A supernatural hot spot

[Steve]

This idea was suggested to me by a recent episode of Supernatural. An instance of supernatural activity in the main characters' old house caused it to become a magnet for other supernatural entities to come and set up residence.

 

There are stories of buildings and places which seem to be "hot spots" for supernatural activity, even after cleansed of whatever is currently there by ghost hunter types. In thinking about how to model this, Summon seems to be the ideal power, with Trigger to show that it can happen on its own or due to some cause. Maybe an old house isn't currently being haunted, but if someone spills some blood in it, even by just cutting themselves by accident in the kitchen, or they move a book in the library, or even have it blessed by a priest (Amityville Horror anyone?), it awakens something and a ghost appears, or maybe more than one. Built with such Limitations as Antagonistic, Strong-Willed, Extra Time, an Immobile, Obvious Accessible Focus, and maybe Arrives Under Own Power, it could make for a wild place.

 

I'm not sure how to model the Summon power to allow for varying power levels of spooks to show up. Maybe one triggering of the Summon calls up a weak spook, but the next time it is triggered, it calls up a more nasty one.

[ghost-angel]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

I would actually put a Disad on the dwelling: Easily Crossed Over To.

 

Assuming angry spirits and the like look for places to get into the Real World a house, or other dwelling, that acts like a natural port would attract them.

 

Sometime the Disad needs an occurence to open the veil, and thus worth a little less than a house that is always "open" between worlds.

[Lucius]

A supernatural hot spot

 

Change Environment, Temperature Increase.

 

 

Oh, wait, you're using the word "hot" metaphorically.

 

How about Change Environment, Hospitable to Spirits. Makes it look and feel inviting to them.

 

Or Change Environment, Haunting Effects. With a little TK for the poltergeist phenomena. It's a start, anyway.

 

Or the already suggested idea of a disadvantage, like you'd put a disadvantage on a base. "Haunted 14 or less" rather than "Hunted 14 or less."

 

If you go with Summon, how about making it "No Conscious Control" meaning that NO ONE is actually controlling or directing it....gives you leeway to use less powerful summoned entities, or greater power when called for...

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary says: We enter the circle after dark and are consumed by fire.

[ghost-angel]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Hey I like the Haunted Disad. Perhaps two disadvantages?

 

Physical Limitation - Easily Crossed Over To

Haunted - based on how frequent something Crosses Over and haunts the premise.

[Steve]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Hmmm, except it doesn't quite replicate the feel of a place that could be spiritually quiet for years or decades and then something triggers a haunting, even as innocuous as moving a book. The Change Environment idea is an interesting one. No Conscious Control is a Limitation I should have mentioned, since the house or whatever is not consciously bringing spirits over. A really spooky place could also act as an Aid to ghostly powers or maybe a PC with necromantic abilities.

 

With a spirit Summon, an Aid to ghostly powers, and a Change Environment to make the place feel creepy, it could make quite a haunted house.

[ghost-angel]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Actually, you could also just use a Triggered Change Environment. The new Environment is "Easily Haunted"

 

and you don't have to mess with a Summon or worry about how big a creature is coming through based on the Summon's points.

[Steve]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

I guess another way to do it would be to populate the house with one or more spots of Extra-Dimensional Movement (from Spirit World) to act as gates (weak spots in the dimensional barrier). Give them a very low Activation Roll (or probably better, No Conscious Control), Immobile Focus, and Extra Time between openings occurring, and that would also eliminate the need for a Summon power.

 

By using Aid and Suppress or Drain, you could also model how friendly/unfriendly a place is to supernatural presences. A spooky old house would have an Aid, but a high-tech scientific laboratory would work as a Suppress or Drain, maybe also a Change Environment as well. I could imagine a character with spirit-sensing powers would get quite a tingle in a place with an Aid and Change Environment both running.

[Sean Waters]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Can't recall where I saw it now but there was this physical limitation characters could take 'weirdness magnet'. Seems ideal here...

 

Of course the whole house could just be an independent summoning power, but it really sepends on how common spooks are in your world - if you find them about anyway, this is little more than a plot device, but if they are very rare, or non-existant, then this could be a good reason to go for summon or even an IPE EDM: entering the house you are in fact entering another dimension where the rules - and inhabitabts - are different, but the IPE means it just seems like the inside of the house you just entered. In another dimentin the rules might be different, so, for instance, cutting yourself MIGHT summon a spook, or cause rando TK activity, cold spots or whatever.

 

An exorcism would then just be 'closing the gate'. COuld work....

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Hmmm' date=' except it doesn't quite replicate the feel of a place that could be spiritually quiet for years or decades and then something triggers a haunting, even as innocuous as moving a book. [/quote']

Use some of the other mentioned Disads in conjunction with Accidental Change.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

I just had another thought along these lines, and though I was thinking about Steve's specific discussion, it's general enough that I started a new thread for it. Check out the "Frameworks for character Disads" thread if you would.

[Steve]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

Of course the whole house could just be an independent summoning power' date=' but it really sepends on how common spooks are in your world - if you find them about anyway, this is little more than a plot device, but if they are very rare, or non-existant, then this could be a good reason to go for summon or even an IPE EDM: entering the house you are in fact entering another dimension where the rules - and inhabitabts - are different, but the IPE means it just seems like the inside of the house you just entered. In another dimentin the rules might be different, so, for instance, cutting yourself MIGHT summon a spook, or cause rando TK activity, cold spots or whatever.[/quote']

 

This is an interesting approach, the house itself becoming a sort of pocket dimension attached to the real world. Inside it, the laws of nature are just different. This is a more extreme example of what an earlier poster suggested, only using Change Environment in that one.

 

I suppose that lesser hauntings could work with the Change Environment option, to get the proper spooky feeling to the place (cold spots, feelings of unease, etc). A more powerful haunting would then add Images (ghosts walking around, maybe only showing up on certain EM frequencies), or maybe empathic Mind Controls (feel fear) or Telekinesis (poltergeist activity). At the top end of hauntings would be a full-blown EDM effect, since reality is warped by the high levels of supernatural activity impinging on our world. Then all bets are off as to what could happen.

[Sean Waters]

Re: A supernatural hot spot

 

If you were using the 'haunted house' idea in a supers campaign, I'd go with the EDM: it allows you to completely change the rules, so the superstrong character CAN be held immobile by the little girl ghost without throwing scads of points at the problem, AND, if the players can work out the rules of the place they can perhaps use them to their advantage (perhaps they are in a psychoactive dimension that can be directly manipulated by force of will, and they are in here with a very angry ghost with a high EGO....)