I Play THE CREATURE OF MURKY COUNTY RPG!
I Play the THE CREATURE OF MURKY COUNTY RPG! I Play Games!
The game simulates some of the plot from BOGGY CREEK II: AND THE LEGEND CONTINUES a movie that can normally only be survived by watching it as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.The legend of the Fouke Monster aka the Big Foot of Arkansas aka the Creature continues and continues in the movies and you just want it all to end.The RPG took the hokey events of the movie and turned them into a "serious" game with out the humor of MST3K or the flaws that made the movie worthy of an MST3K episode.In the game, you want the search for the Creature to continue as you explore Murky County,gaining bonuses.This is because meeting the Creature is deadly, especially if you aren't "prepared" with the various bonuses. Most of the places you search in Murky County will either send you on further along your search,present danger or provide opportunity and sometimes all of these.Many places are different depending on whether it is day or night.This increases both the amount of possible play and the length of time you could play this single page with out getting bored or seeing the same things happen.
Murky County's creator, Errin Famiglia, is a prolific game designer on 1k1mkt.net and the person responsible for The Character Sheet Is The RPG Challenge II 2007. The one page game is growing into a new cutting edge genre of role playing games, and solo RPG games, such as THE CREATURE OF MURKY COUNTY definitely have a place in it.
Here is my play records for two games:
Play Record 1
Physical 6 Mental 6 Spiritual 4 Class: Professor
Status: wounded twice, horrified
1 roll 3 Lone Stretch Of Road, roll 3 day, roll 4
2 roll 3 Lone Stretch of Road, roll 6 night, roll 6 Creature Encounter
Creature Encounter:
roll 3 + Physical 6 = 9 < 11 I am wounded, roll 6 + Mental 6 the Creature is Outsmarted, roll 4 + Spiritual 4 = 8 I am Horrified
3 roll 4 Desolate Farmhouse, roll 3 night, roll 5
4 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 1 Murky Creek Swamplands, I don't camp here overnight
5 roll 4 Desolate Farmhouse, roll 1 day, roll 4
6roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 4 The River Bottoms, roll 6 Creature Encounter
Creature Encounter: roll 3 + Physical 6 = 9 < 11 I am wounded for the second time, so I lost.
Play Record 2
Physical 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 final 8 Mental 4 + 2 + 1 =final 7 Spiritual 6 + 1 = final 7 Class: Professor
Status: wounded, stop being wounded, horrified no longer horrified,
1 roll 3 Lone Stretch Of Road, roll 4 day, roll 2
2 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 5, Old Man Crenshaw's Place, roll 1 I am wounded
3 roll 4 Desolate Farmhouse, roll 4 night, roll 3
4 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 5 Old Man Crenshaw's Place, roll 2
5 roll 1 The Town Of Murky, roll 5, Post Ofï¬ce, roll a die the next time
6 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 2 Murky Creek Swamplands, camp here overnight, roll 3
7 roll 5 Murky Creek, roll 6 The Creature's Den, roll 5
8 roll 5 Murky Creek, roll 4 The River Bottoms, roll 5
9 roll 1 The Town Of Murky, roll 2 General Store
10 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 3 The River Bottoms, roll 1, roll 4 + 1 physical
11 roll 2 The Town Of Murky, roll 1 Local Library, roll 3, Physical + 1
12 roll 4 Desolate Farmhouse, roll 1 day, roll 5
13 roll 5 Murky Creek, roll 3 The River Bottoms, roll 5
14 roll 1 The Town Of Murky, roll 5 Post Ofï¬ce, roll 6 Mental + 2, no more bonus here
15 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 3 The River Bottoms, roll 1, roll 4 < 6, Physical + 1
16 roll 2 The Town Of Murky ,roll 3 Police Station, roll 6 Search Old Man Crenshaw's Place instead.
16 Search Old Man Crenshaw's Place roll 6 search The Creature's Den instead,The Creature's Den roll 6
16 Creature Encounter: roll 4 + Physical 7 = 11, I end the Encounter
17 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 2 Murky Creek Swamplands, camp here overnight, roll 1 Physical + 1
18 roll 1 The Town Of Murky, roll 4 Doctor's Ofï¬ce I stop being wounded
19 roll 4 Desolate Farmhouse, roll 3 night, roll 4
20 roll 3 Lone Stretch Of Road, roll 5 night, roll 6 Creature Encounter roll 5 + Physical 7 = 12 the Creature is beaten, roll 6 + Mental 6 the Creature is outsmarted, roll 4 + Spiritual 6 = 10 I am horrified
21 roll 1 The Town Of Murky,roll 6 Old Church I am no longer horrified
22 roll 2 The Town Of Murky, roll 3 Police Station,roll 4 search Desolate Farmhouse instead,
22 roll 5 night, roll 1,roll 4 < 6 Spiritual + 1
23 roll 6 Murky Creek, roll 5 Old Man Crenshaw's Place, roll 4 Physical + 1 Mental + 1 Spiritual + 1, no more bonus here
24 roll 6 Murky Creek,roll 6 The Creature's Den,roll 1 Creature Encounter
24 Creature Encounter roll Creature Encounter roll 6 + Physical 8 = 14 the Creature is beaten, roll 6 + Mental 7 = 13 the Creature is outsmarted, roll 5 + Spiritual 7 = 12 the Creature is dominated Victory!
Analysis
The longer you survive in Murky County, the better your chances of gaining the sometimes required bonuses to beat the Creature. The higher your scores are the more likely it is that you can take advantage of an opportunity to gain bonuses.The Creature, Old Man Crenshaw and other dangers through out the game add a strong element of risk.The Creature is a powerful and elusive boss type since it takes above average scores in all areas obtained through game play to beat, outsmart and finally dominate the Creature, while as the Creature can easily wound,traumatize and horrify you with each failed rolled.
p.s.
One slight correction...
Your Turn 23 in the 2nd Record of your playtest still needs +1 Physical and +1 Mental added to the +1 Spiritual gained by rolling a 4 for the first time at Crenshaw's place. It is the one instance in the game wherein you gain a plus to all three attributes at once. Otherwise, it's usually an either/or proposition and you only get a plus to one attribute.
Finally!
I believe I got all of your corrections done, the review should be complete and the play test records accurate.I had a hard time getting that much text uploaded on to one book page, by the way.( even with my good connection and everything) Thank you for helping me with this review. I'm planning on Doing more I Play of your games, the ones you suggested, as I play them.
-John Lennon
Very thorough
Looks good to me. Thanks again for 'I playing' The Creature of Murky County RPG... I think it was a good choice for this review format of yours. It also reminded me that I wanted to do another MST3K-inspired one pager... I hope to get 'Leave The Bronx RPG' done soon so as to contribute yet again to the 2007 Character Sheet challenge. I appreciate the 'prolific' compliment... if I am able to churn out a good number of RPGs, it's because at this point the process of my free-RPG-making hobby has become somewhat second nature. You'll find that the more RPGs you make (and I hope Dungeoneers is the first of many RPGs by you), the easier it becomes to make them. 'Prolific' was never a goal of mine, but I'm glad I've put out quite a few free RPGs thanks to 1km1kt and RPG Lab.
Peace, Errin : )
Seeing double
Well, the new review just needs a little editting and it should be fine (I type this knowing that you are still not quite done writing this). What a fun read!
Everything looks all on the up and up ruleswise, but I did see one minor mistake in Turn 23 of the Play Record 2: When you roll a 3 or 4 at Old Man Crenshaw's Place for the first time, you gain +1 Physical, +1 Mental, AND +1 Spiritual. I believe this is the only occurence in the game wherein that happens; Otherwise it is an OR proposition when getting to choose among which attributes increase. In case you were curious, the 3 or 4 rolled at Crenshaw's represents finding the little Creature he has captured in his house, just like in the Boggy Creek II movie.
But that minor mistake didn't really matter because you defeated the Creature in Turn 24 without the +1 to Physical and +1 to Mental the Professor should have gotten in Turn 23.
Thanks again for reviewing the game, and I look forward to your final analysis.
Peace, Errin : )
A few things
First off, thanks for all the nice words and thank you for giving my game a test run. I really enjoyed following your random adventures in Murky County, especially when your one character got shot by Old Man Crenshaw!
I have a few corrections for you, however...
The movie that Creature of Murky County is based on is in fact called "Boggy Creek 2: The Legend Continues". Though I made up the Murky County game, it is strongly based on what occurred in the Boggy Creek 2 movie. In fact, if you watch the MST3000 version, you can see everything I put in the game that is from the movie. There were some slight variations (the character classes, for instance), but for the most part the game is an exact duplication, or rather simulation, of the movie.
And, I hate to spoil your Play Record 2 victory, but you have not yet caught the Creature! According to the rules of the RPG:
"If the result of the die roll plus the Character's Physical, Mental, or Spiritual is ever equal to 11 in a Conflict, the Conflict ends as soon as a result of 11 occurs."
Your 4 + 7 = 11 on turn 16 means the Conflict ends, not in victory or defeat. It just ends. This represents the Creature's elusiveness... any sort of standoff with it means it goes away without being captured or defeating you. When your Play Record 2 professor got the 11 result in the Physical stage of the Conflict with the Creature, he did not win... he merely fought the Creature off for that encounter.
There is only one way to achieve victory according to the rules of the RPG...
"If the Creature is Beaten, Outsmarted, and Dominated in the Conflict (all three), the game ends in victory. Otherwise, the Conflict ends."
Basically, you got to outdo the Creature in all three phases of a Conflict in order to win the game. Another rule to keep in mind is this:
"The Character will remain Wounded, Traumatized, or Horrified after the Conflict until denoted otherwise; The Creature will not remain Beaten, Outsmarted, or Dominated after the Conflict."
In other words, you have to find a way to heal if hurt some way in a Conflict, but the Creature doesn't. As soon as a Conflict ends, the Creature will be good as new once the next Conflict rolls around.
This is all deliberate game design on my part. The game is one in which you search Murky County for clues, stories, equipment, and whatever else that might help you capture the Creature. As the game progresses, your attributes will doubtlessly grow until they reach a point where the Creature can be fully beaten in a Conflict. Just like the movie, the Creature and Murky County must be explored and understood before finally being bested.
And so, with the challenge before your professor a little better explained, please, please, please carry on with his adventure! I can't wait to see how it turns out. He definitely seems like he is on his way to victory, but you never know... one more shot from Crenshaw could be the end of him!
Peace, Errin : )
Oh how embarrasing
All right it looks like I get to do more proof reading and rewrite this review.(Crap!)Thank you for correcting me. That is exactly why my I Play Games! series is posted here and not on the main 1km1kt.net site forum. I love MST3K, but it ran for a long time and I admit I am not an expert on all the movie titles and episodes that they made, so thank you for catching me on my errors. I am glad you like the addition of my play records, it is actually a lot of work to do. So, I am glad you are reading and making use of it. You will see the rest of my Professor's adventure very soon when I am done fixing my review of your game.
-John Lennon
No worries
I'm just glad to clarify any misconceptions you may have had, more so with the game rules than with the movie title. I think you will find Creature of Murky County even more of a dynamic challenge now.
I definitely read your reviews... I like how you mix in playtesting with analysis/criticism of the RPG you are reviewing. Keep up the good work!
Peace, Errin : )
meirda santa!
I seriously have to play this game now... horror games are like candy from strangers.
because strangers have the best candy

Excellent work
Now that it's all said and done, I really enjoyed reading this review. I'm glad you enjoyed the game, and you definitely did your research. Well done.
When I originally made The Creature of Murky County RPG, I was hoping to create a dynamic wherein there was one singular monster that was the main challenge to the player characters. I always felt it did accomplish that, and your review/playtesting helped confirm that.
For what it's worth, the game rules for TCOMC RPG are very loosely inspired by an old Steve Jackson mini-game called
Undead. Undead was a simulation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, wherein the GM played Dracula and his forces in London, while the players represent Van Helsing and company hunting down Dracula. I no longer own the game, but I always marveled at how it was a mini-game RPG that used only a single six-sided die to determine everything. But, it threw in so many dynamics along the way (Renfeld, buried coffins, wolves escaping the zoo, etc.), that it was somewhat complex in it's simplicity. When making the TCOMC RPG, I kept 'Undead' in mind, though I didn't recall it's specific rules any more. I think it worked nicely.
Thanks again for 'I playing' my game, John. I look forward to your future reviews, whether they be of my games or somebody else's.
Peace, Errin : )
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