Ghost and Faerie Non-Combat Encounter Ideas?

[narcissus]

I'm running a campaign in England where the players are treasure hunting for original Arthurian artifacts. One of the artifacts (his helm - Goshwit) is said to be buried with Arthur, so I feel like a tomb dungeon crawl with ghosts would be appropriate. However, I just don't really know how to handle ghosts/entities as a GM. I've never really considered them challenging foes if the group has magic/magic weapons, and they don't really do anything other than telekinetically throw rocks. So a combat encounter isn't really ideal. If anyone has any ideas as to how to integrate ghosts into the tomb of King Arthur to make for a good non-combat session, I'd love to hear it. Also consider that there are only 2 players in this campaign, so because of that I've allowed some munchkinism - both are Atlantean Demigods, children of Zeus, so have pretty high saving throws and magic/combat abilities.

On a related note, I'd love to throw in a faerie encounter or two (given the populations documented in WB3, Ireland has a non-faerie population of 43,000 and a faerie population of almost 3 million), but again, I don't really know what to do here. Faeries don't really lend themselves to combat encounters either, because a few are no challenge, but a "normal" sized group will just faerie dance any opponents to death.

Any suggestions on either of these fronts would be greatly appreciated.

[Incriptus]

I once had a non-combat encounter with faeries. The faeries had the information that the PC's were after, however they would only share the information if they would join them for a drink. This lead to the infamous "Dog Burgundy" incident. One of the players was a feral dog boy and he had the Burgundy Wine. So while it wasn't a combat encounter it was one of the most "fun" moments of the game [especially for the girl who drank the bubbly wine].

Of course this is easy to extrapolate to your current scenario, with the faeries knowing the location of the tomb [or if that part is already done, a means of bypassing some defense]. . . It's also worth noting that the Faerie food doesn't list a saving throw, while a reasonable person may assume a save vs magic, another reasonable [spiteful] person could assume there is no save

[Axelmania]

The trick to fairies is to enslave them individually as a summoner/shifter because they can't dimensionally teleport all over the place to cause hijinx.

The don't regrow lost limbs so you can threaten to cut off their wings for magic components if they don't obey. Worth 40,000 in sale. (why exactly do you need to kill them before plucking anyway?)

Force them to make Mushroom Tonic to shrink people to 6 inches. Then you sell it (and the service of your beautiful faerie) to your customer for the next hour. Charm and Love Charm will make customers very happy! Pg 120 Silver Bells are cutest!

No need for a bunch of rooms for your brothel, all you need is a shoebox (pg 125-7 Sprites more compact than winged fairies, only 4 inches! more space efficient brothels)

Level-based minion limits? Don't worry about it. Just attach an exploding bomb collar around the pixie's neck. They'll obey or die, and you'll use their death PPE (RCB115 still hundreds!) to summon a dozen more.

Problem is we don't have rules on how faeries create their special foods. I want PPE cost and components and growth time and all that so I know how many Mushroom Tonics I can farm for my brothel customers.

Splugorth had good instincts with PPE batteries but you can't stop there you need to be creative.

Unlike a lot of monsters despiet being MDC they don't have supernatural PS so MDC bindings can keep them contained.

For long-term domination consider rewriting their personalities with Friend in the Head borrowed from Nightbane. cheaper than 'someone makes them' if a bit more random

[glitterboy2098]

the key to using ghosts is to create tension and ambience, without over over exposing them to the players. you can do a lot with footsteps coming from rooms they know nobody is in. with mysterious localized cold spots. with doors that open or close by them selves or items which move when they are not looking. remember too that the haunting entities that manifest viable forms take the appearance and actions of people and events that were around in the location.. with the cataclysm and rifts this can easily include things like a family dying of some natural disaster, someone being attacked by a monster (even better, you could have another haunting entity that took the image of the monster in that scene!) or just people going about their lives incongruously amid ruins.and don;t be afraid to use entities that can do things like possess NPC's or communicate telepathically (which can be a way to really spook player out, by having entities sending noises or messages only one person can hear. works best if you have good roleplayers.)

[narcissus]

Of course this is easy to extrapolate to your current scenario, with the faeries knowing the location of the tomb [or if that part is already done, a means of bypassing some defense]. . . It's also worth noting that the Faerie food doesn't list a saving throw, while a reasonable person may assume a save vs magic, another reasonable [spiteful] person could assume there is no save

This is good, thanks. However faerie food does list a save of 16, which is still pretty high. And it requires a save to be made with each morsel, so lots of room for failure unless the LLW decides to cast Invulnerability first. But even then, it's got a short duration and he'll run out of PPE before the meal is over. I'll make sure of it

the key to using ghosts is to create tension and ambience, without over over exposing them to the players. you can do a lot with footsteps coming from rooms they know nobody is in. with mysterious localized cold spots. with doors that open or close by them selves or items which move when they are not looking. remember too that the haunting entities that manifest viable forms take the appearance and actions of people and events that were around in the location.. with the cataclysm and rifts this can easily include things like a family dying of some natural disaster, someone being attacked by a monster (even better, you could have another haunting entity that took the image of the monster in that scene!) or just people going about their lives incongruously amid ruins.and don;t be afraid to use entities that can do things like possess NPC's or communicate telepathically (which can be a way to really spook player out, by having entities sending noises or messages only one person can hear. works best if you have good roleplayers.)

This is also really good, thanks. I'm still not sure what to do exactly, especially since I'm not such a great "tension and ambience" GM, but it definitely gives me something to work with.

[glitterboy2098]

if you were up to tension and stuff i'd suggest looking at films like the original haunting of hill house, or reading some 'real world' haunting tales for ideas.

but for a less tension focused options, perhaps look at Disney's Haunted Mansion rides. many of the effects used in it (phantom footsteps, moving doors, weird lights, floating objects, seeing ghosts, etc) are good fodder for inclusion, but are used in a way that isn't quite so scary, especially earlier on in the ride.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVd-xwxgJs

one of the nice things about entities is that haunting entities are tied to events, and if you can 'bring closure' to the events, the entitity will be freed from replaying things for awhile and move on. which can turn things into nice little mystery story as the players try to figure out based on clues (from observing/interacting with the ghosts, or by examining the environment, surviving papers, talking to locals, whatever) to figure out "what happened here" and then use that knowledge to appease the 'ghost'.

the big thing for ambience is to make sure that you have an appropriate environment for the encounters. run down houses, ruins, work better than brightly lit and well populated areas.

alternately, you could just pick a creepy location and have weird stuff happening while thep layers pass through, like how the Metro2033 used abandoned tunnels and various ghosts and anomalies to great effect in one of their levels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcNKq0JMGqo

[Axelmania]

I kind of want to know how genuine ghosts/spirits might coexist or interact with the entities who impersonate them based on empathic residue.

Apart from stuff like Ley Line Ghost, I don't really know rules on keeping them around, thus speculation like "treat them like astrally projecting indefinitely" I jump to for representing how reapers like Utu or lords of Dyval can interact with and guide/hijack them to various other dimensions

[SolCannibal]

I kind of want to know how genuine ghosts/spirits might coexist or interact with the entities who impersonate them based on empathic residue.

Well, how common are genuine ghosts in the Megaverse in the first place and how would characters differentiate one being from the other?

As an aside, on ghosts telekinetically throwing things, i'd like to point out that melee weapons might definitely count. And emotionally-charged objects or enchanted weapons might interact in most peculiar ways with entities, poltergeists and other such beings.


Also, speaking of fae and tombs, this is kind of relevant from a thematic point of view, i'd say. What if the faerie watch over their lord/lady's resting place, waiting for someone to take its place in breathless sleep? That could take any offerings of food in quite different directions, i guess.

[Blackwater Sniper]

Will-o'-the-wisps are good at pointing adventurers in the right (or wrong) direction.

[Axelmania]

how common are genuine ghosts in the Megaverse in the first place
and how would characters differentiate one being from the other?

I expect genuine ghosts would have intact memories while a Haunting Entity impersonating them might have more holes

I thought I remembered some in TTGD but I could be wrong...

Pg 129 Elisa's Revenant is described as "Think of it as an involuntarily created magic spell — an arrangement of P.P.E. given form by the strength of the woman's suppressed feelings." so that's more like "Living Magic" than a genuine ghost...

Pg 142 "Faith Hope and Mercy" seem to be similar... they just reform "some hours later" if killed so my guess is that Captain/Mary Warwicks' constant wishing provides the fuel for that.

Pg 146 there is a reincarnation-type thing going on with Devika (not quite as pretty as it is with Enligthened Immortals)

[SolCannibal]

how common are genuine ghosts in the Megaverse in the first place
and how would characters differentiate one being from the other?

I expect genuine ghosts would have intact memories while a Haunting Entity impersonating them might have more holes

Humanity is there to show how intact memories, effective communication and honesty - with oneself and others - can be quite sketchy concepts and quite the slippery slopes, if you don't mind me saying.

[Axelmania]

Humanity is there to show how intact memories, effective communication and honesty - with oneself and others - can be quite sketchy concepts and quite the slippery slopes, if you don't mind me saying.

True point... though maybe ghost-brains retain info better?

Or even if it retained it worse, maybe Haunting Entities are worse still?

It would be interesting if it was the other way around though: a Haunting Entity gets locked into repeating a memory of you dialing a phone, but you actually forgot that phone number.

A "Pattern Zombie" in dead reign might have a similar scenario.

[SolCannibal]

Humanity is there to show how intact memories, effective communication and honesty - with oneself and others - can be quite sketchy concepts and quite the slippery slopes, if you don't mind me saying.

True point... though maybe ghost-brains retain info better?

Or even if it retained it worse, maybe Haunting Entities are worse still?

It would be interesting if it was the other way around though: a Haunting Entity gets locked into repeating a memory of you dialing a phone, but you actually forgot that phone number.

A "Pattern Zombie" in dead reign might have a similar scenario.

The true matter is - how would investigators of the supernatural know the difference, if any?