Created, written, and played on Halloween by Todd Gelbord and John Fiore; illustration by Adam Otero  What lurks within the shadows of these infamous places? Nothing. What hides in the darkest corners of their most notorious rooms? Dust. Maybe a spider. There are no supernatural forces at work within any of these buildings, no poltergeists aching for justice, and no legitimate scientific evidence to suggest that creaking boards and poor insulation are phenomena requiring more than just a good contractor. Yet, defying all common sense, rare individuals have arisen to brave the horrors of personal humiliation and professional ridicule in order to prove that which cannot be proven – that ghosts really do exist! Armed with state-of-the-art thingies, these champions of too-much-free-time take rationalizing to the extreme and get all up in reality's grill, daring it to shake their unwavering belief in the Beyond! Hero Types Ghost Hunter – Truth seeker; believes in his or her own unproven sensitivity to spirits Ghost Hunter's Friend – Hanger-on; defends ghost hunter against common sense Psychic – Spirit communicator; conducts séances or “speaks” with dead people Paranormal Technician – Gadget user; interprets vague data in creative ways Hero Affiliations The ____________ Paranormal Research Institute – an “organization” that meets in the leader’s mom’s basement Cable TV Production Studio – a broadcast outlet that uses profits from home improvement shows to fund TV programs that document the activities of paranormal research teams HEROES Chuck Wiggins Ghost Hunter The
“victim” of unobserved bullying from beyond the grave, Chuck suffered a
trying and literally unbelievable youth. No one except his long time
friend Smitty believed his tales of the purple-nurple poltergeist, the
wet-willy wight, the book-dumping banshee, or any of the other hundreds
of “traumatizing” trials he claimed to face at the decaying hands of
mischievous, undead youngsters. As an adult, Chuck still carries the
ethereal scars of his youth and spends his time documenting the presence
of those in whom the world seems largely unwilling to believe. The
souls of the deceased turn out to be a fairly lugubrious lot, however,
and so Chuck must be ever more belligerent and antagonistic in the
pursuit of his science. As he grows steadily meaner and more spiteful in
his verbal taunts just to get even the tiniest of reactions from the
spirit world, deep down, Chuck fears that he is becoming the very thing
that tormented him in his youth – a bully. SUIT ABILITIES Clubs [3] – Come and get me!, brazenly taunts the undead Hearts [2] – Fearless Investigator, stands his ground SPECIAL FX King of Clubs – Rippling Biceps: If demons ever make their presence known, Chuck is ready to punch them back into the abyss. Smitty St. James Ghost Hunter’s Friend Smitty
grew up with Chuck on the mean streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and,
to this day, remains the only person to ever say he believes that Chuck
was indeed bullied by those who have passed to the other side. Whether
Smitty truly believes in Chuck’s paranormal experiences, says he
believes in them out of sheer loyalty, or, as his doctor insists upon
and an apartment full of “As seen on TV” merchandise attests to, suffers
from a chemical imbalance in his brain that renders him extraordinarily
gullible, no one can say for certain (but it’s probably the brain
thing). Regardless of his reasons, Smitty remains a steadfast companion
of Chuck as he helps his friend show the world through something
resembling rigorous scientific investigation that the afterlife consists
of milling around dilapidated buildings and historical locations, and
goosing innocent groundskeepers and tourists alike. SUIT ABILITIES Diamonds [3] – Conniver, knows a good thing when he sees it and keeps his cushy job safe the more he convinces Chuck that a demon really did possess him just for a moment. Spades [2] – Gotta Dance!, light on his feet. SPECIAL FX Queen of Hearts – The Great Placate: The only person who can really convince Chuck to keep going (and the producers paying) in the face of absolutely no evidence is Smitty. Arvin Goodly Paranormal Technician, SscyFfie Channel Dishonorably
discharged from the Salvation Army for what classified records refer to
simply as “The Holy Ghost Incident,” Arvin was, for a long time, that
all too common breed of out-of-work true believer in the paranormal.
Out-of-work, that is, until he answered an ad in the paper that read
“Big guy needed to lug around heavy camera equipment and not judge what
it’s used for.” Little did he know that a lifetime of being
that-big-guy-over-there-who-can-carry-heavy-stuff would pay off with a
coveted position on Minnesota’s most prominent paranormal investigative
team. Now, Arvin travels from haunted insane asyla to haunted bed &
breakfasts, trying to expose the realm beyond the veil to hard
scientific analysis and carrying the really heavy stuff. SUIT ABILITIES Clubs [2] – Cameraman, wields three cameras at once, one in each hand and one strapped to his forehead. Clubs [2] – Like a Rock!, completely unmovable by any but the strongest of paranormal forces. Diamonds [1] – Tech-Head, knows how best to use ghost-sensing equipment to the best ghost-detecting effect. SPECIAL FX Jack of Hearts – True Belief: No matter what, Aaron believes in the supernatural and, while his raw faith can’t make ghosts real, it can convert those skeptics who are on the fence into true believers…for a time anyway. ADVENTURE PREMISE Hospital on Unhaunted Hill After
a string of bureaucratic snafus, Minnesota’s August Wade Children’s
Hospital ceased operations in 1999 and has remained abandoned ever
since. Though locked tight by order of the state, the hospital still
sees its share of visitors in the form of drug dealers, vagrants, and
rats. Recently, when a frisky co-ed desperate to escape her parents’
wrath claimed that a ghost had held her in the hospital against her
will, the forgotten health care center was once again in the news. In
truth, the girl had just been too stoned to remember how to get back
home, and this fact was eventually released to the press. But facts can
be easy to ignore, especially by someone who is intrigued by
ghosts...someone who had been born at August Wade Children’s
Hospital...someone like Chuck Wiggins...THE RESULTS My
Adventure Locations were the hospital's surgery, nursery, and basement
records room, and all of them featured weird goings-on that could be
EASILY explained. There was nothing remotely supernatural about the
post-raving teenage squatters, the boring documents that revealed no
unusual medical occurrences, the exposed plumbing that only shook when a
nearby train roared by, or the plastic bats on a string. Nevertheless,
Todd's heroes found idiotic ways to try to make everything seem like
there was a ghostly presence behind it, and Chuck made sure to blame his
birth at this hospital for all of his paranormal problems. Ultimately,
the ghost hunters failed, but they utterly refused to admit that
failure. A session report of this game could never do the laughs justice, so I won't even try. As flabbergasted as Todd got when confronted with the mundane, he always managed to get his heroes to champion the cause of their own interests. In the nursery where unlicensed images of Disney characters were peeling from the walls, Todd's heroes even tried to prove that the vengeful spirit of Walt Disney might be behind the non-haunting. In a display of pointless bravado, Chuck and Smitty belligerently challenged Walt Disney's ghost to show itself by daring it to possess them and make them dance like Mary Poppins. Then they called Walt Disney's spirit "pansy," "chicken," and "Minnie," but none of the taunts led to anything. |