Guides: Suko Toyofuku and Adam Kenney
Players: Heather, Marty, Megan, Sean, Michael, and Alan
System: Ghosts
Content warning: suicide
“Tonight the dead may seek to live again. But the night is short and the path back will not be easy. May I guide them skillfully as the Eagle, Crow, and Owl watch over them. Welcome to my campfire, Ghosts who seek life!”
You are a ghost wandering in limbo with little memory of your past life. You’ve been drawn to a mysterious campfire because you’re unhappy with the course that your life took. In order to reinvent yourself and return to life, you must first recall the life you lived and your past misfortune. With the help of the Guide and the other ghosts, you’ll forge relationships, make choices, and commit to a great sacrifice in order to create a better life before the Third Watch ends.
Ghosts is rules-light, atmospheric, and very introspective, with no pre-generated characters. You’ll co-create your character and develop the setting through in-game conversations and ritual prompts.
Experiences
Because of the procedural nature of the game (structure heavy, content light) each run of this will be VERY different. I played it years ago, and had an entirely different experience this time.
My first conversation was with Rumi. I remembered being from Gull’s Landing but not feeling at home there, like I was always trying to be someone that didn’t feel real to me. Still I longed to return to the smell of the sea. Rumi was from Finamen, a secluded place that welcomed people and a place he had been welcomed as well. Both of us unsure of our place.
My second conversation was with Fian, who’s fatal misfortune was being cast out, and my fatal misfortune had been disillusionment. I walked the land because I could never find a place that felt like home and I never knew what I needed, They walked because they had been cast out from their home and when help was offered, they would not accept it. Both of us wanderers.
My third conversation was was Xa, who had killed themselves after being tricked into believing they were worth nothing. i killed myself when I decided I would never find a purpose. Both of us lost.
We then went on three Watches, that of the Eagle, the Crow, and the Owl, each to receive their blessing.
On the Watch of the Eagle, I spoke with Rami and decided the virtue I would aspire to was Wisdom, to know a path forward. He aspired to Acceptance, to believe in the path he was on.
On the Watch of the Crow, I spoke with Xa and decided to learn the skill of the performer, and I made up a shadow puppet story of Captain Sorrow and the crew of the Bethesda as they were chased by the Kraken who hungered for the Captain’s blood after he had offered up his brother to the Kraken years before.
On the Watch of the Owl I met with Fian and decided I would give up my homeland, forever wandering. They elected to give up their family to create a community. I challenged that we use the word community too freely, which I realize came more from me than from Dar (my character).
When told what new misfortunes would befall us if we returned to the living, we each had to decide, if we would cross over the river of death into oblivion, return to life, or stay by the campfire and become guides for other lost souls. We chose. We departed. The game was over.
Thoughts on the game
I think ghosts is very much a game that gives back what you put into it. Each time I offered insight or opinion that I had manufactured as Dar, the ideas were at arms length. And each time I offered experiences that I had as Sean, they felt lived and personal. I tend to veer away from exposing my personal emotions in most games (as I did this time) but on occasion I dipped into the well of my own misfortunes, staring down at its depths and wondering if I had the courage to plunge into them.
