The Lurking Fear
A downloadable game
The Lurking Fear is a free, lightweight, simulationist investigative horror ttrpg in the style of classic horror tabletop games. You can use it to run most systemless horror adventures or, with a little work, most adventures for popular horror games. Mechanically, it is closest to Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green, and Cthulhu Eternal, but it fits on just eight digest-size pages.
You can find some good system-neutral horror adventures on this list. I particularly recommend Swineheart Motel and No Security.
If you enjoy The Lurking Fear, you can come talk about it on the Rumors and Thoughtful Schemes Discord server, or subscribe to my mailing list for updates on similar projects.
Download
Install instructions
This is a tabletop role-playing game. The PDF contains rules that you and your friends can use to play characters in a world of mystery and horror. You can find examples of people playing ttrpgs on most social media and content-sharing platforms.
Development log
- Fear and Panic, a companion game to The Lurking Fear, has been released! Also, r...44 days ago
- GM's Guide Preview 3: The Atmosphere of Horror62 days ago
- GM's Guide Preview 2: When The Players Can't Find The Clues83 days ago
- GM's Guide Preview91 days ago
- Call for Questions and StoriesSep 12, 2023
- ePub and Markdown Versions of The Lurking Fear ReleasedNov 27, 2022
- The Lurking Fear goes Creative Commons! Plus, Portuguese translation and new one...Nov 12, 2022
Comments
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Hi Lyme! I hacked together my own d100 investigative cosmic horror rpg based on your excellent Lurking Fear rpg! I give you attribution in my game. It says:
“The Lurking Fear” by Lyme, licensed
under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License
https://lymetime.itch.io/lurkingfear
Is that what I'm supposed to put in there? I just want to make sure that I am giving all credit where it's due, and attributing things properly.
Could you let me know? I'm a neophyte at this stuff so having your blessing on the project and its attribution would be great.
Thank you so much,
Brian C.
mograg@hotmail.com
Hi Mograg,
I'm honored by all of the attention that you've given my game. That attribution is done correctly.
Send me a link to your game when you publish it, I'd like to check it out!
Sincerely,
Lyme
LymeRPG@gmail.com
Hi Lyme - I just sent you a copy of my own little mash-up of a d100 investigative horror game, called "Decidedly Odd." I want to make sure I'm giving proper attribution and that you are copacetic with it before I upload it to Itch.io. I aim for total transparency, proper attribution, and the goodwill of the creators whose shoulders I'm standing on with my game. It should be in your LymeRPG@gmail.com inbox today. Thanks!
Thank you Lyme, and yes, most certainly will share that link when it's ready to go! Best, - Brian C.
Lyme, could you talk a bit about the "Profession" skill? Can it be used in place of another skill, or should it only be used when another skill is not listed? For example, let's say my character is a professional race car driver. Can I skip putting points in "Drive" skill because I've put 80 points in "Profession - Race Car Driver." Or is it my choice as a player to decide which skill I use when I need to perform a tricky driving maneuver? Or let's say my character is a Private Sleuth. There's no "Read People" or "Psychology" skill on the character sheet. Should I use my "Profession - Private Sleuth" skill as a workaround to determine if an NPC is nervous or lying, since it's not a listed skill? The "Profession" skill seems a bit slippery, in how it should be used alongside, or in place of, other skills in such contexts. Could you discuss a bit? Thanks!
In most investigative games, a GM should want the players to get their hands on as many clues as possible - the challenge for the players is how they interpret those clues and face the dangers they lead to. Because of that, I try to let skills be wide and have plenty of overlap when used for investigation, but I take a more narrow approach when they're being used to face danger.
Profession skills are intended to overlap, but only in the context of the profession. A race car driver can use their skill instead of drive - if their on the track. If they're trying to get a truck full of explosives up a muddy hill, Profession: Automobile Racer wouldn't be useful, but Profession: Trucker would. The drive skill could be used in either place, but it couldn't be used to understand the business of professional athletics like Profession: Automobile Racer could.
I'm personally opposed to skills that serve as general "lie detectors", like read people or psychology. To me, deciding if you find someone's words believable based on context is a big part of the game. I would allow Profession skills to tell a fake, but only in the context of subjects where they have expertise. For instance, I'd let a musician roll their profession skill to see through a record producer's lies in a business deal, or I'd let a soldier roll to realize someone is faking having military experience. For a private sleuth, I might let them roll their profession skill in the context of catching a cheating spouse or an industrial spy, which tend to be the two sorts of jobs that private detectives end up working.
[nodding agreement] I get it - thanks Lyme!
Hi Lyme - could you discuss why you decided to make all hit points recover overnight in The Lurking Fear? That seems quite a departure from typical healing rules in d100 horror games where you play “normal” people. Overnight healing feels a bit superpowered.
A lot of investigative horror adventures unfold over the course of a few days or weeks. Taking characters out for a realistic six-month hospital stay basically means the player has to make a new character or sit out for the rest of the game, neither of which are fun.
And it's not like being at full HP will help that much against really scary things.
Hi Lyme - fair enough. Lurking Fear bills itself as simulationist horror, so an instant return to full health after being shot a couple of times (or what have you) had me raising my eyebrows. I think I will house rule that hit points return at 1 hit point per night of rest. Or perhaps a return to full hit points per the rules as written, but all physical acts are at -30% the next couple of days to account for lingering effects. Cheers!
It's a bit of a weakness of hitpoint systems. A common response is to view HP as representing fatigue and minor injuries that gradually weaken a character until, at zero hp, they finally take a truly dangerous injury. In practice, I've never seen a player or GM resist the temptation to describe attacks that reduce HP as causing serious trauma to the flesh. Still, HP is a feature of most older d100 horror games, so it needs to be a feature for maximum ease of compatibility.
I am working on a more modern horror system that will not use HP at all.
That’s cool, Lyme. I see that when viewing hit points through that lens, it’s less about numerical units literally measuring the character’s units of blood, sinews and meat. Much more abstract.
Hi Lyme - can a player add points to Unspeakable Knowledge at character creation, if they lower Stability by a corresponding amount?
I don't see why not. Horror tales can include protagonists who have survived a previous encounter with the unnatural. If you'd like to go that route, it's definitely worth having a discussion between the player and GM to make sure the character is right for the game.
I concur! Thanks Lyme!
how about an epub or markdown version?
Can you tell me more about the benefits of those formats? I'll look into making versions, it can't be too hard.
Both formats make it easier to read and access more devices. Just for myself I also most always have my phone but 50 year old eyes can’t easily read type on a Letter/A4 or Statement/A5 PDF.
There are also notebook apps like Obsidian that use Markdown. I keep a collection of MD RPG files, rules, random tables, adventures and notes.
And I sometimes make printed notebooks for the table like Fieldnotes 5e notebooks. Having the rules already in MD saves a lot of time.
there are ways to go from MD to ePub or PDF.
https://jameschip.itch.io/html-and-epub-ttrpg-creation
https://medium.com/@sebahaeusler/how-to-epub-from-markdown-188fef880fbb
https://itch.io/jam/markdown-jam
I followed those guides to make both ePub and MD versions of The Lurking Fear. I'm more of a writer than a dev by skill, but it wasn't too difficult and it was fun to learn something new. Thanks for the suggestion!
I've added the ePub version to the main itch page. The MD version is only available on this blog post because I wanted to avoid confusion, but I could put it on the frontpage if I ever had enough demand:
https://lymetime.itch.io/lurkingfear/devlog/456584/epub-and-markdown-versions-of...
Thanks!!! Glad it was fun
The MD version doesn’t download.
It looks like I can't have files download from a blog post on itch, only from the main page. I've gone ahead and added the Markdown to the main page after all, since that seems like the only way.
Hi Lyme - please don' t shoot me, but I have another rules question...
When adding the 250 points at character creation, and “all skills start at 10,” does this include the Unspeakable Knowledge skill?
If I add skill points at character creation to Unspeakable Knowledge, do I lower my starting Stability on a point-for-point basis?
If I don’t add any points to a skill (including Unspeakable Knowledge), do I still have it at default 10%?
Caught me there! I meant to have a line in about Unspeakable Knowledge starting at 0. I'll add it to my proofread list.
Rules question: in a combat turn, does a character (or non-player character or monster, for that matter) get to roll a Dodge skill test before their Agility score is arrived at in the countdown?
For example: in the first round of combat, if a monster with Agility 16 swipes a claw at an investigator with Agility 12, can that investigator declare a defend/dodge on the spot, even though it's not yet their point in the Agility score countdown to do anything? Or does the character with a 12 Agility have to hope that the monster with 16 Agility misses with its claw attack (investigator cannot attempt to defend/dodge) because they can't act - including a dodge - until the Agility countdown reaches 12.
Since the rules as written say "the next attack against that character before their next turn is an opposed test against their dodge skill" it leads me to assume that having a high Agility score is a boon because - in the first turn of combat - slower opponents can't hope to defend/dodge against the attack until it's their point in the Agility countdown to act.
In other words, do I have to wait "until it's my turn during the turn" to initiate a defend/dodge action, or can I defend/dodge an attack that first round as an immediate/interrupt response to an attacker who goes before my character in that first turn?
Thank you for helping with this question.
Best,
Brian Courtemanche, Chelmsford, Massachusetts
mograg@hotmail.com
That's correct! You can't take a dodge action until it's your turn. Going first is extremely deadly. Cunning investigators only choose to fight when they have an overwhelming advantage - if they're lucky enough to have a choice.
Excellent! Thank you! (and also thank you for your forbearance in seeing my question here, and on YSDC...I am excited about The Lurking Fear and am nothing if not a persistent investigator when I've got a question in my head). It's a wonderful game you have created!
I really like these rules.
Hi, do you have an email for business contact?
I do! It's lymerpg@gmail.com.
Great rules!
Congratulations and continue your work.