I was so excited when the Bundle of Holding published the Mystery Flesh Pit offer that I downloaded the game and forgot to write a Geek Native post.
The offer ends on the 22nd, but you can get the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG, and my solution for leaving the bundle news until so late is to write a review!
Right then, let’s delve into the fleshy depths of Mystery Flesh Pit National Park: The RPG. Published by Ganza Gaming and developed by Christopher Robin Negelein, this book brings the unique world created by Trevor Roberts to the tabletop. This adaptation offers a compelling, if bizarre, experience.
System
The game cleverly utilises the Cypher System, originally from Monte Cook Games. If you’re familiar with Cypher, you’ll feel right at home. The core mechanic involves rolling a d20 against a target number, which is simply the task’s difficulty (rated 0-10) multiplied by three. Players make all the rolls, even for defence. What makes Cypher shine here is how skills, assets (like gear or situational advantages), and spending points from your stat Pools (Might, Speed, and Intellect) for Effort can ease tasks, reducing that difficulty and target number. It’s a straightforward system that lets the strangeness of the setting take centre stage.
“I have played this game and it is _________________.”
► Complete the objectiveSetting
Imagine a national park unlike any other, situated not around mountains or forests, but within a colossal, living organism discovered in West Texas. This is the Permian Basin Super Organism (PBSO), colloquially known as the Mystery Flesh Pit. Initially, a quirky roadside attraction developed by James Jackson, it was later commercialised by the Anodyne corporation and absorbed into the US National Park system. Players explore a geobiological landscape of fleshy tunnels, acid lakes, strange parasites, and unique biological resources ripe for corporate exploitation. The park operated until a catastrophic disaster in 2007 led to its closure. The setting brilliantly blends cosmic horror with biting satire on tourism, capitalism, and bureaucracy. The timeline allows campaigns to be set during the park’s heyday, its disastrous aftermath, or the present day, where the renamed Anodyne (now PBRC) continues operations under dubious oversight.
Character Creation
Character creation follows Cypher’s intuitive sentence format: “I am a [Descriptor] [Type] who [Focus]”. The available Types are tailored perfectly to the setting: Security Agent, Park Ranger, Engineer, Park Guide, Marketeer, and the mysterious Person In Black. Descriptors (adjectives like Rugged, Charming, or the new Pit-Touched) add personality and starting modifications, while Foci (verbs like Explores Dark Places, Fights Dirty, or Mines for Anodyne) grant unique abilities that evolve as characters advance through Tiers 1 to 3. You define your character through three core stats: Might, Speed, and Intellect, each with a Pool (your raw ability points) and Edge (reducing the cost of using abilities). Applying Effort costs Pool points but makes difficult tasks achievable. It’s a flexible system that allows for diverse and suitably weird characters.
Optional Rules & Unique Mechanics
Mystery Flesh Pit introduces several well-integrated optional rules enhancing its unique flavour. PBSO Manifestations grant characters strange powers resulting from exposure to the Pit, tied to a new PBSO-M point pool and a risk of corruption. Spiral Mode ramps up tension by increasing the chance of GM intrusions as situations escalate. Conformity provides a satirical alternative to sanity mechanics, where characters become obsessed with bureaucracy as a coping mechanism for the surrounding horror. Prototypes (single-use, often unpredictable gadgets akin to cyphers) and Special Issue (more reliable, multi-use items like artefacts) represent the weird tech derived from the PBSO. Inspirations offer an alternative, representing innate moments of pushing beyond limits. Grit points, earned through GM intrusions, allow players rerolls or short-term benefits, adding another layer to resource management. These additions feel thoughtfully implemented, deepening the setting’s themes.
GM Resources & Art
The book provides solid support for the Game Master. There’s a bestiary of bizarre intrapit creatures (like Copepods and Bristleworms) and surface wildlife affected by the Pit, alongside stats for typical NPCs, environmental hazards, unique locations within the PBSO, and specialised vehicles like the VEEV tour bus. Chapters offer guidance on setting difficulty, using GM and player intrusions effectively, customising types with ‘flavours’ (like stealth or technology), and balancing encounters (though Cypher prioritises story over strict balance). Three distinct campaign frameworks (Park Employees, Subcontractors, Special Contingency) and adventure scenarios based around the 2007 disaster give GMs a running start. The artwork, much of it by setting creator Trevor Roberts, is exceptional, perfectly capturing the unsettling blend of corporate mundanity, body horror, and retro aesthetics found on the original website, using diagrams, mock advertisements, character art, and evocative scenes.
Overall
A dangerously quirky game and a lot of fun. If you’re looking for a Halloween distraction, then this deal is perfectly timed.
Quick Links
- Bundle of Holding (time warning): Offer.
- DriveThruRPG: Download at full price.
