# Character Creation Challenge 2025: Day 27 - Liminal Horror: Investigators - Unnamed Meat-Shield Home Contractor tags: #articles/CharacterCreationChallenge/2025 #game/rpg/liminal-horror-investigators > [!quote] [[Character Creation Challenge 2025]] > > ![[Character Creation Challenge Image.png]] ## Game of Choice I'll bet that you weren't expecting to be in a game which involves normal people being sucked into very abnormal things quite so soon. And yet, here we are. ![[Liminal Horror - Investigators (cover).jpg|400]] You would think that **[[Liminal Horror - Investigators|Liminal Horror: Investigators]]** would be about liminal spaces, those places in our world which are between other things. The back rooms is a popular concept for horror in media today. Abandoned malls, empty back roads, places you transit without thinking about them much just to get other places that you actually care about. There is something inherently creepy about places which are intentionally abandoned most of the time. What could live there? What nightmares could come pouring out? Liminal horror is about more than just transition spaces, and there is a really nice inset which talks about this briefly: The characters themselves represent transitional spaces between the world of the normal and the world of the expected, bridging to the world of the unusual, the twisted, the perverted. The eroded exposure to the universe of things beyond our own causes irrevocable change, and that change is inevitably weird in its own way. All of this is great in terms of being a solid setup and a decent execution. You would think I would have nothing bad to say about this. Literally the only important mechanical things in a character are three major ability scores: *Strength*, *Dexterity*, and *Control*. There's hit protection, which essentially is how much physical and emotional damage you can take altogether. You have a background and an equipment list, and that's it. You're good to go. Mechanical tests are done by rolling a d20 versus your ability score — and that's it. You either roll under it or you don't. You would think that would put it out of the realm of being a *PbtA* lineage descendant, but the way that narrative positioning is handled, the way that stress and wounds are handled, and several other bits other than the central resolution loop are clearly *inspired* by those games even without the graduated complication introducing resolution core. Two things keep me from just saying *"Go get this thing"* up front, and one of them is even easy to work around. The first thing is that while the book as laid out in PDF has footers with page numbers, they are tiny and very low contrast. Each of them is coupled with a quote from something in the genre, which means they just about disappear on the page and really don't serve as a particularly good means of navigation. This is a simple layout problem and isn't something that should ever happen. Luckily, the workaround is simple: [go look at the absolutely free HTML version on their website](https://liminalhorrorrpg.com/Core%20Rules/). The whole book is up there for you to read. So is the first edition. This makes it easy to read wherever you are or reference at the table. The other thing is this.^[Okay, there are more things. Foreshadowing!] Don't fucking do this: > [!quote] [Liminal Horror: Investigators Core Rules](https://liminalhorrorrpg.com/Core%20Rules/#liminal-horror-and-cops) > **Liminal Horror and Cops** > > Liminal Horror is written to be played as normal people with little power, and not as law enforcement (cops, FBI, military) or those with institutional power (politicians, extremely wealthy individuals, etc.). The themes inherent in playing as extensions of those types of systems are problematic, exploitative, and uninteresting. Reframing as people interested in the paranatural, people in over their heads, journalists, writers, etc., is a more fruitful outlet. By the time these stories begin, the systems of power that should have protected the characters have already failed. Bitch, one of the most obvious and powerful media influences on the design of this game is the video game **[Control](https://store.steampowered.com/app/870780/Control_Ultimate_Edition/)**, in which you play as a member of an immensely powerful government organization looking to control and constrain supernatural events to protect the wider world. Another clear influence would be **[F.E.A.R.](https://store.steampowered.com/app/21090/FEAR/)**, in which you play effectively the grunts on the ground for a powerful government entity dealing with the fallout of another powerful government entity's tinkering with psychic phenomena and hideous human experimentation. Another very obvious one is **[X-Files](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/)**, in which you play members of an immensely powerful government organization looking to protect the populace at large from these greater horrific threats. Even if we flash back to yesterday and [[Character Creation Challenge 2025 - Day 26 - Bump in the Dark|the game we covered there]], **Buffy the Vampire Slayer** isn't out there doing the job all by herself - she is backed by a powerful non-governmental organization with worldwide reach and enough political pull and influence that they have their own paramilitary strike teams.^[Whether or not that Strike Team is truly *competent* is a question that we will leave for the ages, but if you've seen the episode, you probably have your own ideas about that.] You can't tell me that those things are *"problematic, exploitative, and uninteresting"* because we have way more popular things than your little piece of work that play on them directly and which people would probably be perfectly happy to use **Liminal Horror** to play out. In one paragraph, the author inserted their ACAB bullshit in a way that completely took me out of the enjoyment of the game and thinking about the interesting things I *could* do with it in a way guaranteed to take me out of the game and make me stop thinking about the interesting things I could do with it and instead telling me what they will shake their finger at me and judge me for doing. Fuck that. *Fuck all of that* seven ways to Sunday. If you want to tell me that your intent is to play characters who are disempowered in the context of the conflicts they find themselves in, that's absolutely fine. Horror often plays on that requirement. Putting military characters in situations where shooting things isn't going to solve their problems (See: **[Aliens](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_1)**) is a great move. Putting cops in a situation where they can't call for outside assistance or up the chain of command for one reason or another — sometimes political and sometimes technical — is a great move. Putting members of the FBI in a situation where they can't call on the full resources of the FBI 95% of the time because someone doesn't believe them, or they've been relegated to less importance, or the FBI is subverted in that context is a great move. All of those things double down on creating the feeling that this is something alien and beyond the control of the protagonists. Don't tell me that works that are more original and more popular than what you've done are *uninteresting*, particularly because I, as someone who is interested in the genre and the style, *am already interested in those fucking things*. Don't immediately make me want to slam your book against the wall and never go back to it because you've insulted me directly on page three. Fuck. Off. This has been a public service announcement for those who are currently writing or thinking about writing your own RPG. Remember, people that don't agree with you politically also have money to spend on your product. This message brought to you by people with money who probably don't agree with you politically. ## Acts of Creation Enough of that garbage. Let's get to character creation, which is very straightforward and begins on page 6. ### Disability Scoring As previously mentioned, there are three ability scores: Strength (STR), Dexterity (DEX), and Control (CTRL). The expected range is 3 to 18, with an average person coming in around 10. Generation is going to be shockingly old school as we roll 3d6 for each ability score in order, and we can swap any two results that we get after the fact. So let's do that. > [1, 2, 1] = 4 > [1, 5, 3] = 9 > [6, 4, 3] = 13 I have mentioned that RNGesus hates me and everything I stand for and also this is one of the reasons that I absolutely despise randomly rolled generation systems. Frankly I get fucked every time. I hate them with the fire of a thousand burning suns. If you want to put in a random character generation system, make sure that it has a mechanism to bring characters up to at least a playable range because I can guarantee you that your work is not tuned to be usefully played by a character this far below average. But I'm a trooper and I'm going to go through with this because my self-loathing is more powerful than my distaste for this set of rolls. | Strength | Dexterity | Control | | :------: | :-------: | :-----: | | 4 | 13 | 9 | The best I can hope for here is that I can stay the hell out of the way with a slightly above average dexterity and keep my brain together away from turning into a toxic sludge long enough to be useful. Did I mention that this game doesn't have any character advancement in the classic sense? My stats are never going to go up by working out or learning. I'm not going to acquire more and better skills. Development is done entirely through making contacts with people and accumulating useful equipment, as well as picking up resonant artifacts, which are just things that do magical effects 90% of the time, and getting fallout from having your mind pushed entirely too far.. I often prefer this kind of advancement to something more groundedly mechanical, but in this case, it means that you're locked into whatever you start with in terms of a bad setup. Coupled with the potential for a really *bad* setup, it's not promising. ### It's a Big Hit Figuring out your HP is extremely simple. You roll 1d6. Does that seem like a band with a really huge variance? Yes, it does. > [2] Oh yeah, that's exactly as expected. ### Low Gear Luckily, figuring out your starting gear is pretty straightforward, and by pretty straightforward, I mean about as minimalist as I've ever seen. Every investigator starts with a smartphone, which has all the usual smartphone accoutrements, and 1D6×100 cash. > [4] Could have been worse. $400 is $400. ### Back it Up, Dump Truck Anything else that you may have is going to come through your Background or Archetype, the latter of which is only found in the expanded Backgrounds, which are found in **The Bureau**, **The Bloom**, and the **Deluxe Edition**. We won't worry about those because we don't have any of those, just straight up Backgrounds. This is a d20 table which you can either choose or roll on. Since I'm definitely in the midst of letting the dice screw me over at every turn, let's see what they suggest as a potential character with this setup. > [20] **Contractor.** Stocked tool belt, utility knife (D6), heavy duty flashlight and drill. Holy shit, I'm George Wendt from the movie House. Except without nearly as much Control…  You know, I think I might can actually make this into an interesting character, having grounded it into something which at least has some possibilities. Unfortunately, it only works in a horror comedy, and this game is definitely not a comedy. Mechanically, we're done. That's it. Character generation is complete. We could roll on some additional investigator details for their aesthetic, or what their first encounter with the unknown was, or ideology and beliefs. But the concept itself carries this one. Out of curiosity, let's see what the character's first encounter with the unknown was. > [4] **You survived an attack you cannot explain.** I'm going to be completely honest with you — that's not particularly useful. It might be a first encounter with the unknown, but it's not helpful for flushing out why a character is involved in the current situation. Great, that's all right. We started with an idea and we're going to stick to that idea. I doubt this character will survive long enough to talk about what's going on in his personal life anyway. ### Party Time, Excellent The next steps are all about pulling together everyone else that make up the story. Each player creates two NPCs, one who is significant to their investigator, and one who is a contact the investigator has. There's a table for that. #### Connectivity > [7] **Mentor**. **Joe Whitcomb** is the owner of the contracting company that our character works for. He's in his late 70s, grizzled, and has seen more than he can tell you about when it comes to emptying septic tanks, replacing brick, and dealing with homeowners who won't pay up. He's like a father to us. Be a shame if anything were to happen to him. > [8] **Co-Worker.** Teresa Whitcomb is the boss's daughter and does most of the work when it comes to setting up contracts, finding the right place for the right guy, and playing good cop to her dad's bad cop. There's no doubt that she's good at what she does, but there's definitely a shrewd calculation going on behind the pretty white teeth. #### Vehicular Democide Believe it or not, there is a surprisingly large vehicle section in this book for reasons which I find a little bit bewildering. Still, we are instructed to figure out what kind of vehicle or transportation the party has access to based on their backgrounds or archetypes. Straight from the text, *"Car chases are often an essential part of solving a mystery."* I'm not sure there's a coherent theory of mind here. When I think about liminal horror and dealing with these kinds of threats as a normal person, getting into a car chase isn't on that list, unless we are the cops, which we have explicitly taken off the table. #### Why Have You Summoned Me Here Today? Unfortunately or fortunately, this is where we as a group would be determining whether or not we know each other before play begins, and if so, why. I believe this is where we must depart from the text and wave a fond farewell, because there's nothing really we can do after this point without other players. ![[Liminal Horror-Investigators - CCC2025 - Unnamed Meat-Shield Home Contractor.webp]] ## Exunt One of the dangers of inserting ideology out of the blue into something is that you will sour someone before they get into the meat of whatever it is that you're trying to put in front of them, and it's difficult to come back from that, especially when elements of the design conspire against them. I really *want* to say that **Liminal Horror: Investigators** is a cool game that has a really open framework and an architecture that invites riffing on by someone who wants to facilitate a sort of low-key game about normal people getting involved well over their heads with the supernatural… but I don't really *like* it that much. I want to but I don't. Mechanically, it's okay, but not particularly innovative. The use of a very minimal number of attributes is great in my opinion, but I'd say it goes a little bit too far. Characters starting with 10 inventory slots, but things like being food-deprived or sleep-deprived being treated as items which take up those inventory slots until rest or water can be acquired is positively brilliant and is the standout part of this whole architecture. There's an entire half-page, two-axis table for figuring out the severity of a wound that you take, which goes from *flesh wounds* through *severed (fingers)* all the way up to *disemboweled*. We're talking a full grid of 6 by 8. A surprisingly large combat section is what I'm saying. *Fallout* is effectively the supernatural changing the character when they have more stress than they can deal with, and these are not small changes. Things like Feet of Tar where your feet drip with viscous shadow and you can't wear shoes. Every step you take leaves a dark print but this also gives you a 1d4 add to your Dexterity. Maggot Warren makes you a hive for maggots made of shadow, and they give you a limited ability to manipulate shadows so that you can move 150 lb objects up to 100 ft, but every time you use it, the burrowing of the maggots causes d4 stress to anybody that sees it. Mycelia hair, where your hair begins to fall out and is quickly replaced by wispy white strands. You're more sensitive to environmental changes (temperature, wind direction, pressure, etc.), roll a d4 and add it to your Control. As you can see, fallout appears to be the only way that you can gain ability points, and they typically come with some sort of side effect. However, not all fallout has that kind of mechanical enhancement. Some things are just weird, like the fact that a door keeps appearing wherever you go and you don't know if it's the same door or some different door, but you haven't been able to open it. Then there are the *resonant artifacts*, which vary from the mildly odd, like the teal thermos that heats internal liquids to scalding hot, to the ridiculously powerful, like the snow globe which can be placed on an unconscious or willing victim in order for it to draw the victim's essence into the globe and allow it to be transferred to a new host body. There's a handful of example monsters, and then they talk about how to run a voidcrawl, which is pretty much exactly what you think it is: a dungeon crawl into some liminal space. I don't know. If you were to ask me, I would say that **[[Bump in the Dark]]** is a better designed game and better presented, even though it clearly wears its author's ideology on its sleeve as well. As a game, it's more coherent and provides a lot more meat for the player to engage with. It's actually kind of rough that these two games were back to back in my collection and thus back to back in the character creation challenge this year because **Liminal Horror** really suffers by comparison. **Bump** has an open affection and love for the genre, which comes through. **Liminal Horror** feels far more clinical and mechanical, but not in a way that enhances the emotional position of the players in the process of play. Perhaps the best question you can ask yourself when it comes to judging horror RPGs is whether or not you can play **[[Call of Cthulhu]]** in it. In **Bump**, the answer is obviously yes. In **Liminal**, it just doesn't feel like there's enough to grab onto to play **CoC** within the framework, and that's sad. Hell, you could go grab **[[Frisson]]**, which [[Character Creation Challenge 2025 - Day 20 - Frisson|we covered earlier this month]] and have a better time in the exact same genre niche. I'm basically coming away from today feeling pretty disappointed. So it goes. Tomorrow, I'm not exactly sure what we're going to be picking up because there are several games here in a row which are either too incomplete to actually talk about in any meaningful way, or are so specific to the way that they are played that it makes no sense to talk about character generation within them (I know I like some really weird games), so I'm going to have to skip down a couple and see what we run into that will be good for our time together. We will have something, I promise.