Remember 1982’s The Beastmaster? We pick up where we left off with the first article, including what TTRPG to use, if such a hypothetical game could make money, and which publisher might be the first to get the license.
What TTRPG Should Beastmaster Use?
While any system can be used to adjudicate tales, some resonate more for specific types of stories. The right system calls out to certain gamers, and publishers often have their preferred engine. That’s to say, one size does not fit all. In The Beastmaster’s case, there is a gaming movement that would be ideal to narrate these adventures.
The Beastmaster’s heyday was the 1980s. That means the audience may have some gray in their hair if their eyes brightened at the mention of The Beastmaster, I know mine does. The right gaming option likely comes from the same era. This was the timeframe of Dungeons & Dragons B/X (Moldvay/Cook) and BECMI (Mentzer) as well as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition. A Beastmaster RPG needs Stats, Hit Points, and Armor Class, each with the first letter capitalized in the rulebook. In terms of setting, subject matter, and games for players old enough to enjoy The Beastmaster’s original run 40 years ago, the ideal engine is d20-based. The aforementioned D&D systems as well as any D&D retroclone like Old-School Essentials, Swords & Wizardry, or OSRIC should influence the final engine. Newer d20 options like Castles & Crusades, Dragonbane, Dungeon Crawl Classics, or Mörk Borg would get the job done as well. If you’re not going d20-based, I’d speculate that the d100 Basic Roleplaying like with RuneQuest would fit your designs.
Powered by the Apocalypse, Forged in the Dark, FATE, Year Zero Engine, and newer gaming options aren’t going to meet The Beastmaster fans where their nostalgia lives. Those engines didn’t exist in the 1980s and don’t fit the memories of that world. That’s not to say that they aren’t great engines, they are, but they don’t decide the fates of Dar, Ruh, Sharak, Kodo, and Podo.
For The Beastmaster RPG, a hacked OSR, one that makes certain spells into character class powers would be a great option to power this hypothetical game.
Can a Beastmaster Game Make Money?
There are two reasons to create a game based on a licensed property such as The Beastmaster: Love and money. We can assume love since all TTRPGs are an expression of gamer passion. That leaves dollars, how much money might The Beastmaster RPG generate?
While The Beastmaster doesn’t receive the same recognition as Tolkien’s fantasy works, Conan the Barbarian, Game of Thrones, The Wheel of Time, Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant, Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser and Lankhmar, City of Adventure, Elfquest (which is getting an RPG resurrection thanks to Chaosium), or other fantasy properties adapted for tabletop, Beastmaster still commands a following. What kind of money can a publisher expect from that following? Trying to find numbers that are as apples to apples as possible, let’s look at one of The Beastmaster’s contemporaries, Deathstalker.
Deathstalker is another sword-and-sorcery, Conan-xploitation film series with four entries that ran from 1983 to 1991. The films, along with many other Roger Corman-produced properties, were purchased by Shout Factory LLC in 2018. Shout Factory experimented with making these films available as blu-rays and allowing creators to try new films and comics. The results can be seen across these Kickstarters:
- Vault Comics’ Slash presents DEATHSTALKER Kickstarter graphic novel by Tim Seeley, Jim Terry, and Steven Kostanski reached 645 backers that pledged $51,177 in 2023.
- Steven Kostanski’s DEATHSTALKER Kickstarter film reached 592 backers that pledged $95,457 in 2024.
- RELATED ENTRY: Lawrie Brewster’s The Slave and the Sorcerer – Sword & Sorcery HORROR MOVIE! Kickstarter, which takes inspiration from the Deathstalker series but is not officially related, reached 803 backers that pledged £78,751 in June, 2023. Plus, they did a stretch campaign that added 90 backers who pledged an additional £7,446 in July, 2023.
These numbers suggest any Deathstalker TTRPG would reach a pool of 600 to 900 dedicated fans of the film plus whatever audience the RPG publisher brings to the table. Because The Beastmaster prowls the same subgenre and taps into a similar fanbase, the Deathstalker projects serve as guidance for the potential The Beastmaster audience.
Based on those potentials, raising a baseline of $50,000 via crowdfunding the core rulebook seems a realistic goal, with higher funding possible. $50,000 would cover the cost of the licensing fees, creation, production, distribution, and, potentially, a profit.
How would a publisher achieve said profit? With the right contract, The Beastmaster RPG could draw from the existing body of images and visuals from the films and, possibly, TV series. There are painted posters, photos from the set, concept artwork, promotional stills, and possibly freeze frames taken from the films. The publisher could see some production savings through re-purposing existing artwork. Recycling this artworks is the right move; fans of The Beastmaster will appreciate seeing the art and photos from these films. Acting as an almost artbook celebrating the series, this project would gain a boost from images of Marc Singer’s Dar, the animal companions, Tanya Roberts, John Amos, Rip Torn, and the other actors from the world. Add in a small selection of well-rendered original pieces and the book will look professional and eye-catching without going over the production budget.
In addition, the publisher might pull from the works of Don Coscarelli, Paul Pepperman, Sylvio Tabet, and Richard A. Knaak to combine the movie’s legacy with the 2009 novel, Beastmaster Myth by Knaak and Tabet. During the crowdfunding, that book could be re-issued alongside the RPG or supplement, which would be an attractive add-on and another way to turn a profit on this project.
This is to say that there is a path to making this niche franchise into a profitable project for a publisher without cutting corners. With some clever choices and well-considered cost-savings, The Beastmaster Roleplaying Game could be a hit for the right publisher.
Who Will Make the Beastmaster RPG?
The publisher for The Beastmaster RPG is key. They’ll bring a built-in audience and decide the format for the book. Because The Beastmaster requires a licensing fee and terms, it will need an experienced author that can work with the licensor, hire the right creators, choose the proper format, connect their gaming fanbase with The Beastmaster fanbase, and deliver on the potential behind The Beastmaster Roleplaying Game.
Who would publish? Because the HBO and TBS jokes are American-centric (you have to have TBS on your TV in the 1980s and ‘90s for the joke to resonate), The Beastmaster is more of an American idiosyncrasy. Outside of the US, The Beastmaster may not rank as anything more influential than The Sword and the Sorcerer, Dragonslayer, Deathstalker, The Warrior and the Sorceress, Hawk the Slayer, or other 1980s fantasy gems. (As an aside, the license for Hawk the Slayer RPG should be obtained and published by Kenzer & Co., the company behind Knights of the Dinner Table. IYKYK.) Since The Beastmaster gained its cult status in the United States, let’s lead our hypothetical publisher list with partners that are tied to the work.
Location isn’t everything. The game engine will be key, which means we should remove publishers that aren’t tied to the OSR movement and/or d20. The last consideration is profit. Who could monetize a Beastmaster license? Who already has a fanbase that coincides with The Beastmaster fanbase and can get those players excited for this adventure?
PLEASE NOTE: I did not speak with any of the publishers listed below to gauge their interest and mentioning them does not mean that they’re even aware of this property, let alone actively courting it. A wide list of potential publishers includes, but is not limited to, Mythmere Games, SlyFlourish, North Wind Adventures, The Merry Mushmen, Creature Curation, Dark Wizard Games, Bloat Games, ThrowiGames, Pickpocket Press, and Mudpuppy Games. Whether they have the interest in pursuing the license is another matter.
So Where Is It?
While it does not exist today, The Beastmaster Roleplaying Game has potential. With the right publisher and license, you could play in the world of the Dar, Ruh, Sharak, Kodo, and Podo. While we wait for that license to find its way to tabletop, did you ever play as a homebrewed beastmaster character in the style of Dar? If you were playing The Beastmaster at your gaming table, what animals would your troupe be composed of? Comment below, and let’s talk about animals as we wait to sling some dice for The Beastmaster.
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