Ghostbusters International

Ghostbusters International is the expanded 2nd edition of Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game from West End Games. It adds additional rule explanations & statistics to the game for those who want a more "role-playing game" feel from the game.

The players can start the game as either the original movie Ghostbusters, or create a new team of Ghostbusters who have purchased their own franchise. Now it is their turn to investigate paranormal activity, capture disruptive ghosts and charge outrageous fees to their customers.

The rules are simple and cater to the fast and loose comic styling of the movies and comic books. Character are based on just 4 Traits: Brains, Muscle, Moves and Cool. The players choose a Talent for each Trait which gives them a bonus when a situation calls for that Talent. Resolving an action, such as shooting a Ghost with a Proton Pack, requires the player to roll a number of d6 dice equal to the applicable Trait. If the Ghostmaster (what the game master is called in this game) decides that the attached Talent applies, the player rolls 3 additional dice. For example: If a character is trying to break down a door, they would roll a number of dice equal to their Muscle Trait. If they have the Break things Talent, they would roll 3 additional dice. If they roll higher than the difficulty set by the Ghostmaster the succeed, otherwise they fail.

Their is one bit of chaos that adds flavor to Ghostbusters International (GBI), the Ghost Die. Every time dice are rolled, one of them must be the Ghost die that consists of the numbers 1-5 and The Ghost, the side with the "No Ghost" Logo, which counts as 0. If the Ghost is rolled, it adds a complication to the situation. For example, if The Ghost is rolled while trying to break through a door, the Ghostmaster may decide that splinters from the door have pierced part of their Proton Pack and it is sparking more than normal. If the roll is high enough, the player still gets through the door. One should note that when the Ghost is rolled by the Ghostmaster, the complication benefits the Ghostbuster's opponents.

Experience Points are called Brownie Points in GBI, because they are not only used to get higher Traits, but can also be spent to either add dice to any roll, or reduce/negate bad things that happen. Characters start with 20 points and gain more for capturing ghosts and achieving personal goals. Let's say that a character is trying to walk a high wire between buildings. To improve their chances, they can add extra dice to their roll at the cost of 1 Brownie Point per die. Or if the player fails his/her Move roll, the player may ask to spend some Brownie Points to reduce the damage. Players are encouraged to describe how they avoid the damage with the more entertaining explanation to cost less Brownie Points than a boring explanation.

Overall, Ghostbusters International is a simple, cinematic RPG set in an alternate Ghostbuster reality that resembles our own.

Ghostbusters International is the expansion/2nd edition of Ghostbusters, a comedy role-playing game designed by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford and published by West End Games in 1986. It is based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters.

The Ghostbusters RPG won the 1986 H.G. Wells Award for Best Roleplaying Rules. In 1999 Pyramid magazine named Ghostbusters as one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games. Editor Scott Haring noted that Ghostbusters was "the first-ever RPG to use the dice pool mechanic" and "the game did a great job of catching the zany feel of the movies."