Re: Playing possession by ghosts in an interesting way

From: hcarteau_at_xHxuHp7w96j7p7i-q96MK9AEgDrfKUqIkWjgaSsG-BMhmpDmg7_E8Lq9-UyCaH9w26D
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 22:02:26 +0100 (CET)


Try a covert possession, in which the PC is him-/herself, but with one or two of the possessor's most obsessive hopes and fears superimposed onto them?
/// That'd mean the ghosts might have other aims than just getting the hell out. Why not...

(You probably need to brief the affected players individually in private about how they are affected, and hope they will pick it up and run with it).
/// They can do that ; they like ROLE more than PLAY.

After all covertly possessed characters don't usually know they are possessed (and it is not that easy to see from the outside without good spirit-centred magic).
/// That opens a new can of worms for me : I thought Possessions were begun by a spirit fight, where the character sees / feels his attacker. So if the ghost wins, the PC can feel it inside his own head somehow. What you suggest is interesting - I might use a conversation with a ghost instead of a fight.

 Also make some or all of the possessors subtle and ambiguous -- have them think their best chance of achieving their own goals is, at least in the short term, to try and help the PCs achieve at least some of theirs (unless these goals are wholly incompatible),
/// It's easy to change the scenario to make one or two goals compatible, i.e. wants to get the hell out with some specific treasure.

at least to the extent that they can infer what the PCs' goals are from what is going on around them. As the ghosts are enemies of the guardian as well, they have at least one important piece of common ground with the PCs.
/// Ah, yes. They might want revenge against the guardian. One might be bellicose enough to "use" the PC as a weapon to fight the Guardian. Hm.
 
Maybe not all the possessing spirits have the same goals -- maybe one wants to complete their mission, another wants revenge and a third just wants to get out as soon as possible?
/// Maybe. Maybe they also hate each other.
 
Maybe a possessed player receives information about the location of an important treasure from the possessor which is mostly, but not 100%, accurate, which they will now seek obsessively. Alternatively  maybe they have a real fear about a powerful guardian or other danger that is mostly, but not 100%, right?
/// Dead right. Ghosts, like everybody else, make false assumptions. Even though they've been in the Nostromo for untold aeons.
 
Would it be too sneaky to have one case of obvious dominant possession that  the PCs can probably diagnose and fix, leaving one or more covert possessions in place? Especially if a covertly possesssed character helps to cure the dominant possession using their existing abilities ...
/// That is extra sneaky, and twisted. I might try it !
 
/// Thanks for all the ideas.
           

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