Creating a Character

1. Assign 6 points between the stats Hillbilly and Improv.

2. Choose a Specialty, or roll 1d6 to determine randomly:

3. Give your character a name. It can be a real name, a callsign, or a nickname.

The player characters make up the cryptid hunting Team.

You can have multiple characters on a Team with the same Specialty, but it’s probably better if they don’t overlap.

Naming the Monster

To name the Monster, roll 2d20 to choose a Monster Descriptor and a Monster Type. If you get the same word for both the Descriptor and Type, re-roll one of them.

d20	Descriptor	Type
1	Devil	Man
2	Thunder	Woman
3	Moth	Giant
4	Blood	Dog
5	Wolf	Wolf
6	Lizard	Beast
7	Were-	Demon
8	Ash	Monster
9	Shadow	Lizard
10	Smoke	Dragon
11	Bear	-squatch
12	Death	Creature
13	Big	Bear
14	Grass	Cat
15	Lightning	-zilla
16	Fire	Howler
17	Wumpus	-foot
18	Giant	Brother
19	Coyote	Savage
20	-Eyed*	Sister

* When you roll a 20 for the Monster Descriptor, roll another d20 (rerolling if you get 20). Add “-Eyed” as a suffix to that word.

Optionally add a location, such as “the [Descriptor] [Type] of McMinn County.”

 

 

Definitions

Hell Yeah! Tokens

At the beginning of each scene, each player receives two Hell Yeah! tokens from the bank they can award to another player. A player should award a token whenever another player does something funny, interesting, or creative.

A player doesn’t have to award a token during the scene it was received; they can save it to award in a later scene.

A player can spend Hell Yeah! tokens they have been awarded (and only tokens they’ve been awarded) in the following ways:

• Partial Success: Spend 1 token to change a Hillbilly roll to a Partial Success.
• Full Success: Spend 2 tokens to change a Hillbilly roll to a Full Success.
• First Initiative: Spend 2 tokens to move to the front of initiative order.
• Interject: Spend 2 tokens to take a free turn after the current player’s turn.

Initiative Rolls and Order

At the beginning of each scene, each player rolls initiative. Roll a number of d20’s equal to your Improv score and take the highest. Afterwards, you can spend one Hell Yeah! token to move to the front of the initiative order.

Then, arrange each player’s token in order:

• Any players whose Specialty moved them to the front of initiative order in order of their roll.
• Any players who spend 2 Hell Yeah! tokens to move to the front of initiative order in order of their roll.
• All remaining players in order of their roll.

Resolve any ties with a d20 roll-off.

Hillbilly Rolls

Whenever you attempt to do something difficult out in the woods, make a Hillbilly roll. You can do this voluntarily, but any other player can force you to make a roll if they deem it appropriate for what you’re trying to do.

Roll a number of d6’s equal to your Hillbilly stat and take the highest:

• Failure (1): Your turn ends and you skip your next turn. Describe how you fail.
• Partial Success (2-4): Your turn ends. Describe how you succeed, but it goes wrong.
• Full Success (5-6): Describe how you succeed.

After you roll, you can spend 1 Hell Yeah! token to change your result to Partial Success or 2 Hell Yeah! tokens to change it to Full Success.

Playing the Game

A game is divided up into:

• An Intro scene
• Three Segments:
  • A Witness scene followed by a Tracking scene
  • A Witness scene followed by a Nighttime scene
  • A Witness scene followed by a Trapping scene
• A Showdown scene and an Aftermath scene.

Playing a scene

During each scene, do the following:

1. Give each player one Hell Yeah! token from the bank that they can award to another player.
2. Roll initiative to determine turn order.
3. In initiative order, each player chooses:

4. When you reach the end of initiative order, repeat step 3 from the top of the initiative order (with any changes made over the last round).
5. Once all but one player has passed, that player takes a final turn and the scene ends.

See the Scene Types section for specific rules that apply to each scene.

“Yes, and…”

On your turn, you should feel free to riff on any aspect of the story: Monster lore, action, character development, or even inserting reality TV-style interviews in the middle of the narrative. You control your character and every aspect of the world around your Team.

But you don’t control other player characters. You can make suggestions about what another player character is doing, but that player has the right to veto.

Speaking out of turn

If a player poses a question or comment directly to another player, they may speak out of turn to respond only to that question or comment.

Taking too long?

If the other players vote that a player is taking too long on their turn, the player is forced to make a Hillbilly roll. The player who initiated the vote describes the mishap that caused the roll.

 

 

Scene Types

Intro Scene

In this scene, we meet the Team as they travel to the area where the Monster has been sighted. Players go around in initiative order describing what the local area and/or the Monster are like.

Witness Scene

The Team interviews a witness to the Monster. The Witness may have photos or video, but they should always be grainy, severely cropped, and/or out-of-focus.

Feel free to add details about what the Witness was doing when they spotted the Monster, how the Team found them, or where they are meeting them.

Choosing a Witness

In initiative order, each player (other than the Face) gets the option to play the Witness in this scene. If they do, they gain one Hell Yeah! token from the bank that they can spend (as if it was awarded to them).

The player portraying the Witness makes up a name and a persona before beginning the scene. They don’t play their character in this scene.

Questioning

Players go around in initiative order asking questions about the Monster and riffing on the answers. Whenever a player character poses a question to the Witness, they get a free turn to answer; after the free turn, initiative order resumes as normal.

Tracking Scene

The Team wanders out into the wilderness during the day and discovers tracks, droppings, dead carcasses, or other signs of the Monster. They go around in initiative order spotting new things, discussing what they have found, and speculating as to what it means.

Nighttime Scene

The Team wanders out into the wilderness at night using flashlights, low-light cameras, thermal vision, and other tools. The Team should constantly point out that they see or hear the monster from afar, but it should never appear “on camera” or directly interact with them.

Monster sounds

On your turn, you may choose to make monster sounds rather than speak or act as your character. If you do, move to the first initiative order slot.

Trapping Scene

The Team builds, sets, and baits a trap. They go around in initiative order scavenging materials, building the trap, discussing strategy, setting it up, and describing what it is expected to do.

Showdown Scene

The Team has readied the trap and returns to the wilderness at night to herd the Monster into it.

Usually, this involves splitting up, but it doesn’t have to. The Team is typically armed with various weapons and prepared for a fight–which, despite building tension and panic, never actually comes.

Building tension

Beginning on your second turn this scene, you must make a Hillbilly roll at the start of your turn. This represents something going wrong. On a failure or partial success, describe what happens and end your turn.

Once you fail or partially succeed on three of these Hillbilly rolls, you automatically pass. You have been inconvenienced or cowed into retreat.

Monster sounds

On your turn, if you succeeded on your Hillbilly roll, you may choose to make monster sounds rather than speak or act as your character. If you do, move to the first initiative order slot.

Aftermath Scene

After the Showdown ends, each player gets one turn to describe what happened in a reality TV-style interview.

For example, if the players set any cameras out during the Showdown, they can reveal what was captured. As before, all evidence should be grainy, severely cropped, out-of-focus, or otherwise dubious.