Yoshiyahu,

Yeah, I was referring to the person that started this thread.

OK, cool. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. As we've seen here, text-only communication is very easy to misinterpret.

He is simply... more powerful than I could have possibly imagined. What would you do about him?

Easy:

Seriously tho, for situations like this, follow the first rule of RPGs: talk to the player first. See if you cant bring things in check and still keep it fun for everyone. Otherwise, whip up a sith ghost to battle him for all eternity or somesuch. You're the GM, you manipulate the setting - far more powerful that any character.

But talk to him first. That's always the best call for these matters.

My entire original post was a joke. I made it all up. Was it funny? Guess not, 6 posts in, nobody got it.

So this post is somewhere between Poe's Law and "Uh, I was only trolling guys. Just kidding."

Yeah, that stuff doesn't work on 4chan either.

So the OP pretty much = troll to be ignored?

Good to know.

Ah, wonderful. Well, off to update my ignore list. Goodbye, douchenugget. Have fun trolling to an empty room!

(Not you, D - I mean the other fellow!)

PC ghost space wizard? Sign me up!

I'd play it like a mix of Ceiling Cat and MS-Word's Clippy.

Oh hai, you appear to be failing at piloting a space ship, would you like help with that?

If you keep touching that in the shower, it'll lead to the darkside

Don't kiss that chick bro, she's your sister and you'll have mutant kids

So we had a force sensitive character die prematurely. He was right around the cusp of discovering the ancient ways... and then he died. Almost made a lightsaber too.

You'd think the player would toss his sheet and roll up a new one. He didn't. He became a force ghost. Apparently, non-Jedi force sensitives can become Force Ghosts, I looked it up on wookieepedia.

As this is in jest, I will say the following for anyone thinking about this for their parties.

WARNING: Minor spoilers for clone wars season 6, nothing one wouldn't gather from the trailer.

Season 6 of the clone wars addresses this with canon, as yoda goes through the trials. That said, the trials have to be concluded while the recipient is alive, and they are also pretty darned hardcore, more then a minor GM hand-wave, to accomplish. Only the three force ghost jedis in the movies were able to pull this off, in canon sources. Qui-gon had a minimal ability to speak, but didn't finish the trials, so wasn't able to manifest outright.

That's a pretty serious undertaking as you have to go to the source of the force, as well as Korriban (home of the Sith). Wookiepedia appears to be outdated, an any source it referenced appears to no longer be canon.

To suggest that just any old force user could accomplish this, would kinda put them on par with Yoda, Anakin, Obi-wan, and Qui-Gon. That makes you a seriously generous GM, IMO.

We have no idea what is or is not canon right now and the idea that all who become Force Ghosts must go to Korriban or go through special trials clashes with everything prieviously established about the ability in the movies, and the movies trump The Clone Wars

TCWs isn't contradicting the movies though, the episodes essentially just provide an explanation to Yoda's statement to Obi Wan about his contact with Qui Gon.

The only reason "anyone can become a Force Ghost" came about was early EU writers figured that it was just something any Jedi could pull off, especially as two of the three actual Jedi we see in the films (Obi-Wan and Yoda) both do it, as does a redeemed Anakin.

Even with the 'special training' that Season 6 as instituted in regards to this, Anakin's ascension is a bit of an arse-pull, but at the same time he's also the Chosen One, so he might get a bit of a pass.

I actually like that TCW has at least established some ground rules as what it takes (baring truly extraordinary cases like Anakin and maybe Luke). Though it's possible that Luke's figured it out (he's been stated enough times to be what Anakin would have become barring the fall-to-darkness and becoming a cyborg), and then went on to make it more common knowledge amidst the members of his New Jedi Order.

Personally I would just encourage the rest of the group to ignore him until he fades away into the Force.

My entire original post was a joke.

My entire original post was a joke.

No it wasn't. Jokes are funny.

And PrettyHaley hits another one out of the ballpark.

Poor guy. When he saw that the joke tanked (or was not understood to be a joke), he should have just left it. There would have been a few more helpful replies, and then this thread would have just sailed away...

well. All Joking aside, the advice offered in this thread was pretty good stuff. Hopefully it will be some help to someone.

This is getting out of hand. I had no malicious intent in the thread's creation, yet many of the replies since then has been about putting me up to the stake. Should I shame the next person that replies, in advance? Nah. Should I request the thread be deleted? It might be the best course of action, but I won't. I actually find it quite interesting. Now, I'm not saying your hurtful comments do not hurt me, on the contrary; I am a sensitive person. It's obvious this social group derives a sort of satisfaction out of griefing someone, but I did not expect this sort of hostile nature in a forum for geeks, geeks like you and me.

So what should I do then? Should I ask for criticism? No, because while constructive criticism is usually beneficial, it seems that this is a case where constructive criticism just won't help, because it would just contribute to grief. I surely regret my original post, but I'm not sure if I should even say sorry, because I made the post for everyone to have a laugh. We're having a laugh now, aren't we?

What's the point of even replying, if it's only to my detriment then?

It's to affect you, dear reader. I want you to know that these hurtful comments are indeed hurting an individual. Even the "likes" of a hurtful comment are hurtful. It hurts me. I am the recipient. I now have a negative reputation here.

Perhaps you'll stop to think about it for a moment and let it affect you. Perhaps you'll enjoy this post, because it's very satisfying to see the outcome of your grief. You decide.

What's the point of even replying, if it's only to my detriment then?

It's to affect you, dear reader. I want you to know that these hurtful comments are indeed hurting an individual. Even the "likes" of a hurtful comment are hurtful. It hurts me. I am the recipient. I now have a negative reputation here.

Perhaps you'll stop to think about it for a moment and let it affect you. Perhaps you'll enjoy this post, because it's very satisfying to see the outcome of your grief. You decide.

IME, the internet does not work that way. Empathy may begin with the letter 'e' but it's in short supply online. Instead, I'd recommend you let it go, and it'll be forgotten fairly quickly. However, it's your choice.

What's the point of even replying, if it's only to my detriment then?

It's probably out of hand, and I'm as guilty of piling on as anyone, but really, you could have made it go away a long time ago with something like:

"I guess it wasn't as funny as I thought, my bad."

Instead you basically decided you couldn't believe we were all too dumb to get the joke. If you wonder why there's a pile-on, that's why. You basically mocked everyone who tried in good faith to help you. It not a mystery.

Now you're back wondering what the point of replying is...well, there is no point if you don't understand the root of the problem.

Instead you basically decided you couldn't believe we were all too dumb to get the joke. If you wonder why there's a pile-on, that's why. You basically mocked everyone who tried in good faith to help you. It not a mystery.

I didn't mock anyone. Perhaps it was misconstrued.

"My entire original post was a joke. I made it all up. Was it funny? Guess not, 6 posts in, nobody got it."

Fact. Fact. Question. Observation. Fact.

The only observation I made was that nobody found it funny.

Don't worry about it man.

I know this was a "joke" post, but I went to the trouble of thinking up a solution, and I'm not letting it go to waste. Besides, maybe someday a real GM will have this issue, and search for aid.

I'd tell the ghost's player that, as Force Ghosts stick around for a reason (this applies to most ghosts in fiction, really), and he hasn't actually sought any pathos or closure, that the ghost is rapidly fading away. Either he begins pursuing some final goal or purpose, or he will be gone within a session.

And if the player kept trying to abuse it, then the rest of the freighter crew would discover that they have all been infected with some sort of alien disease, known for causing hallucinations. Once they seek treatment, the ghost instantly vanishes. Turns out they hallucinated everything, and their friend never actually came back.

EDIT: And to hencook, I do sympathize. Is it possible to edit the original post or, better yet, the thread title to make it clear this was a joke? It won't salve hurt feelings now, but it will certainly keep others from stumbling upon it and then feeling deceived (which was what happened with me).

Humor... Dry... Desert... Sand... *cough* *cough* *croak*

I found OP to be funny, but not in a "this is obviously a joke" way.

There are two types of funny. "Haha" and "touched in the head".

For what it's worth, I didn't see anything 'troll-like' in either Hencook's OP or their subsequent responses. I don't feel made a fool of, and I don't think there's any reason to get mad at Hencook. The worst thing we can accuse him/her of it wasting a little of our time and energy, and hey, it's the internet. Nobody comes on here to save time.

ITT: unfunny attempt at humor, patently ridiculous overreaction to it.

ITT: unfunny attempt at humor, patently ridiculous overreaction to it.