"There's a smokey rolling discos behind us, some goobers messing with the engine, and open scales ahead. We might be not be delivering on time." Get behind the wheel of a big rig as a Vampire, Mummy, Werewolf, and more! Monster Truckers is an easy to learn and low prep tabletop role playing game featuring semi truck driving monsters in a post-apocalyptic world. They make deliveries, discover the weird and mysterious stuff, get into scrapes, and maybe help out a few folks as they experience (un)life on the road.
Monster Truckers is inspired by '70s trucker movies and culture, classic movie monsters, a bit of Adventure Time and Mad Max, and the freewheeling freedom that was once promised to be out on the open road.
Welcome to the Worstlands
The Not Forgotten Past
The Worstlands were born from madness and desperation. Humans and monsters went to war and humanity came out top, thanks to their necrotechnic bombs that turned the world rotten. If that wasn't bad enough, the bombs also weakened monster folk, robbing them of most of their supernatural gifts, making it easier for humans to control them.
It's Time to Rise Up
Most humans live all cozy and safe in their protected city. Monsters do the grunt work, doing jobs that are too dangerous for humans or those that the humans are too lazy to do themselves. But the winds of change are blowing. The newly formed Monster Truckers Guild has a mission: Find a new home away from humanity. Monster truckers get in their big rigs, haul freight, map routes and make note of what they find in the Worstlands. The Worstlands are tough, but the truckers are tougher and they'll do whatever it takes to stick it to the (hu)Man.
The Wilds of the Worstlands
The Worstlands are a place where humble monster folk human stragglers struggle to make a life. Strange, weird, and dangerous creatures roam the broken land. Forgotten and horrible weapons of war lay dormant waiting to be discovered and activated. Bizarre mutated evils threaten to be uncovered. And don't forget the Highway Patrol, the undead police that patrol the old highways enforcing laws that no longer exist.
Big Rigs and Escort Vehicles
Big rigs play an important part of Monster Truckers. They're classic truck and trailers that are upgradeable. Go ahead and put that ram bar on the front and slap on some monster truck tires. You're going to need it!
Big rigs aren't the only vehicles in the game though. Escort vehicles like dune buggies and motorcycles have a role to play in scouting or drawing attention away from the big rig.
A Manual Every Monster Trucker Needs
Monster Truckers: Long Haul into the Worstlands is going to be a beautiful, perfect bound 6x9" softcover book featuring:
A high production, full color print with a dynamic, yet easy to read layout.
Rules on character creation: Five monster types along with rules to make your own.
Advice on running the game and special vehicle rules.
Loads of details on the Worstlands and the factions that live in it.
Potential foes, creatures, and other interesting characters.
Cool locations with interesting characters to set and flavor adventures.
A guide on trucking and trucking terms.
A comprehensive CB lingo guide.
Prompts and ideas to aid GMs running games.
A new Monster Truckers adventure.
Try It Out!
You can get a test drive of Monster Truckers that gives you a preview of what you can expect for as low as zero dollars at the Table Cat Shop, Drive Thru RPG, or itch.io! Current Development Status
A majority of the book is written. With the Test Drive layout in place, a lot of the prep work is taken care of. If we just need to finish writing, get some more art done, and then finish layout.
Monster Truckers is an easy to learn and fast playing tabletop role playing game built on the Tricube Tales system. Aside from dice, everything you need to play is in one convenient book.
Monster Truckers features a resolution system based on six sided dice, with players rolling up to three dice if they're really good at something down to one die if they're not great at doing that thing.
A game master runs the game and two to five players step into shoes as the truck driving monsters. A truck driver breaks down into three basic archetypes: Agile, Brawny, and Crafty.
Characters are further defined by their Perks and Quirks, elements that either aid or hinder them in their adventures. For Perks, a "Tall Tale Teller" is good at spinning stories and influencing others, while a "Big Rig Mechanic" is a great truck mechanic. And for Quirks a "Cursed" trucker is going to have bad luck, while a "Smelly" trucker stinks to high heaven.
When characters attempt to overcome something with their abilities, that's a challenge. Here's an example of a simple one:
Example: Bill the Werewolf is fighting a mutated turkey on top of the semi trailer as Rusty the vampire is driving the truck. The truck hits a huge bump and Bill has to roll to hang on. The Game Master declares it's an Agile Challenge with a difficulty of 5. Bill is an Agile archetype, so he gets to roll the maximum amount of dice, 3d6. He ends up with a 1, 2, and 5. With 5 being a success, he hangs on as the trailer momentarily jumps into the air before slamming back down.
Each Monster Truckers adventure features the character going out on "the Long Haul." Long Hauls include delivering freight, exploration, and overcoming obstacles as they navigate the Worstlands.
The Log Book
While on a Long Haul, truckers track the adventure a logbook in short form journaling. The log is used by the Monster Truckers guild, but it's also important to be accurate and up to date if Highway Patrol pulls you over!
Example Logbook
The Map
Truckers also create a map based on the Long Haul. It links to the logbook to keep a record for the journey. These records are needed by the Monster Truckers Guild to achieve their ultimate goal of leaving humanity behind.
Example map
Populating the Worstlands
Populating the Worstlands with survivors and the creatures within it is super simple. Monster Truckers provides plenty of inspiration, but if you want a foe of your own creation, it's super simple using the guidelines to make them up on the spot and assign a difficulty to defeat them. You just give them some resolve (think hit points), and you're ready to go.
Monster Truckers doesn't come with solo rules out of the box, however Tricube Tales already has solo rules that you can easily adapt to fit Monster Truckers. You can find them here.
Once this stretch goal is unlocked every physical copy of the game comes with a glossy and durable, double sided (featuring a front and back), cardboard cut out of a CB Mic, so you can use it while playing as a role play aid when you say something goofy like, "10-4 good monster, Keep on trucking!"
The prop will also be be available for purchase as an add-on if you want an extra.
BonusAdventure 1 - $7,000
Emma Grier, creator of several fine games including Trash Pals, Space Taxi, and the ttrpg zine gothHoblin's Grimoire whip ups an exciting Monster Truckers adventure at this level!
BonusAdventure 2 - $7,500
This level unlocks an adventure from John M (Exeunt Press), creator of games Exclusion Zone Botanist, You are a Muffin, and the Ennie Award nominated Skeleton Code Machine newsletter.
BonusAdventure 3 - $8,000
M. Allen Hallprovides a third stretch goal adventure. He's best known for his solo roleplaying games Godspark and Endling as well as his published adventures for systems that include D&D, Mork Borg, and Liminal Horror.
Logbook and Map Notebooks! - $9,000
At this level Logbook and Map notebook combos become available for purchase. These high quality notebooks are 100 pages for you to map and keep track of your Monster Trucker adventures.
Bonus: Those getting the "all in" pledge level get a pair of notebooks added to their pledge for free when this stretch goal funds.
Extra Art - $12,000
We've already got a lot of great art planed, but at this tier the budget expands for even more custom art of trucks, monsters, and locations in the Worstlands.
We need your help bringing Monster Truckers to (un)life both in print and PDF! We're too small of an operation to self fund at this point, or at least at a level to give Monster Truckers the polish it deserves. We want to add more custom art, pay for professional proofreading, and have the funds to get the book printed. With your help that can happen!
And Backerkit is a great partner for crowdfunding. Not only are they vital for the crowdfunding aspect, but we'll be using their tools for fulfillment to make it easy to get your rewards to you.
Shipping for physical rewards will be charged post-campaign in the Pledge Manager. Due to the rather extreme nature of global shipping fluctuations, we don't have an estimate at this time, but we will keep shipping and handling as low as possible.
We are going to ship in the USA, Canada, and the UK. We're sorry, we're unable to ship anywhere else at the moment. International orders are responsible for any VAT or other import fees.
Fulfillment
Everyone who backs this campaign at PDF level and above gets a copy of the game on both Drive Thru RPG and Itch.io.
Fulfillment is planned to be provided by Indie Press Revolution who have a lot of experience with indie ttrpgs and are a trusted Table Cat Games partner.
Monster Truckers isn't just our next game, it's a dream to be able to tell a new kind of story, and one that is closer to Paul Vincent's heart, since his dad is a retired semi truck driver.
ArtisanallyCrafted By Humans (and Cats)
Everything that Table Cat Games makes is crafted by the human hand and mind. We may use digital tools, but we make every possible effort to not employ A.I. in any capacity.
