Recursive Transit (2/25/2026)

GM: Craig Shipman
Players: Allison Arth, John Harper, Sean Nittner
System: Liminal Horror

Craig started the game with this prompt:

When we start, it will be February 2026. You are young 20-something who are friends and work in the city but live a 20-minute train ride away. Nobody can afford to live in the city these days.

It is Thursday night, and on a whim, you four decided to have a drink after work. It is hard to find time to catch up. One drink turned into two. Now it is 3 am, and you four need to get back home and try to get at least an hour or two of sleep. Who thought this was a good idea on a school night?

Character creation is easy – Tell me your character’s name, pronouns, profession, and the one person in your life (not a PC) you care about the most. Once we’ve got our four people, we will work on bonds and discuss safety tools.

Characters

Sean: I’ll play Sam (she/her), a scene tech trying to get her union card so she can get more regular hours. Sam just got off doing tech for a community theater performance of Avatar: The Final Element, an original script created by the director that the theater would surely be sued for if more than 20 people knew about it’s existence. The play was six hours long and by the time we met up for drinks Sam was already exhausted. Portrayed by Anna Konkle.

Sam’s older brother Rick is her idol and used to be closest friend. They are both busy now and don’t talk as much a they used to, but she still looks up to him. Rick runs a makers lab (3D printing, laser cutting, workshop tools) and they like nerding out together about polymer strengths and elasticity. Portrayed by Adam Driver

John: I’ll play Mack (he/him), a bike messenger grinding a paycheck to supplement his fledgling career as a tattoo artist. Portrayed by Tyler Posey.

Mack’s on-again off-again girlfriend Katie (also a tattooer) is the person he cares about the most. She’s a great artist and is more established in her career, and Mack feels both inspired by and jealous of her. Portrayed by Ella Purnell.

Allison: I’ll be Evie (she/they). Evie’s the executive assistant to a hugely influential and incredibly high-maintenance lifestyle brand SHE-EO; she hates her job, but it frequently connects her with investor types who might someday help her launch her dream: a nonprofit “third place” for queer youth to explore and express themselves through arts & literature. Portrayed by Aidy Bryant.

Evie’s best friend (and roommate) Glo (they/them; art gallery admin) is the person she cares about the most. The pair met in college in an “Animation as Revolution” course and have been inseparable ever since. They do almost everything together, except drink — Glo is sober, again. Portrayed by Asia Kate Dillon

Our young characters

and the people they loved the most

I’m sure nothing bad will happen to any of them.

At the Station

Friday morning 2:40 AM, alone in a subway station. The station echoes so we’re trying to stay quiet. Our buzzes are wearing off and we’re all feeling drained after long night of drinking together.

Evie’s eyeliner is smudged, her hair ratty from dancing and falling down at one point. She looks bemused and is saying what a great time she had tonight. How we need to do this more often.

Mack is leaning against a pylon with a cigarette hanging lazily from his mouth. He pulls a half drunk beer from his jacket pocket and takes a swig. He makes noncommittal mutterings about how great the night was as well.

Sam has been looking at her phone for the past hour. Is 2:40 AM and she has to be at work early tomorrow morning. Her hair is greasy an falling in her face. Her skin pale under harsh florescent lights.

Mack asks us all if we want to stay out a little longer, hop on the L instead, and go to The Scorpion to see Crystal Ball. They’ll be open till at least 6AM. We shake our heads and say it is too late.

Sam knows she should just hold on for a few more minutes till the train arrives, then she can space out for 20 minutes till they get to out of the city and go home to catch a few hours of sleep. But a thought gnaws at her and she can’t let it go. She asks Mack if they are going to talk about when he kissed her an hour ago? How hurt Evie looked.

Mack makes noises of contrition. Sometimes things just happen. If she was upset about it, that would really bum him out. Sometimes people have crushes, that’s all. Evie also assures Sam it was okay. Crushes and all. She’s fine, she didn’t look sad when she saw, she didn’t even notice she was looking at her drink. Crushes.

2:40 AM

The train arrives at 2:40 AM and they stumble in. Mack and his bicycle take up two seats so Sam and Evie sit together. Sam whispers to Evie about her and Mack askes if they were a thing. Evie looks sober for a moment and sad. They were not a thing, would never be a thing.

Mack leans forward with a second cigarette that Sam takes but holds for Evie to puff. Thank you mommy she says after taking a puff. Sam pulls out her SLR camera and awkwardly frames all of them in a shot as they cheer to friendship. The shutter snaps as the train car door closes.

We feel the sway of the train. Lights flash across the windows. This is the express. It’s a 20 minute ride with no stops till we get out of the city and get home. We’ll pass Warren Station, then Grant Station, then get to the end.

We sit in the grime of the first train car. Mack pulls away his elbow from the seat, unsure of some part of it will stick to him or some part of him will stick to it.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station. The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station…

Something is wrong. Did we really pass the same station we wonder. Why didn’t it stop we wonder. Oh yeah, this is the express.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station.

That can’t be. Sam takes out her camera again, setts the shutter speed to capture action shots and takes a picture as we fly through the station. W-A-R-R-

Evie is sobered. She take a video of Sam taking picture as we pass the next station. Warren station. We’re still in disbelief. Mack ask if we turned around? Are we going in circles like planes that can’t land? Did the conductor get lost?

As weird as this is Sam laughs out loud at the absurdity of a conductor getting lost. Mack is good at making people laugh.

We’ve gotta figure out what’s going on, one of us say. We should get to the front of the train, another agrees. We start to move forward.

Sam opens the door to the gangway. It’s cold to the touch. The latch is still and takes two hands to open. She pushes and it comes open. Cold air blasts her. The door is spring-loaded and will close behind her if someone isn’t holding it open. The door to car to is in arms reach.

Mack senses her trepidation and pins the door open with his bike. He moves past her and Sam’s necklace snags on his shirt. She leans in close to disconnected it. He smells of cigarettes and sweat.

Mack opens the door to car two and it’s dark inside. Too dark. A single light hands from a chain at the end of the car. It’s not the kind of light you find in a train.

Evie slips by both of them with her phone to illuminate the room but the darkness is pervasive. Every time her phone moves she can see the darkness devour where the light use to be. This car has no seats. It is even more drab than the car we left, with its sticky residue. Evie presses forward. She believes in the paranormal and sings her ghost banishing chant. Ghosts be gone. Ghosts be gone.

When she gets to the hanging light, she feels a menace come from it. She has to make an effort to avoid it swinging into her as the train car sways.

Mack does an impressive trick with his bike and gets himself, Sam, and the bike into the car. He rides the bike around the poles and follows Evie.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station.

Sam is behind and she feels a certain solace from the light. It’s a old bulb, like the one they leave on in her theater when there are no shows. The bulb is massive and the filament thick. This light will never burn out. She pushes it out of the way, and as she imagined the bulb is not hot, however it is very heavy, harder to move than she thought it would be.

Opening the door to the gangway is hard. It’s cold to the touch. Evie needs two hands to do it. Mack pins the doors open with his bike. They step into the third car, which doesn’t look like it’s part of the same train. The windows are long and stretched. They are spotless, so clean they reflect us in them. Though we’re alone, because of our reflections it doesn’t feel as empty.

Sam sees herself in the mirror and she looks good, younger than she remembered, better than she remembered. She smiles at herself and says if we have to wait it out this wouldn’t be bad car to wait in.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station.

You look good girl Sam says to her reflection as she pushes her hair behind her hear and looks at Mack, also appreciating his reflection.

The lights dim and the train car shudders.

2:40 AM

We feel the sway of the train. Lights flash across the windows. This is the express. It’s a 20 minute ride with no stops till we get out of the city and get home. We’ll pass Warren Station, then Grant Station, then get to the end.

We sit in the grime of the first train car. Mack pulls away his elbow from the seat, unsure of some part of it will stick to him or some part of him will stick to it.

What just happened Sam asks. How is this possible Evie asks. Mack is paying attention now. We agree that we need to stop the train. Sam pulls the wire and it comes free from the wall as if she had pulled with superhuman strength. She has her Leatherman, she’ll find the pull and pull it with the pliers. But the black hole where the wire went into isn’t a hole, it’s just black paint. Where’s the hole she asks and scrapes it with her tool. The paint scratches away. It’s 2:51 AM.

Mack suggests we try going out the back instead. It looks scary out there. But maybe it will work we wonder.

Evie locks her arm around a pole and holds Mack. Mack holds Sam’s belt. Sam uses both hands to open the door. The latch is told to the touch and stiff. She pulls hard and it opens. Out side the tracks fly by to fast to see individually. Dust and debris float are kicked into the air by the train. Sam knows that were she to take one step forward she would surely perish. She braces herself in the doorframe looking at the abyss behind them and then steps back and the doors slam shut. Her phone says it’s 2:56.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station.

The lights dim and the train car shudders.

2:40 AM

We feel the sway of the train. Lights flash across the windows. This is the express. It’s a 20 minute ride with no stops till we get out of the city and get home. We’ll pass Warren Station, then Grant Station, then get to the end.

We sit in the grime of the first train car. Mack pulls away his elbow from the seat, unsure of some part of it will stick to him or some part of him will stick to it.

Evie says we’re looping. Sam asks is this a Groundhog Day. Mack winces in thought and then says Bill Murray!

We have to get to the front. We all agree. We move to the second car, with with some practiced routine. Two hands on the latch, cold to the touch, pull hard slam it open. It is spring loaded and will close behind us if not held. Mack pins the bike in the door way with the kickstand out. Move to the next.

The second car is dark as it was before. At it has always been. We see the dim light in the distance. As we walk through the windows begin to crack and fog seeps through them onto the floor giving a powerful chemical smell. Evie holds her breath. She knows it is dangerous.

Move with speed to the third car, with with some practiced routine. Two hands on the latch, cold to the touch, pull hard slam it open. It is spring loaded and will close behind us if not held. Mack pins the bike in the door way with the kickstand out. Move to the next.

We step into the third car, which doesn’t look like it’s part of the same train. The windows are long and stretched. They are spotless, so clean they reflect us in them. Though we’re alone, because of our reflections it doesn’t feel as empty.

Between the windows are are posters of Mack wearing a jacket he doesn’t own, debuting an art book he hasn’t written. At the bottom of the poster are the letters S-A-M in red spray paint, covered over by black spray paint. Sam doesn’t want to be distracted by she stares at the poster and looks to Mack. What is this?

He tears down the poster and crumples it up. He moves to the end of the car. He doesn’t have time to waste. He doesn’t have time. Crushed.

Evie pulls same from her reverie. Holds her hand in two hands and squeezes. Sam’s hands are cold to the touch. Blood is leaving her extremities. Mach holds the latch in two hands and squeezes. The handle is cold to the touch.

We move to the fourth car. It is packed with people we know. The FedEx delivery guy. Our friends. Our bosses. People we see every day.

The FedEx guy who knows Evie says you’re never getting out of that job. I’m going to see you ever morning. Her CEO boss is there too. We’ve done a full audit on your expense reports. and we know about Florida. Evie doesn’t look at them. Ghost be gone. Ghosts be gone.

Mack sees a woman he did a tattoo. She holds up her harm and says you scammed me. This came from a magazine. He knows the art was his own, but then he isn’t sure. Maybe he was inspired by something he saw?

Sam sees the director who is one day going to give her a part in a performance but he looks at her with disgust. That time I asked you for drinks and you didn’t come? That’s why you’ll never get a part.

Sam feels like she’s 12 and a bully is harassing her. She yells You’re Gross! and points a finger a him like a weapon. Mack charges forward and shoves him.

The lights dim and the train car shudders.

2:40 AM

We feel the sway of the train. Lights flash across the windows. This is the express. It’s a 20 minute ride with no stops till we get out of the city and get home. We’ll pass Warren Station, then Grant Station, then get to the end.

We sit in the grime of the first train car. Mack pulls away his elbow from the seat, unsure of some part of it will stick to him or some part of him will stick to it.

Hey Siri, set time for 20 minutes. Sam says. We can’t be distracted.

Evie says our friendship pledge will get through it. We have to go through it together. We all look at one another with determination.

Mack opens the door and props his bike with the kickstand. It’s cold to the touch. It’s spring loaded. Andie MacDowell he says remembering more. Sam smiles again.

The second car is filled with toxic fog. And further in three floating orbs that look like melting plastic.

Mack lights his zippo and throws it into the car. Nothing happens. We wait a moment. We open the door and the fog is still there. The zippo burning away inside it. Not flammable.

Wait! Sam says before we proceed. Evie, open the back door. We’ll vent out the fog. Evie doesn’t like it. The door is scary, but she goes. Mack doesn’t like it. The door is scary. He wedges his bike in the door and he goes after her. He hold her to keep her safe. Evie opens the door to the abyss. Sam opens the door to the second car. The wind pulls the fog and the melted orbs out of the car, but on the way, one of them scorches the back of Mack’s hand. It is blistering now. Evie has a scarf in her purse to cover it, but it still burns.

The wind also pulls Mack’s zippo. Sam catches it before it flies away.

We move through the second car. Sam filches when she sees the blistering skin on Mack’s hand.

The third car doesn’t belong on this train. The windows are long. Our reflections are perfect. But they follow us a half-second behind.

Mack see his and it speaks to him. Mack from the window tells Mack form the train it’s all your fault.

Evie and Sam come up behind him. Their reflections a half-second behind them. They tell them the same. It’s Mack’s fault. Mack will leave you behind. They each hear only their own reflections. They do not know the minds of the their friends.

Evie internalizes. She remembers what she said before. We’re not a thing. We’ll never be a thing. He’ll never love me. It’s a wound and it hurts.

Sam thinks Mack will hurt her. But maybe if she good enough to him. If she loves him enough, he’ll change. No, he protected me, she says. Foolish. Her timer goes off.

The lights dim and the train car shudders.

2:40 AM

We feel the sway of the train. Lights flash across the windows. This is the express. It’s a 20 minute ride with no stops till we get out of the city and get home. We’ll pass Warren Station, then Grant Station, then get to the end.

We sit in the grime of the first train car. Mack pulls away his elbow from the seat, unsure of some part of it will stick to him or some part of him will stick to it.

Evie is crying. Sam holds her tight. So tight like she will never let go.

Mack goes and opens the door and goes into the second car. Without his bike. Without Evie. Without Sam.

Evie goes to follow him and says It’s not his fault. It’s not his fault.

Sam goes to follow him but she can’t here those words. She can’t hear them and not say when is going to be Mack’s fault? When is he going to take responsibility?

Mack goes into the foggy room filled with melting orbs. As he enters he floats into the air. Looks down and sees the rails. There’s no floor.

Evie thinks on their time with Glo, who is in rehab and apologized so much. We have to give people chance to take responsibility. We can’t give up on people without giving them a chance. She tells Sam Mack can take responsibility once we get off this train.

Sam is relieved. She also wants to believe. I’ll prop the door and you open the back.

Evie wraps a strap from her bag strap around the pole and hooks her self in. She kicks off her clogs. They are slowing her down. She opens the door to the abyss. Alone.

Mack is floating. Decides not to freak out. Mack puts his jacked on backwards and covers his mouth with the collar. Mack climbs through the air.

Sam jams the door open with a Leatherman and opens the other, venting it out. We all evade the black orbs.

We get in, no gravity. We float forward.

Mack presses on without us. Sam calls to him but he doesn’t stop. Mack drops to the ground as gravity reasserts itself in the gangway. Moves on without us.

Inside the third car he sees the windows like mirrors, the posters, and Evie standing in the center, looking at him. Confused.

Behind, Sam and Evie come through and see Evie over his shoulder. Confused.

Car 3 Evie has been trying to get to the back for 60 minutes. She lost Mack and Sam and has been trying to get to the back on her own. She is wearing her clogs.

We all lose control.

Mack becomes reckless. Things are in the Wrong Order. Causality is inverted.

Car three Evie says oh my god Mack. I lost you.

Mack asks why are you doing this?

Mack turns to behind him to see Car one Evie Why are you doing this?

The Evies have a confusing conversation. Sam believes one is real, the other is a reflection. Evies know better.

Car one Evie pushes past Sam and Mack and reaches out both hands. Car three Evie reaches out both hands. They touch. There is a blinding light and there’s just one Evie.

Mack understands causality backwards now. He says this is why we made the friendship toast. This is is why we went out together tonight. I’m sorry I left you behind.

Evie and Sam stare in shock. He said I’m sorry.

Sam see’s he’s wearing his jacket backwards. She helps him put it on the right way and gives him zippo. He gives her a meaningful look that says thank you. She stars back. She could get lost in his eyes. In the abyss. Mack lights a cigarette to break the tension. Mack lights a cigarette because he needs one.

Evie, we don’t know which one asks which way should we go.

Mack says the back is bad. What’s in the front? He isn’t thinking about that question but it sort of makes sense for him to ask it.

Evie, whichever she is, knows that the first car is locked. She remembers the MTA driver. The back of their head. The door that is locked and won’t open. She had to find another way out.

Mack has a moment of lucidity and says Sam can open it.

Yeah, I can do it. Sam said with unusual confidence. Let’s move forward but plug our ears this time. Like Odysseus. The first trial was smell, the next sight, the next is sound. Stephen Tobolowsky Mack says.

The scrounge and find wax and ear plugs and noise cancelling headphones. It is silent.

The people in the fourth car are all there, all the same, but they are mannequins. Mack thinks these are the most benign version and walks forward. This his happening in reverse.

The FedEx mannequin chokes him with two plastic hands. Make tries to rip an arm off, but it holds. Evie charges forward with an umbrella to stab at him, but it holds. Sam presses her Leatherman deep into its armpit and pries the arm from the socket with savage force. She protects Mack.

The lifeless form falls lifeless again to the ground.

We move forward with Evie in the lead. Umbrella open to to protect us like a shield. On other side Sam fights with her pliers. Mack with the arm form the mannequin. We are clobbered on the way, but we prevail.

The fifth car is a too-wide warped imitation of a living room. A sagging couch, a cabinet tv. Above the couch is a family style portrait of Glo holding her baby.

Sitting in the couch, mesermized by the TV, is Rick.

On the coffee table between the couch and the TV is an original 1st edition Neil Diamond album, that Mack gave to Katie last time to get he convinced her to get back together with him. Plastic on the album is melting from the fire that is engulfing the coffee table, and the couch and the cabinet and Rick and the poster and the entire car. Rick turns to Sam, “it’s our favorite show.”

Sam is LOST. She shoves the camera into Evie hands so she has a picture of them, and goes to sit down with Rick, watches the fire engulf them both. Watches the TV.

Mack is LOST. He knows that he got on this train tonight so that Katie wouldn’t miss him. He sits down on the couch with Rick and Sam and holds up the album. I sure know how to pick em’

Sam smiles.

Evie walks through the car, the flames don’t touch her. She bashes the window and opens the door. presses it open. It isn’t locked this time. The door to the next car is also, for the first time, not locked.

Evie can only see the back of the operators head and their MTA hat.

The tube lights change from dim yellow to bright white as get get to Warren station and see the station signs one letter at a time. W-A-R-R-E-N. It passes by and soon we get to another station.

She enters. The operator raises their hand for her to wait.

Evie asks what is happening? Why isn’t this train stopping? Why haven’t I gotten home yet?

Unaffected, the conductor stands up, grabs the large wrench and Evie recognizes it’s Glo’s hand “I said wait a second. You never listen!” Conductor Glo swings the wrench at swigs it by Evie’s head. By sheer luck it misses. She’s wearing the clogs again and stumbles in them, luckily falling out of the way.

Evie raises her key ring to strike at Glow’s arm as she was taught in her self defense training. She yells No! and strikes her closest friend. Evie knows that Glo’s body, in this time, in this place, is as strong as her spirit. Glo swings the wrench again and strikes her DEAD.

6:00 AM

The story in the morning is about the Express Train Massacre. Three young people attempted to kill the old man who drove the train, who only survived because he fought who fought them off with a wrench, but the burn marks on the man’s hands were never explained.

Codas

Rick helping a kid work a 3d printer in the makers lab and tells him if the table shakes you have to toss it an start all over. Camera goes to the trash can filled with dud prints and above it a pic of Sam and Rick on the beach, the first time they went boogie boarding.

Katie has someone come into the parlor to get some flash tattoo. He wants an eagle that Mack had and she says “oh, sorry I don’t do that one. want to pick something else?”

The next day Glo comes home and trips over Evie’s shoes and breaks down crying.

What Rocked

I mean, see above. This whole game was creepy and confusing and delightful. I loved playing with John and Allison. We felt frail and powerful and deeply human.

Craig’s delivery was fantastic. The slow pace. The repeated, almost ritual phrases. The latch that is cold to the touch. Chef’s kiss.

The question of “who can’t let go of the thing that happened an hour ago?” was such a masterful move to get the characters connected. I knew Mack, and Evie, and Sam so much better after that came out. Instantly engaged.

That’s the first time I’ve played a gain where we all died in a long time. Ages really. Glad to see it took away nothing from the game.

What could be improved

Character creation could be improved by each character having a flaw, a regret, or a fear. Mack’s character had a major flaw and that really drove things forward. It gave his reflection’s works weight. I think Sam and Evie would have had more complicated interiors and more to draw on if they also had some obvious flaw that was known, but perhaps not talked about till now.

I’d like it it the ending was more clear that it was a cover up story. It’s fine it that’s what’s in the newspapers, but someone, somewhere should know the truth.