Orpheus (role-playing game)

For other uses, see Orpheus (disambiguation).
Orpheus

Orpheus cover
Designer(s)
  • Bryan Armor
  • John Chambers
  • Genevieve Cogman
  • Richard E. Dansky
  • B. D. Flory
  • Harry L. Heckel
  • Ellen Kiley
  • James Kiley
  • Matthew McFarland
  • Dean Shomshak
  • Colin A. Suleiman
Publisher(s) White Wolf
Publication date September 2, 2003
System(s) Storyteller System

Orpheus is a role playing game by White Wolf Game Studio, set in a microcosm of the World of Darkness. Unlike the other World of Darkness game lines, Orpheus has a specifically planned metaplot and a set number of books that were published. Although it uses the same system as White Wolf's other games, ghosts and spirits are the exclusive focus of this story. Other supernatural creatures in the World of Darkness are strongly discouraged from entering the events of Orpheus. It is, however, tied with Wraith: The Oblivion, White Wolf's previous game dealing with the afterlife; some of the events in Orpheus are related to Ends of Empire, the final book in the Wraith: The Oblivion line.

Volumes

There are six books total in the Orpheus line; the first is the main rulebook, which hold the rules used throughout the series. The five that follow carry out a specific, albeit optional, plotline, told through fiction and roleplaying, as well as expanding on the roleplaying tools presented in the first game. They are, in chronological order:

Book NameWhite Wolf
Product Number
ISBN Number
Orpheus WW21000 ISBN 1-58846-600-0
Crusade of Ashes WW21001 ISBN 1-58846-601-9
Shades of Gray WW21010 ISBN 1-58846-602-7
Shadow Games WW21011 ISBN 1-58846-603-5
Orphan-Grinders WW21012 ISBN 1-58846-604-3
End Game WW21015 ISBN 1-58846-605-1

Orpheus is noteworthy in that it led the idea for White Wolf of a series with a limited number of supplements. The concept continues on with new World of Darkness games Promethean: The Created, Changeling: The Lost, and Hunter: The Vigil all of which are planned as similar limited releases.

There also was an anthology based on Orpheus named Orpheus: Haunting the Dead (WW11905 / ISBN 1-58846-837-2).

Character types

Characters in Orpheus are either living individuals capable of astral projection (via meditation or cryonics) or are ghosts of the recently deceased. It is assumed that characters work for the Orpheus Group, a company that employs the talents of projectors and spirits to investigate and clear ghostly activity and perform other tasks difficult for those without access to the world of the dead. The way a person manifests as a ghost is called the Lament; two Laments are projection-based, while two are based on a person being dead.

Each character has a set of special traits, called a Shade, which determine how they manifest and what ghostly powers (or Horrors) they are able to use and which ones they cannot. There are eight Shades total; the first five were introduced in the Orpheus corebook, while the remaining three were introduced in three of the supplements.

Antagonists

Along with ghosts as antagonists, there are also rival projection companies, such as Terrel and Squib, and a new designer drug called pigment or black heroin that allows users to see the spirits of the dead. There are also dark spirits called Spectres, some of which are corrupted spirits and hues, and others that have spawned from an unknown but powerful source. These create much of the storyline and challenges the players must face as they move through the series.

External links