If you grew up in the 1980s, repeatedly watched Ghostbusters, (later on The Real Ghostbusters too) and acted like you were really a Ghostbuster, then becoming a Ghostbuster when you grew up was a career choice you considered. It was so important to you, you moved becoming a Ghostbuster before being a sports star, fire fighter/police officer or astronaut. Problem was until you were in high school, maybe even college, you didn’t really know how to make Ghostbusting a career. I wish we had a free web site then! With any career, especially one that involves opening a business, it takes time, training, virtues, and huge some’s of money. Its understandable as most people grow older, they need to make decisions that best fit their lives. Most people don’t become Ghostbusters. Just because Ghostbusting isn’t your day job, doesn’t mean it can’t be one of your hobbies.
In 1986 Ghostbusters™ A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game was published by West End Games, Inc. As the title implies, this is a Ghostbusters roleplaying game, the first of its kind. It allowed you and those you played the game with to open your own franchise, be a trained Ghostbuster, take cases, and bust some ghosts. Its a lot safer then the real thing and maybe more fun.
If you didn’t have Ghostbusters™ A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game or its second printing by the very early 90s, you were probably out of luck. The hobby of being a Ghostbuster part time hasn’t been lost to history. Someone at the office went through the archives, finding the copy of Ghostbusters™ A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game. Hours (days, really weeks) of work have had employees scanning materials, working with them until they were like new.
For all those who wanted to be Ghostbusters and already have a career, Ghostbusters International presents the following:
Manuals
- Roleplaying Training Manual PDF (24.6 MB)
- Operations Manual PDF (76.4 MB)
Reference Files
- Reference Files A PDF (3.4 MB)
- Reference Files B PDF (4.2 MB)
- Reference Files C PDF (4.2 MB)
- Reference Files D PDF (2.3 MB)
Equipment Cards
- Equipment Cards PDF (29.1 MB)
Supplemental Game Books
- Ghost Toasties PDF (171.3 MB)
- Hot Rods Of The Gods (265.7 MB)
- Ghostbusters II: The Adventure (14.5 MB)
ghostbusterscities.com 
This was awesome, a friend was asking if I could this game again. Thank you very much, I played this as a teenager with my best friend, We really enjoyed this game.
Duncan, you are welcome. We’re glad to hear from fans.
All of the Ghostbusters™ The Roleplaying Game material we have (as with any of the printed material we have) was shared for all ghostheads to enjoy. As its part of our history, fan base, our memories and experiences, and with this material out of print it could be costly for fans to own the physical material.
Does anyone have access to the GB International RPG pdf?
We’re sorry if you were having trouble accessing the PDF files. Checking this morning the “training” and “operations” manual PDF files are working. Please let us know if links don’t work. We’ll look into it at our earliest convenience.
every time I try n download says unseccesful for any of the larger files I have plenty of HD space. Used to have this game and was lost due to fire. Went on internet last week and couldnt believe it was a rare collectable. wanted me n my kid ciuld play the game
Rob, thanks for letting us know. This is the first we were hearing about possible errors with the game’s files. I opened the files (through the links on this page) for download. The larger files took more time to open (because of their sizes) on the site, their weren’t any errors.
Educated guess is with your ISP in regards to how fast downloads were at the time. If you continue having problems, we could see about adding safe and spam free download links.
i got them going thanks a lot!!! i think it was a problem on my end used a friends laptop bam! done lol
Rob, you’re welcome. I’m glad you were able to download Ghostbusters™ The Roleplaying Game from GB Inc. Have fun. 🙂
I’m so excited! I’ve loved Ghostbusters ever since I was a kid, and I’ve been itching for a tabletop game based on the series. I’m thrilled to find the PDF’s offered here, thank you so much. I can’t wait to pull my friends into a game!
Faetan, if you’re excited, we’re excited! You’re welcome. Enjoy Ghostbusters™ The Roleplaying Game, happy ‘bustin! 😀
This is awesome! A friend and I were just reminiscing about this game and he lamented that he couldn’t find it anywhere. We now have all the files we need to relive our youths! 😀
Question: Are you thinking of adding the missing module (Scared Stiffs) and any of GBI-era stuff?
lonoxiii, glad we’ve been able to help.
I don’t have the additional modules. Or any of the physical books. What we’re sharing was provided (through scans) from other ghostheads. If other modules are provided to me or if I own the physical material, then eventually one or more could be added.
Have fun with Ghostbusters™ The Roleplaying Game!
This is fantastic. I am getting ready to run a campaign myself and these come in super handy. I have been scouring ebay for original copies, but some just don’t show up. I’d love to see a complete collection of these PDFs, like the Tobin Spirit Guide and the Ghostbusters International Boxed set.
We provided what was shared with us years ago. Should we have additional material to share, it may be added. Tobin’s Spirit Guide can be found amongst our PDF files.
https://ghostbustersinc.wordpress.com/media/tobins-spirit-guide/
Thank you for the compliment. Have fun! 🙂
Hi! And thank you for making all of these available! I LOVED this game as a kid, and would love to play with my RPG group again soon!
Some questions: Are these the same books as the “Ghostbusters International” 1 and 2 core books / sets? Were those just re-releases of this material, or are they other books (revisions or something) that I need to hunt down? Do you have them available if so, or know where I might find them? Thank you so much!
You’re welcome.
The core and supplemental books are the same that was shared at our previous site Ghostbusters International.
They were further cleaned up where applicable before being re-uploaded to Ghostbusters Incorporated.
During the 2000s we were provided the core and supplemental materials (already scanned for us) that have been part of GBI/GB Inc. ever since. We don’t own any of the other supplemental books. If they’re ever provided to us, they can be added here.
I see. Thanks for your help! I have a few of the adventure supplements in pdf that I’d be happy to share if you’re allowed to host them here. 😀
You’re welcome. If the PDF files for the supplemental role playing books are of a high resolution, they could be hosted here for everyone’s enjoyment. You’re contributions would be appreciated.
Please email me at spengs @ ecto-containment dot com.
Hi! I sent an email with the link to my files. I hope they can be of some use. They’re not super quality, but good enough to read online or on a tablet. 🙂
Thanks for sending your copies of the supplemental materials. Unfortunately if I had known your copies of the supplemental books came from another Ghostbusters website, I could have saved us time. Its certainly the thought that counts.
All: I can’t upload the other book files that are already part of Ghostbusters Fans with their watermarks. For anyone who didn’t already know additional ‘adventures’ can be found at GB Fans. They were provided by whomever originally owned them and scanned them for the Ghostbusters community.
If anyone has those same books from either their physical materials and would be willing to scan and share them for all of us here then we’d have high res files that can be used with permission.
Ah, sorry about that. I’ve gotten them from a variety of sources in the past. I do have some of those books at home, and others that weren’t in the shared file. I’ll be traveling back to the US in August, so if I can clean out my storage and find them I’ll be happy to re-scan them myself for y’all! 😀
No worries, you may have not have realized. I wasn’t thinking that the books could have come from another Ghostbusters website. I incorrectly assumed they were your physical books that had been scanned to share.
Your offer to scan your books if you find them would still be appreciated.
I’m so glad I found this site. This game is going for unbelievable amounts on eBay these days. I’d still like to get a physical copy again, but until I can do it for a reasonable amount of money, these will do nicely. Thanks for making them available!
Just curious if these are legal. Not 100% sure what the copyright status of this is. I want to share but don’t want to be promoting pirated materials
Thanks for asking, its a valid concern which I’ve understood.
West End Games (defunct/acquired) since 1998 was a Ghostbusters licensee during the 1980s. The publishing companies who merged/acquired the former companies who owned West End Games since 2003 aren’t a Ghostbusters licensee.
Sony/Columbia Pictures naturally own Ghostbusters and all trademark/copyright properties. Ghostbusters™ A Frightfully Cheerful Roleplaying Game has been part of the former Ghostbusters International, turned Ghostbusters Incorporated since the mid 2000s. They haven’t contacted me about the game books and related files.
GB Inc, Ecto-Containment, Spook Central, and other Ghostbusters sites share these materials as they’re out of print and believe ghostheads should have access to Ghostbusters printed merchandise. If a fan can find an actual copy they can go for $100s (USD) of dollars.
As long as no one is profiting off these printed, turned into digital files, they can be used for reference and enjoyment. Free of charge.
I’ve been looking for this for a while now! Thanks!
You’re welcome, have fun! 🙂
Hey guys. Thank you so much for making all of this available again!
I was looking through Tobin’s guide and, correct me if I’m wrong but… Is it possible that nothing worth mentionning happened in Quebec/Canada? Me and my potential players are from Quebec and I was looking to make them play a Quebec-City-based franchise… Any material out there, official or not?
As always ghostheads are welcome. 🙂 I’m sorry I don’t have an answer about Canadian based GBI Roleplaying “adventures” and supplemental books. If someone knows, I’d be interested as well.
Maybe even rarer, if someone still have these books in French or another language, they were or could be scanned, I could add them to the site.
Personally growing up in the 1980s as a kid in the US I didn’t really know what a roleplaying game was. Maybe blame it on not having siblings lol I also didn’t know Ghostbusters has expanded from its to movie to role playing gaming adventures.
Hey guys, if you want to actually HEAR this game being played, check out Side Quests by Cthulhu & Friends! Their first four episodes are Ghostbusters, and they have another campaign coming soon.
http://geeklyinc.com/category/side-quests/
Thanks so much for making this available!
You’re welcome, enjoy!
Thank you! This was the first RPG I bought with my very own money!
You’re welcome, thank you for sharing. 🙂
Can you help me on how equipment works, I think you can have up to 3 but what happens if you pick the ecto-1 because ive read both manuals and found no results.
*Edit* To combine similar comments.
I have a physical copy at I’m trying to sale. Anyone interested?
So Awesome. I’ve loved Ghostbusters ever since I was a kid. I still have the glow in the dark magnet(wish I still had the toys tho), and I’ve been itching for a tabletop game based on the series. Seen Cfpodcast (Cthulhu & Friends) role played this game and it sounds fun. So I’m thrilled to find the PDF’s offered here, thank you so much. I can’t wait to play with my friends.
You’re welcome, the files were generously provided years ago. We’ve have been the “guardians” for years. 8)
As I was a kid when Ghostbusters™ The Roleplaying Game could have been bought at retail locations and never owned a physical copy I didn’t know it came with a glow in a dark magnet. That’s probably rarer than the actual game.
If anyone actually has the magnet and could scan it. Or if you work with graphics and could recreate it, I’d share it for ghostheads.
Great that this classic game is being kept alive. It’s a shame how many fantastic RPGs RPGs of yesteryear are impossible to find or are prohibitively expensive to acquire and play.
There’s actually a Play-by-Post starting up on Unseen Servant if anyone is interested in playing or lurking 🙂 http://www.unseenservant.us/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=7647
Is anyone interested in buying a copy of this as I have a complete set for sale. If so message us blam2002@hotmail.com
The PDFs aren’t working, sorry.
I’m checking the PDF files as I type this. How fast PDF files load/download depends on file sizes, whenever your computing device was built, (for me when I’m home, 2009) and how fast your internet/data is. For me, at home probably minimal.
Very few people ever tell me these PDF files don’t work. They’ve been on-line since around 2006. If you haven’t, try to download the file(s) again. Maybe at some point, “mirror” links will be created as well to also help with server traffic.
Thank you for providing these.
It is fantastic to be able to get these so easily, items that I would never have had access to as a kid.
You’re welcome. I’ve written about my Ghostbusters fandom. I was also a kid in the ’80s. I wouldn’t have had access to any of this either. Enjoy!
I am just realizing that the Ghosbusters RPG Play by Post I mentioned above, has been going for three-and-a-half years at this point! Wow! I’m not playing but the game is a fun read for sure! Yes, thanks again for these PDFs!
Thank you for still providing this treasure from the past