just a comment from another thread about burials but goddamn I think it deserves it's own:
How about if the dwarf DOESN'T get his burial the way he likes it.. it'd be awesome to have his ghost haunt the place. Not sure what the ghost would actually DO but ... I suppose it'd make noises creating "slept uneasily due to noise lately" and scare dorfs coming in to do other errands .. or flat out attack them.
wouldn't that just be awesome? there could be any number of conditions under which a dwarf might haunt your fortress
i'd think it aught to be a rare occurence, there'd be many possible ways for a dwarf to come back as a ghost but there'd only be a small chance it'd actually happen.
ghosts might come about from:
-a murdered dwarf; from a fell mood, or a hammering, or just plain murder (if crimes beyond 'didn't make a glass item on a sandless map' get implemented)
-a suicide from a failed mood or just plain depression
-a corpse left to rot without burial (maybe even dwarven zombies on an evil map? maybe even
infectious zombies!)
-many dwarves dying in the same area (don't go into the pass, thats where Urist McUnfortunate and his entire squad were slaughtered by the ____s!, they say you can still hear him scratching his beard on moonless nights)
-use your imagination!
and possible effects:
-perhaps only small hints of haunting. ghosts usually wouldn't be visible (most of the time, maybe they're revealed if near a cat! XD)
-would occasionally scare other dwarves, or cause negative thoughts (felt an eerie chill recently, heard unearthly noises, saw a ghastly image)
-poltergeisting! loose objects being thrown around, doors opening, maybe even the occasional lever mysteriously thrown
-more possessions! perhaps the dwarf would create an artifact with hints of the deceased on it. images of the dwarf, or the event that caused their death.