Ghostbusters

[Steve]

Despite it's more modern setting, there are a number of elements in this movie that seems more Pulp than any other genre. I only found one thread when I searched on it.

 

Ghostbusters HERO

 

I mean seriously, a campaign about ghostbusting with the toys they were running around using just seems to scream Pulp.

[csyphrett]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

They are also said to be a good layout for a lot of mystery adventures.

CES

[Ternaugh]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

How about an adjustment of the time period to the '20s and '30s? I think that it could easily make the transition. Think of all of the angry dead from the Great War, or the flu epidemic. Of course, you'd also have real cults trying to pull in ancient evils, and the Art-Deco buildings would be a bit newer, though no less dangerous. And would gangsters who die leave really nasty gangs of ghosts?

 

The proton accelerators need a bit of tweaking, perhaps based upon this newfangled Radio and maybe lots of vacuum valves to make them a little less certain to use (more fragile). Laser containment grids are out, but maybe you could hold the spooks with a Tesla coil or two. Thomas Edison could rail about how dangerous the equipment is, and threaten to shut it down.

 

If set in the early to mid-twenties, you could even have Harry Houdini try to bust them as frauds. You could use Aleister Crowley as a reoccuring villain, or unwitting dupe.

 

Now, if I could only talk my players into a game...

 

JoeG

[Curufea]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

Radium powered ether acceleration contrivances combined with a device to manipulate and contain ectoplasmic anima for the purposes of safe disposal with minimum causal entropy.

[Lord Liaden]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

Heck, if you want pulp technobabble you can't do better than E.E. "Doc" Smith.

 

Obviously a ghost is actually a disembodied pure intelligence; to affect it you'll need a sixth-order tractor ray projector (thought being a sixth-order wave), while trapping it would require a zone of force generating a total stasis in the sub-ether.

[Karmakaze]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

I'm running a modern pulp/horror game now that's been heavily influenced by Ghostbusters. Lacking a Gozer-type event, the PCs don't have the general acceptance the Ghostbusters earned from the movies, but one of the PCs is a pretty thinly disguised Egon...

[Game Show Man]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

Did someone say "update?" I've started posting writeups of the original Ghostbusters characters on the Ghostbusters HERO thread mentioned above. Check it out and advise.

[DrFaust]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

Thomas Edison could rail about how dangerous the equipment is' date=' and threaten to shut it down.[/quote']

 

He's just jealous; he couldn't get his necrophone to work, and here these shlubs are, running around and capturing the things!

[AlHazred]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

There have been a few Victorian and later inventions that would fit well with a Pulp Ghostbusters campaign.

 

As already hinted at, at the time of his death Thomas Edison was working on a device that could be used to communicate with the dead. He died in 1931, the device still unfinished, though some claimed to have been shown prototypes. While checking it out, I stumbled across a site that had some additional info: supposedly, Edison contacted people at a seance in 1941 and suggested improvements. I haven't been able to find out much more about it, but given the popularity of EVP, there must be something...

[Troll]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

How about using Harry Price? He was the father of ghost investigation.

 

http://www.harryprice.co.uk/

[Troll]

Re: Ghostbusters

 

Here is a link to a photo of the ghost hunting kit Harry Price used.

 

http://www.harryprice.co.uk/Gallery/Price/price_ghostkit.htm

[Steve]

Cast Thread Necromancy.

[wcw43921]

Would this work?  To my mind, Ghostbusters is first and foremost a comedy, and most (if not all) pulp, while it may have supernatural elements, is, to my mind, as serious as a heart attack followed by a murder indictment.  Talk about crossing the streams here.

 

Perhaps if someone could point out some comedic pulp adventures I might be able to reconsider my opinion.

[dmjalund]

5 hours ago, wcw43921 said:

Perhaps if someone could point out some comedic pulp adventures I might be able to reconsider my opinion.

The 1999 Film, The Mummy with Brendan Frazer

[Tjack]

 “THERE’S A SNAKE IN THE PLANE JOCK!!!!”

   I give you Raider’s of the Lost Ark.

[IndianaJoe3]

I think there's a difference between comedic elements in an action/adventure story (Raiders, The Mummy) and a comedy film with some action elements (Ghostbusters, George of the Jungle).

[Steve]

Abbot & Costello films from that era maybe? They met Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman.

 

There’s also the Sailor Steve Costigan series of stories by Robert E. Howard.

[Chris Goodwin]

Ghostbusters was not a comedy movie!  They were dealing with serious problems with serious consequences.  Except that the arguable protagonist (Pete Venkman) takes nothing seriously and lives his life cracking wise, and since he's portrayed by a brilliant actor (Bill Murray) with impeccable comic timing, who makes us laugh multiple times in every scene, we think it's a comedy.  

 

Hence, the original licensed Ghostbusters RPG, while brilliant, slightly missed the point of the movie.  

[Lord Liaden]

I do think Ghostbusters is a comedy. Sure there are moments of drama and horror, and the consequences are serious; but almost everything is pushed that extra bit bigger, louder, more incongruous, until it verges on the absurd. And all the Ghostbusters say funny things, although Peter is the only character who's aware he's saying funny things. We laugh at the other characters because they're oblivious to the jokes, but we laugh with Peter because he lets us in on the joke.

[DShomshak]

Like new Shimmer, which is both a floor wax AND a dessert topping, Ghostbusters managed to be both wacky comedy AND supernatural horror.  A truly incredible achievement.

 

Bairtd Searles, the movie and TV reviewer for Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when it came out, compared the initial "play the supernatural for laughs" to the frothy fantasies of Thorne Smith, sliding seamlessly to something worthy of H. P. Lovecraft. He was gobsmacked.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Tjack]

8 hours ago, DShomshak said:

Like new Shimmer, which is both a floor wax AND a dessert topping, Ghostbusters managed to be both wacky comedy AND supernatural horror.  A truly incredible achievement.

 

Bairtd Searles, the movie and TV reviewer for Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when it came out, compared the initial "play the supernatural for laughs" to the frothy fantasies of Thorne Smith, sliding seamlessly to something worthy of H. P. Lovecraft. He was gobsmacked.

 

Dean Shomshak

   Nice pull on the SNL reference.  Wasn’t that Dan Ackroyd as the pitchman and Bill Murray as the husband?   That’s double points.

****EDIT**** Nope, sorry, the judges just checked the game tapes on YouTube and it was Chevy Chase as the Pitchman and Ackroyd as the husband.  But you keep your original score.  Resume Play!👨‍⚖️