Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a second chance at life? Let’s say that at the very moment of your death, someone came to you with an offer you couldn’t refuse – would your will to live be so strong that you had to accept, despite the cost?
White Wolf’s new release, Geist: The Sin-Eaters gives players that exact opportunity. Well, not literally. You don’t have to have to die to play – although over the last year, many avid gamers have been dying to get their hands on this eagerly awaited book.
Geist is a re-issue of one of the popular World of Darkness older systems, Wraith: The Oblivion . Some might say that Geist is a blend of Wraith and another White Wolf system, Orpheus, which involved human characters playing against the supernatural in an X Files style of setting.
Geist reminds me of Demon: The Fallen as well, in that you have a single human character that shares his or her body with another entity – in this case, the spirit of the deceased.
What Is A Sin-Eater?
Sounds nasty, doesn’t it? Or extremely noble, depending on how you view it. The term “sin-eater” comes from the Medieval era. People would perform a ritualized eating of sins for the deceased, partaking in eating bread and drinking wine over the body to cleanse its soul and give the departed a more easy transition into the afterlife.
For the purposes of Geist, the ritual takes on a more literal sense. Your character (called “The Bound”) agrees to host the spirit of a deceased individual. The two meld together. The Geist becomes part of the Bound.
Now, this isn’t a possession. The Geist doesn’t take control over the Bound’s body. The Geist sits in the background, like a little voice in the back of your character’s mind.
If your character isn’t in tune with its Geist, he or she may very well believe there’s nothing wrong. The character may remember some crazy dream of making a bargain when it nearly died and chalk it up to one of those near-death experiences everyone talks about.
For others who are more aware, it’s a different story. Their Geist may be a figure that only they can see, or a voice they hear in the static on TV, for example.
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
The most intriguing and challenging aspect of running a Sin-Eater is the dual nature of the character. Not only do you play your initial human character with his or her own background, concept and personality, but you have to play that of the Geist as well.
You also have two deaths to work with, two returns to life, and you must figure out how these two personalities end up getting along.
Not every Geist is pleasant, either. Many are angry, many are out of control, and nearly all of them have unfinished business here on earth. For the Geist, all it knows is that this business is what it must do. It follows old patterns it had in life. What it does isn’t intentional, and a Geist isn’t good or evil.
A Geist is driven by compulsion like instincts drive an animal’s behaviours.
This could make life very interesting for your character. Will your character fight these impulses? Will he or she totally give in to the Geist and indulge in reckless abandon? Will your character strike a balance, using the Geist’s obsessions for good? Or will your character try to help the Geist tie up loose ends and move on to the release of Afterlife?
The potential for moral exploration and other aspects of character development are endless – but that also makes a sin-eater one of the most difficult character types to play. It requires you to have a firm grip on both personalities, that of the Bound and the Geist.
In some ways, it’s like you’re constantly playing against yourself.
Beyond Your Average Ghost
Geist: The Sin-Eaters is definitely a good read in itself, with more than enough ideas to keep you toying with character concepts for a while. There’s far too much in the system to touch on in a single post, and acquiring the book is a good idea, if this type of character interests you.
For the fun of it, think about your own current character and his or her history. If your character got a second shot at life and all he or she had to do was host a Geist, would the character accept? What would he or she do with that second chance at life?
