A shadowrunner essentially is a sinner, although sinless. When they die, they are surely going to hell. The only way out of hell is to possess someone.

Now since Shadowrun has alternate universes and spirits, there must be some creative way to turn a dead character into a spirit, which can possess someone alive.

I want to hear your creative ideas on how I could turn this concept into a playable plot. And what kind of rules would you use to have a character possess an NPC?

And for a fun twist, a character could maybe possess another player's character.

I was thinking maybe having all the players part of a cult of some sort. While they are alive, they would need to bind their souls to someone or something which would give them a "link" so that they can guide themselves out of the spirit world. Kind of like drowning, but saving yourself by pulling your self up by holding onto the anchor chain. Although when you get out of the water, you will no longer have your old body available for use and will need to find a host.

I want to hear ideas.

well there is that version of possession where they kick the person's soul out. Free spirit power IIRC. Go all "Child's Play" and set up a ritual for this purpose before their death. Just make sure you don't end up in a stupid doll.
The Living Doll homonculus in Street Magic would be an example I guess.

After making this thread, I came up with another idea. What if a conjurer could summon a dead character?

hell, why not, if they've got enough personality and will, don't see why their conciousness couldn't hold. I remember one game where a voodoun was trying to seduce someone and summoned the spirit of Barry White.

Use the same ritual that Dunkie used to create the Dragonheart.



Personally, I would suggest self-sacrifice combined with the sacrifice of others. Instead of a get-out-of-hell free card they have to commit suicide and hope it works. They also have to torture their closest loved ones to death and the most painful manner possible.


As for summoning dead characters, there are three routes to go in canon. First, there are Ghosts. They are the most obvious but they are realitivly rare.
They may be lingering souls or just memories imprinted onto astral energies but whtever they are they are almost universally fucked up in some way. Most are harmless and want to finish unfinished business from their lives, some don't know that they are dead, and some are just viscious and evil, wanting to take revenge on the living for being alive. Ghost are sort of like Free Spirits only they follow their own rules. They can never be conjured but some can be summoned and bound.
After Ghosts you have Ancestor Spirits. To summon one you must be related to the Ancestor and you must be a specific type of Shaman. They may or may not be the actual ancestor but they're close enough that it doesn't really matter.
THird are Spirits of Man in the form of a dead individual. These may or may not be the originals and they probably are not.