Geist

## **Synopsis**

*Sometimes, it's what kills you that makes you stronger.*

**Geist: The Sin-Eaters** is a game of second chances. If you were to die today, but were given another try at life, what would you do? How would you change? More importantly, what price would you pay?

These are all pertinent questions. In Geist: The Sin-Eaters, you take on the role of one of the Bound - someone who died, but made the decision to come back to the world of the living. The process, however, required that they share a body with a Geist - a powerful entity, not quite natural spirit and not quite ghost, given to both human memories and inhuman impulses. Because of the Geist, the Bound can see and interact with the dead, use abilities associated with death or ghosts, and even enter the underworld as one of the living. The Geist can stave off death, giving their living hosts phenomenal resilience, fight off disease or toxins, and even bring the Bound back to life. Unfortunately, no matter what you want to do with your new life and powers, the Geist has plans of its own...

Geist: The Sin-Eaters is set in the "Valley of Shadows," a version of the modern-day Happy Valley you know. The difference here is the presence of the supernatural. You see, Centre County is a very *strange* place on a spiritual level - what that *means* exactly, none can say, but what we *know* is that all varieties of strange beasts congregate here.

As a sin-eater, your character will be a part of this greater shadow-world that rides the undercurrents of the college and its surroundings. Thankfully, being no less human than you were before the bargain, you fit in easily enough; you can go about your 9-5, go to parties, raise a family, be a person. But never again will you be *normal*. Even if you shut your ears and close your eyes to the ghosts, you can still *see* death and those it will soon take. Even if you never want to use your new abilities, you will still *feel* the ectoplasm coursing in your veins. And, lest we forget, even if you fill every second of your life with noise, you can never, ever, drown out that voice in the back of your head.

## Living Among The Dead

There's a lot more to being a Sin-Eater than just waking back up into the world with a new friend in tow; the bargain comes with a good number of perks for both you and your Geist. These powers are split into three basic categories (by me):

**THE MIND**

* **The Sight:** Like the main character from the Sixth Sense, you have the power to see, hear, and speak with ghosts. Of course, they are as fully aware of you as you are of them. The fun part is that your communication transcends language - you can understand the ghost, no matter what language they spoke. This set of powers can be deactivated with some difficultly, but never fully goes away.
* **The Sixth Sense:** It *really* never goes away. Even while your Sight is deactivated (for instance, while trying to enjoy a movie uninterrupted), you still sense the use of ghostly abilities in the immediate vicinity. How each Sin-Eater interprets this sense is unique.
* **The Reaper's Eyes:** You can tell a lot about a person at a glance. Specifically, you as a Sin-Eater can tell how old a person is, how sick or injured they are, and how far they are from death (if death is near, anyway).
* **The UV Lights of Death:** Death leaves stains. Everywhere it is, there is a certain residue left behind. Even normal people can feel it in high enough concentration, but you are exceptionally attuned to this resonance. You are able to feel the sorts of death that happened in these places, and sometimes how long ago the person(s) died.
* **Clinical Precision:** All Sin-Eaters can touch a body and *feel* how it died. While most useful in solving murder cases, this ability can also be used on Sin-Eaters and vampires - a definite invasion of privacy, but sometimes useful none-the-less. Also, vampires tend to have died in only one way (exsanguination).

**THE BODY**

* **Can't Keep Me Down:** No geist worth its salt will let its bound Sin-Eater die without a fight. No amount of pain or physical damage - *none* - will send a Sin-Eater into shock or unconsciousness. A curse, on one hand, given why we go into shock in the first place. On the other hand, your chances of survival skyrocket when you can staunch your own bleeding stump or crawl away from the flaming car wreck despite the punctured lung.
* **Immune System +:** Plasm - the semi-solid substance that makes up ghosts - filters into the Sin-Eater's body, thanks to the presence of the Geist. This plasm is *far* more effective than the body's normal defense mechanisms, and can keep even the worst diseases and poisons out of the system. Of course, certain things can slide through - it has probably been decades since the Geist last got drunk, and it's not going to let that opportunity pass by.
* **Dead Flesh:** You're alive, don't misunderstand - but the plasm coursing through your body can give you the resilience usually attributed to zombies, Jason and other horror film antagonists. At your option, this plasm bubbles up to the surface to protect you from wounds - guns, swords, fists, fire, or 18-wheelers.
* **Lazarus:** And if all that fails, you have one last ace up your sleeve: resurrection. Now, pulling you back from death is successively harder for the Geist, and generally it can happen up to 5 times before your tattered soul sinks down into whatever afterlife there is beyond purgatory. Each time this happens, the Geist finds another poor sap for Death to take - a life for a life. They die, you live. You also experience the last thing the victim did before they died - psychologically, of course, but too many deaths is *very* bad for a Sin-Eater's sanity. Use with caution.

**THE SOUL**

* **Manifestations:** Manifestations are the bread and butter of a Sin-Eater and her geist. These are all the various ghostly "superpowers" you gain to help you deal with the world of the dead, and their effects are wide, varied, and dependent upon the individual Sin-Eater. Manifestations include possession, illusions, raising zombies, controlling emotions, becoming invisible, and other phantom abilities.
* **Reverse Possession:** Turning the tables on the ephemeral world, you are capable of a sort of "reverse-possession" of your Geist symbiote; by "entering" your Geist's body, you can interact *physically* with ghosts. This does not make you fully ephemeral. You are as obstructed by the physical world as ever, but sometimes a ghost just needs a hug - or a good sock to the jaw.
* **Manifestation Machines:** Ghosts are not drawn to Sin-Eaters *only* because they are among the few living creatures able to interact with the world of the dead. The bound, by their very nature, magnify death around them. It is particularly easy for a ghost to manifest in a Sin-Eater's presence.
* **Salves of Life:** Ghosts are creatures caught in emotional cycles. Most of them don't have enough rational thought left to do anything other than repeat a particular part of their life in endless succession. You can break them from this, however. By annointing a ghost with ectoplasm, you can return one to consciousness - if only temporarily.
* **All You Can Eat:** Ghosts can be eaten. This is not an action undertaken lightly, as 1) ghosts taste *awful*, and 2) the fate of the consumed ghost is murky at best. However, such an act will infuse you with a quick jolt of power - worth it to those who don't like to think about the existential (or moral) ramifications in favor of busting a few heads.

## **Game Info**

Meta

* Important Mechanical Information - A resource for all of the finicky little things in making your character.
* Resources - A page of things you can use to inspire your character in Geist: The Sin-Eaters.
* Characters - Interested in making a character? Here's where you can help fill out our cast.
* Bonus Experience - How to get more stuff.
* The Unbound - Want to play a ghost or human without a Geist? Here's how.

In-World

* Geist Plot - The story so far.
* Avernian Gates - A list of local portals to the underworld, updated throughout the game.
* Geists - An explanation of what Geists are and how one interacts with them.
* Hauntings - A list of local legends concerning the unquiet dead.
* Underworld Map - An visualization of the topography of the purgatory under Centre County.