Allow Holy Salt Chaplains Limited Communication with Ghosts [Rule Change]

[WesleySmites]

Request: Expressly allow and encourage ghosts and chaplains to communicate using the Holy Salt.

 

Justification: Chaplain can be a boring role, as can being a ghost. This change would give players of either role an enjoyable RP opportunity. In addition, this change would encourage the often-isolated chaplain to seek out other players; the chaplain could offer their help to a skeptical detective working on a cold case, a frantic chaplain could contact the paramedic to recover a hidden body in a race against the clock, or the chaplain may fall into a trap prepared by a vengeful spirit (or a traitorous chaplain could use the word of the spirits as a ploy to trap a crewmember). When I attempted this previously, I had plenty of initial engagement from a variety of ghosts, but due to either the mechanical difficulties of communication or fear of breaking the rules, communication did not continue with individuals for very long.

 

Implementation: I am not familiar with how rule changes are effectively communicated on Paradise, but wiki edits to the Chaplain or Ghost page and its inclusion in a Discord announcement come to mind. Usage of the Holy Salt presumably sends a message to ghosts; that message could include some information about this change, as well.

 

Complimentary Features: There could be some features introduced with this rule change that could enhance this experience. For example, the only existing method of communication that ghosts can use to contact the living (that I am aware of) is a binary "yes" or "no" predicated upon haunting someone or flashing a lightbulb (the meaning of both actions having first been established by the living); the use of the Holy Salt could allow shorter cooldowns on ghost abilities in a certain radius.

I do not think that communication with ghosts should evolve to a full-fledged discussion for flavor purposes (example: the mime can't "*mimics Johnny Asteroid stabbing Paperwork in the kitchen with a screwdriver"), but adding new, limited methods of communication could make the process more bearable. For example, the ghost could be equipped with a crayon (renamed and resprited to something sufficiently spooky) that allows them to occasionally write a letter, number or symbol when near a chaplain using the Holy Salt. 

 

Final Thoughts: It may not even be necessary to predicate communication with the undead upon the chaplain using the Holy Salt, but I don't know how I feel about exposing Chaplains to the wrath of a dead station if the Chaplain didn't first opt-in. Feel free to chime in with your own recommendations on this theme, I'd love to hear what else people think.

 

Edit: Apparently hitting enter when attempting to create a flair publishes the post. This thread is incomplete until I publish another edit saying otherwise.

Edit2: All done!

Edited March 11, 2021 by WesleySmites
Completed post

[Spacemanspark]

In the past, we've allowed ghosts to do very minor things that seemed to impact very little. The best example I can conjure up is the ability to spin chairs around. 

Naturally, many players found ways to abuse the potential of the system and cause all sorts of meta issues. It was eventually removed. 

As much as I enjoy the boo! verb, I sometimes feel like even that can be a bit much. Not to mention the spectral blade (fuck that thing, lord). 

As interesting as the idea is to have some sort of communication with the beyond... we, unfortunately, cannot place enough trust that the system won't be used to ruin other players rounds. 

[Veterankyl]

I have some experience with this myself. As a gimick, I asked the gods to give me a Ouija board that let ghosts spell out words one letter at a time. I asked the ghosts how they were doing. They spelt out the world CULT. Take a guess what the antag for that round. So yeah, ghosts being able to talk to the living is not a good idea, even if it's in some limited form.