Ghost Stories
Ghost stories number among the more psychologically elaborate genres of horror. Only through revealing tales of tragedy and past wrongs can heroes truly bring peace to forces that share their suffering with the living.
Ghost stories touch on fundamental issues of human existence: the nature of the soul, the weighty fact of mortality, and the burden of ancestry and history. Spirits represent heavy-handed instruments of supernatural justice, plunging those responsible for their deaths into a living hell where they suffer for their sins. They also represent grief and the need for closure, lingering in a place until they bring about the completion of the work they hoped to accomplish in life.
In addition, consider the following genre tropes when creating your haunted domain:
- All hauntings have a deep story, and the smallest details tell it. A simple locket or portrait might contain clues that explain a haunting.
- Personal ties give ghost stories weight. Consider tying the heroes to spirits in ways they won't predict, such as revealing that a phantasmal villain was a hero's ancestor.
- Heroes are pure-hearted or unsuspecting individuals whose resolve is shaken by the story's events. Look for ways to test heroes' psychology with your hauntings.
- Heroes need agency—a way to put spirits to rest. Once the story is revealed, ensure the way to combat the haunting is clear.
- Spirits are often evil, but they need not be. A spirit might appear to warn heroes of impending doom.
Ghost Story Monsters
Any creature that embodies or serves as a response to past injustices or tragedies makes a strong addition to a ghost story. Don't limit yourself to incorporeal undead when creating your own hauntings. The "Haunted Traps" section of chapter 4 also explores options for creating threatening hauntings.
Ghost Story Monsters
| Challenge | Creature | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | Death's head | VGR p 232 |
| 1 | Animated armor | MM p 19 |
| 1 | Death dog | MM p 321 |
| 1 | Scarecrow | MM p 268 |
| 2 | Specter (Poltergeist) | MM p 279 |
| 4 | Banshee | MM p 23 |
| 4 | Fenhound | Homebrew |
| 4 | Ghost | MM p 147 |
| 5 | Revenant | MM p 259 |
| 6 | Gallow Speaker | VGR p 234 |
| 9 | Treant | MM p 289 |
| 10 | Dullahan | VGR p 233 |
Ghost Story Villains
While the villains in ghost stories are often spirits or haunted places, they might also be the individuals who provoked a haunting to begin with.
Ghost Story Villains
| d10 | Villain | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A medium who feeds victims to spirits in exchange for power over them | |
| 2 | The spirit of a long-dead murderer who stalks the same types of victims in death as in life | |
| 3 | The haunted home of a cruel patriarch, who refuses to relinquish control of his descendants | |
| 4 | A priest who marks the unworthy for death at the hands of the cathedral's hungry spirits | |
| 5 | A phantom rider who sweeps through the village, stealing victims who disbelieve her legend | |
| 6 | An unbound spirit that repeatedly manifests in victims' nightmares | |
| 7 | The capricious phantasm of an amoral accident victim who torments victims for fun | |
| 8 | The spirit of a former tyrant who demands sacrifices from the village she once ruled | |
| 9 | A ghost hunter who inflicts hauntings on unwitting clients—and then charges to remove the undead | |
| 10 | The spirit of an evil captain who lurks near their shipwreck, harassing vessels and crews that pass |
Ghost Story Torments
Whether they're living monsters or ghosts, Darklords in ghost story settings are the architects of their own tragedies.
Ghost Story Torments
| d8 | Torment |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Darklord tames the spirits in his haunted mansion, but only when he sacrifices a memory. |
| 2 | The Darklord's skin is haunted, but she can temporarily release spirits from her elaborate scars. |
| 3 | A dozen phantoms cater to the Darklord; each spirit is an emotion he can no longer feel. |
| 4 | Vampiric spirits keep the Darklord forever young, but physical sensation fled them long ago. |
| 5 | Despite being alive, the Darklord is cursed with the inability to convince anyone they're not a spirit. |
| 6 | All spirits obey a Darklord who can't touch anyone without stealing their soul. |
| 7 | The Darklord fully controls the veil between this world and the spirit world, but if he steps outside his mansion, he'll be permanently destroyed. |
| 8 | Any animal the Darklord sees dies and comes to haunt the morbid zoo her home has become. |
Ghost Story Settings
Suffering, tragic death, or a villain's monstrous evil manifest subtly in the places ghost stories are set. Typically, a setting's hauntings are revealed slowly, until the full nature of the horror is on display.
Ghost Story Settings
| d8 | Setting |
|---|---|
| 1 | A realm where speaking to spirits is just like speaking with the living |
| 2 | A graveyard city-state where all living residents are grave keepers |
| 3 | A nation where the residents observe grueling rituals to keep the angry dead appeased |
| 4 | A city where the victims of violence can't cross into the afterlife until their murders are solved |
| 5 | A ship with the same name and lines as a vessel lost at sea a hundred years earlier |
| 6 | A realm in which a common ritual allows a living individual to trade places with a dead one |
| 7 | An expansive forest in which a cruel noble once hunted the poor for sport |
| 8 | A land in which mediums are revered because they maintain the veil between the living and dead |
Ghost Story Adventure Sites
Ghost stories are intensely personal, and adventures within the genre take place in a setting dripping with tragic history.
Ghost Story Adventure Sites
| d8 | Adventure Site |
|---|---|
| 1 | A decrepit conservatory whose inhabitants are prone to terrible accidents |
| 2 | A village graveyard that holds the victims of a terrible mass crime |
| 3 | A decrepit barn where dozens of remarkable animals lost their lives in a fire |
| 4 | An attic in which a hateful spirit has been sealed for decades |
| 5 | A theater in which, decades ago, an actor systematically poisoned their rivals |
| 6 | A swanky inn where, for years, nobles killed the staff to prevent word of their affairs getting out |
| 7 | A picturesque cliff that's a popular destination for lovers, despite the fact that couples frequently fall to their deaths |
| 8 | A lighthouse where a lone guard is the only living individual keeping an army of spirits at bay |
Ghost Story Plots
Ghost story adventures deal with learning the story behind a haunting and ultimately resolving it. They benefit from preserving the mystery behind a spirit's motivations until the heroes discover a hidden truth.
Ghost Story Plots
| d8 | Plot |
|---|---|
| 1 | Investigate the bloody graffiti being left on the village's ancient walls and stop the vandal. |
| 2 | A dying hero is convinced they're going to return as a spirit. Prevent this from happening. |
| 3 | Discover why members of a prominent family never allow anyone to enter their guest house. |
| 4 | Solve the murder of a phantom who can say only the words "blood," "onions," and "wine." |
| 5 | Solve the murder of the countess, who drowned in the same well as her mother and grandmother. |
| 6 | Convince a stubborn miser to visit his haunted family home and put his deathless family to rest. |
| 7 | Discreetly follow a phantom vagabond to find out where she disappears to and with whom. |
| 8 | Learn why a mob of spirits besieges the local temple on the winter solstice each year. |
Domains of Dread
Blaustein (Sea of Sorrows). The island domain of the notorious Bluebeard who was overthrown by the spectres of his slain wives.
Forlorn. A blasted wasteland where by day Tristen ApBlanc is a dhampir, but by night he becomes a spectre.
Keening. A mountainside domain plagued by the banshee Tristessa.
Mordent. A domain of haunted estates, foggy shores, & misty moors from which the ghost of Lord Godefroy seeks to escape his curse.
The Rider's Bridge. A liminal domain guarded by the Headless Rider.
Sea of Sorrows. A nautical domain that connects many domains of dread by sea, haunted by the undead crew of pirate Pietra van Riese.
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