victory Conditions��18
12. Next Time��18
13. A Pirate's Life��19
13. Extras��20
14. Raccoon Facts��21
15. Raccoon Character Sheets��22
16. Neighborhoods Map��28
17. Ship Sheet��30
18. House Sheets��32
19. Ship Trash List��38
20. House Trash List��40
21. Alternate Trash Animal Character Sheets��43
22. Acknowledgments��56
1
1. The View from the Rooftops
This is a game in which you and your friends play raccoons. You live
in the junkyard, which is full of wonderful trash. Yet you are discon-
tent—for you know even better trash is out there. So you invented an
implausible floating ship out of parts from the junkyard, then hatched
a risky scheme to fly through suburbia by night in search of treasure.
Flying a ship takes coordination and discipline. Unfortunately, you’re
a bunch of raccoons.
This game is meant to be light in tone, with slapstick violence es-
calating to madcap antics. It takes place over five episodes, called
Scenes, that take you from your junkyard to the suburban house you’ll
be looting and back. In each Scene, each player describes what their
raccoon does. Whenever you do something risky, you roll dice to see
what happens next. When this happens, you pick an Approach (one of
three adjectives assigned to your raccoon) and roll a 12-sided die to
find out what you do. This means what you do is random—you are a
raccoon, after all. Every Action is tagged with one or more Approaches;
if the Action that you roll is tagged with the Approach you picked, then
what you do is helpful. If the Action you roll doesn’t align with your
Approach, what you do is unhelpful. You can save it by playing a Com-
plication Card once per Scene, which adds a Complication to the story.
Otherwise, you have to mark a Problem on one of the Problem Tracks.
When you mark the last Problem on either track, calamity strikes!
A lot of the fun is in making sense of random situations and describ-
ing the limitless possibilities of seemingly useless pieces of trash.
To play, you will need:
• Three to six players
• About three hours
• The Deck of Complications if you have it, or else a regular deck
of poker cards.
• At least one 12-sided die; ideally one per player
• Copies of the Character Sheets, Ship Sheet, and House Sheet,
which you can download from www.hecticelectron.com/
raccoon-sky-pirates/. For people playing online, that’s where you
can find tools like a character keeper and digital cards.
• Pencils to fill out your Character Sheets, track your points, and
draw your ship.
2
2. The Shared Story
A role-playing game, including this one, is basically a story that you
and your friends tell together, with a few rules to make it clear what
happens when someone tries something risky.
Everyone contributes to the story. You describe what your raccoon
does, sees, or thinks. You might talk in the third person (“Brisket Jack
eyes the gathering storm clouds”) or in the first person (“I coil my body
and leap for the top shelf”). What does the ship look like? What part of
it are you in? Do you each have a station, or are you all just skittering
around from place to place?
Here are some tips from improv theatre, which shares a lot with
role-playing: When considering what to say, be obvious—the first
thing to pop in your head is often the best—and build on what other
players have said. The situation will give you some prompts.
When someone says their raccoon is doing something risky, call for a
roll. This is called rolling an Action, and one or more players can do it.
The result tells everyone how the risky act pans out.
You’re a raccoon, so you don’t really know what you’re going to do from
one moment to the next. So, when you roll, you’re rolling to see what
you do. This is a departure from typical role-playing games, where you
first choose what you want to do and roll to see if you succeed.
The core of the game is how you all weave a story out of each risky
situation, the random Actions done to meet it, and the Complications.
In this book, the word “Trash” means both things found in the
junkyard and things found in a swanky suburban home. Trash is
anything that can be useful, and anything can be useful. Trash is
wonderful and glorious.
Even in a game as light as this one, setting boundaries on the shared

story is healthy. One tool to do that is the X Card designed by John
Stavropoulos (http://tinyurl.com/x-card-rpg). It’s just a card with an
X on it that sits on the table. If anyone introduces content you don’t
want in the story, tap the card. Everyone rewinds, and the story contin-
ues without that content.
3
3. You, the Facilitator
Unlike many role-playing games, in this game, everyone plays an
equal part. There’s no “Game Master” who single-handedly creates the
setting and plays all the non-raccoons. Regardless, someone has to
keep things moving, and since you’re reading this, that’s you. Go ahead
and read the rest of these rules. Then, when you play, do the following:
1. Guide your fellow players through Choosing their Raccoons and
Building the Ship (Sections 4 and 5).
2. Tell them about the basic loop (Section 8): Whenever a raccoon
tries to do something risky (which is most of the time), their player
picks an Approach and rolls to see what they do. If the Action is
unhelpful, they can rescue the situation once per Scene by playing
a card. Otherwise, they mark a Problem.
3. Make sure everyone draws Complication cards at the start of every
Scene, and discards unplayed cards at the end of every Scene.
4. In a few words, set up what each Scene is about (Section 9).
5. At the start of Scene 4, mark Spotted on the Ship Sheet.
Your fellow players can help you with everything else.
4
4. Choose Your Raccoon & Define Your Relation-
ships
Pick a raccoon from the Character Sheets. The characters are:
• Brisket Jack the swashbuckler, who is Deft, Cunning, and Stylish
• Maria Triple-XL the colossus, who is Strong, Deft, and Brave
• Vibrissa the inventor, who is Cunning, Inventive, and YOLO
• Torch Key the daring thief, who is Sneaky, Deft, and Precise
• Kit the littlest raccoon, who is Sneaky, Sensitive, and YOLO
• Rabies Eddie the untameable beast, who is Strong, Aggressive,
and YOLO
Each raccoon has a different set of three Approaches, and a different
set of 12 possible Actions. Approaches are listed above, and Approach-
es and Actions are listed on the Character Sheets.
Once you have picked the raccoon you want to play, write down their
pronouns and choose a Look. Tell everyone your choices.
Write down one thing you want to get on this raid and how it can im-
prove life in the junkyard, and tell people what it is.
Then pick a Personal Goal. At the end of the game, if you have met
your personal goal, you can improve your list of Actions. Achieving
your personal goal at the expense of your crewmates lets you improve
your character even more.
Choose one of the Relationship questions on your sheet (or make up
your own) and ask it of another player. Use it to build up a story of
how you all know each other and what your life is like in the junkyard.
Make sure everyone gets a chance to answer a question. Write down
the name of the raccoon who answered your question and what the
answer was.
5
5. Build Your Ship
Take out the Ship Sheet. First, one player should decide how the ship
floats, picking from the list of options or making up their own.
Your ship also has two Strengths. It could be fast, quiet, sturdily ar-
mored, well-built, maneuverable, well-armed, or sleek & stealthy.
Let a different player pick each one. All the ones you don’t pick are
Liabilities: slow, noisy, vulnerable, rickety, hard to steer, unarmed, and
big & obvious. When you’re flying the ship, narrating a Liability into
the story is one of the things that can make a player roll for an Action.
Similarly, describing how a Strength helps you can save you from hav-
ing to roll an Action.
Your ship is made of many things, most of which you’ll discover in
flight. But you know it’s made of at least three things: a wrecked car, a
home appliance, and an old carnival ride. Each piece gives you some-
thing your ship can do, either when you roll an Action that mentions
them, or just when doing another Action. Let a different player pick
each one, then mark it on the Ship Sheet.
You are all justifiably proud of the Dumpster Fire. Sure, it shakes con-
stantly, it drops rusty parts onto the street below, and it could blow at
any moment. But stars, it sure is fine. What does it look like?
Likely sections include an engine room, propellers or other machines
for thrust, a bridge and helm, flaps or wings for steering, the flotation
mechanism itself, a map room, a galley where food is prepared, and
a lookout. What else does the ship contain? In what precarious ways
is it held together? What sounds does it make? How does it smell?
What frantic measures are needed to keep it afloat? You don’t have to
work it all out at once—ideas will come to you throughout the game’s
Scenes.
If you’re so inclined, start to sketch out the ship on the Ship Sheet. If
you’re playing this online, you can drag images onto a shared sketch
program like Google’s Slides or another of the many free options.
6
6. Set Up Complications Decks & Draw Cards
Complications Cards add wrinkles to each Scene. You can use either
the special Complications Deck made for this game, or a deck of poker
cards referring to the tables below. If you use poker cards, you may
want to write the tag for each card on its face.
At the start of the game, shuffle each of the deck’s four suits separate-
ly and place them face down in four stacks.
Black suits are for the ship, and red suits are for the house. Specifically,
clubs are for Scene 1, diamonds are for Scene 2, hearts are for Scene
3, and spades are for Scene 4.
At the start of each of the first four Scenes, each player draws a hand
of 3 Complication Cards from the suit that matches the Scene. If there
are 5 or more players, a hand is just 2 cards. At the end of the Scene,
everyone discards their unplayed cards and draws a new hand from
the next Scene’s deck.
7
7. When to Roll
As everyone talks about the Scene and what they’re doing, moments
when someone should roll include:
• Moving from one space to another on the Neighborhoods Map.
• Trying to steal something from a spot on the Neighborhoods
Map.
• Any time a raccoon brings one of the ship’s Liabilities or Quirks
into play.
• Any time a raccoon runs afoul of one of the house’s Features
(listed on the House Sheet).
• When a raccoon tries to steal something from the house.
• When a raccoon fights or tries to escape one of the residents.
• When the raccoons race against, or fight back against, the Neigh-
borhood Watch or a ship of rival trash animals.
• When a raccoon tries to fix a Problem. This is a “double or noth-
ing” scenario: If you succeed, you unmark at most 1 row on the
Problem Track. But if you fail, and you can’t play a Complication
Card, you mark at least 1 new row.
This covers most things. Almost everything in a pirate’s life is risky.
8
8. Resolving a Roll
It will usually be obvious who needs to roll. However, any number of
players can pile on to try to help. Whoever calls for the roll may also
say that a certain number of raccoons are required to resolve it. For in-
stance, piloting the ship can take multiple crew members, and bigger
Trash items in the house take more raccoons to move them.
The roll’s result, and how you narrate it, will determine if you resolved
things satisfactorily and if you did what you set out to do.
To resolve any risk, do the following steps:
• Declare which Approach you are using.
• Roll a 12-sided die and compare it to your list of Actions.
• If the Action corresponding to your die result is tagged with the
Approach you declared, your Action is helpful. Describe how you
solve the problem or contribute to solving it. If you just can’t see
how the listed Action is relevant to what’s going on, make up
something else you’re doing that’s helpful.
• If the Action matching your die result is not tagged with the ap-
proach you called, you have a choice:
ú Your Action is unhelpful. Mark a Problem on the Problem
Track, on either the House Sheet or the Ship Sheet depend-
ing on where you are. Describe how your Action adds to the
chaos. If a Complication Card is in play whose tag matches
the tag of one of the unmarked Problems on the same track,
mark that Problem as well. Describe how each new Problem
escalates the Scene.
ú Your Action is still somehow helpful. Once per Scene, play
a Complication Card from your hand in the middle of the
table. Only the player who rolled can play a card for this
Action. Describe how your Action helps, and separately, how
the Complication affects the situation going forward.
• All for One and One for All: When more than one raccoon partici-
pates in a roll, everyone rolls their dice at once. If you don’t like
the die result you got, place your die in the middle of the table.
If someone else places their die in the middle of the table and
that die result works better for you, take that die and leave yours
on the table. Both the die result and the die itself are yours, and
someone else must take the die you left behind.
The next time something risky comes up, let the players who have not
9
yet acted in the Scene be the ones to resolve it. Find ways for every-
one to participate in every Scene.
Sometimes, the way the story goes means that you just have to mark
a Problem, regardless of the roll. For instance, if you make a lot of
noise in the master bedroom, you’re probably waking up one of the
residents. Mark the relevant Problem on the relevant Track when this
happens.
Example:
The raccoons are in Scene 1, flying the ship from one area to the
next. To move the ship from the Office Buildings to the Super-
market, someone needs to roll. Vibrissa steps up. Her player, Janet,
says, “I’m picking ‘Inventive’ for my approach.” Janet rolls and gets
a 10. On Vibrissa’s character sheet, this is: “If it doesn’t fit, force
it.” It’s tagged as both Inventive and YOLO, so the Action is help-
ful. Janet says, “I take out a mallet and whack on the rudder over
and over, navigating us through the glass canyons of the office
buildings and to the supermarket. I can smell rotten vegetables
wafting up from the dumpsters in back.” Everyone is relieved to
have made it this far.
Next, Miguel says, “Hey, we should get a shopping cart! Rabies
Eddie wants to investigate the supermarket.” Janet suggests this
is a roll too. “Okay,” Miguel says, “I’m taking the approach of ‘YOLO.’
I’m just going for it.” However, he rolls a 5, “Jettison or toss the first
thing you see.” This is tagged as Strong but not YOLO. Because
Miguel has already played a Complication card in this Scene,
he has to mark a Problem. Earlier, Taylor had marked Problem 1,
“Straining”; now Miguel marks Problem 2, “Jammed.” Miguel says,
“I went down there with a big crane claw to get a cart, but then
some guy in a Jeep SUV started honking his horn at me. Without
thinking, I threw the crane claw at his windshield and shimmied
up the chain. Now we’re on our way again, but we’re pulling this
SUV after us.” Taylor asks, “Is the guy still in the Jeep?” “Definitely,”
says Miguel.
10
9. The Scenes of the Game
1. Fly the Ship: You are all in the ship. At the beginning of the Scene,
you launch. What’s that like? Is the ship teetered on a mountain of
trash? Is it already floating, tethered to the ground with wires and
old rope? Or is it loaded into a giant cannon?
Pilot your ship from the junkyard, past the light-industrial district
and the mixed-use business-residential district, into the suburbs.
Track your progress on the Neighborhoods Map (see Section 19).
You start at the upper left and move toward one of the four differ-
ent houses. Roll to move from one space to the next on the map.
Describe the perils of each new space on the map. You can also at-
tempt to acquire new Trash to help you in your raid on the house.
This also triggers a roll.
2. Board the House: You have found a ripe, free-standing house with
a garage and cable internet. You may be in the ship or on the
house. This Scene lasts just long enough for you to secure the ship
so it doesn’t drift off and find a way inside.
3. Steal Trash: Behold the deluxe glory of the suburban house, from
the overcluttered attic to the plush bedroom, the high-tech liv-
ing room, “smart” kitchen, cream wall-to-wall carpet, and deca-
dent man cave. Somewhere in this house, probably asleep, are two
adults, a teenager, a toddler, a dog, and a cat.
You are all in the house, with brief trips to the ship to stow your
haul. You don’t have to narrate taking the stuff to the ship unless
it’s interesting to play it out.
Using the House Map (Section 18) for the house you’ve invaded,
indicate in which room each of you starts. As players, you may find
it helpful to put a marker on the map representing your raccoon.
To help you decide where to go and what to take, look on your
Character Sheet for the one thing you wanted to improve in the
junkyard. Also look at the House Trash list (Section 20) for sugges-
tions of things to steal.
Write down each thing you steal on the Ship Sheet. At the end,
you’ll compare the number of things to the Victory Conditons ta-
ble in Section 11.
If/when the residents find you, you have to flee. This involves at
least one roll for each raccoon.
4. Escape: You are all in the ship. Fly back to the junkyard, loaded
11
down with Trash. If it’s not marked yet, mark the Spotted row on the
Ship Sheet’s Track, because the Neighborhood Watch’s drones, or
rival trash animals, have definitely seen you by now. On the Neigh-
borhoods Map, start at one of the houses on the right, and make
your way to the Junkyard in the upper left. Each move needs a roll.
5. Enjoy Your Ill-Gotten Gains: If your ship has not yet gone Boom!,
you arrive at the junkyard. You now have precious treasure in the
form of upper-middle-class gew-gaws and other assorted Trash.
Count up your Stolen Trash items and compare the number to the
Victory Conditions Table in Section 11. To what glorious uses do
you put your haul? Do you build a better life for yourselves? Or (as
is your due) do you simply ride around on a Roomba while wearing
a Tupperware bucket for a hat? (If your ship blew up, your score is
0, but you can rebuild it.)
Finally, see Section 12 to prepare for next time. You can upgrade
your ship, rebuild it, or expand your territory. You can also improve
your raccoon’s Actions.
Ballot Initiative 12: Arming the Neighbor-

hood Watch
Last year, in response to repeated predations by flying raccoons,
the township held a ballot initiative to fund a rapid response
force for the Neighborhood Watch. When you mark the Spotted
Condition, a swarm of quadcopter drones piloted by nosy neigh-
bors finds you and closes to attack, and humans in golf carts coor-
dinate from the streets below. The drones and carts are equipped
variously with mounted guns, grappling hooks, search lights, and
a surprisingly loud bullhorn. If you get Spotted in Scene 1, you
have to lose the drones before you can safely move on to Scene 2
and invade a house in peace. Don’t worry—they’ll find you again
in Scene 4.
12
10. Playing Complications Cards
Once per Scene, each player can play a Complication card. Only the
player(s) who rolled can play one. When you do, put the card in the
middle of the table where everyone can see it. The card should make
sense in the story somehow. If it contradicts a previous card, discard
the previous card. Describe how the Complication affects the situation
going forward. A card affects the whole Scene, not just the raccoon
who played it.
From then on, when you mark a Problem on the Problem Track, look
at all the Complication Cards in play, and the tags in the upper right
(or in the tables below). Compare those tags to the tags listed next to
the unmarked Problems in the Problems Track for your location (in
the Ship or in the House). If there are any matches with an unmarked
Problem, mark that Problem on the Track as well. Then deal with the
consequences.
Example:
It's Scene 4, Escape. The Ship Sheet already has Problem 3, "Spot-
ted," marked. Imani has just rolled an unhelpful Action, and she
has already played a card this Scene. So, she has to mark the next
Problem, #4, "Oops." She narrates how part of the engine burps
loudly, ejects itself, and falls to the street below.
Then she sees that among the cards on the table is the 7 of
Spades, the one that started the ship gaining altitude. The table
says this card is tagged with "Gears." So she also has to mark Prob-
lem 5, "Falling Apart," because that Problem has "Gears" written
next to it on the Ship Sheet. She describes how the initial engine
malfunction spreads to more parts of the ship, such that the drive
train is buckling. The Dumpster Fire is one step away from blow-
ing up.
Below is a list of every card in the Complications Deck, the corre-

sponding poker card, and the tag associated with it that could result
in your having to mark another Problem on one of the Problem Tracks.
13
Clubs Fly the Ship (Ship Sheet) Mark
next
Problem
if tag is
Ace Fog blankets the neighborhood, making it hard helm
to find your way.
2 A fierce storm pummels you, tossing your ship helm
like a toy.
3 Power lines and tree branches criss-cross the helm
neighborhood, making navigation difficult.
4 A piston or rudder is seizing up. helm
5 A murder of crows is harrying your ship, getting helm
in the way and generally being a pain in the
butt.
6 The full moon reveals your ship to anyone who noise
looks up.
7 An unruly stowaway is on your ship. noise
8 Air Traffic Control is contacting you. noise
9 A strong wind threatens to shake the whole ship rivets
apart.
10 A wing or fin is coming loose. rivets
Jack There’s just nothing holding these two parts of rivets
the ship together.
Queen The engine is belching smoke that it shouldn’t gears
and making an ominous chuddering noise.
King Several gears are losing teeth and flying off the gears
engine.
14
Dia- Board the House (House Sheet) Mark
monds next
Problem
if tag is
Ace The lawn gnome is looking at you funny. pet
2 The roof is slippery. pet
3 The lawn sprinkler keeps spraying you, making pet
it hard to work.
4 The line connecting the ship and the house is pet
tricky to walk.
5 The gutters and drainpipes are coming loose. pet
6 Tempting smells are wafting from the garbage pet
bin.
7 A family of squirrels in the eaves is alarmed by pet
your presence.
8 A group of rival trash animals is already in the pet
house.
9 The house cat has seen you. pet
10 Flood lights bathe the porch, yard and drive- human
way, exposing you.
Jack The home security system is armed. human
Queen The ship has gotten tangled in the house’s human
power line and might hit the chimney.
King Neighbors are looking out the window at you. human
15
Hearts Steal Trash (House Sheet) Mark
next
Problem
if tag is
Ace It’s eerily quiet, magnifying any noise you pet
make.
2 All horizontal surfaces in the common rooms pet
are covered in an obstacle course of fragile,
noisy tchotchkes.
3 Food has been left out in the kitchen and din- pet
ing room.
4 The house cat steps in and wants to make a pet
deal.
5 All the lights are on. human
6 A Roomba is patroling the downstairs. human
7 Most of the interior doors are locked. human
8 The vents are carrying sounds from the com- human
mon rooms to the bedrooms.
9 A baby monitor is in the kids’ room. human
10 Alexa has started responding to the noises human
you’re making.
Jack You’re leaving a mess in your wake. Describe panic
how.
Queen You’ve started something going that wasn’t panic
going before. Describe what it is.
King You broke something big to do what you just panic
did. Describe it.
16
Spades Escape (Ship Sheet) Mark
next
Problem
if tag is
Ace The Neighborhood Watch or a ship of rival rivets
trash animals is engaging in aerial acrobatics
with you.
2 The Neighborhood Watch or a ship of rival rivets
trash animals has set up a blockade.
3 Something that may be a mine is attached to rivets
the ship’s outer hull.
4 Freak weather is acting up, like a hailstorm or a rivets
tornado. Describe it.
5 The ship has smashed through buildings or rivets
landmarks, trailing streams of wreckage. What
is it, & how does it make it hard to fly?
6 Everything on the ship starts shaking apart. rivets
7 The ship’s flotation mechanism is acting unpre- gears
dictably for some reason. In what way?
8 The ship starts flying upside down. gears
9 The engine is going to explode if it doesn’t gears
cool down soon.
10 A giant magnet in the ship’s hold has acciden- gears
tally turned on. What is it doing? Why was it
even there in the first place?
Jack The Neighborhood Watch or a ship of rival explo-
trash animals has you in their sights. sion
Queen The Neighborhood Watch or a ship of rival explo-
trash animals has boarded you. sion
King Some weird, unprecedented thing is happen- explo-
ing, straight out of a sailor’s tale. What is it? sion
17
11. Victory Conditions
Compare your Stolen Trash Points to the list below to see how your
life in the junkyard changes:
0 You have nothing to show for your efforts except singed fur
and the story of the one that got away. This outcome is well
known to trash animals, and the whole junkyard listens sym-
pathetically. For some reason, it never keeps you from trying
again.
1–3 You have brought in a pretty haul, enough to live comfort-
ably for a season. Your star is on the rise in the junkyard, and
you get to choose the channel on the communal TV for the
next week.
4–7 You will be telling the story of this expedition for weeks, and
you can live off the loot through the next winter. The entire
junkyard celebrates you and scurries with a little extra strut
thanks to you.
8–10 You are pirate royalty, the pride or envy of all in the junk-
yard. Junkyards throughout the metropolitan area know your
names. They all dare greater because of you.
11+ You are legends. Trash folk for miles around tell of your
deeds, and life in the junkyard has changed forever. None
shall forget this night.
12. Next Time

Whether your current expedition ended in victory or defeat, your pi-
rate soul feels the lure of going out there again.
At the end of the game, if your ship has not gone Boom!, you can up-
grade your ship or expand the junkyard.
To upgrade your ship, change one Liability to a Strength, e.g., unmark
Noisy and mark Quiet instead. Then add a Quirk. Quirks are strange
things the ship does that nobody understands, often the result of what-
ever stress you put it under during your raid, or maybe making use of
some Trash you stole. The ship might change altitude unexpectedly, or
it might now have a giant sail made of solar panels. Maybe banging
on the dashboard causes the engines to stop and restart. Bringing a
Quirk into play means someone needs to roll. Also, when your Action
18
roll says to use the ship’s car, home appliance, or carnival ride, you can
choose to use a Quirk instead. Don’t make a Quirk too ornamental; it
needs to be substantial enough to affect the Scene, for good or bad.
To expand the junkyard, mark an area on the Neighborhoods Map that
is adjacent to the junkyard or (for later games) another area already
under raccoon control. That area is now under raccoon control, making
it a safe haven for you, your crew and your ship. You can launch from
there next time, and arriving in that area during the Escape Scene
counts as returning safely home.
If your ship did blow up, you now have a golden opportunity: You can
rebuild it—better, faster and stronger. Choose a new car, home appli-
ance and old carnival ride. Choose 2 Strengths. Choose one item you
stole from the house, which fell to Earth along with the rest of your
ship’s debris, and write down a Quirk based on it.
If you met your personal goal on this last voyage, you can either add a
tag to an Action, making it more likely to be helpful, or you can change
an Action. If you met your goal in a way that creates problems for one
or more other raccoons, you can add a tag to two Actions, or change
two Actions. You can never change Action #12 or add any tags to it.
13. A Pirate's Life

It’s not easy being a raccoon, let alone one in a ramshackle flying
firetrap made of tetanus and rust. But you know one thing: you don’t
have to do it alone. As long as you and your friends watch each other’s
tails and keep your miraculous ship afloat, the riches of the suburbs
are yours for the taking.
19
You've read the game, but oh wait, there are
Extras
14. Raccoon Facts
15. Raccoon Character Sheets
16. Neighborhoods Map
17. Ship Sheet
18. House Sheets
19. Ship Trash List
20. House Trash List
21. Alternate Trash Animal Character Sheets
22. Acknowledgments
20
14. Raccoon Facts
• Raccoons have been with us a long
time. We have their name from the
Powhatan people, a name written
by white colonists as “aroughcun” or
“arathkone.” It means “animal that
scratches with its hands.”
• Raccoons are super smart, and they
have long memories. They can be
trained to open complex locks;
there’s evidence they understand
the locks on an abstract level.
Toronto residents know this all too
well.
• Raccoons are very adaptable. They
live throughout the Americas, from
Canada to Argentina. Thanks in part
to some daring escapes, they now
also live in many parts of Europe
and Asia.
• Despite how big they can seem, raccoons smoosh down very
small. If they can fit their head through an opening, they can
crawl into it. This lets them fit through holes as small as three or
four inches wide.
• The Tres Marias raccoon lives on the Islas Marías of western
Mexico. There are fewer than 250 of them, and the International
Union for Conservation of Nature lists them as endangered. They
are slightly larger than the common raccoon.
• The Torch Key raccoon lives near the end of the Florida Keys. It is
smaller than the common raccoon and has a pale coat.
• Baby raccoons are called kits.
• Raccoons have very sensitive front paws. Thin whiskers, called
vibrissae, stick out of the ends of their paws, which allow them to
sense something before they touch it. Raccoons’ brains dedicate
enormous computing power to interpreting touch.
• Raccoons’ paws get more sensitive when they’re wet. This is part-
ly why they “wash” their food, where they hold food underwater
to rub it, inspect it, and get rid of any gross parts they don’t want.
• Rabies Eddie does not really have rabies. He’s just aggro.
21
Brisket Jack
the Swashbuckler Cunning, Deft & Stylish
Raccoon Pronouns:
Look: Personal Goal:
• Gray & grizzled • Win fame & glory
• Rotund & taut • Stage a daring rescue (successful or
• Sly & mischievous not)
• Steal a large hunk of meat
Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

• Where is our favorite place to adventure together?
• Why do you look to me for leadership? Is that really a good idea?
• We were litter-mates. What secret do we share?
What is one thing you want to steal, and how could that improve life in the junkyard?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Cunning, Deft or Stylish), then roll and
compare your result to the list below.
List of Actions (roll a d12):

1. Use Trash in an impressive way Cunning, Deft, Stylish
2. Inspire other raccoons or conspicuously lead the way Cunning, Deft, Stylish
3. Create a distraction Cunning, Stylish
4. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride in Deft, Stylish
a flashy way
5. Cut something or tie something together Cunning, Deft
6. Fast-talk or confuse someone Cunning
7. Aim and launch something Deft
8. Be acrobatic Stylish
9. Invent a new machine out of Trash Cunning
10. Move yourself or the ship to a new place Deft
11. Get in over your head Stylish
12. Make things worse –
22
Maria Triple-XL
the Colossus Strong, Deft & Brave
Raccoon Pronouns:
• Stout & square • Steal something huge all by yourself
• Lanky & Wiry • Challenge someone to single combat
• A stripey ball of energy • Defend someone (whether they need
it or not)

• You once saw me get in a big fight. In your opinion, was it worth it or not?
• We share a relationship with the junkyard dog. What is it?
• I protect you in the junkyard. When was the last time, and what happened?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Strong, Deft or Brave), then roll and

1. Take the brunt of the blow Brave
2. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride deftly Deft
3. Heave your weight against something Strong
4. Draw attention to yourself Brave
5. Scurry quickly into action Deft
6. Hammer on something Strong
7. Make a hole in something Strong, Brave
8. Land smack in the middle of something Deft, Brave
9. Throw Trash or Raccoon Strong, Deft
10. Lead a charge or use your brawn to amplify another rac- Strong, Deft, Brave
coon's Action
11. Bravely use Trash in a dangerous way Strong, Deft, Brave
23
Vibrissa
the Inventor Cunning, Inventive & YOLO
Raccoon Pronouns:
• Flight cap & goggles • Test a new invention
• Fur puffed with static • Execute a complex plan
• Pair of wheels in place of back legs • Find just the thing for your next project

• You’ve been my eager test pilot before. What happened to my most recent invention?
• How did I expand your horizons recently?
• I’m excited about this next trip. Does that make you more or less at ease, & why?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Cunning, Inventive or YOLO), then roll
and compare your result to the list below.
1. Manipulate something tricky Cunning, YOLO
2. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride in an Cunning, Inventive
unexpected way
3. Use Trash for something clever Cunning
4. Raccoon rocket YOLO
5. Build a Rube Goldberg machine to do a thing Inventive
6. Use a machine to make something frighteningly easy or Cunning, Inventive,
to empower another raccoon YOLO
7. Invent something new out of Trash Cunning, Inventive,
YOLO
8. Harness a force raccoons were not meant to meddle with Inventive
9. Bash on something YOLO
10. "If it doesn't fit, force it." Inventive, YOLO
11. Reveal that things are not what they seemed Cunning
24
Torch Key
the Daring Thief Sneaky, Deft & Precise
Raccoon Pronouns:
• Slinking, ferret-like • Steal something unique & impossible
• Wacky & misdirecting • Make sure the residents know you
• Big & fast were there
• Set up an elaborate practical joke

• What did I once steal for you?
• You're a longsuffering audience for my pranks. What is a typical prank?
• What was a recent escapade of mine, and how did I rope you into it?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Sneaky, Deft or Precise), then roll and
1. Use Trash that does one thing really well Precise
2. Move quietly, without setting off traps Sneaky
3. Climb a sheer surface Deft
4. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride deftly Deft
5. Wriggle inside somewhere Sneaky
6. Hide yourself or Trash Sneaky, Deft
7. Land without a sound Precise
8. From the shadows, orchestrate events for yourself or another Sneaky, Deft,
raccoon Precise
9. Reveal how you set up Trash earlier so it's useful at the right Sneaky, Deft,
moment Precise
10. Use grappling lines or jump with pinpoint accuracy Deft, Precise
11. Show up unexpectedly where you need to be Sneaky, Precise
25
Kit
the Littlest Raccoon Sneaky, Sensitive & YOLO
Raccoon Pronouns:
• Kawaii (big eyes, small pie-hole) • Wash some food & eat it right there
• Hoodie & headphones • Steal something small & meaningful
• Rather large, actually • Explore the hidden parts of the house

• Do you find me cute or annoying? Why?
• I was once scared of something in the junkyard. How did you help me get over it?
• When did I wriggle inside a tight space to get you something, and what was it?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Sneaky, Sensitive or YOLO), then roll and
1. Imitate another raccoon, your hero of the minute Sensitive, YOLO
2. Create a distraction YOLO
3. Hide from danger until it has passed. Sneaky, Sensitive
4. Acquire something another raccoon needs and pass it to Sneaky, Sensitive,
them YOLO
5. Put yourself at risk to get or use Trash Sneaky, Sensitive,
YOLO
6. Manipulate something tricky Sensitive
7. Use a thing the older raccoons probably don't want you Sneaky, YOLO
messing with
8. Drag something through a tight space Sneaky
9. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride recklessly YOLO
10. Follow a smell Sensitive
11. Show up where you're least expected Sneaky
26
Rabies Eddie
the Untameable Beast Strong, Aggressive & YOLO
Raccoon Pronouns:
• One-eared & scarred • Steal something nobody else could
• Mangy & irritable appreciate
• Thousand (junk-)yard stare • Take on overwhelming odds
• Find a reason to go berserk

• What happened the last time you got in my way?
• You saw me get a memorable scar once. What happened?
• What do you see in me that everyone else misses?
To do something risky, declare your approach (Strong, Aggressive or YOLO), then roll
and compare your result to the list below.
1. Fire ship's weapons/Make a weapon from Trash Strong, YOLO, Aggressive
2. Make a hole in something Strong, YOLO
3. You think you're a bear & act like it Strong, YOLO, Aggres-
sive
4. Attack someone, anyone YOLO, Aggressive
5. Jettison or toss the first thing you see Strong
6. Wreck something Strong, Aggressive
7. Reach your breaking point YOLO
8. Use the ship's car, home appliance, or carnival ride Aggressive
with mean intent
9. Take a beating Strong
10. Eat Trash you really shouldn't, with interesting effects YOLO
11. Put your head through something Aggressive
27

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Even in a game as light as this one, setting boundaries on the shared

Ballot Initiative 12: Arming the Neighbor-

Below is a list of every card in the Complications Deck, the corre-

12. Next Time

13. A Pirate's Life

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

List of Actions (roll a d12):

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

List of Actions (roll a d12):

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

Relationships - Ask 1 of the raccoon to your left:

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