Anyone who's followed me for the past while knows that holiday break times are my favorite when it comes to Liminal Horror writing. They tend to be a longer sequence of days I can dedicate to writing, drafting, and creating without my day job competing for my time/attention/energy. It lets me play pretend at doing Liminal Horror full time.
Since I get to play, why don't I share that fun with you all as well. Lets take a look at some of the things I've been working on during my Spring Break Writing Adventure Time!!!
DELUXE EDITION
This is truly in the home stretch, and my portion of this is complete. Josh is finishing the final maps. The entire text has been edited, annotated, indexed, and hyperlinked. The last thing we'll do right before is clean up the entries submitted by backers for the typo-hunting.
INVESTIGATORS
One of the things that has become pretty apparent to us is that the original Investigators release is built of an a way early version of the Deluxe Edition (still very much compatible as all versions have been built to work together). With the completion of the Deluxe Edition it did get Josh and I thinking (and added a task to my to do list, and subsequently theirs).
THE BUREAU REMASTERED
We've been pretty upfront that this was going to be the next priority after delivering the Deluxe Edition (it was originally a stretch goal we didn't hit). And so I've been working on getting the additional text ready for us when we divert our resources to bringing the Bureau back into print.
Let's take a look at some of the things we are looking to add (this is a draft idea, and subject to change based on whims, space, time, and overall cohesion).
Post release Josh had redesigned the Bureau emblem, and so we'll be integrating that throughout the text.
We will be updating the Employee Code of Conduct (included rules) to add Wounds. Given the space limitations we may need to get creative with what to include, and may revamp this page in its entirety. I have three proposed solutions we'll play with to see what works best.
Updating the Operation Experience (Archetypes). There are four archetypes included in the original module we wanted to change. During play, and as we refined our vision for Liminal Horror, we realized that a few of the Archetypes that had you play has Bureau agents created a dissonance within the module that while not impossible to overcome, could be easily avoided. To that end we are cutting and replacing Promotion (p.6), Company Many (p.6), Rival Agency (p.6), Human Capitol (p.7). I found four from the Deluxe Edition that I rewrote to tie them into stumbling into the Monolith at the start of play (Relic-Touched, Repo, Travel Nurse, Career Criminal).
Zach is doing new character portraits for the NPCs to mirror those he made for This Mysterious Life pregens!
We will be adding an encounter procedure that leverages the patrols on each floor (that we will do some updates on as well). We felt like the Tension Die acts as a good tool for play:
TENSION DIE
The Tension Die is an encounter system that simulates a clocking ticking down towards an inevitable encounter. Begin with a point pool of 20. Each time an Exploration Turn passes or the party does something that would attract the attention of entities upon the floor, roll a d6 and subtract the result from the point pool. If a 6 is rolled, roll again and subtract both results for the pool. When the point pool reaches 0, an encounter is triggered. After the encounter is resolved, reset the pool and begin again.
Optional (we may include in some form): Reaching 0 for a third time on a floor will trigger an encounter with the main boss of that floor.
Example actions that constitute an Exploration Turn that would trigger a Tension Die roll:
Entering a room.
Searching or exploring a space.
Taking a quick breath to regain HP in an unsecured location.
20-30 minutes pass in real time.
We will be adding a new section called The Fall of the Monolith. This is in place of a traditional Doom Clock, and functions more as a Campaign Tension Die. Taking inspiration from Gradient Descent's Monarch Section, we will have the Monolith itself react to the players. Included will be events that can occur on any floor and will fundamentally change encounters with different NPCs, Horrors, and sections. This shows the ever evolving nature of the crisis and creates unique complications that will be different for every play-through and table.
We will be switching out the Appendix B for a new Appendix focusing on the Funnel Setup that Josh runs at cons. This alternative mode of play will be flushed out for Facilitators instead of functioning as a paragraph of advice in the front matter.
THE FALL OF THE BUREAU
This is the major new addition to the Bureau Remastered. This supplement, added to the back of the book, acts as a guide for using the Bureau in play in a world that is post Monolith-Crisis.
In a post Shadow Incursion Incident, the Bureau is fractured. The once mighty institution is splintered, with field agents and regional hubs left to continue their work without the historical direct oversight of the Bureau Headquarters. This leads to varying levels of direct and indirect intervention by Bureau agents in the field. The nature of the events, and its impacts, are shrouded in secrecy, even from those who are in The Bureau. While the automated message of “business as usual” is pervasive, the flow of information, resources, and direction is not. This directly leads to different agents adjusting and acting in ways to align to their vision of the Bureau’s mission, to varying effects.
This resource will include:
Known Active Agents and Leads (an annotated resource showing where the Bureau shows up in other published materials).
Contracts and jobs that Investigators can take (or be forced into).
Encounters: A list of encounters involving Bureau agents that Facilitators can add to their encounter tables.
Consequences: Ways that the Bureau can come in and mess with players at the end of sessions/arcs/campaigns.
Stat blocks for different Bureau assets (these mirror those included in the Deluxe Edition).
A list of pregenerated Agents to use during the earlier module or to drop into your games.
Supply Caches: Secreted away locations that house items of import (and sometimes dangerous) that can be found by players.
A new Resource Reference similar to the one included in the Bloom (to act as the inside back cover.
We're really excited to punch up a few bits of this with our new learning (remember, this was published alongside The Mall, and we've learned a lot since then, and we're looking forward to getting this back into print). Just like The Mall Remastered, the digital files will simply update the original, so if you bought it on itch or drivethru (or backed one of our crowdfunds) you'll get the update when it releases.
CASE FILES 02
We're going to be back with our neighborhood friendly horror anthology zine! We're typically working on 2-3 issues of Case Files at a time, allocating writing based on the overarching theme of the zine. Case Files 02 is going to be released alongside of The Bureau and aims to reinforce some of the Bureau-ness.
The first part of my Spring Break writing time has been devoted to drafting a bunch of things for these.
Adventures: Josh will be refining and releasing two scenarios in Case Files 02 (at least that's the initial goal). One of those will be an update and zine reformat for the scenario The Vanished (focusing on a satellite Bureau office that houses the Digital Transformation Department).
We've included some cosmic NPCs currently names, "Children of the Void." Using the Weaver from the Bureau as the basis, we've drafted multiple of it's unique siblings that typically reside in The Beyond, yet can be encountered by Investigators and other mortal beings. These were really fun, really weird, and sure to create some unique situations during play. Zach even wrote one that is named The Friend (how can that be at all ominous.
Zach also wrote a menetic cursed symbol that has some killer touchstones (Noroi, Kinki, SCP Foundation, There Is No Antimemetics Division, The Ring).
We will be releasing our Supplemental Rules: Bonds.
Bonds are an optional supplement that introduces a mechanical component to the Creating an Investigator steps for Investigator Bonds and Connections. You will use those tables alongside the following mechanics to create Bonds that protect and entangle Investigators with the world of Liminal Horror.
Our very own in-universe writer Anna Stone will be getting a section talking about the different books she has published, and how it stresses the Bureau out that they don't know who she is, or how she consistently writes books include classified details, oh and that they are published well before the events actually happen.
RESONANT ARTIFACTS: I couldn't help myself, so I wrote up a bunch more Resonant Artifacts for play.
Supply Caches: Building off of the supply caches introduced in the Bureau Remastered I drafted a bunch of example ones that include some pretty fun and odd items for Investigators to stumble upon.
EXTRACTION/EXTINCTION
During our dev meeting prior to Spring Break we dived into the upcoming supplement/adventure. Josh was able to show me some of the cool new additions that will be included in Extraction (which will provide a new mode/frame for play). I'm super excited to be able to get this to the table and play around with it.
We then talked about the included adventure: Extinction. While still in the early phases, we have a pretty good idea of the tone, themes, aesthetics, and some of the set pieces. I have a massive list of locations to start writing to act as the foundation for the adventure. Secluded island that is taken over (mostly) by labs. I'm looking forward to starting to write those and make the island begin to come together.
And of course we're structuring Case Files 03 to come out alongside of it, and that manuscript is already jammed packed with goodies.
BROOKHAVEN BOOK OF MONSTERS
The hardest thing about starting a new project is that it means other projects are on the back burner. I'm definitely looking forward to work on the framework for this project over the next while as we work on the above modules, supplements, and adventures.
We alluded to this in the past but this is our love letter/reimagining of a monster manual aimed at paying tribute to Hammer Horror + Universal Monsters. Each section is dedicated to a specific Horror, with adventures and game-play ready material. We already have a long list for what we want each chapter to focus on, our riff on it, and the beginnings of some of the adventures.
NON WRITING THINGS THAT I THINK ARE COOL RIGHT NOW
I'm working my way through the Resident Evil series in hopes of playing RE9 (which Josh informs me is really important for Extraction). I've played the RE2 and RE3 remake and will hopefully carve out some time during break to play RE4 (then its on the 7, 8, and then 9).
Dyerbolicals created a megadungeon website that is super cool. I really hope more people put out things like this: "Just launched my Megadungeon website! After playing my campaign for a year, I decided to learn how to make websites. Now it's finally live! Check out the first 143 rooms of Cataclysm Tower returntocataclysm.com"
Simon MacEwan @theblastedheath.bsky.social made a post that really got my mind turning on how to create a truly Liminal Interdimensional Hub... "New project- 出口🏃🏻♂️ Shinjuku Station has over 200 exits, I'm going to draw all of them wrongly, not where they actually take you, but the many worlds that they could take you to. https://bsky.app/profile/theblastedheath.bsky.social/post/3mguhe7mao22k
Squidhead Games (@squidhead-games.bsky.social) made solo tool that made my mind racing in regards to Liminal Horror solo tools: "I made a thing! Soloterm - A terminal app for tracking solo #ttrpg sessions. Multiple games Multiple sessions Character sheets Random tables Dice roller Tag system based on Lonelog * Self hosted. No logins, no accounts, no Internet access required squidhead-games.itch.io/soloterm"
Until next time!!!
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