Happy Belated Ghostbusters Day!

I missed it by approximately two hours, so it's too late for me to write anything significant about Ghostbusters Day at the moment, but I can direct you to an article in Barking Alien where this holiday was not forgotten: "Coming to Save the World This Summer".

Ghost Banishers for Tricube Tales

Speaking of Tricube Tales by way of Ghostbusters (q.v.), I just noticed that Richard Woolcock has published Ghost Banishers, a scenario/micro-setting/one-page RPG for the Tricube Tales system. It is available from DriveThruRPG here.

(See Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales for the complete series of articles reflecting my unofficial take on the subject.)

News at 6-Sided: Awfully Cheerful Engine Omnibus Sale

The Awfully Cheerful Engine Omnibus Collector's Edition PDF is now on sale for $7.95 as part of a Bundle of Holding Cheerful Special. The sale ends 4 June 2025.

I Have a D6 Feeling About This

Read "Retrospective: Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game", a retrospective on Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game in Grognardia.

Seriously, though, it's a good summary of the game's impact on gaming in general and the Star Wars universe itself.

Ghostmaster Advice: Not Everything Is the End of the World

When running Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game, you may be forgiven if you think that adventures are more interesting if it takes more to defeat a ghost than just zapping it with a proton pack and stuffing it into a ghost trap (although that can be quite challenging at times). Riddles, puzzles, incantations, quests for relics, research, and helping a ghost finish its business in the realm of mortals can all be rewarding, but if ghosts can only be busted by very specific and usually difficult methods, then that removes the quality that makes those busts extraordinary. Think about the first Ghostbusters movie. Was every encounter an arduous struggle against a malevolent godling or other supernatural superbeing? No! Most of the time, the Ghostbusters were responding to calls, arriving on the scene, and conducting otherworldly pest control. It was their profession. Confronting Zuul, on the other hand, was an epic undertaking. Now, many jobs will fall somewhere between those two extremes (quite a bit closer to the lower end most of the time), but at least some should be straightfoward go-in-and-get-it-done affairs. At least half should be simple jobs of blasting ghosts or debunking hoaxes, so that the special cases can effectively be special. It also preserves the element of surprise, which is always more fun in Ghostbusters. In any given session, especially if it's four or more hours long, include an extra job at the beginning, middle, or end of the adventure to keep the player characters on their toes, and don't tell them which is the main mission. Let them figure it out. And don't forget to mix in some non-Ghostbusting activities and concerns. It helps keep the game grounded, enriches the setting, and makes the Ghostbusting more exciting. There is something to be said for remembering the mundane concerns in a world where ghosts exist.

Flash Gordon for D6?

Some time ago (2017), I mentioned I would like to see a Flash Gordon role-playing game along the lines of Prince Valiant. Mind you, I already own The Savage World of Flash Gordon for Savage Worlds (and I will run it someday), but I can't help wanting to find the perfect system for Flash Gordon and other swashbuckling space operas.

What am I contemplating now? I'm contemplating "Flash Gordon D6" (or "D6 Flash Gordon"?) via the forthcoming D6 System: Second Edition from Gallant Knight Games. It worked for the West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, so why not try it with the science fiction serial that inspired Star Wars? I think I would enjoy running the same group of players through both a D6 2e Flash Gordon adventure and a Savage World of Flash Gordon adventure to see what they (and I) think. What do you think?

What They Do in the Meantime

In an overview of three games Richard Woolcock ran recently (in his blog, Zadmar's Savage Stuff), there is a useful hint for anyone running almost any role-playing game (emphasis mine):

Another weakness of my games in the past is that they often felt like they ended abruptly. A friend of mine had a great solution to this when he ran Sundered Skies several years ago, where at the end of the campaign he asked each of us to describe what our characters got up to after the conclusion of the story, and we each had the chance to wrap up our character's storylines. I've attempted to do the same thing since then (although I sometimes forget), but it worked really well in this case, as I always gave the players the "final word" at the end of the adventure, letting them describe the ending.

The player characters are the protagonists of the adventure. It only makes sense to let them describe what they doing at its conclusion. Not only does it give the players a sense of ownership over their own experiences, but it can also lead to a greater feeling of connection with the setting and sow the seeds of future adventures. This is something I will be adopting in my own game-mastering, although I'll probably need to write myself a note and stick it on my GM screen until it becomes a habit.

[This article is cross-posted here in Creative Reckoning.]