The Role-Player's Vault

The Role-Player's Vault is a collection of on-line games by Sam Stoddard of RinkWorks. I have played through each of these games, some of them more than once, and this is where I keep my personal collection of playing aids I created for myself along the way. Be ye warned, all who enter here... spoilers abound!

Murkon's Refuge

The Vault first opened in the spring of 2002 with a single game called Murkon's Refuge. In this addicting RPG, you form a party of one to six adventurers that consists of wizards, sorcerers, knights and rogues with a variety of races to choose from, each with their own distinct abilities and intrinsic qualities. Your goal is to make your way into the depths of the labyrinth created by the dark mage Murkon and wrest from him a powerful magical artifact that he has stolen. To do this, you must fight your way past a multitude of ever-more-powerful and varying monsters that Murkon has summoned to defend his refuge, gaining gold, experience, and more advanced equipment for your team the deeper you delve.

With the ability to create countless varations in your characters and parties, no two games of MR play the same, and the replayability value is high. However, certain things remain constant. The ten levels of the dungeon are always the same, and the monsters you will fight retain the same characteristics from game to game. With that in mind, I have created a set of dungeon maps and a monster chart (that is admittedly incomplete) that offers some information on certain monsters found within the mazes of Murkon.

Murkon's Vengeance

Released in 2005, the sequel to Murkon's Refuge offers a bit of a twist on the same theme. In Murkon's Vengeance, you swap places with Murkon and must claw your way back to the top, controlling the actions of the dark mage from the moment he awakes from his long sleep in the depths of his now-rearranged dungeon. Now instead of facing monsters in combat, you as Murkon are able to summon them to help you fight your new foes: the parties of adventurers that defeated you in the first game!

As in the original, the levels of the dungeon in MV remain constant, and so I have once again made a set of maps to help in navigating the game. In the sequel, mapping your way through the mazes proves to be even more essential, as many new complexities have been added to the structure of the levels, creating difficult movement puzzles that must be solved in order for Murkon to complete his reascension.

Again, I want to make it clear that these are tools I created for myself when I was playing through the games for the first time. While a new player could use these their first time through and still enjoy the games, I recommend that you play through them on your own the first time through. You'll have a lot more fun!

Check out: Murkon's Refuge Maps | MR Monster Chart | Murkon's Vengeance Maps

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