The player assumes the role of a Ghost Master, a bureaucratic spirit tasked to perform certain duties.

In most levels, the primary goal is to scare all the mortals (humans) and cause them to flee the area in fear or succumb to madness.

If the player is able to complete the mission fairly quickly, there is a multiplier added to the final score.

This score determines the amount of "Gold Plasm" given to the player, which is used to add more spells to ghosts' arsenals.

The bonus level "Class of Spook'em high" is the only downloadable content released for the game.

For example, in the first level the restless spirit Weatherwitch is bound to a vacuum cleaner that the player must destroy in order to free her.

When a mortal's madness bar reaches a certain point, they go insane, which is visible in that they now just roam the area of the scenario in a frenzy and are unable to be scared or maddened any more.

Banished ghosts are no longer usable during that level, but are returned after the mission is complete.

They are able to detect and banish ghosts at a much faster speed than the other "special" mortals mentioned previously.

[17] The staff of X-Play nominated Ghost Master for their 2003 "Best Strategy Game" award,[18] which ultimately went to Rise of Nations.