Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game (Training Manual) #
Published by West End Games, 1986
The Training Manual is essentiall the Players Handbook for this game, companion to the Operations Manual which is like the Dungeon Masters Guide.
I’m not sure what made me want to go back and re-read this. It’s a cute little game, very streamlined, minimal rules, conversational and silly. Sandy Petersen worked on this game after publishing Call of Cthulhu in 1981. A very different type and flavor of paranormal investigation. AD&D 2e wouldn’t be published until 1989. Allegedly the first dice pool mechanic, West End Games went on to refine the system in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, and eventually release it on its own as the D6 System. Today its direct influence can be seen in Graham Walmsley’s Cthulhu Dark, whose Insight Die works more or less exactly the same as Ghostbusters' Ghost Die.
Character creation is fast:
You have four traits: Brains, Muscle, Cool, and Moves. Each start at 1 point. Distribute 8 more points however you want to a maximum of 5 points per trait. Choose or create 1 talent per trait. Start with 20 brownie points. Choose a Personal Goal (worth brownie points if you achieve it). That’s it!
Brownie points are a metacurrency you can spend 1:1 to add dice to a roll, or to resist a consequence. You can spend 30 points to raise a trait by one point. In a pinch, you can spend a trait point for 20 brownie points.
Mechanically, it’s a dice pool vs target number game. 5 = easy, 10 = normal, 20 = hard. To attempt a task, roll dice equal to your trait rating. Add three if you if you’re using your talent. One of the dice in your pool must be the Ghost Dice. Rolling a six on the Ghost Dice always means a complication. That’s it! There are few more fiddly rules around bonuses during hand to hand combat, and for how much equipment you can carry, and the specifics of how to actually capture a ghost. But that’s the game how she is played.
At the end of a mission, you are awarded (or penalized) brownie points based on your success. The bread and butter of the game is obviously catching and containing ghosts. But the game also encourages you to branch out into the generally paranormal and encounter vampires, time travel, monsters, etc.