History TabletopGame / Orpheus

* MakeMeWannaShout: The Wail Horror for Banshees does physical damage under the right circumstances.

* SplitPersonality: Flatliner Jeffrey Rose, a serial killer with seven other personalities [[UpToEleven who are all serial killers as well]]. After his death, his spirit form develops yet another personality, though this one is dedicated to [[EvenEvilHasStandards destroying Spectres]].

While ''Orpheus'' does tie in loosely with White Wolf's previous effort at the afterlife, ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'', it is not treated as a true sequel or continuation. It tackles the world of the dead following the events of the [[WorldWreckingWave Sixth Great Maelstrom]], a ethereal storm that practically obliterated the [[DarkWorld Shadowlands]].

** Hues get a particularly nasty one if using the Wraith 20th rules. As wraiths operating on Wraith rules, Hues have Shadows... only they don't know it. Their particular Shadow Archetype is called the Quiescent, and it works by ''shutting the hell up'' or just speaking at the same volume as all the Hue's other thoughts. Since Hues aren't aware they have an EnemyWithin, they're more vulnerable to falling on it, especially if they like to call on their Stains.

''Orpheus'' still has a [[SugarWiki/NeedsMoreLove small but devoted fanbase]], some overlapping with ''Wraith'' and many for the game in and of itself. Of course, there's also a bit of a {{Hatedom}}: some from ''Wraith'''s firmer fans, and some Old World of Darkness stalwarts who dismiss it as not truly a part of their beloved setting.

* ObliviouslyEvil: Grandmother honestly doesn't understand that things not a part of the HiveMind she embodies are separate sapient entities, and even devouring rogue elements of the Spectres are her just pruning cancerous growths and mental dysfunctions-and even beyond that, she's also a maternal figure who desires to create, and wishes to eat the world so that she may have enough energy to do so on cosmic levels. One of the good endings of the metaplot involve showing her that other beings exist and her eating them causes pain, at which point she happily forms a truce with existence.

Into this turbulence enters the Orpheus Group. Orpheus has learned and perfected the art of projection, allowing specially-trained people who have undergone [[NearDeathExperience Near Death Experiences]] to leave their bodies and enter the spirit realm. Along with allied ghosts, Orpheus' living agents are contracted out to clients; they investigate hauntings, fumigate raging ghosts, and deal with other spooky spirit-related tasks. It sounds simple, but as the story progresses, things get complicated as the enemies get stronger, corruption becomes rampant, allies fall to the darkness and the line between the worlds of the living and dead begin to blur...

* ChainedByFashion: Lawgivers, direct servants of Grandmother, are wrapped by chains symbolizing their imprisonment and absolute connection to her. * ClosedCircle: Low-level spirits who can only re-enact their deaths will do so unless acted upon by some means, such as Vitality.

* HiveMind: Carried over from ''Wraith'', all Spectres are part of one, connected to the others with various degrees of strength. This serves as their major strength, since they can coordinate massive attacks with a frightening degree of control, and any Spectre in distress can immediately alert all of the others. It also serves as a weakness down the line when they split into factions against Grandmother; because they all share the same mind, they also can't keep secrets from each other regarding their plans of invasion and weaknesses.

* HiveMind: Carried over from ''Wraith'', All Spectres are part of one, connected with various degrees of strength. This serves as their major strength, since they can coordinate massive attacks with a frightening degree of control, and any Spectre in distress can immediately alert all of the others. It also serves as a weakness down the line when they split into factions against Grandmother; because they all share the same mind, they also can't keep secrets from each other regarding their plans of invasion and weaknesses.

* ChainedByFashion: Lawgivers, direct servants of [[spoiler:Grandmother]], are wrapped by chains symbolizing their imprisonment and absolute connection to her.
* ClosedCircle: Low-level spirits who can only re-enact their deaths will do so unless acted upon by some means, such as Vitality.

* TheSwarm: The Legion-Born Horror for Marrows allows them to become a group of small creatures.

* '''Orphan-Grinders''', introduced in the book of the same name, are a special category of Shade; [[spoiler:these poor souls were humans who fell into darkness and became Spectres, but something inside them desired to return and so they fought their way back to humanity, for better or worse. Because of their past affiliation, Orphan-Grinders are skilled at negotiating around and through Spectres.]]

The game settings and scenarios change greatly from the corebook to the final volume, so beware of spoilers for the later volumes below.

** [[spoiler:Orphan-Grinders, [[TheHeartless Spectres]] who have been reminded of their lives and renounced Oblivion. They keep the general, mutated appearance of their Oblivion-tainted forms, and retain access to Spectre powers, but they're no better or worse than any other ghost.]]
** [[spoiler:Weirdly, ''Grandmother herself'', to an extent. See ObliviouslyEvil.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Grandmother. Doesn't sound so threatening, does it? Yeah. This thing created the Neverborn, its own baby abominations. And the reason it's called Grandmother is because the people who heard the Spectres talk about it mispronounced the name -- it's not Grandma, it's ''Grand Maw''.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Late into the line, it's revealed that some Spectres are able to regain control over themselves and remember who they were in life, abandoning Oblivion and becoming Orphan-Grinders.]]

* HellishHorse: [[spoiler:The Hellion Horror for Orphan-Grinders allows them to summon a customized ghostly equine companion to assist them. Say, for example, you need a flaming horse with fangs...]]

* ObliviouslyEvil: [[spoiler:Grandmother honestly doesn't understand that things not a part of the HiveMind she embodies are separate sapient entities, and even devouring rogue elements of the Spectres are her just pruning cancerous growths and mental dysfunctions-and even beyond that, she's also a maternal figure who desires to create, and wishes to eat the world so that she may have enough energy to do so on cosmic levels. One of the good endings of the metaplot involve showing her that other beings exist and her eating them causes pain, at which point she happily forms a truce with existence.]]

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: [[spoiler:Replace "food and drink" with "pigment"; adding strychnine to it leads to the horrific results of "The Pale Horse" scenario in ''Shades of Gray''.]]

** The Sleeper and Skimmer laments are living people who can temporarily kick their spirits out of their bodies. Sleepers can do so pretty much at will, while Sleepers need to be put into [[HumanPopsicle cryosleep]].

''Orpheus'' was notable for dropping the World of Darkness standby of TheMasquerade-- humanity was quite aware of the dead as the setting's run began. It also was perhaps the Old World of Darkness setting most devoted to excluding the others -- little, if any, crossover advice were given, and the Core book states outright that if in your game you want them to exist, the ''Orpheus'' characters would be heavily outmatched as they are essentially plain, run-of-the-mill humans.

''Orpheus'' returns in an appendix to the ''Wraith'' 20th anniversary edition, which is set prior to the Sixth Great Maelstrom and the events of the ''Orpheus'' gameline. While it is largely the same rules wise, some changes were made. Shades still exist, but ''Wraith'' Arconoi are substituted in place of the original abilities where relevant, all Shade types are already known, and the Orphan-Grinders are not known or do not exist. While it modernizes the setting to deal with things like social media and smartphones, it also moves the timeline of the game back to where Orpheus is the only company to have discovered these powers so far, and are just beginning to experiment with journeys into the Shadowlands. The Deathlords who rule over the afterlife are both frightened... and intrigued.