GHOULLANCERS

GHOULLANCERS

There is a different world superimposed on our realm: the realm of spirits. The places where these two worlds are intersecting are often called ley lines by Mortal Scholars. These lines are where the ghosts from beyond may enter the world. These lines are what cause weather patterns in plasma, the aethereal substance generated by mortal minds. As the plasm flows, spirits may roam freely. But sometimes, this flow is jammed.

This is why the Phantom Bureau is commissioning haunters to go into the known unknown of the mortal realms, and figure out the cause of these blockages, and perform... maintenance. It mostly consists of scaring mortals, but sometimes, these Ghoullancers are tasked with locating and freeing trapped spirits, help out semi-sentient genius loci or remove wards placed by spellcasters.

Your team's Boo-reaucrat has assigned you to the bustling metropolis of Darkfair-upon-Slaime and its many nearby villages, ruins, and druidic sites. This town has a SEVERE blockage. Careful now, you don't want it to pop at once.

Explore the area. Find the source of this clog. Uncover if there is a conspiracy afoot, or if the place just needs a bit of a shake up. Boo.

Tone: Probably black comedy with the backgrounds of several characters, but more halloweeny funtimes style, rather then really dark ones.

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: What is your ghost called? Do you go by your Normal Human Name or do you have a ghostly spseudonym?
Ghost Look: How do you look like? See below for Aesthetic Ghost Examples Of This Setting.
Ghost Class: What is your spirit class? See below for the six basic spirit classes.
Ghost Title: Sure, the Bureau might have assessed you and assigned you a class, but what are you REALLY?
Ghost Description: We now know WHAT are you, but WHO are you?
Ghost Track Record: A mission you have shared someone on the team in the past. Can be filled out later, as more signups happen, and you can write up as many as you want.
Ghost Powers: The background spectral energy level is so high, that every ghost is capable of very faintly appearing in the mortal realm, and to likewise faintly, whisper. But you also get three powersets of your choice.

A powerset is just a single word or phrase, but if you want to, you may describe in detail what you can do with each if the ambient power level is LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH. Example powerset inclue Manifestation, Fire, Sounds, Dreams, Electricity, Doge.

Spirit classes:

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Sprites: Yellowish, impish spirits. Tends to be more mischevious and prankish.
Griever: Blue, teardrop or blob. Tends to have overwhelming emotions and sounds.
Hunter: Red, jagged. Tends to cause storms, and fixate on chasing.
Jealous: Green, blocky. Tends to corrups one area with, ice, plants or various fluids.
Trickster: Peach, segmented. Tends to do unusual things: create a fake mortal body, plant ideas in minds.
Horror: Purple, dark, huge. Tends to shock more folks at once, or decrease their willpower directly.

Example ghosts, for the aesthetic:

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Mechanics: I don't aim this to be mechanic heavy, more of a narrative puzzle game, but I have a few things in mind

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SpoilerInitially, the ambient power levels of the haunting are LOW, so only minor powers can be used. A spark here and there, a TV starts singing, a moan in the distance... These rise in intensity as the levels raise to MEDIUM or HIGH. Scaring people away or doing objectives will increase these levels.

You can declare one power use continuous, and it lasts until you cancel it. You can use other non continuous powers while using a continuous one. For example, you can cause a mighty storm, and then make a sneezing sound echo through the house.

How scared, confused or believer a person is won't be based on a precise mathematical scale. Instead, everyone has a colleciton of stats like "NERD" or "JOCK", and if we all agree they were sufficiently spooked, I'll damage one of their stats, or add them a stat that denotes confusion or increased belief, and eventually, they will run away, or become paranoid and snap. It's okay, they will be fine after sleeping on it.

People might recover these stats if you leave them alone for a long time, but the power level of the haunting will not drop, barring special magic or devices.

If you are banished by spells, wards, or shoddy experimental technology, do not worry, you are fine, just need a bit of time to regather your plasm. You can still talk with your team through spook radio, explore the city, or whatever you want. Banishment is rare, but one should always consider it as a possibility.

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: "Saundid"
Ghost Look: Sharp, pointed ears and triangular holes for eyes. Jagged mouth. The places on her torso which are segmented each have arms at the side.
https://imgur.com/a/g4IFpgy
Ghost Class: Trickster.
Ghost Title: "The Unearthly"
Ghost Description: "Saundid" is a music nerd, and takes every opportunity to make a terrible pun.
Ghost Track Record: Has previously scared a family out of their house with 2 others.
Ghost Powers: Visuals (can affect the target's sight and make illusions), Levitation (can make objects/people levitate), Manifestation.

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: Lady Maud-Lynne Sullivan III, Lady Sullivan, "...or just Maud, frankly. Not like that tarnished title means anything to anyone anymore."
Ghost Look: Round and lanky, with a lumpy cluster for a head. Vaguely reminiscent of a human silhouette made of dribbling candle wax. Seems perpetually stooped forward, slouching to one side or another, or melodramatically flopped or dragging around the environment. Virtually incapable of standing upright. "I was beautiful once, did you know? But I suppose this unsightly aspect is only fitting."
Ghost Class: Griever
Ghost Title: "Old Weepy"
Ghost Description: The last and most unfortunate Lady Sullivan, in the famously unfortunate Sullivan family line. Is convinced she can't even be a spooky ghost right. "Funny, isn't it? Even when granted supernatural powers in the afterlife, I'm still only good for making other people sad or embarrassed to be around me. Even the cosmos loves to lark about, at my expense."
Ghost Track Record: A lackluster haunt that was largely carried by other more competent spirits. She was noted as needing some coaching for how to better use her powers. "They were clearly only saying it to console me. Sweet of them, but even sweet lies are lies just the same."
Ghost Powers:
◦ Weight: Makes objects, people, and even the air itself heavier and more burdensome. Ranges from making a feather fall with unusual speed, making air or water feel heavy and soupy, or making something nigh-immobile.
◦ Shame: Quietly complains about her lot in life to someone. Instead of hearing her, this manifests as audible reminders of the person's most guilty, shameful, embarrassing, or disappointing moments. Usually cloaked as some environmental sound like a crackly radio advert, unless things have gotten Real Spooky.
◦ Lament: Starts sobbing uncontrollably, filling the area with manifestations of saltwater.

GHOST NAME: Sir Flopsy Nufflebuttons the Fifth
GHOST LOOK: Eyes in its bunny ears, big whiskers, big feets, and a lil crooked cane. Has no midsection.
GHOST CLASS: Sprite
GHOST TITLE: The Lord du Lapin
GHOST DESCRIPTION:
GHOST TRACK RECORD:
GHOST POWERS:
-Luck
-Rodents
-Acceleration

A bit of a clarification: the low,medium,high aspects are meant to be within powersets. The ranges you have set for your weight powers are perfect examples of the three tiers though!

I love the quotes and flavours...

[Incoming.]

This looks super fun, but I'm really busy right now

Hey Sunspider! I did a small animation of Maud. Sorry if I got the details wrong, though. https://imgur.com/a/8RgEaS3

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: Willie Watts
Ghost Look: Jagged, zappy-looking, with lots of big spines, constantly changing shape and form. Colour varies from white to blue to yellow to red.
Ghost Class: Sprite
Ghost Title: "Shockspook"
Ghost Description: Willie can't remember much about their mortal selves. Maybe they liked kites, or model railways or maybe sticking knives into sockets, who knows? All they remember is getting the shock of their lives (and their death, incidentally). Their memories were gone, but their playful personality remains. Loves goofing off so much that they have a hard time possessing things long-term without giving their ghostly nature away.
Ghost Track Record: Pretended to be a talking car once. Managed to get a role in a movie until he drove the producers off the set and left them in Arizona.
Ghost Powers:
Surge - Moves via electrical currents/fields. Movement speed and distance rely on stored charge and presence of a current to 'hop' onto.
Condenser - can 'eat' electricity to power up, or store and discharge it late. Can regulate its strength from small zaps to actual electrocution, depending on stored charges and how it's applied
Gremlin - Possesses electrical devices/components. Can only control the electrical parts, though that often grants indirect control over other things, such as a modern car's radio, ignition, steering and other controls. Can affect either a number of small things attached to each other (eg; a clusterbot) or one large device (eg; a supercomputer).

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: Matchstick
Ghost Look: Big, Buff, and very angry looking

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Ghost Class: Hunter
Ghost Title: "Not This Bastard Again"
Ghost Description: Probably one of the most insufferable ghosts to ever exist. Their Favourite past time is setting beloved things on fire and being a huge ass. Legend says the reason why they cant speak is because God took their voice away when they called God smelly.
Ghost Track Record: Set an alarming amount of clowns on fire once.
Ghost Powers: Anger- Can make mortals in a surrounding area more frustrated and irrational, and increases the chance of arguments and fighting.
Sounds- Capable of producing faint sounds that can be heard by mortals. Best example being a sick ass guitar riff In the distance.
Pyromancy- Can create little sparks to light small things (candles, fuses), to making objects and people burst into dramatic flames. This is incredibly tasking though.

Myeth I think this is the best ghost so far, congratulations

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: Gaspar
Ghost Look: It looks like an engorged, pulsating organ, cloven up the side and torn in the center. From within the gaping wound stares a single, eye-like pinhole of light, surrounded with what may be rings upon rings of grinding teeth. A crest of rubbery tubes juts from the top.
Ghost Class: Horror.
Ghost Title: "Repulsor In The Dark" is its stage name and work alias. It goes by Gaspar most other times, though folks tend to call it "Gasbag" to get a rise out of it.
Ghost Description: Despite its reputation as a moody loner, Gaspar is actually rather soft-spoken and sociable. A little snooty, it fancies itself a true thespian. Thus, it is prone to bouts of theatrics and speaks in purple prose while on the job. A wealthy connoisseur in life, Gaspar is easily distracted by mortal food, which it can still just barely taste.
Ghost Track Record: Best known for "The Toil of '24", wherein Gaspar inflicted such a widespread case of the vapors that a troupe of thirty actors had to be admitted into the nearest asylum. It humble-brags about it to this very day.
Ghost Powers:
• Area Distortion & Sonic Disturbance: Gaspar can alter space in order to twist a room's dimensions and create audible sound. It uses these powers in conjunction to create the following effect. Gaspar takes great pride in its unique routine, but has come to rely on it a little too much recently. Somewhat of a one-trick-pony, it has trouble with flexibility.
• "The Lung": Gaspar's signature move. It can influence the shape of a room, causing the walls to expand and contract rhythmically, as if the room were one gigantic "lung". It breathes loudly and heavily during this display for maximum effect. Gaspar has to occupy the room for this to work, and rooms larger than an especially spacious living room give it trouble.
• "The Quickening": An extension of powers exhibited during "The Lung". Gaspar accelerates the room's "breathing" and emits a deep, gurgling moan that drones without end. Gaspar claims to do this on purpose, but it's actually an embarassing exertion noise.
• "Finale": Gaspar's finishing move. If Gaspar releases his influence quickly enough, it can cause "breathing" walls to snap back to normal, creating a deafening boom and causing paint and wallpaper to crack and tear, leaving the room in tatters. This is one of those "jumpscares" its acting coach keeps mentioning.

"All shall tremble in their pallid flesh, wracked with terror as I descend upon them... I, the umbral, the tenebrous, the utterly sickening Repulsor In The Dark!!!
...
What? Too wordy? Oh... Well, can I at least laugh at the end? Laughing is considered gauche now!? Gosh, the world sure is changing!"

Its not full yet, as I don't do first come first serve, I'll pick carefully from the aps. Aiming for six I think, in the end.
Also for a second I thought the Waddlers in Myeth's signature were part of the ghost and I was terrified.

Don't tempt me

Paperhelmet, I see you have only two powersets, but I also see this is integral to the beautiful character concept and has many possible combinations, so it is fine by me.

Hurray!

Maybe Gaspar will discover a third ability some day.

Ghost Name: Boo-Boo Fluffershins

Ghost Look: A slightly overweight tabby, with mackerel markings and no tail. In daylight, Boo-Boo Fluffershins looks like a perfectly ordinary cat. In nighttime, Fluffershins turns into the horrific visage of THE DARKFAIR BEAST, an enormous felid skeleton with baleful red eyes and a penchant for zoomies.

Ghost Class: Trickster.

Ghost Title: again, THE DARKFAIR BEAST.

Ghost Description: Boo-Boo Fluffershins was an affectionate cat, if slow on the uptake. A living antithesis to the “mean cat” stereotype. Boo-Boo Fluffershins was adopted by a loving family with kids from an animal shelter. Boo-Boo Fluffershins was named as such by foster-care. Goth Dad hated it. Punk Dad thought it cute enough not to change. Goth Dad claimed to relent only because he loved Punk Dad.

Boo-Boo Fluffershins was a victim of a deliberate poisoning by strangers.

Boo-Boo Fluffershins is fine now.

Sorta!

Ghost Track Record: Unknown, Boo-Boo Fluffershins at least has the most things knocked over.

Ghost Powers:

Implant thoughts. Boo-Boo Fluffershins can implant compulsions in mortal minds as long as they are sensible in the realm of feline behavior: i.e. knocking things over, aversion to aluminum foil, running all over the house at 4 in the morning, et cetera.

Bap. Boo-Boo Fluffershins starts being her usual cat-self, leaving behind physical evidence that a cat exists SOMEWHERE. She can knock down objects, evoke the sense of chompy-teeth and grabby paws (usually on attackable extremities), meow at inappropriate moments, et cetera.

BEAST MODE. Boo-Boo Fluffershins can manifest aspects of THE DARKFAIR BEAST, further reinforcing belief in the supernatural. Boo-Boo Fluffershins can turn mildly skeletal or at most, manifest into an enormous felid skeleton with flaming eyes and poltergeist-levels of mayhem.

Ghost Name: Ivy. They totally forgot their name when they died and that was the first thing somebody called them and it stuck. Which like, it's a bit on the nose but, okay, I guess.
Ghost Look: A green kinda squareish pot, with a plant growing out of it with a few vinelike leaves, and a single large eyeball at the end of the stalk.
Ghost Class: Jealous
Ghost Title: The Gardener
Ghost Description: The details are missing but one thing is certain: FUCK the Home Owner's Association. Oh, sure, I can't grow my plants the way I want but your perfectly cared for garden doesn't break any rules, because of its location at the edge of the neighbourhood or whatever you're making up today. Ivy's mellowed out a bit since then after having taken care of some unfinished business and is now just happy to use their powers to shape their dream gardens however - and wherever - they want.
Ghost Track Record: y'know the home owner's association was causing problems for a lot of people it turns out, and the official mission records will corroborate that this task was a necessary and important one, and there is nothing suspicious about that.
Ghost Powers:
- Botanokinesis. From a single sprout plants can be made to grow astonishingly fast, in whatever direction Ivy wants.
- Mutation. And y'know, these plants don't have to necessarily look much like what they started like. Even some objects like processed wood can be changed to be capable of growth again. And sometimes... well, let's not worry about that. Is that a bit of green in your hair?
- Obsession. Look at all this drab gray concrete and unnatural architecture. Not a lick of green in sight. Ivy can't always be around to take care of their work. Luckily there are plenty of people whose priorities can be influenced to care a bit more than they otherwise would.

GHOST FORM

Ghost Name: "Wolf" or "Big Sibling."
Ghost Look: A geometric looking segmented wolf. It's body looks mechanical and robotic. A small round pocket watch follows it around.
Ghost Class: Trickster
Ghost Title: That which that ticks in the darkness
Ghost Description: Wolf is often very confused of itself. It vividly remembers being a simple animal, but knows way too much of anything to be a ghost of a dead animal. It also has a tendency to tick loudly.
Ghost Track Record: Have doing been home and business renovations since 2013.
Ghost Powers:
Gaslight - Wolf rearranges the furniture in the room. Turn lights and devices on or off, open and close doors and curtains, change time on clocks, and move items in and out rooms and containers.
Know - Wolf implants knowledge into a victim, like suddenly knowing how to play a guitar in the sight of one, where an object that was moved should have been, and how a criminal did a crime without ever being there. The knowledge given can either be true or false.
Time - Wolf can confuse the sense of time of an individual, making one think its dawn when it's really midnight, or take a midnight snack at noon, or arrive unfashionably early or late.

Ghost Name: Nobody's sure. Introduces itself with the sign for 'Hand'.
Ghost Look: Two huge, disembodied purple hands that crawl around on their fingertips. Some sort of ooze leaks out of the severed wrists, and strangely-shaped bones jut out at odd angles. Can condense itself into one larger hand, which is usually it's preferred form.
Ghost Class: Horror
Ghost Title: The Hand. A.k.a. Left and Right.
Ghost Description: The Hand(s) are a bit of a silent type, only communicating with others via signed language, though thankfully their ghostly form has made it easier to understand. The two hands are said to be two individual souls, who were so close that they became the same ghost when they died. Originally mute, Left usually doesn't talk very much and spends most of it's time absorbed into Right, who is said to be a former celebrity, and is the 'talker' of the two.
Ghost Track Record: Has taken Boo-Boo Fluffershins on many missions, usually coercing her with pets, and one time lifting her around a house to haunt the residents. Frequently haunts more famous people, if they can.
Ghost Powers:
Multiplicity: Left and Right are inseparable, but they can work well enough on their own. They can merge into one giant hand, split into two big hands, or even split into two hands each. They could potentially keep going, but it's rather draining.
Sign Language: By signing out words The Hand can cause those words to appear on walls, in books, or on any other surface really. These words can appear in blood, glowing lights, any sort of format, but more complex sentences require high spirit energy.
Heavyweight: The Hand can materialize in the world very easily, and when become corporeal they have immense strength and can break through many solid materials.

I made two cuz I couldn't decide

Ghost Name: Untitled #1

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Ghost Look: Green cubist sculpture of a person
Ghost Class: Jealous
Ghost Title: "The Artiste"
Ghost Description: Untitled #1 is a bit foggy on how exactly he died, or who he was before, but he's certain that it was a suitably tragic death for a great artist and that all his paintings are worth even more now. Having made his name in life, he now rests on his laurels in a more advisory fashion, casting judgment over all works that pass under his gaze.
Ghost Track Record: Has ruined more than one final project of a student foolish enough to pull an all-nighter in the hallowed halls of the sculpture wing.
Ghost Powers:
Draw: Pulling on people's interest, sucking them in, rooting them to the spot.
Art: Distortion of art in the vicinity. The painting's eyes watch you, but at least it hasn't made a grab for you yet.
Fake: Things are not what they appear to be.

Ghost Name: Rosa Rosa

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Ghost Look: Dark purple brambles and wrought iron in a mass
Ghost Class: Horror
Ghost Title: "Midnight in the Garden"
Ghost Description: Once there was a man of noble birth, and in the back gardens of his estate he made a wonderful maze, of twisting pathways and lush, blooming roses, and in it he played the strangest games.
They never bothered to dig up all the bodies. Not with those terrible brambles covering everything, growing back the next day over ground you were sure you'd cleared the last night.
Ghost Track Record: Provides the perfect arena for Hunters to stalk their prey.
Ghost Powers:
Green: Vegetation is overgrown, yet dilapidated, resembling fingers, catching on your clothing, thorns on your skin, vines tripping your feet, wrapping around your limbs.
Maze: You've lost your place, or maybe doors just don't lead where they should. Was there a wall here before?
Corpse: Something doesn't smell right. Something is waiting to be found.

You earn so many points for having heard of Ghost Master. Love that game

Yes... I have played that game once a year for the last 14 years...

It will be only 0.5 dollars on steam during the halloween sale, so watch out! But for some reason it won't run on everyone's computers.

Also so many applications... oh dear...

Quick question, if you don’t mind me asking: how are you going to determine who’s going to get in?

Much pondering about the apps, and seeing which ones impress me the most.