Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Combat

In a previous article, I explained the challenge resolution rules of Tricube Tales as I thought they might be applied to Ghostbusters. Here, I shall attempt to describe how Tricube Tales resolves combat and how I would apply it to, again, Ghostbusters. Please read the previous article (and the article previous to that) for a better understanding of this one.

In addition to karma, which can be spent to reduce the difficulty of challenges, characters start with 3 points of resolve each. Characters lose resolve (usually 1 point for a failure and 2 points for a critical failure) whenever they fail a dangerous challenge such as combat. Characters whose resolve is reduced to 0 are eliminated from the scene (although they can usually return later with restored resolve) and/or may be given an affliction, which operates as a quirk.

Combat encounters are assigned both difficulty and 2 to 3 effort tokens. If the challenge is lost, the character loses resolve. If the challenge is won, an effort token is removed for each successful die result. When all of the effort tokens are depleted, the enemy is vanquished.

How do we use these rules in the world of Ghostbusters? Perhaps ghosts with 2 effort tokens require one challenge to weaken them with a proton pack and one challenge to maneuver them over a ghost trap. Ghosts with 3 effort tokens require two Ghostbusters to each make a successful challenge followed by a third challenge to slide a ghost trap under them (although maybe a very qualified Ghostbuster could do it alone with a lucky roll). Difficulty will vary, of course, and certain entities may have effort tokens in excess of 3, or they may require more complicated means of disposal. In addition to difficulty and effort tokens, ghosts will, of course, have other (mostly paranormal) abilities. The GM would be wise to exercise these abilities to ridiculous extremes.

Let's look at an example of an encounter between a Ghostbuster and a ghost in need of busting.

Winston Zeddemore
Trait: brawny
Concept: Ghostbuster
Perk: combat expert
Quirk: Ghostbusting novice

Slimer Junior
Difficulty: 5
Effort: 2
Description: free-floating poltergeist

Winston Zeddemore, responding to a call from a local restaurateur, discovers a free-floating poltergeist haunting the dumpster behind the restaurant in question. Priming his proton pack, Winston must make an agile roll. Since his trait is brawny, not agile, but the challenge is related to his concept (Ghostbuster), he rolls two dice. If he wants to regain some previously lost karma, he can raise the difficulty to 6 before he rolls by using his quirk of being a novice at Ghostbusting, but in this example he chooses to roll against the normal difficulty of 5.

With two dice, Winston rolls 5 and 4. The 5 is a success. He hits the target and Slimer Junior loses 1 effort token. The 4 is not a success. He can either roll again and hope for another success (at the risk of failing and losing 1 resolve as a consequence), or he can use his perk of being a combat expert to lower the difficulty to 4, which would give him two successes immediately, bagging and trapping the ghost in one fell swoop.

And that's how I would adapt Ghostbusters to Tricube Tales.

I think.

Playtesting would be in order.

Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Challenges

[The following article, describing how challenge resolution works in Tricube Tales, originally appeared as a response to a comment on this article. Note: I changed the word "task" to "challenge" in keeping with the terminology used in the rules. In a future article, I will likely tackle the subject of translating the antagonists from Ghostbusters to Tricube Tales.]

Challenges are resolved by rolling one to three six-sided dice. The GM will call for a trait roll (agile, brawny, or crafty) and state a difficulty (4, 5, or 6). If any die equals or exceeds the difficulty, the character succeeds.

If the challenge matches both the character's trait and concept, the player rolls three dice. If the challenge matches one, but not both, the player rolls two dice. If the challenge matches neither the trait nor the concept, the player rolls one die.

Characters start with 3 points of karma each. If the player wants to reduce the difficulty after rolling, the player can spend 1 point of karma to reduce the difficulty by 1 if it can be related to the character's perk. If the player wants to increase the difficulty before rolling, the player gains 1 point of karma and the difficulty increases by 1 if it can be related to the character's quirk.

Dr. Raymond Stantz
Trait: crafty
Concept: Ghostbuster
Perk: expert on Occult Studies
Quirk: overly enthusiastic

So, if the GM says deciphering the mystical writing in a pentagram requires a crafty roll with a difficulty of 5, Ray rolls three dice (because he's crafty and it fits his concept) and succeeds if any of them come up 5 or 6. After rolling, he can choose to spend a point of karma and reduce the difficulty by invoking his perk (Occult Studies expertise). If he wants to regain karma, he can raise the difficulty to 6 before rolling the dice by invoking his quirk (overly enthusiastic).

If the GM says firing the proton pack at the lethargic poltergeist requires an agile roll with a difficulty of 4, Ray rolls two dice (because he's not agile, but he is a Ghostbuster) and succeeds if any of them come up 4, 5, or 6. He can probably justify using his perk or his quirk to modify the difficulty.

If the GM says using a crowbar to bludgeon a hostile robot requires a brawny roll with a difficulty of 5, Ray rolls one die (because he's not brawny and the task does not fall under the purview of being a Ghostbuster) and succeeds if it comes up 5 or 6. He cannot invoke his perk since robot-fighting is unrelated to Occult Studies, but he could use his quirk of being overly enthusiastic to raise the difficulty and regain karma.

[Edit: I replaced "Explanations and Examples" with "Challenges" in the article's title.]

Ghostbusters via Tricube Tales: Characters

I have yet to play or run Tricube Tales, but I thought I would test its effectiveness at translating well-known fictional characters. Naturally, I chose Ghostbusters.

Tricube Tales (available here through DriveThruRPG) is a minimalist role-playing game that resolves actions using 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6. Characters are created by choosing a trait (agile, brawny, or crafty), a concept (selected or created by the player), a perk (which lowers a task's difficulty at the price of karma), and a quirk (which raises a task's difficulty, but awards karma).

This is how I translated the main characters of the first Ghostbusters movie:

Dr. Raymond Stantz, a crafty Ghostbuster who is an expert on Occult Studies, but overly enthusiastic.

Dr. Egon Spengler, a crafty Ghostbuster who is a brilliant inventor, but socially clueless.

Dr. Peter Venkman, a crafty Ghostbuster who is charming, but vain.

Winston Zeddemore, a brawny Ghostbuster who is a combat expert, but a Ghostbusting novice.

Janine Melnitz, a crafty secretary who is confident, but sarcastic.

Louis Tully, a crafty lawyer who is dedicated, but awkward.

Dana Barrett, an agile musician who is brave, but naïve.