The game begins with a brief prologue in the world of the living. However, tragedy quickly strikes, leaving all of the characters dead. Rather than passing on directly to an afterlife, the characters eventually awaken as restless spirits, trying to make sense of the shadowy world around them. They may strive toward a well-deserved paradise or try to escape an unpleasant punishment, knowing that their chance to decide their own fates may soon slip away.
As restless spirits, characters are governed by a number of compulsions that they cannot ignore, and they retain a powerful core of memories that they may choose to conceal or to share with others. Three attributes provide measures of a character's status and may influence the use of certain abilities during the game. Certain characters may also possess useful items that boost attributes or enable new abilities. Players will need to work together or learn to manipulate others to bring them closer to their final transcendence.
Please note that the game designers are still developing these rules, so they are subject to change, possibly even during the course of the game if necessary for game balance. The rules as currently listed should provide an outline of what to expect, as well as a frame of reference during the game.
Compulsions affect the way a character behaves during the game. Some compulsions will influence one character's attitude toward another, while others will demand that specific actions be taken under the right circumstances. Though some compulsions may be gained or lost as play continues, a player must faithfully follow all compulsions that are currently in effect for his character.
Example: Bugs Bunny has the compulsion "You love carrots, and you will try to eat any carrots you encounter." Bugs must eat any carrot he finds, even one that he has seen poisoned by Yosemite Sam.
There are two primary attributes, fury and despair, that reflect a spirit's emotional energy, as well a mystery third attribute. Fury represents a spirit's anger and frustration over its untimely demise, as well as the drive to continue its life in the physical world. The despair attribute describes the spirit's feeling of loss and the hopeless longing for its previous life.
The primary attributes reflect the emotional energy that forms the core of the spirit, all that it has left after losing its physical form. The figure of a spirit with a high fury rating will seem to seethe in the storm of its emotions, while a high despair will present itself as a terrible depth and weight that hangs about the spirit. Both of these primary attributes have permanent and temporary ratings. The permanent ratings will be posted in plain view, while individual players will carry tokens representing their temporary points of fury, despair, and the mystery attribute. The expendable tokens measure the current amount of emotional energy available to the spirit to take special actions or to activate certain abilities, while the permanent rating acts as a cap on the number of tokens a spirit may have.
Characters may have a variety of different abilities available to them. Some may be continuous effects, while others may require the expenditure of fury or despair to trigger. There may even be a few abilities that may be taught or given to other characters. Refer to the specific ability's description for details.
Certain characters may bring items of special significance with them into the afterlife. A few items may even be acquired during the course of the game. These uncommon reminders of the physical world will often empower their bearers with unusual abilities, and some may function differently for different users. Spirits may trade items or forcibly seize them through conflict. The transfer of ownership may trigger special effects as well. Descriptions of all effects should be available with each item.
A player can initiate conflict with another character by exhibiting heightened anger (e.g., raising his voice and berating the victim). It costs a point of fury to initiate a conflict. After that, the players compare their permanent fury ratings, and the player with the higher score will win. Of course, players may spend tokens to raise their fury value for the conflict until they are either unable or unwilling to spend additional fury on the conflict.
The player with the higher final total wins the conflict, with ties going to the defender. If the defender wins or ties, the aggressor loses an additional fury token. If the aggressor wins, the defender gains a point of despair, and he either loses one of his possessions or must share one of his memories, at the aggressor's choice. If the aggressor elects to steal an object, he may look through the defender's possessions and select one to take. On the other hand, he may force the defender to share a memory, but the defender chooses which he will reveal.
Example: Persephone (4 fury) loudly curses Oedipus (5 fury) and discards a fury token to initiate her attack. She cannot win the conflict without spending more fury, so she spends two more to gain the advantage. Oedipus spends one, giving him a total of 6 (5 + 1 temp.), which she matches, giving her a total of 7 (4 + 2 temp. + 1 temp.). Oedipus decides to hoard his remaining fury for later revenge, so he loses the conflict and gains a point of despair. Persephone has spent four points of fury (1 to initiate + 3 to win) on the conflict, leaving her with little inner rage at the moment, but she can now choose to steal one of his items or to absorb one of his memories.
A despairing spirit may spend two points of despair to disregard any fury-initiated action targeted against him. This includes conflicts, fury-based powers, and fury-fueled items, regardless of the cost in fury. Truly pathetic souls with high permanent despair may even be able to dismiss actions taken against others.
Example: Oedipus seeks revenge against Persephone for her vicious attack, so he spends a fury token to initiate a new conflict. Persephone simply shakes her world-weary head, sighing as she deposits two despair tokens that drain away all desire for conflict.
Restless spirits will carry a number of powerful memories with them into the afterlife. Most will reflect pivotal events in their lives, perhaps including the moment of death. Without physical bodies to anchor the spirits, these memories fuel much of their existence. Characters may choose to share memories with each other, or they may coerce others to "share" through conflict. In either case, this often infuses the recipient with some of the memory's emotional energy, though the source still reetains the memory. No spirit can reap the benefits of the same memory twice (also implying that you can't infuse yourself with your own memories).
When forcibly extracting a memory from another spirit, the victim will choose one of his memories to reveal, reading its basic description. The aggressor may then choose to accept the memory, activating its effects, or he may refuse the memory and gain no other reward. If he later has the chance to steal another memory from the victim, the victim must reveal a new memory. The aggressor can now choose to absorb either the new memory or any previously refused memory.
Example: After winning a conflict, Persephone demands a memory from Oedipus. Oedipus offers a memory of his blinding. Persephone may either accept the memory, in which case Oedipus will provide her with the full effects of the memory, or she may refuse it and gain no reward for her victory. If she somehow manages to defeat Oedipus again, she can demand a new memory and then choose between the two.
Many spirits seek to transcend their anguished existence as restless ghosts. Most characters will have a few paths from which they can choose. Some lead to simple oblivion, while a few may reach heavenly paradises, and many will lead to eternal torment. While the spirits remain trapped in their half-existence, they may seek clues toward the right path to take and the requirements to take it. Others may seek to avoid very certain punishments by pursuing altogether new alternatives.
Go back to the after life main page.