ghost characters campaign

[Foxx!]

Heroes!

 

I have a campaign idea, and I’d like to hear comments.

 

It’s a modern day heroic campaign. The characters are all ghosts. They can buy powers to affect the solid world such as Telekinesis, Mind Control possession, the ability to turn off their ghostly Invisibility to sight and sound, and so on.

 

In adventures, players use their powers to help people in the living world. Stop criminals, stop someone who wants to commit suicide, etc. However, if they do anything too obvious, they may scare off the people they want to help, or ghost hunters may appear. Also, there are harmful ghosts who use their powers to harm living people and attack the characters.

 

I’m thinking of requiring everyone to take a DNPC and be a guardian spirit for that person. Then, each session could be about a different player’s DNPC.

 

Also, I’m thinking of having a ghost bureaucracy. The players have a supervisor who watches over them. Based on their actions, they get rewards or punishment.

 

Cheers!

[sinanju]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

The ghost bureaucracy strongly reminds me of BEETLEJUICE, and probably not by accident.

 

I'd suggest something that the GM of the Empire City game (I'm playing Hell's Angel in that) did. He had all the players create a "supporting cast." This was a group of half a dozen or so people who were important in the lives of the PCs. They were not necessarily DNPCs, though they could be. They could be family or friends, coworkers, employers (or employees, I suppose), neighbors, etc. Hell's Angel has a younger sister, a best friend, a therapist, a former boyfriend/cop, and an agent (Hell's Angel is a novelist in her secret ID).

 

Having all your players do the same would give you a ready-made pool of DNPCs for the ghosts to worry over and/or interact with.

 

I'd also make sure the PCs (and the players) didn't know all the rules of the afterlife, or even necessarily what they were supposed to do with themselves. You don't get a handbook when you're born; why should the afterlife be any different? There would no doubt be other ghosts (and other beings?) who will be happy to instruct them...but not necessarily out of benevolent motives. Bullies, crooks and power-hungry folk die too....

[tkdguy]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Maybe you should check out Yu-yu Hakusho. The main character was dead for the first few episodes.

 

http://www.yuyuhakusho.com/

[Foxx!]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Sinanju!

I like the supporting cast idea. It’s be easy because each player should already have a background with several connections. They also have to come up with a story about their death, which should give story idea.

Having the player start without a clue also sounds good. But if I use the bureaucracy idea, eventually some agent will contact them. Maybe I should let the players decide if they want to join the bureau or be renegades hunted by the bureau.

 

TkdGuy!

Yuuyuu Hakusho is probably higher power than I’m thinking, but it has some good ideas. By the way, in a recent TV programme surveying most popular anime of all time from people of all ages, Yuuyuu Hakusho was #28. Here is the link.

 

http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/anime100/contents/ranking/cur/index.html

 

But when I watched the programme, the ranking was slightly different. Gundam was #1, Dragonball was #2. A few others seem a little out of order.

 

Cheers!

[ghost-angel]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

This is a very cool idea.

[MPT]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

This reminded me of an old RPG and a quick bit of google-ing found it. 'Lost Souls' is the name of it and details can be found here:

 

http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/alphabetical/L.html#lostsouls

http://www.panix.com/~sos/rpg/lostsoul.html

http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=479

[Captain Obvious]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Decide right from the start whether or not ghosts can be harmed by nuclear weapons.

[Foxx!]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

This reminded me of an old RPG and a quick bit of google-ing found it. 'Lost Souls' is the name of it and details can be found here:

 

http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/encyclopedia/alphabetical/L.html#lostsouls

http://www.panix.com/~sos/rpg/lostsoul.html

http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=479

Thank you! That is very helpful. It sounds just like what I’m imagining, and the idea of having a character be a medium is a good option.

 

Decide right from the start whether or not ghosts can be harmed by nuclear weapons.

 

Cheers!

[SatinKitty]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Hi FOXX:

 

I once played a total amnesia victim under OddHat who never got hungry, tired or sick, nor did drugs affect her, nor did she reflect in any mirror or register on camera nor on any electronic device. The touch of sunlight made her go desolid and invisible, although she could still be heard. Being knocked unconscious did that too. At first she thought she might be a Gay Succubus, but soon learned she needed to feed on the life force of humans every night or she suffered greatly and began to die. It was food. After a few adventures she consulted a Medium who revealed she was a Ghost. A very unusual Ghost. Pentagrams could hold her.

 

She joined an all-girl Superteam, but was often interrupted by various would-be Occultists summoning her. One just wanted three wishes, others wanted crimes or problems solved. Being Dead Broke didn't help. She eventually learned her name had been Angela, but there the campaign stopped and never restarted. Pity. Her Hero name was "Stranger".

 

This is my input for your game idea.

[Foxx!]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Hi FOXX:

 

I once played a total amnesia victim under OddHat who never got hungry, tired or sick, nor did drugs affect her, nor did she reflect in any mirror or register on camera nor on any electronic device. The touch of sunlight made her go desolid and invisible, although she could still be heard. Being knocked unconscious did that too. At first she thought she might be a Gay Succubus, but soon learned she needed to feed on the life force of humans every night or she suffered greatly and began to die. It was food. After a few adventures she consulted a Medium who revealed she was a Ghost. A very unusual Ghost. Pentagrams could hold her.

 

She joined an all-girl Superteam, but was often interrupted by various would-be Occultists summoning her. One just wanted three wishes, others wanted crimes or problems solved. Being Dead Broke didn't help. She eventually learned her name had been Angela, but there the campaign stopped and never restarted. Pity. Her Hero name was "Stranger".

 

This is my input for your game idea.

Mrs. Oddhat!

 

That is an excellent idea. I don’t know if it was your or Oddhat’s idea, but your post is here so I’ll give you rep. I like the idea of having occultists summon the characters. That’s a good plot hook. I also might try starting the campaign without the players knowing they are ghosts. Unlike your character, they will be Desolid and Invisible, so they will learn the truth soon. Normally, I don’t like big surprise changes in a game. Maybe I should plan it as a one session campaign and then ask if they want to continue?

 

Cheers!

[JTesla]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

Great idea. My one fear would be that players might become stuck being one-trick ponies. One always uses Telekinesis to solve things, another is stuck turning visible and saying “Boo!” Perhaps work on a way to get them varied yet minor powers that can change with time. A VPP for each character springs to mind. That way if what they have works, they can be forced to keep their original powers, if not they can tweak them as they learn new haunting techniques.

 

One thing that has always struck me as stereotypical for ghosts has been their limitations. Limit their vision, or range of movement. They only view things at night, or can not leave one building that they have been assigned by the bureaucracy. Keep them from being free, they have great powers already make it all come at a great cost… well a cost other then simply dying.

[TheRavenIs]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

I have a small question, just how would you make the cost be such that you ccouldn't do this? What I am asking what is the 'natural state' limitation/advantage value?

 

Thanks before anyone answers.

 

Raven

[Steve]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

For a great source of ghost gaming ideas, I would recommend checking out "Orpheus" by White Wolf. The characters work for an organization that provides help with ghost phenomena. Some are living and able to project their spirits to intereact with ghosts, and some are dead. It reads a bit like "The Sixth Sense" done as an RPG. I think you could mine it for plenty of ideas for your campaign.

[MPT]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

I don't know if you ever started the campaign (and after 3 years it may have finished) but Lost Souls is now freely available from http://home.comcast.net/~freerpgs/lostsouls.html

[greenbriar]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

For ideas on the ghost side, you might look at an old White Wolf game. Wraith

[Vulcan]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

An oddly appropriate subject thread suitable for necromancy...

 

What I would do for this sort of thing is just declare that all PC's (and any ghost NPC's) are Desolid and Invisible, 0 END Persistent Inherent. This would not cost the characters any points, and they would have to spend points to not be Desolid or Invisible all the time.

 

Second, I would declare that all ghosts can see and affect each other normally. In a sense, Desolid and Invisibility do not apply to ghosts, although a player could buy them affecting ghosts as well.

 

Depending on how I wanted to play it, I might say 'Affects Physical World' is a +1/2 Advantage, and 'Affects Desolid' is a +2.

 

Just a couple ideas.

[bubba smith]

Re: ghost characters campaign

 

another way to dothe game would be like the GHOST WHISPERER tv series