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In Short

The Good: The negotiation system is well done and encourages the GM to strongly reward the Hunter for excellent description and clever ideas. The use of saluting (i.e. handshakes) to exit the game to discuss game mechanics and meta-issues is clever, and by saluting back into the game it’s clear that the people involved have taken back up their adversarial aspects. The book is gorgeous and the artwork strongly evokes the tribal mood Beast Hunters strives for, but at the same time this game is perfectly suited to other genre with little modification.

The Bad: All conflicts are exclusively Mental, Physical, or Social affairs. This means that a characteristic like Inner Drive will come into play in a Mental conflict (assuming its listed as Mental) but wont come into play in a Physical conflict. This makes some sense from a game mechanics perspective, but may not sit well with folk who are accustomed to incorporating beliefs, ideas, heritage, and other qualities into physical combat. No Beast creation rules. Some readers may find the game to have excessive ‘hand holding’, especially given the otherwise adversarial nature of the mechanics.

The Physical Thing

While there is no index in this 150 page black and white digest sized softcover, one is not needed thanks to the robust table of contents. A simple but elegant character sheet rounds out a well produced product. My only complaint is that no short examples are provided throughout the text of the mechanics in action, but admittedly I did not have any problems understanding this game from a single read through.

The Ideas

Under the Cover

Setup

Since this is a two player game the first and most obvious step is to determine who is going to GM. Beast Hunters generally assumes that two people will take turns in the GM, or Challenger, role and in the player, or Hunter, role. This certainly isn’t required but it seems like a good idea for most folk. The Hunter will select a character to play or build a new one while the Challenger will have a Pool of points to spend on challenges for the Hunter. The Hunter gets to decide how big the Pool is and what the Limit is – that is, what’s the most points that can be spent on any single challenge. This is important because a larger Pool leads to a longer, more difficult adventure while a higher Limit will lead to more difficult Beasts to fight. Effectively the Hunter player decides the general power level of challenges, but it’s still left up to the Challenger (GM) to build the specific encounters.

Before we do anything else, let me tell you about the basics of the Beast Hunter system. After a process of negotiation, detailed later in this review, both the Challenger and the Hunter will often roll 2d10 and add the bonus of any activated Trait (a part of the character) AND any single Resource (a valued object). So, if your Hunter has Ferocity +2 (a Physical Offense Trait) and Spear of my Ancestors +3 (a Physical Offense Resource) you would roll 2d10 + 5 and try to beat the Challenger’s total roll. If you win then you accrue Advantage Points which can be turned into a damage roll to attempt to hurt or even kill the opposition. Characters have health boxes for all three conflict types, and they have a separate initiative stat for each type – everything is segregated.

Example: I’m building Qichani, a young Hunter who wants to live up to the legacy of her mother who died fighting the dreaded Qhurym and saving the region.

Step 1 of character creation involves thinking of the Hunter’s family and deriving Traits and Resources from that part of her life. Players choose three Traits and two Resources, each of which must be labeled as Physical Offense (PO), Physical Defense (PD), Mental Offense (MO), Mental Defense (MD), Social Offense (SO), or Social Defense (SD). Keep in mind that all conflicts in this game are either Physical, Mental, or Social so it’s a good idea to have a broad spread of Traits and Resources. In fact, no more than three Traits can be in any given category (such as Mental Defense). Additionally, one of the three areas has its initiative raised by one and the Hunter receives a light and medium damage box to distribute as she wishes.

Example: Qichani has the following Traits: Must Make Her Mother Proud (MD), Incredible Lineage (SO), and Quick Wits (MO). She has inherited Grimm (PO), her mother’s axe. She also sports a birthmark across the left side of her face that appears exactly the same as one her mother had – Birthmark (SO). I place all of my bonuses in the Mental category, giving it an additional Light and Medium damage boxes and a total of 2 for Mental Initiative.

Step 2 is all about the tribe. The Hunter defines the tribe and how the tribe has influenced her, creating two more Traits and two more Resources. The Hunter player also distributes another Light damage box and another point of initiative.

Example: The Ton’terri Tribe raised Qichani after her mother died and stressed strenuous physical activity and hardship in the hopes that she would grow up to surpass her mother’s abilities. They were wise, however, and always stopped short of being cruel – always keeping in mind that they wanted her to love them and be loyal to them later in life. I take Respect Of The Ton’terri (SD) and Spatial Awareness (PD). For Resources I choose Ton’terri Champion Dagger (PO) and Sash Woven By The Ton’terri Community (MD). I add a light damage box to Physical and a point to Physical Initiative

Step 3 focuses on the Hunters enemies, either existing named enemies or the sorts of traits that manifested themselves when encountering enemies in the past. Three traits, one resource, one initiative, and one light damage box are assigned.

Example: Qichani’s greatest foe as a child was herself – always setting goals just a bit too far from being obtainable. In her early teenage years, however, she attempted her own beast hunt and failed – though only a very few elders ever knew of it. The beast, which she called Madaghon, has stalked her dreams ever since. Always Pushes Herself Forward (PO), Fated To Destroy Madaghon (MO), A Face As Cold As Marble (SD). Her Resource is the knowledge of an elaborate mandala she had to learn to beat a childhood test of pain (MD). I assign another light damage rank to Physical and another point of initiative to Physical.

Step 4 covers the Hunter’s specialized training as a Beast Hunter. Beast Hunters are the elite of the elite – they foreswear all obligations to hunter the enemies of the Chel’qhuri. The Hunter chooses two final Traits, a Resource, a light and medium damage box, and a point of initiative.

Example: Qichani had to socially outmaneuver another would-be Beast Hunter to gain her mentor’s blessing before being initiated. As part of that process she arranged a hunt for a great wolf-like creature – not powerful, but still dangerous. Along the way she hamstrung her opponent and left her for dead. Unknown to Qichani, her mentor watched all from afar. He made her rend the flesh from her fallen adversaries bones and build a simple shield from them – a shield to defend the weak with and remind her of her failure to her people. I buy I Failed My People (PD), Sinister Cunning (SO), and Bone Shield (PD). I assign the light box to Social, the medium box to Physical, and the point of initiative to Social.

The final step of character creation is to distribute points. The Hunter has 2 +3s, 4 +2s, and 4+1s to distribute to the 10 Traits. Resources get 1 +3, 2 +2s, and 3 +1s.

Example: Here’s the final character:

Qichani

Traits: Must Make Her Mother Proud +3 (MD), Quick Wits +2 (MO), Fated To Destroy Madaghon +2 (MO), Always Pushes Herself Forward +3 (PO), Failed My People +1 (PD), Spatial Awareness +1 (PD), Respect Of The Ton’terri +1 (SD) A Face As Cold As Marble +1 (SD), Sinister Cunning +2 (SO), Incredible Lineage +2 (SO).

Resources: Mandala +2 (MD), Sash Woven By The Ton’terri Community +1 (MD), Grimm +3 (PO), Ton’terri Champion Dagger +1 (PO), Bone Shield +1 (PD), Birthmark +2 (SO).

Physical Initiative: 3 Mental Initiative: 2 Social Initiative: 2.

Physical Damage Boxes: Light, Light, Light, Medium, Medium, Heavy, Incapacitating, Fatal.

Mental Damage Boxes: Light, Light, Medium, Medium, Heavy, Incapacitating, Fatal.

Social Damage Boxes: Light, Light, Medium, Heavy, Incapacitating, Fatal.

So now you see how a Hunter is built and have a general idea of why the different numbers are important (they’re being added to opposed 2d10+Modifier rolls). What about the Challenger (GM) though? Every adventure the Challenger has a Pool and a Limit determined by the Hunter. The Pool is just how many points the Challenger has to spend on bad guys, nasty situations, and other obstacles for the Hunter to overcome. The Limit determines how tough individual encounters are – it’s a limit on the number of points that can be spent on each encounter. There are no hard rules for determining Pool and Limit. When a Beast Hunters adventure begins and the Hunter player decides what sort of creature they wish to hunt, however, that creature will have a minimum Pool and Limit listed with it. If you want to hunt the most powerful adversaries expect very difficult barriers to be placed in your way. A Hunter more interested in the hunt than the final battle might also request higher Pool and possibly higher Limit in order to generate more ‘mundane’ problems to overcome.

Beast Hunters recommends starting out with a fairly easy hunt for a lizard called the Hektratan. In this case the minimum Limit is 5 (so no more than 5 Pool points spent on any one encounter) and the Pool minimum is 20. Presumably many Hunters will just use those values for their first Hunt, but they don’t have to. In Beast Hunters characters can fail but they can’t normally die unless the Hunter player wants them to. This relaxes some of the pressure on getting the Pool and Limit just right.

We have a Hunter, Qichani, we have a vile creature to hunt, the Hektratan, and we have a Limit (5) and Pool (20). Looks like our game setup is done, lets move on to the next step!

Salute

In Beast Hunters both players Salute – that is give each other a handshake while grasping the forearm – to start the game. Whenever mechanics or meta issues – such as how the rules work – are discussed the players are expected to Salute out of the game, talk, and then Salute back in. The idea is that this creates a clear boundary between the players’ relationship out of game and their relationship in game and prevents any animosity from leaking through either way. It’s also a good way to keep focused on the game at hand, since discussing meta-issues requires a formal process. I like it quite a bit and intend to try something similar in other games I run.

Free Play

Free play is just as you would imagine – casual roleplaying. Free play is really the first part of a cycle – the game will often move between free play and challenges repeatedly before finally reaching the end of adventure segment. Often in free play the Hunter and Challenger will be collectively setting up the rest of the adventure. Someone will ask the Hunter for aid, the Hunter will hear rumors of a powerful beast nearby, etc. The only thing that sets free play apart here from other RPGs is that the Hunter has the power to veto anything that directly effects her. If the Challenger says “Your mother kills herself” then the Hunter can say “No way!” and the two will Salute out to talk about it – probably setting up a Challenge involving the event instead.

Challenges

This is where dice come into play. Challenges involve some sort of conflict where something is at stake. This could be Fight Off The Brigands, Win The Chief’s Admiration, or Orchestrate A War. Challenges are broken up into three Phases. First, the Solution Phase. Here Challenger has clearly presented the problem and the Hunter may describe her solution. If her solution is really, really good then the Challenger may concede the whole conflict. Conceding is cheap – costing only 2 Adversity Points (AP) from the Pool, so the Challenger still has plenty of opportunities to provide later encounters. At this step the Challenger can also go straight to the Conflict phase – basically saying “To heck with all this description, lets roll some dice.” This costs a lot more AP than normal, but it might be worthwhile for an ambush-type situation.

Example: Qichani has encountered a member of a rival tribe. The Hunter player says “Qichani will quietly get up in a tree and wait to ambush the man as he walks past, intending to kill him without anyone knowing.” The Challenger isn’t particularly impressed with this description, but he knows a Physical Conflict is imminent so he goes ahead and builds the tribesman from a simple table found in Beast Hunters. The Limit is 5 and the Pool is 20. The Challenger reasons this isn’t a particularly powerful person and only assigns 3 points from the Pool. He buys the standard damage boxes (1 of each type) for 1 point, a +1 Resource (a hunting Spear) for 1 point, and a +2 Trait (Wary +2 (PD)) for the last point.

If the Challenger wanted to ignore everything else and go straight to dice rolling now he could pay double the normal cost from the pool – 6 points instead of 3 – and get to it. He’s interested to see how things develop, however.

Phase 2 gives the advantage to the Hunter. Here the Hunter continues to describe their actions, elaborating on the basic plan. The Challenger (GM) can still concede the encounter to the Hunter or go straight to dice. The Hunter gets to pre-activate one Trait – that is, Traits are normally only available if they’re activated during the conflict. A combat stance must be readied, mental focus must be summoned, etc. By pre-activating a Trait the Hunter will be able to start out the Conflict using it immediately. This is a significant advantage, not unlike a whole free combat action. If the Challenger decides to go to Conflict – that is, roll dice – then it only costs the base points (for this encounter, 3) since the Hunter has the greatest advantage at this Phase.

Example: The Hunter player says “Once the Tribesman is in position Qichani will leap out of the tree onto his back, lift her axe high in the air, and bring it down on his head.” The Challenger still isn’t impressed and won’t give yet. The Hunter activate’s Qichani’s Spatial Awareness +1 (PD) Trait. The player could activate a more powerful Trait, but any given Trait can only be pre-activated like this once per adventure. This encourages the player to try different things and make use of all of their abilities.

Phase 3 involves some sort of complication that gives the Challenger an edge. This allows the Challenger’s character to pre-activate a Trait as well, but since the advantage has shifted back towards the Challenger the whole thing costs 1.5 the standard cost for the pool – so this encounter that would have cost only 3 in Phase 2 now costs 5.

Example: “Qichani must have made a noise at the last minute, because the Tribesman spins around just in time to avoid the brunt of her assault. I’m activating his Wary +2 (PD).” If the Challenger hadn’t preactivated that Trait then either his first round would have been spent activating it or he would have been rolling 2d10 without any bonus for defense.

So the whole thing basically starts out with a simple back and forth, with various incentives to the Challenger for taking it all the way through Step 3. Now, on to Conflict resolution!

Conflict presents a variety of options, but at its simplest it involves building up a pool of Advantage Points and then cashing them in to deal damage to the opponent. This reflects the Hunter and Challenger constantly maneuvering for an opening to strike a vicious blow. Players can also concede if they like, especially if the end looms near. Hunters have an interest in winning conflicts because they get Reward Points (XP, used to improve the character) for doing so.

Example: This is a Physical Conflict and since Qichani has the higher Physical Initiative she goes first. The Hunter player rolls 2d10 and adds a bonus for Qichani’s axe (+3). The dice come up 5 and 7 for a combined total of 15 – not bad! The Challenger rolls 2d10 + the activated Wary Trait (since it’s a Physical Defense Trait) of 2. The dice come up 1 and 3 for a combined total of 6 – yikes! Taking the difference, 15 – 6 = 9, Qichani gains 9 Advantage Points.

On his action the Tribesman attempts a Deny Resource action – he wants to knock away Qichani’s axe! He rolls 2d10 + 1 (for his weapon) against her 2d10 + 1 (for her activated Trait). He gets a total of 16 while she only gets a 13 – success! Qichani’s axe goes flying, denied to her for now. She could go get it, or she could rely on her less powerful Knife instead.

Qichani, on her action, draws her Knife and Strikes – converting her Advantage Points into a damage roll. She doesn’t have many so, according to a table, she only rolls 1d6 for damage – she rolls a 5. Consulting another chart, this means she dealt one level of Light damage – a scrape but first blood nonetheless. In general it’s probably best to build up a large quantity of Advantage Points and go for a lethal attack.

The Tribesman is up next. Having denied Qichani her main weapon and only suffering a Light Wound things are looking much more promising for him…

End of Adventure

And that’s how most of the game plays out. Free form roleplay, three step conflict negotiation, and then the conflict itself. Once the Pool has been depleted the final conflict with the Beast occurs – probably with the Hunter already suffering a few injuries. If the Hunter is successful in this battle then she will be able to harvest the creature’s blood and take it back for a magical tattoo – a highly sought after reward that gives both social standing and incredible powers. Over time the Hunter will acquire more tattoos and reward points, becoming increasingly powerful until she either dies (players option) or is otherwise permanently defeated in some way (or, perhaps, retires to become an elder).

Other Things of Note

Beast Hunters has a lot more going on than what I’ve presented here. Optional rules, multiplayer, and more robust Conflict options are just a few of them. Where it really shines is in its presentation of Beasts. 44 pages of Beasts provide a lot of options, and when I read through them they got me excited the same way reading through the AD&D Monster Manual did way back when. The critters here are new and fresh, each unique and with its own Beast Hunters feel which is a wonderful change from the same derivative critters I’ve become accustomed to in RPGs. With full stats, information on how the blood tattoo works, tactics, and other information the section here could easily keep people entertained for some time. Unfortunately, there are no guidelines for creating your own Beasts.

My Take

That said, Beast Hunters isn’t perfect. While there are quite a few Beasts, the lack of rules for creating your own beast – even general guidelines – are sorely missed. Fighting the Beast is such an integral part of the product that creating their own Beast seems like one of the most fun things a Challenger could do. That all Challenges are exclusively Physical, Mental, or Social is also difficult to deal with. Most situations are more complex than that, and it makes little sense that a character who takes Inner Drive can only call upon that Trait in one of the three situations. Tables require frequent reference, and while there aren’t many those that do exist aren’t terribly intuitive. It would be nice if the system could have found a way to avoid table consultation.

The game at first presents itself as being very much about player conflict – that is, two participants each trying their best to ‘win’ but is really more about the group narrative. That’s good for many players, but it also may leave some folk who were hoping for a competitive RPG cold. Finally, the lack of any sort of penalty for being wounded is sadly missing. I think this removes a level of strategy that would have benefited the game.

Nevertheless, this book did stir my imagination and just flipping through it makes me want to play. If you want a product that makes a smart use of text, art, and formatting to bring a whole new world to life before your eyes then give Beast Hunters a try.

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