Ghost Master is a gametype mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. It was originally released in 2004 under the name "Slave Master" and was updated in 2020 to update the name and theme of the mod while keeping the gameplay exactly the same.

Ghost Master is a free-for-all gametype, like Deathmatch. When a player is killed, they respawn as a ghost bound to their killer. Ghosts cannot receive nor deal damage. When a ghost picks up items, they are given to their master and the ghost earns "favor." If a ghost can earn 100 favor, they "earn their freedom" and respawn as a player again. Another way for a ghost to earn favor is by "tagging" enemy players. Ghosts can shoot a tagging orb by pressing primary fire. Once a player has been tagged, the ghost's master can easily see the location of the tagged player.

I (Greg Laabs) created the original mod in 2004. It won third place in the gametype category of the Make Something Unreal contest put on by Epic Games, for which I earned a cash prize. It has remained one of the highlights of my hobbyist game-dev life.

In the years since I have become much more aware of the words that we use in software and the harm they cause when not chosen with care. I have been pleased to see the slow removal of Master/Slave terminology across the computing world, as well as other improvements in inclusivity by way of improved use of language.

And so this update to my 16-year-old mod is my way of contributing to this cause. The original name of the mod was inappropriate, then and now, perhaps made worse by the fact that the gameplay had nothing to do with the slave theme. In fact, the new Ghost Master theme matches the visuals and gameplay better than the slave theme ever did!

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To install the mod, head to the releases page and download the latest version. Extract the zip file to the root of your Unreal Tournament 2004 directory. After that, the gametype will appear in the Instant Action menu like all other gametypes.

Read the readme included in the zip file for additional instructions, such as how to host a server.