Ghostbusters 1986 | New York Needs a New Ghostbusters Team
New York needs Ghostbusters. Build your own franchise, strap on a proton pack, and survive ghosts, gods, aliens and the 1980s.
TYPE
SYSTEM
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$25.00
/ Session
Details
1 player following this game
Bi-weekly / Monday - 12:00 AM UTC
Session Duration / 2–3 hours
1 / 6 Seats Filled
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Meet your party members
1/6
About the adventure
The original Ghostbusters are gone. Officially, they have retired. Unofficially, there are rumours involving accountants, tax havens and several governments that would quite like a word. Unfortunately, the ghosts have not retired with them. So New York needs a new team. That means you. Create your own Ghostbuster, join your fellow paranormal entrepreneurs and establish a brand-new Ghostbusters franchise protecting New York from everything the supernatural world can throw at you. And it can throw quite a lot. You might investigate science experiments that have gone horribly wrong, protect ghosts from something considerably worse than they are, deal with troublesome teenage aliens, or discover why eating breakfast cereal with an ancient god is not necessarily the strangest part of your working day. This is a campaign using the original 1986 Ghostbusters roleplaying game, with classic adventures converted into Foundry VTT and linked together as the continuing story of your own team of Busters. The campaign is funny, strange, fast-moving and deliberately doesn't take itself too seriously. You'll investigate hauntings, talk to extremely questionable witnesses, wave experimental technology at things you don't understand and occasionally discover that crossing the streams might actually have been the sensible option. And all of this happens in 1980s New York. There are giant mobile phones, leg warmers, stonewashed denim, boom boxes, video rental shops and kids breakdancing on street corners. Nobody has Google. Nobody can text you the address. And when somebody says their television is behaving strangely, there is a reasonable chance they mean the television is possessed. Your Ghostbuster is yours. You are not stepping into the shoes of the film characters and you don't need to recreate them. This is your franchise, your team and your increasingly difficult relationship with the insurance company. No previous experience with the Ghostbusters RPG is required. The rules are wonderfully straightforward and we'll learn anything you need at the table. If you know who shot JR, moonwalk over, grab your proton pack, sign the disclaimer and bust some ghosts.
Game style
Combat Lite
Roleplay Heavy
Rules as Written (RaW)
Theater of the Mind
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(14)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
18 games hosted
Highly rated for: Creativity, Storytelling, Beginner Friendly
Average response time: 1 hour
Response rate: 100%
About me
Hello, I am Peter, a professional Game Master and storyteller with more than thirty years of experience in tabletop roleplaying. I focus on clear structure, steady pacing, and story driven play that gives every player room to shine. Through my work on Hollowponds Solo Sagas, and as a published game author whose works include Single Player Mode for R. Talsorian’s Cyberpunk Red and several roleplaying tools and guides, I have developed a consistent style that blends character focused storytelling with solid rules support. My tables are welcoming, organised, and calm, with guidance for new players and space for experienced players to push the story forward. What you can expect from my games: • Smooth pacing and clear communication • A friendly relaxed atmosphere • Fair challenges that respect player agency • Strong story focus supported by the system • Reliable scheduling and preparation About me: I have worked as a teacher, a developer, and a Scrum Master, all of which help me run focused and respectful sessions. I am a trained Mental Health First Aider and pay close attention to accessibility and the needs of neurodiverse players. My goal is always to create a table where everyone feels able to contribute. I run a range of systems including Daggerheart, Cyberpunk Red, Coriolis, Dragonbane, Savage Worlds, and more, and I tailor each session to the tone and pace the group enjoys. You are welcome to see how I run games here: https://www.youtube.com/@HollowpondsSoloSagas
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
You will create your own Ghostbuster and become one of the founding members of a new Ghostbusters franchise in New York. You do not need to recreate a character from the films. In fact, I'd much rather meet your Ghostbuster. Maybe you're a scientist who genuinely understands the equipment. Perhaps you're an occult expert who knows exactly why opening that book is a terrible idea. Maybe you're a former cab driver who saw something impossible one night and decided there had to be money in this. Or perhaps you simply answered the recruitment advert without reading it properly. We'll create characters together using the original 1986 Ghostbusters rules, so new players don't need to prepare anything beforehand. The important thing is that your character has a reason to strap several kilograms of unlicensed nuclear equipment to their back and walk willingly into haunted buildings.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Very little preparation is required. Please join the Discord server before the first session and make sure you have a working microphone. We will play through Foundry VTT, which runs in your browser. There is nothing additional to purchase and you won't need your own copy of the rules. Character creation and a rules introduction will happen together before we begin the campaign. Knowledge of the Ghostbusters films is useful only in the sense that you already understand the important scientific principle: Do not cross the streams. Probably.
What Hollowponds (Peter) brings to the table
You're not just getting someone who has read the adventure five minutes before the session. I'm a published TTRPG writer and designer, the creator of the Hollowponds Solo Sagas YouTube channel, and an experienced GM who has run both one-shots and ongoing campaigns on StartPlaying. I have spent years pulling games apart to understand what makes them work, writing material for them, teaching people how to play them, and then completely ignoring all of that preparation when a player decides to interrogate the receptionist instead. For this campaign, I am converting the original Ghostbusters adventures into a fully prepared Foundry VTT campaign, with maps, handouts, character material and everything needed to bring 1980s New York to life. You'll also get: rules guidance without having to memorise a 40-year-old rulebook an ongoing world where your franchise can build a reputation and suffer the consequences of its previous decisions NPCs who actually have personalities ridiculous voices of varying quality improvisation when you inevitably do something the adventure never anticipated plenty of room for your characters and your choices to drive the story I take the game seriously enough to make it work, but not so seriously that Ghostbusters stops being Ghostbusters. I'll bring the adventures, the ghosts, the weird science, the terrible accents and New York in all its 1980s glory. You bring the people irresponsible enough to strap on the proton packs.
Homebrew rules
The campaign uses the original 1986 Ghostbusters RPG as its foundation. I may make small rulings or adaptations where necessary to make older material work smoothly online and within Foundry VTT, but the intention is to preserve the fast, light and wonderfully chaotic feel of the original game rather than rebuild it into something modern and complicated.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Hollowponds (Peter) creates a safe table
Ghostbusters mixes supernatural threats and horror ideas with comedy and adventure. The tone is intended to be funny and spooky rather than grim or disturbing. We will use Lines and Veils to establish boundaries and the X-Card during play. The Open Door is always in effect, so anyone can step away whenever they need to. Specific adventures may contain different supernatural themes, and I will flag anything significant before a session where appropriate. The table is inclusive. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other discriminatory behaviour towards players are not welcome. The supernatural entities may be terrible. The people around the table shouldn't be.
Content warnings
Safety tools used