“It wakes. The fragmented mind. Restless, a rush of emotion as you relive those final moments. You taste the blood again, feel the sting of betrayal. The anger swells in you at these recollections, but something is different this time. You feel the strength of life nearby. A visitor. “
As the spirit you play differently from the other players, and is only rarely allowed to communicate with them. A veil separates you from the living, and piercing it is difficult. Each time you wake you are overtaken by a strong urge, and each time it tells you something different.
You can barely separate the traces of yourself that remain from the void that eats at them and from the walls of your eternal prison. This is the only existence that you can remember, and you do not feel time as you once did. Every time you wake there is a glimmer of hope that this time it will be different..
The Presence has several spirit characters, and the first one the visitors will encounter is intimately connected with the house and its past history. She no longer remembers her true name, but she calls out for the living, inviting them to her domain. She knows that they can change things that she is unable to, and they also enable her to grow more powerful.
She represents duality and horror with the strong contrast of moonlight and darkness, and how she appears in light with how she really looks when seen in shadow.. As all spirits she retains shards of her humanity and imperfect memories of how it was to be alive.
As the spirit player your Script card determines how you win each game. You may want to be set free, or you may give in to the powerful urge and feed on the emotions and hopes of the living.
Thus, you may wish to help or harm the visitors, but what seems helpful from your perspective may not look like it from theirs. Regardless, you know that your chances are better if you gain their trust.
You are bound to the house and the world of the living by powerful memories of your past, your Secrets. These represent your inescapable past, still tugging at you like chains, and never letting go.
These Secrets are what the visitors attempt to uncover to win the game, and depending on how well they understand them before that determines if they can handle the horrible truths they encounter.
As the spirit you will always know your Script and your Secrets, but the visitors will not. You can attempt to communicate with them what your intentions are, but they may not always trust you.
Your Presence is what remains of your existence, and the places where you focus to reach through the veil. Your Presence is represented with dice on the board, which move independently of each other. Only where you have dice will you be able to play your Power Cards, and the higher their strength the more powerful powers can be played.
The visitors will see where you have presence and may attempt to avoid these rooms, or to trust you and approach them. You can move presence near them on your turn, but the candles they carry sap your presence as you approach. Darkness means you can approach them freely. As the visitors suffer fear you will increase your presence, making it possible to play your more powerful effects.
The 12 Power Cards in your deck allow you a total of 20 unique powers that you can use to affect the visitors, the house and other components in the game. Each spirit has its own set of cards which gives a very different experience, and brings out their separate personalities.
As the spirit you are alone and isolated from the others, but you will have slightly more advanced rules and effects. You will feel connectedness when they decipher your attempts at communicating. You will feel powerful when the truth is finally revealed, and you will feel triumph when your well laid plans come to fruition..
Best of luck.