Ghost Hunting in The Unexplained
The Unexplained covers a lot of information about ghosts and ghost investigating. It covers types of hauntings, such as residual haunts and intelligent haunts. It covers most of the different phenomena found in hauntings and discusses the common gear used in investigations. It also tells you how to run this kind of investigation in real life and in the game.
The book then gets into what to do about a haunting once you’ve identified what it is. This includes house blessings, house cleansings, and exorcisms.
Here’s a list of some of the phenomena discussed in the book:
- Apparitions
- Cold Spots
- Demons
- Ectoplasm
- Electricity Drain
- Electronic Voice Phenomenon
- Electromagnetic Fields
- Orbs
- Psychic Sensitivity
- Poltergeists (see the Poltergeists Sneak Peek)
- Shadow People
Cryptozoology in The Unexplained
The Unexplained defines what cryptozoology is, what cryptids are, and how cryptozoologists do their craft. It also describes various cryptids in giving plenty of detailed information about what is known about them. Of course, the book gives game stats for each cryptid that it describes and tells you how you can bring them into the game.
The book describes, to some detail, how to conduct a cryptid expedition, what gear to bring, and explains some of the techniques used in searching for the animals.
Although you can add any cryptid or creature into the game, The Unexplained comes with several fully described cryptids. These are:
- Ahool
- Almas
- Altamaha-ha
- “Ameranthropoides loysi”
- Bergman’s Bear
- Bigfoot (See the Bigfoot Sneak Peek)
- Buru
- Chupacabra
- Loch Ness Monster
- Sabertooth Cats
- Thunderbird
UFOlogy in The Unexplained
The Unexplained introduces you to UFOs and the study and investigation of UFO sightings. It describes the different alien races that have been sighted, the different types of crafts, and the various theories about each.
The book also explains Close Encounters, describing each of the classic four “Kinds” of CEs, plus the additional fifth and sixth kinds added by CSETI.
Here are some of the phenomena that The Unexplained deals with regarding UFOs:
- The Races (Grays, Reptilians, Nordics, Hybrids)
- The Craft (saucers, cigar-shaped, triangular craft, lights)
- The Signs (crop circles, cattle mutilations, lost time)
- Close Encounters (first through sixth kinds)
- Organizations (NICAP, MUFON, CUFOS, CSETI, Condon Committee, Project Blue Book)
- Famous Cases
Parapsychology in The Unexplained
Parapsychology is the study of psychic phenomena. This is covered in detail in The Unexplained. There are three main classes of psychic abilities: Mental, Physical, and Survival. These are described in detail with the basic concepts around how psychic abilities work (in real life and “in the game”). Then, it goes into detail describing each of the major psychic abilities, also providing game statistics and rules to go with them.
The psychic abilities covered in The Unexplained are:
- Channeling (see Channeling Sneak Peek)
- Clairvoyance
- Faith Healing
- Ghosts
- Near-Death Experiences
- Out-of-Body Experiences
- Poltergeists
- Precognition
- Psychokinesis
- Psychometry
- Telepathy
- Xenoglossy
Each of those abilities has its own sub-abilities like Clairvoyance includes Clairaudience, and others.
Magic in The Unexplained
Believe it or not, there are real people in the world today that are performing magical rituals and casting spells. But it’s not the magic that you see on TV and in movies. It’s a much more subtle magic that causes change in this world by manipulating probability.
The Unexplained describes the different types of magic, the different traditions or organizations, and religions that perform magic, include some of the details of how it’s done, and describe how to do it in the game.
Here are some of the elements of magic that are detailed in the book:
- Types of Magic (contagious, sympathetic, divination, invocation, evocation)
- Traditions (ceremonial, shamanic, religious)
- The Orders (Golden Dawn, Wicca, Church of Satan, Vodou)
The book also includes some example spells from different orders. They are just samples and are not meant to be cast for real, but to give a good idea of the complexity and style that each order uses.