Ghost Stories

This is a review of Politically Incorrect Games 41-page mini game, Ghost Stories, written by Mark Bruno and Brett Bernstein. Ghost Stories is published as a PDF and can be purchased at RPGnow for $4.00 or directly from Politically Incorrect Games.

Target Audience: Anyone who is harried, in need of a break from long term campaigns, or otherwise would like a game that can be set up and played in a single evening.

Rating: 9 out of 10 golden apples.

This is a mini game that presents a minimalist set of RPG rules and four sample scenarios. It is really these scenarios that set the tone of play. For instance the first scenario is a solid haunted house mystery in the vein of House on Haunted Hill with shadings of Poltergeist. The second scenario is set at a masquerade ball on, appropriately enough, Halloween! At first glance I thought the latter scenario was going to be a rehashing of the old Masque of the Red Death starring Vincent Price or maybe Amityville. But it‘s not. Without giving too much away the story is classic occult misdirection involving an object of power and a malevolent spirit ala The Legend of Hell House. Next up is a scenario involving an investigation into the supernatural that could have been based on an episode of Twilight Zone, Poltergeist: The Legacy, or maybe a movie like White Zombie. It involves a lot of psychic visions and should pose a challenge to both the GM and players, which is always nice to see. The final scenario involves a cursed item. I suspect this scenario might have been inspired by the Friday the 13^th television series.

Overall the scenarios capture that occult horror feel created on both the big and small screens, while managing to not be carbon copies anymore than Ravenloft’s Strahd is a clone of Dracula. Rather the similarities are built upon established genre tropes in such a way those players familiar with the genre should know, more or less, what is going on without having ask a lot of questions. Major plus.

The Game: Ghost Stories is set in a pseudo-contemporary universe of cinematic murder mysteries with undertones of the occult pulp detective story. In short this is a game of uncanny, spooky, creepy tales patterned after the pulp classics of yesteryear. In other words it’s the perfect game to run around Halloween and at campouts. With a solid nine pages dedicated to character creation, six pages of game mechanics, four pages outlining various “Horrors” that may be encountered during play, and twelve pages detailing four sample scenarios and a few ideas. That’s not bad for four bucks.

The Setting: The sample character archetypes say it all. This is classic pulp fiction designed to facilitate play in a world of weird terror tales and hardboiled ghost stories come to life as only a role-playing game can make possible. Here players can choose to play an Archaeologist, Clergyman, Demon Stalker, Occultist, Medium, Parapsychologist, Sorcerer, or Cop as they set out to explore the mysterious and do battle against the diabolical realm of supernatural horror.

System Mechanics: Basic task resolution utilizes a 2D6 mechanic built upon a roll under system comparing the sum total rolled against a TN. Advanced task resolution involves four basic steps, beginning with determining a Skill Total (meaning the player uses the sum of two or more relevant numerical values), then roll dice to determine a Dice Total, against which values are then compared to a chart, this being where the player computes a Margin that then lets them know the Outcome of the attempted action.

Character Creation: As with other PIG offerings the underlying game mechanics are essentially the same, with some slight modifications here or there to fit the genre. For instance there are the same four primary traits- Fitness, Reasoning, Empathy, and Willpower- and two secondary traits- Reaction and Stamina- with a simple point based character creation system underpinning everything. The Ghost Stories milieu thus uses the same basic rules as found in EarthAD and Hard Nova. Though the list of skills and backgrounds outlined are totally different. This means that if you’ve learned to play one genreDiversion game you have pretty much learned to play them all. Major plus.

The game is written in a straightforward no nonsense style that is easy to follow. From page one we are told that “this game requires at least two six-sided dice” and are informed, if indirectly, of the importance of player backgrounds. Nicely done. Politically Incorrect Games has managed to find a successful formula for writing good, clean, and simple to read and understand mini games complete with sample scenarios that are sure to please even the jaded.

The simplicity and straightforward style of this game makes it the perfect “beer and pretzels” game. Anyone can sit down and read through the rules and know what the game is about and what is expected of them, as players, and that’s great. Would that more game designers nailed the KISS principle so superbly.

Negatives: None to speak of. The PDF is well laid out and, though locked, does not appear to have any problems with accessibility or use. This is a minimalist RPG so any complaints about lack of maps or in depth detail would be inappropriate.

Positives: Because this is part of the genreDiversion line of mini game supplements that means that, once you’ve learned the rules for one game, you pretty much have learned the rules for all of them. Love or loathe PDFs at four dollars a pop that simplicity of design is a major plus in the long run.

Rumors: When I initially received this product there was some question about whether it would be receiving an update. As Hard Nova has recently been released with an update it seems possible that Ghost Stories might also be making a new debut. Of course, as with all rumors, that’s totally unsubstantiated.