GHOSTED!!

A game about cute ghosts, thirsty living people, and supernatural romance for two players.

Designed by Cynder Turley (@SmoothAsCyn), dedicated to Lou

Content warning: horror, ghosts, death, and sexual content

     As Poppy stood in the doorway to her home, she could barely believe what she saw in front of her. She had come home from work a little early, and upon opening the door to her apartment, she was gobsmacked by the sight of a person standing near one of the walls, running a finger down a scuff mark that had been there long before she moved in with a wistful look in their eyes. They had a round, soft looking face, longish dark hair pulled back in a loose, messy bun, and small rectangular wire frame glasses that suited them well. That would be shocking enough, but what was really strange was that she could see directly through them and to the far wall of her apartment. She drew in a sharp gasp, wide eyed, and immediately Midwinter snapped to face her, a similar look of shock behind their glasses, then a fraction of a second later, like mist dissipating, they were gone. Poppy had never seen anything like this before. But something about her felt drawn to this stranger apparently haunting her home. 

     GHOSTED!! Is a GMless, rules-light, limited dice, storytelling game game about cute dead people, thirsty living people, and supernatural romance for two players. When you play GHOSTED!!, you will work with the other player to tell the story of an attempted relationship between a ghost and a living person. One player plays the Ghost, the other the Living. The Living discovered the Ghost a some time ago, and has been dizzyingly into them ever since. Play is simple, the Living leads the Ghost through a series of dates, establishing where they are, what they’re doing, and any small details about the start of the date, then together both players act out the scene, and once it’s clear the date has reached its end, the Ghost narrates a few details and then describes any aftermath/interstitial moments between dates, at which point the two of you answer a few questions together, and then the cycle starts again with a new date. 

     She inched her hand a little closer to theirs, not sure or not wanting to know what would happen if she tried to take it. Noticing this tiny act, a small smile spread across Midwinder’s kind face, “Poppy, if you want to hold my hand you can.” Even in a tight cramped room, their voice almost echoed. Her eyes widened, shocked by their immediate recognition of what it was she was hoping for, “I… um...“ She stammered, “Can I?” “Yeah… yeah just give me a moment.” Poppy sat up straight, wanting to seem as respectful as possible. Midwinter closed their eyes tightly and tensed up their arm, clearly focusing hard, then slowly, it was as if their forearm and hand solidified slightly. Not quite to the point that light didn’t pass through it, but the whole thing seemed to firm up, and get a little more opaque. After a moment, they opened their eyes again and gave Poppy a small tired smile, “There. Go ahead.”

     You play through this cycle five times (or as many as you like), exchanging Affection tokens as appropriate, which once the game is complete will help determine the end of the story, and whether or not the relationship will continue. If by the end, the Ghost is no longer interested in pursuing this relationship, they leave the home without a word, and the Living gets GHOSTED!! 

The goal of play is to not have this happen to you.

     She looked into their beautiful brown eyes, not sure exactly how to ask the question she had wanted to for weeks now. But her eyes spoke volumes more than she could have in that moment, and Midwinter smiled their tired smile, and mentally focused for a moment, letting the moment hang between them. Then with a hand somewhere between mist and ice, they reached out and cupped her face, pulling her just close enough for her to get the hint. “May I?” Like they always seemed to, Poppy’s eyes widened in excitement, “Of… of course!” Midwinter smiled, and closed the distance.

You will need: 

• Pencils and paper/a web chatting service/a good memory
• 1 six sided die/an online die roller
• Safety mechanics (an X card, a safe phrase, etc.)
• An appreciation for fiction involving ghosts and romance

Play can take anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on how much detail you intend on playing with.

This game was designed for the Hot Horror Game Jam hosted by Flowers 

(@swordsnflowers / https://swords-and-flowers.itch.io).

https://itch.io/jam/hothorrorjam

      Some safety guidelines provided, additional available here created by Kienna Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.

     Thank you to Evangelina, Adela, Adam, Serj, Samantha, Nop, Zero and Bren for helping me either in playtesting, in looking over the screaming box of skulls that is my design document for this game, or for just being incredible people who inspire me to do this sort of weird ass thing. You mean the world to me, thank you so much.