Ghostbusters (role-playing Game)
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''Ghostbusters'', subtitled "A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game", is a
comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
published by
West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made board, role-playing, and war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product lines included ''Star Wars'', ''Paranoia' ...
(WEG) in 1986 that is based on the 1984 film ''
Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...
''.


Setting

The ''Ghostbusters'' role-playing game is set in the same
fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...
as the ''Ghostbusters'' films, but in a period sometime after the first film. In the game, the original Ghostbusters have created a corporation known as Ghostbusters International, which sells Ghostbusters
franchises Franchise may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Media franchise, a collection of related creative works, such as films, video games, books, etc., particularly in North American usage * "Franchise" (short story), a 1955 short story ...
to individuals around the world. Most
player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
in the ''Ghostbusters'' role-playing game are franchisees who operate in cities outside the film's New York locale. The game does, however, include profiles of the original four Ghostbusters for gamers who wish to role-play the cinematic characters or have them appear as
non-player characters A non-player character (NPC) is a Character (arts), character in a game that is not controlled by a Player (game), player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaste ...
. While the ''Ghostbusters'' films limit the Ghostbusters to combating ectoplasmic entities such as
ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
and
demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...
, the ''Ghostbusters'' game expands the setting to pit Ghostbusters against numerous other paranormal creatures and incidents. ''Ghostbusters'' characters may encounter creatures as diverse as
vampires A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...
,
extraterrestrials Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...
, and time-travelers.


System

''Ghostbusters'' features an intentionally minimalist rules system. The game's main rulebook, the Operations Manual, does not include rules for subjects like movement rates and weapon ranges; it explicitly states that they are unnecessary for play. Character generation in ''Ghostbusters'' begins with a simple
character point A statistic (or stat) in role-playing games is a piece of data that represents a particular aspect of a fictional character. That piece of data is usually a (unitless) integer or, in some cases, a set of dice. For some types of statistics, thi ...
mechanic for assigning character attributes, which it calls Traits. Each character begins with 12 points, which the character's player assigns to the four Traits: Brains, Muscle, Moves, and Cool, giving each Trait a score between 1 and 5. Each character must also be assigned four Talents. Talents (
skills A skill is the learned or innate ability Abilities are powers an agent has to perform various Action (philosophy), actions. They include common abilities, like walking, and rare abilities, like performing a double backflip. Abilities are in ...
) are organized into groups based on which of the four Traits they're most associated with; each character has one Talent from each group. The character's score in each Talent is three points higher than the associated Trait. For example, one might have a Cool of four with Convince as his talent, making his dice pool on Convince rolls seven. In some cases, certain equipment or circumstances might add additional dice to the pool. For example, one could have a Muscles of two with Brawl as his talent, for a dice pool of five. This could be further improved by picking up a wrench to use as a club in melee combat for two more dice, for a total dice pool of seven. Most tasks in ''Ghostbusters'' are resolved by determining which Trait or (if appropriate) Talent is most relevant to the task at hand, and rolling a number of six-sided
dice A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...
equal to that Trait or Talent's score. The results of the dice rolled are added, and the sum compared to a difficulty number assigned to the task by the Ghostmaster (
gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...
). If the player's roll equals or exceeds the difficulty number, the character succeeds at the task. This basic
dice pool In some role-playing game (RPG) systems, rather than rolling a single die to determine the success or failure of an action, the player rolls a number of dice simultaneously, known as a dice pool. The number and type of dice to be rolled are defi ...
mechanic has two additional
game mechanics In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, whi ...
. The first, the Ghost Die, is a special die that represents bad luck, and can cause even successful actions to have negative effects for player characters. It has the Ghostbusters logo instead of a six, and when it comes up causes some unfortunate mishap. When a ghost is rolled for a villain, the mishaps rebound in their favor or temporarily make their powers more effective. The second mechanic, Brownie Points, represent the character's accumulated "good karma", and can be used to increase the number of dice used in a task resolution roll, or even change the effects of a roll that would have otherwise failed. The points must be spent before rolling, however-one may not spend brownie points to obtain additional dice to roll once a roll has already failed. Each character begins the game with a pool of 20 Brownie Points, which decreases as they are used in play. In the first edition Brownie Points are also lost when characters are injured. Players earn replacement points for their characters by succeeding in Ghostmaster-appointed tasks, achieving their character's personal goal (for instance, Egon's is "Advancing the Cause of Science"), and as rewards for good roleplaying. The task resolution system in ''Ghostbusters'' was influential on the development of other West End Games
systems A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries, structure and purpose and is exp ...
. A more detailed version of the system was used in '' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game'', and became the signature mechanic of the
D6 System The ''D6 System'' is a role-playing game system published by West End Games (WEG) and licensees. While the system is primarily intended for pen-and-paper role-playing games, variations of the system have also been used in live action role-playin ...
. As the first known "dice pool" system it had an influence on other role-playing games, too: after producing ''
Ars Magica ''Ars Magica'' is a role-playing game set in 'Mythic Europe' – a historically grounded version of Europe and the Levant around AD 1200, with the added conceit that conceptions of the world prevalent in folklore and institutions of the High Mid ...
'',
Jonathan Tweet Jonathan Tweet (born 1965) is an American game designer who has been involved in the development of the role-playing games ''Ars Magica'', '' Everway'', '' Over the Edge'', ''Talislanta'', the third edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and '' 13th A ...
and
Mark Rein-Hagen Mark Rein-Hagen, stylized as Mark Rein•Hagen (born 1964), is an American role-playing game, role-playing, card game, card, video game, video and board game designer best known as the creator of ''Vampire: The Masquerade'' and its associated '' ...
were inspired by ''Ghostbusters'' to each design their own game based on "dice pool" resolution mechanics. Tweet produced the cult hit '' Over the Edge'', while Rein-Hagen came up with '' Vampire: The Masquerade'', the system of which would go on to drive the ''
World of Darkness ''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with ''Vampire: The Masquerade'', ''Werewolf: The Apocaly ...
'' roleplaying games as well as ''
Exalted ''Exalted'' is a high fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally published by White Wolf Publishing in July 2001. The game is currently in its third edition. It was originally created by Robert Hatch, Justin Achilli and Stephan Wieck, a ...
'' and many other
White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Entertainment AB, formerly White Wolf Publishing, was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant (game publisher), Lion RampantSandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game Call of Cthul ...
,
Lynn Willis Lynn Willis (died January 18, 2013) was a wargame and role-playing game designer, best known for his work with Metagaming Concepts, Game Designers' Workshop (GDW), and Chaosium. Biography Willis began by designing science fiction wargames for M ...
and
Greg Stafford Greg Stafford may refer to: * Greg Stafford (game designer) (1948–2018), American game designer * Greg Stafford (footballer) (born 1974), Australian rules football player * Greg Stafford (politician) Gregory James Stafford is a British Conser ...
and published by WEG in 1986. It contains a 24-page Training Manual for the players, a 64-page Operations Manual for the
gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...
, six six-sided dice (5 regular and 1 Ghost Die), and various handouts. WEG published three accessories for the original ''Ghostbusters'' rules: * '' Hot Rods of the Gods'' adventure module by Daniel Greenburg. () * '' Scared Stiffs'' adventure module by John M. Ford and
Bill Slavicsek Bill Slavicsek (born October 6, 1971) is an American game designer and writer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products ...
. () * '' Ghost Toasties'' adventure module (with included "Ghostmaster's Screen") by
Scott Haring Scott D. Haring is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Haring began working in the adventure gaming industry in 1982. Haring had a long career with Steve Jackson Games, having worked at the compa ...
. ()


Second Edition

In 1989, WEG published a second, revised version of ''Ghostbusters'', titled ''Ghostbusters International'' (). The second version of the game was published both to capitalize on that year's release of the film ''
Ghostbusters II ''GhostbustersII'' is a 1989 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson ...
'', and to satisfy players who requested a more detailed set of rules. This boxed set contains a single, 144-page rule book, six six-sided dice (5 regular and 1 Ghost Die), and handouts. WEG published five accessories for the ''Ghostbusters International'' rules: * ''ApoKERMIS Now!'' adventure module by Bill Slavicsek and Paul Balsamo. () * ''Ghostbusters II: The Adventure'' adventure module (with included updated "Ghostmaster's Screen") by C.J. Tramontana. () * ''Lurid Tales of Doom'' adventure module by Jonatha Ariadne Caspian. () * ''Pumpkin Patch Panic'' adventure module by Grant Boucher. () * '' Tobin's Spirit Guide'' reference supplement by Kim Mohan () ''Ghostbusters'' and all of its supplements are currently out of print.


Reception

In the July 1986 edition of ''
White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...
'' (Issue #79), Marcus Rowland liked the game's humorous approach, as well as the lightweight rules and easy character generation. However, he questioned the relatively high cost of the game compared to the other less expensive light-hearted RPGs already on the market, '' Toon'' and ''
Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...
'', saying, "It remains to be seen if the cost of this game will be justified by the quality of future scenarios; with the exception of the film tie-in, the system offers few advantages over ''Paranoia'' and ''Toon'', and will be a good deal more expensive." In the February–March 1987 edition of ''
Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer ''The Space Gamer'' was a magazine dedicated to the subject of science fiction and fantasy board games and tabletop role-playing games. It quickly grew in importance and was an important and influential magazine in its subject matter from the la ...
'' (Issue No. 77), Terry Paul commented that "''Ghostbusters, the Roleplaying Game'' is an all round quality product which is fun to read and even more fun to play and it is indeed well worth the price of purchase." In Issue 37 of the French games magazine ''
Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...
'', Frédéric Blayo and Pierre Lejoyeu noted the simplicity of the game mechanics, writing, "It is designed for games of 1 to 3 hours, the rules are very simple, which allows novices to discover role-playing gently and beginners to take a break from the games they usually play." They concluded, "Although very simple, the game is very funny as long as you get in the mood. It is not repetitive and allows for many short but intense games."
Jim Bambra Jim Bambra (born 1956)Jim Bambra: Director Summary
Company Check Ltd
is a Briti ...
reviewed both the original ''Ghostbusters'' and the ''Ghostbusters International''. * In the April 1987 edition of ''
Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...
'' (Issue 132), he called ''Ghostbusters'' "a fast-action game that encourages good role-playing and the destruction of large chunks of real estate with proton packs." Bambra also admired the production values, saying, "With its high-quality components and breezy writing style, the ''Ghostbusters'' game is very accessible." He liked the light-weight rules and the emphasis on having fun, concluding, "Fast, dramatic fun that drips slime at every turn helps the ''Ghostbusters'' game take the humor of the movie to new heights fferinga neat, simple design which provides hours of cheerful fun." * Bambra reviewed the ''Ghostbusters International'' edition in the September 1990 edition of ''Dragon'' (Issue 161). Bambra commented that the new edition "retains the flavor of the original game." He also noted that there were many new rules, but "Whether those new rules are needed depends on your taste. I thought the riginalgame worked fine as it was." He concluded "The new rules look like they'll work just fine, so if you've never experienced the thrill of getting 'slimed' or blasting away with a proton pack, here's your chance." In Issue 7 of ''
The Games Machine ''The Games Machine'' was a video game magazine that was published from 1987 until 1990 in the United Kingdom by Newsfield, which also published '' CRASH'', ''Zzap!64'', '' Amtix!'' and other magazines. History ''The Games Machine'' ran head ...
'', John Woods liked the high quality of the components, and the light-hearted humor of the rules, which he still found "simple in the extreme but have a number of really nice touches." He called it "a fast-paced game that is easy to learn but provides plenty of scope for hilarious action," and concluded, "If you fancy a spot of light-hearted modern-day roleplaying and laughed more than twice at the movie, you'll love this."
Ken Cliffe Ken Cliffe is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is known primarily as the author and developer for the third edition of ''Ars Magica'', and as co-author and developer of the ''Trinity'', '' Hunter: The Reckoning'' ...
reviewed ''Ghostbusters International'' in ''
White Wolf The Arctic wolf (''Canis lupus arctos''), also known as the white wolf, polar wolf, and the Arctic grey wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesme ...
'' #18 (Nov./Dec., 1989), rating it a 3 out of 5 and stated that "It's roleplaying, manic and plain silly fun. Is ''GBI'' worth buying? Yes, but only if you don't already have the original game. Those that do may find they've just bought something they already have." Paul Mason reviewed ''Ghostbusters International'' for ''
Games International ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'' magazine, and gave it 4 stars out of 5, and stated that "All in all, ''Ghostbusters GBI'' is still a good game. However, it's now trying to be a 'proper' game, with encumbrance rules and the like, and this sits uneasily with the wacky elements." In his 1990 book ''
The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' is a book written by Rick Swan and published by St. Martin's Press in 1990 that explains role-playing games and provides reviews of those that were on the market at the time. Contents ''The Complete G ...
'', game critic
Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote '' The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin' ...
reviewed both ''Ghostbusters'' and ''Ghostbusters International.'' He called the first one "an oddball of a game, but it's an appealing oddball for a couple of reasons. First, it can be learned in half an hour ... Second, like the 1984 blockbuster movie of the same name, it's irresistibly silly." Swan gave the game a rating of 3 out of 4, warning, "Those will a low tolerance for corny humor will have problems with ''Ghostbusters''. Even for young players, the game works best in small doses, as it lacks the depth to sustain a lot of replay." Swan was not sure if ''Ghosbusters International'' was an improvement on the original, pointing out that it "is more intimidating for novices ... and much less improvisational." He concluded by giving it the same 3 out of 4 rating as the original game, saying, "Since bigger isn't necessarily better, I'd pass on the new game if I were comfortable with the original." In a retrospective review in the March 1996 edition of ''Arcane'', James Wallis asked "Is ''Ghostbusters'' really a classic? Members of the jury, consider this: its open-system has influenced game designs ever since, including ''Star Wars'', ''Shadowrun'' and White Wolf's diametrically opposed ''World of Darkness'' series. All this, and it's still the only RPG in which you can snog Sigourney Weaver." Later that year, in a reader poll conducted by ''Arcane'' to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, ''Ghostbusters'' was ranked 37th. Magazine editor Paul Pettengale commented: "''Ghostbusters'' sports a wacky collection of stats, a wild way of handling skills and combat, and instead of experience you earn Brownie Points. Really rather clever." In 1999, ''
Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...
'' magazine named ''Ghostbusters'' as one of ''The Millennium's Most Underrated Games''. Editor
Scott Haring Scott D. Haring is an American game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career Scott Haring began working in the adventure gaming industry in 1982. Haring had a long career with Steve Jackson Games, having worked at the compa ...
noted that ''Ghostbusters'' was "the first-ever RPG to use the
dice pool In some role-playing game (RPG) systems, rather than rolling a single die to determine the success or failure of an action, the player rolls a number of dice simultaneously, known as a dice pool. The number and type of dice to be rolled are defi ...
mechanic" and "the game did a great job of catching the zany feel of the movies." In his 2023 book ''Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground'', RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "The game does a good job of channeling the source material. It's funny, and the humor works on many levels ... While much of the game feels like it's meant to be taken as a slapstick version of '' Call of Cthulhu'', it is, in many ways, (like the original film) a zany small business comedy." Horvath also quotes WEG game designer
Bill Slavicsek Bill Slavicsek (born October 6, 1971) is an American game designer and writer who served as the Director of Roleplaying Design and Development at Wizards of the Coast. He previously worked for West End Games and TSR, Inc., and designed products ...
that this game's success "led est End Gamesto pivot from a board game company to an RPG company."


Awards and other recognition

At the 1987
Origins Awards The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the gaming industry. They are presented by the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for games released in the preceding year. For example, t ...
, ''Ghostbusters'' won the H.G. Wells Award for ''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1986''. ''Ghostbusters'' was included in the 2007 book '' Hobby Games: The 100 Best''. James Wallis commented: "''Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game'' remains a unique and audacious oddity, the brilliant forerunner of an entire genre that should have been and never was."


See also

* InSpectres


References


Further reading

* Farstad, Errol. "The Critical Hit" ''Polyhedron'' Newzine 35. (
TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...
, 1987). *''
Polyhedron In geometry, a polyhedron (: polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal Face (geometry), faces, straight Edge (geometry), edges and sharp corners or Vertex (geometry), vertices. The term "polyhedron" may refer ...
'' #49 * Makransky, Barbara. "If There's Something Strange in Your Hobby Shop" ''Gateways'' Vol 2, No. 5 (Gateways Publications, Inc., August 1987). * Review


External links


Ghostbusters The Role Playing Game Rules and Extras
at Nerdy Show {{Ghostbusters Comedy role-playing games D6 System Greg Stafford games Lynn Willis games Origins Award winners Role-playing games based on films Role-playing games introduced in 1986 Sandy Petersen games Science fantasy role-playing games West End Games games