Real Wrath-Of-God Type Stuff

This post is very late and very long and I am very sorry.

Real LifeTM, especially in the form of my work schedule, has been particularly busy of late. I have so much I want to post, a lot of it Ghostbusters related, and I'm feeling more than a little bit frustrated by the fact that I am just getting to the first of these entries today.

Grrr. Anyway...onward.

Our original Ghostbusters campaign back in 1986 had some awesome adventures, largely thanks to our lead 'Ghostmaster' Joe and the amazing storytelling talents of my friend Dave. Will (of 'Champions: The Age of Champions' fame) and I ran a few each as well, with some gems and a few only OK sessions.  

What you'll find below is one of the best and most memorable scenarios we had, with more to follow in the coming days. Not all of them were perfect (namely mine) but many were amazing, literally among the greatest adventures I have been in as a player. I mean, how many campaign story-arcs do you remember 35+ years later?

The Case of The Cereal Killer Crunch

AKA: Ghost Toasties

Inspiration: This adventure was a revision of Ghost Toasties, the first published module for the WEG Ghostbusters RPG.

Gamemaster: Joseph Vitaliano Jr.

Synopsis: World renowned entrepreneur, explorer, and food industry magnate Jerome Westbrook III has announced a contest in association with his company's popular breakfast cereal, Flakey Jake's Golden Flakes; one of the millions of boxes contains a toy replica of The Crystal of Hagost, an ancient gem of supposedly mystical power that Westbrook discovered in a cave in Peru. Other boxes contain Red Leopard figurines, miniature Bolas, miniature Slings, and rocks carved with runes that can be decoded with a code key on the back of every box. Whomever finds the crystal (actually a remarkably well cut gemstone) wins a lifetime supply of Flakey Jake's Golden Flakes. Oh boy! Of course, something much more sinister was afoot. More evil than getting children to convince their families to buy sugary cereal just so they can win even more sugary cereal? Just you wait...

Soon after the announcement, supermarkets all over the USA were besieged by customers trying to find the winning box. Ghostbusters Franchises across the country became rather busy in the following days responding to pesky poltergeists who also seemed interested in the cereal. For unknown reasons, spooks started causing a royal ruckus in the isles of stores wherever Flakey Jake's Golden Flakes were sold. The GB Inc. community, coordinated by The Home Office, were able to find some clues that enabled the PCs to piece together what might be going on. Unfortunately, the team receives word that numerous grade school and middle school kids began acting strangely, obsessed with the toy surprises they have found and trying as hard as they could to meet up with each other and play [with the items] together. 

After dealing with all the weird goings on for nearly a week, The Home Office came to the realization that the Crystal of Hagost and the odd cereal prizes were all part of a ritual to return Hagost to the world. An agricultural god worshiped by a lost pre-Peruvian people, Hagost was connected to sugar cane, corn, and the ailments that come with consuming too much sucrose. The crystal hidden among the boxes of Golden Flakes wasn't a replica but the real deal! Jerome Westbrook III found it while exploring an area not far from Machu Picchu and the spirit of Hagost was able to possess him. Using Westbrook III, Hagost dispersed the components of his resurrection among his 'worshippers'; kids obsessed with sugary foods. 

The full ritual had all the kids with figurines possessed by the ghosts of Hagost's ancient temple guards, armed with the toy weapons which became real when they touched them. Then, those with the rune stones would assemble them into the proper order and positions for the words to a mystic chant to be read, translated through the decoder system on the back of the boxes. Finally, whomever found the Crystal of Hagost would stand in the center of it all to summon/be possessed by the full power of the deity. By the way, that someone turned out to be nine year old Jason Greer of Queens, NY.

In the final climactic scene, the ritual is performed at a press conference held at West End Foods Headquarters in New Jersey. Hagost manifests, using his powers to animate fiberglass statues of all the West End Cereal Mascots who then terrorized everyone present. The Ghostbusters HO gang  defeat those minions and damage the crystal as Hagost opens a gate to another dimension.

Within this other realm, which the Ghostbusters enter to chase Hagost, there is an ancient temple in the style of the indigenous peoples of Peru. A trap is triggered pouring sweetened corn flakes down on the heroes, threatening to drown them in frosted breakfast cereal. Using a combination of their unique personalities, skills, and specialized equipment The Home Office is able to separate the Crystal of Hagost from its young host and destroy it, banishing the Red Jaguar god back into the netherverse. Grabbing little Jason Greer, the team booked it back to the material plane before the gate collapsed.  

Hagost - Initial Incarnation

Highlights: Dave Nelson suggested the team try to locate the crystal before the general populace did, heading off the trouble before it started. The others agreed and tried to strategize the best way to do that. Meanwhile, Nelson took the initiative and a wad of petty cash and bought as many boxes of Flakey Jake's Golden Flakes as he could, got back to the Firehouse, and started eating. The rest of the team found out and, well, there was a lot of head shaking. 

Zimmerman delved deep into the 'lore' of the West End Foods cereal mascots, assuming their stories were influenced by the mythology and folklore of the original believers in Hagost. As it turned out, he was partially right! There were hints to the relationships between the various minions of Hagost in the relationships between the cereal characters. Stadler and Zimmerman were able to convince the haunted fiberglass Flakey Jake to side with the PCs and help against the big bad boss jaguar himself. 

There were a lot of tricks and traps at the end of the sessions big finale. It was as much about smarts as it was Ghostbusting talent and ability. We had to free the ghost possessed kids, grab and/or damage the crystal, fight the minions, and stop Hagost all while protecting the West End Foods employees, parents, etc. We really had to use every ounce of brains and brawn we had to win the day this time and it felt great. This victor was earned. 

Hagost - True Form

Notes: Joe based this scenario on the West End Games published module 'Ghost Toasties' but he modified it quite heavily. The major differences between the two versions are:

Joe's adventure was scarier and less silly then the official one as per his views on what makes for a good Ghostbusters game. He altered the names of a few things, replaced travel to a Candyland-like dimension with most of the danger happening here in our world, and made Hagost's minion ghosts less goofy in general.

Joseph also expanded the scope of the situation, with the nationwide contest resulting in nationwide paranormal problems. This allowed him to set up the world-building of the future of the Ghostbusters 1984 film continuity that our campaign takes place in.

Run early in the course of the original campaign, this adventure established the existence of other franchise offices in other cities and states (as well as a few in other countries). It further enforces the fact that our Ghostbusters continuity is different from that of movie canon but works perfectly well with the RPG and many of the GB fan clubs.

Our original campaign (as well as most of the Ghostbusters games I've run myself) featured very few high powered entities on the level of Gozer. Hagost was one of the rare ones.

Stay tuned for more adventures, adversaries old and new, and saying "Who you gonna call?" in Japanese!

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