From the introduction: Death Rattle, Panegyric and Epitaph is a roleplaying game about death. One of the players will take the seat of the Death Master, and all the other players will take on a player character who has recently lost an acquaintance. Maybe a friend, maybe a familiar, maybe someone from the office. That person is the same for all the player characters, a shared bond between them. And all the player characters have received a message from the dead person, begging every one of them to find out who murdered him or her, and why. The dead acquaintance is the Player Ghost, and is controlled and defined between all players.