The Things that Haunt Us

Jasonchu

Jasonchu

GMing way too much~
Eventist style game (focused more on storyline/plot than on PCs).

Players take on the roles of ghosts who died bizarre, horrible deaths in the same house. It is clear from your collective experiences that something is wrong with the house, but other than just saying that it's "cursed" there's nothing that makes sense due to the large variety of strange deaths that have caused you all to become trapped as spirits in the house.

Enter Sarah Jacobs, 19 years old and already living on her own with some financial assistance from her parents! It's only a matter of time before the house claims her as well, so will you try to use the little effect you can have on the world of the living to try and save her (or at least get her to move), or will you laugh as she moves towards her doom and foil the plans of the others for the lols?

Ghosts can “possessing” the living (much less potent than in the movies) and force them to pick a specific solution to a problem, but are ejected after that decision and cannot possess someone again for quite some time. They can also provide as much force on an item as a stiff breeze could, such as closing a door or opening one that was already cracked, sliding something that only weighs as much as an empty coffee mug across a surface or knocking it onto the ground if sitting near the edge. There is no fine tuned control, so no writing with a pencil or typing on a keyboard, and they lose all power while a living human is looking in their direction (no doing things in plain sight).
 
Cisera said:
I'm interested!
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If I can get at least a couple more people then I'll boot it up. I'm fine with people popping in and out since, after all, they're ghosts and might just want to disappear for a while or don't have any interest in this new "victim" at first, but I don't want to start it up without at least 3 people to play off each others personalities.

In the meantime, did you have any ideas for what kind of character you'd want to play?

Character Sheet Template:
Name: First and Last, middle optional.
Apparent Age: Age you were when you died.
Dress and appearance: Basically how you looked upon the moment of your death, including any blood stains or bruising.
Short back story: Who you were before you died, why you moved into the house (though this could be a very simple or random reason), and the year you died (month/day optional).
Cause of Death: Must be something bizarre, such as the deaths in the movie series Final Destination.
Post-death Views: How do you view those who move into the house after you? This will usually be one of the following, but can be something custom...
Observer - you just watch and comment
Meddler - you interfere just to interfere, and don't particularly care about trying to save them
Savior - you want to save them from their doomed fate
Tormentor - you want to make their time in the house before their death as horrible as possible, out of either spite, boredom, or sadistic entertainment
 
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A few notes: I'm doing some canvasing for interest right now and trying to find which of a handful of premises there's enough interest in for a full game. I have every intention of running all of them if interest is there, but I also want it to be known that this game would consist largely of the players interacting and debating with each other and me checking in to comment where needed, and one "plot-line post" every 24 hours to provide results of previous actions the characters took as well as the situation that follows and allows PC interference.

Of course, I'm open to advice and requests, so if anyone would want to play this under a different format then we can see what the interest is.
 
romamaro said:
Oooh, sign me right up! Are you cool with us filling out the form right now, or are you wanting us to wait?
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I would even prefer if you start filling info out now so that I can help with questions and pointers as there are certain 'vibes' I'm going for with things like "How did you die?" that might need to be tweaked before the game starts. Now that we have two people in 6 days after the original post it's looking pretty good for being able to start the game up sometime soon (waiting for a minimum of 3 players), and after the game starts I can run it as long as at least 1 person is still playing since the metaplot does not require the PCs to reach it's conclusion, but rather the PCs can alter the path of the plot to reach a different end.

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if talking about character creation on this thread is acceptable or if I need to start up an OOC and IC thread for the game now or what, so for those more experienced please be gentle and tips are appreciated!
 
Cisera said:
I'm up for either Meddler or Tormentor.
I'll try to get a character sheet up soon!
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Don't forget that those are merely suggestions. Archetypes to give you some inspiration. Feel free to break out of that mold as time goes on! The reason that they're on the character sheet is so the other players know how you've acted in the past, and if you're a Tormentor and they're a Savior then they know to keep a wary eye on you!
 
And Janni makes three. Once everyone has made their characters and posted them in this thread then I'll make an IC thread and we can get started! The game is designed for more people to be able to join in at any time with the simple explanation that after seeing a dozen-or-so people killed in this house they've either given up on saving them or the entertainment value has worn off (or both), so they didn't bother paying any attention to this new girl until now. Players can mess with Sarah, comment on her life, or just make conversation with the other ghosts; this RP has few limitations on how you spend your time and the plot will keep going with or without you, so do whatever feels natural for your character and have fun!

I'll be here for any questions you have on the game or character creation, and I'm especially active during daylight hours on weekdays. If I don't get back to you right away then it's probably because I haven't rigged my settings right, as I'm trying to get important things set to send me email notifications.
 
Name: Katherine Adib (Kate)
Apparent Age: 14
Dress and appearance: Kate is an older looking girl, looking around sixteen to a random observer, though she does still act like she’s fourteen. She is 5’6” tall, though with her injury there's a good few inches off her, and has a skinny body. She stands in a sort of tiny, meek way, usually hugging her body close to herself and hunching a little, which takes even more off her height. She is mixed race, with an Egyptian father and an English mother, which can be seen quite clearly through her skin tone, which is a little more of a brown colour than a black one. She has a large, stout nose with large nostrils, thick full lips and large dark brown eyes. She has a very round face. She wears aviator-style glasses with gold-yellow frames. She is wearing a modest ensemble, consisting of a knee-length pumpkin colour skirt and a dull, oversized, turtleneck mustard jumper. She’s also wearing a gold necklace with a cross.
Kate has one, main injury. There is a large slice across her face, from the left side of her jaw to the right corner of her forehead, slicing her lips, nose, right eye and right eyebrow. It’s a very deep cut that has broken her right glasses lens, but it doesn’t matter too much considering she’s blind in that eye. Because of this injury, most of her face under the wound and some of her chest is covered in blood. Her back is all bruised up and noticeably crooked. Her hands are all scraped up.

Short back story: Kate was always a promising student, not in Maths or English, but in Music, Drama, Dance, and Musical Theatre. Any role that she went for, she would get. She could sing with such a beautiful low voice that she got many solos in her local choir. She seemed to have endless stamina for her favourite things. She played guitar and bass guitar. When it came to her other school subjects, however, she could fall behind quite dangerously, to the point of failing. Her father got promoted, which meant the family could buy a larger house, which ended up being her death scene.

Cause of Death: In the drive up to the house, Kate’s guitar got bumped around. So, Kate went away to another room to tune it up. She just couldn’t get it right. Out of frustration, she tightened one of the strings right up. The string snapped. Her face was so close, and the string was so fast, that is sliced right across her face. If that wasn’t enough, she fell backwards and hit her back and neck in such away that it crooked greatly and nearly paralysed her. She was left alive, but only for long enough to drag herself out of the room, searching for her mother, father, or sister, but finding none of them. She died on 10th April, 2010.

Post-death Views: This depends. Kate sees herself as a lonely person, with nobody around sharing the same interests as she does. So, if someone came along who had a passion for one of her hobbies, she would actively try to hurry up their deaths so that she won't be so lonely in the house. If they had no opinion on music or drama, she will be more of a meddler with no real inkling to either side.


Can the ghosts appear to the living people? Also, are there other NPC ghosts in the house apart from our characters?
 
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Backstory: I just realized while reading this that I never said where the house is, lol. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be in Exmouth, England, so we'll go with that. Her death would be a little more severe than that, but the only change that would be made to make it fit is that none of that knocked her out and, crippled from damage to her spinal cord, she crawled across the floor while calling for help in an empty house with no one to come save her. Like you already guessed, this would mess up the posture of her ghost, but not actually cripple her.

Post-death Views: with the residents that have come before Sarah, this would have been a mixed bag. Some of them would have had such leanings while others wouldn't, but everytime you've tried to save someone they've either moved out or ended up dead with you having to face their ghost. At this point would you be trying to prevent deaths, or just get them to leave the house?

What decade did she die in?

Ghosts cannot be seen by living people. In fact, being caught in the gaze of a living person renders you powerless, which is why you can't knock something over while someone is looking in it's direction. Even possessing people has to be done by walking into their body from behind (and only lasts long enough to push their thoughts towards making a specific decision). I'm not planning on there being any NPC ghosts since I don't want to push the plot one way or another. Instead, all NPCs will be the living: Sarah and anyone coming over to visit her.

As a note, I usually end up using second person pronouns when talking about your characters, which I just realized I already did on-and-off during the previous paragraphs :p. Let me know if this (or anything else) bothers you as I'm always willing to accommodate when reasonable.
 
Okay, I edited and juggled some stuff around. Not much changed in the backstory/cause of death (apart from your recommendations, thank you for that :D) but major important change in the Post-Death Views. She died in 2010, so 21st Century.

And got it, thanks!
 
Jannistory19 said:
Yo yo! So, does a person have to legitimately take the residence for them to be affected by the horrible curse of the house?
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It's a really nice two story house, so if you were thinking of a squatter it'd be unlikely. Deaths also only happen to people who have lived in the house for a while, guests and realtors seem immune (though some deaths are caused by guests or strangers). This kind of limits options, but if you were an extended house-guest then you might have ended up dying before the homeowner somehow. What was your idea?
 
So once everyone has their characters whipped up and we get started, this is the format that I'm going to try for: every 24hrs at the same time (likely 3pm PST) I'll put a new post up to advance the plot and will often end with Sarah being faced with a decision to make. Players have 24hrs to react to everything that happened, talk amongst themselves, and interfere by either moving objects that aren't being observed or possessing an NPC to push them to make a specific decision. If anyone has any questions about how something looks or the way an NPC said something then I'll answer, but otherwise I'll wait until the next day to put in another post. The beginning of each post will start with the result of the ghosts (in)actions, then move the plot along to the next point, eventually ending up in Sarah's horrible, violent death, with her moving out, or one of the hidden endings.

If multiple ghosts possess the same person then either a result combining the decisions they tried to make the NPC take ("Go eat ice cream!" "No, go eat pizza!" Goes to eat pizza and ice cream, or possibly desert pizza) or a coin flip will decide which ghost wins out. In the case of a 2v1 situation, majority rules.

I'll pause the game on request if someone is going on honeymoon or something, but otherwise I will only stop if 72hrs go by with no player posting, at which point the game will be put on hiatus or canceled. I'm totally fine with this game being carried by one player and everyone else either disappearing or turning into a peanut gallery, so if you're a dedicated player who's dreading another half-finished game, don't worry about it as long as you keep posting.
 
Oh sorry for the late reply.

My idea was that my character was a street dweller, but had managed to enter the house while it was in the middle of the rebuilding (due to some part of the house being broken) or cleaning process (due to someone's death).... I figured they would live there for a while, and would end up dying inside the house after the period of time...
 
Jannistory19 said:
Oh sorry for the late reply.

My idea was that my character was a street dweller, but had managed to enter the house while it was in the middle of the rebuilding (due to some part of the house being broken) or cleaning process (due to someone's death).... I figured they would live there for a while, and would end up dying inside the house after the period of time...
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The house is in a very nice, quiet area of town, so it's the kind of place that homeless people are shoo'ed out of by the police. If your character was in their teens then I could possibly see it as they ran away and were hiding in the house during the night and avoiding getting found during the day, but otherwise I don't see it being possible that you would have resided in the house long enough for the "curse" to take effect.

Actually, I just had another thought. If you WERE one of the people doing the repairs, but didn't have a home to go back to, then you might have been secretly sleeping in the house while restorations were being done.
 
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