As seen on http://www.fudgefactor.org.

Unexpected Guests

They live among us. A bizarre evolutionary offshoot of human consciousness, they inhabit our homes, our businesses, our governments.

Our families.

Their numbers are few, their influence great. Effectively immortal, they pursue their own agendas, only rarely interacting with their own kind. When they do happen to meet and discuss their own, they refer to themselves with a sick and twisted euphemism.

Guests.

Lacking physical form, they travel from host to host, wearing their bodies and their lives like a suit. Oh, they do take good care of their hosts, most of them. Wouldn't you or I take care of a good suit?

What are Guests

Contrary to the rhetoric that began this article, Guests are not necessarily malicious. Guests are entities that are almost entirely non-physical in nature. They possess the mind and body of a host and carry about their business. They can travel from host to host. Some Guests maintain a handful of well-acquainted hosts, while others leap from host to host, getting what they need and tossing them aside.

As presented here, Guests are on option that can be added to most any campaign. Nothing here is specific to any genre, any time period. Guests can be NPCs or player characters. Some variations and suggestions on how to use Guests are included at the end of this article.

Little is understood about how a Guest comes about. But then, little is understood about human consciousness. Perhaps the Guest is some form of multiple personality disorder, or perhaps something else entirely lays the seed that will become a Guest. Whatever the details of it are, a Guest comes to slow awareness, already integrated with a human host. Once the Guest is fully self-aware, it has to make some decisions.

What a Guest wants

Having no families, having no upbringing that addresses their situation, a Guest must decide for itself what to do with it's immortality. Some Guests identify with their original host and the family, and work to have that family prosper. After a few generations, this can become a very time-consuming task. Some Guests become hedonistic, and travel the world bankrupting host after host to experience all the joys the planet can provide. Some Guests enjoy understanding, and use their hosts to discover secrets, to learn just who pulls which strings and why. Some of these Guests are not interested only in knowledge, and seek to pull strings themselves for the sake of raw power and control. Many Guests aren't so extreme, and will change goals every few decades, exploring their own nature and the nature of humanity and existence. Guests normally pick names for themselves, so Guest names are as varied as can be imagined. Guests have no genders, but often take on a gender identity, though they aren't held to it in any fashion.

Host Compatibility

When a Guest possesses a host, the host mind blacks out, unaware of the possession. Different hosts are "easier" to use for different Guests, based on similar and familiar thought patterns. A Guest can always choose to "ride" a host, not exercising any control. So long as the host has at least Poor compatibility, the Guest will be aware of everything the host is aware of.

Host Compatibility	Guest Abilities
Terrible	Guest can do little more than read the surface thoughts of the host, and be aware if host provides a path to other hosts. Guest cannot even access host's senses. Host remains in control, but unaware of Guest, though they may feel "watched" or have odd dreams.
Poor	Guest has access to all of hosts senses. Guest can control the host's movements, though they will appear slightly jerky and ungraceful, particularly to those familiar with the host. After possession, the host will be disoriented and concerned. Guests can only use their own skills at -2
Mediocre	Guest can control the host's movements, and can access very familiar memories (name, address, names and faces of close friends, routines.) After possession, host is unlikely to be unduly concerned unless presented with evidence of unusual activity. ("Wow, 5 o'clock already, the work day has flown!") Guest can use host's skills at -1
Fair	Guest can control the host's movements in the manner the host would (stance, gestures, etc). Guest can access all of the hosts conscious memories. After possession, host will not be concerned unless presented with evidence, and will tend to accept that they did unusual actions if they are somewhat reasonable. ("Concert tickets? Huh, almost forgot I ordered them.") Guest can use host's skills. Guest can learn skills from host, up to one level below host.
Good	Guest has full access to hosts body and memories, even those that are not consciously available. After possession, host will accept any of their actions they become aware of, even if they don't make much sense. ("Yes, okay, I shot them. I don't know why, I don't really remember, but I did it.") The Guest can allow the host to be aware of some or all of the actions before the possession ends. Guest can learn skills from host.
Great	Guest has full control of hosts body and memories, and can alter memories as desired. Guest can get a feeling of host's general state even when not possessing by thinking of the host. Guest can repossess the host if Guest's current host can see this host. Guest can learn skills from host.
Superb	Guest has full control of hosts body and memories as above. Guest is constantly aware of any change in the host's general state when not possessing, and can repossess this host at will, regardless of where the current host is. (Doing so will abandon the current host). Guest can learn skills from host.

The average host has Poor compatibility. This moves up or down one level based on whether the host has similar thought patterns to the Guest.

Example

Loki is a Guest. His player has decided that his personality is, at it's core, an explorer. Curiosity is his watchword, and any unanswered question is a challenge. Most hosts have Poor compatibility. Those hosts who are unusually curious will have Mediocre compatibility, whereas unquestioning hosts will have Terrible compatibility.

The first few hours spent in a host will raise that host one compatibility level. Once this level is met, it is lost only in the face of vast personality changes while the Guest has been out of contact.

Example

Loki possessed a young child host (Base compatibility of Poor, the GM ruled this child was curious as children often are, for a final compatibility of Mediocre). Loki spent a day with young David, eventually leaving this host with Fair compatibility. 30 years later, Loki chances upon David again, and possesses him. The GM rules that in the intervening time, not only has David's personality changed (He's divorced, and raising two children of his own), but that his bitterness has removed his youthful curiosity. David has gone from being a Fair host to being a Poor one. Had David's bitterness made him unquestioning, he'd be a Terrible host. If Loki had "checked in" on David even once every few years, the GM could rule that Loki is familiar with David's personality that he remains a Mediocre host. (Because familiarity doesn't compensate for the loss of the curiosity.)

A Guest can put effort into learning their host. The GM is the final authority on how this works, but it is not unreasonable to use the following guidelines:

Level of improvement (Total)	Time Spent to Establish	Maintenance
+1 level	a few hours	Almost none. Guest must be aware of major personality changes
+2 levels	3-5 days of near-continuous possession	Guest must "check in" for a few minutes once a month
+3 levels	a month of regular and significant possession	Guest must "check in" for several hours once a month.
+4 levels	3-5 months of regular and significant possession	Guest must spend the equivalent of 3 days per week possessing this host
+5 levels	3-5 months of near-continuous possession	Guest must be in near-constant possession. If lost, the lesser of 3-5 months or double the time spent away will re-establish the compatibility

Alternatively, the GM may rule that each host is a skill, and rule on how skill advancement and maintenance works. The goal is not to create bookkeeping, but to associate compatibility with familiarity, and to prevent Guests from keeping a vast farm of Superb hosts.

Possession

Normally, a Guest travels from host to host by physical contact. (Great and Superb hosts may be returned to without this, see above). The hosts are unaware of the possession or the transfer. An abandoned host will behave as their compatibility dictates, and a Guest who spends some time "preparing" the host can ease this passage by giving them no reason to be aware of missing time or unexplained actions, or by (with sufficient compatibility) leaking or inserting memories to explain everything.

Example

Loki has possessed a young security guard and is exploring a warehouse to determine just what is being shipped. Unfortunately, he is caught and locked in an office. His host and captors were wearing gloves, so he never got the skin-to-skin chance to leave his host. Now, locked in a room, he has little choice but to wait it out. If he had a Superb host somewhere, he could leave this host to possess that host despite the distance, but could not return (the guard is not a Superb host for him.)

A Guest tends to pick up personality quirks and traits from their hosts, and visa versa. (Though the latter only expresses when the Guest is not in control) The greater the compatibility, the greater the exchange. The longer the association, the longer lasting the effect.

The Guest can also "ride" non-human mammals (animals). All such hosts are Terrible, have no natures, and only fundamental memories. ("This human is familiar in a good way" "I like fish" "I have to pee".) Familiarity still improves these hosts, but the Guest cannot exercise or learn skills through the host. Guests don't enjoy this possession, as it is so limiting and stifling. (A possessed animal may have purpose in direction and action, but is still an animal. No driving cars or operating computers.)

Guests do not require sleep themselves, but they feel the fatigue of their hosts, and in a tired host will welcome and experience sleep as much as the host. Of course, they could just transfer to a well-rested host, and some do, but as the time spent with a sleeping host helps increase the familiarity, a sleeping Guest is not unusual.

Should a host die, the Guest can either leap to another host if available, or wait. If another host does not present itself within a few hours, the Guest dies. Still, Guest death is unusual. Accidental deaths (at least, accidental as far as the Guest is concerned) are far more rare than Guests that have decided they have gleaned all they can from this life and stay with a host who dies. Even cut off from a host's senses, a Guest is always aware if there is another potential host available. The GM can rule that the Guest is instantly destroyed if the host body is destroyed.

Skills

Guests can make use of the skills of their hosts per the compatibility level. Guests can also have their own skills that they attempt to use through the host. Guests can learn skills only from their hosts (aside from Guest skills, below). The GM controls skill advancement and learning, per Fudge basic rules, but the essential element is that Guests are borrowing the minds and bodies they are using, so they cannot learn or improve a skill unless the host possesses it at sufficient level.

Skills with physical components cannot be learned at better than two levels below the host. Purely "mental" skills can be learned up the host's level. The Guest thereafter has these skills and can use them in other hosts, in addition to the host's natural skills, limited by the compatibility of the host.

Guests have a handful of skills that belong solely to them, and they can learn on their own. All of these skills are optional, at the GM's discretion:

Memory Alteration

This is the skill a Guest will use to manipulate a host's memories. With a Great host or better, a Guest can create entirely fictitious memories. With a host that is less compatible, a Guest can "leak" memories to the host to attempt to bring the host to certain conclusions. This skill is used in both cases to determine how certain the host is of the memories, and how well those memories achieve the desired reaction in the host.

Host Familiarity

The GM might rule that a Guest can learn a host like a skill rather than a purely time-based calculation. If so, each host is a different skill.

Gifts and Faults

By and large, Guests adopt the Gifts and Faults of their hosts while possessing, INCLUDING Mental Gifts and Faults. (Though a less compatible host may spare the Guest this bonus/penalty). However, Guests can have Gifts and Faults of their own, even reasonable physical ones, which are also imposed on the hosts during possession. Use common sense. Should a host and a Guest possess opposing Gifts or Faults, cancel them out for the duration of the possession so long as that makes sense. (A Guest that tends to walk with a limp will cancel out a host who is fleet of foot, but a nimble Guest won't cause a host with a bad leg to walk any better.)

Here are a handful of Gifts and Faults that are specific to Guests. Because of the powerful effects, it is suggested these Gifts and Faults have double costs/bonuses of "normal" Gifts and Faults.

Speaking in the Night

The Guest can speak, conversation-style, with the hosts subconscious, and has the chance to convince the host of things. Information cannot be imparted to the host's conscious mind in this fashion, but decisions that don't involve new information can be. (Mental Gift)

Contrary Nature

Instead of suffering a compatibility penalty for possessing a host with a nature contrary to the Guest's, the Guest instead gets the same bonus as if the host were of the same nature. The Guest is simply able to understand at an instinctive level any extremes with the concept. (Mental Gift)

Ghostly Presence

The Guest can leave their host and travel a few feet to a new host. The Guest loses all senses save the awareness of other hosts while between hosts. The Guest can spend only a few minutes outside of a host, and cannot travel more than a few feet from a host. (Mental Gift)

Nightmares

Any host possessed will suffer disturbing nightmares during the possession. After a few nights, this will start to cause penalties to the host, and several months could bring about semi-permanent mental trauma. Guests with this Fault tend to change hosts often. (Mental Fault)

The Visible Path

Any host this Guest possesses will be aware of the possession, if not the events during the possession, after the fact. The host may choose not to reveal this knowledge for (reasonable) fear of being ridiculed or being sent to a mental institution. (Mental Fault)

Aura of Wrongness

Anyone familiar with the host will be aware that something is wrong, though the nature won't be apparent. Often they will attempt to discover what it is, though they may be put off by a reasonable explanation. (Mental Fault)

Guest Society

Guests usually have no interest in interacting. Occasionally a few will band together towards a common end, or for friendship at a level beyond normal human interaction.

Guests are too rare, and have too little means of creating traditions to have any form of organized society. A few trends have developed, but they are more emergent from the situation than the decisions of any individuals imposed upon the masses.

Guests are too familiar with humanity to want to reveal their existence to the general populace. Some Guests like to reveal themselves to their hosts, preferring mutual acceptance to one-sided possession, but it is rare indeed for a Guest to decide to tell the world of their existence. Those that do are usually disregarded as unfortunate victims of mental disorders.

Guests experience life through human hosts, and thus their goals tend to be human in nature, though modified by their unique abilities.

Guests are not born aware of other Guests' existence, though it doesn't take much effort to conclude there might be more of their kind. Guests are aware of other Guests when their host is in physical contact with another possessed host, or if another Guest attempts to possess their host. Guests cannot communicate aside from their hosts.

Should more than one Guest attempt to possess a host, the rule is simple: Greatest compatibility wins. The losers can either retreat to available hosts, or "ride" the current host the the winner has possession of. Guests are always aware of other Guests in their host, and if other hosts are available, the winner can force the losers out. If Guests have equal compatibility, make an opposed roll to determine the winner.

Gaming Consequences

If the PCs are Guests, there are a few changes to "standard" gaming that should be acknowledged.

Firstly, death is unusual for a Guest (though defeat in combat can come just as easily). So the GM can offer lethal opposition without fear of "ruining" the game, so long as the players have some means to achieve their goals despite the opposition. (For that matter, clever players might attempt to possess the lethal opposition.)

Secondly, the GM must be ready to whip out potential hosts in great numbers. Players will likely use their possession ability to it's greatest effect, and the GM has to be prepared for this eventuality.

In turn, players must realize that they shouldn't pick and choose amongst potential hosts for hours, then spend vast amounts of downtime becoming more compatible with their hosts. At some point the game must move forward, and the players shouldn't let their powers interfere.

The possession of different hosts will also tend to fragment the characters in the game world. Conscious effort must be spent to keep this to a reasonable level, or else the game will devolve into multiple mini-games.

Lastly, it is important for everyone to have a good idea of the goals of the group. It would be all to easy to play a Guest that, faced with an unhappy situation, possessed the next host headed out of the country, intending to return in a few generations. While disagreements between characters are to be expected and not necessarily discouraged, the players have to be working towards keeping the game together, or it will fall apart.

Variations

Here are a few variations on the basic Guests concept

• Thought Police - The characters are sent to encourage a society, culture, or race towards certain goals. Perhaps they are assigned missions from "higher-ups", or perhaps they are just given guidelines and left to fend for themselves.

• Aliens among us - The characters aren't from around here. There are many scenarios possible here: Scouts for an invasion, Troops for an invasion, Explorers, Refugees, Roswell survivors... Avoiding detection and working towards a long-term goal would be central here.

• Spiritual - The characters did not go gently into that sweet night. They remain with a burning desire to....something. This would give stronger short term goals than many of the other suggestions.

• Historical - Before modern times, the characters would have to take better care of their hosts, as hosts waking up from a possession would likely be in more immediate danger than a trip to the psych ward. Likewise, world travel would be a stranger thing, so the distance-spanning powers would be both more powerful and more limited. Murder mysteries, politicking, seeking glory, and just about any other historical scenario can only become more interesting. Remember that just because the character can jump hosts, they still have their own identity, and they can get bored or passionate just like anyone else.

• Theological - Perhaps the characters ARE the possessing demons they are sometimes taken for. Or perhaps some other force working against demons? This gives interesting twists on the goals. Can they detect others of their kind? How do you kill someone who has to be killed instantly, can leap from body to body, and may be possessing an innocent (if you care)? Perhaps a new possession requires more than physical contact, at least for a resisting host. Perhaps there is a blood connection, and members of a family are easier to possess? This would lead to caretaking of the family, along with a push to travel and expand to improve the powerbase and safety for the character.

• Single Play - This sort of situation leads to a unique chance for one character and a GM, because the character can always hop to another host to get out of any predicament. Not as invigorating and social as group play, but sometimes you just can't find a group.

• Time Travel - Perhaps the character can only possess one host in any given time period, but can hop between hosts across time? Hosts for a given time might change if the timeline is changed, adding interesting plot twists. Perhaps a mystery must be solved after it has happened by discovering what happened as it happens, and then preventing it from happening?