I was thinking about character death the other day and what it meant for them in the pursuit of their Beliefs. That got me to thinking about characters that come back to continue that pursuit. Which then led me to typing out some ideas based on that, which is what this is.
I have no idea if it’s any good. I think it looks fun, but it hasn’t been playtested or even bolted onto a character. I envision this being given to a character who dies and the player wants to keep them around. I’d love to see what you think, what you like/don’t like, what you’d change. I’m very much a newbie when it comes to creating stuff for BWG. It’s not complete, but I’ve run out of ideas and need to bounce this off other brains.
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BWG Revenant
An Emotional Attribute for dead characters who aren’t done, yet.
Desperation
A revenant is a person who died and, due to their panic and desire to accomplish something at the time of death, their soul refused to leave their body, continuing to animate it. They are characterized by their desperate need to see this unfinished deed completed.
Desperation is ranked 1 to 10. When Desperation reaches 10, they turn into a ravenous, unthinking and unreasoning undead thing that will rampage, kill and eat until it is destroyed.
When a character gains the Desperation Emotional Attribute, they must take a fourth Belief about their unfinished business. When they accomplish that goal, the player may choose to retire their character, meaning the soul departs to the afterlife and the undead body falls to the ground and rots, or they may choose another Belief to take the place of the prior unfinished business. In the later case, the character realizes that they’re not quite done and things become all the more desperate.
Desperation advances as a skill. Routine tests always count and filling up any two of the requirements advances it.
Starting Desperation
Desperation starts at 1. Add 1 for every question below to which the answer is yes.
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Did the character’s death result from the pursuit of what is now their unfinished business?
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Does their unfinished business involve a Relationship?
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Are they willing to risk anything to accomplish their unfinished business?
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Did the character die from violence?
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Was the character Faithful? (Faith attribute is lost).
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Was the character Gifted? (Gifted trait is lost).
Driven
Desperation may provide Help dice, per the normal rules, to any action taken by the revenant in pursuit of their unfinished business Belief. Use of this counts as a routine test for advancement.
Hungry
A revenant does not heal naturally from wounds but also does not bleed. Before being able to make a Health test to begin recovery of an injury, the character must feed on the flesh of a sapient creature.
Tests
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Ob 1 - Encountering something that reinforces the urgency of accomplishing their unfinished business. Witnessing death.
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Ob 2 - Failing a test in the pursuit of their unfinished business.
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Ob 3 - Destroying property in the pursuit of their unfinished business.
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Ob 4 - Killing in the pursuit of their unfinished business.
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Ob 5
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Ob 6
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Ob 7 - Feeding on the flesh of a sentient creature.
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Ob 8
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Ob 9
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Ob 10 - Accomplishing your unfinished business.
Revenant dt
Requirement: Human only
This character has died, but refused to give up fighting for what they believe. Their soul clings to their undead body. They do not eat, drink, breathe or sleep. They are immune to effects that require a metabolism (e.g. poison, disease). The character gains the Desperation Emotional Attribute.
As long as they suffer for something they Believe.