Recently I have gotten a lot of horror rpgs that I will never be able to convince anyone to play them all, namely Nephilim, Lost Souls, Kult, Whispering Vault ,so in order to scratch my itches I have merged them into one concept rpg barrowing liberally from each.
so here it is
Pocket Sized Demons
your characters are members of a ancient race that now must possess human bodies in order to interact with the world. it is clear your race predated man, but it seems your memories do not begin before the egyptian empire. there are many rumors about your races relationship to man. some say they were your slaves, others say you guided them up from the mud, and everything in between. once in a body you develope a host of specialized powers based on your characters knowledge and background. what happened to cause your race to lose it’s memory in egypt? legends tell of the cleansing, a time when other dimensions grow close to earth, and your race is reborn, or nearly killed .

your character must:
have one subtle non-human deformity
have been incarnated in human bodies at least 3 times prior to 1950, and none since.
have one non-human nutritional need
3 flaws that define your character
2 virtues that define your character
5 adjectives that define your character
your character has a home in a small pocket dimension that is defined by his/her experiences and personality.. provide a description optionally your race fashions itself in tribes, and you can also determine the nature of your tribe.

the character race you will likely be playing are not spirits in the conventional, but rather aware dimensional rifts or pocket dimensions. they do not have the same limitations as spirits, and require different rituals. your race is terrestrial in origin. because on some level you always maintain communication with your “pocket dimension” it is breach able via mental powers as well as a range of spells.

where your powers come from
1- natural racial abilities
2- servant abilities
3- artifacts
4-occult skills
1-natural racial abilities include the ability to take, and transform a host, sense and communicate with members of your own race, the ability to enter and return to your pocket dimension
2-the tiny flora and fauna of your pocket dimension often can interact with the outside world, while remaining invisible to the normal human eye. they can only remain outside it for a limited time, and usually have specialized effects. I will copy some examples for you, to hand out on sunday.
3- artifacts- all magic items in the game have a native dimension, and have greatly reduced functionality outside of it. so the only artifacts you are likely to start the game with are effective only in your pocket dimension, or maintained by followers outside.
4- over the centuries it is likely your character has learned more then a little occult knowledge, the game will use “real world” magic. spells are potent but usuall are use in divining, manufacturing items, and rites. spells typically require at least 10 minutes of concentration.

possible enemies
secret societies- these are likely to be your most potent enemy as only one of the dozens of organizations looks favorably on your race, and most want to enslave you to gain mystic power.
traditional spirits- they can see you, and they do get restless
fallen races- other races that once competed with man for the world, now have a basis in many myths.
extrateristrials - I am using the broad definition here, can be extra planetary, or extra dimensional, a wide range of utter foulness.,

taking a host...
the “software portion” of your host is transported to a special prepared area in your pocket dimension. he stays there (unless he finds an escape route). in this place his skills and memories are gradually siphoned off, and provided to you (the way this happens / physical manifestations of the process are up to you ).
you can even go in and talking to them while the host body is resting (or while it is not, but that can be dangerous). eventually the host will be completely absorbed into your pocket dimension, but if he is absorbed too quickly his identity will become intensely intermingled with your own often resulting in near fatal weaknesses and flaws. in some extreme cases the victim becomes the predator, and the body gains several benefits while completely consuming the would be possessor. there is no set formula for this process, but on average it is best to spend 3-6 months at least with a typical host for total absorption.
when the body grows too old, or becomes other wise unusable several options are available to remove the “ absorbed spirit “ . once a body dies the spirit that belonged to it begins to either decay, or become extremely agitated. either way it is typically unusable with in a month as a haunt in your pocket dimension, or as nothing but a horrendous smell that is impossible to remove. most common is to dump what is left of the spirit into the body close to the moment of death, or carry it to the spirit plane at great personal risk. a third option is to dump it into another body after taking it’s spirit. the third option represents a problem, because even though they are absorbed, until they are completely absorbed, they can still regenerate memories. so in a new body the spirit will eventually regain memories of his former life, and captivity.