As adventurers, it’s our job to beat back the forces of undeath. Comes with the territory. But I’ve been doing some thinking lately, and there’s something that doesn’t quite add up. Generally speaking you see, when you meet an angry spirit it comes packaged with some kind of sob story. They died tragically and horribly. They died violently. There were betrayed, tortured, and are now desperately seeking vengeance. If there’s a common thread here, it’s that the dead begin getting up and haunting people when there’s strong emotion involved. Fair enough, right? That’s pretty standard ghost lore after all.

Now let me ask you something: How many orcs do you think you’ve killed? Think about it. Your typical orc is a ball of seething rage and bad temper before you’ve cut him down in his prime. That sounds like “strong emotion” to me. If that’s all it takes to rise from the grave, then all those mean green murder men ought to be prime targets for the forces of undeath. How is it, then, that all our monstrous humanoid murdering isn’t causing g-g-ghosts?

Now obviously, deliberately desecrating corpses like Fighter is a bad idea. That’s how you wake up tied to a hospital bed in Georgia. But by the same token, I’m not sure the rest of us are doing much better. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading through all the ghoulish backstories of certain psych ward residents, but I’m beginning to think a bottle of holy water and a few respectful prayers over the enemy dead could go a long way. It’s hard enough killing the forces of darkness the first time. I don’t want to have to give ’em the Zombieland double tap as well.

What do you say, gang? Am I being paranoid here? Or have any of you guys unwittingly created your own undead antagonists? Is there a good lore reason why standard hack ‘n slash wouldn’t create angry incorporeals? And while we’re on the subject, if you’ve got any advice for keeping the recently dead permanently dead, sound off in the comments! Chances are my Strange Aeons players will thank you for it.