Halloween 2022: Day 29

On the Trail of Jack the Ripper (Lost Souls 4E), Haunted Attic

Following up on the success of last year’s murder mystery, C ran this for an assortment of siblings. It’s a scenario for early 90s small press TTRPG Lost Souls, possibly the first published game where players are expected to play incorporeal spirits.

The system is on the crunchy side, with a core resolution mechanic that involves a lookup table. Though it felt like a throwback to an earlier, more primitive time of game design it worked fairly smoothly in practice, and the game gives you plenty of options for interaction beyond “I hit it with my stick.”

We successfully discovered the identity of Jack the Ripper and prevented him from murdering another victim, at which point I was able to claim my karmic reward: reincarnation as a lizard.