Ghostbreakers: Spirits of Manhattan

Spirits of Manhattan is the third of EN Publishing's W series of supplements that reimagine certain films and TV series and gives them a twist to fit in with the WOIN RPGs, specifically N.O.W. in this case. This one is based on the Ghostbreaker series of films - Ghostbreakers: Spirits of Manhattan, Ghostbreakers II: Ectoplasmic Boogaloo, Ghostbreakers III: Through the Nether, Ghostbreakers IV: Seems Like Teen Spirits, The Ghostbreakers Project and The Ghostbreakers (2010 reboot). Spirits of Manhattan is set in New York in the year 1984 and features the four Ghostbreakers who appear in most of the films, scientist Dr. Aurora Bradshaw, exorcist priest Carlos Martin, scientist Dr. Miles Wheeler and taxi driver Kimberlyn Gardner, plus their receptionist Emeline Holt, a half-ghost (she is fully corporeal and cannot become incorporeal) and Patrick Dempsey, a business major who oversees the team's finances.
The first part of this 74 page supplement written by David F. Chapman has rules for two new careers (Demonologist and Exorcist), equipment used by the Ghostbreakers (their Ghostmobile is a converted pope mobile!), info and floor plans of the locations that feature in the story, and stats for an assortment of supernatural entities. The bulk of the book is the introductory scenario, Spirits of Manhattan, which follows the plot of the first film. It is split into three acts, each of which are broken down into a number of scenes. The book ends with character record sheets for the six characters mentioned above, if you want to use them instead of creating your own characters.

Clearly this supplement is based on the real world Ghostbusters films. As such the tone of it is comedic and not dark or serious. The characters in this adventure are normally those featured in the Ghostbreakers: Spirits of Manhattan movie. If the players prefer, they could create their own characters, usually a combination of scientists, occult experts, students and slackers. Of course, using the adventure as a guide, you could run your game after the events of the movie with your own team of Ghostbreakers, working as a franchise of the main group, located anywhere in the world. All they'd need is some start-up funding, the blueprints of the technology (available for a hefty licensing fee from the original team) and a vehicle they can modify.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this supplement and I very much want to play it. Indeed, it inspired me to send off for the Paranormal Investigator figures and the ECTO-1 vehicle from Crooked Dice Games. I'll review them here as soon as I get them painted. Spirits of Manhattan has suggestions for future scenarios if you want to turn this into a campaign. You could also convert the scenarios from CDG's Paranormal Investigators supplement to add even more variety to your campaign. I bought my copy of Spirits of Manhattan for £15.90 from Amazon UK.