Monsters! Monsters!

Monsters! Monsters!

Welcome to the world of monsters!

In the wonderful desert city of Phoenix, where Tunnels & Trolls first made its appearance as the poor man's alternative to the expensive Other Role-Playing Game, an interesting phenomenon soon appeared. After a few promising characters had gone down to defeat beneath the bludgeon blows of giants, trolls, ogres, orcs, and malignant stone statues - after dragons, balrogs, and salamanders had incincerated a few rash adventurers - after that green puddle on the floor turned out to be a highly corrosive slime amoeba - it reached the point where, at the least sign of trouble, people would bolt for the exit shrieking "Monsters! Monsters!". Not long after that, the same catchy battle-cry of "Monsters! Monsters!" began to be heard at any undesirable situation (such as my arrival at a science-fiction club meeting, or upon entering the kitchen and encountering the last fortnight's dirty dishes before me).

So it was only natural that eventually the monsters should come out of their tunnels and dungeons to strike back at the smug world of the Men, Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, etc:, who had been so greedily despoiling their homes and treasures. This turning of the tables, to play monsters as protagonists, has proven to be even more hilarious than the original games. A monster lives by a completely different code of ethics, affording a splendid opportunity to get rid of the impure and perverted impulses which affect most of us - impulses it's hard to express while playing a hero. Monsters get experience points for wanton cruelty and destruction above and beyond the call of duty.

"Monsters! Monsters!" is, of course, the frightened shriek of human victims when the monsters appear. This game is similar to Tunnels & Trolls but you needn't have those rules in order to play this game, since everything you need is explained here.

Monsters! Monsters! was written by Ken St Andre, edited by Steve Jackson, and art by Liz Danforth.

Flying Buffalo Inc. produced a facsimile edition for GenCon 2010 and this is now available from their website.