Liminal Ark

Today we’re going to be talking about Fallout in Liminal Horror arguably THE mechanic that makes the game what it is. For those not in the know Liminal Horror is a horror tabletop RPG based on the wide wonderful ruleset of Cairn which is also based on the NSR Ur-Text Into The Odd. It’s light but with enough tricks up its sleeve to make it both fun and spooky enough for The Thing in a Mall or Control: The Megadungeon. I’ve been running Liminal Horror for years now through campaigns, one-shots, dungeon crawls, and city wide investigations. I’ve run every one of the official adventures at least twice and just wrapped up the Parthogenesis of Hungry Hollow so you could say I’m a bit of a fan. What keeps me coming back to Liminal Horror over Call of Cthulhu, Kult Divinity Lost or World of Darkness which I have immensely enjoyed in the past is the game’s defining feature, Fallout. Fallout is how the game dodges problematic tropes of “mental illness bad” found in the games above by drawing in...

Ever since reading about the Underclock on Goblin Punch I’ve been obsessed with it. A ticking time bomb always in the background of every decision made by the players that they can see and interact with in a more tangible way than any other type of random encounter. In the survival horror style game I enjoy this element of time keeping has replaced my use of one my most well worn tools in the Overloaded Encounter Die. Although still one of my favorite tools the Underclock and its ability to create tension has supplanted it for the time being in my DM toolbox. However, just like with the Overloaded Encounter Die, it does leave a lot of room to interpret, tweak, and hack to fine tune it for a specific feeling. Since my current obsession is with Amnesia The Bunker’s Stalker I thought it could be interesting to explore how we emulate being hunted down by an unstoppable beast like that using the Underclock as an ever sinking hour glass of it’s inevitable arrival. Underclock Additions And T...

Hey, long time no see. I recently had the pleasure of experiencing Amnesia The Bunker, a survival horror game set in the confines of a trench system trying to escape while a horrific creature hunts you down. With limited resources and only a single unbeatable enemy the game challenges the player to find creative solutions to manage light, sound, and even ammunition to ensure they can secure a method to escape. I had an incredible time with it and the layout and design of the experience set my brain on fire in a way I hadn’t had since playing Signalis last year. Enter The Signal. Below is a rough draft of the first level of the complex statted crudely for Mothership though I’ve used a lot of variations during my playtest leaning on the current stripped down interpretation given by Cloud Empress. Use what’s comfortable for you. The setting is during the waning years of the Great War on the Western Front in a conflict that seems without end in eastern France. With the Signal I’ve also de...

Another one. D8 Disasters On An Icy Expedition 1 - Snowdrifts move like waves on the ocean threatening to bury anyone in their path. 2 - The sled begins to sink steadily into the snow pulling anything attached to the reins down with it. 3 - Ice crystals buffet the expedition like thousands of tiny daggers drawing blood on bare skin. 4 - Draft animals become frozen in place unable to move.  5 - Snowstorm approaches in the distance consuming everything in a darkness like the night sky. 6 - The ground rumbles like a thunderstorm from underneath. A glacier moves pulling the earth apart beneath your feet. 7 - A failed expedition is strewn out along your path. Frozen colleagues huddled amidst their broken vehicles block the way forward. 8 - Hungry predators circle the expedition using the frozen fog as cover.

Saw Dyson Logos Dicember prompts a little bit late and decided to use it as motivation to do some writing. Don't know how many I'll do but this was fun anyway. Here are three D6 Tables when scavenging ammunition.  D6 Scavenged Ammo Tables - Arrows - 1. Shafts of coral strung together by kelp and affixed with sea anemone tips. Poisoned. 2. Hollow sharpened metal tubes with hand carved fins on the sides. 3. Wooden stakes inscribed with whispering glyphs. Cease to glow when your alone. 4. Carved from animal bones ending in a curved claw rather than a point. 5. Long needles fletched with diaphanous insect wings. 6 . Unremarkable quiver of arrows. Every one is marked with a different person's name.  - Bolts - 1. Repurposed military style javelins meant for smallfolk. Bears the sigil of their general.  2. Blunted points affixed with small metal fists. 3. Delicate sharpened pillars of volcanic glass. Shatters on impact.  4. Fashioned from solid stone. Painted in b...

I'm working on an adventure using Best Left Buried (Or hacking it?) based in the home setting my brother and I have played for years. The gist is an industrial fantasy setting based on the American West where a theocracy run by dragons has fallen into ruin and caused a schism in the country where disparate factions and city states want to remake it in their own image. You are Damned, people who are buried in debt meaning that they cannot enter heaven and their only way out is to plunder the riches of the golden age within the technomagical hellscape known as the Perdition. Inspired by STALKER, Hunt Showdown, and the Myth (And Death) of the American Dream. Also Late Stage Capitalism. I've decided to begin by creating Bounty Targets; special monsters the Damned will be hunting in the Perdition. So first up, the Burrowing Railbird. Burrowing Railbird A terrestrial bird of prey the size of a large bear who makes its lair out of abandoned saloons and casinos using the remains to dec...

 Best Left Buried Defensive Items Quick one. Currently running a Resident Evil inspired mega-dungeon for my brother and I. His Cryptdiggers have been having a real rough go of it and he was trying to find a way to spend Grip in order to save one of their lives' after a particularly vicious attack but to no avail. I feel bad for these poor souls but I also see an opportunity to try to introduce a cool mechanic I enjoy from the Resident Evil remakes; Defensive Items A defensive item is a special piece of equipment that provides a passive benefit when equipped but can be destroyed to provide a more powerful one for a short time. The take the same amount of slots as a normal item of their type. Shield. Provides +1 Defense when held in your hand. Can be expended to block an attack entirely. Lamellar Cuirass . Functions as Heavy Armor. Expend to deflect an Injury inflicted by a foe. Combat Knife : A Light Weapon that can also be Thrown. When Restrained or Grappled by a creature can be ex...

This week instead of working on my dungeon like I was supposed to I've cobbled together something a little weird. Here are a bunch of strange, scary, and cute doggos statted as BLB monsters you can use however you like. Some are probably good guards while others will perform well as special retainers if your players can train them to be good. Adaptation's are taken from the Cryptdigger's Guide and the Hunter's Guide to Monsters unless stated otherwise. Thanks for reading.  Temple Dog Made of stone with a lions face. Though a living creature can hold its breathe for long periods of time while on watch allowing it to become indistinguishable from its surroundings. It's bite causes paralysis and eventually turns one to stone.  Brawn: 1 Wit: 1 Will: 0 Vigour: 15  Armour: 9 Disguise, Petrifying Fangs* Stone Fangs (Hand) Special Adaptation: Petrifying Fangs . As Petrifying Gaze but its range is reduced to Melee. If the Temple Dog inflicts an injury with Stone Fangs can c...

Short one this week. Feel kind of tapped creatively due to some real life stressors but I wanted to put something down regardless.  NEW CONDITIONS First up are some conditions that often come up in my games which I just like to have written down since I use them so often. With the addition of cowboy guns and enemies that can wield them OK Corral style fire fights are inevitable so codifying the Cover move was done here as well.  Bleeding (Condition) The creature loses 1 Vigour at the start of their turn. If this damage brings them to 0 Vigour they die.  Paranoid (Condition) Observation checks have the Upper Hand. Grip checks are Against The Odds. Pinned (Condition) Must succeed at a Grip check or else can't move. NEW ACTION Take Cover (Move) Instead of moving to another Zone the Cryptdigger can move behind cover instead. Ranged attacks made against them while they are in cover are Against The Odds. NEW ADVANCEMENTS Hunker Down Advancement Martial / Technical While in Cove...