This past weekend, as promised, I ran a session of the Ghost Punchers RPG at Tacticon. It went very well. There was more investigation than I’d expected in the “game of supernatural investigation and violence” (players typically jump straight to the violence), but the game held up well and the players had a blast.
Mechanically, there was one big change to the game’s systems this time around. Originally, ghost-punching heroes used two different powers: Spirit Sight (which let them see ghosts) and Enchanted Fist (which let them touch ghosts, usually with their fists). The thing is, without these powers active, you can’t really play the game–but with the powers active, you’re using up resources you could be spending on other cool powers. (“Sorry, I spent my last power point enchanting my fist for the third time this adventure, so I can’t do the exorcism. Ask again in an hour.”)
My latest solution, which worked quite well on Saturday, is to combine the two power, and make them free:
Spirit Connection
Power Points: 0
Range: Self
Duration: 15 minutes
On a success, the hero can see, hear, and touch the spirit world. He can see auras around the living and the horrific shapes of the ghostly dead. (Seeing a particularly ghastly ghost when or where he isn’t expecting it may require the hero to make a Fear check.) He may also touch and damage spiritual entities (like, say, ghosts) with her bare hands as if the entity were not spiritual.
By making it free, we can assume the character has the power activated when necessary (say, when walking into a haunted house). But by giving it a duration, it’s possible for it to shut down at a dramatically appropriate moment, forcing the hero to scramble to get it back up in time.
Like I said, it worked well. I think I’ll stick with this for now as I start getting serious about playtesting. After a couple different iterations, I think I’ve finally landed on something that’s fast, furious, and fun.
