Ghostbusters: A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game is the original 1986 Ghostbusters tabletop RPG from West End Games. Instead of replaying the movie scene for scene, it assumes the New York team has opened the door to franchise operations and lets players build their own crews in other cities.
How the game works
The rules are famously light. Characters are built from four traits — Brains, Muscles, Moves, and Cool — and most actions come down to rolling pools of six-sided dice against a target number set by the Ghostmaster. One die is the special Ghost Die, which can complicate even a successful roll and gives the game its slapstick streak.
That ruleset made it easy to run quick, funny Ghostbusters stories without needing a giant wall of charts. Franchise teams, strange local hauntings, and fast-moving disaster calls are baked right into the setup.
What came in the box
- A 24-page Training Manual for players
- A 64-page Operations Manual for the Ghostmaster
- Six-sided dice, including the special Ghost Die
- Handouts, badges, permits, and other play aids
- Cardboard equipment cards for tracking gear
Quick facts
- Publisher: West End Games
- Year: 1986
- System: early d6-based Ghostbusters rules
- Style: comedy action tabletop roleplaying game
Source note
Summary details on this page are based on the Wikipedia overview of the game, the Ghostbusters Wiki entry, and Chaosium’s retrospective 100 Best Games – Ghostbusters. The featured image is the cover image preserved on Wikipedia.