Tag: Ghostbusters

2026 Character Creation Challenge Day 20: vs Ghosts

Written by TardisCaptain January 20, 2026January 19, 2026

Who are you going to call for the Day 20 entry in the 2026 #Character Creation Challenge? Um…. not who you think you’re gonna call. Today I am using vs. Ghosts. This is using a system called the VsM Engine that has been used in several small publications covering a variety of genres. I was actually wondering which one I was going to use for the challenge. When I thought about it, doing a game with the Ghostbusters serial numbers filed off sounded like fun.

The PDF that I own has 64 pages in it. The character sheet is only one page and looks pretty simple. Simple is very good for some types of games so let’s see if this makes sense. The character creation steps are presented on page 5. The first step is to pick a name and the book states you can pick something boring or something fun. So I’m going with Professor Proton. Because why not?

Next we write a Bio. Sure since we are keeping it silly. Professor Proton, is not really a professor. He just thinks he is. He may, or may not, have escaped from a certain type of hospital. He needs to stay out in order to continue his research to prove that the supernatural things he has seen really exists. Let’s run with that.

There are five attributes in vs Ghosts. Offense, Defense, Mental, Physical and Investigation. The first two have to do with combat. Mental covers knowledge, willpower or intelligence. Physical is self-explanatory and Investigation allows the character to look stuff out-of-the ordinary (aka clues). I’m given the point values of 6, 4, 4, 3 and 3 to assign as I see fit. Well this guy is more of a egghead than a body builder, so I put the points where I saw fit.

Now I have to choose Professor Proton’s gimmicks. There are good and bad gimmicks. For each good one I select, I also have to take a bad one and the game suggests just taking one of each. I’m going to go with Lucky (he’s been able to give them the slip so far) and Nemesis (those men in the white coats that keep popping up at the most in-opportune time).

The last two steps are recording the character’s Health and Traits. Since I didn’t take any gimmicks that alter it, Professor Proton’s health is 10 and traits are just things like appearance, personality quirks, etc. Apparently you don’t write down any equipment now (even though there is a space for it on the sheet) as it is acquired at the beginning of the gaming session. This is done by drawing cards and looking at the value of the card itself. Apparently no dice are used, just cards. When taking an action in the game, you draw the number of cards equal to the attribute used and compare the highest card value against a target number. I could use my 20-in-One Card Deck by Precis Intermedia that I picked up after I saw a GM use it at a SaltCON.

Afterthoughts:

The character creation was simple. The system seems simple. This could be easily used for a pick up game or a one-shot at a convention. Some of the other VsM games that I could have used instead of this one included vs Assassins, vs Empire, vs Pirates, vs Dragons, vs Moon Men and vs Wastelands.

Additional Notes:

I’m still looking for any blogs that are participating in the 2026 #Character Creation Challenge that I may have missed. Please let me know if you come across any of them. I’d love to give them some love for taking part of the challenge.

Got some family stuff coming up over the next few days. I hope that I’ve got my ducks in a row to get all of my posts up. But if I miss a day, I’ll try to get it up as soon as I can.

Coming Up Next:

Underhaven

This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Conventions, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

SaltCON-End of Summer After Action Report

Written by TardisCaptain September 5, 2023January 14, 2024

SaltCON t-shirts I had picked up at all three conventions

So Father’s Day finally arrived for me on Labor Day Weekend. My wife had purchased my SaltCON-End of Summer ticket as a Father’s Day gift. I had a chance to meet up with some of the friends that I had met at previous conventions. Some people were stating that they had recognized me from before. But I had also missed out on talking with a few others. We saw each other at a distance while getting to different events but didn’t get a chance to stop and talk. So sorry if I missed out on talking with you.

One of the things that I had not mentioned in my SaltCON-Spring and SaltCON-Summer after action reports was the available convention t-shirts (now seen above). These shirts were very reasonably priced for the sizes offered. So I made it a habit of picking one up each con when checking in at the registration desk. I’m grateful that they had a non-blue shirt for the end-of-summer event. And speaking of picking things up.

The dealer that I had picked up several Star Trek Adventures sourcebooks now had the Star Trek: Discovery (2256-2258) Campaign Guide. This was one of the last books that I need (I’m only missing the Strange New Worlds Mission Compendium 2 hardback). From the game swap area I was able to track down a used copy of Ninjas & Superspies for a good price. I was also able to pick up a used copy of Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing as well. Both of these will end up being used in the 2024 Character Creation Challenge as well as other future themed blog posts.

Not in the photo was several gifts that I had picked up for my geek wife. But from one dealer I was able to pick up a Boba Fett pin and a D20 pin to go on my convention backpack. Hopefully you can see them at the bottom of the photo.

Some of the characters that I had a chance to play

I was able to attend all of the games that I had mentioned in my Prepping for SaltCON-End of Summer post. Here is how the games went.

Hyperborea– Yes this was definitely weird and ran pretty smoothly. The GM knew the game pretty well having backed the kickstarter. I wouldn’t turn down an opportunity to play this game again.

Dragonbane– This game really impressed me. The character sheet made sense and I could see the logic behind both the system and the setup. I was originally thinking this was going to be my highlight game of the con, but another game knocked it off on Saturday. In this game your player character could be an intelligent duck. I played a wolfkin who was an excellent fighter.

Fallout– And the game that did grab my highlight of the con was Fallout. Most of us at the table were playing this 2d20 RPG for the first time and it actually made a lot of sense. I quickly understood how it ran (and it explained some items I had questions on other games using this same system). One of the players let me look at his dead-tree version of the book and I’m seriously thinking of adding it to my collection. Especially after I stated thinking of what a Salt Lake based Fallout campaign would be like.

Low Fantasy Gaming– This ran like a D20 clone. In true OSR style fashion, it was quick and deadly. Luckily the rolls went our way and we actually finished the scenario before the allotted time had expired.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition- We had to stop some highway bandits while investigating a logging camp that had stopped sending logs down the river. As it turns out, we had to make peace between the loggers and a Fae queen who was not happy.

Star Trek Adventures– A session that a friend ran that was from one of the adventure books. He ran it pretty well, but it also went really late on a Saturday. I took some of the stuff I had learned from Fallout and was able to apply it here. I’m starting to get a better grasp for the game.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition- The first game I was in was part 4 of 5 of a connected story ran over the weekend. The gamemaster gave us a “Previously on…” flashback so that we understood where we were in the storyline. In the last event, we connected all of the clues together and confronted the final boss. The GM had a homebrewed system that he used to allow us to put all of the clues together and find our suspect. Luckily we had rolled well and was able to catch the bad guys before they realized we were on to them. Had we not rolled well, they could have been more prepared for the final confrontation.

Ghostbusters- It was weird when this game ran because most of the other games had concluded for the con. We had a big quiet room to ourselves. I could see where this early D6 system eventually developed into the Star Wars RPG by West End Games. We had to investigate dinosaur ghosts at the New York Museum of Natural History. Yea, we made a lot of Night at the Museum jokes while playing.

Conclusion:

I had a blast at all three events this year. If you are reading this and can make only one event, I’d recommend making it the spring one as it is the largest. The End-of-Summer event was the second largest in scope and layout at the convention center. I was also able to put a bug in the ear of some people to, hopefully, see more of an expanded used-RPG book swap for next year. The bulk of the convention is boardgames, but I’m there for the roleplaying side of things.

Not only am I making plans to attend next year, I’m also starting to give serious thought about GMing a few games. I really like that classic games such as James Bond and Ghostbusters can find themselves on the schedule. Considering I can play 5E or PF2 anytime, I really want to play the more rare games at conventions to make it more unique.

Have you been to any gaming conventions lately? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.

Conventions, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

Prepping for SaltCON-End of Summer

Written by TardisCaptain August 30, 2023November 16, 2023 1 Comment

I’m going to need one of these for the con.

So in my gaming convention trifecta, I’m going to be attending SaltCON-End of Summer over Labor Day Weekend. My wife had purchased a ticket for me as a Father’s Day gift. It will be interesting to compare this event to the big SaltCON in March and the smaller SaltCON-Summer that was in June. While I do have to take off for a birthday, I don’t have any concerts scheduled for this same weekend.

Once again, I’m really grateful that I can schedule my games in advance. While scheduling mishaps can (and have) taken place, I’m sure that I’m going to have fun at this event. I’ve got an opportunity to play several common games, but several rare games as well.

Game line up for SaltCON-End of Summer:

Hyperborea– A game of swords, sorcery and weird science-fantasy. Reading the description sounded really interesting. This will be my first time playing this system.

Dragonbane– A fantasy game released by Free League Publishing (the same company that released the Alien RPG). This will also be the first time I’ve played this game.

Fallout The Roleplaying Game– Based off of the video game series. I’ve only played part of one of these games, but the world they are set in sounds really interesting. This game was released by Modiphius and uses their 2d20 ruleset. It will be interesting to see how this compares with Dune and Star Trek Adventures.

Low Fantasy Gaming– A system that I’ve been interested in for a while. This has been on the schedule at the last two SaltCONs, but the schedule had never lined up so that I could give this game a try.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition- This adventure is called The Mystery of the Moonstream and it sounded interesting.

Star Trek Adventures– This game is being run by a friend of mine.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition- I actually have two sessions for this system (that’s just how the schedule lined up). I’m wondering how it will compare to the first time I played it at my first SaltCON.

Ghostbusters- The original RPG from West End Games with the D6 system. I’m glad when older RPGs are played at conventions. I’d jump on more of these if they were available.

What should I be on the look out for? Any recommendations for the games I’m going to be playing? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.