You don't know why. You've just always ... Seen things that nobody else could. Things that sometimes turned out to be real. As a child you were told to stop pretending. So you did. But it didn't go away. And lately you've started to realize that what you had dismissed as a childish fantasy was real, and that ignoring it hurt people you cared about.
You can make a difference, and it's not just in your head.
It's time to stop pretending.
If it ever winds up going anywhere, this roleplaying scenario is going to be very personal and intimate -- and it could turn out to be like a soap opera. Of course, lots of people like soap operas, and of course the writing can be either good or bad.
Here is the basic premise: certain people are born with the Sight. They see things that others simply don't, like events that took place where they're standing a hundred years ago, or an illness developing in a friend that just hasn't become severe enough to notice yet. But the Sight varies. What you can see depends on what "color" of Sight you have:
| "Color" | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Black | Event resonances from the future |
| Gray | Ghosts and spirit entities |
| White | Advice from the future |
| Red | Auras of health and illness |
| Green | Event resonances from the past and present |
| Blue | Auras of emotion and mental state |
| Gold | Unknown -- those with this talent suppress it or go mad |
There may be something about your eye color or general appearance to suggest what type of Sight you have, although this is not necessarily true. (Basically, if you want to incorporate your character's psychic talent into the character's appearance, you are encouraged to do so.)
Your character remembers Seeing strange things since childhood. Growing up can't have been a picnic, although sometimes the Sight runs in families, so there might have been a helpful relative. Most people would have learned not to say anything about what they Saw at a very early age.
Recent events have shown you that what you See is not fantasy but real. And you keep Seeing new things. What do you do about what you See? The answer to this question is usually nothing, at least nothing that most people would understand. Why?
Suppose you have Gray Sight, and your best friend's mother dies. Her spirit is trying to talk to your friend, to say "I love you" one more time before she moves on, but the message isn't getting across. Do you tell your friend? This happened to you back in high school, by the way -- and both your high school friend and the spirit wouldn't let you rest with all the messages they wanted you to relay back and forth. It ruined your friendship back then; do you want to risk ruining this one now? And what if word gets out that you can talk to the dead -- not like that John Edward guy on TV; you can tell he's a fake because he doesn't have these problems. If he could see the spirits pestering him day and night, he'd never get any sleep, and there'd be nothing he could do about it and nobody he could go to for help. That could be you. You know, now that you think about it, it might be better if you just don't let your friend or her mother's ghost know that you can See spirits at all.
So people with the Sight usually keep it to themselves, although they might try to covertly help people with what they See. Anonymous phone tips to the police about the missing child (and there are so many children who are never found, because it is so rare for people with the Sight to be in the right place at the right time); hints to friends that they should get a mammogram; little "cheer-up" gifts to friends who aren't letting on that they're depressed: these are the stock in trade of those who can See.
But what of those with Black Sight? What they See is fated to happen and cannot be changed. Do they warn their friends about the plane crashes or car accidents that will happen anyway, whether they warn them or not? Should their last days alive be fraught with worry or happily oblivious to their fate? And there is always the chance that it is their warning itself that precipitates events leading to disaster.
Perhaps the world in general is better off not knowing that these talents exist.
Well, enough background. Do you want to know more about the types of Sight your character can have?
The rules for the game will be based on the D20 Modern Roleplaying Game published by Wizards of the Coast. There are a few additions specific to this game, but they are minor.
These pages copyright © 2002 Tom Lee.