The year is 1986 - - a couple years since the events of the first (only!) Ghostbusters movie. You are bored, broke, and in need of a job. You are reading your newspaper when the following ad catches your eye: Believe in the paranormal? Be a Ghostbuster! No Experience Needed! Apply in person at 1815 Wicker Avenue, NY, NY May 13, 1986 @9 AM. NO TELEPHONE CALLS! O h wow... that's today! You hastily wolf down the last of your bowl of Ghost Toasties (the frightfully delicious breakfast cereal), grab your jacket,and run down to the subway, barely making it to your location in time. When you arrive, you see a few other people, all holding copies of the same newspaper ad in their hand. They are gathered in front of what looks like an old medical clinic, abandoned for decades, with graffiti-covered boards over all the windows. However, the front door stands open, and a dim light shines from within; strange noises echo from deep in the back. You think maybe being a fry cook isn't such an awful choice after all... Game time will be starting at 6-7 PM Central time; expect the game to last approximately 3-4 hours, with the occasional bathroom break. If needed, the game can be extended either later into the night, or to the next evening/next week, but it's unlikely it will take that long to solve this case. Game will be run in Roll20, with Skype as my preferred method of voice communication. Should that prove unworkable for some reason, the fallback is Google Hangouts, and Roll20s own voice system as a last resort. Video will not be used, but you MUST be able hear me speak in order to play, and the game works much better when we can hear you in return! I'm looking for 5 (five!) or so players to take on the roles of apprentice Ghostbusters, applying for a new job at a new Ghostbusters franchise being set up in New York City. The rules are extremely simple: Your character has four TRAITS: Brains, Muscles, Moves, and Cool. Each TRAIT has a starting value of 3; no trait can be lower than 2, but you may reduce a trait by 1 to add 1 to another trait. Example: Bob has Brains of 2, Muscles of 4, Moves of 3 and Cool of 2. Your character has one TALENT for each TRAIT; for example, "Parapsychology" for a Brains Talent, or "Climbing" for a Moves Talent. Each TALENT is its corresponding TRAIT, plus 3. Example: Bob has Brains Talent Memory of 2+3= (5), Muscles Talent Lift Stuff of 4+3= (7), Moves Talent Run of 3+3= (6), and Cool Talent of Flirt With Cute Chicks of 2+3= (5). To do something, you roll a number of 6-sided dice equal to the Trait or Talent you're using. If you roll a total higher than the target number for the difficulty of your action, you succeed. If you roll lower, you fail. It's that simple! Except... one of those dice is a Ghost Die. If it comes up as a Ghost, Something Bad Happens! You may still succeed in your task, but there's a downside. You might trip and fall, you might have bumped into someone or broken something, you might have suddenly remembered you never sent your mother flowers on her birthday last week, it all depends on the situation. To apply for this ONE-SHOT game, please provide the following information in your post: Character Name Their stats, ie Traits and Talents. Their goal in life, a simple idea of what motivates them (for roleplaying purposes.) A brief background, one or two paragraphs of story telling us who they are. Your bank account information, including PIN and Security Question I'm joking about number five, of course. You don't need to include the PIN. If you really don't have any ideas for a character, there are a few pre-gens available. I will be accepting the first five (5) people who respond correctly in this forum posting; should more than that number apply, I will be forced to choose amongst those whose characters I like best, or whomever offers me the biggest bribe. If you are not chosen, for some reason, don't worry... I plan to run this game again in the future! -Phnord, who is a little bit afraid of some ghosts! Some Example Characters (Pre-gens you can play if you're, like, all boring and stuff!) (These were created by previous players of this exact game!) Brian "Professor" Jenkins: Brian, known as Prof to his friends, had tenure at the University of Toronto. He taught physics and history as his specialties. Recently, he had become interested in ghosts and the paranormal after an odd experience with his mother... his dead mother. The more he researched the paranormal, the more he became sure that it did, in fact, exist. Sharing this with colleagues made him the object of snickers and snide remarks. So much so, that he took a leave of absence to investigate ghost sightings and hopefully bring back proof to his doubting colleagues. He headed down to New York, believing that city was the nexus of paranormal activity. His wife, Helen, remained at the university as a History teacher and remains a potential research contact. He carries a Canon XLR with a modified lens, for the purpose of photographing a ghost in the act of, well, haunting. Driving motivation: The truth is out there, and he is going to find it. Brains 5, Physics 8 Muscles 2, Climbing 5 Moves 3, Listen 6 Cool 2, Orate 5 Gerald Jacobs: Gerald Jacobs is a recent graduate of Columbia University, with a Master's degree in Applied Parapsychology. Rather than pursue his doctorate, he's decided to take on a job utilizing what he knows in the real world. Gerald is a keen observer of human nature and has cultivated a "cool" personality based on rigorous, data-driven methodology. He talks the talk and walks the walk, because he has carefully studied media trends and has charts that tell him what to say and how to strut. If he put as much time into his parapsychological research as he does into being a cool 80s guy, he'd probably have two or three doctorates by now. Instead, he has two or three girlfriends at any given time, which is pretty great for a kid who got swirlied every day of high school. Gerald is eager to make a name for himself by busting ghosts. The media coverage should give him the opportunity to expand his "cool guy" research. Brains 3, Parapsychology 6 Muscles 2, Run 5 Moves 3, Strut 6 Cool 4, Fast-talk 7 Elizabeth Mendler: Liz is a plucky and animated 20 year-old New Yorker with a passion for life. Although her parents wanted her to do something practical with her life, she was always drawn to more artistic and off-beat outlets. She dropped out of nursing school a year into the program to pursue an acting career. When she saw that Ghostbusters was hiring, she figured it would be a way to make some quick cash and make her way into the lime-light. She was more than a little skeptical at first about "real life" paranormal occurrences. She figured the Ghostbuster franchise was just some kind of scheme that she would be able to put her skills to good use. After her first bust, a whole new world opened up for Liz and she's been studying up on the paranormal with enthusiasm. People may write her off for having her head in the clouds, but she's very determined when she puts her mind to something. Motivation: Can't decide between fame and serving humanity. Brains 3, Medicine 6 Muscles 2, Break Things 5 Moves 3, Disguise 6 Cool 4, Charm 7 PS: Game Inspired by, and using, Alan H's Ghostbusters Tokens! Thanks Alan H!
