6 Setting Crossovers for Your Savage Monster Hunter International Game

Unlike last time, as the current Monster Hunter International RPG Kickstarter has been going on, I've been refraining from giving constant updates on its status. Suffice to say that at this point, just 24 hours from ending, all the stretch goals have been hit and the deal is better than ever.

But perhaps you're unsure about how useful the new material will be. In that case, let me show you how it could easily mesh with some of your favorite Savage Settings:

East Texas University*: Probably the easiest setting to mesh with Monster Hunter International, as the basic premise is playing occult-investigating college students. As the typical ETU campaign has a built-in endpoint (graduation), it might be fun to have a recruiter from MHI show up to attract promising graduates. On the other hand, the college-town setting of Pinebox would be a good place to base a Hunter team out of, even if the PCs weren't enrolled in the school.

Chuck Finley: Zombie Hunter!

Tropicana*: A tropical island city-state crawling with spies, jet-setters, criminals, and modern-day adventurers of all sorts is almost guaranteed to have some monsters crawling around at the fringes. The company is called Monster Hunter International, after all, and wouldn't the PCs just love to take a job in a Caribbean paradise? Co-starring Bruce Campbell!

Deadlands*: It almost seems like cheating to mention this one, but as the Old West monster-hunting setting (now expanded to what the old MHI RPG called the Pulp Era*!) it's definitely worth a look. Of course it's a pretty crazy-gonzo alternate history, what with California falling into the sea, the Four Horsemen empowering undead monstrosities and mad scientists alike, and, worst of all for the Alabama-based Professional Monster Killers, a Union-Confederacy cease-fire.

Rippers*: For a slightly less gonzo 19th-Century monster-hunting experience, the world of Rippers is much closer to that of Monster Hunter International, by which I mean it's like the real world, except all the classic horror-movie monsters really exist. And while Bubba Shackleford may be reluctant to indulge in Rippertech, some of the other Hunter groups that existed back then may be less choosy . . .

50 Fathoms*: OK, this is an odd one, being a swashbuckling fantasy setting. It is, however, a swashbuckling fantasy setting that expects the PCs to be visitors from Earth, and there's nothing to say that those visitors couldn't be from the 21st rather than the 17th century! Whether they get caught up in the hag-curse related metaplot or just indulge in fish-out-of-water goofiness, a brief trip to Caribdus would be just the thing to shake up a Hunter team based out of Hawaii or Miami - or Tropicana, for that matter.

The Day After Ragnarok*: I love this setting, I really do. From the incomparable mind of Ken Hite comes an alternate world where Nazi sorcery unleashed a giant serpent on Europe, bringing about the ruin of every nation that touches the Atlantic. With the Confederacy on the rise (again) and snake-based monsters and magic popping up everywhere, there's plenty for WWII-era Hunters to involve themselves in, either as their standard globe-trotting adventurous selves, or perhaps pulling a Newton Knight and setting up their own independent settlement. Especially if they can navigate the wreckage of Europe and link up somewhere in there with Franks, who is undoubtedly beyond pissed at all this.

*Affiliate link. Provides extra gaming money to me at no cost to you.

Monster Hunter International Gets Savage!

Are you a fan of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International series, but not of the HERO system* used in the 2012 RPG? Well, fret no more, because there's a new MHI RPG in town:

Currently just over 200% funded after just twelve house on Kickstarter, this version is being published by Gallant Knight Games* and will be using the Savage Worlds* rules.

But there's a lot more of interest here besides a less crunchy ruleset. For one thing, there's about twice as many books in the Monster Hunter International novel series as there were five years ago - which means lots of new characters and critters to get statted up, though admittedly some of these are from the 1980s-set trilogy Larry is co-writing with John Ringo, and the sub-setting for that era is one of the upcoming stretch goals.

Speaking of stretch goals, one of them has already been hit - an Old West sub-setting starring MHI founder Bubba Shackleford and his Professional Monster Killers, whom Larry wrote a short story about for a Weird West anthology last summer.

Other stretch goals add more content, including the aforementioned Monster Hunter Memoirs sub-setting, a Larry-written adventure, and non-human character options; plus there's some fun stuff like a challenge coin and coloring book.

Amusingly, the new MHI dice will have the logo on the six.

Notably absent from the stretch goal list is custom dice, although they won't be absent from the project as a whole - they're already part of the reward structure, with every physical backer getting at least one (as well as a deck of MHI playing cards), which with the "single softcover" price point at $30 strikes me as quite the bargain.

Interested? The Kickstarter's right here.

* Remember, folks, DriveThru links pay me if you use them, and it doesn't cost you a thing!

One Last MHI Update

It is rather fitting, perhaps, that the day before the Monster Hunter International RPG Kickstarter ends turns out to be Halloween. One suspects Larry Correia and the folks at Hero Games to have done it deliberately.

Anyway, the response has been amazing - with an initial goal of $45,000, the current total pledged is at nearly $76K. And what is everyone getting for their pledges? With all of the stretch goals that have been met, everyone who went for at least the PDF will be receiving:

• A complete copy of the Monster Hunter International Employee's Handbook And RPG.
• A PDF copy of The Devil's Dozen, a collection of villains and other NPCs.
• A PDF containing four five MHI adventures.
• Another PDF of monsters, villains, and other NPCs, these created by the backers - for an extra $100, you, too can contribute to the collection.

And that's not even including the hard copies, patches, and dice that can also be added. Best of all, that PDF of adventures? It'll get another added for every $5000 that gets raised in the next 24 hours.

After all that, I think a big congratulations is due to Larry, Steve Long, and everyone who's put in their contribution. And if you're still wondering what this MHI thing is all about, well, I can think of no better introduction than this:

"On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window. . . "

Monster Hunter Kickstarter Update

As the Monster Hunter International RPG Kickstarter heads into its final two weeks, funding is at approximately 125%. When it hits 130%, or $60,000 we'll hit the next stretch goal - dice! - but what do we have so far?

Well, in addition to the main book, everybody who pledges for at least the PDF will get a copy of the (first? One can only hope) PDF supplement, The Devil's Dozen:

". . . an illustrated PDF of 13 new villains, monsters, and NPCs dreamed up by Larry and written up by Steve. We thought you might enjoy a sneak peek at a couple of the ideas Larry's already sent Steve:

El Maldición, the Haunted Gun:  This old, intricately engraved, gold-inlaid Colt 1911 chambered in .38 Super seems to possess a strange sentience, and to bring misfortune and disaster to those who dare to wield it."

That right there tells you tells you quite a bit about both the MHI setting, and Larry's writing style. If you're still on the fence, you may want to give his short story Tanya: Princess of the Elves a try (note that there are technically spoilers for the first two MHI novels in there).

But wait, there's more - there's also two exclusive MHI unit patches available. One of them can be added onto any pledge for at least the physical book, for an additional $10 - honestly, I feel that's rather steep, but the patch is very cool:

Sharktopus

 LUSKA!

There's another patch for the upper pledge tiers that's even better, so cool I have to link to it instead of showing you directly. Alas, I'm already in as far as I can currently go . . .

What Did I Tell You?

It's been less than 48 hours since the Kickstarter for the Monster Hunter International Employee's Handbook and RPG went live, and already it's raised over 2/3rds of the original goal. Of course, MHI author Larry Correia has been saying all along there's some great stretch goals planned, so if you're a fan of the series, the HERO system, or the genre in general, you could do worse than backing this one (and, for the record, the only thing I'm getting out of this is better perks if those stretch goals do get hit!).

If you're not (yet) a fan of the series, there's some sample chapters and short stories on Larry's blog to give you an idea of what to expect. Check them out!

Monster Hunter International RPG On the Horizon?

As announced by Monster Hunter International author Larry Correia here and here. Details such as publisher and system are sparse thus far, but apparently the current plan is to release the book via Kickstarter. That should be a sight to see, as in my somewhat limited experience Kickstarts (?) that have a premade fanbase tend to be quite spectacular. I hope Larry's got some good ideas for stretch goals . . .

In any event, being a big fan of the MHI series I'm quite excited about this news. I's tough to speculate on the details, though the author is a fan of Legend of the Five Rings (not that that probably means much). I could see this working in any number of systems, though GURPS is probably out due to their very similarly named, already extant series.

7 AUGUST EDIT: The Monster Hunter  International Employee’s Handbook And Roleplaying Game  will be produced by HERO Games for their Champions system. A Kickstarter campaign is scheduled for October.