Some pen-and-paper RPGs are very complex; others are very simple. Some have multiple, weighty sourcebooks; others can fit everything on a single page. Some send you on mammoth dungeon crawls as you attempt to thwart the forces of darkness; others see you scrabbling around St. Beef’s Zoo for the Brave, trying to source a huge pile of cocaine for some ornery iguanas.
Reverse Beastmaster is very much a game from the latter category - not that that should come as a surprise, coming as it does from Grant Howitt and Nate Crowley - the men behind Honey Heist and Ghoastus the Roman Ghost respectively. (Full disclosure: as well as designing hilarious RPGs, Nate writes for Dicebreaker sibling site Rock Paper Shotgun.)
In Revvy B, as it is also known, players take on the roles of the titular reverse beastmasters - poor unfortunates who are incapable of refusing an order from an animal. No matter their demands, the players are duty bound to attempt them. Any failed rolls give the players problems. These range from losing an item of clothing or ruining a personal relationship, all the way to triggering a stampede or something catching fire.
To be honest I’m not entirely sure why I’m trying to describe it to you - in many ways this is a game that defies explanation. Happily I played it with Grant, Nate and the rest of the Dicebreaker video team so you can watch the chaos unfold for yourself.
A word to the wise - unlike the vast majority of videos on the Dicebreaker YouTube channel, these videos are absolutely packed with swears. You can find part one at the top of the page, and the grand finale in part two below. Enjoy!
