Liminal Ark

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...

ALERT! An Incursion For Trophy Gold We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcasts to do some self-promo. I've just released a work-in-progress version of my Trophy Gold Incursion, "Maw of the River". Please check it out, spread the word, and most of all PLAY IT! Tell me what you think, love it or hate it. This is the first thing I've ever put together myself and I'm proud of a lot of it. Returning with a normal blog post some time later this week back with Kult or Imperium Maledictum. https://theark485.itch.io/the-maw-of-the-river-trophy-gold-incursion

  I find myself about to run a pretty big campaign using Kult: Divinity Lost taking more from the survival horror sphere ala Resident Evil and Silent Hill. To that end (But also because practice is good) I have need of some of my old monsters re-imagined in this style. So without further ado here is a reinterpretation of the Wraith Hound. (As for mentions of The Dream, this will be a liminal horror space revolving around the central antagonist of the story known as the Muse. I’ll get a write-up for Her in at some point in the future when I’m closer to talking about the rest of this.) WRAITH HOUNDS Eyeless canid horrors that exist only to hunt down and torture beings lost in the darkness beyond the light of their dreams. Mewling, pathetic beasts with bodies of old cracked leather, and wretched guttural howls out of blackened throats of whirling teeth. These entities were borne of malicious violence and intense animalistic desire now unfettered by flesh and free to inflict their pe...

Mnemosyne Shaped as a fleshy hippocampus with multitudes of writhing suckers in a roiling and distended belly. Befouls bodies of water with chemical secretions that smell of adhesives and turpentine where it sleeps and dreams deeply. The creature projects an aura of deep love and compassion through its cyclopean eye luring people to its hiding place through their dreams. Embracing the Mnemosyne through its dozens of writhing mouthed tendrils allows one to enter into a world of nostalgic bliss seeing things as they were or should be while the creature secretly feeds off of their powerful emotions. People that have been fed upon become bonded to the Mnemosyne protecting it at all costs until they have been fed upon enough to be sublimated into the pool becoming nothing more than a liquified husk. Those who aren’t consumed are given purpose and the will to make their world in the dream a reality. The most faithful and devoted servants of the Mnemosyne are even given a semblance of the cre...

Health issues meant that unfortunately I'm not going to be able to keep up as is but I'm going to continue to follow this dungeon at my own pace and see where it goes. D23 lives on. So, without further ado... THE POOL A gymnasium of polished marble and concrete dominated by a large diving pool. Shining waters reflect the hazy blue light from a fathomless ceiling. Bright red diving boards creak remembering patrons from the past. Birds In The Pool 1-2 FLOCK OF FLAMINGOS (AS SMALL ANIMAL): Obnoxious and loud. Will eat anything thrown in the pool. Colored bright blue from feeding on the ethereal shrimp at the bottom of the pool. 3-4 PAIR OF GHOST SHOEBILLS (AS CRANE): A mated pair. Appear to glide over the water and make no sound unless disturbed. Their call is deafening but they are otherwise non-hostile unless provoked. Will hide at the bottom of the pool if frightened after defending themselves. 5-6 ONE GIANT CASSOWARY (AS BEAR): Highly territorial. Waits in the pool before ...

THE CONCIERGE The manager’s right hand on the first floor gifted power to lord over the guests who vexed him in life. Looks out for the interests of the hotel and its reputation over the individual desires of any guest. Exceptional manners. Useful out of spite. Attentive and petty. Desires only for you to check in, follow the rules, and check out. What’s so hard about that? HD: 6 Armor As Chain Strength Of The House: While on the 1st Floor the Concierge has several abilities granted by the Manager. Each must be invoked by configuring the esoteric clockwork gears on his wristwatch. Can teleport anywhere on the 1st floor and take anyone or anything in his grasp with him. Visitors who make themselves pests (Or at least their luggage) are often dropped in the Gullet for the house to sort out. Can lock / unlock any door on this floor or portals leading to the outside. Staircases can be made to vanish but this power does not extend to the elevator. Cannot die. If this body is slain, re...