Liminal Horror Sale, NPC framework, cool zines
In this issue of The Dispatch: Liminal Horror sale, loads of zines, an NPC framework, trip to a printing press.
LIMINAL HORROR SALE
The Lost Bay Studio is excited to announce our LIMINAL HORROR collection. LIMINAL HORROR is a modern survival horror RPG by
, built on top of the Into the Odd framework. Think Call of Cthulhu, or John Carpenter’s movies, but lightweight and Old-School-inspired.Liminal Horror Investigators: the new and expanded rules book. Your starting point to play LH.
The Bloom: ENNIE nominated official LH sandbox module. It'll take you down an intense adventure of fungal infestation. Beware of the (infested) bear.
The Chair: a dark pamphlet designed and handcrafted by Zach Hazard Vaupen, artistic director of Liminal Horror. Slip it in your pocket and play it wherever you might want to!
To celebrate the launch, we are offer a scaling discount:
grab one zine, get 5% off
two zines get 10% off,
and three zines get 15% off!
This is just the beginning for all things Liminal. Soon we're going to be offering more Liminal Horror modules from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond. Start giving your players unforgettable thrills and embark on a Liminal journey now!
COOL ZINES YOU WON’T FIND ELSEWHERE
Before we move on to the nerdy how-to design part, let me introduce you to three cool zines you (probably) won't find elsewhere!
Some Sample(d) Strangers, a character creation tool by the STATIONS, illustrated by Evlyn Moreau and powered by cool music.
Combed Clap of Thunder, a weird and surreal comic written and illustrated by Zach Hazard Vaupen himself, yes, the LH art director!
Moe’s House of Meat, a one player meaty adventure by
for The Lost Bay RPG, reminiscent of retro dungeon crawling video games.
INSIDE THE BAY
A pocket-sized NPC framework.
Let's craft some abominable creatures, shy sidekicks, endearing minions, and defenseless bystanders. Like the infamous Dr. Frankenstein assembled the monster, let us create cool, unforgettable, and easy-to-play NPCs. As the All Flesh is Surplus jam approaches, I figured you all might appreciate some tips on how to build cool NPCs for The Lost Bay.
While I'll address some of TLB RPG specifics, most of what you'll read in the following few lines can apply to any game. We're building a framework of sorts. It's not perfect; it might not even be better, but it works for me. It's fast and nimble, without much reliance on data, stats, or rules. It’s helped me a lot, and I hope it might help you as well!
STATS
It goes without saying that every system has its own NPC stats. So, before I get into the details, let's discuss the underlying design for TLB-specific NPCs.
NPCs (or the GM) don't roll dice (except for Morale, but that might change). Why? Because they are supporting cast. We want them to have depth and be multi-faceted, but they shouldn't steal the spotlight. NPCs can either do something or not. They don't have attributes or ability scores and won't perform some complex action to get the PCs out of a tricky situation.
NPCs have two stats, Heart and Harm.
HEART represents their ability to sustain damage, physical or otherwise. When their heart reaches 0, they're dead.
HARM represents the default damage they deal. It’s a fixed value that can be as low as 0. Harm doesn't specify how they deal that damage, only how much they hurt the thing they’re damaging. It might be with bare hands, by using a weapon, or even with tentacles (if they have any, that is). Harm by default is the damage they deal at Close range. In other words, it's their default melee damage, unless specified otherwise.
It’s a cool thing to play with that Harm. You can modify the range (ranges are Close, Near, Far, and Beyond), or add some cool effects like BLAST (All targets take the specified damage) or SPLIT (Damage is divided between all targets).
By default, though, Harm expresses basic melee damage in TLB.
PERSONALITY
aka Quirks, Mood, Roles and Moves
QUIRKS
We want memorable NPCs, right? Especially when they're not just monsters condemned to be slaughtered. But if you tell me that an NPC has blue skin, a limp, broken teeth, babbles, and who knows how many more details about how they look and act, I'm just going to be overwhelmed with all that information. I need NPCs to hit my emotions so that my brain can record and remember them. To help with this, let's give NPCs just one unique and memorable quirk. Mörk Borg, the core book, is a great inspiration for that. The included Quirk list is amazing.
TLB quirks have to be simple, a few words at most. Examples include things like Barefoot, Exhales flies, and Full facial tattoo. Easy to memorize for both the GM and the players.
MOOD
How's that dude or creature doing right now? The Mood describes the emotional state of the NPC when the PCs encounter them for the first time. And what's the best way to remember and embody an NPC’s mood? That's to let them tell us something about it! In TLB, the mood nomenclature is: 1. a short descriptor and 2. a line of dialogue.
Example:
Needy. "I need a new job. Any job, I need cash, now."
or
Mystical. "Your aura is like a rainbow. You're so beautiful."
That little line of dialog allows GMs to set up the interaction quickly and flavorfully. It may just be a short prompt but helps set the tone, and you can build off of it from there.
ROLES
Roles are TLB substitutes for Reaction. I can't use Reactions. I don't know how to play a NPC who is wary or curious if I don't know why they are like this. How do NPCs contribute to the plot, fiction, story, or emergent narrative? That's where Roles come in. Roles outline the deep personality traits, and sometimes desires, of an NPC. TLB has a table for default roles, but you're encouraged to build roles that fit the adventure or setting.
Example:
Scared Witness. Knows valuable information, reluctant to talk.
or
Fake Samaritan. Pretends to help, covert antagonist.
With just a few words, Roles give you a lot of meat for your NPCs. What a way to build cool interactions with the PCs! You're in a dungeon, you encounter a goblin. Are they a Scared Witness who knows where the dark necromancer is but won't talk, or a Fake Samaritan who'll pretend to help while pursuing a secret agenda (I might’ve just recreated Gollum here!)
In addition to the description, Roles can have MOVES. Moves are real fun building blocks for the NPCs. They can be special attacks (in addition to the default Harm), things they're good at, or anything else.
Fake Samaritan. Pretends to help, covert antagonist. MOVES: Lure to wrong places | Steal precious item | Distill lies (yeah, that is Gollum!)
MOVES
NPCs by default have between 1 and 5 moves; but they can also have additional moves determined by their Role. NPC can do their move when it's their Turn to act, or when a PC fails an attack during combat.
Moves are where you can really have fun both in terms of building special attacks, or just flavorful actions.
Examples (taken from TLB random encounter tables)
Bored teens. MOVES: Splash soda at each other and laugh | Call you a decrepit schmuck.
Moonshiner. MOVES: Drink from a silver flask | Complain about outsiders.
Moves can also include special attacks.
Possessed traveling salesman. MOVES: Have demonic convulsions (Horror save) | Vibrastab | Vomit hot slime and flies (2DMG Blast Close)
That's a nasty one!
I'll stop here for now. In a later post, I'll discuss Scary MOFOs and bosses in TLB, who have special moves that get triggered when they give or receive damage that fulfills certain criteria.
Let's wrap things up, and build our little framework!
NPC FRAMEWORK
Name, Pronouns
Heart Weak 1 · Average 3 · Strong 5 ·Mighty 7
Harm, between 0 and 2
Quirk (one memorable thing)
Mood (descriptor + a line of dialogue)
Move (one or more, flavor or special attack)
Role (descriptor, optional Moves)
Any of those things can be random —I've discussed the TLB random encounter procedure in a previous post— or predetermined.
Here are a couple of example NPCs taken from the Quickstart adventure “The Hollow Hitchhiker” and the upcoming core book
Alligator
Heart 7, Harm 2, Armor 2
Top of the food chain in the Sinking Marshes.
MOVES
Whip Tail: Target must pass Flow Save or can't stand up next Round
Rip: Target takes 2 DMG and must pass Force Save or lose limb
Hide: Submerge in shallow water, act first next Round
Timothy and Cinzia
Heart 2, Harm 0
Retirees, now hikers. Too heavily packed. Want to feel young again and witness the splendor of wild Flamingos.
MOVES
Sing
Light Campfire
Navigate: Travel off-road without getting lost
Gear: Multi-purpose hunting knife. Pink Angels: birds and wildlife of the Sinking Marshes book. Compass. Headlamp.
Zombie cat
Rotting. Tamed by fresh meat.
HEART 3, Harm 1
MOVES
Climb impossible places
Hiss
Meow - summon Zombie cat
VISIONS OF THE BAY
It's been a hectic week, and I only had a little time left to read or watch cool TLB-inspiring stuff. But yesterday, I took a trip to visit the letterpress workshop, where I'll take a short intro class in October.
We will print a few 30x40cm "things", posters or otherwise. I'm pretty excited by this; I love old machines and fantasize about some TLB letterpress printed zines. Below are a few pictures of the shop. They are without commentary because I'm still a newbie and don't know much about this whole thing. I'll try and give you more info as soon as I get into it.
Thanks for getting to the bottom of The Dispatch.
Have a great Sunday
Iko, and Wren the Forrester
Printmaking is definitely something I would love to get back into. I’m a huge fan of Ukiyoe works so I’ve wanted to try lino printing for a while. Kudos on the beautiful machine. They don’t make stuff like they used to.