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Re: [DL] my group the update

What about giving the ghosts chips for the sole (pun intended) purpose of negating party chips.  Start with a white chip for every 3-5 and have it go up from there.
 
Carl Smith

"David L. Hoff" <dlhoff1@charter.net> wrote:
Justin Baldwin wrote:

> i've done that. I was actually kind of fun. Everytime one of the
> players missed a roll or did something dumb there was a ghost yelling
> "You suck!"
>

Although that sounds funny, I think a more serious tone may be necessary
for the group. Rather than a whole bunch of ghosts, just use one. Make
it be someone whose death was truly unjustified. Start off slow. At
random points during an adventure, have the party members roll
cognition, but unless they go bust, tell them they feel like they are
being watched. Searching will find nothing. Later, at night, have
whoever is on watch see something out of the corner of his eye. When he
turns his head, it is gone. During the next watch, that person actually
gets a glimpse of a man (or woman, depends on the NPC you chose)
watching from the edge of the firelight. But if they make any moves
towards the figure, it backs away from the light, and when they reach
the spot where the figure was standing, there is no trace of them, not
even footprints. During this same time, have one of the players have a
nightmare where they relive the scene where the NPC was killed. In the
dream, just as the NPC is supposed to die, the player finds himself in
the NPC's body. Describe in detail the feeling of being shot, the
intense pain, followed by the numbness, and then the cold feeling as
their blood and life spills out on the ground... They should wake up
screaming, and feeling unnaturally cold.

Let a day or two go by without any more ghost problems. (Keep in mind,
that this should all be going on during some other adventure, so
whatever stuff would happen in that adventure still goes on as planned.)
After waiting a day or two, start up with the feeling like they are been
watched again. This time, wait for one of the characters to be looking
at something reflective; a pool of water, a shaving mirror, a storefront
window. In the reflection, besides seeing themselves, they see the NPC
standing behind them. If the NPC was someone who would have a weapon,
then in the reflection, the NPC is aiming the weapon at them. If the NPC
wouldn't normally have a gun, then in the reflection, they are reaching
up as if they are going to strangle the character. When the character
spins around, there is nothing there.

Keep this pattern going for a while, where first they feel like they are
being watched, then the apparition appears. Make it happen more and more
often, until the whole party feels like they are constantly being
watched, sleeping only brings nightmares, people skip shaving in the
morning so they don't have to look in a mirror, etc. The key is to not
simply give their characters Night Terrors, or a Phobia of mirrors, but
to actually *describe* things well enough so that the *players* get
freaked out. Don't get me wrong, you should still hand out the
hindrances as you see fit, but you want to make the players "feel" the
hindrance, instead of having it just be another piece of information on
their character sheet and a TN penalty that needs to be factored in.

For example, lets say a character gets a Phobia of mirrors. Instead of
saying to them something like "There is a mirror on the wall of the
saloon, so Fred, you have a -2 penalty for this scene", say to Fred "As
you walk into the saloon with the others, you nervously scan the walls,
hoping that there won't be one in here... but as your gaze moves over to
where the piano player is sitting, a cold shiver runs down your spine.
There on the wall, above the piano, is a mirror. It's cold, silvery
surface makes you feel uneasy; afraid that *he* might be in there,
watching you. Regardless of what else is going on in the saloon, you
keep glancing towards the mirror, afraid to let it out of your sight for
too long... "

Hopefully, after a while of this, your players will "get it", and try
and make up for what they did. Maybe the Indian can have his Guardian
Spirit come to him in a dream and explain how the tortured spirit of the
NPC can be laid to rest, but only if the characters change their ways.
But if your players are stubborn and keep doing the same sort of bad
stuff, then I have no idea what you can do other than to just stop the
game and have a long talk with your players about what they are doing.

I hope this helps.

--David


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