Review of Eleventh Beast: Solo Monster Hunting
Knowledge is your weapon, so you better learn quick. Plus mini-interview with Exeunt Press! | Ribbiting Adventures
London, May 16th, 1746. It’s raining, but you hardly notice the drops falling from your hat or the puddles you stomp through. You are on a mission. The beast approaches, the greatest threat to this generation, and you are the only one who can stop it.
What will be your weapon? Modern science? Explosives? Companies of soldiers? No, knowledge will be your weapon in this fight.
But you better run down rumours quick, because the beast approaches, and he will not have mercy.
If you’ve been on Substack or kicked around RPG blogs for a bit, you’ve likely come across the work of
. I link to their newsletter at least once per post, and love their work.They also make some great solo games, and today, I’m stomping through the streets of 18th-century England, running down rumours and ready for my fight against The Beast in Eleventh Beast.
All images in this newsletter credit to Exeunt Press.
Summary
🎲 - Eleventh Beast - A solo monster hunting game
⏰ - Released in 2023 for the One-Page RPG Jame 2023
💵 - 5$ on itch (lots of Community copies!) Physical copies are available also.
🐸 - Solo Built
The Good
Evocative setting with interesting and simple mechanics
Several different formats, including pamphlet, standard PDF and physical
It's a compact story that can be played in an hour
Feedback
I want more of this world!
Assessment
Eleventh Beast is a great self-contained solo RPG that is excellent for a sit-down, hour or two long session. At the end I’m left wanting more of this world because it was so damn evocative!
A Grim Dark Past
I love dark setting. Something about a lone character struggling against forces and powers beyond comprehension, even when everything is set against them… There is a beauty in that struggle, a real humanity there.
When I scanning games to play the sort of poem/prophecy at the start of Eleventh Beast caught me right away. So much world building in a short 15 lines of text.
In the world of Eleventh Beast a new beast arrives every thirteen years, and it is your responsibility to uncover weapons, secrets and truths in order to defeat the eleventh one. A simple premise and perfect for a short sit-down solo game.
I’m a fan of the story and theme matching the scope and mechanics of a game. Hats of to EP (that’s Exeunt Press for you in the know) for thoughtfully giving us enough story to get interested, without weighting us down in a ton of lore that isn’t needed for a game meant to be played in an hour.
From Hell’s Heart I stab at thee!
Mechanically, Eleventh Beast isn’t as simple as it is tight. You have a map of eight different London-based locations, and every day, a new rumour appears in one of those locations. As the Inquisitor, it’s your job to search out these rumours, bring them back to your headquarters and determine if they are true or not.
True rumours will give you a leg up when you confront the BEAST! Because eventually, the beast is coming.
I think my favourite part of the game is the first thing you do before even reading the rules or setting things up is that you create the beast. Using a simple 3D8 table, you can create something very evocative. You may have to face down the Black Wolf of Westminster or the Blood Goat of Lambton. It got me invested quickly and is quite a smart move.
At some point, the beast will appear and march slowly to your Inquisitor. You can decide to try to avoid it and pick up a few more rumours, or if you are ready, you can charge at it and fight! Depending on how many advantages you have, you may have a realistic shot at defeating it. Or you may be wounded and eventually die.
Like I said, a tight game.
Here for a good time, not a long time
A brief rant about replayability. To be honest, I’m not super fussed about a game like Eleventh Beast not being replayable. You can certainly replay it and have fun, but the story and what happens will generally be the same. And that is fine! This game is designed for a single session and a good time. And it does that incredibly well.
Mini Interview with Exeunt Press!
Halfway through this review, I thought, ‘Hey, why don’t I ask EP if they want to come on the newsletter and have a chat. I reached out and was so grateful they gave the newsletter some time!
Q: EP, thank you for taking some time to chat with us about Eleventh Beast. I had a great time playing the game and getting stuck in the story. What was your inspiration for the world you created?
Eleventh Beast started out as an attempt to capture the clue-collecting and monster-fighting of Cthulhu: Death May Die in a one-page game, although the final product ended up being almost nothing like that. The setting and “secret society of monster hunters” is inspired by Fallen by Perplexing Ruins, Brotherhood of the Wolf directed by Christophe Gans, and Hellboy by Mike Mignola.
Another significant influence was the description of Salomon’s House in Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis published in 1627. This fictional organization is sometimes described as the blueprint for actual scientific societies such as the Royal Society. It is the source of the game’s emphasis on knowledge and study rather than brute force.
In fact, Eleventh Beast was originally titled Salomon’s House!
Q: The Zine version of Eleventh Beast has art from great artists of the past. How did their art add to the game?
Public domain art is an amazing resource, especially when you don’t have a large art budget. Johan Nohr’s use of public domain art in MÖRK BORG opened my eyes to what could be done with “art by dead people.”
With Eleventh Beast set in the 18th century, the older art style seemed like a perfect fit. I was able to source works from artists like Albrecht Dürer from The Met and Rijksmuseum. The map of London is adapted from a map published in 1746 by John Rocque.
There are only ten pieces of art in Eleventh Beast, but they are striking enough to set the tone and create a world filled with monsters. The engraving of “Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons” by Martin Schongauer is my favorite.
Q: You often go back to past games to improve and add to them, like you have done by expanding Eleventh Beast to a Zine format. Are there any plans for expanding the world of Eleventh Beast into something more?
I’ve found that starting a project as a one-page game keeps the design in sharp focus. With such a limited space, the core game loop needs to be tight and easy to explain. Expanding it into a zine adds more content and prompts, but that core remains largely untouched. Caveat Emptor might be the exception to that, where new mechanisms are added in the zine version.
I’d love to expand on the world of Eleventh Beast into another game and have two different ideas of what that would look like. In both cases, the focus remains on preparation and study rather than multiple rounds of direct combat.
Q: Finally, if a reader liked Eleventh Beast and wanted to play another Exeunt Press game, what should they try?
Exclusion Zone Botanist shares some of the same push-you-luck pressure of Eleventh Beast, but in a modern setting focused on documenting strange plants. In Caveat Emptor, you are a demon selling secretly cursed items to unsuspecting customers. Tollund has you making an impossible choice about being sacrificed in a bog. All of them have a hint of unsettling horror that you’ll enjoy.
Thank you, EP, for chatting with the Lone Toad!
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Next Month
Life is busy at the Lone Toad these days, so next post I’m focusing on Solo RPGs you can play even if you only have a few minutes!
Thanks to everyone who reads this and all my posts! I write because you read them, and I thank you for that.
Thanks for trying Eleventh Beast, and the very kind words about it in your write-up. I also really enjoyed the interview questions!
I too would like to see more of the Eleventh Beast world, and have two different ideas of what that might look like. At least one of those ideas will turn into an Exeunt Press game in the future. ;)
I just read an AP of Eleventh Beast, and it looks like a blast, it’s awesome to hear from the creator. I’m a big fan of an investigative monster hunt so will for sure be checking this out