Game Dev Series

Meet the Creator: Anthony “LibrariaNPC” DeMinico

Give us a quick overview of what you make!

I wear many hats of a creative nature when not working in libraries. Previously, I’ve done game reviews, a nice collection of game playtesting, a bit of game editing, and even a stint as a blacksmith. Within the last year, I’ve thrown myself into game development, starting with NICHE (generic version of Henshin Heroes, with my co-creator and voice actor Bob Skerry [@bobskerryvoa]) and expanding from there.

How did you get started in gaming?

My first experience with gaming, outside of video games and the “usual” kids board games, was with classic redbook D&D. I was spending the summer with my friend Marc (@marcmakesmaps), we found the books while cleaning the  attic, and we both just fell right into it. From there, I picked up multiple editions of D&D, branched out into other games like Fuzion, classic World of Darkness, BESM, 7th Sea, and literally anything I could get my hands on.

What inspired you to create games?

aHonestly, it was one part curiosity and one part necessity. I’ve always hacked games to try to fit the niche I needed them to fill, but couldn’t ever get the right feel, which would lead to more tinkering and building every time I picked up a new game.

Last year, Bob reached out to me with an idea, and after building that out, I was reminded of all the other half-finished ideas I have sitting around, from Fate SRD hacks to quirky dice system, and I thought I’d finally get some of them up.

What is your next big goal for gaming-related work?

My current big project is GhastBashers, a paranormal investigation RPG inspired by Ghostbusters, SCP, and multiple other investigation comedy/horror sources. It will solely use the lonely twelve-sided die in a roll low dice pool mechanic, and features art by @Nytlin and @Malgymonster. The Kickstarter will launch on July 1st, but you can find a short adventure toolkit and quickstart rules on my itch.io page (see below for more details!).

Learn a Little More about GhastBashers!

The core mechanic for GhastBashers technically started as an idea around 2006. I was introduced to the German RPG Das Schwarze Auge (“The Dark Eye” for the English release) and found the multi-die roll-low mechanic to be intriguing and having a lot of potential. It planted a seed that I’ve been tinkering with ever since.

I’ve been revisiting the idea again and again, still tinkering, testing, and dedicating myself to making a d12-only mechanic that was both narrative and flexible. I kept hitting a wall with design and, thanks to the pandemic, finding any interesting to run. Seeing my plight, a friend said something akin to “You’re building a Ghostbusters costume and proton pack. Why don’t you consider running a Ghostbusters game again?” That was when the pieces came together. We haven’t seen an officially licensed Ghostbusters RPG since 1990 with Ghostbusters International, and while some games like InSpectres or Esoterrorists covered approaches to horror/comedy horror investigation, they just didn’t sit right for me.

This brings me to GhastBashers, which pulls the comedy horror elements of Ghostbusters, the sheer “anything goes” paranormal hunting and categorizing from SCP, makes dabbling nods to Delta Green and the Cthulhu mythos, and provides a toolkit to get the right flavor of horror.

For the fans of the mechanical side of things, it’s a roll-low dice pool system with narrative-first emphasis on gear and character design. With three stats and nine skills, GhastBashers is light on the material needed to grok but will require a great deal of creativity to truly let loose.

Layout is still ongoing, but the book will be an “adventure” sized (8.5”x5.5”) softcover, B&W book of approximately 80-100 pages. Art within the book will be done by @MalgyMonster and @Nytlin, who are both driving forces helping to finish the book on time. A Kickstarter will begin on 7/1 to not only fund a print run, but to release some limited run loot, including (but not limited to) custom-made dice. You can be notified of the Kickstarter’s launch by following here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/librarianpc/ghastbashers-a-ghost-hunting-rpg

At this time, GhastBashers is currently available as a free Quickstart at https://librarianpc.itch.io/ghastbasters, with a full release coming after the Kickstarter.

Follow Anthony on a range of social media, and be sure to sign up for updates about when GhastBashers goes live on Kickstarter!

• Twitter: @LibrariaNPC

• Instagram: @LibrariaNPC_RPG

• Twitch: twitch.tv/librarianpc

• Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/librarianpc

• Website: https://librarianpc.itch.io/