2020 Day 23 - Orpheus
Near the end of the original World of Darkness line, White Wolf experimented with Orpheus. The six-book gameline details what is, essentially, a business of ghosts and those who can temporarily become ghosts and what happens to them when things (inevitably) go very wrong. Totally shady, yet not as shady as their rivals, and trafficking in knowledge they really shouldn’t have, Orpheus has a wonderful world of greys to explore. And because it’s so rich, you can focus on the elements you like whilst the others fade into the background or become antagonistic to the PCs.
The system is undoubtedly World of Darkness, but for once the powers are not tied to your other stats. This in itself is a massive appeal to me as I find the contortions needed to take abilities you don’t want or need just to make a power useful extremely annoying. It also means that if you want to update it to use Chronicles of Darkness rules you can. Plus those ghostly powers are just done really well.
Reg FitzTalbot was a career civil servant. He rose through the ranks on the back of his ability to work hard, deliver results and then sell them. Whilst he never made it to departmental secretary, his name was attached to almost all home office projects for a while before he moved to the Department of Health. He even had a moment of fame when he was put in charge of the Chandler Investigation. It all fell apart when his mother died from a chest infection (age 82); his work declined and he was put on gardening leave. A helpful colleague gave him some Pigment as a bit of distraction. Taking it at home, he followed the ghost of his mother who beckoned him into the street where he was run over once; and then again by the following car. By the time he rose out of his disfigured body, his mother’s ghost was gone.
With no other real options, Reg approached Orpheus about working for them. He doesn’t know what he will do for them, but it keeps him busy and distracted from everything else.
Reg is well educated and a stickler for clear language. Yes, he is a pedant and between that and his relentless drive for high standards he isn’t always well liked. But he is a very useful person to have around, liking things that few others care for and with plenty of tall tales of the civil service. He has also decided that he needs to break his past habits and become a lighter person (now he’s dead). Pity the poor crucible (team) who have to put up with his attempts to be cool!
He looks like a suave middle-aged man in a suit - the age when he thought he looked most impressive, even though he died later - but with one lazy eye and a fixed grin on one side of his mouth where the first car ran him over.
Lament: Hue (died whilst taking pigment)
Shade: Poltergeist
(Note that poltergeists can interact with small objects, so Reg will be able to type up the team reports for them or even communicate in the field. Totally an inspiration for the character.)
Primary: Mental, Secondary: Social (low Appearance, high manipulation), Tertiary: physical
Abilities: Bureaucracy 5, Finance 3 as well as lots of other Knowledge skills; and various social skills. Only physical skill is a touch of Athletics.
Vitality (good ghost points) 7, Willpower 8, Spite (bad ghost points) 3
Horror: Helter Skelter (basic Poltergeist power, exactly what you would expect)
Backgrounds. Ghosts and Hues are somewhat restricted on background options, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have some. In this case, a University building was named after him (with a bit of funding from Orpheus) - Memorial 4; and even if he is dead he still knows a lot of influential people who would be interested in quid pro quo (Contacts 5).
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=orpheus