Looking for Indiana Jones-esque RPGs, books, media

[Mercurius]

I was originally going to post this in the media forum but that I'd both get more feedback here and also I'm interested in looking at RPG options.Indiana Jones is just one angle. I'm not particularly looking for 1930s pulp adventure, and any era is fine. What I'm looking for is some combination of archeology, antiquities, lost civilizations, secret societies, occultism, etc. Graham Hancock kind of stuff.I have long been saddened by the fact that no one has really been able to come close to the Indiana Jones films. Some entertaining movies (e.g. the Mummy), but everything else (Alan Quartermain, Tomb Raider, etc) is either too campy, too derivative, or just plain bad.I owned an RPG form the 90s called Nephilim that, if memory served correctly (its in storage), was well done - at least in terms of occult research. What else? What RPGs, films, and novels might fit what I'm looking for?Thanks!

 

[pemerton]

On RPGs: I would have thought that Savage Worlds does this (I'm going from reputation - I've never played it). I think that Burning Wheel could also do it well (with a mediaeval rather than modern feel), but that system may be more demanding than you're looking for.

HeroQuest revised would also handle it pretty well, I think, but may have the opposite problem for you from BW (too heavily dependent on fiction-first and free descriptors, than on specific mechanics).

A final thought is Dungeon World.

(I'm assuming with all these suggestions that you can deliver the fiction but want a system that will give you occult/archaeological pulp. I don't have any fiction/history sourcebooks to recommend.)

 

[Blue]

I'm also interested in the answer to this question. There are some partial answers out there.

Gumshoe seems like it might be a good fit, customizing for archeology just like it was customized for Trail of Cthulhu.

Actually, any Cthulhu RPG has investigation and lost secrets baked into the core. It just also has insanity and things-man-was-not-meant-to-know as major themes. So it could provide a rules base for a partial fit.

Fate / FAE could do it. While any RPG toolset could, many of them are combat-focused to a degree where the other parts won't have as much mechanical support. Though maybe Savage Worlds would be a good fit.

I've heard of Hollow Earth Adventures which seems like it might fit, but never had a chance to check it out.

 

[mcmillan]

Fate / FAE could do it.

Yeah I was thinking Spirit of the Century might work well for what you're looking for https://www.rpgnow.com/product/28296/Spirit-of-the-Century?it=1

 

[Tim Freerksen]

HEROES has a Pulp variant and Spirit of the century are also big ones.

 

[Blue]

HEROES has a Pulp variant and Spirit of the century are also big ones.

Just if you're going to do it with Spirit of the Century, update it to Fate Core, which is the newest / most streamlined. And the best organized. It should be minor changes, but major benefits. There's also Young Centurions (teen-aged pulp heroes of the 1910s) and Shadow of the Century (1980s), already using with Fate Core.

There's a product Strange Tales of the Century with an appendix about using SotC with Fate Core, but Google can also help since it's been discussed on forums.

 

[pemerton]

Gumshoe seems like it might be a good fit, customizing for archeology just like it was customized for Trail of Cthulhu.

Actually, any Cthulhu RPG has investigation and lost secrets baked into the core. It just also has insanity and things-man-was-not-meant-to-know as major themes. So it could provide a rules base for a partial fit.

My gut feeling is that Cthulhu-type games may not be gonzo/pulpy enough for Indiana Jones.

GUMSHOE I'm not sure about, but I think it's emphasis on investigation/clues might intellectualise things a bit more than Indiana Jones - where the "investigation" is secondary to the action.

I guess it depends on what style of "archeology, antiquities, lost civilizations, secret societies, occultism, etc" the OP is looking for.

 

[trancejeremy]

There were a few Indiana Jones RPGs. I liked the final one from WEG, which adapted the D6 system to it. The old marvel Indiana Jones comic book was pretty good.

But really, one of the best source material is the Uncle Scrooge comics. He made his fortune prospecting and always liked to go on pulp style adventures.

 

[Blue]

I did start with mentioning that there were a bunch partial solution, but I was interested in a good one.

GUMSHOE I'm not sure about, but I think it's emphasis on investigation/clues might intellectualise things a bit more than Indiana Jones - where the "investigation" is secondary to the action.

Gumshoe is used for space opera (Ashen Stars), modern occult terrorists (The Esoterrorists), mutant police procedurals (Mutant City Blues), vampire spy thriller (Night's Black Agents) as well as others. I'm sure it can focus on action if you want it to.

 

[Wolfpack48]

There is also, of course, Pulp Cthulhu as well:
https://www.chaosium.com/pulp-cthulhu-hardcover/