Haunted ghosts - a Mephisto review

Titled Haunting shadows, this anthology for the Wraith roleplaying game takes the reader into the world of the ghosts of the World of Darkness with nine short stories. The stories take up typical concepts of the roleplaying game: the social order of the wraiths, shaped by the Hierarchy, which always threatens to use new ghosts as raw materials; the confrontation of the wraiths with their shadow - that is, their dark side; the fight against specters and, of course, simply the fact that the ghosts end up in a dark parallel world after the end of their lives.

As with the other anthologies, the stories cover a wide range. For example, in one story, a duo of ghosts explores the sinister labyrinth and faces its horrors. Another one is about a group of researchers who slip into the spirit world more by accident than anything else. The next story features an investigator who is a wraith investigating the machinations of a haunted house. The stories are excitingly written and offer the unusual variation of ghost stories, written from ghosts' point of view, but here the wraiths must also face horror themselves.

Again, with Haunting shadows, you do not necessarily need to know the roleplaying game, but this certainly helps with understanding. For fans of the World of Darkness, there are also the re-encounter with a particularly unpopular ghost and links to the roleplaying game Orpheus. For Wraith players, Haunting shadows is recommended for reading.

(Björn Lippold)