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Ha! No, it was of course based on the 1984 Bill Murray/ Harold Ramis blockbuster of the same name, Ghostbusters. One of my favorite monster movies, the film and the rpg follow the exploits of a misfit band of scientists who delve into the realm of paranormal extermination in order to save humanity and make some big bucks.
In the film, three college professors (played by Murray, Ramis, and Dan Akroyd) realize that ghosts and spooks are very real, and for some reason were appearing in exponentially larger numbers around New York City. They open an agency to trap and dispose of the spirits haunting the New Yorkers, without really knowing what they're doing or what they'll eventually come up against. They use hi-tech equipment of questionable functionality and make up their strategy and tactics as they go.
(Sounds like a band of adventurers to me, eh?)
In much the same vein, gamers playing the rpg Ghostbusters are the owner/operators of a Ghostbusters, Inc. franchise, and it's their mission to "really bust some heads! In a spiritual sense, of course…"
I happened to pick up a copy of WEG's Ghostbusters, International edition on eBay recently, hence this review now for a game that's a decade and a half old. This is sort of a second edition Ghostbusters, not the original boxed set. The game's the same, the International edition is just a more complete, updated, detailed version of the very basic game introduced a few years prior. I suggest getting this International edition. (The original's very scarce, anyway.)
"He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?"
Your Ghostbuster will have four Traits which define her. Brains, Muscles, Moves, and Cool. Brains is her smarts, education and wit, Muscles is her physical strength, Moves is her dexterity and agility, and Cool is her self-control and smoooothness under pressure.
Each player has 12 points to distribute amongst these Traits as they like, with a maximum of 5 points and a minimum of 1 point in each Trait. For each point allotted to a Trait, you get to roll one six-sider to accomplish feats using that Trait during the game. (More on task resolution later.)
Under each Trait, players also choose four Talents. These are specific skills your PC has, areas of specialty. Any character can try just about anything in Ghostbusters, but if a task falls under one of your Talents, you get to roll three extra dice when attempting the check.
Brains Talents include things like geology, math, smelling things, seeing things, or journalism. Muscles Talents are arm wrestle, climb, withstand pain, and kick. Moves specialties are breakdance, drive, sneak, and ride horses. And Cool Talents are bluff, browbeat, seduce, and raise children. Any other talent you want your PC to have can be invented, as long as it falls in line with the Trait it's based on and the Ghostmaster (GM) says it's cool.
Each PC then gets a Goal. This is, clearly, something your character is trying to get out of life. Again, this can be almost anything, if the GM allows it. Some examples from the movies are Dr. Egon's goal of Soulless Science. His drive to invent new gizmos and explore new realms of parapsychology were his life's ambitions. Dr. Venkman's goal was Sex. He was more interested in scoring with Dana than trapping bugaboos. So, you need to invent a goal for your PC, whether it be wealth, serving humanity, fame, righting a wrong, or whatever. If during the course of play you manage to accomplish your goal in some form or another, you can earn Brownie Points from the GM!
What are Brownie Points? Glad you asked! Brownie Points are gained and lost during the game depending on how well or poorly your PC is doing. Most new characters start with 20 Points. Bagging a big mean full-torso floating apparition that's been scaring the Hotel Expensivo guests will earn you bonus Points, while blowing up valuable city property with your experimental high energy neutrino scattergun will cost you Points. As long as you have them, though, they can be used for all sorts of good stuff, such as reducing the healing time you need to recover from wounds. They can also be used to add one die to your total when rolling a check with a Trait or a Talent. Maybe most importantly, Brownie Points can be used to save your ass when things go awry; spending Points can help you avoid the nasty repercussions of failed rolls, lethal injuries, or very, very bad planning by altering the game. In other words, it's almost like having the powers of the GM to dictate your own fate, on a limited basis.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!... Nice shootin' there, Tex!"
So, let's talk task resolution. When you wanna do something in Ghostbusters, the GM sets a Difficulty according to how complex/ daring/ boneheaded the task is. Very Little Difficulty tasks are things like shooting a stationary ghost with a proton pack, and those tasks have a difficulty of 1-3. A task of Some Difficulty might be remembering a friend's new email address offhand, a difficulty of 4-8. Whole Lots of difficulty involves something like driving against NYC rushhour traffic, which holds a 19-29 difficulty rating. Anything in the 30+ difficulty range is More Difficulty Than You Can Imagine and includes things like piloting a space shuttle or defusing a time bomb in the dark in under a minute.
Players roll the appropriate number of dice for the task according to the Trait and Talent the task falls under. Parallel parking a semi truck would be a Moves roll, while deciphering a foreign language would be a Brains roll.
However… (ominous music)… no matter how many dice you roll, one of them must always be the Ghost Die. This is an innocent looking d6, except that one face has a ghost on it. (For those of you like myself not having the original game die, any d6 with one obviously different face will do. I have d6's with one skull face, one rune face, one cow face, etc.) If this Ghost Die rolls a ghost (or cow) during your check, then Something Bad Has Happened. If you roll a ghost and succeed at your check anyway, then the Bad Thing is a minor annoyance, but if you fail your check, something humiliating and/ or Really Bad goes down. (It must be noted that the ghost die works for the ghosts. If a spook rolls a ghost, you can bet it'll be bad news for you.)
Example 1: José Fulano, novice Ghostbuster, spots a free-roaming 'slimer' in the freezer of a haunted pizza shop. Leaping into the doorway opening, José lets loose with his proton pack containment rifle. Rolling against a difficulty of 6 ('some difficulty') to hit the mobile ghostie, he rolls 3 dice, because his Moves score is three. He rolls a total of 7, but the Ghost Die comes up 'ghost'. Since he still beat the difficulty, he zaps the slimer, but because of the ghost die, he also blasts a bag of flour which explodes violently, coating him completely in white powder.
Example 2: If, however, José had instead rolled only 5 on his 3d6 (bad roll!), he would then have failed AND gotten the ghost face on the Ghost Die. In that case, not only would he have missed the slimer, but the proton beam would richochet off the metal freezer wall and zap poor José for some sizzling damage!
(However, José's player may say something like, "José quickly grabs a serving tray from beside the door and reflects the incoming proton beam before he blasts himself!" If the GM buys it, he may allow José to spend some Brownie Points to deflect some of the damage and avoid the utter humiliation of busting himself…)
"Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."
The last thing you need is to grab some equipment, and go bust some protoplasmic ass! Items are rated in terms of Hands for size. This tells you, oddly enough, how many hands it takes your PC to wield the thing. There's also a limit to the amount of "hands" worth of material you can fit on your body. Of course, your Muscles score also dictates how much stuff you can carry in terms of weight. Certain large items have a minimum Muscles score in order to pick up, such as furniture or car engines.
Aside from all the nifty technogadgets used in the movies, such as ghost traps, proton packs, and PKE meter, characters may invent other sci-fi gizmos to assist them in their busting. Someone with Brains and gadgetry Talents should take care of the inventing, however. Trust me.
"Let's show this bitch how we do things downtown!"
Now you're off to eradicate spectral nasties! There's a whole section of the rulebook dedicated to classifying, creating, and powering the ghosts, demons, and monsters your busters will be pursuing. The ghosts have all sorts of cool powers, ranging from simply being incorporeal to having telekinesis, mind reading, and polymorphing abilities.
Melee combat is handled by opponents rolling Muscles checks, with the best roll winning and doing damage to their target. Ranged combat uses Moves, but otherwise works the same. While characters battle the forces of evil, they'll probably get hurt. When damaged, hit points are taken off their Traits scores however they see fit on a one for one basis. So, if Dr. Johnston the parapsychology expert gets smacked around by Izvaggo the Undying Demon God of Vengeance for six points of damage, Dr. Johnston's player must remove six points from the PC's Traits. Once a PC has "0" in all his Traits, he's still alive, but it's damn hard to do anything when you've got no dice to roll for your checks! (It's possible to get knocked unconscious and even die in Ghostbusters, but the emphasis is on non-lethal action.)
Characters heal at a rate of one Trait point per week. Hospitals can increase this rate, but in general, it's tough to come back from debilitating injury. (Again, that's what Brownie Points are good for!)
Instead of Traits, ghosts usually have scores for Power and Ectopresence. Power is used to determine… uh, how powerful a creature is, and Ectopresence is their version of hit points. To trap a ghost in a ghost trap, their ectopresence first has to be reduced to zero. (This is usually done with a proton pack, but clever 'Busters might invent new ways.) Beings other than ghosts (such as avatars, demons, gargoyles, zombies, etc.) may have the same four Traits that characters have.
If you've seen the movie, you know the rest! You're ready for a night of comedy action adventure in the wacky world of quija boards and haunted apartment complexes. Designed to be simple and fast-paced, Ghostbusters gets you hot on the trail of spooky boogums before you can say, "ectoplasmic goo"!
The GOOD
The game does a good job of translating the movie action into rpg action. Because they're trying to keep the system simple to reflect cinema rather than rules-intensive gaming, the four Traits and few Talents make character creation take minutes rather than hours. The core mechanics of difficulty numbers, and rolling d6's to task checks, is tried and true and works easily for any situation. And anyone seeing the movies has all the background knowledge they need to go on their first specter hunt.
The rule book's also got loads of useful stuff, like a sample adventure, NPC lists of characters and monsters, and a handy set of "Routines". Routines are flowcharts for accomplishing extended tasks or resolving ongoing plot themes. For instance, a car chase or the process of inventing a new spectral imaging minicam could be rolled on the Routine chart. The charts introduce all sorts of random action into the scene; does the car in your chase suddenly run out of gas? Blow a tire? Do you find a shortcut? When inventing, does the gadget explode? How long do you have to research? Does it blast you with radiation?
The NEUTRAL
It seems at times as though the authors have slipped more into the mindset of the truly crapalacious "Ghostbusters" cartoon of the late 80's, and strayed a bit from the movie vibe. Just in small ways, though, like the examples used in the book. As an example of the Difficulty scale, the authors explain what the Difficulty would be for a character attempting to eat a telephone.
Whaaaaa?... Dudes, who the f *ck eats a telephone?!
The EVIL
Like all things geared to a specific source, I would be worried about long-term playability of Ghostbusters, International. While it makes for a great diversion, and should well satisfy fans of the films, I wonder how many ghosts, demons, and exiled extra-dimensional gods you can remove from buildings before the job loses its luster?
I love the movie, I like the game, so what else is there to say? Even after a decade and a half, this game holds up well against other comedy games, and makes for a fantastic diversion from the more serious and rpg's we all play.
The biggest downside is that it hasn't been in print for many years. You can still find Ghostbusters at conventions, on eBay, on trade group forums, used game stores, and other places where gamers lurk. I truly recommend you grab a copy where you can for a few bucks.
So, grab a proton pack and get on it, boy! There's a headless free roaming Type Four vapor in old Mrs. Adkins' budoir...
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