Little Fears Book 3 - Blessed Are The Children

“I didn’t know what my friends would think.
We had all
seen some pretty crazy stuff, like that time Talia and I
found that dog with the tentacles sticking out of its face
going through her trash. That was freaky.
“But this was different. I had known about it forever but

was always kinda ashamed of it. I know I shouldn’t have
been but I was. I didn’t want anybody to think I was one
of them. Y’know, the monsters.
“So I hid it from them. Until the night we all went into
the woods. Me, Talia, Rhandi, and Helena. When I’m
scared, I can’t control it as well. And when that thing
with no eyes started screaming, I couldn’t hold it back.
“My whole body went numb. I started screaming just like

it was. I grabbed it with my hands and all this light shot
out of me.
“Next thing I know, it was dead. And all my friends

stood there, looking at me. Rhandi was all ‘oh my god oh
my god’ but Talia stepped up. She defended me.
“She didn’t care that I looked like a werewolf. She didn’t

know what I was, but she knew I wasn’t a monster.”
- Sophie Eberhardt, age 10

Book 3: BLESSED ARE THE CHILDREN
a guide to the strong and strange
for use with Little Fears Nightmare Edition
Written & Conceived by Cover illustration by Layout & Graphics by
Jason L Blair Veronica V. Jones Jason L Blair
Interior illustrations by
Top 3 System Designed by Grumbleputty Check Out:
Jason L Blair & Koko Chou grumbleputty.deviantart.com
Caz Granberg Jenna Fowler jennafowler.com
Susan Knowles soozart.blogspot.com
Veronica Jones vvjones.com
Published by
FunSizedGames Corwin Paradinha
REAL LIVES ARE NOT A GAME.

Amber Alert
www.amberalert.gov
National Center for
Missing & Exploited Children
www.missingkids.com
All text copyright 2014 Jason L Blair. All rights reserved.

Interior illustrations are copyright their respective artists. Used with permission.
Little Fears, Little Fears Nightmare Edition, Top 3 System, and “This Game Uses the
Top 3 System” are trademarks of Jason L Blair dba FunSizedGames.
www.littlefears.com www.funsizedgames.com
blessed
are the
children
Table of Contents
Introduction: A Spirited Approach 9
What This Supplement Is 10
What You Will Find in this Book 11
The Chapters 12
Final Note About this Book 13
Chapter One: A Light so Bright
(The Gifted) 15
Part One: How They’re Different 16
Twin Souls 17
Failed Possession 17
Spiritual Infection 17
Part Two: How That’s Good 17
Often Advanced 17
Often Empathic 18
Often Artistic 18
Part Three: How That’s Bad 18
Target of Monsters 18
Frequent, Violent Mood Swings 18
Part Four: What You Can Do 19
Astral Projection 19
Spiritual Connection 19
Part Five: Being Gifted 19
Chapter Two: A Belief so Strong
(The Faithful) 23
Deep Abiding Faith 25
Sympathetic 25
At Peace 25
Social Outcast 25
Loneliness Hurts 26
Countering Terror 26
Second Chance 27
Part Five: Being Faithful 28
Chapter Three: A Heart so Pure
(The Innocent) 31
Born this Way 32
Damaged 33
Strong-Willed 33
Belief Doesn’t Fade 33
Beacon for Monsters 33
Hard to Bounce Back 34
Regenerating Belief 34
Give Spirit to Another 34
Spirit Shield 35
Part Five: Being Innocent 36
Chapter Four: A Will so Intense
(The Cursed) 39
Their Soul Lived On 41
Kicked Out 41
Up and Left 41
Don’t Remember 41
Two Worlds 41
Don’t Have to Deal with Life Stuff 41
Monsters Don’t Attack on Sight 42
Their Former Life 42
Have to Deal with Ghost Stuff 42
Disoriented 42
Scary-Looking 43
Possession 43
Blend in with Monsters 43
Ignore Fear Bonuses 44
Part Five: Being Cursed 44
Chapter Five: A Loss so Profound
(The Soulless) 47
Botn Without 49
Withered Spirit 49
Stolen Soul 49
Soul Went Away 49
Immune to the Dark 49
Cannot be Spirit Drained 49
Feels Monsters Getting Close 49
Easier to Possess 50
No Moral Center 50
Spirit Cannot be Healed Normally 50
Belief Goes Away 50
Belief Heals Spirit 51
Trade Spirit for Belief 51
Part Five: Being Souless 52
Chapter Six: A Life so Strange
(The Changeling) 55
Monster-Born 57
Possessed 57
Enchanted 57
Half-Human Soul 57
Monster Form 57
Animal Friendship 58
Uncontrollable Outbursts 58
Get Stuck in Monster Form 58
Monster Heart 59
Become the Beast 59
Fool the Monsters 60
Part Five: Being Changeling 60
Chapter Seven: One of the Blessed 63
Blessed Child as Character 64
Part One: Blessed PCs 64
Choose the Type of Blessed 64
This is Me 65
Abilities and Traits 65
Virtues 65
Qualities 65
Stuff 65
Questionnaire for All 66
for Gifted, Faithful, and Innocent 68
for Cursed, Soulless, and Changeling 68
Part Two: Being the Blessed 69
How Blessed Children Feel 69
Unwanted Attention 69
Part Three: Powers and Prices 70
Heal Themselves with Spirit 70
Angry Jar 70
Mood Boost 71
Floating 72
Interact with the Dead 72
Part Four: Blessed as Adults 72
Chapter Eight: Ghost World 73
Part One: The World of Souls 74
When They See It 74
What They See 75
Who Lives There 75
Soul Doors 79
Part Two: Friends of the Blessed 79
Sister Emily 79
Vernon Ashe 80
Part Three: The Once Blessed 81
Gary Esposito 81
Rebecca Anne Damascos 81
Part Three: Souls Without Bodies 82
Ghosts 82
What Causes Them 83
How to Get Rid of Them 84
Spirits as Characters 85
Spirits and Health 85
Spirits and Stuff 86
Spirits and Abilities 86
Spirits and Virtues 86
Imaginary Friends 86
Part Four: Blessed Belongings 87
How it Works 87
Using a Belonging 88
Belongings Go Dark 88
Notable Belongings 88
The Book of Hymns 88
Oscar the Bulldog 89
The Big Pencil 89
The Broken Glasses 89
The Plush Buddies 90
Chapter Nine: Spirit Monsters 91
Part One: Spirit Drain Revisited 92
Drain Spirit 92
Spirit Attack 92
Part Two: Possession 93
Possessing People 93
Possessing Animals 96
Possessing Monsters 96
Possessing Things 96
What Happens After Possessing 97
Fighting Possession 98
Part Three: Mean Spirits 99
Evil Ghosts 99
Spirit Eaters 99
Part Four: Soul Hunters 100
Helter & Skelter 100
Mr. Clutches 101
Yellow Man 102
Chapter Ten: My Soul to Keep 107
Intro 108
The Scenes 110
Episode GMCs 124
The Monsters 126
Truly Blessed 127
Blessed Character Sheet 129
New Questionnaires 130
introduction:
A SPIRITED
APPROACH
introduction
T he cold, calm winds of early winter. The promise of a chilling rain. Aziza clutches the busted
top buttons of her jacket snugly. Bitter wisps find their way inside anyway. The chilled
air sprays her neck with tiny shards of ice. She quickens her pace, from a stroll to a sprint, as the
doors of the library draw closer.
Once inside, she sets her bookbag onto a table in the far corner, the one closest to the rattling
baseboard heaters. A shiver wracks her from shoulders to shoes. She keeps the jacket on.
Aziza slots some books from her sack through the plexiglass return window and heads down
the history aisles. Her report is due in two days and she still doesn’t have enough. “The Original
American Colonies” is the topic. Well, that’s everybody’s topic. Mr. Owens said to break up into
teams and choose one aspect of the colonies to write about. 1000 words, due in a week. Aziza
didn’t pair up with anybody. She doesn’t have any friends in Mr. Owens’s class.
She doesn’t have many friends at all, really. Her sister, Sitara, and her neighbor, Frankie,
but that’s really it. And Sitara is at an age where she doesn’t spend all that much time at home.
Mostly, she “studies” with Kestin. Her BFF, she claims. But Aziza knows better. She knows
Sitara really likes Kestin, in the way girls sometimes like boys, and Kestin really likes Sitara. In
that way boys sometimes like girls.
And Frankie, well. Frankie is getting weird. Frankie never wants to talk. She spends all her
time inside her house and never invites Aziza over. They’re the same age, both in Fifth Grade,
but Frankie is in Ms. Dunowitz’s class. The “smart class” as kids like to say. Mr. Owens has the
rejects. Which is certainly how Aziza feels most of the time.
“The Founding of America: Early Relationships with the Tribes, 2nd Edition.” The title seems
promising. And Aziza likes the fact the book doesn’t call them “American Indians.” She much
prefers “Native Americans” or “American Tribes.” She especially hates how people refer to her
family as “Indians. Dots, not feathers.” All that trouble because of one stupid explorer.
She takes the book to her table. Even though she sets it down as gently as she can, it still makes
a thump against the fake wood. Nobody seems to notice. Nobody else looks up anyway. She
flattens her spiral notebook and clicks out some lead from her mechanical pencil. Ready to work,
she scans the table of contents, looking for something interesting.
The table shakes. Aziza ignores it. It shakes again. Harder. Aziza looks around. The room
is still, nobody is outside. No big trucks ever ramble down this small street. The third time,
something in Aziza’s stomach turns over. Her eyes go wide, her hands shudder.
“Not now.” Aziza’s lips quivers. She feels a heat grow inside her, up her throat, toward her
mouth. It becomes hard to breathe. “No. No, not now.”
What this Supplement Is
Souls are strange. Nobody really knows how to define what a soul is. To some, it’s a
divine spark, placed inside us by an otherworldly creator. To others, it’s our connection to
the world around us, the channel through which natural energy flows. Still to others, the
soul is static energy, occasionally arcing through our mortal coils and making contact with
the world around us—the errant energy floating about in the ether.
In Little Fears Nightmare Edition, you will find no definitive answer. Philosophers and
scholars still debate and argue; many people think the soul doesn’t exist at all. Of course,
they say the same thing about monsters.
To the children in this world, the answer to “what is the soul?” doesn’t mean a whole
lot. Does it matter? Is it really so important that we need to define exactly what it is?
10
A SPIRITED APPROACH
No. What matters in the world of Little Fears is that the soul is real. And that it is
powerful. The soul is a core part of us, it defines how and how much we engage with the
world around us. A strong soul makes a person vibrant, vivacious, and empathetic. As a
soul weakens, the person loses their luster, starts to withdraw, and their interest in the
world of others wanes.
Of course, for most kids, the soul is basically an appendix. You don’t notice it—maybe
you don’t even know you have one—until it hurts and someone wants to take it out.
In fact, unless the kid has ever had real experience with the soul, there’s a fifty-percent
chance they don’t believe in souls, especially those kids who love to repeat the things that
come out of their stubborn and narrow-minded parents’ mouths.
If those kids ever met—or became—one of the characters you’ll meet in this book,
they’d have no doubts at all as to the existence of the soul. Because the kids you’ll
meet in here are different. Real different. And not because of a weird mole or a speech
impediment or the amount of cash in their family’s bank account.
No, the kids in this book have something different about their soul. For some, this gives
them powers beyond Belief. For some, it means their soul may actually belong to someone
else. You’ll meet six different types in turn, starting with the next chapter, and each one
puts a different spin on the term “blessed.”
What You Will Find in this Book
Book 3: Blessed are the Children is designed for both players and game moderators
alike. While the characters described herein are suitable for any Little Fears campaign,
they are especially designed for tales about the search for one’s true meaning and purpose.
Two of the recurring themes in this book are inner strength and identity, both of which
are incredibly important reserves to develop and maintain, no matter your age.
No Kid Should Be Too Many Things

“Can my kid be blessed and missing? I mean, blessed kids get kidnapped too,
right?”
“Can my gifted kid also be faithful? With two souls, I bet she can really believe
in God!”
You may get questions like these, and they’re fair to a point. But they also lean more
toward emulating reality than creating interesting characters for a game. While, yes,
a gifted, faithful kid may be stolen by monsters, that’s a lot of adjectives to throw
on a player character. I find it best to limit each character to One Interesting Thing.
Now, that interesting thing should be really interesting but it shouldn’t be All Things.
A good Little Fears group, in my experience, is well-rounded and the characters are
not super-awesome mega-kids. They’re regular children, or mostly regular children,
who are dealing with monsters. The less cloudy each kid, the stronger they are as a
character.
Of course, your group is completely within its rights to throw this entire section
out the window and do what they wish.
11
introduction
The Chapters
This book is divided into ten chapters that start after this introduction. The first six
chapters detail a specific type of blessed child, including how they’re different, how that’s
good, and how that’s bad. The next two chapters talk about the world around a blessed
child including people, places, and things that can help them or hurt them. The final one
is a complete standalone episode that focuses on the blessed. Here’s the rundown:
Introduction: A Spirited Approach
This is what you’re currently reading. It discusses the scope of this book and briefly
covers its contents.
Chapter One: A Light so Bright (The Gifted)
This type of blessed has not one soul but two. While this gives them incredible power, it
also means the child is never truly alone and sometimes isn’t in control.
Chapter Two: A Belief so Strong (The Faithful)
Some children attach their Belief to another power, an outside source, and are given
extra abilities because of this connection. These children are the faithful.
Chapter Three: A Heart so Pure (The Innocent)
The innocent have pure souls, ones capable of fighting off the deterioration of Belief.
But that makes them a greater target for monsters and the Spirit Eaters.
Chapter Four: A Will so Intense (The Cursed)
The cursed are the souls of children who have passed away. Like a ghost, something
holds them to this earth—something which grants them insight beyond imagining.
Chapter Five: A Loss so Profound (The Soulless)
When most children lose their souls, they become Dark. But when these children lost
their souls, Belief took over to keep them going—but Belief doesn’t last forever.
Chapter Six: A Life so Strange (The Changeling)
Some Blessed are only children on the outside. The changelings have the souls of
monsters and have to fight to keep from turning into them.
Chapter Seven: One of the Blessed
How Blessed characters are made, alternate rules for Belief, the rules for Blessings, and
a Questionnaire designed specifically for Blessed children.
Chapter Eight: Ghost World
In this chapter, we talk about how the Blessed see the world, where they can go for
help, who has their backs, and the multiple truths behind Imaginary Friends.
Chapter Nine: Spirit Monsters
This chapter details the dark side of the spirit world including those who prey upon the
Blessed such as Mr. Clutches, Helter & Skelter, and the dreaded Spirit Eaters.
Chapter Ten: My Soul to Keep
This brand-new episode takes the players on a journey to track down a monster that is
stealing the souls of children and using them to create other things.
12
A SPIRITED APPROACH
Final Note About This Book
The world presented in this book is highly fictionalized. Even though some very real
situations are referenced, detailed, or used as inspiration for some of the material within
this book, everything in here is fiction. I have kit-bashed, altered, repurposed, and flatly
made-up things in order to create a world where children fight back against the creatures
of Closetland and one where blessed kids play a particular role in that fight.
For the player and game moderator: Creating and portraying a child uncertain of his
or her own power, touching on the veracity of spirituality and souls, and setting children
put into very mortal danger can be sensitive subjects for some players and groups should
use common sense when using this material. I urge groups to discuss the impact of such
topics and themes, including the impact a Blessed character might have on the group, and
to treat all this material and each other with respect.
With all this said, please turn the page and enter a world that is both magical and
strange, one brimming with potential for wonder and threat of disaster. Welcome to the
world of the blessed.
13
they say
two’s
company
Chapter ONe:
A Light so bright
chapter one
A ziza clutches the edges of the table for support. Her senses drift in and out. The warmth
overtakes her senses, drowning her in black.
“Hello, Aziza.” The voice is low and slow, like an animal’s. It echoes inside her brain.
The girl grits her teeth. The words push through anyway. “No, not now.”
“Now, now, always now.” The voice, on the verge of laughing, grows louder.
Aziza’s left hand sweeps across the table, sending the book, her pencil, and everything else
clattering to the floor.
“No! Stop it!” Aziza’s words pitch up, high and screechy.
The group two tables over perk up. A librarian turns a corner and brings her cart to a stop.
Aziza sees none of this. Her eyes are clasped shut. She fights to regain control of her hand. The
voice inside doesn’t stop.
“I want to play! Not study! Play!”
Aziza drags her hand back to the edge of the table. She puts all her strength into her legs and
all her weight into her backside, slowly forcing herself down into her seat.
“Is something wrong, miss?” A new voice, low and sweet. Not just sweet, concerned.
The girl draws her eyes open, craning her neck upwards with the effort. Light. A little at first.
But eventually the slim face of the librarian comes into view.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Aziza says. Her words are rushed together so it sounds more like
“Imfinethankyou.”
“If you’re not feeling well, I can call your parents or perhaps 911.”
“No, I’’m—”
“Play! Play! Play!” The voice inside her. Louder. Angry now.
Aziza feels herself stand, hands still clinging to the side of the table. With a strength not her
own, she lifts the woodgrain-coated plank and, in a single smooth motion, throws the table across
the room. The people at the other tables scatter.
Aziza fights back tears, pushed out by fear. “I’m—I’m sorry.”
The librarian takes a step back, then two, then races, past her cart, toward the librarian station
near the front.
Blank, horrified faces stare at the girl. Aziza kneels down and quickly shoves her belongings
into her backpack. She knows better than to fight it. She should have left as soon as she felt the
acid bubbling up in her throat.
The librarian is on the phone as Aziza approaches. The girl sees a large man in a blue uniform,
a badge pinned near his heart, come up the basement stairs. She slides the heavy book through the
return slot and exits the library as fast as she can.
The Gifted
A gifted character is a child with two souls. The first soul is one they were born with,
same as everyone else, but the second one, well, that’s a different story—and no two kids
have the same story to tell.
Part One: How they're different
A child with two souls is, essentially, two people in one. The souls share a single physical
body that is indistinguishable from a single-souled child though the gifted often display
mood swings and other behavior that hints at something deeper going on beneath the
surface.
16
A LIGHT SO BRIGHT (the GIFTED)
Now we say “two people in one” but the child identifies as a single person. They have
one name, one set of biological parents, and one life. The other soul inhabits the body
as a freeloader, a hitchhiker, a stowaway—and will fight for control of the body at really
inopportune times.
What makes one gifted really different from another is how they got their second soul.
Twin Souls
One way a kid can end up with two souls is to have started life as a twin. At some point
during the pregnancy—perhaps early on, perhaps during delivery—the second being
became non-viable and its soul transferred into the remaining child.
A few “twin souls” talk about experiencing a “second life” at times, as if they are
glimpsing some alternate reality where their twin survived and they’re experiencing their
life. Other twin souls feel a strong sense of longing or regret and can’t explain why. Yet
others carry on hushed conversations with themselves, affecting different voices as they
converse back and forth.
Failed Possession
Another way, and one far more common than the previous, is for a child to become
possessed by a monster. The fiend in question is usually a ghost or other type of detached
spirit (the disembodied can be rather particular about how they’re categorized) who forces
their way into the human host.
Unlike standard possessions, which we’ll cover later in this book, the child’s body
somehow absorbed the offending spirit. Instead of taking over the kid, and giving the
ghost some control over the physical form, the host body shut down the intrusion. But it
didn’t get rid of the ghost—not entirely. A remnant remains, enough to be considered a
full soul, and its presence gives the child a sort of power.
Spiritual Infection
The second-most common way children end up with two souls is through infection.
Have you heard about those buttless parasites that live in your pores? They spend their
entire life on your skin—and your face is covered with them—and when they die, their
bodies burst, secreting everything they’ve ever eaten onto your skin. This can causes
blackheads and, in extreme cases, rosacea.
Now imagine, instead of those mites, we’re talking about spiritual energy. The
electrostatic remains of living creatures—people, dogs, cats, whatever. Most folks shrug
this energy off. But some are sensitive to it. Or, rather, the energy is sensitive to them.
The kids accumulate it through daily life and it builds up inside them. Even though it’s a
collection of spiritual bits from countless sources, all that energy builds up into a second
soul.
Part Two: How that's good
Having more than one soul comes with some added benefit. Let’s look each in turn.
Often Advanced
Spiritually-gifted children are commonly academically-gifted as well, often displaying
mathematical and reading acumen of a kid twice their age. They tend to read early and
have an easy time at school, at least until high school rolls around which, for some reason,
sees a marked drop-off in performance.
17
chapter one
Why are the spiritually gifted also academically gifted? It’s hard to say. Prevalent
theories suggest that the capacity of the mind is tied to the strength of spirit so the more
spirit you have, the higher your learning potential.
Often Empathic
Gifted children are especially attuned to the feelings of other children. They can quickly
discern a peer’s mood—whether angry, excited, happy, anxious, whatever—even if the
subject isn’t visible to the gifted child.
They are also kind and thoughtful, going to great lengths to comfort a friend in pain. In
the extreme, a gifted child experiences a sympathetic reaction to another’s turmoil. This
can happen when far away from an emotionally-close friend or relative.
As with being academically gifted, above, there’s no great answer for why two-souled
children are more empathic than others. But they most assuredly are.
Often Artistic
Gifted children usually take to artistic expression whether it’s acting, music, illustration,
or painting. Certainly not everyone who is gifted at personal expression has two souls but
the Gifted seem to have a natural inclination and proficiency beyond a regular child.
Part Three: How that's bad
Would anyone really say having two souls is great? Probably not. But the downside of
this condition may not be readily apparent. As with any of the blessed, the gifted have
their struggles.
Target of Monsters
Once he has realize what happened, a kid may have such a hard time coping with it
that their soul suffers. The kid becomes so depressed that he goes dark so quickly that the
shadows literally swallow him up. The child wakes up in Closetland with no idea how he
got there and no idea how to get back home. When he comes to, he is nearly despondent,
his Spirit wavering between 2 and 0, almost completely disconnected from the world.
Frequent, Violent Mood Swings
In addition to being socially acute—perhaps even because of it—gifted children can
suffer from sudden severe mood swings. A child who is placidly playing in his room one
moment but begin throwing toys against the wall with no seeming provocation. Parents
will often turn to medicine or counseling to analyze and correct this behavior but there’s
really nothing to be done.
What’s happening is that the second soul and the first soul are fighting. The conflict
isn’t as clear but as “soul one wants to play” and “soul two wants to break stuff.” Really, the
internal struggle is almost always about control—and this causes the brain to go all weird
and for the body to freak out in some strong manner.
Strange Side Effect
Whenever a gifted uses a power, whether particular to their type of blessed or one of
the general abilities, they experience a side effect—and it’s the same effect every time. This
side effect manifests as a physical pain or condition. Common ones include severe
headaches, blisters, sudden bleeding, and temporary loss of vision.
18
Part Four: What You Can Do
Now, being gifted—or being any kind of blessed—is about a lot more than good or bad
traits: it’s about what you can do. That’s what every type of blessed has in common: the
ability to do stuff. Stuff that other kids can’t do—even using Belief. The blessed can use
their very soul in the fight against monsters. Here’s what the gifted can do.
Astral Projection
That’s what the “science fact or fiction” shows call it anyway. The gifted are able to
“release” their second soul and allow it to roam free. By resting somewhere quietly, the
gifted grants their second soul temporary freedom to move around. The gifted guides the
soul through rooms, around corners, wherever the kid wants their second soul to go. This
soul is invisible to most kids and adults. Other gifted can spot these souls, as can most
animals. Dogs will stand their ground and bark at the spirits while cats prefer to flee the
rooms suddenly.
The gifted can see and hear through their second soul but no other senses are available.
Even if the child cannot normally hear or see, they can through this second soul. The
roaming spirit can travel up to thirty feet from its body and, like traditional ghosts, is not
bound by walls or doors. The resting body is in a haze and is not aware of what’s going on
around it so it’s best for the gifted to have a friend or two on lookout while doing this.
The downside is that the second soul may attempt to escape. As a general rule, these
souls behave themselves 9 times out of 10. On that tenth time, though, they’ll make a
break for it. When the spirit attempts to free itself, the gifted is struck a sudden intense
pain, like white-hot electricity racing up and down their spine. To recall the spirit back
to the host body, the gifted must succeed at a Care Quiz against a 9. Failure to do that,
empowers the spirit. Using the same stats as the gifted character, the second soul will
Fight against the host body. The gifted character must beat the spirit in a Fight test to
maintain control of it. Failing this check causes 2d6 damage to the gifted character but
the soul does not get away. It never can. But that doesn’t mean it won’t try.
Spiritual Connection
Because of all that extra spiritual energy, the gifted are able to project their soul into
other people. By placing their hands on a person, the gifted creates a link with that
person. Then, simply by will (if the person doesn’t resist), the gifted stirs up their second
soul and imagines that energy traveling from their body, through their hand, and into the
other person. Guided by the mind’s eye, the spirit flows into another’s body.
If the person does resist (aside from “protesting with their fists”), the subject can use
their Care to prevent the gifted from the making the connection. If the subject succeeds,
the gifted can’t establish a connection and that’s it. But this doesn’t prevent the gifted
from trying again.
When a connection is made, the gifted can get a “reading on the person.” This reading
must be focused on a question regarding the person’s physical or psychological state. This
focus could be “Is this person sick?” or “Why is this person so upset?” Rooting around in
the old soul closet will dredge up a visualization of the answer. For instance, if the subject
has a severe illness, the gifted will get a vision of a towering monster with the word
“cancer” carved into its forehead. Or, if the subject is feeling embarrassed about something
19
chapter one
they did, the gifted sees the event where the subject embarrassed themselves play out,
possibly as a puppet show or cartoon. These visions tend to be strange as they are filtered
through the mind of the subject—not the gifted.
Minor Healing
The gifted can heal minor damage done to others. By spending a point of Spirit, they
can heal two points of damage, to a total of four points healed. This can only be done if
the wounded is has acquired no more than ten points worth of wounds.
Part FIVE: Being gifted
What’s it like to be gifted? You wake up each morning the same as anybody else. You
brush your teeth, comb your hair, eat your breakfast, and grab your books for school. You
sit through classes, take tests, groan over homework, hang out with your friends, scarf
down as much lunch as you can in twenty minutes, repeat and repeat five days a week.
You sleep in on Saturday.
But throughout it all, through every waking minute, you feel a pull inside you.
Something questions your every decision, something splits your focus and energy. You
never feel settled. You never feel relaxed. Not fully. Not really.
Late at night, you clutch your pillow against your chest and fight back sobs that seem
to come from nowhere. You watch your hand move of its own accord—like it’s its own
thinking thing—and sometimes that hand tries to hurt you. Sometimes it tries to hurt
the people you love. Sometimes it’s not a hand, but a foot. Your best friend tumbles to the
ground, face-first onto concrete. As you help him up, you see your foot jutting out into his
path. You didn’t mean to trip him. But you didn’t mean to not trip him.
You fight back strange feelings—anger, hatred, love, joy—that seem to belong to
someone else. Someone nicer than you, maybe. You hugged a woman you didn’t know in
the middle of the mall that one time. You have no idea why. Someone darker than you,
maybe. You lunged at a kid you didn’t know outside a Bullseye store one time. You have
no idea why. The first time you ever heard the guitar riff from your mom’s favorite song,
you recreated it perfectly. Is that a talent you have—or your other soul has?
You share your life with someone else. Someone you can never be rid off.
20
“It was at Jenneca David’s birthday party.”

Jenneca was turning twelve; I was still ten. My sister was friends with Jen more than me
but I got invited because my parents were going to see a movie and didn’t want to pay for
a sitter. Yay, right?
Anyway, the party had been going on for a while. We had already sung the song and
eaten the cake and Jen was getting ready to open presents. That’s when somebody started
screaming in the backroom. Nobody had any clue what happened so we all ran there.
Turns out it was Jenneca’s little brother, Reese. He had fallen off a chair—after doing
who knows what. His eyes were spitting tears and his lip was shaking and he was rolling
around going “Ow ow ow ow ow!” and grabbing his arm.
Mrs. David came in and checked him out and she was convinced that he’d broken his
arm. She said she was gonna have to call off the party and stuff because she’d have to take
him to the hospital to get patched up.
Everybody was bummed about that because all sorts of stuff was planned for after the
presents. Jenneca especially was really mad. She had it in her head that turning twelve was
some super big deal and was on the verge of throwing a fit and—
Well. That’s when I did it. I just walked over to Reese, put my hand on his head and did
my thing. It didn’t take long at all for Reese to feel better. He was so confused by what
happened, he just popped right up and started climbing something else. The rest of room,
though, they couldn’t take their eyes off me.
I don’t know why my palm always bleeds when I do it but, trust me, it’s way freakier for
you than it is for me. I guess I’m used to it. It doesn’t even leave a scar or anything after
it’s done. It’s really weird.
I think that’s what scared everyone at the party. My sister’s other friend, Debbie, called
me a “hellspawn” which is a pretty terrible name for a kid who just saved a birthday party.
Jenneca’s older brother was really impressed and said I was super cool. That’s nice.
The party broke up soon after. I don’t know why but Mrs. David called everyone’s
parents while Jenneca opened gifts and we ended up getting picked up third.
Now that I think of it, my sister and Jenneca don’t really talk all that much anymore.
And I saw Mr. David and Reese at the store about three weeks later and Reese called out
my name but Mr. David’s eyes went big and he dragged them both to the other side of
the store.
Huh. Some people are just weird, I guess.
21
something
to
guide them
Chapter Two:
A Belief so Strong
(the Faithful)
chapter TWO
T“Hello,
he pencil flies out of her hands, involuntarily. The big book slams shut. Aziza can’t see them
but she knows they are there. They always have a way of finding her.
girl.” A breath in her ear, like a fireplace crackling, slowly consuming dry wood.
“Go away!” The girl’s voice comes out harsher than intended. A boy at another table looks at
her, strangely.
“ You cannot wish us away.”
“We always will find you.” A second voice, even deeper than the first. Darker. Bigger.
Aziza closes her eyes and takes three slow breaths. Her fingers grasp for the polished stone
around her neck. She feels the curves of the golden aum inscribed on it.
“They cannot help you here. They cannot see us.”
“And when you leave, we will be waiting.”
The monsters speaks together, their voices overlapping. One voice becomes dominant while the
other fades and then vice versa. The words echo like the principal’s microphone during a pep rally.
Aziza imagines a peaceful place. A field of bright green grass and beautiful flowers. She
imagines herself in that field, smelling the honey-sweet air and feeling the warm dirt beneath
her bare feet.
“She’s going somewhere,” one of them says.
“We’ll bring her back,” the other answers, its voice even deeper and darker than before.
Yellow light flickers from Aziza’s eyes. Her lids rise slowly. She is no longer in control. Words
tumble from her throat. Her lips but not her voice. Chairs scrape against the library floor as
others take notice. Aziza raises her hands, holds them in the air for a second, and then brings
them down hard on the table’s fake-wood surface.
The entire table bursts into light. The monsters screech and wail in agony. The girl’s words
grow louder, looping, becoming a mantra.
The monsters scramble, invisible in the daylight, but Aziza finds them. One hand each around
their throats. Their voices are rougher now, gasping for air. With a twitch, the monsters burst
into nothing. Not even the faintest wisp of smoke.
The teenagers at the next table over gawk at the girl, like they’re watching someone have a fit
or some kind of breakdown. Aziza doesn’t see them.
All Aziza sees is a field of flowers, the summer sun, and a smiling, gentle face on the other side
of the prairie.
The Faithful
A faithful character has a strong belief that someone or something exists above humans,
a being or force or some other entity that has influence on our lives and who rewards
servitude. For most faithful, this being is God or Allah. Many children are raised in the
Judeo-Christian and Muslim faiths and taught early on that He is watching and guiding
them. Some kids go through the motions—attending church, saying Grace—but a few
find a true connection to this faith. They are the faithful.
Lots of people believe in something greater, including many children. But the faithful
feel something deep down in their bones—no, deeper than that. The feeling of something
else reaches through them and clutches their very soul. And by focusing on that
connection, the faithful can unleash strange powers and take advantage of their Spirit in
ways other kids cannot.
24
A BELIEF SO STRONG (the FAITHFUL)
Deep Abiding Faith
This is the number one differentiator. This is what separates the faithful from the others
in the biggest way. This is not to say kids who aren’t technically “faithful” are heathens or
can’t be Christians or anything like that. It’s just that the faithful have a deeply profound
connection with their beliefs that most people in this world will never truly understand.
Now, what that truly means depends on the family and culture the faithful belongs
to. It’s probably no big shock to anybody that most faithful come from homes built
on a strong religious foundation. But that’s not always the case. Some start along their
path through exposure from friends or extended family. They may hear the good word
through afterschool activities at a local community center. Most of those routes lead to a
formalized belief of some sort. If not a set of absolute dogmatic truths, at least a general
philosophy.
Some kids, though, they find a connection to a higher power on their own. They
observe the world around them, see connections, generate ideas and questions, and build
their own answers and conclusions.
While that belief structure may seem strange to those who adhere to the more common
tenets, it’s no less real to the child and the belief can be just as strong.
When we’re talking about faithful, it’s not what you believe that matters but how
strongly you believe.
The faithful are often the wall upon which their friends lean. They have an aura about
them that makes the bedrock of many friendships.
Sympathetic
Faithful have the best shoulders to cry on. They’re always there with a hug or a
handshake (depending on which you need), a word of encouragement, a pat on the back,
or whatever you need to feel better or like you just took on the world and won. The
faithful are deeply sympathetic to others, both their failures and successes, and have no
problems showing it. The faithful get an automatic Passing Grade if they succeed in a
Care roll.
At Peace
The faithful are slow to anger, loath to get into people’s faces, and are otherwise
generally laid back. They let off a very calm, serene vibe most of the time. While this may
seem put-upon, it’s actually quite sincere. The connection that the faithful feel gives them
peace. They have, in at least some small way, given themselves to another power.
Having a deep, unwavering belief in something can be an amazing, life-affirming
attribute, but the faithful—whose abilities are greater than most—pay a special price.
Social Outcast
Most of the modern world is quite friendly to religion, especially in America. You see
churches of different denominations throughout most US towns. References to “God”
appear in the current Pledge of Allegiance, all over the news, and even on money. But
25
chapter TWO
that doesn’t mean the kids on the playground are really all that keen on listening to their
classmate recite her favored passages from the Book of John or the weirdo from Mrs.
Skarka’s class go on and on about the Sky Man and his Cloud Army.
There is, in most of society, a bit of a stigma about being really into, well, anything but
especially religion where people generally don’t like having their own faiths challenged.
This isn’t to say that the faithful proselytize non-stop to their Nature Scout troop and
anyone not wearing earbuds on the bus. A lot of faithful are quite reserved, partially
because they feel their connection to what they believe is fragile. Like the powers they
have are a gift reserved for those who aren’t showy about it. Other faithful wear their
belief on their sleeves—or at least around their necks. Or on their shirts. Throughout
history, different faiths have used symbols to identify each other, and that hasn’t changed.
The downside to broadcasting a religious affiliation, though, is that others who like to
pick on folks because of what those people believe can more easily find their targets.
So, whether by introversion or outward display, the faithful often must deal with being
on the outside of social circles.
Loneliness Hurts
Faith has a hidden cost in Little Fears: it’s draining. Putting out that much empathy,
care, and concern into the world takes its toll. In order to not be driven into a deep funk,
the faithful must connect with others. They have to spend playing with kids, talking with
adults, going to social functions, doing homework with friends.
That isn’t to say all faithful kids are extroverts. Far from it. That is why they always do
better when attentive friends help them crawl out of their shells, when parents push them
to go do “fun stuff,” and when some kind soul reaches for them at the school dance.
Allowed to withdraw into themselves, the faithful start to exhibit signs of depression,
they start to have “bad thoughts,” and they may even be at risk for madness. Now, it’s not
their faith doing that to them but isolation.
All that caring, consoling, and comforting the faithful are known for? It takes a lot out
of them.
The faithful, like the rest of the blessed, have abilities beyond your regular kid. That’s
what every type of blessed has in common: the ability to do stuff. Stuff that other kids
can’t do—even using Belief. The blessed can use their very soul in the fight against
monsters. Here’s what the gifted can do.
Countering Terror
Using their faith to bolster them, a faithful child can use their Spirit to directly damage
a monster’s Terror. It goes likes this: the child must have an object or focus for their faith
in their hands or, at the very least, in their heart. This can be a totem, symbol, book, or
other object related to an organized religion or a clear mental image of whatever the
child believes in. By focusing, the child stirs up their soul into a reckoning force. By then
directing that faith toward a target, the monster must make a successful Fight check
against a 15 in order to not lose a point of Terror. If the faithful child wants to boost that
even further, they can risk a check. Rolling Care against a target of 15, the child may
attempt to increase the strength of their faith. Succeeding increases the monster’s target
26
number to 18. If there are any Passing Grades, those become additional points of Terror
the monster ticks off. This can be pretty effective against the minions of Closetland.
But if the child fails, their faith is shaken and there’s no effect at all.
Whether the faithful attempts the boost or not, the act of using faith to battle monster
requires focus. In fact, the focus needed is so intense, so absolute, the child is oblivious to
the world around them. Any faithful child attempting this cannot take any defensive or
evasive actions. They can stand, pray, and focus. That’s it. If they want to act, they need to
break focus in order to do it.
Second Chance
One of the most amazing abilities any of the blessed possess—probably the one that
could be called a miracle—is the faithful’s ability to renew life. Now, they cannot raise
their deceased uncle or create an army of zombies (though some kids certainly wish they
could) but the faithful can bring small animals and other creatures back from the dead.
All things in the world of Little Fears (besides some monsters) have souls and, as long
as the soul hasn’t had enough time to leave its host body, the faithful can call the spiritual
energy back into its body. The reconnection of flesh and soul heals the creature but only
enough to bring it back. Cuts, scrapes, and bruising all heal with no ill effect. Broken
bones also mend but they are tender, and the creature will likely limp or favor one paw
over the other for a while.
27
chapter TWO
There are limitations to this. The animal can’t have been dead for longer than thirty
minutes or so. And if they are too severely damaged, such as being squashed flat, they’ll
likely only last a handful of minutes. Also, the creature must be mostly whole. They can be
missing an eye (it may or may not grow back; the power is fickle that way) but not a head.
This power, while potent, only works once per creature. Period. Even miracles have their
limits.
Part FIVE: Being FAITHFUL
You wake up each day with a confidence and purpose most will never feel. You are
assured, you are strong, you are thankful for life. Obstacles, though frustrating, are tests
placed there to help you grow and to help you learn.
The monsters are challenges to your faith. Maybe the Bogeyman is the Devil. Maybe
he’s not. Maybe that doesn’t matter. The Bogeyman is real, and he and his monsters are a
present evil in this world. For that, you must fight. Because you are a force of good. And
no evil may be suffered to live while you are still able to fight.
Others turn to you for guidance, spiritual and otherwise, and you provide it where and
when you can. You may be a person who attempts to convert others to your faith or you
may not be. If you belong to an organized religion, this decision may be based on the
tenets and traditions it observes. But a lot of it comes down to who you are as a person.
You may be introverted or outgoing like any other kid. You may want to tell everyone
your point of view or you may not want to get involved with the beliefs of other people.
When confronted by monsters, your faith makes you strong. You know that it will work
out—according to a bigger plan or maybe because you know whatever you believe in will
protect you.
You almost certainly have others with which to share your faith. That gives you a sense
of community and support for when things go bad, yes, but also to celebrate all the good.
28
“My dad goes to church more than Mom.”

Maybe that’s one of the reasons they don’t live together anymore. I don’t know. But
it doesn’t really matter because I get to see them both a lot. With my mom, it’s mostly
outdoorsy stuff that we do. She likes camping and hiking and stuff like that. She calls my
dad a “homebody” some days and a “couch potato” on other days. Whatever. When those
two talk about each other, I like to tune them out.
It was at my mom’s that I saw Mr. Chucky. That’s his name now anyway. I don’t know
what happened to him. He wasn’t squashed or anything so I don’t think he was hit by a
car. And his guts weren’t laying all out on the sidewalk which is what usually happens
when an animal is attacked by something. He was just lying there. Like he was sleeping.
But he wasn’t sleeping. I know that because sleeping people’s souls look different. When
you’re awake, your soul is all bright and yellow. Or blue. Or sometimes purple. I don’t
know why some people have some color souls and other people have other color souls.
But they do.
When you’re sleeping though your soul becomes all see-through. It’s still colored but I
can see stuff through it.
Dead things have souls that look like dried mud. When they have souls, I mean. If I see
something dead and it doesn’t have a soul anymore that’s when I know it’s been dead a
while. I reckon it takes about two or three days of being dead to lose your soul but I’m just
guessing.
Mr. Chucky still had a soul so I knew he hadn’t been dead too long. Which mean we
could still be friends. Or we could have if he hadn’t run off like he did. I looked over him,
said a prayer, and wished for God to fix Mr. Chucky. And He did. But Mr. Chucky must
have seen something that scared him because as soon as his legs started twitching, he ran
straight for a tree. Didn’t even bother to say “Thank you.”
I know squirrels can’t talk to actually say “Thank you” but I really wish they did.
29
a will
of
its own
Chapter Three:
A Heart so Pure
(the Innocent)
chapter three
A ziza takes a long, deep breath and waits.
A series of slow, purposeful footsteps. A sharp knock on the table.
Aziza looks up and sees the librarian standing over her.
“Hello, Miss Shekar.” The older woman’s voice is soft and sweet. Too soft. Too sweet.
“Um, hello?”
The woman leans across the table until their eyes are even. Her thin lips slowly turn into a
one-sided smile.
“Did you think you could hide from me?”
It takes Aziza a moment to realize this isn’t the librarian after all. Something about the lady’s
face is inhuman. Then the girl sees something moving behind the woman’s eyes. A snake or a
worm or something thin and slimy-looking.
“I have been waiting so very long to get you alone.”
The woman’s hot breath brings beads of sweat to Aziza’s forehead. The girl looks around but
none of the other patrons seem to notice. It’s just the friendly librarian talking to the weird girl.
“Go away.” Aziza draws a breath between each syllable. She’s dealt with this kind of monster
before.
The librarian’s hands extend into thin blades. They scrape across the table, creating winding
curls of fake wood.
“Why are you so strange, little girl? Why are you so weird? It must be so very lonely being you.
It must be so hard being a freak.” The woman spits that last word.
Aziza stands, clutching her backpack. Her eyes don’t leave the monster’s glare.
“Where are you going? Somewhere to cry? You have nowhere to go, Aziza. Nobody loves you.
Nobody will save you.”
The girl take a breath. Adjusts her backpack. It’s her turn to smile.
“ You call me a freak?” The girl laughs. Loud. Too loud. “ You know nothing about me.”
The girl slams her fist onto the table. A bubble of energy erupts from her fingers. The librarian
tumbles backwards, tripping over her cart. Aziza scoops up her books and rushes from the
library, not looking back as the monster slowly, unsteadily gets to its feet.
The Innocent
Most children lose Belief as they get older. It's a by-product of maturation, a natural
consequence of growing older, of becoming more familiar with the accepted, rational laws
of the “real world.” But not the innocent. An innocent character has a soul that practically
shines through their skin. It resists the sullying of cynicism, the patina of practicality. It is
their saving grace but it can also put their lives at risk.
Every living creature has a soul. As with the flesh and mind, the soul grows, matures,
can become damaged, can change and wither and be strengthened. An innocent child’s
soul can be damaged, can even turn dark, but it does not go away. They have the strongest,
most resilient souls of all the blessed and of all kids, period.
Born this Way
Most innocent are born with exceptional souls. There’s no deeper reason, no big event,
no great trauma that caused their spirits to become super-resilient. These children have
always been strong-willed (or bull-headed, some might say).
32
A HEART SO PURE (the INNOCENT)
Damaged
Lastly, some innocent have souls that were damaged through trauma, abuse, or some
other scarring event where their spirit had two options: wither or thrive. When the soul
withers, become soulless. When the spirit thrives, they become innocent.
Being innocent seems pretty great. The magic spark that gives life to Belief never fades.
Not even when the kid is fully grown.
Strong-Willed
An Innocent doesn’t lose Belief. That’s not to say they don’t Spend Belief or can’t lose
Belief through a failed risk. But they can get that Belief back by spending Spirit.
The mechanics behind this are covered later in this chapter but how that plays in the
fiction of the game is what’s important here. Innocent kids are much less susceptible to
bullying and peer pressure than regular kids.
What defines an innocent is the strength of their soul, and this strength manifests in
more ways that game mechanics.
Belief Doesn’t Fade
Innocents don’t lose Belief due to growing up. Every year, their age goes up a number
(and they get an extra point to assign to Abilities) but their Belief never goes down.
When creating an innocent character, give them 7 points of Belief.
Yes, game-wise, as innocents get older they become bigger and badder threats to the
monsters of Closetland. Which is good because the monsters will come looking for them.
When innocents turn 13 years of age, though, they should still be retired as player
characters. They can become powerful allies in the fight against monsters, but they will
have to do as Game Moderator Characters.
An innocent’s soul is strong. It’s Teflon and kevlar all rolled into one but it also comes
with doozies of downsides.
Beacon for Monsters
The soul of an innocent is the most delicious offering on the spiritual buffet. And it
calls to monsters like a crying baby. Monsters—no matter their stripe, creed, or origin—
can smell an innocent from miles away. Literally. You’ll have to ask a monster what an
innocent’s soul smells like (or whatever any soul smells like) but creatures get on these
kids like a beagle tracking a squirrel.
An innocent may attract so many monsters that the beasts will start fighting amongst
themselves to see which one gets to claim them! An innocent will have a dickens of a
time losing the trail of a monster. If an innocent can find a strong odor to hide in, or to
cover themselves with, that’s good. But it’d have to be something like skunk juice squirted
at point blank range or a mound of fresh cow dung. The GM gets to decide how much
is enough and she can then roll to see if the monster loses the scent. (Use the monster’s
Chase against a 9, 12, or 18 depending on how well you figure the kid’s scent is masked.)
If you’re looking for an upside to this, keep in mind that an innocent would make
excellent bait to lure to a monster into a trap.
33
chapter three
Hard to Bounce Back
Another side effect of an innocent’s quirk is that it’s much harder for their Spirit to
recover from going Dark. When an innocent is attacked by a spirit draining monster or
magical ability, cross off any lost points per usual. But take note that their Spirit isn’t truly
drained. Unlike a regular kid, they still have those points of Spirit but the points have
been sullied. Bits of their soul didn’t go away, they became tainted.
Here’s another way to think of it: Pretend you have a 10 ounce glass of water in front of
you. This liquid represents a kid’s Spirit. When a normal kid is hit with spirit drain, you’d
pout out that liquid. One ounce per point. Should the glass reach half-empty, the kid is at
risk because half of their soul is gone. As they lose more, they lose the capacity of speech,
thought, etc. As a regular child’s Spirit is recovered, you add an ounce back into the glass
for every point. With enough time and care, you’ll have a full glass again. Throughout this
process, the amount of water changes but the liquid remains water.
Now, take that same 10 ounce glass of water. This time, it represents an innocent child’s
soul. Instead of dumping out an ounce for every point of Spirit lost, put in a drop of black
dye. For every point lost, add another drop. That clear liquid will slowly become cloudy,
murky, muddy, until eventually you can’t see through it at all. In this case, the kid didn’t
lose any water so you can’t just add more into the glass to fix this. (Well, you could but
you’d have a mess on the counter.)
What this means is, the innocent child has a much harder road back to recovery. They
don’t regain Spirit points as fast. In fact, the difficulty for both a friend caring for the
innocent child and the kid caring for himself is bumped to 18. And Belief cannot help
with this.
The innocent not only have the strongest souls in the world of Little Fears, they also
have incredible control over it.
Regenerating Belief
The innocent have the ability to turn their Spirit into Belief. Innocent characters risk
and spend Belief the same as everyone else, losing Belief per the rules in the main book.
But unlike other kids, they can trade up to three points of Spirit per game to get Belief
back. No roll is necessary but that any Spirit spent is marked as lost.
For every point of Spirit spent, the innocent gets two points of Belief. The character
can never have more Belief than they started with. This takes a severe physical toll on the
innocent, the same as giving Spirit below. While this can be highly effective, the slowness
with which the innocent regain Spirit should be taken into consideration.
Give Spirit to Another
Since their soul can bounce back from pretty much anything, the innocent are one of
the rare kids who can put their Spirit into other kids. By doing this, the innocent can heal
a child who is growing Dark, even another innocent.
Rolling a Care test, the player needs beat a difficulty of 12. On a basic success, their
innocent child can heal one point of Spirit in another kid. They can also heal another
point for every Passing Grade, up to the amount of Spirit lost in the child.
34
This action takes a huge toll on the innocent. While their soul will be fine, their body
needs time to recuperate. For every point of Spirit they healed in another child, the
innocent must rest one hour of game time. If they can’t (or won’t) do so, every action is -3
in addition to any other modifiers that may come into play.
However many points of Spirit an innocent puts into another, the innocent marks that
many as Dark.
Spirit Shield
Another trick that innocent kids can pull is creating a force field with their Spirit. Their
soul is so strong and so powerful, the innocent can use it to keep monsters at bay. This is
done as a Care test against the monster’s Grab or Chase (depending on what it’s trying to
do).
The bubble is big enough to protect 3-4 kids huddled together. For the first couple
minutes, no monsters can get into the bubble, though they are free to stand just outside it,
waiting. After that, the monsters can try to get inside. Start with a difficulty number of 18
for any attacks against the bubble, decreasing the number by 3 every couple minutes. The
Spirit shield gets you out of immediate trouble but you can’t hide behind it forever.
Instead of creating a bubble around themselves, an innocent character can choose to
blast the bubble at the monster. This should be treated like a standard attack, doing the
lowest Success Die in damage (along with any bonuses from Passing Grades).
35
chapter three
Part FIVE: Being INNOCENT
Being called an “innocent” can conjure up some pretty unflattering images. Those who
know the lingo may think of you as naive, or simple, or just plain dumb. But you’re not.
Or, rather, your intelligence and general savviness has nothing to do with your soul being
strong.
You have a will and a resolve that often gets you into trouble. It’s like something takes
over your body and makes it so you can’t back down from trouble. At times, it’s like you
just don’t feel fear—even when you really, really should. We’re not talking about the
supernatural fear that you feel when facing monsters. Monsters are still bad news and
even you know that. What we’re talking about here are times when you should really
not ride your bike over that ravine but you do anyway. Or when a bully comes up to you
because he thinks you look dumb or have money or whatever it is bullies come up with
to push around other kids. When others choose to run, you often stand your ground,
sometimes to ruinous results.
Because you don’t just stand there. You egg on danger. It’s weird because you can see
yourself doing it at a distance, like an out of body experience. You may be screaming
“Walk away! Walk away!” in your head but what you’re saying out loud is “Oh yeah? You
and what army, idiot?” And while you see that steep drop just waiting for you to tumble
over, something deep inside you pushes you to keep going. Black eyes and broken bones
are something for future you to worry about.
36
“It was Tuesday. I remember because I had
band practice.”
I was walking down Cloverleaf like I always do. It’s that cul de sac by Jefferson Middle
School. I’m still at Brantley Elementary but we practice at Frankie’s house which is near
that other school.
Anyway, I was at the end of the turnaround—I cut through the yards there to get to my
street—when I heard some growling. Honestly, I thought it was one of those yappy dogs
in the red house who always bark at everything they see. But I realized that growl was
deeper than those dogs. I don’t know if you’ve heard them but they’re really high-pitched.
This was low, like a big dog.
I turned around and saw it. Not a dog exactly but something that looked an awful
lot like one. It was covered in mud and dirt and something really drippy, like oil or
something. I almost dropped my guitar case, I was so scared. But I didn’t. Instead, I picked
it up like a football and ran as fast as I could.
I heard that thing behind me, getting louder and louder, and I didn’t even dare look
back. I reckoned I didn’t have a second to lose when it came time getting away from that
thing.
Turns out I was right. I felt that beast slam into me so hard, I couldn’t breathe. I
dropped my case and my glasses went flying. I had almost made it to the road. I tried
to get up but I felt the thing climb on top of me. All the gunk that was on it was now
dripping all over me. Disgusting.
I tried to flip myself around, to get a better look at the thing, but it was heavy. Heavier
than my older brother and, trust me, that guy is BIG. I did the only thing I could think to
do: I started kicking and punching and rolling around.
This must have startled it because I managed to slip away a bit. Somehow during this
I had managed to turn myself around because now I could see it. Up close, I could see it
had huge patches were there was only bone. That’s also when I realized this thing had six
legs. I had no clue what this thing was but it was pretty obvious it wanted me for dinner.
It jumped at me and I freaked. Everything played out like slow-mo. It was on the
ground and pulling itself back and then it was up in the air, legs out, mouth open. I
remember screaming and then seeing something—like a light or flash—come out of
me. I closed my eyes, hoping this whole thing would just be over, when I heard it smack
something, yelp, and hit the ground.
I opened my eyes slowly and that’s when I saw I was inside some bubble. Some big
glowing bubble. I had never seen it before—it was so weird. The creature was on the
ground, shaking its head. I didn’t waste any time. I didn’t worry about my glasses or guitar;
I just got up to run.
And that’s when I saw this little girl staring at me, her jaw about on the floor. If I hadn’t
been so terrified I probably would’ve laughed when she said, “Oh man. What are you?”
37
a soul
without
a home
Chapter four:
A Will so Intense
(the Cursed)
chapter FOUR
A ziza stands suddenly, as if forced onto her feet. Cold rushes through her entire body. She
tastes blood on her lip. Looking down, she sees drops of red drip slowly from her chin to her
hands, which flicker in and out of existence. A nose bleed. She hasn’t gotten one of these in what
seems like years. The scraping of a chair draws her out of herself. She looks at where she had been
sitting. Someone else is there now.
“Excuse me?” Aziza tries her best to be polite.
The girl doesn’t respond. Another person, a boy, takes another seat at the table. They set up their
laptops, talking amongst themselves.
“Excuses me?” Her voice is louder now.
The two bring out notebooks and pens. One turns to the other.
“It’s cold in here,” the boys says. The girl agrees.
Aziza crosses the table, standing in front of them, and tells them she was sitting there. The girl
cracks an algebra book as the boy opens a copy of Billy Budd, Sailor.
Aziza slams her hand on the table and gasps as it goes right through the fake wood top. She
stumbles back, almost falling over. She takes a moment to collect herself. Images flash in her
memory. The screeching of a car. The droning of hospital machines.
The girl with the math book stands, asks the boy if he wants a drink. He does, and the two
head off toward the coffee shop.
Aziza doesn’t remember the coffee shop. It wasn’t there a moment ago, she’s sure of it. But there
it is now: a glass facade, a bunch of high tables and stools. An older man with a green apron
takes the pair’s order, smiling.
That’s when Aziza remembers.
She’s not here anymore. Not really.
She looks around the library. At all the warm bodies gathered around their tables, studying,
talking. The aisles of books age slowly before her, almost imperceptibly. Minor wear marks,
scratches, the order of books change.
The screeching of a car. The droning of hospital machines.
Solemnly, Aziza goes to gather her things but they are all gone. Really, they had never been
there. Not now anyway. Once, yes, but not now.
Aziza takes a moment to flatten her clothes and breathe before heading out.
As she walks toward the front door, Aziza brushes against the librarian. The old woman
shivers at her touch.
The Cursed
The cursed are souls without bodies. While once a living, breathing human beings,
something happened that pushed their soul out their body. They now wander the real
world, as much human as not, looking for a way to finally leave this world, to get a new
body with which to experience life again, or to reclaim the body and life that was stolen
from them.
The cursed have no bodies. They are souls, ghosts, phantoms, revenants, or whatever you
want to call them. Unlike the monstrous versions of those creatures though, the cursed
retain their humanity. They are still kids, still have Belief, and can still fight the monsters
of Closetland, if perhaps a little differently than others.
40
A WILL SO INTENSE (the CURSED)
Their Soul Lived On
The most common type of cursed child is also the most unfortunate. When a body
dies, its spirit is supposed to go away. Or go somewhere. The particulars are best left up to
debate. But that’s not what happened here. The child’s body died but its soul stuck around,
roaming the earth with no home to go back to. These children tend to have a harder time
adapting to change, new trends in fashion or television shows. Part of them remains fixed
in the time they were present while alive.
Kicked Out
Not all cursed children have bodies that stopped working. This kind was booted from
their mortal coil by someone or something else. Most likely, another soul—maybe even
another cursed—moved into their body through possession. But instead of becoming a
gifted child, the second spirit was strong enough to kick the first one out. This makes the
old body now a changeling and the booted spirit a cursed child. This blessed business can
get messy quickly.
Up and Left
It’s quite possible the cursed child decided to leave its body of its own volition. This is
an incredibly difficult decision to make (and should only ever be a backstory; no character
should do this during the game thus splitting one character into both a cursed child and a
soulless child).
Don’t Remember
Finally, and least commonly, some cursed children don’t remember having a body at all.
Maybe it’s possible that soul manifest in the real world without having to go through that
whole messy business of being born and growing up, at least a little bit. It’s more likely
though that the cursed kid did have a body but whatever happened was so devastating, so
traumatic that how they came to be separated from it are lost to them. These children will
first have to figure out what happened before they can resolve it, if they have any interest
in resolving it, that is.
So what could possibly be good about being a roaming spirit? A fair question, but living
the life of the dispossessed has its perks.
Two Worlds
Cursed children, as we’ll explore further in Chapter Eight, live in two worlds. In
addition to the real world we all know, they also see the hidden World of Souls that exists
on top. They can glide fluidly between the living and the dead. Whereas some spirits
would never talk to a living child, they will talk with a cursed one, whom they view as one
of their own.
Don’t Have to Deal with Life Stuff
Cursed children don’t have to deal with homework or curfews or any of that other stuff
living kids go through every day. They also won’t ever get sick again. They’ll never break a
bone or scrape a knee. In fact, all that bad stuff that happens to those with flesh and bone
is nothing but a memory to them. That’s not to say they can’t get hurt and even die at the
hands of monsters. Speaking of which.
41
chapter FOUR
Getting Hurt and Getting Old
Cursed kids still take damage and age like other characters. It’s the particulars that
are different. Cursed characters don’t have bodies like other kids but they do have a
physical form. Call it ectoplasm or ghostgunk or whatever you like. These kids don’t
take damage from falling or getting beat up by bullies but they can still get hurt by
monsters. And cursed characters still have Belief which means the monsters can
damage them as if they were regular kids.
Rulewise, this means cursed characters never take damage unless it comes from a
monster—or someone acting on the behalf of a monster. Any weapon this person or
creature yields does damage, too. It doesn’t matter if a goblyn hits a cursed kid wtih
its claws or a baseball bat; if the monster is the cause of the damage then it counts.
If the cursed kid takes enough damage, they can die. Their form will dissipate into
ghastly vapor, forever gone.
As for aging, ghosts get older same as everyone else. On the cursed character’s
birthday, tick up their age one and drop their Belief one. One day, they’ll be an old
ghost, haunting some baseball field or suburban bi-level just like the ghosts you hear
about on television. As discussed, while the ghost will get older, their viewpoint and
references usually remain fixed to the point in time in which their soul left their
physical body.
Monsters Don’t Attack on Sight

Much like changelings, the cursed don’t have the stink regular kids do. This means
monsters are more likely to accept them and not attack on sight. We’ll cover this more
later in this chapter.
As with any of the blessed, the life of the cursed also has its downsides.
Their Former Life
Aside from those who don’t remember having bodies to begin with, cursed children
have to carry around the fact they’ll never be able to return to their former lives. This
is one of the ways cursed children feel kinship with those kids who go missing. Both
experienced a sudden separation from their former life. This affects children differently, of
course, and maybe the cursed child was unhappy with their old life and doesn’t miss it—at
least for now.
Have to Deal with Ghost Stuff
Cursed children are, for all intents and purposes, ghosts. And like regular ghosts, they
have to deal with a whole spirit world of trouble. They are susceptible to the same traps
and rituals designed to summon or banish monstrous spirits. It’s possible for a cursed
child to be forced to communicate with mediums and fortune tellers (the ones who aren’t
frauds, that is). And, for example, is a kid has some Stuff that with Qualities that harmed
ghosts, it would harm the cursed kid too.
Disoriented
Also like ghosts, cursed children will reenact parts of their old lives without meaning
to. If a child always walked the same path to and from school every day, they may find
42
themselves doing just that. Without human contact to snap them back to the now, cursed
children slip into their old routines entirely, acting out entire days from their former lives,
the best they can. This includes seeing the world as it was when they were alive, down the
buildings and people who were around then.
Loud noises, bright flashes of light, and/or sudden contact with the living brings
them out of this stupor but the transition isn’t quick. The cursed child will spend a
couple minutes reorienting themselves with the real world as it now, with bits and pieces
snapping into place. This often triggers auditory and visual hallucinations associated with
the cursed kid’s former life, such as the event that caused their death or first contact with
the spirit that took over their body.
Scary-Looking
In your native form, you’re a ghost. And you look like one. This means you look mostly
like a human being—a lot like what you looked like a kid (or would have looked like)—
but you float above the ground, have a misty look to you, sometimes have glowing eyes,
and other off-putting elements. At first blush, folks confuse you with a monster. (Though
you don’t evoke a Fear check.)
Being a spirit without a mortal home gives cursed children the ability to do things
ordinary children can’t, including the power to take over objects and living creatures.
Possession
As has been said, cursed children are essentially ghosts. And, like ghosts, cursed
children have the power of possession. Most folks think of spirits taking over other
bodies—which is certainly common enough as possessions go—but possession isn’t
limited to human beings. Cursed children can possess animals, from house cats to
raccoons to the birds in the sky. They can also take control of inanimate objects, causing
ceiling fans to turn on suddenly or bicycles to wheel down the street with no one at the
controls or a trash compactor to come alive seemingly of its own volition.
The rules for possession are in Chapter Eight: Ghost World. While written for
monsters, cursed children follow the exact same rules. You could say, when cursed children
take control of other people or things, they are acting as monsters.
Blend in with Monsters
Speaking of monsters, cursed children have the ability to completely blend in with
monsters. Not that they’ll necessarily need to as monster see cursed children as ghosts
anyway. But this facade can drop easily if the child does something that might tip the
monster off, such as talking loudly with the living or attack a monster.
The cursed child can recover from such things though, by rolling a Care check against
the monster’s Scare. If successful, the monster will immediately ignore the child and
pursue someone or something else. If successful with Passing Grades, the cursed child
will become completely invisible to the monster until they take another such action. This
allows the child to run away or find a vantage point.
If facing multiple monsters, the cursed child needs only succeed against the highest
Fear rating or the highest-ranking monster. So if you’re facing a regular monster with a
43
chapter FOUR
Fear of 5 and a Big Bad with a Fear of 3, the child needs to only beat the Big Bad’s score.
Likewise, if the kid is facing two Scary monsters, one with a Fear of 2 and one with a Fear
of 4, they need to succeed against the Scary monster with the Fear of 4. The same success
rules apply as above.
If the cursed child fails, then there’s no affect for the kid and the monsters see them as
they would any other child.
After a failure, the child may not attempt to blend in with monsters again during that
encounter. If a new monster joins the fray, the child doesn’t get to re-roll if some of those
original monsters are still around, but if the kid gets away and then encounters any of
those monsters in any group later, he gets another chance to blend in.
Ignore Fear Bonuses
In addition to the above, cursed children only ever face the base number of a monster’s
Fear rating. Any Stuff or Qualities that might boost that Fear rating are ignored.
Part FIVE: Being Cursed
You don’t have much in common with most kids. Even the other types of blessed
children still go to school, eat lunch, play video games, toss footballs, and live life like
other kids, even if they do it in addition to the weird stuff. But not you. You’re a ghost.
You see the world like a ghost does. The living and the dead walking together. Time
shifting from past to present. You forget the old Jif-E-Mart closed down and now there’s
a Glug-N-Go there. You swear Kid Titan and the Powertrons is still on every afternoon
at 4 even though it was cancelled two years ago.
You are haunted by an event you barely recall. Or, worse, you see yourself—your old
body—walking around like it has any right to do that. You see it talking to your friends,
being welcomed by your family, petting your dog, even though it’s not you. You are you.
Maybe you want your old life back, and spend nights staring into the windows of your
old house, wondering if you’ll ever get a chance to reclaim it.
Maybe you want any life back, and will go to whatever lengths you have to. You might
stalk the rich kid, looking for your chance to take over his body so you can have the
coolest toys and latest clothes and the big house with the loving parents.
Or maybe you’re just confused. Unsure what you really are and what you had before.
They don’t call you cursed for nothing. That’s exactly what you are. That’s exactly what
you feel like anyway.
You think about just giving in and becoming one of the monsters. They treat you like
one so maybe you are one. Maybe you don’t belong in the real world anyway. Maybe
seeing death all around all the time is a sign you should move on. If not to Heaven or a
place like that, maybe Closetland.
Maybe you belong in the world of monsters.
44
“April 17th. The day I was born. The day I

died.”
I guess the odds aren’t really that crazy, huh. I mean, there are only 365 days in a year.
It’s like my friend Sabrina. She and her mom have the same birthday. It’s just one of those
things.
And that’s what life is, I guess. One of those things. It comes and then it goes. For me,
I knew it was coming. I had been sick for a while. To be honest, I was kinda glad it finally
happened.
My mom and dad had been sad for so long. I saw them in the hospital every day. They
never smiled, never laughed. I saw them getting older. My dad’s beard used to be black.
Over the year leading up, it started to get whiter and whiter. My mom’s eyes got wrinkly
and puffy. Probably because she was crying all the time. Not around me though. Every
time she would start to, she’d leave the room. Sometimes I didn’t see her for an hour or
more.
I was hoping, when it happened, that that would be that. I heard everything quiet
down. I heard the machine by my head let out this long noise, like the worst alarm clock
in the world. My mom and dad went crazy and then the doctors and nurses showed up
and everything became a blur.
But I saw them. I watched them. I was standing at the foot of the bed, staring at myself.
One of the nurses pushed the little tray table away. The balloons tied to it had gotten
in their way. The cards on the table fell over. One of them, with a big number 12 on it,
landed at her feet. She stepped on it, not even noticing it, and ended up slipping it under
the bed with her shoe.
I watched them for ten minutes, trying to save me. I didn’t want them to. I was tired of
being in pain. I was tired of everybody I knew being in pain.
Once it was over, and the doctor told my parents, I waited.
And waited.
And waited.
But nothing happened.
No light. No door. No angels. No singing.
I stood there and watched my parents. My mom washed my face. My dad made phone
calls. So many phone calls. Finally, I couldn’t watch anymore so I left.
I wandered the halls for a while, wondering what was happening. Nobody looked at me.
Nobody said anything to me.
That’s how it happened. Like that.
I was there and then I wasn’t. But I still was.
I still don’t understand it. I hope that, one day, maybe I will.
45
more than
just an
empty room
Chapter five:
A Loss so
Profound
(the Soulless)
chapter five
T he spirit hits her with enough force to knock her down. She should have seen it coming.
She falls backwards, the steel chair clattering against the floor. The librarian and the other
patrons look up. Aziza struggles to her feet, trying to pass it off as clumsiness.
She kicks herself. She knew something was wrong. She felt it getting near. She always can.
Aziza knows better than to let her mind wander. But she can’t worry about that now; she has a
possession to deal with.
The monster is voiceless but she can still hear its threats. She can feel its chilling presence deep
in her bones. Her left hand shoots toward the ceiling, against her will, and Aziza grabs it with
her right, pulling it down with all her might.
“Are you okay?” The librarian’s words somewhere in the distance. “Do you need some water?”
Aziza’s thoughts are all turned inward. She’s scanning her insides for the intruder. She swears
she hears it cackling.
It’s something she’s dealt with since she was a child. The first time it happened was her fifth
birthday party. She ended up smashing the cake to bits. Her parents freaked out. Sent her to
counseling for “aggressive behavior.” That’s when she started taking medicine for it. But it didn’t
help. Her problem wasn’t mental. Or chemical. It was much bigger than that.
The girl’s neck cranes around like an owl’s and she almost screams. She would have had she not
clenched her jaw and forced her head the right way with her hands.
The librarian was closer now, concern dripping from her voice.
“Do you need a doctor, miss?”
“No,” Aziza squeaked. “I just need a minute.”
The old woman backed away. “Okay. If you’re sure.”
Aziza grabbed the heavy book from the table and used it to anchor herself. She took deep
breaths, one after the other, focusing her energy into locking onto the creature roaming around the
hollow center of her body.
The creature shrieked. It didn’t have a voice but it had something. It sounded like a mouse with
a stepped-on tail. Aziza grit her teeth and slammed the book onto the table—once, twice, three
times—and then, silence.
She felt around inside. The monster was gone. She had won this time. It was harder than
before. Every time got harder and harder. Aziza was sure that one day she would lose the fight.
That some monster would take her over. That one day she would no longer be in control of herself.
But not today. Today, she won. Today, she was still just Aziza. Feeling as hollow and empty
as she always did.
The Soulless
Where the cursed are spirits without a body, the soulless are bodies without a spirit.
But they are not terminally Dark nor are they lifeless husks milling about hallways like
zombies clinging to life. Instead, their Belief filled the hole where their soul should be.
But Belief runs out and, when it does, the soulless start to change.
The soulless come in four varieties: those who never had a soul inside them; those
whose souls became sick and died; those whose souls have gone missing, and; those whose
souls have been taken. Let’s go over each in turn.
48
A LOSS SO PROFOUND (the SOULLESS)
Born Without
This type of soulless never had an immortal soul. They came into this world without a
spirit inside them and have lived their entire life spiritually powered by Belief. Because
of this, they lack true understanding of what it’s like to have a soul. They aren’t cold and
calculating necessarily but they will never feel what those who lost their souls feel.
Withered Spirit
Some children are born with weak souls. They have one but it doesn’t last. Usually, the
soul is completely deteriorated by the time the child is walking or, at the very least, by the
time she is five or so (certainly before playable age).
Others had souls of normal strength that monsters drained away at an early age. Instead
of going Dark though, their Belief took over and kept them from wasting away.
Stolen Soul
Often caused by possession, this type of soulless is the product of theft. Sometime
during the child’s life, a monster stole his soul. The missing spirit may be locked away
somewhere, under the watchful eye of some malicious beast, wondering if it will ever be
reunited with its former self. Or the detached soul may have been twisted into a monster
itself, stalking children, much like the oft-rumored Yellow Man.
Soul Went Away
The rarest of the four, this case happens when a child’s spirit leaves. This can happen for
a number of reasons, usually stemming from some deep-seated unhappiness in the child’s
life. Long periods of depression, deep runs of hopelessness and despair, are common
causes of this.
In both of the above cases, the child’s original soul is out there somewhere. The body
and soul may meet again some day—may even come together to be whole one day. It is
up to each soulless character to determine for themselves whether they have any interest
in finding their original soul or ever reuniting with it.
“Soulless” is a loaded term, one that often carries with it a lot of negative connotation.
But there is some good to being a soulless child.
Immune to the Dark
A soulless child will never go Dark. No matter how low her Spirit gets, she suffers no ill
effects. No negatives to rolls, no ill effects. Until the Spirit reaches zero, that is, the child
will be oblivious to the toll such a drain is taking on them.
Cannot Be Spirit Drained
Belief is not Spirit, no matter how much it acts like it. Because of that, any attack that
drains Spirit has no effect on this child. If the attack also does physical damage, that does
affect the soulless character but their Spirit is left unharmed.
Feels Monsters Getting Close
It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly the soulless are extra sensitive to the presence of
monster, but they are. Something about not having spiritual static, or maybe it’s how the
Terror echoes in the cavity where their should be, but no monster can ever surprise a
49
chapter five
soulless kid who is paying attention. If a monster gets the jump on this type of blessed, it’s
because the target was distracted or otherwise not paying attention.
This sense isn’t limited to what the kid can see or feel. A soulless kid alert to danger can
sense a monster through stone walls or even on another floor. The sense is good for about
twenty feet or so, and it doesn’t matter what type of monster it is. Any presence of Terror
is enough to set off their monster-sense.
Every type of blessed character has a down side and the soulless are certainly no
exception. The following are the negatives to not having a proper soul.
Easier to Possess
Because the soulless’s Spirit is actually Belief, it’s easier for a monster to take over a
soulless child’s body. The soulless is still immune to Drain Spirit, as noted above, so the
invasive spirit must go for the Make Your Own Room route. When doing so, all rolls are
calculated the same (half the target’s Spirit, rounded up) but the would-be possessor gets
an automatic +3 to the total of their Success Die. This can turn an unsuccessful possession
into a successful one, and bump a successful possession to one with Passing Grades.
No Moral Center
In Little Fears, the soul is the source of a person’s morality which means those who
have no souls have no innate sense of good or bad. That isn’t to say all soulless are bad
kids, far from it, but they have a harder time learning the difference between good
behavior and bad behavior. They don’t intuit what’s right and what’s wrong; they must rely
on what they’ve been told is right and wrong—and remembering it.
Spirit Cannot Be Healed Normally
Because Belief has filled up the space where Spirit once was, when a soulless child loses
Spirit, it cannot be replaced through a Care roll. Instead, Belief must be spent, either by
the soulless or another character, to heal the missing Spirit. This is covered in more detail
in the next section.
Belief Goes Away
Starting Belief is calculating the same for a soulless character as any other one. And
it goes away, one point at a time, like a regular child’s does. When a soulless character
reaches 13, and they don’t yet have a permanent soul, their Spirit starts to deteriorate. As
The Soulless and Souls

It’s quite possible for a cursed character to be the spirit that another soulless
character lost. Great drama and conflict can come from those two crossing paths and
discovering what the other is.
In fact, a driving force for a soulless character may be to find its original soul. If, in
the course of a story, he manages to do just that, the spirit can possess the child per
usual. Once reunited, the character is no longer soulless and is instead a normal child.
If a soulless child opts to allow a different type of spirit to take permanent residency
in their body, they become a changeling.
50
a player character, you won’t have to worry about this, but the GMC that your character
becomes will slowly lose his ability to discern right from wrong, good from evil. An
emptying shell, they become an easy target for monsters to take over, turning a once good
child into the pawn of some monstrous entity.
While this type of blessed may lack a soul, they do not want for abilities. The fluid link
between their Belief and their Spirit gives the following abilities.
Belief Heals Spirit
Soulless children can heal the Spirits of others by spending Belief and passing a
successful Care check against a target number of 12 (Hard difficulty). If the check is
successful, the target gets back one point of Spirit for every Belief token spent and gets
additional points for every Passing Grade. (This is an instance where high success in a
Belief roll does not benefit the Believer but the recipient of the Belief.)
The Spirit regained is immediate and acts the exact same as Spirit in the target child.
Conversely, other children can spend Belief to heal a soulless child’s Spirit, using the same
rules.
Belief replaces Spirit on a one-for-one basis.
Example: Brody, a soulless child, is down six points of Spirit. He’s sitting at just four points.
While he doesn’t feel the negative effects of it, others know he’s taken a hit and want to help him.
He agrees, because his friends usually know better than he does about these things. Harriet, his
best friend, wants to Believe in him in order to heal what’s missing.
Marissa, Harriet’s player, trade in two Belief tokens. She then rolls a Care (4) check and gets
2, 4, 4, 6. That’s 14. Marissa re-rolls that 6 and gets a 4 for a total of 18. That’s a success with
two Passing Grades. Not only does she heal two points for the Belief tokens spent, but two more
for those Passing Grades, which gives Brody a total of four regained Spirit points.
Marissa is out two Belief tokens, since they were spent not risked, and Brody fills in four
points of Spirit.
If the tables were reversed, and Harriet was the one down two points, Brody’s player, Stew,
could have done the same for Harriet.
Trade Spirit for Belief
Soulless characters can trade points of Spirit for extra Belief. This Belief stays with
you—meaning you don’t need to use it in the same session you traded for it. But you can’t
regenerate any Spirit by any means while you’re still using Spirit-drawn Belief.
To do this, mark off one point of Soul and draw a new Belief token. Because of this,
it’s best to use different colored or shaped tokens to separate the two types of Belief. This
Belief can be risked or spent as normal Belief.
If using Spirit-Belief tokens causes the player to gain more Belief, via Passing Grades
or any other method, the gained Belief are standard Belief tokens and not Spirit ones.
A soulless child cannot go below one point of Spirit doing this.
Once all Spirit-Belief tokens are spent, the soulless child can then regain Spirit using
the methods described in this chapter.
51
chapter five
Part FIVE: Being Soulless
You are soulless, yes, but you are not a monster. You learn the difference between right
and wrong a little harder than others but you do learn it. You lack empathy—you cannot
intuit the feelings and emotions of others—but you pay attention to the physical signs
and the changes in vocal tone and mannerisms well enough to fake it.
When it comes to how you feel, the best answer is different. You have the same
emotions as others but the feelings come slower to you than they do to other people. You
are not quick to smile, but you do feel happiness. People have to really push your buttons
to get a rise out of you but you do get angry. When someone dies, you feel sad but you’re
not showy about it. When you can tell someone is feeling down, or happy, it registers but
you do not feel those emotions yourself.
Adults worry about you. To them, you seem sad or distant, and maybe you are more
than most but you’re still a human being. You do your best to assure grown-ups that
things are fine but you end up at the guidance counselor’s or the therapist’s office just the
same. The more you are pushed to be normal, to express normal thoughts and emotions,
the better you are pretending.
You may long for a soul, either your own or another. Any other. You wonder what it
would be like if you were normal. If you felt normal. But you also know you are what you
are and you make peace with it. At least you try to.
52
“I had no idea it was wrong.”

It didn’t feel wrong. Not that it felt right, either, I mean. It just felt, well, like everything
else.
It wasn’t my dog. I hadn’t even seen it around before. I’m not the one who hurt it or
anything; someone else did that. But when I saw it lying on the street, whimpering and
shaking its front paws, I knew it was in pain but I didn’t feel the pain.
Adam did. That’s what he said to me.
“Wow,” he said. “It hurts just to look at it.”
How weird. Hurting doesn’t come from looking. It comes from feeling. And neither of
us had a bone sticking out of our leg. I just looked at him funny, like he was making some
strange joke or something.
It yelped when I touched its back paw. I think it wanted to bark or snap or me but it
must have been in too much pain or something. Adam smacked my hand and told me to
leave it alone. I thought maybe I could help it.
“You’re just hurting it more,” he said.
I suppose he was right. That hadn’t occurred to me though. I mean, I was trying to fix it.
“You gotta leave hurt animals alone.” Adam tried to pull me away from it. “We should
call the police or the pound or something.”
I told him we could help the dog if we wanted. He didn’t seem to want to though. If it
was in pain, and we couldn’t do anything to make it not be in pain, I figured we should
end its pain.
I found a big rock in the garden outside Gabe Miller’s house. Adam asked me what I
was planning to do with it.
He about puked when I told him. He grabbed the rock from me and tossed back into
Gabe’s yard. He said I was sick and should go get help.
I didn’t know why. It seemed like the right thing to do. But I guess it wasn’t. I was never
any good at figuring out that kind of stuff.
Another thing to put on my list, I though. My big list of what’s okay to do and what’s
not okay. Sometimes I think it’s the only way I’ll ever know.
53
chapter five
still a child
no matter
what
54
Chapter six:
A Life so strange
(the Changeling)
chapter six
A ziza quickly shoves her hands under the table. Her fingers ache. She feels the bones bend
and twist, getting longer. Hard, sharp scales cut their way through her skin.
The girl holds in the pain the best she can. It hurts every single time. She wishes it would get
easier, or at least less painful, but it doesn’t. If anything, it hurts more every time. She remembers
clearly the first time it happened. About a year ago, while she was reading in her room. Book 4
of the Janie J. Juniper series—her favorite book series—and she had just gotten to the part where
Janie had to take care of her little brother while her mom took a bath.
The pain pulls Aziza from the memory. She likes it better when she could hide in her own
head. The first time it happened, nobody was around. She was thankful for that. She had no clue
what was happening. Fear completely clouded her mind. She had thought about running to her
parents but something held her back. Something told her not to go.
This time though, in a library four blocks from home, she doesn’t have anywhere good to hide.
The bathroom is across the lobby, near the coffee shop. Maybe she can make it.
“Hey, Aziza.” A boy from Mr. Owens’s class appears out of nowhere. The girl can barely see
through the bubbles of tears in her eyes. “Working on the assignment, huh?”
The voice belongs to Marcus Rowan. Aziza didn’t even know he knew who she was. And now
he is standing in front of her, probably looking totally cut with that floppy haircut of his, and
she’s all mid-freak out with lizard hands and on the verge of a big sloppy sobbing fit.
“Hey, Marcus.” Aziza uses every ounce of her being to fight back against the pain. “ Yeah,
almost done though. You?” Words spitting through clenched teeth.
“No,” the boy says. “I finished it last night. I’m just here with some friends. Hey, do you—do
you wanna come sit with us? We won’t bother you too much, I promise.”
Through the pain in her eyes, she sees the boy smile.
The scales are almost to her elbows. She feels the webbing grow between her fingers. Spiny
bristles stretch, barely awake, along her spine. Sweat pours down her back.
“Um,” the girl’s voice breaks. “No, I think I’ll stay here.” With every syllable she speaks, Aziza
hates herself more and more. Stupid body. Stupid stupid body.
“Oh.” The boy shrugs, disappointed. “Okay. Well, have fun. I’ll see you in class, I guess.”
Aziza nods. “ Yeah. See you in class.”
As Marcus returns to his friends, the girl bolts across the room, her coat tied around her hands.
She bursts into the bathroom and heads to the farthest stall. Inside, she finally cries. But not
because of the transformation.
For something that hurts far, far worse.
The Changeling
Changelings are children whose souls are not their own. In fact, their souls aren’t even
human; they have the spirits of monsters living within them. How this happened can
vary but, no matter the cause, this sort of permanent possession carries with it a variety of
benefits and detriments.
Outwardly, there’s no difference from a changeling in their normal state and any other
child. A changeling must decide to show its other self for anyone to know the difference.
But make no mistake: There is a difference.
Let’s look at all the different ways a child can become a changeling.
56
A LIFE SO STRANGE (THE CHANGELING)
Monster-Born
Some children were never truly children. They were always the offspring of monsters or
monster-controlled adults. This type has always had a monstrous spirit. Which is funny,
since monsters doesn’t have spirits. Indeed, the changeling is a bit of a phenomenon. No
one is sure what causes monster spirits to happen, or why they only appear in humans, but
the changelings are evidence there may be more to monsters than anyone really knows.
Possessed
The second-most common are those children who are possessed by a monstrous spirit.
Their old soul is gone—otherwise they would be gifted—and has been completely
replaced by another, darker soul. Most changelings who are later possessed begin life as
normal children but others were soulless children whose spiritual voids where filled by a
monster.
Enchanted
Some changelings have the souls of the fair folk, those mischievous creatures who
once answered to Titania before she was seized by Closetland and put in her current
state. Technically, fair folk are monsters but the difference comes in whether the child is
fighting against a creation of Closetland or an exile from Titania’s home world. For the
latter, they tend to be more mischievous than malevolent.
Half-Human Soul
No matter how the child is a changeling, from a game perspective, every one of
this type of blessed is considered to have half a human soul and half a monster soul.
Changelings have ten points of Spirit, the same as everyone else, but the last half (points
6 through 10) are considered human for all game purposes. The first five points—the ones
that, if lost, give the player negative effects—are the monstrous parts of the child’s Spirit.
Like the rest of the blessed, being a changeling is a mixed bag. There’s some good and
some bad to it. Before we get into the latter though, let’s look at the former.
Monster Form
Like a werewolf, or any kind of shapeshifting creature, you have two forms: your
normal, everyday appearance and the beastly potential living within you.
You can manifest your monstrous soul at will. This often includes physical changes, such
as sharp, wolf-like teeth or bat wings or extra arms and legs.
Because of this, your character has two sets of Stuff. When they’re a kid, they use their
regular Stuff, but when they’re in their monster form, they use their other Stuff. Their
Monster Stuff.
Each changeling gets points equal to their Belief to put into their Monster Stuff.
These are picked the same as regular monster stuff though Ability bonuses map to player
character Abilities (Think, Fight, etc.) instead of monster Abilities. While they can
look like and act like monsters, changelings are still children and use the same rules and
Abilities as other player character.
That is, everything else about the character remains the same. They have the same
Abilities and Qualities in both forms, though they lose the ability to use Belief (other
than to power Monster Stuff ) while in their monster form.
57
chapter six
While in transition, the changeling uses the Stuff of whatever is the dominant form.
While their hands may turn into claws, they cannot use them as such unless they full
embrace their monstrous side. Also note that, even though adults can generally see the
blessed use their powers, adults still do not see Monster Stuff. If anything, they see a child
acting out, slashing at things with normal hands and biting down with regular teeth.
Animal Friendship
It’s weird, y’know. Animals, for the most part, can’t stand monsters. Dogs, especially,
become riled up when a monster is near. But they don’t act that way around changelings.
Maybe it’s because they’re confused by smelling both “regular kid” and “monster” in the
same person or maybe it’s that they feel sorry for the kid, knowing that they’re not really a
monster—they just have the soul of one.
No matter the reason, animals are always kind to changelings. Even the most ravenous,
red-eyed guard dog won’t attack a changeling. When strolling about, neighborhood strays
may form a line behind the kid. Maybe they want to protect the kid. It’s hard to say.
The downsides to being a changeling are particularly nasty. Let’s look at each in turn.
Uncontrollable Outbursts
Changelings don’t handle stress that well. When their parents won’t stop arguing, when
their big brother keeps picking on them, when the teacher decides to make an example
out of them, changelings have to fight to keep from launching into a violent outburst. This
includes throwing dishes at his parents to get them to shut up, jumping on their brother’s
back and pummeling his neck, and tossing desks across the classroom while spouting
some seriously adult language.
When in a particularly stressful situation, whether it’s from a mundane source like
screaming parents or an otherworldly one like gargoyles chasing the kid into an empty
building, the changeling must make a Care check against a Hard (12) difficulty in order
to not turn into his monstrous form.
The kid doesn’t need to fight the urge, of course, if they want the benefits of their
monstrous side.
Get Stuck in Monster Form
It just so happens that changelings sometimes get stuck in their monstrous bodies,
especially when they’ve been in their inhuman forms for a long period of time (over thirty
minutes or so). The GM is free to invoke this whenever she likes, as it really is an act of
chance whether this happens. When stuck, the kid must make a Think check against a
target number of 9 to shrug it off. If the kid has taken damage while in his monster form,
every point of damage is added to that target number. Pain tends to cause the monster to
not want to go away, much like how a wounded animal will bare its teeth even at familiar
faces and smells.
Monster Heart
The longer a child has been a changeling, the less human they start to feel. Changelings
deal with this differently. Some put on a brave face but are deeply uncomfortable with the
58
sympathy they start to feel for monsters. Others inwardly enjoy it, seeing themselves as
maybe better than other kids. Or, at the very least, better equipped to face the creatures
from Closetland. Don’t assume a changeling sees their situation as a curse. Some wouldn’t
have it any other way.
In the blessed lottery, the changelings seem to be the big winners, but don’t forget that
changelings are, if only for a while, essentially monsters. How each feels about that varies
from child to child, and this feeling effects how often and how willingly the changeling
will bring out his beastly nature—and to what extremes he will use it.
Become the Beast
This is covered earlier but it’s a big benefit for most changelings. As described above,
the child can choose to transition to his monster form at will. When doing so, he can now
use all his Monster Stuff (but none of his regular Stuff ). This Monster Stuff is fueled by
Belief, and is risked and spent like any other Stuff.
Unlike regular Stuff, though, a changeling’s Monster Stuff doesn’t lose potence as the
child gets older and loses Belief. What changes is their ability to control it. The older the
changeling, the less he can wield his monstrous abilities.
Fool the Monsters
When in monster form, a changeling is completely indistinguishable from a regular
monster—at least from a monster’s perspective. While in their other form, a changeling
59
chapter six
can mingle with monsters without being detected. After all, there are so many monsters
in Closetland—with new ones being made every day—that new faces don’t stick out. No
matter how ugly they are.
Part FIVE: Being CHANGELING
You are a monster. Inside anyway. And you might have a really hard time with that,
especially if you have witnessed what monsters can do. The creatures from Closetland are
capable of terrible things—are you any different from them?
Deep down, you know you are. But for how long? It seems every time you let your
darker side slip out, the less human you are when you change back. You don’t relate to
people like you used to. You lose some of the passion for the fight.
You wonder: How do you friends see you? Are you a kid who turn into a monster or a
monster who parades around as a regular kid? Will they one day hunt you? Would you
fight them if you had to?
Maybe Closetland is a safer place to be, for kids like you. Maybe you are just a monster
inside a kid’s body. Some people say were are defined by what’s inside us. What’s inside
you is the soul of a monster. Does that mean you’re no better than the creatures you fight?
It’s hard to say but know this: more importantly than what’s inside you is what you do.
And as long as you continue to fight, then you are one of the good guys. No matter where
your soul came from, you define who you really are through your actions.
60
“I was in the woods over at Donovan Park.”

I’d been in those woods every night for the past week, playing basketball with my
friends. We played a little later than usual since the next day wasn’t a school day or
anything and also because Jimmy Cross got permission from his mom to stay out later
than usual.
It had been dark for about an hour so I had been sticking to the streetlights for the
most part. Thing is, once you get past the diamonds, it’s much shorter to cut through the
woods to get to my house. Otherwise, I’m adding a block and a half to my walk. I figured
it was no big deal and chanced it.
Big mistake.
Rumors about someone living in the woods had been going around since my dad was a
kid so I didn’t think much of it. After all, I pretty much grew up in those woods. I knew
them well enough to get through without much light.
Which I would’ve done if that crazy guy hadn’t started chasing me.
I’ll admit it: I was scared. I couldn’t see much of the guy but I knew he was there. And
he was making all sorts of creepy sounds, like a cat fighting a raccoon and they were both
stuck a washing machine.
I probably would’ve been fine if I hadn’t tripped over a stump and smacked my head.
That gave the freak enough time to get close to me. All I saw was this dark shape standing
over me, holding something long and thick over its head, like a stick or something.
I screamed and felt this pain rip through me. And then he started screaming and he
dropped the stick and ran away.
I didn’t realize until I got back under the streetlights that I was covered in fur. At first,
I thought maybe I got some dead animal one me or maybe I landed in a bunch of dark
moss. But then I realized the hair was coming out of me.
I realized my hands had extra fingers and—and then I felt my face. It wasn’t even close
to human anymore. It was like a dog and a bat had some mutant baby. My nose was this
flat triangle and my ears were all floppy like a beagle’s.
I almost crapped my pants. I remember completely freaking out. But then, after I
managed to calm down a bit, my hands and face turned back to normal.
Swear to God, I thought I had hallucinated it. Until it happened again the next night.
And it kept happening. Eventually, I learned to control it. Now I use it when I need to.
Still though, it’s freaky as all get-out. I still haven’t told my friends about it. Lord only
knows what they’d say if they knew what I could do.
I just wish I knew why I could do it.
61
chapter six
one of us
one of us
62
Chapter seven:
One of the
Blessed
chapter seven
The life of a blessed child is a singular one. Even amongst a group of kids poised to
fight against the monsters that plague their friends and classmates, the blessed can feel
like they don’t really belong.
Blessed Child as Character
It’s easy to see a blessed child as a bit of a cheat in the world of Little Fears. Kids
already have Belief, right, why do they need more than that? The purpose of a blessed
child isn’t to give one player a boost that other players don’t get. As with the missing
from Book 2, the introduction of a new type of character into your Little Fears game is
a chance to explore a new aspect of the real world or Closetland from the perspective of
someone with something new to say. Someone whose background is a bit different than
others.
Nothing given to a blessed character invalidates a regular Little Fears character. And
regular kids are still the vast majority of children—and thus characters—in the world.
When you choose to play a blessed character, think about what new information you can
bring to a game session as that character. A faithful child views things differently than
your average kid. So does a changeling. So does a cursed kid. So does one of the soulless.
Find something interesting in that type of character beyond any system benefits.
Part One: Blessed PCs
All that said, blessed characters are still characters. They’re still kids fighting monsters.
While a gifted kid may have a hard time dealing with his feelings as the second soul
inside him tries to take control, that shouldn’t be the focus of every game session. The
other kids in the group need their time in the spotlight too. All that said, let’s look into
how blessed characters are created.
Choose the Type of Blessed
We’ve gone through a lot of stuff so far so let’s start by going over the six types of
blessed characters along with their general descriptions.
Gifted: The bodies of the gifted house not one soul, but two. The extra soul often vies
for dominance creating trouble for the gifted kid.
Faithful: These children possess a strong belief in a higher power or calling that grants
power over life but makes them feel like eternal outsiders.
Innocent: Possessing pure souls, the innocent fend off the loss of Belief but their
resilient spirit is also that much harder to heal should it get damaged.
Cursed: Without bodies of their own, the cursed are free to roam the real world as well
as the spirit world, but without finding at least a temporary mortal home, they wither and
die.
Soulless: When a child is born without a soul, their Belief fills the void. But as Belief
fades, so does their ability to thrive—or to live at all.
Changeling: While they look like regular children, changelings possess inhuman souls,
from monsters, animals, or the essence of Closetland itself.
The blessed character sheet at the back of this book has spaces for that information. If
you’re using a standard Little Fears Nightmare Edition character sheet, you can put those
details in the margins.
64
ONE OF THE BLESSED
This is Me
Using the same character creation rules found in the corebook, the character’s blessed
type is their Concept. Write that under their type, followed by the character’s name, age,
whether the character is a boy or a girl, and his or her birthday.
Abilities and Traits
Abilities and Traits are created and assigned the same as any other characters. Blessed
characters have the same capacity to Move, Fight, Think, Speak, and Care as other kids
even if the method by which they do it is different.
Virtues
As above, though the details may vary, all blessed characters have Belief, Wits, and
Spirit (as a Virtue anyway).
Qualities
All blessed types have “I am a [blank] child” as their top Quality where the blank is
the type of blessed they are. This gives them all the good and bad things detailed in their
respective chapters. The Qualities under that stem from whatever type they are. Below
are some examples of Qualities that match each type of blessed. In addition, they get the
normal allotment of Qualities.
Gifted
I hate my other soul
I have trouble focusing
I’m really creative
I can’t control my feelings
Faithful
I have a strong will
I have strong connections to family
I’m at peace
I want others to always feel good
Innocent
I never cry
I never back down
I run into danger
I rely on others for safety
Cursed
I forget what having a body means (eating, going to the bathroom, etc)
I get flashes of something terrible (the incident that cursed them?)
I want my old life back
I don’t remember my old life
Soulless
I forget right from wrong
I’m good at pretending to be normal
I like to watch people
I study people to learn more about them
65
chapter seven
Changeling
I have an inhuman sense of smell (or taste, hearing, etc)
I don’t understand people
I don’t like being a monster
I hate all monsters
Other Qualities
As for the other types of Qualities, think about the type of blessed kid you are. Have
your abilities led you down a certain path? Has the abilities to heal caused you to read up
on science and medicine? Does the fact you can change your body into animal parts give
you the confidence to play football where you never would have before?
No character is defined entirely by one thing about them, including the blessed, but this
may serve as a good starting point for rounding out your character.
Stuff
Blessed characters have Stuff and most of the blessed have the usual things a normal
kid would. But cursed and changeling characters have the potential for Stuff you don’t see
on your average kid.
Cursed Stuff
Character of this blessed type have access to the same Stuff as a ghost would have. This
includes the ability to use certain objects as spiritually-controlled weapons. See the next
chapter for details on ghosts.
Changeling Stuff
First, changelings create a normal list of Stuff for their regular kid form. They get their
full amount of Belief to assign points to this Stuff. Then, changelings create a separate list
of Stuff, using the full amount of Belief, to describe what their other form has. These are
almost always physical changes, same as a monster has, and only come into play when a
changeling transforms into their monstrous half.
Questionnaire
The final part of character creation is the questionnaire. Blessed children are different
than regular kids so have questions particular to their situation. Feel free to answer all the
questions listed in the Little Fears Nightmare Edition mainbook in addition to these, if
you like, but definitely answer the following questions when creating a blessed character.
The first batch listed below should be answered by everyone. Once you’re done there,
skip down to the questions specific to your type of blessed character.
Questions for All
The following questions apply to all types of blessed characters.
“How did you find out you were different?”
Aside from the type of blessed character you’re playing, this is probably the most
important question to answer. Blessed children aren’t born knowing they’re not like other
kids. They don’t wake up one day going “Oh hey! I have a monster soul living inside me!”
Every blessed child discovers their abilities differently.
66
ONE OF THE BLESSED
“Do you know everything you can do?”

As far as the game is concerned, each blessed has full access to the abilities detailed in
their chapters but that doesn’t mean you know about all you can do yet. You may discover
some of these abilities during play.
“Do you know what you are?”
Despite what it says on the character sheet, you may not know what to call yourself. The
whole idea of “cursed” versus “gifted” versus “innocent” is something certain kids in certain
circles talk about, sure, and they are terms used at times by those in the know—the same
as the names of the monsters they fight—but there isn’t a Directory of Strange Children
you can consult. Fact is, you may have no idea what are you.
Do you call yourself something different than the listed terms? Or did you run across
someone who had heard of these types of blessed children before?
“Who was the first person you told?”
Assuming you told anyone, that is. If you have, who was it? How did they respond?
“Do you know any other blessed children? If so, who?”
For some, the strange things you can do becomes a bond with others who can do
similar things. For others, it’s a shameful secret you hide away from any who might not
understand. In that case, discovering another who is blessed is like finding the survivor
from an awful accident. You share stories amongst each other but work to keep others
from learning your secrets.
67
chapter seven
“How has being blessed changed your life?”
Has it? Or are you the exact same kid you always were? It’s rare that learning
something this big and important about yourself doesn’t change at least something about
you. Some kids were outgoing and friendly before finding out what they were but as soon
as they did they became introverted, quiet. You may be afraid of what you can do, fearing
someone you care about may be hurt when you don’t intend it.
“If you could go back to being normal, would you?”
Pretend you had one wish. Would you use it to become just like everybody else? If you
could trade the power to heal others and the weird looks others give you for a regular life,
if you could swap animal-like scent and hearing and uncontrollable urges to hurt others
to be a normal kid, would you?
Whichever way you answer, explain why.
“Has an adult ever seen what you can do?”
The added layer of weird for blessed characters is that adults can see what they are
capable of doing (anything that doesn’t involved Belief, that is). Has an adult ever
witnessed your power? If so, who was it? What did they see? What did they say? What
did you say to them about what they saw?
Question for the Gifted, Faithful, and Innocent
The first three blessed types we went over share something in common: they have, with
quirks, everything a normal child does.
“How do you feel about the blessed who aren’t complete?”
Do you think the cursed, soulless, and changeling kids are worse off than you? Better
off ? Explain why you feel that way.
Question for Cursed, Soulless, and Changeling
The last three blessed types we covered lack something every normal child has, whether
it’s a body or a proper soul.
“Do you still feel human?’
Do you see yourself as a normal kid with something missing? Better than other kids?
Worse? Explain why you feel that way.
Becoming the Blessed
While the above is based on the assumption you are making a new character, existing
characters can become blessed through a variety of means. As is stated in their respective
write-ups, all the blessed types have the potential to be regular kids who went through
something that turned them into gifted, cursed, soulless, and so on.
If a player wants to convert his character into a blessed one—or such a thing happens
during play—it’s easy to make the changes necessary. Skip down to the Qualities section
and start making changes there. The character loses (or, better, reassigns) their old
Qualities to make way for these new ones. Being blessed is the primary defining element
for them now but their old Qualities can be shifted around into new, lower value, ones.
Once that’s done, make changes to Stuff, if necessary, and then have them complete the
new Questionnaire. That’s all you need to do!
68
ONE OF THE BLESSED
Part TWO: Being the Blessed
Life for a blessed child has severe differences from a normal child’s, especially in how a
blessed kid feels and how they are treated by others.
How Blessed Children Feel
A blessed child is unlike most children. This is evident not only in their origin and
abilities but how they feel. More often than not, inwardly or outwardly, blessed characters
feel two things at some level: scared/confused and misunderstood.
Scared and Confused
It’s not like anybody explains to a blessed child why they can do the things they do.
Your blessed kid, especially if she’s gifted or one of the newborn changelings, knows she
can do certain things, knows other kids can’t, and maybe not much else. This can lead
to feeling like you’re on the cusp of something dangerous. Like maybe you’re going to
turn into a monster one day or you’re going to explode from having too much soul or
something awful is going to happen to you. It doesn’t help that adults might see what you
can do which will open up a whole can of trouble for you and everyone you know.
Even if someone did explain your abilities, they may not have gotten all the details
right. You might be working under a bunch of bad assumptions that only fuel your fear.
Misunderstood
A typical blessed child doesn’t share how he really feels with others because he thinks
he’s so much unlike his friends that there’s no way they can understand what life is like
for them. Even other blessed have other things they’re dealing with. Maybe a blessed with
the same abilities, who is the same type, might understand them but even that seems like
a long shot. You struggle to not only understand yourself but help others understand you.
Unwanted Attention
Probably the biggest price blessed kids pay is when they become discovered. People will
have questions—lots of questions—and these people will want answers. And they’ll want
to see it again, and again, and again, and again, and again like your kid’s ability to sprout
fangs or bring hamsters to life is a card trick or something.
All that said, some children like the attention. They like the fame. And if they don’t
have a grounded, protective circle of family and friends, this can all go sideways.
Grown-Ups See Them
For the most part, the fight against the monsters is a secret one. The adults who
remember Closetland and the horrible creatures within are few and far between, and
the ones who can see truly strange things are even rarer. But, for some unknown reason,
grown-ups can see the strange things the blessed can do when they use their Spirit.
When a faithful child’s hands bleed once laid upon a broken bone or a changeling
reveals part of her true nature, adults see it. And they are not prepared for such
strangeness in their lives. They freak out, panic, call hospitals and psychiatrists and pastors
or someone—anyone—who can help them make sense of what they just saw. How your
blessed child explains his abilities is up to you. Remember though, the adult world goes to
extreme measures to rout out anything that doesn’t fit its nice, clean rational way of seeing
things. Say or show too much and your child may have to face consequences even more
horrific than monsters.
69
chapter seven
The one catch here is that this only applies to abilities and instances where Spirit is
what’s powering the blessed. Adults still don’t generally see Belief, and nothing about
the blessed changes that. Note, though, that the soulless—who use Belief to fuel their
Spirit—are still, as far as we’re concerned, using Spirit so adults can still see what they’re
doing.
Part THREE: powers and prices
The blessed have a lot of things that make each type different from the others, but they
also all have traits in common. The following abilities are things every blessed child can
do, no matter their type.
Healing Themselves with Spirit
Blessed children such as the gifted and changelings can heal others with their Spirit, a
trick particular to them, but any blessed child can heal himself using their Spirit. Using
the rules in the core rulebook, a blessed character can spend one or two points of Spirit to
heal wounds they have suffered.
If the character spends one point, use the First Aid rules for recovery. If they spend, two
points, this is akin to Medical Attention. The blessed character may also use Care instead
of Think for that healing roll as well (though they can still use Think if they wish to).
Angry Jar
As people get older and mature, they get better control over their feelings by learning
coping mechanisms for fear, anger, and anxiety but, for children, severe hormonal spikes
and living in a world controlled by the whims of parents, guardians, teachers, older
siblings, and babysitters takes its toll. Children are often scolded for their emotional
70
ONE OF THE BLESSED
outbursts, seen as unruly or willful, and punished if their moods get too severe. A lot of
children learn to hold everything in for fear of a grounding or spanking if they speak
out too much. But some blessed children learn a new way to cope with their extreme
emotions: an angry jar.
An angry jar can be any normal vessel: a jar, a can, a cup, a vase. Whatever you choose,
make sure it has a lid as you don’t want what’s inside to get out.
Anytime your blessed character feels a strong surge of emotion—any emotion—they
can put their fear, anger, sadness, or whatever into the jar. This immediately calms them
down and gives them control over their emotions. When a blessed child is sent to his
room to “calm down a bit” they will often pour their feelings into an angry jar.
The child feels calmer immediately. Their stress or joy or hatred melts away, leaving
them almost numb.
Emotions poured into the jar take the form of an inky cloud that gets thicker and
thicker as more emotion is put into it. As all these emotions swirl around and mingle,
they become an oily soup of manic feelings. Look inside and you’ll see faces yelling,
sobbing, whimpering, and laughing as they fade in and out from the surface of the vessel.
Controlling the Jar
The more feelings a child puts into the jar, the harder the jar becomes to control. All
those feelings infuse a will into the jar. It gains the ability to speak, to call to the child,
and even to talk to others. To maintain control of the jar, the child must make a successful
Care Quiz whenever they use the same jar multiple times.
For less than a dozen uses, the target number is 12. For every six uses beyond that,
increase the target number by one level.
Should the child ever fail one of these rolls, the angry jar becomes unsafe. Using it
again will cause the jar to break—and for all those feelings to come pouring out.
Stowing the Jar
An angry jar can become a powerful totem of emotional energy. In clumsy hands, the
angry jar becomes a bomb waiting to go off. In the wrong hands, the angry jar is a weapon
that can be used to cripple a person. Blessed children should take special care in hiding or
protecting the jar from others.
When the Jar Breaks
Emotions have power. Those in control of their feelings can affect change on a massive
scale, be driven to great acts, or able to sink to terrifying lows. The angry jar doesn’t
control anything; it just houses them. If overloaded or broken, all the feelings inside the
angry jar come pouring out. Essentially, these emotions form a ghost—one driven by
a horrible mess of anger, fear, love, frustration, and all the feelings that don’t even have
proper names.
This ghost, under the control of someone who knows what they’re doing, can be used
against people. It can stalk and harm innocent people, wreck houses, crash cars, make
fireplaces explode, or any its master desires.
Mood Boost
Blessed children make others feel better simply by being around them. It’s a strange
side effect of whatever it is that makes blessed children. A simple touch can make a
weeping child smile, an angry child happy, or an anxious child calm down.
71
chapter seven
Floating
Blessed characters have all sorts of strange abilities. Just like the boy on the cover of this
book, all blessed kids have the ability to levitate. This takes a lot of concentration on their
part but allows them to get about two or three feet off the ground. They can’t do much
else while floating—they can’t fly—but this is still pretty impressive nonetheless.
Interact with the Dead
All blessed glimpse the spirit world therefore all blessed can see and speak with the
dead. Whether or not the dead want to be interacted with is another story.
The world of the dead is covered in further detail in the next chapter.
Part Four: Blessed as adults
When blessed characters reach 13 years of age, they lose their special abilities but they
don’t lose whatever it is that makes them blessed.
Gifted
The other soul remains, sometimes manifesting as a second voice in the gifted’s head.
Many of this type of blessed seat counseling later in life to deal with a perceived mental
illness. Most retain their natural aptitudes, possessing great mental acuity and skill in
some tech- or research-related field.
Faithful
Though their abilities fade, their faith does not. Or, rather, any lessening of their faith
has nothing to do with losing their powers. Most faithful keep their strong sense of
conviction and compassion.
Innocent
Even if their eventual jobs don’t require it, innocents maintain their nature daredevil
attitude. They are also as stubborn as ever, often finding it hard to compromise which puts
their personal relationships at risk.
Cursed
As spirits age, eventually their Soul Door appears and they are urged to walk through
it. As the arrival of their door nears, the soulless feels a strong compulsion to find a
permanent body thus avoiding whatever fate resides on the other side of the door. Those
who fail must make the choice of whether to walk through or go on the run from the
guardians of the dead.
Soulless
Soulless either learn to exist in polite society or spend their days fighting to maintain
control in a world that doesn’t make sense. The better-off members of this type live happy
fulfilling lives. Those who fail to cope have a long, hard struggle ahead of them.
Changeling
Changeling kids retain their affinity for animals, often going into vocations such as a
veterinarian, animal trainer, and K9 cop.
72
Chapter eight:
Ghost
World
chapter eight
The blessed are a strange phenomenon. They don’t play by the same rules as everyone
else but, in turn, they pay a dear price. The blessed can often feel lost, alone, and terrified
of what others think of them. Those who know of their capabilities have a choice to make:
accept it or not. Often, the blessed aren’t sure which decision a person has made about
them until that person has to make a choice. That affects the blessed child. If a stranger
witnesses what they can do, will they tell others? What about if a friend does? Would that
friend tell? How deep does the bond between children really go when one of them is so
much stranger than the other?
The blessed go to great lengths to hide who they really are and what they can really do,
even from the children who should accept them. The blessed are aces up the sleeves of
those fighting back against the monsters of Closetland but their unusual powers and the
odd side effects that sometimes follow make them very self-conscious and slow to make
friends.
For the blessed, it is especially important for them to know who they can and cannot
trust. They need to know which places are safe and which are not. Any blessed would do
well to familiarize themselves with the following.
Part ONE: The World OF SOULS
Blessed children glimpse another world that’s not the real one, not Closetland, and
not the In-Between. It is, in fact, the world of the dead. Unlike Closetland, which is a
dimension adjacent to our real world, or the In-Between World that exists in the gap
between our world and Closetland, the World of Souls exists solely in our world. It
appears as another layer, a second skin draped over our reality. People on the brink of
death report glimpsing this world as their life fades from them but the blessed see it
everyday.
When They See It
Most blessed types see the World of Souls at different times for different reasons.
When a gifted’s other soul asserts itself and tries to take over the body it shares, the
kid sees this world. As the faithful find their center and draw power from the source of
their faith, they see this world. The innocent see this world almost as often as the cursed
for they see it as a double-image, a blur that sometimes overtakes the real world. The
changeling see it when they are on the cusp of changing. And the cursed, well, they see it
all day every day as this is the world they live in. The soulless see it the least which we’ll
cover next.
All blessed glimpse this world in times of severe stress, when they use either Belief or
their blessed powers, and when their Spirit dips to four points or below. These are, in fact,
the only times the soulless see this world.
What They See
Imagine our world with a strong blue tint to it. Outlines around living creatures jitter
and shake like two images overlapping each other. Wispy threads flit off the edges of
buildings and cars. Artifacts of death sprout from the soil: the spirits of deceased cats,
dogs, squirrels flicker in your peripheral vision. The outlines of the dead become visible.
This world is always a hair slower than the real world, which is what causes the ghost
images you see. When you see the dead, they do not act as living creatures but as beings
74
GHOST WORLD
stuck in a loop, forever repeating the same action over and over again. Interacting with
the dead draws them out of their routine briefly, enough to speak a warning or answer a
question but whatever it is controlling them has a very strong pull.
It’s easy for a blessed child to confuse what’s happening in the World of Souls with our
own reality. A gifted girl may see a truck slam into a car at an intersection, sending glass
and bend metal into the air. As she screams, she looks around and notices nobody else
is reacting. Then she see the accident happen again and again. It is an accident that first
happened twelve years ago but has continued to happened every ten second since then.
It’s an artifact of the World of Souls.
The same goes for the old man at the crosswalk. He spends a minute anxiously pressing
the walk button but, frustrated, gives up and wanders right into traffic. A changeling boy
gasps as cars drive right through him. That man has been crossing this crosswalk for over
sixty years. He took that route every weekday for thirty years; it’s how he got to work.
Though he didn’t die there, it’s what his soul knows to do so it does it.
Who Lives There
Not everyone who ever lived is now in the World of Souls. There doesn’t seem to
be a hard and fast rule that determines whether someone “moves on” or stays behind.
Folks often talk about ghosts with unfinished business being the ones left behind but
many of the spooks who wander have no emotional baggage, no need for vengeance or
understanding. They’re simply living, in their way, and nothing else.
Perhaps someone does know the reason why each spirit has stayed behind. If so, that
person is mostly likely the King of Souls.
Spirits and Specters
The majority of those seen in the World of Souls are the spirits of deceased humans
and animals still tied to the earth. These spirits look mostly as they did in life, usually
wearing some ghastly version of whatever outfit they were wearing at the time of their
death. Glimpsing someone who died in the shower or in some gruesome Halloween
costume is particularly jarring.
Like the ghosts in most tales, most spirits are tied to locations or routines that were
familiar to them in life. They will often be seen doing whatever they did most during their
breathing days. Most ghosts are blissfully unaware of their true state, which is what makes
the guardians of the dead necessary.
(We’ll talk about these types of ghosts in much more detail later on this chapter.)
Guardians of the Dead
The guardians of the dead or, simply, guardians are spirits of exceptional power. The
World of Souls is theirs to police and protect—and it’s a job they take very seriously.
When a ghost threatens—or is threatened by—another whether living or dead, punishing
those responsible falls upon the guardians.
Unlike their charges, the guardians of the dead look only nominally human-like. They
have the same basic form and proportions but often wear large helmets adorned with
bones and strange symbols. They also carry weapons straight out of the Medieval Faire:
pole arms, long axes, large stone hammers. And that medieval look goes beyond their
arsenal; the guardians of the dead look like knights. Which is fitting since they all answer
to a king.
75
chapter eight
Guardians are not usually seen unless someone or something has committed a crime
against the dead. Spotting a guardian is a chilling thing; they are imposing figures who
are quick to aggression and waste no time apprehending those responsible.
Cold sensations are often associated with the dead but especially the guardians. When
they arrive, the temperature of the area drops significantly. Even in the dead of winter,
you can feel their presence. When they speak, their voice is low and slow. Each syllable is
drawn out, which contrasts with their swift movements.
They seem to appear out of nowhere. Besides the sudden frigidity, nothing heralds their
presence. Seconds after a ghost has committed a crime, or someone has committed a
crime against a ghost, these soldiers appear.
Ghost Crimes
There’s a world of difference between the ghosts who are monsters and those who live
in the World of Souls. Just like people, there are good and bad spirits.
The spirits and specters stuck in their routines are relatively harmless. Brushing up
against them will send a shiver down your spine, sure, but they’re not looking to hurt
anyone. Performing a ritual that attempts to harm them, trap them, or banish them will
bring down the wrath of the guardians. Putting down salt or otherwise protecting an area
from any ghostly presence will not.
76
GHOST WORLD
Sometimes though, these regular old ghosts go a little crazy. Something snaps in them
and they stop being harmless remnants of former lives. Essentially, they become monsters.
And when that happens—especially if these ghosts attempt to harm another spirit or a
human being—the guardians will appear.
Though they arrive quickly, they do not always show up in time to prevent a crime
from happening. And ghosts have been known to slip away from the guardians. While
supernatural is almost every way, the guardians are not all-knowing or all-powerful. Just
like crooks with real life cops, some criminal spirits evade capture. For a ghost, going
on the lam means either hiding out in Closetland—possibly becoming a full-fledged
monster—or ducking into a human body, potentially creating either a gifted or cursed
child in the process.
Guardians are known to give warnings—stern warnings—to those whose transgressions
are minor. While the guardians look mostly alike, each has its own measure for what
constitutes a punishable crime. For those who are repeat offenders, or whose crimes are
significant enough, they are taken to the King of Souls for sentencing.
Guardians and the Living
Those who are only spirits are far more susceptible to the will of the guardians than
those who drag around a bunch of skin and bones with them. Ghosts, and children such
as the cursed, cannot resist a guardian who gives a direct order. These orders, while spoke
aloud, actually stem from the guardian’s soul, meaning the guardian does not have to say
anything to enact its will on another.
Now, those who have bodies have an advantage against the guardians. Characters can
use Fight or Care against the guardians in order to get away. The stats for guardians are
included at the end of this chapter.
The King of Souls
While the guardians are the police of the spirit world, they are not its judges. The King
of Souls is the final arbiter of justice, delivering sentences to those who break the World
of Souls laws.
This spectral creature is the size and shape of a normal-sized man and is adorned in a
long flowing robe and jagged, spiky crown. His face is drawn and sullen. He appears to be
impossibly old with eyes as deep as a well. Like his guardians, he is iridescent and speaks
in a whisper. He chooses his words carefully but does not have the drawn-out speech of
the guardians. His words echo but they are crisp, clear, and concise.
The King is tied to certain locations in the real world—usually mausoleums and mass
graves where the energy of the dead is strongest. He is not seen unless a guardian brings a
subject to the location and summons the King for sentencing.
Though severe, the King is fair and will hear the defendant’s side before delivering his
judgment. If the King feels the subject has broken a law seriously enough, he will waste
no time in exacting punishment. If he finds the defendant not guilty, he will release the
subject without hesitation. While he realizes he is as flawed as any other, his adheres to
his judgment if challenged. The King is not unreasonable but any counterargument must
be well-reasoned and presented in a convincing manner if the appellees want any hope of
having one of the spirit’s ruling reconsidered. If the King thinks those challenging may
have a case, he sends them out to find further evidence or witnesses who can corroborate
the appeal.
77
chapter eight
The guardians are susceptible to punishment as well, if one regularly bothers the King
with minor offenses or abuses of power.
All spirits, and friends of the accused, are free to witness the sentencing ceremonies,
which the King sees as much as displays of power as entertainment for the dead and
semi-living.
The Imprisonment Ceremony
The ceremony of imprisonment is a big deal and serves as a reminder to other spirits
that rules should be upheld always. Theatrical in its execution, the imprisonment
ceremony has more in common with a magic show than a formal sentencing. For
outsiders, the whole thing can seem quite strange, like they’ve stepped into a bizarro
version of the normal justice system.
The King of Souls calls any and all spirits to the site of sentencing which is usually a
barren field. When the King summons a spirit, the command is strong enough to allow
even those bound to specific sites the ability to travel to him.
There’s lot of music and laughter and communing prior to the sentencing proper. This is
the only time some ghosts get a chance to talk with others so the crowd can become quite
loud and obnoxious.
Any not-dead in attendance may find the crowd cold yet accommodating. The ghosts
are not happy to have the living milling about with them but the assumption is that
anyone attending the event is supposed to be there. Unless proven otherwise, everyone
gets a pass.
Once everyone is assembled, the King stands before the convicted and reads through
their list of crimes. The crowd hollers and boos each transgression.
The King then hears final pleas. If anyone assembled wishes to argue for a lesser
sentence, they may. As always, the King is fair but strict. He does not give reprieves often
but they do happen. If no one steps forward, or any presented argument fails to sway the
King, the imprisonment begins.
The Red Cage
Spirits sentenced to prison by the King of Souls are placed in a tiny steel box called
the Red Cage. The box itself is rusted gray; it’s the bright red lock that gives the object its
name. Only the King of Souls possesses the key that opens the Red Cage.
The “key” is actually a bone the King keeps in the pockets of his robes. Ornate script
covers it, carved directly into the bone in thin, deep scratches. The markings look like
magic symbols from some lost time.
Once played inside the lock, the door to the cage opens and a swirling vortex of gray
and white lines spins out of the cage, sucking the condemned into its vast unknowable
interior. The King then locks the cage and puts both it and the bone-key away until the
next trial.
The Red Cage is a Belonging created by the King of Souls. All the souls serving out
their sentences reside in the same box. It’s widely known that the Red Cage leads to
another world of some kind, a place that isn’t like Closetland, the In-Between, or the real
world. Rarely do souls return the same as they entered. Most are but hollow shadows of
their former selves. These souls returns bearing great sadness and strain. It’s not unusual
for these spirits to turn bad, to go crazy or hostile, and become monsters.
78
GHOST WORLD
Soul Doors
The last part of the World of Souls to know about are the Soul Doors. Most kids
familiar with Closetland have had their fill of strange doors that lead to weird places but
Soul Doors are different even from those. Each door is tied to a different spirit. While
everyone who can see the World of Souls can see the Soul Doors that appear, only those
who belong to the door can open it. Make no mistake: the doors do not belong to the
spirit; the spirit belongs to the door.
Soul Doors look like real world doors though usually not modern ones. They tend to be
highly-decorated with items, stickers, and adornments familiar to the person to whom the
door belongs.
When a Soul Door appears, the ghost feels a strong, almost irresistible pull to seek it
out. The doors do not show up right in front of their intended user. Some doors appear
on the other side of the world. Some in the bottom of the ocean. When they appear,
whatever tie holds a ghost to a certain location is cut. The spirit is free to roam. The door
waits patiently for its user to make their way to it. But ghosts who take too long, who
leave the door waiting a long period of time, are in violation of spirit law and will be
hunted by the guardians for a trial in front of the King.
As the intended spirit nears their Soul Door, the door pulses. It is up to the spirit to
open its door and walk through—to a fate unknown even to other ghosts.
Part TWO: friends of the blessed
While the blessed struggle to find their place in the world, it’s good to know that some
people are quite sympathetic to the special situation. Below, we meet two of them.
Sister Emily
Emily Vande Slunt believes in only two things. First: Cats are better than dogs. Second:
There is a Lord above who will one day assume the righteous into Heaven. The first is
evident in her choice of companions, a beautiful yellow short hair named Thomas. The
second defines even more about her life.
Raised in a strict Catholic family, Emily learned every word of the Good Book by the
time she hit her teens. As she entered adulthood, Emily had no doubts as to her vocation.
There would be no school teaching or housewifing in her future. She had the calling and
entered the faith as a full-time job.
Early in her career as a nun, Emily began volunteering at a soup kitchen. There, she
ran across her first blessed child. A young girl threw a tantrum, yelling about the food,
and Emily intervened. She took the girl aside to see what the matter was and noticed the
long, deep scratches on her arms. Further examining the child, the sister found even more.
Thinking it was a case of abuse, Emily urged the girl to tell her what happened. The girl
was hesitant at first but, realizing where the woman’s head was at, she confessed that she
gave herself the scars. Doubting the child, Emily told the child she didn’t have to defend
anyone. Emily just wanted to know the truth.
Now, the girl’s parents were down on their luck but they were good people. She didn’t
want them to get into trouble, especially for something they didn’t do. Wanting to protect
her family, the girl showed Emily the truth. She sprouted wings and long bear-like claws
from her hands. Astonished, Emily prayed for the girl and sent her on her way.
79
chapter eight
That wasn’t the last time Emily crossed paths with a blessed child. In fact, over the next
sixty-plus years, Emily would come to know numerous blessed children as word spread
about the nun. Emily came to learn that exceptional children existed all over the globe,
and they had a wide range of extraordinary powers. She made it her duty to protect the
children as well as she could.
The sister still keeps in touch with some of the children, most of whom are now adults.
While she knows they don’t remember what they were anymore, Emily does and she tries
her best to help them as well as she can.
Now in her 90s, Emily knows her remaining days are few. All she wants now is to find
another who can take up her charge to help those children who are different than others.
Vernon Ashe
Some people are curious about the blessed. They’ve heard rumors or seen things they
can’t quite explain so set out to find evidence that something weird is going on. Vernon
Ashe is one of those people. To him, blessed children are like Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil:
cryptids he’s one hundred percent positive are out there just waiting to be proven by some
plucky guy.
Vernon was just a regular kid growing up. He wasn’t blessed in any way. But he has
vague memories of seeing kids do some pretty crazy stuff. He can almost remember the
time his neighbor floated above the ground for ten solid minutes. And while he can’t
prove it, he clears remembers a place called Doorworld or something.
Vernon is one of those grown-ups with the vaguest recollection of the fight against the
monsters. He knows there are some children who can bring animals back and separate
from their body. One day, he’s going to find real proof too.
80
GHOST WORLD
The thing about Vernon is that he actually wants to help kids. If he ever did find a
blessed child who could do one of the things he remembers them being able to do, he
wouldn’t try to capitalize on their existence. He just wants to know. Vernon’s starting to
doubt his sanity—thinking maybe he’s looking what marbles he has—and, more than
anything, he wants peace of mind that his mind didn’t fabricate this whole thing.
Part THREE: the once blessed
When regular kids grow up, their Belief fades away, they see the world in that way most
adults do, and join society as monster-blind grown-ups with jobs and mortgages and
picket fences and all that.
But the blessed aren’t regular kids. Growing up doesn’t cause their extra soul to go away.
It doesn’t make the monster soul inside them miraculously change into a human one. A
changeling doesn’t stop being a changeling just because it can now drive. Though they
may not be able to use the powers they had as a child, they still retain what made them
exceptional. Usually.
Some of the blessed enter adulthood scarred by their history though, such as these two.
Gary Esposito
As a kid, Gary learned early on that he had powers others didn’t. He was blissfully
unaware of Closetland or that monsters were real. What he did know, though, was that he
had some pretty special talents.
Gary was gifted. He had another soul living in his body. As an infant, a monster
attempted to possess him but the creature failed and got trapped inside. Oddly, the
monster wasn’t all that malevolent. It didn’t mind sharing the body. After all, that means it
still had a body, right?
Nowadays, Gary runs a shop downtown that fixes GameStations, mPod3 players, and
smartphones. Mainly, he fixes broken screens and mods old game consoles so they’ll play
foreign games.
He spends most of his off time in his efficiency apartment, alone. Well, alone with
Arnold, the other voice in his head. He and Arnold love to watch all those reality shows
about garbage pickers and pawn shops. They often debate the value of everyday objects,
getting into heated, through friendly, arguments over antique toys and rec room oddities.
Rebecca Anne Damascos
Back when she went by Becky, Rebecca Anne was one of the most devout faithful
children around. Though her family held to most Christian traditions, they practiced more
out of tradition than faith. But not Becky. She had a faith unlike anyone in her family—
anyone in her neighborhood. She discovered what this meant when she was just six years
old and brought her hamster, Arnie, back to life. Becky was amazed.
Through experimentation, she learned the full breadth of her abilities, truly humbled
and delighted that God had granted these powers to her. She kept them a secret from her
parents, convinced that they were special powers that other people weren’t supposed to
know about.
Then her father got sick. He had been a foreman in a salt mine for years and
development black lung due to mineral and exhaust exposure. Becky asked God to
heal her daddy, praying day in and day out for the Lord to save her father. She tried
numerous times to make her daddy better but he never did. As time wore on, and her
81
chapter eight
dad’s condition worsened, the girl experienced her first bout of shaken faith. When he
died, Becky mourned and wondered why she had been given these powers if she couldn’t
use them on the people who mattered to her most. Still, she had faith that everything was
part of God’s plan. Becky was eight years old.
Two years later, when her mom was on the bad end of a hit-and-run accident and lost
her legs, Becky tried again to grow her mother some new legs. Try as she might, Mrs.
Damascos never walked again.
Becky started to wonder why her family was being punished. Her mom and dad were
good people, good parents, and didn’t deserve to die young or lose their legs. And if Becky
had these gifts why were they so limited?
This was Becky’s second bout of shaken faith. She didn’t fully recover this time.
Six months after her mother’s accident, Becky broke her arm. She was rushed to the
doctors to get it fixed. Becky didn’t even try to heal it this time. All the time spent seeing
her mother struggle with her condition sank Becky into a deep depression. As time wore
on, and more bad things happened, her faith dwindled entirely. And, with it, her powers.
Now 42 years old, Rebecca doesn’t remember the abilities she had as a kid. But she
remembers her dad, and she remembers how her mother used to run around the yard with
her. The woman has never recovered from the hardships her family has faced.
The other day, though, she saw a little boy pick up a dead bird—a seriously dead bird—
and bring it back to life. The little thing shook and shook and flew off into the sky. This
sparked something in Rebecca’s mind that she’s trying to place. Something buried deep.
Last week, she went to church for the first time in decades.
Part FOUR: souls without bodies
Ghosts are, essentially, homeless souls. After all, when a spirit is housed inside a human
body, they aren’t called ghosts—they’re souls. And that’s the biggest difference. It’s also
what causes problems.
Ghosts are monsters. Even the cursed are considered as such for most intents and
purposes. But, lacking physical bodies, they are different than a lot of monsters you run
across. We’re going to go over ghost basics in this section before getting into ghosts as
characters—including particulars that soulless characters should know—in the next.
Since being a blessed child drastically increases your probability of running into a spook
or specter of some stripe, let’s give these apparitions a bit of detail.
Ghosts
From a game perspective, all ghosts are built the same. It is assumed all ghosts can do
any of the following:
Go through solid objects when they want
Interact with normal objects when they want
Appear from thin air
Possess people and objects
What differentiates one from another are Qualities and Stuff they have. This
determines what they can do, how they can interact with the living, and thus how folks
tend to categorize them.
And the three big categories are specter, haunt, and poltergeist.
82
GHOST WORLD
Specter
Some ghosts just roam around, not hurting anybody, going about their business much
as they did in life. This type are called Specters or “walking ghosts.” When characters
glimpse the World of Souls and see all those spirits that look like people and animals
milling about public places, sitting in subways, and acting like nothing weird is going on
at all, they’re seeing specters. This is the most common type of ghost. They don’t want any
trouble and they don’t cause any either.
Specter Qualities and Stuff
Specters tend to have the Qualities they had in life. From their perspective, they’re still
living their old life, just a different form of it. As for Stuff, Specters are limited to things
that increase their Scare. These can be their ghostly form, a spooky noise they emit either
on purpose or not, or some harmless but startling motion they make on occasion.
Haunt
This type of ghost is tied to a location and can’t leave. This makes them angry, unsettled,
and they start to resent the living who have taken over its spot. When a kid walks through
a house and sees a ghost going “boogity-boogity” and trying to scare the pants off any
who trespass on its territory, he’s seeing a haunt. This type of haunted wants left alone—
and is willing to cause trouble to drive away anyone who disturbs it.
Haunt Qualities and Stuff
Haunts will have Qualities that speak to their angry natures. They are protective
creatures who don’t like to be disturbed. As for Stuff, they make use of all sorts of
common ghost tricks such as turning in horrible looking creatures, shrieking, and deep
bone-rattling laughter. All of which usually bumps up their Scare. But Haunts also can
use Stuff that boosts their Chase (such as using objects to slow down those they are after)
and Grab (by using rugs and power cables to trap children’s feet and hands).
Poltergeist
When a haunt gets really angry and actively tries to hurt people, it takes control of the
place its tied to and uses whatever is inside that place as weapons. This is a poltergeist.
It’s the type of ghost who lifts tables in the air, throws dishes and knives, makes an piano
come alive and play Beethoven, and generally causes havoc.
Poltergeists love trouble. They want to hurt anyone who comes near it and won’t bother
with appearing in its spirit form.
Poltergeists Qualities and Stuff
For Qualities, poltergeists usually have something they are protecting or somebody
they want to hurt. This can be as general or specific as you want. In addition, these
troublemakers have a wide array of Stuff to choose from. Really, anything in their chosen
place of haunting is up for grabs. They might favor cutlery, furniture, fire suppression
systems, or using doors both to increase their Scare (slamming them shut) and hurt
people (opening in front of their faces).
What Causes Them
Ghosts come into existence through three different methods: death, separation, and
fear. Let’s look at each in turn.
83
chapter eight
Death
The most common cause of ghosts is also the simplest. People and animals are souls
inside bodies. When the body dies, the spirit is supposed to go somewhere else. But they
don’t always do that. Something keeps the spirit rooted to our world (we’ll talk about the
specifics later).
Separation
Other ghosts are spirits who were pushed out of their old bodies. Cursed characters, for
example, are considered ghosts for this reason.
Fear
Finally, some ghosts exists simply because kids are scared of them, same as most other
monsters. These ghosts can be your generic spooky specters but tend to be modeled after
something a child fears specifically, such as running into a deceased friend, neighbor,
or family member (who may or may not actually be deceased). Other examples include
ghosts from popular media, ghostly versions of clowns, dolls, or something else the child
fears, and ghost objects the child lost or had stolen.
How to Get Rid of Them
Usually what folks want to know is: How can I get rid of the ghost? This may not even
be because the ghost is trying to hurt them. Ghosts freak people out just being there. They
don’t have to do anything. Of course, some ghosts should be gotten rid of too.
Whether a ghost is just flitting around doing nothing, making it impossible to get a
good night’s rest, or actively trying to hurt you, the options for getting rid of a ghost are
the same: fight them, trap them, or bless their body.
Fighting a Ghost
Kids fight a ghost the same they would any monster. We’ll cover what “health” means
for a ghost later but the principle is the same: do enough damage and they go away. Strip
way their Terror and they go away forever.
Trapping a Ghost
When a ghost doesn’t want to be found, or has taken over an object, building, or person
and won’t leave their new home, you can try to draw out the ghost and trap inside a
reminder. This requires two steps: the call and the trap.
Reminders
Objects from a ghost’s past, to which they have a strong bond, are called “reminders.”
These are usually items the ghost loved in life, used everyday, or were present at key
moments in the ghost’s earlier existence. They can be any physical object to which the
ghost has a connection. While mostly from the ghost’s previous (read: living) life, they
don’t have to be. Some ghosts build bonds with objects after they are dead. Reminders are
singular, meaning you can’t use the same item to trap multiple ghosts.
While not necessary for fighting ghosts, reminders are key to trapping them.
The Call
The first you have to do is get the ghost out of whatever it’s in. This requires a reminder,
an object important to the ghost. This almost always is an item from the ghost’s former
life. Think of this as a dog whistle—a beacon—to bring forth the ghost.
84
GHOST WORLD
You also have to know the ghost’s real name—it’s full birth name—in order to draw it
out. The combination of reminder and real name is too much for any ghost to resist.
To perform the call, have one of the characters hold out the reminder and call for the
ghost using its full birth name. This requires the summoner, and the kids should pick
one, to roll Care against the ghost’s Care (if a player character) or Scare (if a monster). A
success draws out the ghost, causing it to take form within three feet of the reminder.
The Trap
The next step is the trap, where the summoner attempts to pull the spirit into the
reminder, fusing the two forever.
This requires a Fight test versus the ghost’s Fight. A success draws the ghost into the
reminder—but the ritual isn’t over yet.
To solidify the trap, the summoner must put a point of her Spirit into the reminder.
This locks the ghost inside, never to get out.
When a ghost merges with its reminder, something wondrous happens. This depends
on the particular ghost and reminder but something magical should happen. The action
figure comes alive, the football explodes in a push of pigskin and padding, or the Sunday
dress dances around for a bit—like someone is inside it—before crumpling to the floor.
If Something Goes Wrong
If this ritual fails at any point then the ghost gets a chance to make a break for it. The
summoner has a small window to retry whatever roll failed. If they still don’t succeed, they
cannot use the ritual on the ghost again. Someone else will have to give it a shot.
Blessing Their Body
Blessing a body is a means to redeem a ghost and then free it from whatever is holding
it to a place. This requires the body of the deceased—the real body (or whatever remains).
Without the body, it can’t be blessed.
Once you have the body, you place your hands on the body and forgive it. The
characters can invent a more elaborate ritual if they wish but forgiveness is all that’s
needed. The character then transfers a point of Spirit and a point of Belief into the corpse.
This gives the ghost just enough humanity (the Spirit at work there) that it can be freed
(that’s where the Belief comes in).
Ghosts immediate get pulled back into their body and are gone. Note, though, that the
entire body (whatever it had still attached at the time of its death) must be present.
Spirits as Characters
Spirits as characters brings up some big questions such as how health works, how Stuff
works, and all that since they don’t have physical bodies like everyone else. These are all
fair questions. Let’s take a stab at answering them.
Spirits and Health
Though they don’t have blood and bones, spirits still exist. When imagining ghosts in
this game, think less wispy and ephemeral and more ectoplasm and soul jelly. Physical
objects can still hurt them. Spirits don’t worry about tripping over stone or falling down
cracks but they can be hurt by sharp edges and blunt objects same as everyone else.
Damage ticks away at whatever strange matter it is that makes up their body.
85
chapter eight
Spirit and Stuff
Spirits use Stuff same as any other character though the particulars of the Stuff change.
A cursed doesn’t have a backpack but it will have connections to objects in the vicinity.
Feel free to go more general with Stuff—and that applies to all spirits including ghostly
monsters. Instead of a specific book, the spirit has a connection to all books. Instead of
one particular baseball bat, all baseball bats nearby can serve the purpose of Stuff.
Spirits and Abilities
Spirit retain their intelligence and empathy so Think and Care are unchanged. They can
still make noise—player characters can anyway—so Speak is unaffected as well. As for
Move, spirits get around just fine. Sometimes even better than they did in life. When it
comes to Fight, spirit can turn their soul jelly into a hard enough matter to hurt someone
or wield an object.
Spirits and Virtues
Lastly, the cursed retain their Belief. Wits come from whatever part of the brain Think
does so that’s unchanged as well. And as for Spirit, well, they are spirits so they’re all good
there.
Imaginary Friends
Lots of children have imaginary friends growing up. Parents and psychologists attribute
the phenomenon to a great many sources and reasons, from parental neglect all the way to
low-grade schizophrenia but the reasons don’t matter here. Because in Little Fears, having
a friend other people can’t see doesn’t mean they are imaginary.
The Many Truths about Imaginary Friends
Imaginary friends don’t come from a single source. The truth is as varied as the friends
themselves.
Ghosts
Ghosts, both as monsters and as roaming spirits of deceased humans and animals,
make up a good portion of imaginary friends. Almost always these are specters—ghosts
unaware or unconcerned with the fact they’re dead. They see the child as someone to
hang out with and mean no harm.
Other Monsters
Monsters aren’t usually friendly but they are always invisible to adults. On rare
occasions, monsters will reach out to human children as friends, wanting to play and
laugh and be human-like if only briefly. Others use their imaginary friend shtick to get
close to the child or someone the child knows in order to snatch them up and haul them
away to Closetland.
The Cursed
Cursed children account for some percentage of imaginary friends. Longing for human
contact, they reach out to anyone who can see them. It’s quite possible that a cursed
character will be the imaginary friend of another character.
The Forgotten
The Forgotten are children who have faded from the memories of their loved ones.
As a side effect, they slid into the In-Between World that exists between the real world
86
GHOST WORLD
and Closetland. Like the cursed above, sometimes the Forgotten are so weak, they can
only interact with a few children. (For more details on the Forgotten and other types of
missing children, check out Book 2: Among the Missing.)
Pure Imagination
Lastly, of course, some imaginary friends are just that: imaginary. They are entirely
figments of a child’s mind, but that doesn’t mean they won’t one day become real. After
all, Closetland is a place born from and populated by the imaginations of children.
Why Imaginary Friends Reach Out
No matter what the imaginary friend really is, the real curiosity is why they reached out
to a child.
Companionship
A lot of imaginary friends are lonely. They live in the fringes of the real world, both part
of it and not. When they run across someone who can see them—or even better, identify
with them—they will often latch on the person for as long as they can.
Imaginary friends seeking companionship are often the most needy, at least as GMCs.
If ignored for too long, they go to extremes in order to get attention. This ranges from
innocent pranks like tipping a water glass off a table to frustrating tricks such as throwing
toys and books and blankets all over a child’s room to more concerning actions like
deflating bike tires or pouring nail polish all over a kid’s school books.
Neglected for too long, their pleas for attention may take a darker turn. Feeling as
though they are losing their one connection to the real world, an imaginary friend may
push a child into the street or down some stairs. They may even take action against
whatever is distracting their child. Is their kid spending too much at football practice?
They might try to get the child hurt so they can’t play anymore. Is their friend busy
hanging out with other kids? The imaginary friend may attempt to harm those children so
they don’t want to hang out anymore. Then the imaginary friend can have their kid all to
themselves again.
Confusion
Some imaginary friends think they are still regular human beings and have no concept
of the fact they’re ghosts. For the most part, this pertains to specters—the roaming spirits
of the dead.
False Pretenses
And there are some imaginary friends who are only pretending to be friends. Most of
the time, this means monsters but can also be a cursed or forgotten child who is working
for another.
Part four: blessed belongings
Just as items can absorb Belief, so too can they absorb Spirit. Blessed hand-me-downs
can be used by anyone—even grown-ups—but always have a severe price.
How it Works
Regular hand-me-downs are created when a child infuses them with Belief. This is
usually an active process where the kid makes the decision to put his Belief in the object,
based a preconception he has about the item or after witnessing the use of a similar item
in someone else’s hands.
87
chapter eight
Blessed hand-me-downs, or “belongings” as they’re sometimes called, are a bit different.
The transference of Spirit into the item isn’t willful. A blessed child doesn’t put his Spirit
into the object. No, with belongings, the item saps the Spirit from the child. Not to say
these items are alive or have a will of their own but that’s how it works.
Using a Belonging
When a belonging is used, whatever effect the item is immediate. There’s no cost or
necessary activation beyond whatever the item requires. The belonging loses a point of
Spirit when activated but will immediately try to get it back. Unfortunately, it can only
get Spirit from blessed characters. If a normal person uses the item, the point of Spirit is
lost and the item can’t get more. Not immediately anyway.
If a blessed character uses the belonging though, the item will attempt to refill the
point of Spirit it lost. The blessed child rolls a Care Quiz against a Hard (12) Difficulty.
If successful, the child does not lose any Spirit. If the kid fails, the belonging gets a point
of Spirit—and the kid loses one point of Spirit. If the losing roll has Failing Grades, the
item gets one more point of Spirit for every Failing Grade. And the blessed character
loses one point of Spirit per Failing Grade as well.
Belongings Go Dark
They don’t have any Belief in them but all belongings have some amount of Spirit in
them. Using the object causes a point of Spirit to go away. When all the Spirit points are
gone, the item is Dark. The item tries its best to prevent this but, once all its Spirit is gone,
the item cannot infuse itself with Spirit again.
Notable Belongings
The following blessed items should help inspire your own Spirit-fueled hand-me-
downs. You are also free to use these as-is or modify them to fit your game or group. With
just a few tweaks, these could also be used as standard Belief-based hand-me-downs.
The Book of Hymns
The printing mark on this small leatherbound book dates it to 1897. Consisting of
over a 300 onion-skin pages, it contains numerous Biblical songs and verses in not only
English but German, Latin, and Dutch. The dark skin of the cover has been worn smooth
by over a century of rough use. It’s been dropped, run over, rescued from a house fire,
buried beneath the ground of seven years, and who knows what else.
A woman named Dolly Holbright was the first owner of this book. Her pastor gave it
to the woman when her eldest child fell sick with a high fever. Dolly and her family had
always been very religious and she clung to the book as an object of God’s will. Every
morning and every night, she would read from the book, washing her son’s head and feet,
trying to make him better, or at least more comfortable.
When her son recovered, she thought it was a blessing from on high. And she may be
right because it was the book who healed her son. Her reading the passages slowly cooled
his fever and repaired his body.
She told her pastor the miraculous tale. He then used the book on another parishioner’s
child who came back from a terrible illness as well. The book was then lent from person to
person until it has landed in the hands of someone in the modern day. While it was once
a very powerful artifact, the book is down to its last few precious charges.
88
GHOST WORLD
Using the Book
To activate the book, simply read a passage. The Book of Hymns heals three points of
health with every activation. It begins play with four points of Spirit left in it.
Oscar the Bulldog
Won at a county fair over ten years ago, Oscar’s life has always been one of adventure.
The girl who first owned the dog left it in a restaurant on the way home where a boy
picked it up later that day. Two weeks later, the boy gave the toy to his friend who owned
it for a year before losing it on a bus on his way to visit his aunt. Put into the lost and
found by the driver, Oscar was shipped off a second-hand store after it lay unclaimed for
three weeks.
There, it was purchased by an expectant mother for her impending child. Oscar grew
up alongside this girl, becoming her most favoritest toy ever. When that family’s house
burned down, Oscar was thought lost. But, in fact, aside from a little grime, the plush dog
was just fine.
Through whatever odd chain of events, every single child along that chain was one of
the blessed. And each time it got a new owner, it sapped a little bit of Spirit from it.
Oscar is a stuffed bulldog about the size of a loaf of bread. Its name is evident on the
cheap metal disc affixed to its felt collar. It has big soft teeth sticking out of its underbite
and a stubby tail that was chewed on quite a bit when its previous owner was teething.
Now lost, Oscar is out there, waiting for a new owner. It possesses the ability to harm
monsters, a side effect of the Spirit it unwittingly siphoned from the kids who loved it.
Using Oscar
Pulling the string activates Oscar. It immediately does three points of Damage to the
nearest monster. It begins play with five points of Spirit.
The Big Pencil
This comically-large writing utensil was probably a novelty item from a joke store
once upon a time. Over a foot long and two inches in diameter, the pencil is huge but
functional. Too large for a sharpener, you must use a knife or other sharp edge to whittle
the tip when it gets too dull.
What’s notable about the pencil goes far beyond its size, though. The pencil compels
those who write with it to spill their deepest, darkest secrets in either written form
or pictures. It doesn’t turn anyone into an artist—so the polish of the drawings and
complexity of the prose are limited to the skill of the user—but the magic is irresistible.
Using the Pencil
Activating the pencil is as simple as picking it up and writing something with it. The
user immediately starts spilling their guts, detailing secrets and confessions with a brisk
pace. The writer finds it almost impossible to stop writing (a Fight or Think Quiz against
a target of 18). It begins play with three points of Spirit.
The Broken Glasses
Seated in a heavy plastic frame, the lenses of this pair of eyeglasses seem rather
unremarkable. In fact, given the crack each lens has right through the middle, they look
worthless. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
89
chapter eight
While no one is sure of where these glasses came from, a bunch of different stories
exist. What matters isn’t their origin but what they do.
This seemingly ruined pair of glasses gives the wearer—whether child or adult—the
ability to see the World of Souls.
Using the Glasses
Putting on the glasses immediately activates them. Anyone—even grown-ups—can
now see the World of Souls. One point of Spirit is good for ten minutes of viewing time.
The pencil begins play with four points of Spirit.
The Plush Buddies
You may not recall The Plush Buddies TV show. It ran for a single Spring many years
back. While it didn’t stay on the air long, it kicked off a very successful plush toy line. Sold
in sets of Olly the Owl, Squeaks the Mouse, Polly the Bird, Ted the Bear, and Bun the
Rabbit, the Plush Buddies were the toy to have two Christmases in a row.
One such kid, a soulless, just had to have a set. He begged and pleaded and did
his chores, hoping it was enough for Santa to bring him his one and only wish. Sure
enough come Christmas morning, underneath that sparkling pine, was a full set of Plush
Buddies. That boy loved those toys as much as any kid has ever loved a toy. He took them
everywhere—and Olly the Owl was his favorite.
That Spring, the boy came down with an illness. He had a severe fever, the shakes, body
aches, and severe bouts of dizziness. Try as they might, the doctors and nurses couldn’t
find anything wrong with him. Not because they weren’t good at their jobs but because
the boy wasn’t sick.
He was healing. This soulless boy was getting a soul. All thanks to the Plush Buddy he
carried around with him.
Nowadays, thanks to multiple owners, only Ted and Bun remain. Olly, Squeaks, and
Polly have long been exhausted.
Using the Buddies
Activating a Plush Buddy is a matter of prolonged exposure to the animal. The Plush
Buddies only heal those who have a connection to them. Each Plush Buddy has a five
points of Spirit in it, enough to bring any child back from the Dark.
90
Chapter Nine:
Spirit
Monsters
Chapter NINE
In addition to the regular monsters every child faces, the blessed attract other types of
nasty critters. These monsters will hunt regular kids as well but they have a particular tie
or attraction to the blessed, whether it’s a need for all that sweet sweet Spirit, a twisted
kinship with those whose body-soul connection are different than others, or an ability to
home in on whatever it is that makes blessed children who they are.
First, we’ll address the powers these monsters have that are different than regular
creatures from Closetland and then we’ll talk about each monster in detail.
Monsters who target the blessed specifically are build the exact same way any other
monster is. Any difference they have manifests as Qualities or Stuff (or Stuff Qualities).
Part ONE: Spirit Drain Revisited
The Little Fears Nightmare Edition core rulebook details the basic Drain Spirit ability
but given that we’re dealing with characters who are defined primarily by their soul we
should look at how that soul can be stolen in further detail.
Drain Spirit
The core book gives the basic rules for this: a monster has Stuff with the Drain Spirit
Quality. When an attack using that Quality is successful, the character loses Spirit instead
of losing Health. So, this is the old way and should still be used for Regular monsters. For
Scary and Big Bad monsters, check out what’s below.
Spirit Attack
This is the new way and, as said above, applies only to Scary and Big Bad monsters.
Create a monster per usual, giving them Abilities and Qualities based on whatever
concept you have for them. When it comes to their Stuff, pick one piece that serves as
the method they use to siphon away something’s Spirit. Each monster gets only one—but
it’s always the last piece of Stuff that can be taken away. All other attacks, bonus, and
modifiers must go before this Quality can be taken out.
Now, give that Stuff the Quality “Spirit Attack” and spend points on it. What you get
for those points depends on the rank of the monster.
Scary Monsters
For every point put into the Spirit Attack quality, Scary Monsters get Spirit Attack
(Spirit -1) per usual but they don’t have to choose between doing damage or draining
Spirit. They do both. Calculate damage depending on whatever best fits the Stuff (a small
club, a large blade, whatever) and also remove Spirit because of the attack.
Big Bad Monsters
The highest rank of monster also gets the highest benefit. For every point put into
Spirit Attack, they get Spirit -1 and Damage +1. In addition to doing both physical and
spiritual damage, this type of monster gets a damage bonus on top of it.
Example: I’m writing up a session for a group of players where one of the PCs is a changeling
whose soul is actually that of a werewolf. I think it’d be fun to create a monster who hunts
monsters living out in the open.
I decide I’m going to make a Moon Ghoul, a lanky filth-covered creature who only hunts on
the three days of the full moon. I like how this ties to the werewolf soul inside the one character.
The Moon Ghoul is a Scary monster and I imagine it’ll be the capstone of a multiple sessions. I’ll
92
SPIRIT MONSTERS
send some of the Moon Ghoul’s servants—the Mini-Ghouls—after the characters first to tease at
what awaits them.
I see the Moon Ghoul as having a three-foot long tongue that dangles from it’s toothless maw
like a snake sniffing the air for prey. It goes after souls and latches its tongue onto the faces of its
victims to suck away their life force.
Here’s a stat the creature. It’s Scary so I get 15 Ability points. I see it as really skinny—skeleton
thin—and really fast. It also uses its tongue to snare those it gets close to. It’s dirt- and mud-
covered face is unsettling but not super-scary. I give it this:
Fight: ØØØOOO
Grab: ØØØØOO
Chase: ØØØØØO
Scare: ØØØOOO
Next up, I figure out’s Terror. It’s Scary plus highest other Ability (Chase) gives me 8 points to
put into its Stuff. I fill out the Qualities (see the end of this chapter for the details) and move onto
its Stuff.
I already know the tongue is how this thing steals Spirit so I write “Long Writhing Tongue”
and put 4 points into it. I then give it “Latches Onto Stuff (Grab +2)” and put the other two
points into Spirit Attack. Those two points give the tongue “Spirit Attack (Spirit -2).” Every
time the Moon Ghoul lands an attack with its tongue, it plants its tongue digs in its little bladed
edges, doing small blade damage (lowest Success Die) to the target’s Health and draining two
points of Spirit. That’s pretty severe. The kids will be up against a heck of a fight with this one.
Part TWO: POSSESSION
Possession is the act of taking control of another thing. Most of the time, this is a living
creature but it doesn’t have to be. Poltergeists are the most notable exception; they take
over objects, houses, offices, or schools and wreak havoc by running cars into buildings or
tossing knives across living rooms or levitating kitchen tables six feet above the floor.
Between taking over an inanimate object and seizing control of a living creature, the
latter is much harder. What trips things up is that, most likely, there’s already a soul
embedded in the body, whether human or not.
Before a new soul can take over, they must first push the old one out. Or make some
room for itself at the very least.
In order to take over a living creature, the spirit must be without a body at the time of
possession. If they’re currently in a body, they can leave that body to jump into another
but they can not do it directly. They must leave the current body, be completely without a
body while trying to possess, and then, if successful, they take over the new body.
Only a single living thing can be possessed at one time, and a spirit inside a living
creature can not simultaneously possess an inanimate object.
Possessing People
Human beings are both the hardest to possess and most-commonly targeted objects of
possession. The trick with people is the high level of Spirit. Regular characters in Little
Fears begin play with ten points of it—that’s a full body right there with no room for
extra. In order to get inside, the would-be possessor must either drain some of the existing
Spirit or try to force themselves in.
93
Chapter NINE
The Spirit Drain Route
If the possessing spirit doesn’t want to push their way into the body, they can attempt
to first suppress the spirit that’s already taken root inside. This is an aggressive act that
requires both removing at least one point of Spirit from the target and then successfully
breaking through the person’s natural resistance to possession.
No matter who is trying to possess who, the first step is always the same: drain at least
one point of Spirit. And one’s enough, though the more points you take off, the stronger
the possession.
The specifics of draining spirit are covered in the first part of this chapter. Now, let’s
move on to what needs to be done after some spirit has been drained.
Monster vs Player
Unless the players are antagonistic towards each other, this will most likely be the most
common type of possession used in your game. After a monster has used some sort of
Spirit-draining ability on the player, they need to best the player’s willpower.
For this, the monster rolls a number of dice equal to its Terror while the target
character rolls a number of dice equal to half his Spirit, rounded up.
Player vs Player
When one player attempts to take over another, they each roll dice equal to half of their
Spirit, rounded up.
Monster vs GMC
There is no system for a monster taking over a GMC. Use whatever works best for the
story and situation the characters are in for this.
Player vs GMC
Unless the GMC is really important for some reason, players—like monsters—can just
take over regular people.
If you’re using the Expanded GMC rules from Book 2: Among the Missing, they stand
a better chance. The player should roll half his Spirit, rounded up, against the Expanded
GMC’s Feel. A simple success means the player wins and is now in control of the GMC.
Strength of the Possession
The more points you remove prior to possession, the stronger the hold that the new
spirit has. This will come into play when we get into Fighting Possession later.
Maintain Contact
Also take note that possession requires physical contact (or spirit/body contact at least).
No one can possess another remotely. If contact is broken during the attempt, due to
outside interference or the target realizing the spirit’s presence/intent and getting away.
Players and Possession

Player-initiated possesion can turn ugly fast, especially when one player character
tries to take over another. Even if unsucessful, it’s understandable that the target
would take offense. Player vs player possession gives control one person’s character to
another, even if only for a brief time so possession of this type is best if consensual.
This doesn’t mean that the characters agree but that the players agree that’s where
the story should go.
94
SPIRIT MONSTERS
Making Your Own Room

If the attacking spirit fails the above, or decides they really want to get inside the hard
way, they can attempt to push down the host spirit and set up camp. This is harder—and
is potentially harmful to both sides—but it is possible.
To settle this in the game, the target (whoever may end up possessed) will roll Care
(plus any relevant Qualities) while the attacker (whoever is attempting the possession)
will roll Care. The attacker should add any relevant Qualities as well.
The rolls are compared per usual but, in addition to beating the target, the attacker must
also beat a difficulty of 12.
Example: Hilary, a cursed child, has tracked a boy named Edmund to an abandoned shack in
Denton Woods. Hilary, who isn’t dealing so well with those “not having a body” thing, attempts
to take over Edmund’s body. She doesn’t want to chip away at the boy, though, she wants to try a
full-court press.
Hilary’s player, Agatha, rolls her character’s Care (4). Edmund, a fully-fleshed game moderator
character, has a Care of 3. Neither have Qualities that will help them so it’s a pure dice-off.
Agatha rolls and gets 2, 4, 5, 5. The top three dice come to 14. The GM rolls for Edmund and
gets 3, 3, 4. That’s only 10. Hilary beat Edmund’s roll and had a total over 12. The possession is
successful and Hilary slips into the boy’s body.
Now, let’s follow the same set up but with Hilary rolling a 2, 3, 4, 4. The top three dice in this
case add up to 11. Edmund still only has a 10 so Hilary beat him—but her total doesn’t meet or
beat a 12 so the possession still isn’t successful.
95
Chapter NINE
The human body possesses a base level of defense that must be beaten in order to be
overridden. The difficulty of 12 represents that. Think of it as the body’s immune system
against possession.
Maintain Contact
The same as the other method, the would-be possessor must make and maintain
physical contact with the target while attempting the possession. Any break in contact
ends the possession attempt immediately.
Strength of the Possession
While the riskier of the two methods, this way also has higher potential to be a
stronger possession with less risk. The strength of the Spirit Drain route is measured by
how many points of Spirit are drained before the possession attempt; this way is gauged
by the lowest Success Die.
This, for the record, is how Gifted are made.
Failing this Way
A failure causes harm to both parties involved. Apply the lowest Success Die as damage
to both parties. If Failing Grades are involved then apply those as well, as you would for
any normal damage. In addition to damage, the target also suffers from fatigue, body
aches, and other inconveniences for the rest of the day.
The would-be possessor loses three points of Spirit plus an additional point for any
Failing Grades. The possessor also cannot attempt to take over the same vessel more than
once a day. They can attempt a different target if they really want to take the chance of
losing again.
Possessing Animals
Unless they are monsters, animals don’t have stats and can simply be possessed by
a monster looking to take over a creature. For a player character, ask for a Care check
against a difficulty comparable with the strength and size of the critter. For anything
domesticated, set a target number of 6. For farm animals and larger versions of
domesticated animals, such as jungle cats at the zoo or wolves, they need to beat a 12. For
anything really big, like an elephant, set the threshold at 18.
Possessing Monsters
Spirits can possess the bodies of monsters but they are at a severe disadvantage to do
so. In addition to the rules listed under People, the Spirit must contend with the rank of
the monster. Regular Monsters gets a +3 to whatever total comes up on the Success Dice.
Scary ones get a +9. Big Bad Monsters get a whopping +15 to any possession attempt.
For any instance where Care would be used, Monsters use Scare instead, including any
relevant Qualities.
Possessing Things
“Things” come in two types: animate and inanimate. An animate object is one that
already possesses either a spirit or some other guiding force (such as Belief-fueled Hand-
Me-Downs). Hand-Me-Downs cannot be possessed. The magic that gives them power
is immune to takeover attempts. Objects with proper souls should either be treated as
characters, animals, or monsters, depending on which situation suits them best.
96
SPIRIT MONSTERS
Inanimate objects cannot resist being possessed. They neither have a soul that must be
bested or removed nor do they have willpower to fight back. Spirits looking for a home
can slide right into an inanimate object.
Except! Inanimate objects that are near and dear to a player character. Any object that
is a character’s Stuff or that has significant value to them (enough to get mentioned on
their Questionnaire) acts as an extension of the character. In that case, treat a possession
of the child’s item the same you would a character, using the Making Your Own Room
rules discussed earlier. Note though that while the possessing spirit does not to be
in contact with the item, the child who owns the item doesn’t need to be aware that
someone or something is trying to take control of his toy.
Once possessed, the object is now a character and should be treated as such. At the very
least, jot down a quick GMC sketch (using either the Simplified rules from the corebook
or the Expanded rules from Book 2).
If the possessor plans to use that object for a while, such as an angry spirit who takes
root in a doll or a scared soul that wants to hide out in a Penelope Anne Dream Car, this
may warrant a full character or monster write-up.
What Happens After Possession
Once a body has been taken over, the possessing soul is in control of the body. Or, at
the very least, has some serious influence. If a player character takes over anything or
anyone besides another player character, they should treat that new object or person as
their character. If a player character has been taken over, then it comes down to what or
who took them over.
If another player character did, then the two should use this is an opportunity for
banter and character building. A lot of good moments can come from these types of
situations and, as long as both players are on board, can lead to some really gripping
drama.
If a monster or other game moderator character took over a player character, yield
control to the player—with the occasional nudge towards other actions when appropriate.
Thing of the second soul as a devil on the character’s shoulder, trying to guide them
toward mischief. Or maybe they’re the angel, if the possessed player character isn’t all that
good a kid.
If players aren’t open to having their characters possessed and possibly allowing for
the GM to control their actions for a bit, then possession where player characters are the
target may not suit your game.
For any other case, go with whatever fits the story and group best.
Taking Over
If there’s another spirit inside and, at any time, the body loses Spirit points, then the
possessing soul can attempt to claim even more control by filling in those empty slots. The
possessor should roll Care or Scare (depending on whether the possessor is a human or
monster) plus any relevant Qualities.
The target is free to fight back, using his or her Care and Qualities. The possessor
should add the strength of the current possession to whatever the total from its Success
Dice is.
97
Chapter NINE
If possessor wins, it gets one point of free Spirit for the win and another, if available,
for every Passing Grade. If the target wins, the possessor gets no additional slots—but the
empty Spirit points are not magically filled in or anything. The target needs to heal those
Spirit points, if desired, through one of the accepted methods.
This takeover attempt can only be attempted once per occurrence of lost Spirit. The
target would have to lose more Spirit for the possessor to get another chance at filling in
those free slots.
Fighting Possession
Becoming possessed isn’t a life sentence. Players taken over by spirits (or animals taken
over by players) can try to fight the spiritual hijacking though they’ll have their work cut
out for them. Before they attempt anything though, they need to know the strength of
the possession.
How Strong is the Possession?
What you’re fighting against isn’t the spirit itself but the strength of its hold on you.
For the Spirit Drain route, this is the number of Spirit points drained prior to possession.
For the Make Your Own Room method, this is equal to the lowest Success Die of the
possession roll. In both cases, add any points the possessor may have gained since taking
over the body as well.
The Rules for Fighting Back
Pushing back against a possession is a lot like trying to heal Spirit damage but must
always been done alone. The possessed person looking to boot out whatever spirit has
hijacked their body uses Care for the basis of their fight. They can add any relevant
Qualities and use Stuff to help them. They can also spend Spirit to get an additional +1
for every point of Spirit spent. This represents an additional amount of strain the person is
putting into their fight. This push will cost them bits of Spirit but hopefully win the war
for bodily control.
Note though that Spirit spent is Spirit lost, whether the attempt was successful or not.
Spending Spirit, and then failing to beat the possession, can leave you weakened and
susceptible to further loss of control.
The target number is 12 plus the strength of the possession, as determined above.
Possession is a Solo Fight
Others can Believe in the possessed while they attempt to break free but there’s no
way to physically or even psychologically help someone through a possession. Cheers of
“c’mon, you can beat it!” by a good friend, yells “man up and do this already!” by that kinda
obnoxious kid, and other types of a encouragement are great but they must be bolstered
by Belief in the person to have an in-game effect.
Fighting is not Mandatory
All this said, a character doesn’t have to fight being possessed. A situation may arise
where having another soul in your body may come in handy. That’s probably be a pretty
messed up situation though.
98
SPIRIT MONSTERS
Part THREE: Mean Spirits
Since we’ve talked so much about possession, let’s look at the types of monsters whose
possession you really have to worry about. (No possession is fun, generally speaking, but
some spirits are much worse than others.)
Evil Ghosts
Ghosts of all stripes get into the possession game but it’s the evil ones you really have
to watch out for. Some ghosts just want a home, others are confused, lost, or otherwise
out of sorts. These malicious ghosts—those who jump into body for the express purpose
of causing mischief—are the ones who wreck lives, ruin property, and gives good kids a
very bad name.
The last chapter covered what you needed to know about most ghosts but something
particular to evil ghosts is their need to do harm. This drive may be tied to whatever pain
is keeping them in our world or it may be all that’s left from an otherwise dried old husk
of a soul. No matter its source, these nasty buggers will do anything to hold onto whatever
semblance of life they can get their see-through hands on.
Often, evil ghosts will target someone who reminds them of who they used to be—or
someone near and dear to them. This preference starts to fade the longer a ghost goes
without a body but they usually prefer someone who resembled them in life. Once found,
the ghost will embed itself in the target’s life, taking over furniture, doors, pets, and such
as they observe the target.
Once they successfully make their play, evil ghosts set about destroying everything
the target holds dear. It’ll wreck friendships, destroy toys, fight against parents, smash
belongings—evil ghosts have a sick compulsion that causes them to desire and then hate
someone with an intensity most living creatures wouldn’t understand.
If an evil ghost fails a possession, it will keep trying as often and as long as it can.
Spirit Eaters
Their eyeless sockets stare deep inside potential victims. The Spirit Eaters move like
stringless marionettes. Sudden, jerky head tilts, arms raising high with their hands
dangling limply from their wrists. Their legs shake as they run—when they run which isn’t
often. Because these creatures have the ability to appear and disappear in thin air and can
cross impossible distances in the blink of an eye.
These horrible creatures do not possess people or things directly. Instead, they do two
even worse things: eat people’s souls and carry harmful souls around in them.
Spirit Eaters are physical creatures, with eyeless bulbous heads, fingers like tree
branches, and round bellies full of squirming, screaming souls. They collect these souls
from any living source, but children are its favorite targets. When they find a spirit
they want, they stalk it, waiting for the moment when the target is alone. Making their
move, they drive their pointed fingers into the target’s belly, causing intense physical and
spiritual pain. This pain is truly unlike anything the target has ever felt before in his life. A
deep burning, scratching, nauseated pain.
The thing is, while Spirit Eaters target kids, sometimes they pick gifted kids or
changelings and end up sucking out an inhuman soul. Like a parasite, the Spirit Eater can
then inject that soul into a different creature or a person.
99
Chapter NINE
The average Spirit Eater has at least half a dozen souls in its belly. When one feels “full”
it will release a spirit into an object or random creature, making room for more and more
victims inside its cavernous stomach. If a Spirit Eater has a bad soul—such as when it
accidentally sucks a monster soul from a kid—it will try to get those souls out first, into
whatever person or monster comes roaming by.
The Spirit Eaters are one of the few monsters that every creature in Closetland fears.
Part FOUR: Soul Hunters
Like other kids, the blessed will come face-to-face with a wide variety of monster but
there are some that seek out the blessed specifically, for a variety of reasons. Below are
four such creatures. Check out their write-ups below; their stats and sheets are included at
the end of this chapter.
Helter & Skelter
The twin terrors. Harry and Sherry Durst were normal kids, until a pair of very bad
spirits took their bodies for a joyride. The souls in questions, Helter and Skelter, are the
spirits of crazed siblings who were tried and executed for murder and grave robbing in
the late 1800s. Instead of going away like good little ghosts, though, the villainous pair
decided to stick around and have existed, in one physical form or another, since then.
Helter, the boy, is a sadistic little brat. He likes knives—the longer and sharper, the
better—and he likes to carve things. Especially living things. His sister, Skelter, is
more subdued. She prefers the challenge of a mind game. And the reward of crushing
100
SPIRIT MONSTERS
someone’s will like an overripe grape. They work best together, and prefer to be next to
each other always. It’s very rare to see them apart. In fact, they’re usually holding hands,
the two are so close.
Their current bodies once belonged to a pair of identical twin boys. Skelter treats and
recognizes her body as being a girl’s though, only answering to the feminine pronoun and
wearing selections from the girl’s department at stores.
One strange side effect is that bodies in possession of Helter and Skelter don’t seem to
age. They can be in the same bodies for ten years and it’ll look the same as it did when it
was first possessed. Unfortunately, the bodies age rapidly once Helter and Skelter leave.
As for victims, these terrible twins focus on the Faithful, the Innocent, and the
Soulless. They prefer the blessed because of the challenge involved in breaking those with
exceptional souls—and they see those three as the most exceptional of all.
Victims in their capture will be subjected to a battery of interrogation-like techniques
that have no end game, no win condition. Helter and Skelter don’t want anything but to
watch someone suffer. While Helter wears his glee openly, Skelter holds her reaction in.
More often she views others as curiosities and oddities than living creatures with lives and
feelings.
Mr. Clutches
The creature known as Mr. Clutches began life as the plush version of a bad guy from a
popular live-action television series in the late-90s, Motorcycle Costume Hero Cops (literal
translation) or, as it’s better known, Super Police Force: Modern-Day Samurai. While
insanely popular for two years, the series was overshadowed by its spin-off, Super Police
Force: Downtown Ninja Squad. While the primary characters continued to the new series,
the old enemies didn’t, including Professor Fester, Donovan Danger, and the multi-
limbed Mr. Clutches.
Because of the shift, all the old merchandise quickly went to dollar stores and landfills,
leaving thousands of unloved toys without homes. Normally, this wouldn’t mean much—
and it still wouldn’t, if it hadn’t been for an errant spirit in search of a home.
One such specter, seeking a shell for its spiritual self, possessed a plush version of Mr.
Clutches and quickly found it was quite comfortable inside the toy’s cushy exterior. Many
years on now, the spirit still possesses the toy though it doesn’t like a collector’s item
anymore.
Mr. Clutches from the show was a mix of a man (basic shape and proportions), a
starfish (the beak and splayed appendages), and an octopus (long tentacles). The older
kids got an action of the bad guy but a plush version was designed for the show’s younger
audience. While it maintained the basic design of the original, it was made of soft fabric
and stuffed with fluffy bundles of cotton and shredded plastic.
And that’s what Mr. Clutches, our monster, used to look like as well. But the years of
possession have not been kind nor have they been natural. The plush fabric has hardened
in spots to an almost bone-like hardness. Stiff fibers—hairs, really—poke through bits.
The beak and eyes, which originally didn’t move at all, are now under full control of the
spirit. It has become a nasty little beastie and it will continue to do so as long as the soul
inside it remains strong.
101
Chapter NINE
Which is where Mr. Clutches’s connection to the blessed come into play. Of all the
types, this monster prefers the innocent and the gifted most of all though any possessing a
healthy spirit will do. The soul inside Mr. Clutches grows weak and must seek out vibrant
souls to reenergize it. After stashing its body in a safe place, Mr. Clutches’s spirit will drift
about, looking for someone to possess for a day or two until it feels recharged again. After
it’s sated, the soul will leave the body it invaded to return to the raggedy Mr. Clutches toy.
One wonders what it sees in that foul-smelling thrift store reject.
Yellow Man
Standing well above the height of a normal man, this rail-thin creature has bright
yellow eyes and hands that glow even in total darkness. The Yellow Man stalks children
from a distance, seeming to disappear once eyes are turned upon. What he is doing is
blinking from one spot to another, slowly making his way to the child. Once in contact,
the Yellow Man unleashes a terrifying rattling sound—one that chills you to the bone—
before releasing its tainted Spirit into the victim.
Once upon a time, the Yellow Man was a gifted whose other soul took control. Little
did the child know that the soul was infected with a strange disease that slowly corroded
the target’s soul. Its signature attack doesn’t just do immediate damage to a victim’s Spirit
but continues to do damage. Slowly, the Yellow Man’s infection saps a child’s Spirit, at the
rate of one point per day. Without serious help, a child can go Dark in less than a week’s
time.
While an infected child can receive constant Spiritual healing from others, another
cure is for someone to possess the Yellow Man, find the good soul secreted away inside
him, and use that still healthy Spirit to heal the victim. Or, better yet, help the good soul
reclaim the body and stop being the Yellow Man forever.
102
SPIRIT MONSTERS
EVIL GHOST is a Regular Monster.
An evil ghost is a spirits who has lost all its former empathy. Still retaining memories of its
old life, it is intent on piecing together an existence by any means necessary. An evil ghost has
a fondness for destruction, locking onto people, places, and things close to what it knew in life.
Often concentrating on a single target, it is relentless in its pursuit to destroy a life in order to
rebuild a new one in its image.
It is scary when it reveals itself to its target. It wants a life like it used to have.
Abilities Stuff
Fight: ØØOOOO Ugly Side ØØ
Chase: ØØØOOO Mimic Voice of Others
Grab: ØØOOOO Scream (Scare +1)
Scare: ØØØOOO Need to Control ØØ
Virtues Household Items (Damage +2)
Terror: 6 Insatiable Hunger Ø
Health: 30 Run Run Run (Chase +1)
Qualities
It is a a nasty spirit.
It can mimic others perfectly.
It cannot harm other ghosts.
Jesse Albright
SPIRIT EATER is a Scary
9 year Monster.
old girl.
Don’tsoul-sucking
This call her Jessica.
monstrosity
That is way
was tooborn
girly
fromforathis
corpse
dirtwhose
bike-riding
soul rotted
karate
away.
master.
Driven
Her
crazy by
mom keeps
the withering
trying to ofshove
its spirit,
dollsitsinto
roamherthehands
worldbut
as aJesse
husk looking
has no for
interest
and retaining
in playing
as
house.spirits
many Not when
as it can
there
snatch
are from
mudpits
unwitting
to jump.
victims.
She also has a wicked head for figuring
outIthow
is scary
things
when work.
it screams and waves its limbs around. It wants to have a soul again.
Abilities Qualities
Move: ØØØØOO I am a Thrillseeker +2
Abilities
Fight: ØØOOOO StuffI love riding bikes +1
Fight:ØØØØOO
Think: ØØØOOO Long Clawed
I’m not scaredHands
+1 ØØØ
Chase: ØØØØOO
Speak: ØØOOOO I’m goodSoul atSucker
fixing(Spirit Attack +2)
stuff +1
Grab: ØØOOOO
Care: ØØOOOO I takeAcid
karate lessons +1 +1)
Drip (Damage
Scare: ØØØØØØ Dead Eyeless
I don’t know when Sockets ØØØ
to shut up -1
Virtues
Virtues I forget
Stare into Your Soul
to do homework -1 (Scare +3)
Belief: 4
Terror: Broken Body ØØ
Wits: 8 10 Traits
Health: Walks Like a Puppet (Scare +1)
Spirit: 1040 I canQuick
SpeakQuickwell when
(ChaseI’m+1)talking
Qualities
Health about bikes or bike riding.
Distended Belly ØØ
It isØØØØØØOOOO
a soul-sucking corpse-thing. It’s
fine: hard for meSouls
Squirming to Think when
(Scare +2) I’m
It can appear and disappear.
sore: ØØØØØØOOOO taking a school test.
It can inject souls into other things.
hurt: ØØØØØØOOOO
It cannot ever get a soul for itself.
cold: ØØØØØØOOOO
103
Chapter NINE
HELTER is a Scary Monster.
Helter is a vengeful spirit looking to cause as much trouble as possible. Unlike its twin sister,
who favors mind games, Helter likes pain. He loves to watch its victims cry as it threatens
them with its big, sharp knife..
It is scary when it chuckles to itself. It wants to hurt people.
Abilities Stuff
Fight: ØØØØØO Big Knife ØØØ
Chase: ØØØØOO Favorite Weapon (Fight +2)
Grab: ØØØOOO Deep Cuts (Damage +1)
Scare: ØØØOOO Evil Grin ØØØ
Virtues Unsettling (Think -2)
Terror: 8 Yellow Teeth (Scary +1)
Health: 40 Big Eyes ØØ
Watch You (Scare +2)
Qualities
It is a bad little boy.
It can stop you with a glance.
It can talk with its sister without
saying a word.
It cannot stray too far from its sister.
Jesse
SKELTER
Albright
is a Scary
is a 9 year
Monster.
old girl.
Don’t call
Skelter is aher
vengeful
Jessica.
spirit
Thatwho
is way
wants
too to
girly
break
forasthis
control
dirt bike-riding
and manipulate
karate
as master.
many people
Her
as it can.
mom keeps
It thinks
tryingeveryone
to shoveis dolls
a potential
into her
friend
hands
whobut justJesse
needshas
a bit
noofinterest
coercionin
to playing
see that
house. is
Skelter Not
thewhen
only person
there they
are mudpits
need forever.
to jump. She also has a wicked head for figuring
outIthow
is scary
things
whenwork.
it greets you by name. It wants to make a new best friend.
Abilities Qualities
Move: ØØØØOO
Abilities I am a Thrillseeker +2
Stuff
Fight:
Fight:ØØOOOO
ØØØOOO Black I loveGlove
ridingØØØ
bikes +1
Think:
Chase:ØØØØOO
ØØØOOO I’m not scared
Squeaky Noise +1 (Scare +2)
Speak:
Grab: ØØOOOO
ØØØØOO I’m
good at fixing
Sticky Hand (Grabstuff +1
+1)
Care:
Scare:ØØOOOO
ØØØØØO IBig take karate
Eyes ØØØ lessons +1
Virtues I don’t know Blink
Doesn’t when (Scare
to shut+2)
up -1
Virtues I forget to do homework -1
Belief:
Terror:4 9 Stops Cold (Spirit Attack +1)
Wits: 8 40
Health: TraitsRound Face ØØØ
Spirit: 10 I canStudies
Speak You well(Think
when -2)
I’m talking
Qualities
Health about bikes
LooksorNormal (Scare +1)
bike riding.
It is a strange little girl.
fine: ØØØØØØOOOO
It can manipulate others. It’s hard for me to Think when I’m
sore: ØØØØØØOOOO
It can see what you really want. taking a school test.
It cannot stray too far from its brother.
104
SPIRIT MONSTERS
MR. CLUTCHES is a Regular Monster.
A TV tie-in who has been taken over by a spirit. The possession twisted the plush toy into a
barbed monstrosity intent on harming the blessed. Something about the odd souls inside those
children attracts it. The spirit is angry, all the time, and only wants to harm.
It is scary when it stumbles into view. It wants to eat; it is always so hungry.
Abilities Stuff
Fight: ØØØOOO Toy Body ØØØ
Chase: ØØOOOO Gooey Plastic (Grab +2)
Grab: ØØØOOO Hard Plastic (Damage -1)
Scare: ØØOOOO Covered in Dirt ØØ
Virtues Smells Bad (Think -2)
Terror: 5
Health: 30
Qualities
It is a spirit in a battered toy.
It can sneak into places unseen.
It cannot stay in the toy too long.
Jesse
YELLOW
Albright
MAN isis aa 9Big
year
Bad
old
Monster.
girl.
Don’tnight
This call her
stalker
Jessica.
who That
preys isupon
waythose
too girly
withfor
exceptional
this dirt spirits.
bike-riding
It exists
karate
to poison
master. Her
and erode
mom keepsthetrying
spirits of
to those
shoveit dolls
stalks,into
and her
it prefers
handsto but
isolate
Jesse
children,
has nohunting
interestfrom
in playing
the
house. Not
shadows, andwhen
striking
therewhen
areleast
mudpits
expected.
to jump. She also has a wicked head for figuring
outIthow
is scary
things
whenwork.
it slowly fades into view. It wants you to rid the world of souls.
Abilities Qualities
Abilities
Move: ØØØØOO I am a Thrillseeker +2
Stuff
Fight:ØØOOOO
Fight: ØØØØØØ I love riding bikes +1
Glowing Hands ØØØ
Chase: ØØØØØO
Think: ØØØØOO I’m not scared +1
Shine in Darkness (Scare +2)
Grab: ØØØØOO
Speak: ØØOOOO I’m
good WarmatPalms
fixing (Spirit
stuff +1Attack +1)
Scare:ØØOOOO
Care: ØØØØØO IGlowing
take karate
Face ØØØ+1
lessons
Virtues
Virtues I don’t know when to
Peers Through shut up -1
Darkness
Terror:4 11
Belief: I (Scare
forget to do homework -1 +3)
Health:
Wits: 8 50 TraitsTall Thin Body ØØØ
Spirit:
Qualities 10 I canTowers
SpeakOverwell You
when(Scare +2)
I’m talking
It is a luminescent stalker.
Health about bikes
LongorReach (Grab +1)
bike riding.
It can
fine: fade into darkness.
ØØØØØØOOOO Rattling
It’s hard Noise
for meØØ to Think when I’m
It can
sore: smell fear.
ØØØØØØOOOO taking Signal
a schoolItstest.
Presence (Think -2)
It can
hurt: slowly erode souls.
ØØØØØØOOOO
It cannot
cold: stay in light too long.
ØØØØØØOOOO
105
Chapter NINE
sometimes
they come back
106
Chapter Ten:
My Soul
To keep
chapter TEN
If I should die before I wake...
MY SOUL TO KEEP
Ten years ago, a fire ravaged Farmer Elementary School, killing two teachers and
four students. The fire department ruled the cause to be arson. The point of origin was
a flaming glass bottle thrown into the girl’s locker room. Landed in a pile of dirty gym
clothes, the flame from the bottle spread to the adjacent supply closet—which was filled
with paper, paint thinner, and other highly-flammable and combustible items. The faulty
alarm system in the east wing of the school failed to register the fire. No one noticed
until smoke started filling the halls near the central office. The school was evacuated,
and most of the faculty and students made it out. Unfortunately, Mr. Denvers and Miss
Jeffrey weren’t so lucky. Neither were the three kids they were leading to safety. A beam
broke, trapping the five in a room that was rapidly filling with smoke. They each died of
asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation. The sixth casualty was found in the gym, not far
from the start of the fire.
A week before the blaze, one of the students, nine-year old Anastasia Wallace, was
forced to see a psychiatrist for some behavioral issues she manifested about a month
prior. The formerly quiet and advanced student displaying violence toward the other kids,
breaking a boy’s arm after she pushed him off the top of the slide onto the hard gravel
below. While no formal charges were pressed against the girl’s family, the persistent rumor
is that Ana threw the bottle that started the fire.
With the young girl gone, folks figured they would never know the truth.
What they also don’t know is that while Ana’s body did not survive the fire, her spirit
did. In fact, both of her spirits survived.
Newly renovated, with numerous reminders of the fire throughout its halls, the students
of Farmer Elementary are very aware of the building’s history. If the souls of those girls
have their way, the students get a first-row seat at the building’s burning-bright future.
What’s in Here
This episode, “My Soul to Keep,” is written as a standalone collection of ten scenes.
Each scene covers one major action and usually includes a revelation that advances the
plot and bridges to the next scene. As the GM, you may need to drop or add scenes based
on the characters’ actions but as long as you can stick the big reveals and keep things
relatively on track, you’ll do fine.
Who the Characters Are
The player characters in My Soul to Keep should all go to the same school or, at the
very least, already be familiar with each other. Whether that school is an elementary
school (which allows for a wider range of ages) or a middle school (where the player
characters would be in either Sixth Grade or young Seventh Graders). Maybe most of
Hey There, Players

The following episode is written specifically for the game moderator and are not
intended to be read by potential players. So if you want to retain any level of surprise,
don’t read any further.
108
My Soul to Keep
them go to the same school but one of the characters is a neighbor who is homeschooled
or a sibling who is in another school due to an age gap. The reason to have the majority of
characters in the same school is to make them knowing the Donoghue twins a bit easier.
This could also be done if they are all neighbors of the twins. No matter how they know
or know of the Donoghue girls, a character or two having a current or former friendship
with the two is a bonus. If you need to age Jackie and Chess down a bit, feel free. Nothing
is tied specifically to their ages.
Inciting Incident
Just now, Jackie and Chess Donoghue got in a knock-down, drag-out fight in the
school cafeteria. Prior to that altercation, teachers and students alike regarded the
Donoghue Twins as the nicest kids in school who seemed to always get along and had
great things to say about everyone else.
Most curious of all though is that, right before the fight, Jackie Donoghue spit at her
sister and yelled, “I’m gonna kill you, Rita!” To which Chess responded, “You don’t stand a
chance, Ana. You never did.”
GMCs
The following characters appear in this episode as Game Moderator Characters. Feel
free to tweak their ages or certain aspects of their character to better suit your group and
any threads from existing episodes, if you are tying this into an existing season. The sheets
for these characters, including both Simplified and Expanded versions, are included at the
end of this chapter.
Jacqueline “Jackie” Donoghue, 11
The out first-by-a-minute fraternal twin sister, Jackie took to being the oldest with
gusto. Despite the miniscule age difference, she treats Chess as a younger sibling, taking
care of her and protecting her as any older sister would. The two have always gotten along
famously, rarely fighting and, even when they do, making up in a big showy way. Jackie
is the far more practical of the two. She’s a bit fussy about things, always makes sure her
homework is done early, reads ahead on all school assignments, and has a vocabulary
as big as her dark hair is long. She’s very concerned about how she looks and always
wants the hottest clothes. Already thinking about boys, Jackie is head over heels for Eric
Champlain, the romantically tragic, vampirically-cursed love interest to Tria Barron, the
beautiful and starry-eyed protagonist of the insanely popular Vampire Light book series.
Francesca “Chess” Donoghue, 11
Chess stands out from her sister in many ways. The younger sibling is messy, flighty, and
way more into sports than some books about a century-old bloodsucker trying to make
out with a teenage girl. Where Jackie spends her nights reading, Chess spends it with
mPod3 buds in her ears listening to The Taxicab Trio, Radio on Mars, and the White-
Outs—who are her favorite band in the whole wide world. Their hit “She Never Calls”
was on constant rotation for weeks after its release. She waits until the last minute to do
anything, often cribbing her sister’s homework, and is a person who lives in the moment.
One of the most outgoing people in school, Chess is friends with everyone. Which means
Jackie is friends with everyone because, outside the house, the two are inseparable.
109
chapter TEN
The Scenes
The following scenes form the basic story of My Soul to Keep. This is just a framework
and a good group will go off-script numerous times. The best advice is to roll with it, react
to their decisions, and try to aid them back on the path if they lose the thread or hit a
dramatic dead end.
Scene One
This episode starts just as the fight between Jackie and Chess heats up. The scene in the
cafeteria causes a lot of chatter amongst the students, including cries of “Cat fight!” and
“Aw yeah!” and “Fight! Fight! Fight!” All of which are met with stern shouts of “Settle
down!” and “That’s enough!” from the faculty unlucky enough to draw lunch detail.
Any characters around the same age as the Donoghues are likely in attendance. Some
elementary schools stagger lunches between different age groups so younger (or older)
characters may be in there as well. Character who wouldn’t be in the school at all can be
roped in easily enough in Scene Two, where events open up a bit.
Right now, there’s a fight going on. And all eyes are on the two girls in the heart of it.
This is a Dramatic Scene. Twin sisters calling each other by pet names is common
enough—but “Rita” and “Ana” aren’t even close to “Francesca” and “Jacqueline.” And while
the pair often share funny secrets and in-jokes, those aren’t the sorts of things that tend to
come up during fights. Something is definitely going on here. But what?
The characters can try to intercept the fight, and maybe defuse the situation, or they can
wait for the school faculty to break it up and take the girls away. This will land the pair in
the principal’s office. Any characters who work in the office after or during lunch run into
them there. Characters who don’t mind breaking the rules could always do something
that lands them in the principal’s office as well. Sudden stomach aches, urgent need for
the restroom, and other such “emergencies” can also give kids the cover they need to spy
on or talk with the Donoghues.
Breaking Up the Fight
Any students who try to physically intervene are pushed away by the faculty and told to
return to their seats immediately, unless they present a good argument, such as being close
friends with the twins, or the student in question has a tie with one of the faculty involved
in breaking up the fight and can finagle a way past.
The fight has the potential to escalate from name-calling and scratching to full-on
punching and kicking if left to fester. This isn’t your typical schoolyard scuffle; these girls
mean to hurt each other.
If the Characters Break up the Fight
This will allow them some time to talk to the girls before they’re carted off to the
principal’s office. Particularly silver-tongued characters may be able to get the Donoghue’s
off the hook entirely though that won’t be easy. One of the teachers, Mr. Childress, is a
real hard case and doesn’t stand for “troublemakers and rabble rousers in his school.” He’ll
be a particular difficult person to get past.
So, even if the characters do break up the fight, the Donoghues will likely end up in the
principal’s office. If the characters aren’t able—or don’t try—then the assembled faculty
will take care of it.
110
My Soul to Keep
Meeting at the Principal’s Office
If nobody gets involved with the fight, things eventually heat up enough that the
two are forcibly dragged apart and hauled off to the principal’s office. The obstacle now
becomes getting close to the girls before parents are called or they are sent to in-school
detention for the rest of the day.
Jackie and Chess bicker the entire walk to the office, laying down vague accusations of
“always trying to get your way” and “you just want to ruin everything” from Jackie’s end
and “why won’t you just leave me alone” and “you are nothing but a nuisance” from Chess.
(Who says “nuisance” anymore? Curious.)
Once seated, they have to wait for Principal Danrich who is currently occupied by a
phone meeting with the school board about teacher licensing or somesuch. Elizabeth
Danrich isn’t a particularly warm or friendly principal on the best of days and the
headaches of bureaucracy makes her even crabbier. By the time she gets around to the
Donoghues, her fuse is burnt to a nub.
The wait to see Danrich is a good time for characters to speak with the Donoghues if
they can get each to lay off the other for a bit. Beverly Watts, the office administrator, will
shush or break up any loud discussions so any interactions need be kept on the downlow.
Why are you two fighting?
Each girl is tired of how the other is acting but Jackie especially so. She makes remarks
about “Rita” being a troublemaker. Chess says “Ana” is a dolt and a goody two shoes.
Why are you calling each other strange names?
They just brush it off as a stupid question. Neither wants to talk about it.
Other Topics
Good friends of the girls may will notice that the two aren’t acting normal. Not just the
fighting, either. Their mannerisms are off, the way they sit and even talk is odd. They use
a lot of outdated slang—especially Chess—and speak a lot slower than normal. They also
don’t seem to fully recognize their friends. They stumble over names and won’t recall any
interactions beyond a couple days ago.
After the Principal Retrieves Them
It’s unlikely any characters will see or hear what happens behind the principal’s door
but it’s the usual affair: What’s the cause of this? Should I be worried? We don’t tolerate
violence in this school.
At some point, Principal Danrich calls the girls’s parents. It being the middle of the day,
Mr. and Mrs. Donoghue aren’t home and don’t appear to be answering their cell phones.
The girls are facing in-school detention until such time as the matter can be escalated.
Or rather would be if Chess didn’t stand up, throw open the door to the office, and tears
off like the dickens. The principal’s office is near the main entrance so it’s not long before
Chess is running free.
If the Characters Do Neither
They’ll return to their classrooms after lunch, going about their day as normal, until
they see Chess bolting past one of their windows with a teacher trailing her. Yeah,
something is definitely up.
This scene ends once Chess makes a break for it.
111
chapter TEN
Scene Two
Chess is on the move. Jackie remains in the principal’s office, not wanting to get into
any further trouble. At this point, the characters have two options, and can all choose to
follow one or split up and tackle each simultaneously.
If Any Go After Chess
Seeing the girl escape, one of the teachers (you can Mr. Childress in the back of this
chapter or any teacher of your own creation) goes after Chess. He’ll tell any characters
who follow to stay back—”This is an adult matter”—but it’s doubtful the players will
listen to that. Chess almost gets grabbed a couple times but ends up losing Mr. Childress
who, frustrated, stomps back to the principal’s office.
This is a Investigation Scene. Where is Chess hiding?
The characters have to hunt a bit to find where the girl is hiding. When the original
school burned down all those years ago, a new school was built over the remnants. While
everything above ground is shiny and new (well, as shiny and new as any school can be,
really), the below-ground is still original.
Around the back of the school, near the faculty parking lot, is a small door that used
to lead to a storage unit and, farther in, the boiler room and maintenance areas. The
door appears to be locked. It’s closed and a big bulky latch seems to hold it in place. But
the latch is busted and you can easily lift up the door and set it back into place without
anyone having any idea you did it.
What sticks out, for those observant enough to see it, is that the snow covering is
disrupted around the door. It’s been opened recently. In his huff, Mr. Childress overlooked
the clue, assuming that Chess made it into the woods behind the school or maybe weaved
between some of the houses that sit nearby.
Finding Chess inside the door is a bit harder. She knows the inside of this school really
well, oddly so. The underbelly of Farmer Elementary houses a lot of dirt, grime, cobwebs,
rusted metal bits, and soot-covered stuff. With no windows or electricity, the kids will
need to feel their way through or have another source of light to get around.
They hear Chess before they see her. She tries to stay out of sight and switches hiding
spots when the characters get too close. Keen children will be able to corner her or cut her
off at both ends though, trapping her.
Once they Find Chess
The girl is visibly distressed. She’s holding her head, obviously in pain, and mumbling to
herself. Attempts to get too close will result in either Chess trying to flee or backing away
as much as she can. In addition to the pain, she’s filthy. Wherever she was hiding earlier
must have been a mess. Her clothes are grimy and coated in soot.
The characters are free to talk to her though Chess is hardly in the mood to speak.
They can try to get Chess back to the principal’s office but the girl isn’t going. No way.
She doesn’t want anything to do with those “communists.” She wants to be left alone
and tries any available play to get the characters to leave her be. If dragged out of the
basement, she breaks for it at every opportunity.
If Any Talk with Jackie
Jackie is seated back in the main part of the office under the watchful eye of Beverly
Watts who is easily distracted by emails and gossip with any teachers who come by to
112
My Soul to Keep
pick up mail or drop off papers. If characters haven’t spoken with Jackie yet, they have a
good time to do so. If they spoke with Jackie before, she’ll actually open up now.
This is a Dramatic Scene. What’s the deal with these Donoghues?
The first thing characters might notice is that Jackie is acting more normal now. She
complains of a headache and wonders why her arm is scratched up before suddenly
realizing what happens. It almost seems like a dream to her, or a vague memory. Mostly,
she just hurts. Something is pounding in her head.
Once the conversation dries up, Mr. Childress—the teacher who went after Chess—
comes back in, visibly angry. He says Chess has taken off somewhere and he’ll call the
cops about this. If no characters have gone after Chess at this point, now would be a good
time for them to do so.
This scene ends when the players have spoken with either or both of the girls and Jackie
is sent to in-school suspension.
Scene Three
While it’s easy enough to get sent to the principal’s office, it takes a bold move to get
in-school suspension. Dedicated characters can certainly try, and that will give them more
face time with Jackie if they choose so, but the smarter play is waiting for school to get
out to find out where Jackie heads next.
After School
Once the bell rings, the detention monitor releases Jackie with a note and a promise
to get in touch with her parents. Jackie just wants to go home, forgoing her locker and
talking with friends. Interactions with the girl reveal that she’s back to her strange ways,
saying she’s gonna get Rita and that she knows what that girl is really up to. Pressed
further, Jackie says that Rita—she means Chess—plans to burn down the school.
Shadows of that night all those years ago. Once she’s free of the school walls, she makes a
beeline to—well, somewhere.
Involving the Authorities
When a kid goes missing, any school worth its taxes will involve the police in trying
to find the girl. Farmer Elementary is in fact worth its funding and calls the cops as
soon as Mr. Childress reports back. They’ll also place another, more urgent call to the
Donoghues. Both the parents and the police show up soon after and the characters
may get called in to discuss the younger twin’s whereabouts. It’s up to them whether
they say anything or not but keep in mind that cops can be really intimidating, so much
so that some kids won’t talk around for fear of being arrested—even if no charges make
sense.
Either way, Jackie evades the authorities either by slipping past them in a crowd of
students or finding an unwatched door. As for Chess, nobody finds her. Everybody’s
forgotten about that door or thinks it’s shut.
While the police and the parents make great boundaries and obstacles for this
episode, remember that involving grown-ups in Little Fears stories tends to stop events
dead in their tracks. The focus should always be on the kids. They push matters along
and will ultimately make the final decisions that bring this episode to its close. Bring
in the parents and cops for the final moments, definitely, but leave the monster hunting
to the characters.
113
chapter TEN
This is a Spotlight Scene. Where’s Jackie going? What is she up to?
The characters are best off giving the girl some distance but Jackie will relent to friends
tagging along. It’s still weird how she gets names wrong and doesn’t remember a lot of
details, such as that really great sleepover last month or the time they said they were going
to see that cartoon about the rabbit who could drive but snuck into the zombie flick
instead. The one with that old guy everybody’s mom goes gaga over.
As for her destination, she doesn’t go into further details unless one of the characters is
a good friend. Even then, she says she’s “going to make sure Rita—I mean Chess—doesn’t
get away with it.”
With what? “Whatever she’s doing.”
If They Tell Jackie where Chess Is
If the player characters tell Jackie where her sister is hiding, Jackie makes a note of it
and keeps walking. She makes a joke about putting a rock on the door so the girl can’t
escape, then seriously considers it. Then she looks for something large and heavy to trap
the girl with—and she’ll find it unless the characters stop her.
Jackie doesn’t want to speak with Chess. Not yet.
If They Trail Jackie
Then they don’t hear any of the above. Instead, thinking no one’s looking, Jackie stomps
directly to her location, not pausing to talk to anybody or heed traffic signals. This is a girl
with a purpose.
Where Jackie is Going
The girl isn’t headed far. She goes three blocks before popping into the nearby hardware
store. She seems lost in its aisles, like nothing is where it is supposed to be. She eventually
Further attempts to engage her in conversation yield the usual results though the girl
suffers some dizzy spells and odd moments of clarity before going back to the task at
hand. At the end of her shop outing, she ends up with a basket containing a claw-headed
hammer, a box of wood nails, some heavy duty snips, and a
When Jackie goes to the counter, the cashier eyes her purchase suspiciously. It’s not
every day he gets preteen girls who into woodworking. He questions her purchases, trying
to see if he should be worried about this situation, but Jackie eventually assures him that
everything is “for her father.” The guy doesn’t necessarily buy it but she’s not buying a
blowtorch or anything so he has no real grounds to not serve her.
Unfortunately, once the guy gives her the total, Jackie realizes she doesn’t have enough
money to cover the purchase. Rather than accept money from others or put anything
back, she starts yelling at the cashier. The guy in the red apron doesn’t need any grief
though and threatens to throw her out. Angry, Jackie begins yelling at the guy.
If anyone attempts to touch her or calm her down, she flips out. And that’s when things
get weird. The cash register shakes so hard it almost falls off the counter. The screw and
nail bins behind the cashier open and shut in quick succession. Some nails fly out, directly
into the drop ceiling tiles above her head. If further agitated, a whole cloud of sharp metal
bits scatter around the store, almost hitting people and knocking items off the shelves.
Freaked out, the cashier threatens to call the cops. That’s when Jackie pockets all her
stuff and rushes out the door.
114
My Soul to Keep
If the Characters Check on Chess
Provided she’s had any time alone since she made a break from the principal’s office,
Chess is much calmer and composed than before. She gives off a feeling like she’s waiting
on something. She’s fidgety, talking a bit fast, and looks for ways to keep the characters
out of the building.
If They Ask about her Behavior
Chess acts like nothing’s wrong. She’s just feeling better. School was really stressful
today and she wasn’t feeling like herself.
If Someone Stayed with Chess
Then she tries multiple times to get away, to get some alone time to work on something.
Characters who explore the area will find rags, bottles of gasoline, and multiple long-
tipped lighter like their parents use to light charcoal grills and wood fireplaces. Excessive
pestering or interrogation agitates Chess to the point she may get physical so this could
turn into a Combat Scene for those unlucky enough to set the girl off. Otherwise, things
will remain calm—if weird—until Jackie returns.
If anyone tries to get Chess to leave the school, she is adamant about staying but may
agree to leave if only to trick the player characters into leaving and then she’ll slip away
back into the basement.
This scene ends when Jackie gets back to the school.
Scene Four
After a lot of tailing and dramatic interactions, things start to pick up in this scene.
Jackie has what she needs and has returned to the school. Here, the characters are free to
interact with her and, pretty confident she can’t be stopped, Jackie is much more open to
conversations.
Chess and Jackie meet again for the first time since the principal’s office. Even if Jackie
“sealed her in,” the younger twin knows her way around the school and found an alternate
route out. (Or was helped out by characters in a previous scene.)
Jackie, arms full of hardware supplies, and Chess, wearing a devilish grin, face off.
This is a Spotlight Scene, focused on the twins. It’s up to the characters to suss out
what’s going as well as if, when, and how they should get involved. Know this: these two
seem to hate each other. Jackie is fit to stop Chess from doing something while Chess
plays out like Jackie has lost her mind.
What’s Going On?
As this can play out multiple ways depending on which tack the player characters want
to take, let’s go over what’s really happening on either side of this clash of siblings.
What Chess is Really Up To
Chess plans to burn down Farmer Elementary. The bottles, the rags, the lighters are all
evidence of this. But why?
Because she’s possessed by a spirit that calls itself Copycat, though its real name is Rita
Mayweather. And this isn’t the first time that Copycat tried to burn down the school.
And the first time, she was successful. As a double dose of misfortune, people died when
Rita’s ghost burned down Farmer Elementary years back. People including a girl named
Anastasia “Ana” Wallace who was, for a brief time, one of the gifted.
115
chapter TEN
What Jackie is Really Up To
Jackie has been possessed by Ana’s spirit. Ana has been hunting down Copycat ever
since she died in the fire. She eventually tracked down the evil spirit in the body of
Francesca “Chess” Donoghue. Seizing the opportunity, Ana took over Chess’s twin sister’s
body with the goal of destroying Copycat once and for all.
As for the hardware, Jackie—that is to say Ana—wants to seal Chess’s body in the
school. Or so it seems. What she really wants is to seal Chess’s body in a well deep
beneath the school. A well that already has something floating in its murky depths.
What Plays Out
The specifics depend entirely on the cast—who have the burden of sorting through this
mess and trying to make amends between the girls. If not between Ana and Copycat then
at least save the poor Donoghue twins who are innocent pawns in this little game.
No matter what, things between Jackie/Ana and Chess/Rita heat up to a rolling boil.
The girls go for each other’s throat and Rita makes a break for it. This can come from the
player characters interfering to the point where Chess is subdued or because the ghost
sees no other way out. Rita’s exit is visible—everyone assembled sees the spectral form
shooting from Chess Donoghue’s body—but then she disappears in a blast of light. Chess
drops, unconscious, and isn’t coming around any time soon.
Which is when the whole building starts shaking—and the scene ends.
Scene Five
Jackie and Chess came face to face, some truth came to light, and now Rita/Copycat
has disappeared. Seemingly into Farmer Elementary itself.
Copycat has possessed the school. If she can’t burn it down then she’ll knock it down.
And she doesn’t care if anyone’s trapped inside anymore. They either need to drive the
spirit out of the school or bless the body to sever the tie and return Rita’s spirit to its
original body.
If They Want to Drive the Spirit Out
If the characters want to drive Rita out, they’ll need to perform a ritual. First, they need
something that belongs to it—a reminder—and, second, they’ll need to know the being’s
true name. If the characters haven’t learned that yet then Jackie provides the information,
if asked. As for the reminder, they need to find something connected to Rita, not Chess.
The team has a couple options: look around the basement or look up Rita Mayweather in
the school directory to find out more about her.
This is an Investigation Scene. Let’s find out what we know about Miss Rita
Mayweather.
Looking Around the Basement
Past the layers of grime and soot, it’s hard to see much of anything useful in the
basement. But if the kids don’t mind getting dirty, they can sift through the layers of dirt
and debris to find a bevy of artifacts from school years past.
The basic layout of the basement is what you expect from a public building: lots of
shelving, lots of old paint cans (full of dried-up latex paint), lots of confiscated goods
taken off the troublemakers of yesteryear. Navigating the basement is an ordeal in its own
right. Metal shelves lay toppled over, charred wood sits in crisscrossed stacks, and it’s dark.
116
My Soul to Keep
Really dark. As before, the kids will need a light source of some kind to find their way
around.
They’ll also find a bunch of jars and bottles full of explosive liquids. Rita had a plan,
alright.
The southern end of the school basement is completely blocked off. A large amount
of broken and busted debris cordons off the area making traversal almost impossible.
Determined kids can get through, where they will find what’s covered below in “If They
Want to Bless the Body.” In fact, exploring the basement might shortcut events and lead
everywhere right to that spot.
If they ignore that area, they can still find some interesting, and pertinent, items.
Namely, a keyring with a chunky metallic R keychain and a blackened, waterlogged
journal.
The writing in the journal, which says “1974 Journal” on it, is almost entirely illegible.
Water ruined the pages long ago, smearing the blue and black ink into unreadable, multi-
colored blobs. The keyring, in addition to the pink, cursive R dangling from it, has three
keys on it. A locker key and two house keys.
The kids are free to explore the basement further but, as far as useful clues, those are all
they will find.
The School Directory
The official Farmer Elementary School Director exists in two forms: physical books and
an online database. So far, the online database only goes back about twelve years. A search
for “Rita Mayweather” yields one result, a girl who enrolled in Farmer six years ago. She
went there for first and second grade before leaving the district. The ghost is not her. So
much for the easy way.
The physical books are in the school library’s reference section. The multi-volume set—
and by “volume” this means “five-inch binder”—takes up a total of twelve shelves. Each
binder covers a certain period of years, varying from two to four years—more even the
further back you go.
Also, this section is available to staff only. A long bar runs across the middle of each
shelf, barring anyone from removing a binder without having the key that unlocks it.
A quick investigation of the librarian’s desk reveals she has, tucked behind her
exceptionally dusty computer monitor, a set of keys on a large ring, decorated with a
leather strap that once bore the school’s name but now only says Fa m r E eme ry. It may
Search for: Anastasia Wallace

If the characters look up the other ghost, Anastasia Wallace, they’ll see a history
very much like the Donoghue twins. Ana was a good student, was exceptional in math,
and even won a commendation for her entry into the school’s Tall Tales Contest. She
received positive reports every quarter from her teachers and extracurricular instructors.
She is currently marked as DECEASED with a date of death listed as April 17th, ten
years ago.
The included image, from the picture day of her last year at the school, shows a girl
with long, dark hair and a big smile. Poor thing had no clue what fate held in store for
her.
117
chapter TEN
take a couple tries but the kids will eventually find the key that unlocks the bar and gives
them access to the books.
The binders are full of all sorts of useful information. Lots of information. About every
student who attended Farmer Elementary in the past one hundred years. The kids could
spend days here and not make it through all the records.
Thankfully, they know the date of the fire, which was ten years ago—the day Anastasia
Wallace, and others, died. It’s etched onto plaques outside the principal’s office and in the
big “History of Farmer” display in the main hallway. Kids here tend to know the date,
which comes in handy when sifting through a century of students’ names and admission
records. They won’t know which year Rita attended but they’ll know it couldn’t have been
later than that.
Outside of the years scrawled on their spines, the binders are horrible for finding out
what’s inside them with any efficiency. Knowing a starting point narrows it down but
it will take a lot of flipping through the pages to find much of any use. Persistence will
pay off though, and they will discover the student records for one Rita Sue Mayweather,
who attended Farmer Elementary twenty years ago. She spent her entire academic career
inside Farmer’s walls, until she went missing just weeks before her tenth birthday.
Overall, Rita was a good kid. She had a couple minor marks on her records but
nothing more than sassing a teacher now and then. That is, until about two weeks before
her disappearance when she started acting up. This resulted in numerous altercations
with staff. None of this is well-documented but dates and brief descriptions tell a tale
of “smacking a fellow student” and “yelling at Mr. Dumphrey on repeated occasions.”
Something got into this girl before her disappearance.
After learning this about Rita, the characters feel a sudden dip in temperature. The
room chills and the tables begin to shake. Looking around, the characters see about a
half-dozen ghosts—each resembling a child—marching towards them.
If They Want to Bless the Body
In order to do that, they’ll need to find it. Thankfully, Jackie has a clue. After all, she
bought all that hardware to seal up Rita’s and Chess’s bodies together, thinking that might
stop Copycat. Jackie doesn’t know exactly where Rita’s body is but she knows it’s in a well
somewhere below the school.
This is an Investigation Scene. Where is that well?
The area beneath the school is equal parts soot-caked metal, charred mess, and dark,
stinky nooks and crannies. Unless someone has a source of light, this is all in the dark.
Watch Out for Teachers

Unless the kids stalled a while before returning to the school, it’s not that long after
school let out which means a lot of teachers are still milling about. At the very least,
the night custodian is making his rounds. As the characters make their way through
the above ground floors of the school, they have to contend with avoid or bluffing their
way through faculty. Feel free to throw Mr. Childress into the mix, still stinging from
his earlier dealings with the Donoghue twins. If Jackie is accompanying the characters,
this can make things
118
My Soul to Keep
If Rita had the opportunity to set up explosives before hand, the characters see various
bottles—soda, juice, sports drinks—set around the basement. At first it seems like the
new part of the school would be protected but there are so many containers of gasoline
it’s hard to tell.
Not all the jars and bottles are new either. Some are from brands they stopped making
five or more years ago. And they’re dusty. Rita seems to have been planning this for a
while. Odd.
The well is far away from the spot where the characters came into the basement, near
the south end. It’s in a spot blocked off by various sorts of debris and they kids will
have to snake their way through the makeshift maze to get close. If any of the kids have
athletic abilities, call for a roll against a difficulty of 12 to get through. Unless they get
Passing Grades as well, they’ll take a few scrapes along the way but nothing more than a
point of damage. Otherwise, it’ll take some feats of strength to clear all the rubble. Same
as with the agile approach described earlier, anyone who manages to heave all that stuff
out of the way will take some superficial damage as nails and sharp edges dig into their
skin. Again, only a point of damage from it.
Beyond the debris lies a small room with a round concrete cylinder in the middle. A
wooden pallet serves as a makeshift lid over the sizeable hole. This is the well. Moving the
pallet reveals a concrete cylinder about two feet across and ten or more feet deep. If a light
is shined down it, the characters will see something floating in the stale, stagnant water
below. Something wedged near the bottom. Something about the size of a kid their age.
Should the characters get it in their head to go down there, they’ll need to beat a target
number of 18 in order to avoid falling into the water. Luckily, it’s only about four feet
deep (not so luck for the shorter kids though). Getting down is one thing, getting up is
another. There’s ten feet of round, slimy concrete wall between the drink and fresh air.
Couple that with what’s bobbing in the water, and you have some real nightmare fuel.
Because floating in the stagnant, pungent murk is the body of a girl, no older than 12.
Her corpse is bloated to a comical extent. Her whole body is blue with the extremities a
dark shade than her torso. The water makes it hard to tell how long she’s been gone but
it’s definitely been years.
If anyone has reference, possibly from searching through the school’s student
directory, they’ll see that this body, though inflated by gases, bears a resemblance to Rita
Mayweather.
Now that the body is found, the characters will need to bless it. This can be done in the
water or out, if the kids are willing and able to retrieve her body. For what it’s worth, her
parents would probably like to know what happened to their little girl.
Performing the blessing won’t take long but the effects will be immediately evident.
Nothing happens. No spirit appears, no light blooms, nothing. And it’s not that
something went wrong. It’s that the angry ghost the kids are facing now isn’t Rita’s
original soul.
At that point, the characters hear the distinct moaning of ghosts—haunts to be
specific—and the ghastly forms of a half-dozen school children appear around them,
itching for a fight.
119
chapter TEN
No Matter Which the Characters Choose
Rita is not going to take it easy on them. Leaving Chess’s body wasn’t just about
escaping; it gave Rita the ability to use all the bits of busted brick, splintered planks, piles
of nuts and bolts, and other construction bits left behind as weapons against the player
characters. They are trapped inside a labyrinth and Rita is the Minotaur. Everywhere
they turn, something flies by their head or right toward their bellies. Start with minor
annoyances and small pieces of metal, wood, etc, slowly building up to whole bricks and
real damage-dealing stuff.
The scene ends when the ghosts arrive.
Scene Six
No matter which route the kids chose in the previous scene, ghosts find the cast
members and set upon them with intent to do some major harm. These haunts aren’t
content with spooking the kids; they want blood. Seemingly under the command of the
spirit possessing the school, the ghosts use whatever they can to stop the kids from going
any further in their adventure.
This is a Combat Scene. Using the Angry Ghost monster in the back of this chapter,
play out a fight between the assembled characters and the gathered spirits.
These ghosts aren’t just any old haunts, though. They are the spirits of children who
died at Farmer Elementary. Specifically, these spirits died from fires at the school. Some
of them may look familiar if any of the characters are well-versed in the fire from ten
years ago. The pictures are included in the memorial that’s part of the History of Farmer
Elementary display in the main hall. They are far too gone to connect with though.
The kids don’t have to take out all six. Rather, once two or three go down, the rest will
dissipate (if in the library) or flee (if under the school).
As the last of the ghosts falls or flees, a moment of calm settles in. Then, slowly, a final
ghost appears. But this one doesn’t wish to hurt the cast. Instead, she just wants to talk.
The scene ends when this specter appears.
Scene Seven
The ghost taking shape in front of the characters doesn’t have the angered, spooky face
the other kids had. Her visage is almost warm, inviting. She wants to connect with the
cast members, not hurt them. More than anything else, she wants to talk. She wants to
warn them.
This is a Dramatic Scene. This ghost has something to say.
She is, she explains, Rita Mayweather. The real Rita, not the spirit that took over Chess
Donoghue’s body, not the entity currently possessing the school, but the real Rita. The
soul of the girl who died twenty years ago. And she’s not happy.
Rita isn’t upset with the characters but with the spirit that’s been causing trouble in her
name. She knows the spirit in question very well. It’s the spirit that pushed her out of her
body, took it over, and left the girl to rot in the afterlife for all eternity. Rita wants that
ghost stopped, and for good.
If Jackie is present, currently occupied by Ana’s ghost, Rita will reach out to the girl and
apologize. She wants Ana to know that it wasn’t her who set the fire ten years ago. That’s
very important to Rita and a point she wants to make before anything else is said. After
that, she’s open to questions and will answer honestly.
120
My Soul to Keep
What Happened to Rita Mayweather?
Rita’s story is all too much like Ana’s and the Donoghue sisters’s tales. Rita was a
good student, for the most part, whose life was pretty normal, until the day she met an
imaginary friend she named Copycat. She called it that because Copycat who liked to do
everything Rita did. Rita was a lonely girl. She grew up an only child and wasn’t good at
making friends. Copycat was a blessing. She liked all the things Rita did and was really,
really funny. She and Copycat were inseparable for weeks. Rita rushed home from school
everyday to hang out with her new best friends. She’d spent entire weekends in her room
playing with Copycat, telling stories, and sharing secrets. Until one morning, when Rita
woke up, in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat.
At first, Rita thought she was really sick. But she soon learned she wasn’t ill, but
possessed. Copycat had hijacked her body and was fighting her for control of it. Copycat
was jealous of Rita, for having a body she could walk around in and see the world in
and play in. Though she tried to fight, Rita was pushed out of her own body, becoming a
lost spirit. Now in control of her body, Copycat assumed Rita’s life. But Copycat the fun
playtime pal was gone. In its place was a mean, vindictive spirit who acted out, cursed at
her parents, and got in trouble at school.
Rita tried numerous times to get control of her body back but Copycat was too strong.
Tired of this impostor living her life, Rita decided she was going to stop Copycat once
and for all.
Spying on the body thief from afar, Rita saw Copycat go into the level below the old
Farmer Elementary. Curious what the mean spirit was up to, Rita hid in the shadows of
the basement and watched. She saw Copycat placing a bunch of jars full of gasoline under
the school. The monster was going to burn down the school. It was the middle of the day,
and lots of people were at risk, so Rita lured Copycat deep into the basement, near the
well in the southern end. There, Rita showed herself and the two tussled. Rita almost lost
but managed, at the last minute, to topple Copycat—and Rita’s body—down the well.
Desperate, Copycat called out for help. But Rita ignore her. Placing a wooden pallet over
the hole, Rita left her old body, with Copycat inside, to drown.
The girl thought that would end Copycat once and for all. She didn’t know that
Copycat could just leave the body and go elsewhere. She sees now that she should have,
but that’s the thing about hindsight. You always see what you should have done.
So who possessed Ana?
The ghost who possessed Ana ten years ago was Copycat. If Rita had known Ana was
going to be the next victim, she would have warned the girl. She regrets not seeing the
signs and helping Ana fight for control of her body.
Who is Copycat?
Rita doesn’t know who Copycat really is. As far as she knows, it’s always been a ghost.
Are you stuck here?
Rita is tied to the school and will be until Copycat is dealt with for good. But she isn’t
strong enough to fight Copycat. Unlike that ghost, Rita has grown weaker as time has
gone by.
121
chapter TEN
When the Conversation Ends
When all is said and done, Ana’s spirit leaves Jackie’s body. The poor Donoghue twin
drops to the floor, but can be awakened with a good shake and some loud noise. Ana,
realizing she was being as much of a monster as Copycat, doesn’t want to ruin Jackie’s life
anymore than she has already. She apologizes profusely for how she’s been acting. She and
Rita hug. Ana forgives Rita. There was no way Rita could have known what Copycat was
up to. Both are victims of that terrible spirit.
Ana wishes the characters the best of luck. Before the two fade away, Ana delivers one
more bit of information, something that Rita confirms. When Copycat was inside Ana’s
body, she glimpsed the memory of a journal. Some old book that Copycat held very near
and dear. Rita recalls Copycat sharing something about a journal with her. If any of the
cast found the journal in the basement and present it to the girls, they confirm that it
looks like the book in question. If shown the keychain, Rita looks at it wistfully. It was
hers, a gift from her parents along with a key to the house. It wasn’t just a key, of course,
but a symbol of their trust in her. Rita holds back a tear before waving goodbye. The two
spirit disappear.
And, with that, the scene ends.
Scene Eight
With no clue as to who Copycat really is, the characters have no choice but to hunt
Copycat down and confront it face-to-face.
This is a Spotlight Scene. The kids need to find Copycat. Or at least draw it out.
If the characters already have the journal, they can use that as a reminder to bring the
spirit out of hiding. If they haven’t found the journal yet, it could really be anywhere you
desire. Wherever you place it, the location should be hidden away somewhat. It should be
someplace where it could go undetected for decades.
Finding the book may turn this into an Investigation Scene. Resolve that before
turning this into a Spotlight Scene where the kids must now draw out Copycat using the
book.
Using the rules in Chapter Eight, the kids should perform a summoning ritual to
pull Copycat’s spirit from the school and trap it inside the book. Once inside the book,
Copycat will manifest in its angry ghost form. And it’ll be itching for a fight.
This scene ends when Copycat reveals itself.
Scene Nine
Forced out of the school, Copycat attempts to take over one of the characters. Being
bound to a reminder, though, it soon discovers it can’t. That only angers it further. Locked
in its ghastly form, Copycat does everything it can to hurt the kids and free itself from the
journal.
Copycat’s spirit form looks only vaguely humanoid. Years of anger and torment have
twisted its once-childlike appearance into a gnarled half-human half-beast. It has long
glowing fangs and arms that bend at multiple joints. Using its ability to hurl objects,
Copycat goes for the biggest, heaviest objects first. If none are available, it goes for sharp
objects, relying on its own bodily weapons as a last resort.
The stats for Copycat are included at the end of this chapter.
122
My Soul to Keep
After taking some damage, Copycat tries to play with the characters’ minds. It changes
its appearance to Rita, begging for mercy. It turns into Ana and Jackie and Chess. It
swears that Ana was really Copycat and that Ana was trying to fool everybody. It shows
no mercy and knows no bounds in its effort to fool or disorient the characters.
Once defeated, Copycat slowly gets sucked into the journal, cursing and hurling threats
as the reminder pulls the spirit into its binding.
The scene ends when Copycat is gone.
Scene Ten
So what’s next? The characters have the option of trying to destroy the book—and
Copycat along with it. With Copycat gone, Chess now wakes up. Wherever she is, she’ll
be disoriented, achy, and feeling sick. She’s completely unaware of what has happened
since Copycat took over her body. The sheer evilness of Copycat damaged her more than
Ana did her sister. Though she was acting like a monster, Ana’s intent was never to harm
Jackie. That can’t be said about Copycat; it wanted to hurt people. They can give the book
to Jackie and Chess to do with what they will. The Donoghue sisters want nothing to do
with the old book and will throw it into a nearby pond or lake or, even better, a fire, if they
have their way.
If anyone flips through the book, they’ll see the words are now legible. They’re journal
entries from a child named Saffron Owens. There’s not a lot of writing but what’s there
tells a pretty sad tale. Saffron writes about her everyday life for a couple entries, typical
lighthearted stuff, before her writings turn more serious. Saffron describes the strange
feelings she started having after waking up one day with blood running down her palms.
Her parents took her to the doctors but they weren’t any help. She was put in the hospital
where they ran numerous tests on her, hoping to find out what was wrong but everything
came back normal. The bleeding eventually stopped but would start again at the most
inopportune moments. She didn’t know why it kept happening; it just did. Eventually, she
realized she’d just have to live with it.
Then, as the writing goes on, Saffron describes how others started treating her. Her best
friend turned on, calling her a freak, and everybody at school though she had the plague.
They called her names, threw things at her, and even beat up a couple times. The last entry
is perhaps the most haunting:
July 19th, 1974
I’ve had it. I’m sick and tired of all this. I don’t know what’s going on and everybody is being
so stupid about everything. They treat me like a freak, like some kind of weirdo. I can’t take it
anymore. I don’t want to live anymore. I AM SO DONE WITH ALL OF THIS.
I didn’t ask for whatever this so I don’t think I have to live with it anymore. I am sick and I
am tired. I just want this to end. If it won’t stop, I’ll end it myself.
My Soul to Keep GMCs and Monsters
The following GMCs are for use with My Soul to Keep or any episode of Little Fears
Nightmare Edition. These have been built with the expanded GMC rules found in Book
2: Among the Missing but can easily be trimmed down to Simplified GMCs if you so
desire. Stats for the monsters follow.
123
cHAPtEr tEn
JACKIE DONOGHUE
This is Me!
My name is Jacqueline Donoghue.
Character description: Practical if starry-eyed 12-
year old twin of Chess.
Abilities Qualities
Think: ØØØØOO Very concerned about appearance ØØO
Do: ØØØOOO Likes to take charge ØOO
Feel: ØØØOOO
Health Weaknesses
ØØØØØ ØØØØØ Sucker for a good love story ØO
ØØØØØ ØOOOO I’m jealous of my sister’s confidence ØO
Goals
____________________________
__________________________OO Playaround Points
____________________________ OOOOO OOOOO
__________________________OO
CHESS DONOGHUE
This is Me!
My name is Francesca Donoghue.
Character description: Fun-loving, chill 12-year
old twin of Jackie.
Abilities Qualities
Think: ØØØOOO I am a budding musician ØØO
Do: ØØØØOO I like to go about unnoticed ØOO
Feel: ØØOOOO
Health Weaknesses
ØØØØØ ØØØØØ I’m jealous of my sister’s independence ØO
ØØØØØ ØOOOO Easily distracted ØO
Goals
____________________________
____________________________ OOOOO OOOOO
__________________________OO
124
My SouL to KEEP
SCHOOL FACULTY #1
This is Me!
My name is Mr or Ms Teacher.
Character description: Adult faculty of an
institution dedicated to learning.
Abilities Qualities
Think: ØØØØOO I know a lot about my subject ØØO
Do: ØØØOOO I want order in this school! ØOO
Feel: ØØOOOO
Health Weaknesses
ØØØØØ ØØØØØ Always trusts the good kids ØØ
ØØØØØ ØOOOO
Goals
____________________________
____________________________ OOOOO OOOOO
__________________________OO
SCHOOL FACULTY #2
This is Me!
My name is Mr of Ms Teacher.
Character description: Adult faculty who really
can’t stand their job anymore.
Abilities Qualities
Think: ØØØOOO I know a lot about my subject ØØO
Do: ØØØØOO I just don’t want a headache ØOO
Feel: ØØOOOO
Health Weaknesses
ØØØØØ ØØØØØ Sucker for a sad story ØO
ØØØØØ ØOOOO Always looking for something to do ØO
Goals
____________________________
____________________________ OOOOO OOOOO
__________________________OO
125
chapter TEN
GHOST CHILD is a Regular Monster.
These spirits once lived inside the bodies of children who died within Farmer Elementary
due to fire and accidents. Originally just haunts, they are agitated by Copycat who calls them
to do its bidding against those who attempt to stop it from burning down the school.
It is scary when it floats high above the ground. It wants final rest.
Abilities Stuff
Fight: ØØOOOO Ghost Claws ØØØ
Chase: ØØOOOO Hurt Real Bad (Damage +2)
Grab: ØØOOOO Catch on Clothing (Grab +1)
Scare: ØØØØOO Ghost Body ØØ
Virtues Heal Itself for a Point of Terror
Terror: 5
Health: 30
Qualities
It is a ghost haunting the school.
It can disappear when it wants.
It cannot leave the school.
Jesse
COPYCAT
Albright
is a Scary
is a 9 year
Monster.
old girl.
Don’t
The ghost
callknown
her Jessica.
as Copycat
That isisway
fixated
tooon
girly
destroying
for this Farmer
dirt bike-riding
Elenentary.
karate
While
master.
its Her
motiveskeeps
mom are unclear
trying attofirst,
shoveindeed
dollsitsinto
trueher
identity
hands isn’t
butfully
Jesse
known,
has notheinterest
truth about
in playing
house. Not
Copycat comeswhen
to light
there
as the
are story
mudpits
of MytoSoul
jump.
to Keep
She also
spinshas
to its
a wicked
conclusion.
head for figuring
outIthow
is scary
things
whenwork.
it uses objects as weapons. It wants to hurt those who hurt it.
Abilities
Abilities Qualities
Stuff
Move:
Fight:ØØØØOO
ØØØØOO I am a Thrillseeker
Charred Debris ØØØ +2
Fight:
Chase:ØØOOOO
ØØOOOO I love
Usedriding bikes +1 (Fight +1)
as Weapon
Think:
Grab: ØØØØOO
ØØØØOO I’mSharp
not scared
Edges +1 (Damage +2)
Speak:
Scare: ØØOOOO
ØØØØØO I’m good ØØØ
Shelving at fixing stuff +1
Care: ØØOOOO I takeTopples
karate it
lessons
Over +1
(Move -2)
Virtues
Virtues
Terror: 9 I don’t knowitwhen
Throws to shut
Around up +1)
(Fight -1
Belief:
Health: 4 40 I forgetthe
Knows to do homework
School ØØ -1
Wits: 8
Traits Can Find You (Chase +2)
Qualities
Spirit: 10 High-Pitched
I can Speak well Voice Ø I’m talking
when
It is a vengeful spirit.
Health Howling Sounds
about bikes or bike riding. (Scare +1)
It can possess people and things.
fine: ØØØØØØOOOO
It can go through walls. It’s hard for me to Think when I’m
sore: ØØØØØØOOOO
It cannot exist without possessing taking a school test.
something very long.
126
truly blessed
What’s funny about this book is that, while Book 2 came pretty easy, I struggled with
the idea of blessed children—kids who were exceptional—in a game world where every
kid was exceptional. Where every single player character had access to whatever magic
they could imagine. The ability to give context to what you wanted was, literally, the only
limitation.
I’ve had the image of a child floating above the ground, surrounded by a stunned
gathering of people, since before I wrote Book 2. In fact, once upon a time, the missing
children in Book 2 were going to be separate PDF supplements, each focused on a
different type of character. And one of those character types was “the blessed.” When
most of the other ideas were rolled into a new book, the blessed didn’t fit but I knew I
wanted to do something with the concept. Somewhere along the process, I started to
think about souls and what could be done with them and how that might affect player
characters.
Once I latched onto the idea of exploring the world of souls—not just in characters
but the wider concept—I knew I had something that excited me. Delving into the ways
spirits and Spirit come into play was a rich mine to explore. I hope you all enjoy what
came out of it.
Of course, an idea is just an idea. As much as I wanted to work on it, I needed both the
time to write and the money to hire the artists needed to bring this book to life. That’s
where Kickstarter came in.
I was amazed and humbled at the response to the Book 3 Kickstarter. Fans of the
series came out to support me and the idea of strange kids with weird abilities, raising
over $9,000 in funding. A good chunk went to the amazing illustrators—many of which
are new to the Little Fears line. Susan, Koko, Jenna, and Corwin brought it in fine style
and were a great compliment to LFNE vets Veronica and Doug (who you may know as
grumbleputty).
Thank you to everyone who supported me and to all the artists for helping bring the
world of the blessed to life. I owe you all deeply.
Book 3. I like the sound of that. Now, Little Fears Nightmare Edition isn’t just a two-
book set with some PDF supplements but a three-book series. I like that a lot.
Little Fears has always been close to my heart. The original book opened so many doors
for me that I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I hadn’t released that game about
kids fighting monsters back in 2001. I clearly remember the fun and mischief we created
during the very first playtest of this three-page game I wrote called “Small Fears” back in
1998.
I’m honored and excited to be able to offer a third book for the new edition. And I
wouldn’t have been able to get this out there if not for the incredible support shown
by the Little Fears fan community and the 164 Kickstarter backers who gave me their
support when all I’d shared what a teaser video and the table of contents. Your faith in me
is truly humbling. I hope that I have ultimately earned it.
Count your blessing,
Jason L Blair
127
blessed are the children
for they shall
lead the way
My SouL to KEEP
THE BlESSEd
Child’s Name: ________________________________________________
Age: ____ Sex: ____ DOB: ___/___/___ Player: _____________________
Type of Blessed:_______________________________________________
Soul Facts: ___________________________________________________
ABIlITIES VIRTUES
o Move: ØOOOOO Belief ____
o Fight: ØOOOOO Wits
o Think: ØOOOOO scared OOOOO|OOOOO calm
o Speak: ØOOOOO Spirit
o Care: ØOOOOO dark OOOOO|OOOOO whole
TRAITS MY STUff
G��: I can ______________ well when ______________________OOO
_________________________________ __________________________
_________________________________. __________________________
B��: It’s hard for me to ____________ __________________________
when _____________________________ ______________________OOO
_________________________________. __________________________
QUAlITIES __________________________
I am ____________________________ +2 __________________________
____________________________ +3 ______________________OOO
____________________________ +3 __________________________
________________________________ +__ __________________________
________________________________ +__ __________________________
________________________________ -__ ______________________OOO
________________________________ -__ __________________________
I fEEl __________________________
fine OOOOOOOOOO __________________________
sore OOOOOOOOOO (-2) ______________________OOO
bad OOOOOOOOOO (-4) __________________________
cold OOOOOOOOOO (-6) __________________________
GOAlS __________________________
____________________________ ______________________OOO
____________________________ __________________________
__________________________OO __________________________
____________________________ __________________________
____________________________
OOOOO OOOOO
Download a full-sized copy of this Character Sheet at www.littlefears.com
129
chapter TEN
QUESTIONNAIRE
Questions for All Blessed
“How did you find out you were different?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
“Do you know everything you can do?”
____________________________________________________________
“Do you know what you are?”
____________________________________________________________
“Who was the first person you told?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
“Do you know any other blessed children? If so, who?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
“How has being blessed changed your life?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
“If you could go back to being normal, would you?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
“Has an adult ever seen what you can do?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Question for Gifted, Faithful, and Innocent
“How do you feel about the blessed who aren’t complete?”
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Question for the Cursed, Soulless, and Changeling
“Do you still feel human?’
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
130 Download a full-sized copy of this Character Sheet at www.littlefears.com
Kickstarter elementary class of 2014
This book—and the wonderful illustrations contained within—would not exist if not
for the amazing support and belief of the 164 Kickstarter backers. If you’re holding this
book, you can thank these people for that (or, I guess, yourself if you’re on this list).
TEACHER’S PETS
Rose Hunt-Wolf Chris & Ben Conrad
Shane L Hensley Simon Ward
Natalie (Engel Schrei) Gibson Nathan Morrison
Gav Swift Jayson “the14thguest” Turner
Alexander “Lxndr” Cherry M. Sean Molley
Peter J. Evanko Leandro Raniero Fernandes
Craig Hackl John GT
Eilene Heckman Brandon P. Bradley
Ken “Professor” Thronberry Robert T. Sagris
Gregg Kern Bradford Cone
Fred Koning Connor Hallisey
SIXTH GRADERS
Robyn “Rat” King Joseph “UserClone” Le May
Lars Holgaard Sara and Toast Peters
Brent Williams Jessie Baranda Martin
Anthony Howe John W. Thompson
Ignatius Montenegro Simon White
Lythaeum Michael Maroon
Tom Pleasant
FIFTH GRADERS
Gnat Kelly Courtney Powell
David F. Chapman Calvin T Johns
Daniel Stack Andrew Chang
Ralph Mazza Craig T.
Adam Ness Matthew Nielsen
Alexis Perron Katie Geall
Brian Allred Jason Middleton
Talon “Litigation” Johnson Dustin Headen
Martin “Black-Thing” Deppe ZombieWerkz
Nicolaj ‘Cloversong’ Klitbo Brett Easterbrook
John Roberts Brandon Huang
Wyng’d Lyon Creations Kit McLellan
Emil Züricho-Rasmussen Tony Contento
James MacGeorge Joshua Cameron
Sparks Frederic Graves
Gareth Hodges Ron Wilhelm
Benjamin O Bement Stewart C. Brown
131
FOURTH GRADERS
epeeguy David ‘Zankabo’ Kohler
Luke Pendo Jon Robertson
TS Luikart Steven Moy
Jen Woods Kurt T. Charbonnier
John & Beverly Poole Ted Childers
Morgan Weeks Jason Heitkamper
Sean M Smith Jeff Preston
João Falaschi Chris Snyder
April Villone Moira Parham
Matthew J. McPherson Stephan Pipenhagen
Chris Cirillo
THIRD GRADERS
Michael Larsen Calvin Chou
Matthew McFarland Kevin Hislop
Katie Harwood Renato Retz de Carvalho
Dane Ralston-Bryce Duane O’Brien
Lauren Rieker Megan Greathouse
Jason Withrow Doug Atkinson
Chris Gunning Robert Cunningham
Charles Miller Enedino Fernandez
Josh Rensch Nathan A. Knapp
Wade Kinney Chris Cadeau
Paul Barrett Derek Rompot
Natalie Rodriguez Jennifer Maddux
Tad Kelson Amy Mundt
Richard Round Norman Nazaroff
Christian Nord Russell Collins
Christina Mitton Travis Gasque
Paul Hubbird Sean McConkey
SECOND GRADERS
John Nixon William White
Stephanie wagner Emily Shirley
Robert De Luna Lorrayne Robertson
Matthew Whalley Vaughn Allen
132
FIRST GRADERS
Seth Johnson Travis Stout
Nathan Hill Guillaume Bernard
Matt M McElroy Beau J. Fox
Tara Imbery Ricardo Mallen
Silvio Herrera Gea Bob Hanks
Adam Rajski Jonathan Mei
Steve Jasper Robert Biddle
Marcus Bone Thomas Lokum
Dingleson Sean K.I.W. Steele/Arcane
Geek2theRight Gedichtewicht
Ryan Macklin Exodous
Rob Townsend Didier
David Bates Adam Nemo
KINDERGARTENERS
MadMoses Munji Studios
Paulo Diovani Goncalves
FACULTY
George Vasilakos Marc Burnell
133
My Soul
THE GAME OF CHILDHOOD to Keep
TERROR
GIVES YOU PLENTY OF GOOD REASONS
TO BE AFRAID OF THE DARK!
Little Fears
Nightmare Edition
Among the Missing
campfire tales
standalone episodes
Campfire Tales:
Standalone adventures ready to
use as one-shots, as episodes in
your current season, or to kick off
a new series of terrifying tales!
Available in PDF.
Book 2: Among the Missing.

Experience Little Fears through the eyes of a missing child.
and coming soon:

campfire tales in print!
Among the Missing and Campfire Tales require the main rulebook to play.
for updates, downloads, and information on upcoming and existing products, visit:
www.littlefears.com
134

Little Fears Book 3 - Blessed Are The Children

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Little Fears Book 3 - Blessed Are The Children

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

“I didn’t know what my friends would think.

“But this was different. I had known about it forever but

“My whole body went numb. I started screaming just like

“Next thing I know, it was dead. And all my friends

“She didn’t care that I looked like a werewolf. She didn’t

- Sophie Eberhardt, age 10

REAL LIVES ARE NOT A GAME.

All text copyright 2014 Jason L Blair. All rights reserved.

No Kid Should Be Too Many Things

“It was at Jenneca David’s birthday party.”

“My dad goes to church more than Mom.”

Monsters Don’t Attack on Sight

“April 17th. The day I was born. The day I

The Soulless and Souls

“I had no idea it was wrong.”

“I was in the woods over at Donovan Park.”

“Do you know everything you can do?”

Players and Possession

Making Your Own Room

Hey There, Players

Search for: Anastasia Wallace

Watch Out for Teachers

Count your blessing,

Book 2: Among the Missing.

and coming soon:

You might also like