[DeathofVirtue]

  So as the title suggests I'm looking for some tips and advice on haunting a character something I'm suprised to say hasn't happened in my games before.

  I'm running 3e but I'm looking more for creative ideas how a ghost can haunt a mage in my group and make a nuisance of itself.
Obviously I'm looking for a bit more than, "Your magazine falls out your weapon and you hear quiet laughter behind you".

  So to give a bit of background the mage in question is a full hermetic with a moral code to not kill innocents.  In an earlier part of the current campaign the group is running she unknowingly participated in killing a group of innocents who were trying to fight off saeder krupp forces (They had a certain object Lofwyr was VERY interested in obtaining on the down-low).

  I'm basically giving the mage the haunted negative trait without telling them yet, it will slowly become clear over the next few days as the subplot is revealed.

  One of the other runners picked up a weapon from the guy I want to become a ghost.  I plan to use that as it's chain, keeping the group in the dark about it's nature.

  Initially I want to start with low key haunting stuff like maybe moving something she is looking for surreptitiously slowly building up to making a serious nuisance of itself untill ammends are made and the trait is brought off.  Obviously I don't want to tip them off that the weapon is the spirits chain or that she is haunted too early as it's quite a magically active group and I'm a touch concerned they will try and pile up on it and brute force it out so the trait becomes meaningless so frequent brief apperances will probably be key.

  Any ideas or tricks you are fond of using?

[Reaver]

Ok, something to keep in mind, "ghosts" don't exist in Shadowrun

What was once thought to be "ghosts", have been proven to be actual spirits, its just that before the awakening, many spirits couldn't materialize on the physical plane, and could at best (if they were very powerful) Manifest...

A Manifested spirit has no physical body, but can speak, move through objects, and other "ghostly" interactions.

Since the Awakening, these "ghosts" have been revealed to be actual Spirits (Free Spirits, Shadow Spirits, 'Dark Spirits')....

With that in mind, it would be a Free of Shadow Spirit that is "Haunting" your player - which is entirely possible as Spirit motivations are a varied as the motivations of People But this also means your mage character could have ways of dealing with the Spirit that you don't like.. Simple astral combat for example, or even just Banishing... So keep that in mind.

Street Grimoire has info on Shadow and Free spirits, but more info can be found in previous mage books like 4e's Street Magic.

[DeathofVirtue]

  Reaver I reffer you to magic in the shadows page 120 Section heading, Ghosts.

  "Ghosts are spirits that have charecteristics associated with living beings.  Some believe ghosts are the actual spirits of the dead, tied to the world for some reason, while others suggest ghosts are formed out of the stuff of astral space in response to powerfull emotions some people experience at the time of death, an astral echo of a living soul.  While ghosts refuse to shed any light on the debate, the fact remains that ghosts are a real part of the sixth world. " 

  A section of rules then follows.

Chain:  "A ghost with a chain cannot be banished unless the chain is destroyed or in the posession of the magician attempting the banishing".
  There are additional rules that state astral combat and physical combat that would destroy it instead disrupt it and it can return in 28 - Force days if it has a chain.

  I'm well aware of ghosts vulnerabilities I'm asking for advice on how not to tip my hand too early but still keep the haunting going.

  Thanks for the post though this is clearly something that is very rare to come up in games, which is why it grabbed my attention : P

[Reaver]

Was going to point out that the book is from 3e and things have changed...


but you ALSO mention you are playing 3e... so the joke's on me 

But yes, "ghosts" have changed since then, and have been identified as usually Shadow Spirits (4e)... which doesn't apply to your game

****

You could play "hide the item". The spirit moves it from character to character, hoping to cause some strife in the group....

Or you could saddle the user with the "unlucky" power... (which in 3e as I recall raises the Glitch number to 2 from 1)

[DeathofVirtue]

Hehe yeah... 
Sorry to be awkward.   


  Those are both excellent suggestions, hide the item in particular has an evil smile coming to my face, especially with her characters personality (She actually tried to execute one of my pc's earlier in the game thinking he could be a double agent, shes a real bitch but has a soft spot for innocent-wage slave types).

  Combine this with the fact she relies on foci a lot (Not excessively but almost borderline) and I have a plan 

  Thanks a lot for the help Reaver I'm GM'ing it in about 4 hours so just in the nick of time for me to add and alter ^^

  I love the direction this looks like it's going and because in the ~10 years we have been running I don't think we have ever had a ghost it should catch them nicely by surprise or at least somewhat off guard.