Monstrous Detectives

Monstrous Detectives

You are monsters who are running a private detective agency together. Youʼve already solved many thrilling cases. Can you solve your newest case and help your client?

Monstrous Detectives is an investigation story game in two phases, in which you develop the case, the clues, and the solution over the course of the game by answering randomly drawn questions.

~ The printed version of Against the Monster is available at plotbunnygames.com ~ Es gibt auch eine deutschsprachige Version des Spiels. ~

Setting & Rules

In Monstrous Detectives, you play monsters who are running a private detective agency in a world shared by monsters and humans and who are investigating their current case.

In a brief set-up phase, you’ll read the instructions out loud together and define some of the foundations of your setting. You can choose the tone from the spectrum between Monster Inc. to film noir or Hellboy. You also decide what kinds of monsters you want to play.

After that, you’ll take turns drawing playing cards which are each associated with a question. During the first part of the game, your answers to these questions will develop your monsters, the detective agency, your client, and your new case. During the second part, your investigation takes place, and you’ll try to solve the case.

At the end, you’ll narrate the conclusion of your case and wrap up the game together.

Due to the random selection and order of the questions (you'll typically use around a quarter of them during a two-hour game) and the huge variety of possible settings, Monstrous Detectives has a strong replayability value. (You can see some examples in the Media section of this page.)

Monstrous Detectives uses the GM-less Descended from the Queen framework (which you may know from For the Queen or from our previous publications Viva la QueerBar or Against the Monster).

It's great for both newbies and experienced TTRPG players, and can also be played with kids (there's more info about that in the FAQ). No preparation necessary – just start playing!

The game ideal for one-shots, and has a flexible play time of about 2–4 hours. All you need to play is this zine, a regular deck of playing cards, and 2–6 players (no GM). 

The PDF

Format:

• 36 pages, A5 format (148 x 210 mm / 5.8 x 8.3 inches)
• Full-color
• Screenreader-ready with tags, clickable internal references and external links, and image descriptions

Contents:

• Complete instructions for play (consent and safety tools included)
• 8 random tables with 104 different questions (52 in each part of the game)
• Appendix with 4 more random roll tables for inspiration
• Original artwork (100% made by humans, like the rest of this game)

Additionally needed:

• A standard deck of playing cards (52 cards, no jokers, such as a poker deck)

Credits

• Game design: Carina Büker
• Project management, editing, and art direction: Andrea Rick
• Proofreading: Camilla Kutzner (German), Cynthia Mattingly (English)
• Illustrations: Daniela Schreiter (Fuchskind)
• Layout and image descriptions (alt-texts): Andrea Rick
• Crowdfunding consulting: Jasmin Neitzel

Media

Madelancholy: Monstrous Detectives, an investigative one-shot. Actual Play with Madelancholy, Danny, Gulix, Rob Fletcher, Tea-amat, and Andrea Rick.

A team of ghostly investigators from different eras investigate the case of a twice-murdered ghost – a case chock-full of suspicious connections and dramatic twists.

TTRPGkids: All-Ages TTRPG projects during Zine Month 2026! (Blog post).

Rascal: Monstrous Detectives: A new take on investigative games (Announcement).

We've also been mentioned in the TTRPGkids February Newsletter and on Icarus News.

You can find further media in German here.