Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition, now on BackerKit, focuses on normal player characters and their struggles to survive against horrific creatures and threats both mundane and supernatural. Josh Domanski and Zach Hazard Vaupen the development team of Goblin Archives was kind enough to answer some questions about their horror RPG.
CD: What type of horror does Liminal Horror focus on and how do the rules support this focus?
Josh Domanski (JD): Liminal Horror is a rules-lite game set in the contemporary period. It’s incredibly easy to adapt the system to run a variety of horror subgenres, but we associate it closely with the survival horror genre. For the unfamiliar, the term “survival horror” was coined for the marketing of the first Resident Evil video game, but the genre is best known for the blending of the thematic and emotional elements of horror with the mechanical elements of resource management and the challenges provided by puzzles and difficult encounters. With Liminal Horror, the light mechanical framework puts a focus on the items you carry with you, how you best leverage them, and how injuries and fatigue will eventually wear your character down. But the beating heart of the system is the Fallout mechanic, where characters can become tangibly changed through their interactions with the horrors.
CD: How do you envision GMs using your RPG, and what tips do you have for GMs on how to achieve a certain style of horror?
JD: Broadly speaking, Liminal Horror falls under the umbrella of investigative games. There’s generally some underlying mystery at play that the players and their characters must contend with. However, in this case the game isn’t focused on solving the mysteries, but rather surviving them. Instead of the objective and gameplay being based around the act of finding clues, the clues just become an additional tool in the players’ arsenal to help their character survive. We like to say that Liminal Horror is the system to turn to when you want to run a session or campaign in a similar manner to movies like The Thing (1982) or The Evil Dead (1981). If I had to pick one piece of advice for GMs, it would be to focus on maintaining an ebb and flow of tension. Tension is a key part of establishing and maintaining buy-in for horror. It’s what keeps us on the edge of our seats and gives weight to the choices of the players. So start by establishing a sense of peace, slowly increase the pressure with foreshadowing or minor encounters, then break up the peace with something scary. After the characters escape, allow that peace to return for a short while, then increase the intensity again. If the entire session is one continuous horrific event, emotional fatigue will eventually set in, which can damper player buy-in. So you’ve got to set up those waves and let ‘em crash on the shore.
CD: What prompted the creation of Liminal Horror originally and in what ways did it mutate from the original vision to the horror it is today?
JD: I was inspired to try and make my own game by Yochai Gal’s (creator of Cairn) interview on The Lost Bay Podcast. Using Cairn as the basis, the first step was identifying what genre I wanted to work within. As someone just getting in to modern horror, it seemed like there was space in the scene for a new, modern horror take on rules-lite OSR type systems. During the original release in 2021, Liminal Horror setting was framed as a cosmic horror style. As we started to create modules for it, we realized that the scope was far more ranging than just cosmic horror, and was instead adaptable to any style of horror genre. We released an updated Investigators Edition of the zine that presented the rules in a more wide-spanning horror framing. As we prepared for the release of the Deluxe Edition, all of the core rules systems remain the same. The largest evolution has been that we’ve used the extra space allotted in a hardcover to create what we jokingly call as the dev team: The Ultimate Horror RPG Toolkit. We wanted to create a meaningful set of resources and support for people to play, run, and create for Liminal Horror. When looking at the Deluxe Edition, we have the Investigators Guide (which is a rewritten update of the core rules), the Facilitators Guide (essays on creating, running, and adapting modern horror, including procedures and info that often gets overlooked when giving people advice), Catalog of the Strange (our take on a modern horror bestiary), The Haunted Pacific Northwest (a framework setting to help people put the pieces and adventures together), and the Appendices (all the great extra tools, tables, and resources, including my favorite addition: The Generic Locations which are keyed maps of modern spaces common in horror).
CD: What was challenging about designing Liminal Horror and how did you resolve the challenge?
JD: Liminal Horror is a system with a mechanical lineage. It’s a hack of Cairn, which itself is a hack of Electric Bastionland. So a lot of the initial design was already done from the onset. Those precursor systems are great and give a hell of a solid foundation to build off of. So the design challenge from there is taking this solid chassis and twisting it to be better suited for horror, which is where Fallout and Wounds come into play. While the mechanics take a bit of tweaking to work out, those ideas are pulled straight from the genre fiction that inspired the system. The benefit of a rules-lite system is that you don’t have to worry about trying to work out and explain complex mechanical interactions as long as your core mechanics are clear and easy to understand. However, when you start to cut down on the framework of mechanics, you start putting a greater burden on the GM to be the arbiter of outcomes rather than that arbitration resting purely on the mechanics. So the true challenge of writing the Deluxe Edition for Liminal Horror was in providing support for the GM so that they do not have as great a burden to be concerned about. The resolution to this was straightforward: the sections of this book were written based on the insight we developed by running the game over the years. If there was an item that was useful to have in our home games or a piece of advice we wanted to pass on, chances are it ended up in this book. The book is centered around getting your horrors to the table with minimal fuss, and that all comes out of our lived experience.
CD: Any Liminal war stories to share from playtesting or from a campaign you’ve run?
JD: I’m fortunate that I have some fantastic game groups that let me run everything we have brewing. Having a consistent group allows us to jump right into the horror, and really bend/twist/break whatever I have cooked up for them. One of my most memorable Liminal Horror moments involves the playtesting of The Mall (what if The Thing was set in a 1990s mall?). I had finally figured out the Whisper Cards (a supplemental ruleset for the module that creates hidden prompts for players and can eventually indicate they’ve been replaced by the monster). Warning, spoilers ahead… My table had made it to the climax below The Mall. As they stood at the precipice of a portal to a realm of eternal flesh, I handed them a card to read to the table. I handed it to Shadow to read:
CD: How does the art in the RPG convey the rules and implied setting of Liminal Horror?
Zach Hazard Vaupen: The art is intended to create an eerie and uncanny atmosphere — lending itself to the slow (or rapid, depending on your table) warping of reality experienced over the course of any session or campaign. There are many examples of different horrors on display for the benefit of the table, so the GM doesn’t have to rely solely on verbal description. If they prefer setting the scene with words alone, the artwork aims to also provide a lot of details and minutiae to add texture to the storytelling.
Josh Domanski (JD): So Zach was the first person I ever collaborated with. I reached out to have him do the original zine cover. His interpretation was pretty iconic and set the artistic tone for the Liminal Horror line. Zach’s art has been in almost every single official Liminal Horror release to date, so when we were getting ready to develop the Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition it was an easy call to officially bring him on as Creative Director for Liminal Horror. As an equal partner in the official dev process, his interpretation of the game, setting, and horrors influences what we write throughout the process. It also means that the book is dripping with his art.
CD: Many readers of EN World are D&D and Pathfinder players. What would you say if they asked why Liminal Horror will be their next favorite RPG?
JD: When you watch horror movies, one of the most common pieces of commentary or criticism is that characters have a tendency to act irrationally. As a game, Liminal Horror frees you from the focus on stuff like balancing encounters and character builds. Your character sheet will not be the thing that saves you from the horrors. When playing this game, you get to take on the role of the protagonists in a horror movie and test out whether or not you’re actually the type of person that acts rationally in the face of unspeakable horrors. But this is one of the keys to the joy in play. Your success, failure, and development of your character is almost entirely based on how you choose to use the tools at your disposal, and not whether or not you’ve optimized a character or gained abilities through earning XP, so your character's fate is earned by your own hand.
Charlie is a participant in the Noble Knight Affiliate Program and the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, both of which are affiliate programs that provide a means for participants to earn money by advertising and linking to Noble Knight Games and DriveThruRPG respectively. Charlie on Facebook. Posts and articles posted here by others do not reflect the views of Charlie Dunwoody. If you like the articles at EN World please consider supporting the Patreon.
CD: What type of horror does Liminal Horror focus on and how do the rules support this focus?
Josh Domanski (JD): Liminal Horror is a rules-lite game set in the contemporary period. It’s incredibly easy to adapt the system to run a variety of horror subgenres, but we associate it closely with the survival horror genre. For the unfamiliar, the term “survival horror” was coined for the marketing of the first Resident Evil video game, but the genre is best known for the blending of the thematic and emotional elements of horror with the mechanical elements of resource management and the challenges provided by puzzles and difficult encounters. With Liminal Horror, the light mechanical framework puts a focus on the items you carry with you, how you best leverage them, and how injuries and fatigue will eventually wear your character down. But the beating heart of the system is the Fallout mechanic, where characters can become tangibly changed through their interactions with the horrors.
CD: How do you envision GMs using your RPG, and what tips do you have for GMs on how to achieve a certain style of horror?
JD: Broadly speaking, Liminal Horror falls under the umbrella of investigative games. There’s generally some underlying mystery at play that the players and their characters must contend with. However, in this case the game isn’t focused on solving the mysteries, but rather surviving them. Instead of the objective and gameplay being based around the act of finding clues, the clues just become an additional tool in the players’ arsenal to help their character survive. We like to say that Liminal Horror is the system to turn to when you want to run a session or campaign in a similar manner to movies like The Thing (1982) or The Evil Dead (1981). If I had to pick one piece of advice for GMs, it would be to focus on maintaining an ebb and flow of tension. Tension is a key part of establishing and maintaining buy-in for horror. It’s what keeps us on the edge of our seats and gives weight to the choices of the players. So start by establishing a sense of peace, slowly increase the pressure with foreshadowing or minor encounters, then break up the peace with something scary. After the characters escape, allow that peace to return for a short while, then increase the intensity again. If the entire session is one continuous horrific event, emotional fatigue will eventually set in, which can damper player buy-in. So you’ve got to set up those waves and let ‘em crash on the shore.
CD: What prompted the creation of Liminal Horror originally and in what ways did it mutate from the original vision to the horror it is today?
JD: I was inspired to try and make my own game by Yochai Gal’s (creator of Cairn) interview on The Lost Bay Podcast. Using Cairn as the basis, the first step was identifying what genre I wanted to work within. As someone just getting in to modern horror, it seemed like there was space in the scene for a new, modern horror take on rules-lite OSR type systems. During the original release in 2021, Liminal Horror setting was framed as a cosmic horror style. As we started to create modules for it, we realized that the scope was far more ranging than just cosmic horror, and was instead adaptable to any style of horror genre. We released an updated Investigators Edition of the zine that presented the rules in a more wide-spanning horror framing. As we prepared for the release of the Deluxe Edition, all of the core rules systems remain the same. The largest evolution has been that we’ve used the extra space allotted in a hardcover to create what we jokingly call as the dev team: The Ultimate Horror RPG Toolkit. We wanted to create a meaningful set of resources and support for people to play, run, and create for Liminal Horror. When looking at the Deluxe Edition, we have the Investigators Guide (which is a rewritten update of the core rules), the Facilitators Guide (essays on creating, running, and adapting modern horror, including procedures and info that often gets overlooked when giving people advice), Catalog of the Strange (our take on a modern horror bestiary), The Haunted Pacific Northwest (a framework setting to help people put the pieces and adventures together), and the Appendices (all the great extra tools, tables, and resources, including my favorite addition: The Generic Locations which are keyed maps of modern spaces common in horror).
CD: What was challenging about designing Liminal Horror and how did you resolve the challenge?
JD: Liminal Horror is a system with a mechanical lineage. It’s a hack of Cairn, which itself is a hack of Electric Bastionland. So a lot of the initial design was already done from the onset. Those precursor systems are great and give a hell of a solid foundation to build off of. So the design challenge from there is taking this solid chassis and twisting it to be better suited for horror, which is where Fallout and Wounds come into play. While the mechanics take a bit of tweaking to work out, those ideas are pulled straight from the genre fiction that inspired the system. The benefit of a rules-lite system is that you don’t have to worry about trying to work out and explain complex mechanical interactions as long as your core mechanics are clear and easy to understand. However, when you start to cut down on the framework of mechanics, you start putting a greater burden on the GM to be the arbiter of outcomes rather than that arbitration resting purely on the mechanics. So the true challenge of writing the Deluxe Edition for Liminal Horror was in providing support for the GM so that they do not have as great a burden to be concerned about. The resolution to this was straightforward: the sections of this book were written based on the insight we developed by running the game over the years. If there was an item that was useful to have in our home games or a piece of advice we wanted to pass on, chances are it ended up in this book. The book is centered around getting your horrors to the table with minimal fuss, and that all comes out of our lived experience.
CD: Any Liminal war stories to share from playtesting or from a campaign you’ve run?
JD: I’m fortunate that I have some fantastic game groups that let me run everything we have brewing. Having a consistent group allows us to jump right into the horror, and really bend/twist/break whatever I have cooked up for them. One of my most memorable Liminal Horror moments involves the playtesting of The Mall (what if The Thing was set in a 1990s mall?). I had finally figured out the Whisper Cards (a supplemental ruleset for the module that creates hidden prompts for players and can eventually indicate they’ve been replaced by the monster). Warning, spoilers ahead… My table had made it to the climax below The Mall. As they stood at the precipice of a portal to a realm of eternal flesh, I handed them a card to read to the table. I handed it to Shadow to read:
One of the best parts about running Liminal Horror is that you get to explore stories where the players don’t always end up the heroes, and sometimes the choices they make to survive leave them changed.
CD: How does the art in the RPG convey the rules and implied setting of Liminal Horror?
Zach Hazard Vaupen: The art is intended to create an eerie and uncanny atmosphere — lending itself to the slow (or rapid, depending on your table) warping of reality experienced over the course of any session or campaign. There are many examples of different horrors on display for the benefit of the table, so the GM doesn’t have to rely solely on verbal description. If they prefer setting the scene with words alone, the artwork aims to also provide a lot of details and minutiae to add texture to the storytelling.
Josh Domanski (JD): So Zach was the first person I ever collaborated with. I reached out to have him do the original zine cover. His interpretation was pretty iconic and set the artistic tone for the Liminal Horror line. Zach’s art has been in almost every single official Liminal Horror release to date, so when we were getting ready to develop the Liminal Horror Deluxe Edition it was an easy call to officially bring him on as Creative Director for Liminal Horror. As an equal partner in the official dev process, his interpretation of the game, setting, and horrors influences what we write throughout the process. It also means that the book is dripping with his art.
CD: Many readers of EN World are D&D and Pathfinder players. What would you say if they asked why Liminal Horror will be their next favorite RPG?
JD: When you watch horror movies, one of the most common pieces of commentary or criticism is that characters have a tendency to act irrationally. As a game, Liminal Horror frees you from the focus on stuff like balancing encounters and character builds. Your character sheet will not be the thing that saves you from the horrors. When playing this game, you get to take on the role of the protagonists in a horror movie and test out whether or not you’re actually the type of person that acts rationally in the face of unspeakable horrors. But this is one of the keys to the joy in play. Your success, failure, and development of your character is almost entirely based on how you choose to use the tools at your disposal, and not whether or not you’ve optimized a character or gained abilities through earning XP, so your character's fate is earned by your own hand.
Charlie is a participant in the Noble Knight Affiliate Program and the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, both of which are affiliate programs that provide a means for participants to earn money by advertising and linking to Noble Knight Games and DriveThruRPG respectively. Charlie on Facebook. Posts and articles posted here by others do not reflect the views of Charlie Dunwoody. If you like the articles at EN World please consider supporting the Patreon.
