There’s no escape in death, spacefarer. No redemption. No relief. Only a slow, silent, solitary spiral of terror as your spirit tries to escape the clutches of the Great Gaping Maw at the Center of the Negaverse. You can claw and scrape at the fabric of spacetime all you want, but the Maw is inescapable — its hunger insatiable. Eventually you’ll be compressed and consumed as it extracts every last bit of information from your withering spirit, until all that’s left is nothingness.

Sounds terrible, if you ask me.

It used to be inevitable, but the Symbol changed the rules. Now, there’s a loophole — you might even call it a hack. If you learn to control the forces of the Negaverse itself, you can use them to negate death. Yes, that’s right, a double negative — but one that means eternal life. Of course, if you fail, you could wind up facing a fate that makes the Maw look merciful, but what reward comes without a little risk?

Would you like me to teach you its secrets — free of charge, no strings attached, just one helpful spacefarer to another?

Of course you would. Who in their right mind wouldn’t? When you’re ready, grab your things and we’ll get started. Oh, and no rush — I have all the time in the world.

In This Mortal Coil, you play a space traveler-turned-necromancer on a quest to achieve eternal life by constructing a magical device known as an anchor. You’ll create undead thralls to do your bidding, gather energy to power your quest by harvesting living creatures, and master the forces of the Negaverse.

Along the way, you’ll explore fantastic worlds, battle terrifying creatures, and negotiate with cosmic horrors to unlock the secrets of immortality.

This Mortal Coil is both a standalone science-horror setting/rulebook for Liminal Horror and a toolkit for incorporating necromancy and space travel into your own Liminal Horror, Cairn, and other Into the Odd inspired games.