I just finished up a one-shot of Liminal Horror, a modern horror RPG from Goblin Archives. It’s a simple system, heavily inspired by Yochai Gal’s Cairn.
Characters have three stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Control. Players roll a D20, and try to get equal to or below their stat to succeed at tasks.
In combat, there are no “to-hit” rolls, and damage is automatic. Damage comes from a target’s HP, and when that’s depleted, their stats (usually Strength) drop until they hit zero, ending in death. It can be a particularly deadly system, but that seems appropriate for horror.
You can buy Liminal Horror at its Itch.Io page, or look at the free online version here. There are already multiple hacks and supplements for this system, which is always a good sign, and as of the date of this post, there’s an ongoing itch.io game jam for it.
A character sheet is provided, but I needed it to be fillable, so I’ve added fillable fields. I’ve also been playing around with my own custom version. It’s not quite where I want it yet, but it’s usable.
I’ve added both of these to my ever-expanding list of character sheets.
Polyhedral Nonsense 