Something Strange in Your Neighborhood

Well...it's been a minute, huh?

Sorry for the long hiatus but I really needed a break as my personal, professional, and yes, creative endeavors required my full attention. Don't worry, everything is good.

This blog is, after all, something I primarily do for fun and because [without it] my constantly bubbling ideas would eventually overflow and drive me quite mad if I didn't write them out somewhere. While very important to me, it doesn't 'pay the bills' if you know what I mean, and Real LifeTM must come first.

Although...more on that below. 

Yesterday was Ghostbusters Day! In truth, tomorrow is the actual anniversary of the release of the original film, while yesterday was the Ghostbusters Day Event held annually in NYC at the Firehouse of Hook and Ladder 8. Although I was unable to attend in person this year, I did keep up on the announcements and news coming out at the event, with the most interesting thing [to me] by far being Ghostbusters: Night Shift - a Netflix Animated Series coming out in 2027. Check out the logo!

Personally, I really like it. Classic but with a twist!

While we don't have a lot of solid information about it yet, we do know that the showrunners are Ben Hibon and Elliott Kalan. They were joined by Ghost Corps executive producers Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan to announce the series at yesterday's event.

Furthermore, its been revealed that the show is being done by Flying Bark Productions, the studio that gave us Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Stranger Things: Tales from '85. 

This news makes me feel it's as good a time as any to announce a new project I'm working on; I will be producing an RPG System Agnostic collection of paranormal perps for use with your favorite games related to capturing, containing, and creatively counteracting pesky poltergeists titled, 'Hosts of Freaky Ghosts'!

Based on my various past posts about spooky scallywags from my previous paranormal policing campaigns, this is largely going to be a PDF of enemies - and possibly an ally or two - for West End's Ghostbusters RPG, Memento Mori's InSpectres, Ewen Cluney's Spooktacular, and with a little work, any such similar game using a like-minded premise and your rules of choice. I will be putting in up on DriveThruRPG hopefully in time for Halloween of this year.

A note about the art - potentially:

I've developed a technique in which I draw the ghosts by hand, upload them into one of several AI Art Generators, get a 'new' image, then spend an hour or more modifying the result to my liking using Photostudio, occasionally redrawing it quite a bit. In a way these are certainly AI slop images but they are AI slop images sourced from my own original illustrations. Which, let's be honest, are also slop. 

Is it OK to use these in my product that's going to be for sale? What does everyone think? I really like how it comes out in the end and it saves me time as I'm never happy with my own art and can spend hours and hours on the smallest piece redrawing it because it isn't 'perfect'. Often, I'm still not pleased with it in the finished art. Curse my somewhat talented but neurodiverse brain chemistry!

Using the method I have described, I get images I really like, though the ethics of it are very gray in my mind. I am prone to still seeing these pictures are AI and therefore unethical regardless of how much of it is my own work. If even 1% of a given images isn't really mine, do I have any right to call it an illustration I made? Certainly I can't receive money for it. Right?

Let me know what you think in the comments and please be civil and constructive. I don't won't to produce something people aren't going to like on the grounds that I've used AI at all. I respect that view. I am only considering it because its my own art the programs are trained on. 

I appreciate your time and thoughtful input. 

Later days,

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Barking Alien

Let Myself Get Spooked

Rose Witch by Atomic Marshmallow

Well here it is the end of October, Halloween itself in fact, and I didn't get to a faction of the stuff I planned on posting. Between work, actual gaming, and some other Real LifeTM stuff, I simply didn't have the time or energy to fully embrace Halloween the way I wanted to.

Honestly I should've seen it coming. Over the past few years, October sees some of my lowest post counts. It's just too busy a month. *Sigh* There's always next year.

 
Then there's the follow-up post to my last entry on reworking Traveller Double Adventure 5: The Chamax Plague/Horde, which has taken 12 days to write and still isn't finished. This is extremely disappointing to me. Most people fail to complete things in far less time.

I just found it too difficult to describe how I recommend running these two scenarios. My approach to adventures is such that there are too many potential variables, adjustments, and changes that can happen or be made that its virtually impossible [for me] to explain how to run my personal take(s) on Double Adventure 5.

It's a problem I've encountered many times over the years. More than once I've been commissioned to write adventures (both personally and professionally) and simply couldn't do it.

How do I explain what happens when the PCs confront a key NPC (for example) not knowing what they're going to say, when in the session they're going to speak to him, and whether they've investigated anything about the person before talking to them? Most pre-made scenarios produced by professional game designers don't bother thinking about these things, preferring to railroad gamers down a limited path of specific choices to get them to where they 'need to be'. Aaand that's why I don't use them. 

One of these days I'll have to explore this further but the bottom line is I freaked myself out trying to get this 'right' and as a result I didn't get it done in time. I will try to get back to it sooner rather than later but right now I have other stuff on my mind. 

Hope you had a Happy Halloween everybody! 

Here's to November...

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Barking Alien

Who's Who and What's That

Variation of the Ghostbusters Logo based on

the operning of 'The Real Ghostbusters'

Design by That's Art Folk

The book 'Who's Who and What's That' - an up-to-date copy of which is located in the Ghostbusters Firehouse Library; specifically in the second bookcase, third shelf, dead center - is a resource for the occult and paranormal community that is more accessible to the layman than the rarer and more obscure Spate's Catalog or Tobin's Spirit Guide. 

The tome serves as a highly useful reference to those interested in identifying the wide variety of spectral entities and supernatural miscreants one can encounter in the defense of our world from theirs. With Halloween approaching, it is very likely your Ghostbusters franchise is about to get really busy. The information in this book should be be quite helpful, so we here at The Home Office would like to point to a few key entries that our research tells us are likely to pop up...

It has been established in our own Ghostbusters canon that the weeks leading up to Halloween get busier and busier, often culminating in a major incident around October 31st. While you never know what might manifest during this time, there are certain beings more likely to appear than others. 

***

Note that Who's Who and What's That introduces some additional and alternative Descriptors applicable to the Ghostbusters CDI System.

Conditional: A wide ranging Descriptor that covers any entities who manifest when a specific condition is met. The criteria can be nearly anything, from 'Appears in the evening of the first day of Autumn, usually at sundown, every year', to 'Whenever someone says the ghost's name three times'. Sometimes referred to as Triggered, this Descriptor can be seen in the description of The Fall Bearer (aka The Ghost of Rottinghume Manor), as well as below. 

Paired: Most PKE Manifestations appear singularly, one being appearing by itself. On occasion, multiple ghosts will appear simultaneously or come into being separately and then gather together. In specific instances, there will be ghosts that only appear in a group; none of the individuals can or do appear without the others. This type of manifestion receives the Descriptor Grouped. A less common but notable variation of this is Paired; when two entities appear together and only together. Paired Ghosts have a connection with each other that makes tougher to deal with in unison. Remember the Scoleri Brothers? They're a perfect example of Paired paranormal beings.

Tempered: Rare Descriptor indicating a spectral being who places a self-imposed limit on the nature or amount of damage and chaos it causes. This sort of entity will only create mayhem up to the point of its own choosing. 

Examples of this would be a ghost who tries to terrify everyone except small children, whom it shows kindness towards, or one that screams and throws things so long as no one is looking at it.

Sometimes the criteria it has set for itself is subtle or at least not especially obvious at first (such as Sweet Tooth - see below).

These beings should not be confused with those who deserve the Descriptor Constrained or [less commonly] Restricted. These ghosts are limited by some being or condition outside themselves. 

***

The Halloween Hater

AKA: The Ghost of the Grand Market Mall T-Mart, Foresaken Clerk

CDI: Focused, Conditional Repeating Phantom or a Class IV Full-Roaming Fog.

The Halloween Hater is a ghost with a grudge against the holiday and her goal is to take the fun out of the spooky season every year it comes around. In life it is believed she was a Puritan Woman by the name of Foresaken Clerk (an earlier version of the name Clarke, generally referring to a scribe). She was critical of her Irish and Scottish neighbors, specifically angered by their annual All Hallow's Eve celebrations. Each year she would dress up in festivity appropriate garb and sabotage the holiday activities. She was finally caught by a young Irish girl who pointed out Foresaken was participating by pulling 'tricks' on her kinfolk, all while in disguise. Flustered and infuriated, Foresaken ran back home but accidentally fell in a ditch, hit her head on a rock, and died. 

Fast forward to modern times and the popular discount department store T-Mart, taking up a large portion of the Grand Market Mall, is haunted by Foresaken's ghost, which appears every year as soon as Halloween themed candy and costumes go on sale. Her main goal is to either damage the display and merchandise or frighten away customers. Things have escalated in the last two years as a new manager thought of using Foresaken's presence as a means of bringing people in to the store. 'Don't be a Halloween Hater!', say signs showing an illustration of Foresaken, 'Come to T-Mart, your one-stop Scary Fun Shop!'.

Foresaken is not amused.

The Halloween Hater appears as a full-torso apparition that looks like a Puritan Woman in her early 20s. She wears clothing typical of New England Puritan women of the late 16th or early 17th century. The ghost has no clear feet, as is typical of full-torso entities, and instead 'ends' in a dimly glowing fog. Her head covering hides the exact spot where Foresaken's skull collided with the stone that did her in. The horrible wound beneath is visible when Foresaken uses her Frightening Visage ability. One important detail is that she appears with a journal or diary of some kind, one which she will do anything to protect. The Halloween Hater will not let anyone touch this book, whatever it is. 

In addition to transitioning into a Terrifying Visage and being able to Physically Push things, Foresaken has a rather limited but strangely effective psychokinetic ability, Psychokinetic Trip. This causes anyone targeted to trip over nothing and fall prone if the Halloween Hater gets more Successes than the person's Athletics Attribute. Note, this is not 'if she gets more Successes than the target does when they make an Athletics roll'. This is more Successes than the target's stat. For example: If she tries to trip Professor Gabriel Zimmerman, she needs to roll 3 or more Successes, as his Athletics stat is 3. He does not get an Athletics Defense Roll as the attack is invisible and essentially comes from nowhere.

Now, if he knew an attack was coming and he decided to run, Foresaken would have to get 6 or more Successes as Zimmerman has the Signature Skill 'Run' at 6 Dice and that would be an appropriate defense. Again, not a Defense Roll but a better chance of avoiding the attack and its effects. It's less about distance and more about Foresaken being able to concentrate on a clear target. 

Scenario Idea: A local female celebrity of some kind (influencer, musican, politican)  comes into the T-Mart to buy some Halloween stuff for herself and maybe some friends or her kids. The Halloween Hater goes crazy! Foresaken keeps tripping the woman and anyone she's with, frightening them and pushing displays on top of them. Turns out the woman is a descendant of the Irish girl who pointed out Foresaken's hypocrisy almost 200 years ago. 

Sweet Tooth

AKA: The Candy Counter Ghost

CDI: Focused, Tempered, Non-Terminal Repeating Phantasm or a Class V Free-Roaming Vapor

First appearing in Brooklyn, NY around the end of the 19th Century, the 'Candy Counter Ghost', later dubbed 'Sweet Tooth', became the bane of the numerous immigrant candy makers who established New York as the [now unsung] capital of the candy world. As more and more confectioners came to New York City and set up shop, the menace of the gluttonous Sweet Tooth ghost grew greater and greater.

This Phantasm traditionally appears and wrecks havoc in candy stores or sweets factories, eating everything in sight from jujyfruits to junior mints, then suddenly stopping and disappearing once again. This has been its pattern for decades.

A few renowned occultists in the late 30s surmised that this particular Vapor ate as much as it liked but never so much as to completely eliminate its food source. That is to say, it never consumes so much candy that any of the confection crafters is preys on are forced to go out of business. Still, it haa hurt the livelihoods of a great many people and continues to do so whenever it reappears.

Personally, I would lean into this and have the entity wrestle with the paradox; it loves candy and will consume all it can but not too much 'cause then there won't be any candy and the candy makers will go away. At the same time, there is sooo much candy! Why not eat it all! Oh wait... It's enough to drive a Reoccurring Phantasm mad! 

Many of Sweet Tooth's appearances across the past 100+ years have been random, however it's guaranteed to show up during candy focused holidays such as Christmas, Easter, and especially Halloween.

The Candy Counter Ghost resembles a typical Class V Vapor upon first manifesting; the entity is off-white in color and appears to be made of soft chewing gum, taffy, or stale marshmallow. As Sweet Tooth consumes candy he begins to take on blotches of color as if stained by the lollipops and gumdrops he's eaten. Sweet Tooth also gradually increases in size during its treat consumption rampage.

Another side effect, and one that relates to Sweet Tooth's only unique supernatural ability, is that its Ectoplasmic Residue becomes thicker than average, turns pink and/or lime green, and extremely sticky. The Phantasm uses this syrupy slime to hinder or trap pursuers. In addition to passing through things and leaving Ectoplasm behind, Sweet Tooth is able to project it forward, downward, or backwards out from its lower torso. (Opponents Slimed are at a -1D penalty to all rolls for one round per Sweet Tooth's Successes using Extra Sticky Slime in addition to normal Slime rules). 

While Sweet Tooth always appears during Candy-centric holidays, it isn't considered 'Conditional' because it appears randomly at other times as well. 

Scenario Idea: A posh new Candy Pop-Up Shop opens and its taking a lot of customers and money away from a veteran, Mom-and-Pop confectioner whose been around since the early 20th century. The latter finds an incantation in an old book that enables them to summon Sweet Tooth and sick'em on the competition.

Trick and Treat

AKA: The Terrible Trick or Treat Twins

CDI: Paired Non-Terminal Repeating Spectres or Class Vs Free-Roaming Masses

These two peculiar paranormal perps were difficult to classify but were eventually given the designation of Class Vs (Class Five-'S') They seem to manifest as sentient, mobile Halloween costumes, usually simple bedsheet ghosts, roughly the size of middle school children. They possess a faint green glow (like glow-in-the-dark' toys from the 80s) that is much more easily seen at night (like glow-in-the-dark toys from the 80s). Note that they have feet and wear rubber soled boots or perhaps high-top sneakers. In addition to their costumes and footwear, the 'Twins' (as they are often called) carry plastic Jack O' Lanterns often filled with candy. Note that these are real, not Ectoplasmic, though everything else about them is. 

The exact origin of these two entities is a mystery. They first started to appear in urban and suburban areas along the Eastern Coast of the United States during the mid-to-late 1930s. They disappeared following the Great Depression, with no known reports of them again until well after World War II. Since the early 1970s they appear in a far wider range of geographic areas, though exclusively within the continental USA. 

When the Sun begins to set on the night of October 31s, these two ghosts will appear amid all the other local trick or treaters and try to blend in with the crowds. They will never go more than a few feet from each other, tend to lag behind largely groups, and rarely speak or interact with anyone durings these times. When they do their voices sound like raspy male children around 12 years of age. They keep their sentences short and use a limited vocabulary. 

Trick and Treat's M.O. is to wait under there is no one else in front of a house or apartment and then knock on the door saying, 'Trick or Treat' in unison. If they are given candy, they give the person a nod or slight bow before leaving to the next house. On occasion, Treat has even been known to say thank you.

If they are given anything else...fruit, money, chapstick..they will stand in front of the person for an awkwardly long moment in complete silence before slowly walking off. Trick will then egg the house, throw toilet paper all over it, or some other suitably childish 'revenge'. Now, if they are given nothing, the consequences can be much more severe. Trick has been known to let all the air out of someone's tired, stick rocks up their tailpipe, leave flaming ectoplasm poop on the person's doorstep, and in one instance 'he' dropped fireworks down their chimney into an active fireplace.

The response is also effected by how the person in the home is perceived. If they give nothing but explain they are poor, retired and can't easily get to the store, or some other reasonable excuse, Trick is much more lenient. If the person in the house is nasty to the pair in any way, Trick's actions will scale up accordingly. 

On some occasions, Treat will feel bad for someone who has very little but gives the pair some sort of candy, even if its a single chocolate kiss or life-saver. When this happens, he will leave them candy! Usually it is a lollipop or candy bar. 

Both Trick and Treat have the ability to Manifest Objects from seemingly nowhere and can Physically Move things roughly equivalent to what the average adult Human can lift and move. 

Scenario Idea: Trick and Treat enter an area where no one seems to be home. Trick wants to wreck havoc, Treat wants him to wait. Finally they discover a Halloween Party for the neighborhood kids and their families being thrown at your Ghostbusters HQ. The Twins will knock and if invited in, they'll participate in the fun a little before disappearing and leaving behind a bunch of candy. If barred from entering, scrutinized, or otherwise made to feel unwelcome, Trick will cause all manner of chaos - up to and including shutting down the Power Grid!

That's all for now. Remember Ghostbusters, Another Ghost, Another Dollar.

Who ya gonna call?

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Barking Alien

Spooky Wishes and Pumpkin Spice Dreams

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It's October and you know what that means! It's time for all the jumpin' jack o' lantern, ghastly, ghoulish, freaky fun we can muster here at Boooing Alien! Muwahahaha!

Ain't she a Scream?

What's up my Beastly Buds and Paranormal Pals? I've got a ton of hearty horror and spooky silliness planned for this 'Ectober', including but hopefully not limited to: 

Campaigns and One-Shots I Have Known returns with creepy campaigns and spectral scenarios of Halloweens Past.

Some frightfully funky game ideas, like Scare Score and Morbid Curiousity.

Material for my homebrew Ghostbusters RPG including new Ghosts, new Ghostbusting Gear, and even some Adventure Ideas! 

Fortified with Essential Violence and Ministers!

Last year I had big Halloween blogging plans that amounted to a lot of nothing. Dead on Arrival one might say.

This year I began prepping a few months back so I should (hopefully) have enough material to really make a go of it. Last year's Halloween will Rise from the Dead and Stalk the Living, this time for sure!

Expect to see other posts as well, those of a non-Samhain nature that is, as I still have a few things on my mind from before the coming Spooktacular.

So get out your cauldron, surround yourself in a cloud of darkness, and light a candle inside that pumpkin.

Barking Alien is going full-on Haunted Mode!

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Barking Alien

Not So Spooky After All

I am sad zombie.

All my plans for this October have gone up in a cloud of bats due to a crazy personal and business schedule this past month.

There are at least 3 posts with a Halloween theme lying three quarters complete in the shallow grave known as 'Drafts'. 

I'm torn on whether to complete them and post them now that November is nearly upon us or save them for next year's fright festival so that I don't fall into the same field of folly.

I have a lot of other stuff I want to cover as well. Quite frustrating to have things to share but not the time and energy to share them.

 
What do you all think I should do?

Regardless of what comes next, I wish you all a Happy Halloween!

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Barking Alien

Ending this post on a sad note...

Farewell to the one and only Teri Garr, a Comedic Actress who appeared in such classics as Mel Brooks' 'Young Frankenstein' and Steven Spielberg's 'Close Encounters of The Third Kind', as well as 'Mr. Mom' and 'Tootsie'. She got her first major break in show biz as one of two leads for a backdoor pilot called 'Assignment: Earth', a Season 2 episode of the original Star Trek series.

 

Ms. Garr died from complications related to Multiple Sclerosis, an illness she had been battling for many years. She passed away at the age of 79 in her home city and state of Los Angeles, California. 

Must Be The Season of The Witch

It's that time again my friendly fellow gremlins and ghouls - Halloween is upon us!

When Spooky Season rolls around each year I like to take the opportunity to focus the blog on the scary fun and goofy creepiness associated with All Hallows Eve. My record of accomplishing this feat is mixed. I tend to get very busy with my Real LifeTM job during the onset of Fall, which has made it a challenge in the past. All that said, I definitely want to try to get some scary good stuff out this time around.

In addition to some further investigation into Ghostbusters (and my Tokyo Ghost Research crossover concept), there are games such as the Japanese Tabletop RPGs  Peekaboo and Mamono Scramble (for which I have what I hope is an interesting if oddball approach). If I'm lucky I'll also be able to address some other neat JTRPG games that fit with October's witch-worthy theme.

There is a new Dark Medieval Fantasy game called 'Aionia, Without Mercy' that I'm looking into which seems quite intriguing. Will I have time to address it this month? We shall see. 

Not all the posts this month will be of the creepy and kooky variety however. I want to get back to my 31 Days/31 Characters JTRPG Challenge, share some thoughts on SMURFS, Space:1999, and - inspired by from buddy Ray - tackle 'The Quintessential Barking Alien Playlist'. 

There's also some other media to discuss, such as today's debut of Dan Da Dan, a Japanese Anime Series available to watch on both Crunchyroll and Netflix that I've mentioned briefly in past posts. It's definitely coming out at the perfect time given its premise. Looking forward to watching it and discussing it with you. 

Join me and pick up every stitch...

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Barking Alien

While we're on the subject of witches...

On September 27th of this year everyone's favorite Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress, Dame Margaret 'Maggie' Natalie Smith, passed away at the venerable age of 89.

Maggie Smith is a talent with few equals. Comedy and drama, stage and screen, from her Oscar nominated work in Othelo and A Room with a View to the Harry Potter films and Downton Abbey, Smith constantly grabbed audiences attentions with her rapier wit and commanding performances.

Rest in Peace Grand Dame. You will be missed. 

Too Many Ideas Syndrome

Too Many Ideas Syndrome. Apparently this is really a thing. It's sometimes called 'idea-ism'. Yeah, I've definitely got it bad right now. 

My lack of posting is not because I have nothing to talk about or show you all but rather the opposite; I have so many RPG concepts runninlg through my head I don't know where to begin. Adding to the problem is that many of them are only half finished and poorly organized. 

Let's start with a 'State of Gaming' update, shall we?

Currently as of this post...

I am playing Hogwarts: A Mystery

Now in its 6th or 7th year, the campaign follows students - currently 5th Years - in House Ravenclaw. It is full of teen angst and drama, setting based angst and drama, action, suspense, and other kinds of angst and drama. The GM is very into making children suffer. No, no...in a good way!

The game runs bi-weekly with my friend Alex as Gamemaster and four players including myself. My character, Francis 'Frank' Pellgrove, goes on the short list of all time favorite PCs I've ever had. The system is a homebrew extremely loosely based on Apocalypse World but really nothing like it at this point. 

I have been running SMURFS

Over the past month I've run a three session scenario and a one-shot scenario using the Quickstart Guide rules for the upcoming Smurfs officially licensed RPG by Maestro Media. I'm pretty much obsessed and I love the game. Getting people to play it may be the biggest challenge one faces with the game but based on my own experience most truly mature gamers will give it a try. After all, those are the people most comfortable with not taking the hobby too seriously. 

Upcoming posts will discuss the Player Characters from both games and later I'll talk about the adventures themselves. 

I am still running Star Trek: Prosperity

Our Original Series era Star Trek Adventures campaign is still going strong, with all the sessions so far this 'season' (Season 8 that is! Eight years of Star Trek: Prosperity! Woohoo!) being good and a few being great! We've had a couple of real bangers! Very much looking forward to the next three missions, the last ending in a 'Season Finale Cliffhanger'!  

This game is [usually] played bi-weekly. I am the Gamemaster and we have four players. It ranks as my longest running single campaign ever. 

Coming up...

I will be running Champions: UNITY again

My weekend group is returning to our Champions campaign after experimenting with a host of other concepts with mixed results. Our campaign is set in yet another version of my friend William Corpening's 'Age of Champions' setting, this time on Champions Earth-Alpha Delta-1A. The campaign is already three years old and the players are eager to get back to their characters and this universe. Actually, one player will be using a new character.

I have mixed feelings on this personally. I am not really feeling 'Superheroes' at the moment and I'm having trouble coming up with a new or interesting angle. Don't get me wrong, I have some ideas for villains and scenarions but I'm lacking...I don't know...that certain something, ya'know? 

I will largely be playing Star Trek: Copernicus

After the Smurfs my Midweek Group is going back to our Star Trek Adventures campaign, Star Trek: Copernicus. This game is...good...sometimes great...sometimes just OK. It's been a tad inconsistent and that's not surprising. We've been doing a 'Revolving GM' situation, with the four players each taking turns as the Narrator when they had a solid adventure idea. Going forward it seems that one of us will be the 'lead' Narrator, having quite a lot of ideas and enthusiasm for the game.

I like my character a lot and that goes a long way towards making the game fun. 

In the near future...

I would like to run Space:1999

A fan of the series and intrigued by the rules, I would love to run a short campaign of this, partially to see if it has legs. That is to say, I'd likely run a three session 'pilot' adventure and gage interest in doing more.

Halloween is coming and I have Spooky Games in mind

Obviously I would love to revisit Ghostbusters. My hope is I'll get to run at least a one-shot scenario with my A&D/'The Home Office' group sometime in October. With any luck I might also be able to set up a Ghostbusters: Tokyo Ghost Research adventure with my friends in Japan. 

On that note, I want to finish my recap of the 'I'm So Embarrassed! My Uncle is a Bullet Train!' game. I'll also post some general ideas for more Ghostbusters RPG paranormal activities (see what I did there?). 

Another one-shot [or maybe two-to-three-shot] I'd love to run is Peekaboo (aka Peekaboo Horror), The Neighborhood Ghost Story TRPG from Japan that I adore but rarely get to the table. I also have a recounting of my first time playing it coming up next month so be on the look out for that. 

Finally...

What should really be an entire post all on its own (and might be soon) is this nagging desire to run...hold on to socks...Fantasy. 

Specifically I am wanting to run Fantasy with an Anime twist. Like...imagine if what I did with Superhero gaming to create The Winghorn Guard and my world of Aerth was done with Anime/Manga tropes in mind. Although Aerth does have considerable Anime/Manga influences already. Hmm. 

I really want to do this but I keep running into two major snags: I just don't love Fantasy gaming for a variety of reasons and I can find a system I really like that does what I want. 

Arrgh! 

*Sigh* Oh well. I'm glad I got that off my chest. Let's finish up with the Smurfs RPG for now so I can move on to other discussions.

Thanks for letting me prattle on.

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Barking Alien 

I've been so busy with Real LifeTM that I've missed some very important acknowledgements.

 

On September 9th of this year the world lost an entertainment icon in the person of James Earl Jones. A multiple award winning pioneer of theatre and film, Jones was a fascinating man before and after his long career of acting and voice overs. While best known to fandom as the voice of Darth Vader and Conan's nemesis Thulsa Doom, I highly recommend looking into this fellow's life outside these roles if you haven't already. Epic. 

Rest in Peace Mister Jones. 

September 24th was the birthday of Muppets creator Jim Henson. I don't even know where to begin talking about my feelings regarding Jim, one of my all time heroes. I've discussed him many times in the past and if you're interested you can look back to previous posts on the man. Henson is another fellow I suggest reading up on for the incredible life he lead and the impact he had on generations of fans and creatives. A documentary about him entitled 'Jim Henson Idea Man' is currently available on Disney+ and while it was tough for me to watch I definitely suggest checking it out. 

September 25th, yesterday, was the birthday of the amazing Mark Hamill. Actor, voice actor, and vigilant, outspoken, opponent of stupidity, Mark is a gawd dang national treasure. Happy Birthday Mark!

Dare Ni Denwa o Kakeru Nodesu Ka?

Whoa, that's strange.

What should we do?

Get the Ghostbusters!

Whoa, that's weird.

What should we do?

Get the Ghostbusters!*

Much like when I wondered how the Japanese Tabletop RPG community felt about playing in the Star Trek universe, it was inevitable that I would be curious about their interest in gaming Ghostbusters. When I become fascinated by a particular genre or setting, my deep interest in Japanese pop culture just makes me want to know how they treat the same subject. 

From past conversations with Japanese friends I know that the original film was very popular in Japan and the 2016 film did fairly well too. I don't have a clear idea how Ghostbusters II did. Around the time Ghostbusters: Afterlife was released in Japan I was speaking with a friend living in Chiba over DIscord (I think) and she indicated that had also been well-received.

Ghostbusters Japan

The Official Japanese Ghostbusters Fan Club

Thoughts drifted back to all this as Halloween 2023 approached. I knew I'd be talking about Ghostbusters RPGing and thought, 'Why not see if they play/played in the Ghostbusters world over there'. Honestly, I didn't expect to find much. If Star Trek only got a little coverage in their TRPG circles, what chance did I have of finding GB references?

I was pleasantly surprised...

Lucy, an original non-canon Ghostbusters character

Designed and illustrated by Shunya Yamashita

for Kotobukiya's Bishoujo Statues series.

As it turns out, while I came across only a handful of Ghostbusters RPG mentions, they were all very interesting. One Japanese gamer I spoke to on a TRPG forum said, "Horror games are the most popular type in Japan. Call of Cthulhu is our biggest game. We also include a lot of humor in our games, even that one (CoC). Ghostbusters is a good choice if you want both things."

To that end he directed me to an article on playing a Ghostbuster in Call of Cthulhu! Sort of. Really it was about using the Call of Cthulhu system to run a Ghostbusters game, much the way the Japanese seem to love using that system to run many other kinds of horror. 

Here's what I was able to translate...

Ghostbuster for Call of Cthulhu (TRPG Japan)

It is a profession that exorcises evil spirits as a business. In addition to those who own offices or are employees of those offices, there are also those who undertake individual/independent work. This person also has the job of a detective who investigates strange phenomena. They don't have any kind of psychic powers but if they are a famous Ghostbusters they may have powerful artifacts.

Driving (Car)

Electrical Repair or Electronics

Mechanical Repair

Occult

Psychology

Shooting (Handgun or Rifle)

Any 1 Interpersonal Skill

Any 1 Skill of Your Choice

Credit: 9~50%

Vocational skill points: EDU x 2 + DEX x 2

Art by Sato Sio

Cool, huh? What I find particularly interesting is the idea that there might be individual Ghostbusters not directly tied to a franchise. So, a freelance Ghostbuster? How would that work? It would be a really intriguing premise for a Solo or One-on-One (one Player, one Ghostmaster) campaign, no? 

Also curious is the idea that veteran Ghostbusters might have mystic relics in their possession (and hopefully not the other way around!). I've often wondered about books of ancient spells and such might be something a Ghostbusters group could look into. 

Lastly, I am surprised there isn't any direct mention of the Ghostbusters' equipment. Things like the Proton Packs, Ghost Traps, PKE Meters, and the like would seem to appeal to the Mecha loving Japanese pop culture crowd.

Art by Gurumeda for the Japanese movie magazine Cinema Today

Encouraged by my previous discovery I pressed on and was very excited to find that a session of the original West End Games Ghostbusters RPG had been run at a Japanese gaming convention called Hammakon in 2022.

The Gamemaster of that session, Onagi Sunaga, gave a promotional write-up of the adventure they planned to run as one would expect to see in an RPG con game preview. I was fortunate to message Onagi-san and received a response pretty quickly.  She was kind enough to clarify the premise of the story and a little of how it went. What follows is a write-up of that session, paraphrased and edited by me for this post. 

Ghostbusters International

GM: Onagi Sunaga

Number of players: 2-4

TRPG beginners: Welcome

System beginners: Welcome

Game/System Description

A humorous horror TRPG based on the American movie franchise 'Ghostbusters'. PCs become franchise operators of a Ghostbusters office and fight against the ghost turmoil. The game is a 1989 piece designed by Call of Cthulhu's Sandy Petersen and others (Referring to the Second Edition of the game - as noted - Ghostbusters International). The judgment is a success if the total number rolled on your ability dice exceeds the target value. However, there is a 1/6 chance that something strange will happen, so don't let your guard down!

Scenario Overview

Ghost extermination set in the city of Tokyo! Will you be able to finish in the black without getting confused on your way to the site or having strange photos of you posted on social media?

It is expected to be a two-part series: a tutorial scenario + an original scenario (the setting will be Tokyo).

We will prepare a pre-generated character but if people wish we will have them create an original PC. Be prepared to play in Japanese.

It is a good idea for the players to have 2 or more six-sided dice...or even 8. In addition, some items are available for rental [at the convention].

Additional Information

The setting is modern day Japan and the PCs played through the following situation:

A giant kashiwa mochi-like ghost appeared at the site of Tokyo Tower a few months ago, along with a few other spirits, and was defeated in the Tone River by the Tokyo Ghostbusters. Although this entity and others were defeated, the Ghostbusters didn't get rid of all the ghosts. Some of the spooks were able to escape capture. Therefore, Ghostbusters International decided to expand the Japanese franchise and took on the task of exterminating the ghosts that had run away in Tokyo. Ghostbusters International Inc. used this as an opportunity to increase the number of franchises in Japan as well.

After completing the training to become a Ghostbuster and signing the contracts, the PCs played through the scenario 'House Pests' included in the RPG rulebook [adapted to take place in Tokyo, Japan].

The scenario is about getting rid of ghosts that chased away a family who had just moved to the suburbs. We will enter a dungeon-like private house with about 10 rooms and hunt down the ghosts there. However, it doesn't go exactly as it should...

Wow. I love the backstory! For a one or two-shot session at a convention, that is some great world-building background material for a Tokyo Ghostbusters campaign setting. I want to know more about that first team. Not only who were they but did they all survive? Is that why they needed to hire the PCs? Did they all survive and separate to open other franchise offices in different cities in Japan? So many ideas!

More Ghostbusters art by Gurumeda

My third and final score was a mention of using the Japanese TRPG 'Ghost Hunters' to run Ghostbusters. Supposedly there was a fan-made supplement at one point, a Ghostbusters Doujinshi Sourcebook for use with Ghost Hunters 2nd Edition. Sadly, that is the extent of what I could find on the subject; a single reference, long out of date. Still and all, I felt inspired by this as it indicated to me that the first two occurrences of Japanese Ghostbusters RPG fandom weren't just flukes. If there were three, there could be more. 

My Ectogoggles are on and my PKE Meter is out. The search continues...

Until next time...

AD

Barking Alien

*Japanese translation of the Ghostbusters theme song, 1984

The post's title says, 'Who are you going to call?' in Japanese