31 Questions for Barking Alien - Question 7

Ah, so happy to receive a Ghostbusters question. There aren't enough Ghostbusters questions in the world. Or something. 

Question #7 from the focused, non-terminal, repeating Jonathan Linneman

What media would you put into your ideal singular Ghostbusters head canon? If you prefer a multiverse, how would you break that down?

I am weird about canon. Aren't we all? I mean, we all have our own head canon about our favorite settings, be they franchise/IPs or personal creations. When I run Ghostbusters - moreso than any other Intellectual Property I run as games - I have a very particular head canon in mind.

At the same time, I don't go into detail about this with my players. Part of what makes a licensed RPG work is that the participants can hear about specific elements and go, 'Oh yeah, I know what that is', because they've seen the movies, shows, read the book, etc. So even if I don't use a certain part of the Ghostbusters canon in my games, I don't specifically say it didn't happen or doesn't exist. This is what I call 'Passive Canon'. 

If one of my players wants to address or use a component of the franchise that I haven't addressed, they get to introduce it and now its in what I call 'Active Canon'. That said, I do have my own internal 'Ghostbusters Active Canon Bible' of what is and isn't part of my GB campaigns. 

With all that explained, here is my 'Ideal Singular Ghostbusters Head Canon'; what the world of my Ghostbusters RPG game consists of:

Ghostbusters (The original 1984 film) happened as is. No changes. 

Crossing the Proton Streams to Reverse the Particle Flow through The Transdimensional Gate created a Transdimensional Crossrip that permenantly damaged the barriers separating our universe from those beyond. From this point forward, more supernatural entities and events appear in on our plane of existence then ever have before due to it now being easier for them to do so. - Based on dialogue and ideas in The Real Ghostbusters Animated Series, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the fan canon of the Ghostbusters Fan Club 'Franchises', and elsewhere.

The Real Ghostbusters (The animated series that ran from 1986 to 1991) happened, though the exact nature of the events are apocryphal. I'm a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters animated series but make adjustments to some elements to translate them to 'real life' and to coincide with events from other Ghostbusters media. 

Sometime between 1987 and 1989 the level of Paranormal Activity dropped significantly. The four Ghostbusters take up other jobs to make ends meet. - Extrapolated from the dialogue and situations at the beginning of Ghostbusters II. 

Ghostbusters II (The second film in 1989) happened, though the exact nature of the events are apocryphal. I'm not a big fan of the film and pick and choose what elements of the movie I confirm to exist in my Active Canon.

Paranormal Activity spikes again and the Ghostbusters become active once more. The proliferation of reported supernatural phenomena is even greater than before and incidents are witnessed nationwide. GB franchises pop up across the United States and eventually in the UK, Japan, and Australia as well. - Background information based on the Ghostbusters Fan Club 'Franchises' and our own Ghostbusters campaigns.

Now here's where things get weird...

Our Ghostbusters: The Home Office campaign started in 1986 with the publishing of the Ghostbusters RPG by West End Games. In that campaign, the PCs are handpicked by the original four Ghostbusters from Franchises all across the US [and one guy from England] to replace them as the field operatives of the company while the OGs manage the corporation. 

This story was set roughly ten years in the future, roughly 1996. Remember that this was 1996 as seen from 1986; Ghostbusters II and everything that came after it (video games, comics, Afterlife, Frozen Empire) weren't a thing at the time. This means that The Home Office campaign is in its own continuity, a separate timeline if you will.

Going back to the question above, Jonathan notes 'If you prefer a multiverse' and the truth is, I don't. I love the idea in other settings but here it kind of puts me off. Not sure why but it just doesn't feel right. Even so, that is where we find ourselves when we run sessions in this campaign world.

Other campaigns I've run haven't addressed the classic Ghostbusters team or events except in the broadest sense. Essentially I approached these games with the mindset of 'You know what Ghostbusters is about right? Great! You guys are Ghostbusters...'. At the same time, I don't generally have 'The Home Office' team be the group back at the home office. In both our Ghostbusters Hoboken (GB NJ) and Ghostbusters Seattle campaigns, the New York team is thought to consist of Venkman, Spengler, Stantz, and Zeddemore. 

In the end, my ideal Ghostbusters Head Canon is somewhat amorphous and fluid. It generally assumes the first film is the cornerstone of a lot of stuff that may or may not have happened. In the meantime, I'm able to cherry pick from the four motion pictures, numerous seasons of cartoons, a host of video games, stacks of comics, and anything else that comes along. 

Yes, I said four films. There have only been four. 

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