LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition is the definitive version of the world's greatest horror RPG. Newly revised, expanded, and available in two beautiful hardcover books.
There’s a strange comfort to ambiguity. To stand at the threshold between states of what was and what’s next, to inhabit the places of transition. But you’re never truly alone here. There are things that hunger within the dark places. Strange creatures and mysteries lie in wait and tumbling into the wrong place at the wrong time may put you on the path towards doom.
Grab your flashlights and blood splattered jackets as you try to make it through the night. Beware, snapping bone and rending flesh are often the simplest outcome. While there may be great power within these places… not all mysteries can be solved and not everyone can be saved. Above all, there are fates far worse than death.
LIMINAL HORROR is a rules-lite, adaptable survival-horror roleplaying game about normal characters and their struggles against the things that go bump in the night. The game focuses on surviving the weird and investigating horrors while blending simple, old-school inspired rules with modern, narrative first principles. Survival is NOT guaranteed and those that do make it through the night are often forever changed.
A table-ready version of the core rules for players and facilitators can be found for FREE through either of the links below:
Since its original release in 2021, LIMINAL HORROR has sold over 1000 physical copies and has been downloaded digitally over 120,000 times. It has five official first-party supplements, hasbeen translated into eight languages (Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish) and has a robust third party community with over 220 horrifying resources, including 124 adventures and 22 items in print), all available through the official LIMINAL HORROR digital catalogue found below:
This Deluxe Edition is a revised, enhanced and expanded core rulebook for LIMINAL HORROR. It includes all-new player options, a robust toolkit for Facilitators, a catalog of factions, cults, horrors, and artifacts, a fully-detailed setting guide, and optional rules, lore, advice, and references in a fully-illustrated 350+ page hardcover book.
It is also fully backwards-compatible with all previously-released LIMINAL HORROR rules and adventures, so whether you're a die-hard fan or just now joining the party, this book is designed to be everything you need to run any sub-genre of modern horror at your table!
Digital mockup, design subject to change.
NOTE: this is explicitlynot a "2nd Edition" of LIMINAL HORROR. We prefer to think of it as an enhancement: LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators will remain in print and contains all the basic tools you need to play or run adventures in the LIMINAL HORROR system.
For an in-depth conversation about this Deluxe Edition: our reasons for creating it, its contents, and how we think it'll be your new favorite system, check out this interview between creator Josh Domanski and The Weekly Scroll:
The Player-Facing Rules from LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators have been revised and expanded to include:
Revamped Backgrounds and Archetypes.
An expanded Equipment List with all the weapons, items, and protection you'll need to survive.
Quick-Start Rules including roll tables, bonds, and party questions to help you create a unique Investigator and integrate them into the party in seconds.
The new Rituals system, with 30+ magic spells and comprehensive rules for creating your own occult rite.
The Facilitator's Guide is the beating heart and soul of LIMINAL HORRORS: Deluxe Edition, and its contents have been developed and distilled over years of playing, running, and writing adventures for LIMINAL HORROR. Within you'll find:
Essays and Advice on creating and running your own Investigations, including tips on designing mysteries, managing tension, and combat encounters.
Genre-Savvy Tips on running different styles of horror, from slashers in the woods to cosmic terrors from beyond space and time.
Detailed Procedures for adapting and integrating any adventure into the LIMINAL HORROR system.
The Catalog of the Strange is a collection of all the weird and horrid entities, objects, and organizations that we've encountered in our Investigations. We don't claim to fully understand everything that's in this catalog, so we've left some gaps where you can fill in the connections. Maybe you can find a way to untangle this web of mystery and intrigue once you've read about:
Factions and Organizations connected to the Weird, each with their own internal hierarchy, motivations, resources, relationships, and esoteric ambitions.
Dread Cults and the ways they seek to align themselves with unspeakable powers.
A Bestiary of Horrors detailing the wants, needs, strengths and weaknesses of the kind of monstrous NPCs you're likely to meet in your Investigations. If you don't know the difference between a Ritual Horror and a Dead God, this section might just save your life.
A Codex of Resonant Artifacts, strange objects of immense and terrifying magical power.
Allies and Adversaries we've crossed paths with in our travels — whether they'll be a help or a hindrance in your Investigations is anyone's guess.
A peek into our backyard, The Haunted Pacific Northwest is a complete setting guide and adventure sandbox. In between the truck stops, the dying logging towns and the shadows of the pines you'll find:
Detailed Locations including resources and amenities, important NPCs, points of interest, and potential investigation threads.
Campaign Frameworks for Facilitators looking to connect multiple different Investigations into a single unified storyline.
Plot Hooks, Conspiracies, and Conversions to help you integrate any official LIMINAL HORROR adventure into the Haunted Pacific Northwest.
These Appendices and Errata are all optional, but include modular rules, tables, and resources that can radically change the way the game feels, plays, and responds to the Investigator's actions. Make LIMINAL HORROR the perfect game for your table by mixing and matching any of the following:
Optional Mechanics optimized for different horror genres, lethality of combat and exploration, and mechanical complexity.
Expanded Resources that Facilitators can use when prepping and running their games, like expanded archetypes, NPC templates, Doom Clock and Fallout mechanics, and more.
A set of Generic Universal Location Maps, fully keyed and complete with suggested ways to incorporate them into your Investigations.
Quick Reference Aides and cheat sheets for both players and Facilitators, designed to minimize page flipping and keep your players focused and in-the-game.
We designed LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition to be the best possible version of the game, with a priority on usability, function, and a fun, seamless experience for players and Facilitators alike. And so, in keeping with the work that made LIMINAL HORROR so popular to begin with, we will be supporting this release with a collection of digital tools and improvements, including:
Hosting the Player-Facing Investigators Guide and an assortment of character option tools on the liminalhorrorrpg.com website.
Digital Play Aides and reference guides covering rules, creating an Investigator, procedures of play, and the character sheet.
An annotated Guide to Solo Play with references to all the rules, content, and dice roll tables you need to run a one-person Investigation.
Text Anchoring, Bookmarking, and Hyperlinking for quickly and easily navigating the PDF version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
(STRETCH GOAL) Standalone PDFs of each adventure included in the book.
We want you to get the most game for your money, so we're keeping the pledge levels simple and focusing on what we do best: making games. Making a pledge here is the cheapest and most efficient way to get the books you and your table need to get started playing LIMINAL HORROR or to breathe new and exciting life into an existing campaign.
Missing something? Feel free to purchase any number of Physical Add-Ons (details below) and save on shipping by including them in your pledge.
All pledge levels and add-ons come with digital (PDF) versions of any physical books included in the order. Shipping will be charged after the campaign via the BackerKit Pledge Manager.
Digital Sleuth ($20)
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Physical Presence ($60)
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Detective Limited ($80)
One (1) Limited-Edition (linen-bound, embossed hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Party of Investigators ($100)
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Four (4) physical (softcover) copies of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators.
Party of Investigators Limited ($120)
One (1) Limited-Edition (linen-bound, embossed hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Four (4) physical (softcover) copies of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators.
Director of Operations ($170)
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Four (4) physical (softcover) copies of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators.
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow.
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Mall: Remastered.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of The Mall: Remastered.
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Bloom.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of The Bloom.
Director of Operations Limited ($190)
One (1) Limited-Edition (linen-bound, embossed hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition.
Four (4) physical (softcover) copies of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators.
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow.
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Mall: Remastered.
One (1) digital (PDF) version of The Mall: Remastered.
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Bloom.
Need to shore up some holes in your collection? We've got every available official first-party LIMINAL HORROR product available as an add-on for backers at the Physical Presence tier or higher. Build your perfect pledge with any combination of the following books: We have multiple official products you can add on to your pledge so each and every backer gets something customized exactly to their needs.
Add-ons for modules and books will be available for purchase after the campaign ends via the Backerkit Pledge Manager. All physical add-ons come with a free digital (PDF) version of their respective book.
LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition ($60)
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition, the definitive version of the hit horror game LIMINAL HORROR.
LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition Limited ($80)
One (1) Limited-Edition (linen-bound, embossed hardcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition. This version is exclusive to this campaign and will not be reprinted.
LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators ($13)
One (1) physical (softcover) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Investigators. This 44-page zine is the perfect player companion and is fully compatible with all content in LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition. Pick up a few copies for your table so nobody has to share.
The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow ($40)
One (1) physical (hardcover) version of The Parthenogenesis of Hungry Hollow. This 116-page hardcover adventure tasks yours Investigators with uncovering the secrets of a quiet town where a recent string of disappearances all seem to center around the upcoming birth of its newest resident. Dive into the town, meet its inhabitants, and unravel the horrid truth that lies buzzing just beneath the surface in this LIMINAL HORROR Twisted Classic!
The Bloom ($15)
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Bloom, the 2024 Ennie-nominated adventure that dares to ask: "what if Twin Peaks had a The Last of Us arc?" This 48-page sandbox adventure also features 20 new Backgrounds for Investigators, unique procedures for maintaining tension while exploring, and so much more.
The Mall: Remastered ($15)
One (1) physical (softcover) version of The Mall: Remastered, an updated edition of the very first LIMINAL HORROR adventure. Now expanded to 40 pages, it's a body-horror nightmare involving a time-displaced mall, the desperate shoppers trapped inside, and a shapeshifting creature that's determined to assimilate them all. Trust no one.
All backers will receive digital (PDF) versions of all unlocked Stretch Goals.
Book Ribbon ($30,000)
Every physical copy of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition will feature a book ribbon to help you keep your place when an Investigation starts getting hectic. If we hit this Stretch Goal we'll add a ribbon to every physical book.
Adventure #1: "Camp Coldwater" ($40,000)
This adventure serves as a prequel to The Bloom, and can be expanded to become part of the larger Investigation there... assuming your Investigators can survive a night at Camp Coldwater. The first addition to the core text of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition. If we hit this Stretch Goal this adventure will be added to the digital and physical book.
Adventure #2: "Cult Classic" ($50,000)
Missing actresses, exclusive dinner parties, and the fanatical congregation of "The Church of Celestial Science": what do these things have in common? They'll all be included in LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition if we hit this stretch goal, that's what! If we hit this Stretch Goal this adventure will be added to the digital and physical book.
Adventure #3: "Silent Street Station" ($60,000)
This adventure showcases some of the new innovations found in LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition, and is designed to teach Facilitators how they can adapt the optional rules and Generic Locations for use at their table. If we hit this Stretch Goal this adventure will be added to the digital and physical book.
"[Liminal Horror is] a system designed to stand out when it is interesting, to provide a tried-and-true framework for the usual moments of risk and uncertainty, and then to fade into the background for everything else. Add Goblin Archive’s commitment to providing ample (and often free or easily accessible) expanded rules, guidance, adventures, and more to that mix, and Liminal Horror is a game that is easy to get into and easy to stick with over time."
"Liminal Horror is the complete package: It is short, it is simple, and while it empowers players to make decisions and think things through, that engagement is directed at the world of the game rather than the rules or their character sheets."
The text, illustrations, and playtesting for LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition are complete. All that's left are integrating the final edits, layout, and optimizing the digital file. Making books always comes with its fair share of surprises, so we are working to make sure that our projected timeline gives room for anything that pops up.
April-May 2025: The crowdfunding campaign.
June 2025: BackerKit Pledge Manager surveys sent out.
July 2025: Digital (PDF) version of LIMINAL HORROR: Deluxe Edition is sent out to backers.
Q3 2025: Final physical files are proofed and sent to printers.
Q4 2025/Q1 2026: Physical fulfillment of backer rewards begins.
Shipping and Fulfillment
Digital fulfillment will be handled on BackerKit. Physical fulfillment will be handled by Space Penguin Ink, LLC (US/CAN/SA/ROW), Games Omnivorous (EU), and Iglootree (UK). Shipping will be charged post campaign via BackerKit, and we are trying to keep shipping costs down.
We are trying to keep shipping as low as possible, but can't guarantee there will be no import fees. Import fees and customs charges are the responsibility of the backer. We will also endeavour to provide shipping options that include tracking in BackerKit.
Estimated shipping costs are as follows. We are using weight-based shipping, and you will be charged shipping via BackerKit for the total weight of your pledge and any add-ons.
United States: $9 – $16
Canada: $16 – $23
United Kingdom: $16 – $23
EU: $16-23
US Territories and ROW: $19 – $26
Note that these are shipping estimates, based on projected book weights. These estimates are subject to change. We will offer tracked shipping options in BackerKit.
Unfortunately we cannot ship to the following countries at the current time:
In the classic tradition, an Appendix N acts as a list of things that inspired us during the creation of LIMINAL HORROR. If you've ever wondered what we've got bouncing around our heads while we're making these games, check out some of these influences and inspirations:
Uzumaki (2013) / Junji Ito
The Magnus Archives (2016-2021) / Jonathan Sims
X-Files (1993-2002, 2016-2018) / Chris Carter
The Evil Dead Series (1981, 1987, 1992, 2013, 2015-2018, 2023) / Sam Raimi
It Follows (2014) / David Robert Mitchell
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1993-2002, 2016-2018) / Jim Stenstrum & Glenn Leopold
The Silent Hill Series (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008) / Keiichiro Toyama
The Alan Wake Series (2010, 2023) / Remedy Entertainment
The Thing (1982) / John Carpenter & Bill Lancaster
