Unholy Toledo: NPCs for Ghostbusters

The non-player characters below were created for a drop-in campaign I ran during college. It was a little different than most Ghostbusters campaigns, in that players played themselves as employees of an NPC-owned franchise. The first two NPCs described here were those owners.

The rest of the characters described here were created at potential "Petty Informants & Minor Irritants" for the campaign. Most are based on real people I encountered around 1990s Toledo, and a few are real people.

Betty Johnson

Secretary at Ghostbusters Toledo

When Betty Johnson met Buddy Block, she was secretary in the Toledo Blade editorial offices and he was the long-lost "crazy Block cousin" who had drifted into town and demanded a meeting with his family. Recognizing that Betty was an intelligent woman trapped in a dead-end job, he convinced her to leave the Blade and put up her entire life savings to help buy a Ghostbusters franchise. She impulsively accepted the offer and became Buddy’s silent partner in Ghostbusters Inc. of Toledo.

Rebecca Johnson is a black female in her early 40s whose filing system is completely incomprehensible to anyone else. That’s because she doesn’t have a filing system; she just remembers where everything is. (Heaven help the Ghostbusters if she calls in sick or goes home early, however.) She maintains a friendly professional distance from the field operatives (she thinks they’re even crazier than the Blade’s editors), although she occasionally offers bits of advice.

Most of the PC field operatives don’t realize how important important Betty is to the franchise, and just think of her as the woman who answers their telephone. She is in fact in charge of bookeeping, public relations, and dealing with the GBI main office (Buddy couldn’t handle any of that paperwork by himself).

Brains	3	Remember Where Things Are	6
Muscles	2	Open Stuck Filing Cabinet	5
Moves	2	Pretend to File Things	5
Cool	3	Remain Calm When Her Coworkers Can’t	6

• Goal: Money
• Distinctive Mannerism: Calls people "Honey".

Billy Joe Jimmy Bob Bart "Buddy" Block Jr, Ph.D.

President of Ghostbusters of Toledo, Inc.

William Joseph James Robert Barthalomew "Buddy" Block Jr. is the long lost hell-raising texan cousin of the Block family (publishers of the Toledo Blade, the local newspaper). Sent to the University of Toledo by his exasperated parents (who hoped living with his dull cousins would calm him down), he dropped out of college and traveled around the world for 25 years in search of adventure, romance, and good beer. His only contact with his family was an occassional postcard to his favorite cousins in Toledo, Ohio, admonishing them to "lighten up and travel more".

Reported killed or missing at least a half dozen times, Buddy was eventually disowned and declared dead by his family after disappearing in the Amazon in eight years ago. When he showed up in Toledo (in the spring of 1992) planning to claim his share of the family fortune and open a Ghostbusters franchise, they were somewhat annoyed.

Buddy has finally gotten tired of travelling and has decided to settle down (for a while, anyway) and get back in touch with the only relatives he ever had fun with. The Blocks of Toledo really never had that much fun with Buddy, however, and refused to turn over his lost inheritance. After a lot of discussion (punctuated by a few gunshots in the den), they agreed to provide the start-up money for Buddy’s franchise if he promised to leave them alone.

Buddy is a stereotypical texan, who talks loudly and calls everyone "boy", "partner", "pilgrim", "son" or "little lady". He wears a ten gallon hat and cowboy boots with his jump suit, and takes along a couple of six shooters just in case he runs into a solid opponent. People often confuse his enthusiasm for foolishness, and don’t realize he has a Ph.D. (from Oxford, no less) in Parapsychology.

Buddy Block has travelled extensively and seen a lot of strange things. He often exclaims that situations "Remind me of something that happened in Zimbabwe" (or Nepal, or Brazil, or Egypt, or Twin Peaks, etc.).

Brains	3	Parapsychology	6
Muscles	3	Wrestle Alligator	6
Moves	2	Shoot Six-Gun	9
Cool	6	Shout	9

• Goal: Adventure
• Distinctive Mannerisms: Talks in bad Texan accent.

Apocalypse Eddie

Deranged Homeless Man

Eddie is an elderly homeless man who lives on the East Side (Nobody knows his real name; "Eddie" is a name he picked up at a local soup kitchen). When he can panhandle some spare change, he likes to ride the TARTA bus around town for the whole afternoon.

Eddie is just a little bit unbalanced and convinced that the world is going to end in some religious nuclear apocalypse which he might be able to prevent if he can get people to help him. He starts explaining the coming End Of The World to whoever happens to be sitting next to him. Because he pays his fare, the bus driver can’t throw him off unless he gets violent (which he never does) or gets too loud (he actually does yell a lot, but listens when the bus drivers tell him to quiet down).

Brains	1	Predict The End Of The World	4
Muscles	3	Sleep Outdoors	6
Moves	2	Attract Attention	5
Cool	4	Panhandle	7

• Goal: Prevent The End Of The World
• Tags: Waves his arms a lot; shouts a lot

Fran

Grumpy Bus Driver

Fran is a big middle-aged black woman who just wants to get her bus back to the depot on time without any hassle from her riders. She treats anyone who asks a question like an idiot and never makes extra stops. Fran wants her riders to follow all of TARTA‘s rules to the letter, and will probably object to any Ghostbuster who tries to board her bus in full gear.

Brains	2	Know Rules	5
Muscles	4	Shove	7
Moves	3	Drive Bus	6
Cool	5	Yell	8

• Goal: Serve TARTA
• Tags: Never smiles

Frank E. Horton, Ph.D.

University President

Frank Horton is the overpaid president of the University of Toledo, roundly praised by alumni and resoundingly despised by the students. In Ghostbusters adventures, he serves mostly to sign Damage Releases for UT, although student PCs may attempt to shoot him with a proton pack, having confused him with certain Demons of Avarice.

Brains	3	Increase Tuition	6
Muscles	2	Consume Alcohol	5
Moves	1	Smile Vapidly	4
Cool	2	Give Speech	5

• Goal: Money
• Tags: Staggers

Joey and Ettie

Born Again Christians

Joey and Ettie are two born again Christians who often ride the same bus. Ettie is a charismatic Christian but Joey isn’t. When they meet, they while away the time discussing various aspects of Born Again theology, such as the necessity or non-necessity of speaking tongues, the importance of faith healing, and what’s wrong with Catholicism. The almost never ask other people’s opinions on the matter, but Joey does hand out small fliers.

Joey and Ettie don’t quite know what to make of Ghostbusting, although they’re pretty sure ghosts are agents of the Devil. If they meet a Ghostbuster in uniform, they might decide to ask him a lot of leading questions about Ghostbusting.

Joey and Ettie have the sames stats, because I just don’t feel like differentiating them that much.

Brains	2	Theology	5
Muscles	2	Hard Work	5
Moves	1	Hand Out Literature	4
Cool	4	Debate	7

• Goals: Be Good Christians
• Tags: End every conversation with “Bless you”

Loud Larry

Local Drunk

Loud Larry lives in a gray apartment building on 10th Street, around the corner from the Franchise HQ. He’s currently living just above poverty level, working in a dead end job and spending all his spare money on booze.

Once every couple of weeks, Larry gets good and blasted, then walks around the neighborhood at night yelling strange things like "It’s all a game! Ya hear me? It’s all a game!", that while meaning nothing in particular, might make the players jump a little.

Brains	1	Find Way Home	4
Muscles	4	Consume Alcohol	7
Moves	2	Hold On To Bottle	5
Cool	4	Shout	7

• Goal: Get A Better Job So He Can Buy More Alcohol
• Tags: Carries bottle in brown paper bag

Michael Bauser

Transplanted Michigander Turned Social Scientist

Michael is an anthropology major at the University of Toledo. He knows most of the local Ghostbusters, being an officer of UT-BASH and Jon’s roommate. Michael likes to hear and tell strange stories and rumors, and might appear in an adventure to pass some info along to the Ghostbusters. Other than dodging ECTO-1 when it roars out on a late night call, his only role in the campaign is to be occasionally possessed by an omnipotent being that calls itself the Ghostmaster.

Brains	4	Anthropology	7
Cool	4	Collect Signatures	7
Moves	1	Gossip	4
Muscle	2	Carry Backpack	5

• Goal: Serving Humanity
• Distinctive Mannerism: Wears sunglasses indoors

Officer Melvin

UT Police Officer

Officer Melvin is a born and bred Buckeye (which may explain why he looks a little like Jim Nabors) who always dreamed of becoming a police officer. The first in his farming family to go to college, he become a Law Enforcement major at UT, graduating near the bottom of is class, but on good terms with all of his instructors. This made him a natural, of course, for joining the UT Police Department, so he applied for the next available position and got it.

Officer Melvin is yet another of the well-intentioned idiots working for the University and zealously carries out his job to the best of his abilities. He tickets ECTO-1 every time it’s parked on campus, asks the Ghostbusters for identification every time he sees them snooping around, and generally tries to keep them from having any fun at all. He’s almost oblivious to any real crimes on campus, and shrugs off any reports of crimes he hasn’t observed himself.

Officer Melvin thinks he’s pretty cool, however, and wanders through the dorms once every patrol talking to students he thinks actually like him (of course, he only talks to clean-cut kids who won’t tell him to get lost, so he hasn’t realized how many jokes he’s the butt of). He does know that some "bad characters" don’t respect him or his job, but "that’s their problem".

Brains	2	Write Ticket	5
Muscles	2	Eat Doughnuts	5
Moves	3	Drive Patrol	6
Cool	1	Talk Tough	4

• Goal: Serve & Protect
• Tags: Always has one hand on his belt

Phil

Friendly Bus Driver

Phil is a hard-working and friendly guy who has been driving the same route for years. He knows most of the regular riders, and might pick up a ghost story or two gossiping with the people who ride at the front of the bus. He’s also memorized every bus route TARTA has, so he can always tell you what bus you need to get somewhere.

Phil never misses a day of work except for Jewish holidays.

Brains	2	Know Routes	5
Muscles	2	Open Stuck Bus Door	5
Moves	3	Drive Bus	6
Cool	3	Smile	6

• Goal: Serve Bus Riders
• Tags: Always cheerful