Dicebreaker Recommends: Reverse Beastmaster, a comedy RPG where you must obey the animals Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Dicebreaker Recommends: Reverse Beastmaster, a comedy RPG where you must obey the animals Dr Doolittle's worst nightmare. Blog by Johnny Chiodini Contributor Updated on 13 Nov 2019 3 comments Pen-and-paper role playing games, much like their digital counterparts, very often revolve around quests. You might need to protect some villagers from marauding goblins, say, or retrieve a lost treasure from a haunted catacomb. Or, as I discovered last week, five cockney iguanas might demand you smuggle vast quantities of cocaine into the condemned reptile house they call home. It's safe to say, in other words, that Grant Howitt and Nate Crowley's Reverse Beastmaster is not your average RPG. Comprised of a single page of rules, it casts the players as the titular Reverse Beastmasters - hapless individuals incapable of disobeying any command given to them by an animal. Over the course of their adventure across Saint Beef's Zoo for the Brave, the heroes encounter a number of demanding animals, each of which is controlled by a different player wielding a sock puppet. These animals lay down a series of challenges aimed at ultimately bringing down the zoo from the inside, all while avoiding the clutches of the absolutely gargantuan zookeeper. Watch on YouTube As you'll see for yourself if you watch the Let's Play we recorded over a couple of cider-soaked hours, it's a gleefully daft game. It's absurd in the extreme, which is normally cause for worry - out and out farces can be painfully unfunny if done poorly. The thing with Reverse Beastmaster, however, is that the design is whip smart. Challenges are undertaken by rolling between three and nine six-sided dice. Rolling a 4, 5 or 6 nets you one success (and sixes are rerolled as you enter Beast Mode). Rolling a 2 or 3 does absolutely nothing, but rolling a 1 gives you a problem. For every problem you take, you have to fill in a tick box on your character sheet - as these fill up, different pieces of misfortune befall you. You might lose social standing, for instance, or maybe you'll catch fire. It's a simple system that realises your failures in an immediate and very personal way. Watch on YouTube If you can gather some open-minded friends (and enough socks) then I'd heartily encourage you to give Reverse Beastmaster a go. You can pick it up here and you get to name your price, which is pretty nifty. Just watch out for those iguanas. Disclaimer: Nate Crowley, co-author of Reverse Beastmaster, works for our sister site Rock Paper Shotgun. He also does a mean gorilla impression. It's good to be open about these things. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Blogs Digital Foundry DF Direct Weekly: do we really need a Horizon Zero Dawn remake? Plus: path-traced Quake, PSVR2 and the new Need for Speed. 34 VR Corner 13 confirmed PSVR2 games we cannot wait to play Pleasing to the eye. 53 Digital Foundry DF Direct Weekly: Stadia is dead - so what will it take to make cloud gaming a success? Plus: Intel's Arc GPUs arriving soon at a price that's right. 12 Support Eurogamer and get your first month for £1 Quid's in. 101 Latest Articles Digital Foundry Sennheiser's legendary HD 599 open-back headphones are just £70 at Amazon in the Prime Early Access Sale Comfortable with neutral sound and a wide sound stage. Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. 1 Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 61 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store