Monsterhearts 2 Skin - The Ghost v0.5

You used to have a future. Growing up was a painful tumult at times, but at least you were growing. Now you only have a past - unfinished business to take care of before you can leave this world behind.

Life is precious. You understand that, now that you’ve lost yours. You just want to help. You just want to be seen. But sometimes even the simplest desires feel so difficult to grasp.

Ghosty ghost, you’re dead.

Identity

Your Backstory

You’ve been inside someone's bedroom while they were sleeping. Take a String on them.

Darkest Self

You become invisible, unnoticeable. No one can see you, feel you, or hear your voice. You can still affect inanimate objects, but this is your only avenue of communication. You escape your Darkest Self when someone acknowledges your presence, and demonstrates how much they want you around.

Harm

Conditions

Stats

Choose one stat set
Hot -1 Cold 2 Volatile -1 Dark 1, OR
Hot -1 Cold -1 Volatile 1 Dark 2

Hot

Cold

Volatile

Dark

Ghost Moves

You get Unresolved Trauma, and choose two more

Unresolved Trauma: Whenever something brings to mind your death, you choke up and gain the Condition traumatized if you don’t have it already. Whenever someone helps you resolve this Condition, you both mark experience.

Helpful Spirit: When you help someone resolve a Condition, gain a String on them.

Transference: Whenever you spend time truly listening to someone else’s struggles, they heal 1 Harm, and then transfer their remaining harm to you.

Projected Blame: While you’ve got the Condition traumatized, you may act as though others had the Condition at fault for my death.

Creep: When you silently witness someone in one of their most private moments, perhaps sleeping or putting on makeup, gain a String on them.

Limitless: You can walk through walls and fly.

Sex Move

When you have sex with someone, you both get to ask a question of one another. This can be asked in character or player-to-player. They must answer honestly and directly.

Playing The Ghost

Lonely, wounded, caring, and creepy. The Ghost has experienced intense trauma, and now seeks validation and intimacy. They have the potential to provide care and healing for others, but also tend to ignore personal and physical boundaries.

The two stat choices for the Ghost let you steer toward being either icy and distant (Cold 2 & Dark 1), or scary and moody (Dark 2 & Volatile 1). Your ghost might end up crying out for help, pushing away the very people they care about, or burning themself out trying to take care of others.

At the start of the game, the Ghost’s low Hot stat means that they aren’t good at Turning Someone On. This plays into their core dilemma – without social power, how does the Ghost get the attention and emotional support that they need? Maybe they’re endlessly giving, hoping for reciprocation. Helpful Spirit and Transference both point in that direction. Maybe they’re mean and spiteful, assuming from the outset that they aren’t worthy of affection. Unresolved Trauma and Projected Blame provide a different dynamic, suggesting a mean and spiteful Ghost who lashes out at those who remind them of what they’ve lost. Creep and Limitless add a voyeuristic element, encouraging the Ghost to ignore others’ boundaries. Lots of other possibilities exist in the interactions between these moves, too.

Monsterhearts 2 Skin - The Ghost