DFRPG Ghosts:Main Page

Notes from Beyond the Grave

This is an expansion of the existing material on Ghosts for the Dresden Files Roleplaying Game, though little of the material is system-specific, or even terribly setting-specific. I've indexed the write-up here so as to break it up for easier reading. The original thread and write-up is located here.

Some or all of this material may be or become contrary to DF canon and the intentions of the author, especially once the next book in the series (#13 - Ghost Story) is released. Given the likely subject matter, that event may provoke an expansion or revision, if the direction the story takes seems relevant and useful.

Goals

I wrote this because a character that I'm making is a Sorcerer whose abilities center on ghosts. The Dresden Files setting takes a bit of a "not really people, or even very good copies" approach to ghosts, and I thought that they'd make more interesting characters to interact with if they were, well, more complete as characters. I can also envision people wanting to play ghost PCs, and the usual variety in the setting don't really seem suitable.

Another goal was to reject the idea that the presence of ghosts is automatically bad or wrong or their existence necessarily undesirable. Ghosts can be seen simply as examples of the perfectly natural human spirit of self-preservation, and beings who shouldn't be faulted for succeeding at what almost every human wishes for the majority of their life: remaining among the living. Ghosts may be "supernatural", but lots of things in the DF are. It seems disingenuous to say they are "unnatural" since they arise quite naturally in the setting. Existence may be difficult, sad, or tragic for ghosts, but it may be all of those things for the living, too. Just as characters in the Dresden Files learn to co-exist with Faeries, Spirits, and even (barely) Vampires, they can learn to do so with ghosts.

Lore of the Dead

• Echoes and Phantoms - Probably the most relevant page for players
• Revenants - Ghosts that occupy a physical body (not through Necromancy)
• Apparitions - The ghosts of inanimate stuff
• The Barathrum - A fictional neighborhood intended for use with the above material
• Eventually, I hope to have more specific material, such as example ghosts and, of course, templates.

Inspiration

Inspiration for this came from a number of sources over the years. Among the ghost-related films and stories are The Sixth Sense, Beetlejuice, The Crow, The Ring, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and even Ghostbusters. Not to mention various anthologies of ghost tales and alleged hauntings checked out from the library and on the net. In the Urban Fantasy genre, Mike Carey's Felix Castor series is a good read (Felix is a bit like Harry, except he's an Exorcist rather than a Wizard Detective). Internet "creepypasta" memes and ARG sites such as the Slender Man and the Dionaea House contribute to my preference for atmospheric hauntings over "jump scares", though are not specifically reflected in this material. And, of course, one could hardly ignore RPG influences, both in the genre and next door to it. The most relevant would probably be White Wolf's Wraith: The Oblivion, Geist, Mummy, Exalted (Abyssal material), and some Darkling material from Changeling: the Lost.

-- Dyne