Year: 1999

I had many a fun weekend in school playing the Ghostbusters Role Playing Game. It was simple, it
could be taught to anyone in minutes, and of course, it was Ghostbusters. So it was automatically
fun.

Sadly, West End Games went under last year, so should another movie ever get made, it
remains to be seen if anyone will produce more materials for the game.

The GB RPG is a great item for both Ghostbusters collectors and role-playing fans. Game on!

GHOSTBUSTERS (first edition)

TYPE: Box Set
INCLUDES: A Training Manual for players, an Operations Manual for Ghostmasters,
4 handouts (sample business forms, a 3-page basic rules sheet, one franchise document,
and a last will and testament), 5 regular dice, The Ghost Die, 48 small equipment cards,
and 12 character cards (6 Ghostbusters and 6 blanks).

A really simple game to pick up, this box set also came with a handful of small
adventures for players to try.

GHOST TOASTIES

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Scott Haring
TYPE: Adventure
INCLUDES: The cover is actually a Ghostmaster screen with tables, and info, and
ghost categories.
Ghosts have taken over the cereal isle at the super market. As you can tell, the
Ghostbusters Role Playing Game isn’t a Dungeons and Dragons, dark kind of game.

HOT RODS OF THE GODS

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Daniel Greenberg
TYPE: Adventure
INCLUDES: The cover doubles as a screen and map of New York for the crazy flying car
race that takes place during the game. There are also little car markers, so it’s kind
of like GB meets Car Wars.

Ghosts have taken over the cereal isle at the super market. As you can tell, the
Ghostbusters Role Playing Game isn’t a Dungeons and Dragons, dark kind of game.

SCARED STIFFS

AUTHOR/EDITOR: John M. Ford and Bill Slavicsek
TYPE: Adventure
The Ghostbusters are out to protect the ghosts at a haunted ski-lodge from another
paranormal investigations and eliminations business. This adventure has cameo appearances
by the movie Ghostbusters and Louis Tully.

GHOSTBUSTERS INTERNATIONAL (revised edition rules)

TYPE: Boxed Set
INCLUDES: A Training Manual for players, an Operations Manual for Ghostmasters,
reprints of most of the documents from the first box set, 5 regular dice, and
The Ghost Die.

The second edition of the game is very much like the first. The rules are cleaned up
somewhat and some rules are added so that players can have magic powers (making it ideal
for anyone wanting to play along the lines of the two cartoon series).

NOTE: You don’t need the first edition to play the second edition, and the first edition
adventure companions can be used just fine with the second edition.

GHOSTBUSTERS II: THE ADVENTURE

AUTHOR/EDITOR: C.G. Tramontana
TYPE: Adventure
INCLUDES: The cover is another Ghostmaster screen with the basics of the revised rules on it.

An odd little adventure in that you play not the Ghostbusters from the movie, but a new
franchise that operates nearby. The idea is that around the montage scene in the second
movie, which shows the boys being successful again, now franchises are opened. As one of
these new bustin businesses, the players are sent on slime related calls. Somehow, they’re
climactic finish to the game is linked to and partially responsible for the success of the
climactic finish in the second movie. Like I said, odd.

APOKERMIS NOW!

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Bill Slavicsek with Paul Balsamo
TYPE: Adventure
It’s the end of the world, again, and it’s up to the Ghostbusters to set things right.
The only thing stopped them is thousands of years of gods, deities, evil spirits, and
ancient magic. Have fun.

PUMPKIN PATCH PANIC

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Grant Boucher
TYPE: Adventure

Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin references abound in this Halloween
adventure. Actually it’s a lot like The Great Pumpkin. Only everything is out
to get the Ghostbusters. Which is typical.

LURID TALES OF DOOM!

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Jonatha Ariadne Caspian
TYPE: Adventure

What’s the number one thing the Ghostbusters are always on the look-out for? No, ghosts is
in fact the number two thing. The number one thing is MONEY, and the busters are planning
to get it by acting as consultants for a sleazy, supermarket tabloid. Who knew that they
aliens, ghosts, demons, and mutants that they report on actually exist?

TOBIN’S SPIRIT GUIDE

AUTHOR/EDITOR: Kim Mohan
TYPE: Supplement

I always hoped that there would also be a Spate’s Catalog, but one was never made. But
at least there was Tobin’s. Tobin’s is basically a collection of ghosts, with their
powers and skills laid out, for use in Ghostmaster made adventures. The whole thing
was presented as if it were a book that was a hundred years old.

Making Character and understanding game basics

Out of the thousands of role-playing games produced since the invention of the 12-sided dice, there is a little gem of a game that all Ghostbusters fans everywhere should enjoy. Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Role-playing Game.

Sadly, the Ghostbusters RPG is no longer being produced and even sadder is the fact that West End Games (an 80s giant in the world of RPGs) went out of business in 1998. However, the makers of the game left behind a funny and simple game system and with luck, beginners to the system can learn enough of the basics here to start making and playing their own episodes. Treat this as an introduction, a chance to evaluate the game, and should you happen to like it enough, you should definitely consider looking around town to find old copies of the game. There are plenty of copies out there; you just need to look.

Before we get started, it should be said that if you’ve been turned off of RPGs before because they’re too complex, you don’t have to worry here. Ghostbusters is a snap. It is arguably the simplest RPG ever.

But explaining it is tough, so in part one will we only cover game basics and making characters.
Continue reading “Ghostbusters RPG: Part one”