15 April 2024

The Ghost Busters via Ghostbusters: Ghost-Busting

If, in an alternate universe, The Ghost Busters television show were adapted into a role-playing game similar to Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game, perhaps entitled The Ghost Busters: A Clever, Courageous, and Strong Role-Playing Game (That Is Completely Unofficial), the rules pertaining to ghosts and the busting thereof might look something like this...

Without exception, the ghosts that appear in The Ghost Busters are corporeal, having bodies that occupy physical space. They are opaque, they can touch and be touched, and they have the limitations of movement their former physical bodies had in life—they walk, use doors, and can even trip. The one ghostly Special Ability most or all of them share is Teleportation. Every ghost that appears singly (or the more powerful ghost in a duo) can Teleport itself and a ghostly companion using its Power. Short range Teleportation (line-of-sight or in the general vicinity) is a difficulty of 5. Medium range Teleportation (anywhere outside the general vicinity) is a difficulty of 10. Long range Teleportation (to and from the Great Beyond, perhaps) is a difficulty of 15 or 20. Sometimes ghosts appear of their own will; sometimes they are summoned by mortals. Regardless of the means of their manifestation, most ghosts try to avoid being sent back.

The primary tool in a Ghost Buster's Ghost Kit for dealing with supernatural entities is the Ghost De-Materializer. Looking something like a camera with an antenna and two handles jutting out horizontally on opposite sides, it can be aimed in the approximate direction of a ghost and activated, which causes the ghost to de-materialize from our natural world and re-materialize in the Spirit World, the Great Beyond, or wherever else it is supposed to spend its afterlife. In game terms, the Ghost Buster would use the Moves Trait or the Aim Ghost De-Materializer Talent once a ghost is cornered. The difficulty is the same as for ranged weapons: 5 for point-blank, 10 for normal, and 20 for long distance. If the Ghost Buster beats the difficulty, one ghost is instantly de-materialized. If the Ghost Buster rolls twice the difficulty or more, two ghosts are instantly de-materialized. If the Ghost Buster rolls three times the difficulty or more, three ghosts are instantly de-materialized. And so on. As you can see, the Ghost De-Materializer is a powerful weapon, but it is completely useless against certain ghosts that require unique methods to banish them. (Whether these de-materializerproof ghosts would be vulnerable to a proton pack is left to the Ghostbusters' experimentation and the Ghostmaster's discretion.)

Tracy the Gorilla, Kong (with Ghost De-Materializer), and Spencer in The Ghost Busters (1975).

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