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[InSpectres] ghostbusters + business sim!
robotsunshine
regular
regular
InSpectres - http://memento-mori.com/inspectres/
"Fighting the forces of darkness so you don't have to!"
It's an indie-RPG created by Jared Sorensen. In it, you play employees of one of several successful InSpectres franchises across the country. You're ghostbusters, going around solving problems of your clients and trying to stay afloat, financially. The extra catch - it's a filmed reality show. Cameras follow you (anyone seen Ghost Hunters on the SciFi channel? Think that + comedy) as you go about your duties.
You're playing a mystery, so you're searching for clues as to what the problem is and how to fix it. Except, unlike normal mystery games, here the players will be creating the clues, on the fly, improvising the entire mystery until the resolution (that way, absolutely no one knows the answer until we all figure it out together). Everyone will have a mundane, normal character, probably someone who also has a second job. Play is meant to be comical (GhostBusters is just the right mindset) and the game is loose and fun.
In fact, this game doesn't even need a GM - you can have one for some small adjucation issues, but really, it's not necessary. When you make a success roll, you yourself get to decide what happens as a result. If it's bad, you say how it's bad. If it's good, you say how it's good. (Generally, the GM is responsible for hosing you when it's bad, but you can do it yourself and nothing at all changes about the game).
A neat little feature is the confessional - you've seen this in all reality shows. It's where a person is by themselves, speaking directly into the camera about something, addressing the audience. As players, you get to do this, breaking from the scene to have a confessional, like in all reality shows. The best part, the things you say in confessional become in-game truth - you can change plot elements, have flashbacks, even give traits to other peoples' characters. It's good stuff.
Aside from that, you actually create your own franchise, give it a budget, all that fun stuff. It's a light business-sim on top of the ghostbusting.
If you have the rules, great. However, it's a very rules-light game (it's 80 pages total, the book) and I'm more than happy to give you guys the rules you need to play - and don't worry, there's not that much there to digest. A single post will do.
I live in Georgia, Eastern time zone, and I'm looking to play anytime on Saturdays, preferably after 6 pm but that's not an issue at all (I work nights so I have odd sleep patterns, and I'm always off Saturdays). But due to the nature of the game, you guys don't even need me as a GM, you can feel free to just keep on playing - matter of fact, in addition to playing NPCs for you guys, I'd probably jump in there with you.
The setting is modern day Anytown U.S.A., average joes (I stress that strongly: average, everyday folk) doing some ghostbusting, a film crew capturing it all, and inbetween, trying to not go bankrupt. It's very improv, very free-form, and lots of fun. Character creation should take about 5 to 10 minutes, including making a franchise.
Play will be right here.
Anyone interested?
"Fighting the forces of darkness so you don't have to!"
It's an indie-RPG created by Jared Sorensen. In it, you play employees of one of several successful InSpectres franchises across the country. You're ghostbusters, going around solving problems of your clients and trying to stay afloat, financially. The extra catch - it's a filmed reality show. Cameras follow you (anyone seen Ghost Hunters on the SciFi channel? Think that + comedy) as you go about your duties.
You're playing a mystery, so you're searching for clues as to what the problem is and how to fix it. Except, unlike normal mystery games, here the players will be creating the clues, on the fly, improvising the entire mystery until the resolution (that way, absolutely no one knows the answer until we all figure it out together). Everyone will have a mundane, normal character, probably someone who also has a second job. Play is meant to be comical (GhostBusters is just the right mindset) and the game is loose and fun.
In fact, this game doesn't even need a GM - you can have one for some small adjucation issues, but really, it's not necessary. When you make a success roll, you yourself get to decide what happens as a result. If it's bad, you say how it's bad. If it's good, you say how it's good. (Generally, the GM is responsible for hosing you when it's bad, but you can do it yourself and nothing at all changes about the game).
A neat little feature is the confessional - you've seen this in all reality shows. It's where a person is by themselves, speaking directly into the camera about something, addressing the audience. As players, you get to do this, breaking from the scene to have a confessional, like in all reality shows. The best part, the things you say in confessional become in-game truth - you can change plot elements, have flashbacks, even give traits to other peoples' characters. It's good stuff.
Aside from that, you actually create your own franchise, give it a budget, all that fun stuff. It's a light business-sim on top of the ghostbusting.
If you have the rules, great. However, it's a very rules-light game (it's 80 pages total, the book) and I'm more than happy to give you guys the rules you need to play - and don't worry, there's not that much there to digest. A single post will do.
I live in Georgia, Eastern time zone, and I'm looking to play anytime on Saturdays, preferably after 6 pm but that's not an issue at all (I work nights so I have odd sleep patterns, and I'm always off Saturdays). But due to the nature of the game, you guys don't even need me as a GM, you can feel free to just keep on playing - matter of fact, in addition to playing NPCs for you guys, I'd probably jump in there with you.
The setting is modern day Anytown U.S.A., average joes (I stress that strongly: average, everyday folk) doing some ghostbusting, a film crew capturing it all, and inbetween, trying to not go bankrupt. It's very improv, very free-form, and lots of fun. Character creation should take about 5 to 10 minutes, including making a franchise.
Play will be right here.
Anyone interested?
robotsunshine on
0
Posts
Still, this deserves a post acknowledging it's awesome.
Nope - There's little in the way of rules, and I can present those to anyone wanting to play (not the actual book, mind you, just the necessary mechanics)
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
I'll post the character creation, and hopefully it'll spur some more interest. If you plan to play, feel free to post your character - it's highly encouraged to give feedback and suggestions to each other, for each others' characters (don't be protective!)
- You need a name and a personality. The essentials.
- What was your character's previous occupation, or were they unemployed? Do they still work that job?
- For InSpectres, the more normal and mundane your character is, the funnier situations can get. One of the requirements is to make an average person, not too weird or out there.
- You'll also need to make someone who works well in a team. Loners wouldn't get hired in the first place.
- Lastly, you have a special skill that your local InSpectres franchise found attractive, something that helps out greatly. What is it?
Now we get to skills. You have 9 skill dice to distribute between the four skills. A deficiency in any of them indicates poor aptitude, while lots of dice indicate greatness. No skill can be higher than four or lower than one:- Academics - researching information, coming up with theories; brainpower and analysis, knowledge.
- Athletics - running, swimming, climbing, firearms; the physical counterpart to Academics.
- Technology - Athletics covers basic firearms, but this covers those wacky sci-fi ectoplasmic ray guns. Technology covers having hi-tech resources, knowing how to operate the equipment, and being just generally handy with the special devices used in the job. You'll also roll this when you want to buy Tech equipment.
- Contact - represents your ability to talk and deal with people such as lawyers who want to sue your company, clients who need your help, ghosts who want to haunt you, and everything in between. In also represents how many contacts you have, your list of social resources.
Next, pick a talent. This is a special thing you're good at - Botany, Car Mechanic, Star Trek Geek, Escape Artist, whatever. It's not restricted to any one skill - if you pick Car Mechanic, for example, you could use it in Athletics to wield a monkey wrench as a weapon.And, hey, that's it. That's your agent! Deicde what he does at InSpectres (make up a job title if you want - Chief Ectoplasm Overseer, PR Representative, Therapist, Folklore Consultant, etc.). He'll be going out and assisting the team, just figure out how. And let me beat the dead horse one final time: Normal is better!
From there, you go on to make your franchise. Is it a brand new start-up office? A longstanding branch? What kinds of equipment do you guys have access to? Do you have a personal gym? Are you in debt? Are you facing threats from irate clients and lawyers?
Everyone votes on this together. You can think of it as another character. For the first part, you're just answering the basic questions, everyone tossing out ideas then picking the best as a team.
- How big is your franchise? How long have you been in operation?
- Are you the Main Office? An established franchise? A start-up operation?
- Where is your franchise located? How many people work there?
- Who runs the show? A board of directors or the agents themselves?
- Do investors privately fund it or did you max out all your credit cards?
- What does your franchise look like? What amenities does it feature?
- Are you the only InSpectres franchise in the area? Are there any competitors?
- What kinds of gear do you have access you? What kind of transportation do you have?
- Do you have a specialty?
Don't worry about getting every detail down - part of the game features lets you bring it out during the game, inventing it on the spot. Just get a basic idea of what the franchise is like. Also, if anyone mentions any kind of special hi-tech equipment, you need to make a Technology roll - depending on the success of the roll, you'll be able to elaborate on the detail.You've also got Franchise cards - special cards given out to employees: a library card, a gym card, and a credit card. These cards give you bonus dice on your rolls when you use them.
- Library card - what kind of library do you have? An expansive computer network, a dusty old room? A few books on a shelf? Your library gives you information on your case, and also on ghosts, folklore, legends, etc. It augments your Academics roll.
- Gym card - martial arts dojos, the latest in exercise equipment, or a nasty swimming pool. Your Gym card gets you in shape and augments your Athletics roll.
- Credit card - everyone also gets issued a corporate credit card to tap into the franchise's funds. This helps you buy the latest in ghostbusting technology, special training, or maybe it serves as a constant reminder of your financial failure. This helps augment Technology rolls.
You'll divide your bonus dice among the three cards. Brand new franchises get 5 dice to distribute. An established business can get 10. The Main Office, try 30. Bonus dice aren't transferable - once you stick them on a card, there they stay. Any leftover dice go in The Bank.Using dice from The Bank, you can augment ANY roll - but the downside is that you're playing with the company's finances, and you can easily drain to zero: a single bad roll can wipe out your entire Bank account. You can also use Bank dice to alleviate Stress by going on vacations (Stress is a negative effect gained from ghostbusting).
Now, pick job titles! None of these titles are required, but the ones listed are good suggestions. It's up to the team, though, to pick what they have and what they're called.
- CEO - leader of the franchise.
- CTO - Chief Technical Officer. If you've got a tech-guru, here's a great position for them. They're in charge of inventing, developing, and purchasing technical devices and training.
- CFO - this person keeps track of the finances and manages the cards, as well as spending money gained from each field operation towards the franchise.
Any other titles you want are up to you."You know I don't need that fuddy-duddy nomenclature, son! Just 'janitor' or 'cleanin' man' will do!"
Previous Occupations: janitor, handyman (no longer employed in these fields outside of his InSpectres job), father (employed), husband (unemployed for some time now).
Academics: 3 ("I ain't got no book learnin', but I know my way around a library, son!")
Athletics: 2 ("You boys run on ahead. Ol' Jethro's gonna take the scenic route.")
Technology: 1 ("Proton-pack? Cellular phone? I don't need one of those Flash Gordon zap-o-guns, and whatever happened t' just callin' people on the telly-phone?")
Contact: 3 ("Now, Miz Petunia, these boys didn't mean you no harm. There was an hon'st-t-Gawd ecto-plasmicular entity crawlin' through your begonias!"
Talent: Cleanin' ("My goodness, that little devil's on there tight, i'n't he? That's alright. Somebody get me an au-to jack and some holy wat'r.")
Position: Chief of Maintenance Operations/Team Grandfather (cleanin' out the ECTO-1 or equivalent, telling stories, dispensing the occasional burst of common sense or anecdote about his days when bein' an InSpectre meant something, gol'darn it!)
"What? I'm eating lunch, what does it look like? Jeez. What? I don't know, it was working last time I checked it. Or, no, you're right, it broke. Hey, pass me that salt."
Previous Occupations: fast food cashier, short order cook, cable repair technician (roughly two months in each job)
Academics: 1 (he just pretends to understand what you told him)
Athletics: 3 (makes liberal use of the company's gym)
Technology: 3 (he knows how to use pretty much everything, but with only basic competence)
Contact: 2 (clumsy and absent-minded, with no PR-skills)
Talent: Creepy-Sense (gets a vibe about which areas are the creepiest, signaling him to where ghosts may lurk)
Position: Bill does his share of the grunt work, and is in charge of rolling out the cables, setting up the equipment, turning on the cameras and scanners, and making sure everything's ready to go. From there, he grabs whatever piece of equipment he's been trained to use and takes basic readings. He's a hardcore slacker and skirts his job whenever possible. His adaptability and basic competence in anything he tries landed him a job at InSpectres.