[Adamant Entertainment] THRILLING TALES - Pulp for D20 Modern

[JPL]

Yup...and as a pulp collector and obsessive, using the word "pulp" as a genre descriptor bugs the living heck out of me. Pulp is a medium, not a genre--it would be like referring to something as being in the "television genre". Pulp was a medium that contained many distinct genres: Hero pulps, science fiction, mystery, wierd menace, westerns, horror, espionage, etc. etc.

But, when in Rome....

A sensible position.

Me, I think that "pulp" is at the very least a "pseudo-genre" for RPG purposes, just because there are various products that pulls the disperate elements from the various kinds of pulps [and cliffhanger serials, and modern homages to all of the above] together into a single setting. "Forbidden Kingdoms" did some of this, as did Polyhedron's "Pulp Heroes."

Kinda like a comic book universe...despite the differences in tone and content between, say, Garth Ennis' "Punisher" and Mark Waid's "Fantastic Four," both take place in the same NYC circa 2004.

"Sam Spade and the Shadow and Tarzan versus Fu Manchu and the Nazi occultist robots" may not have cropped up in the actual pulps, but it makes a hell of an RPG session, and "pulp" is as good a name for it as any.

 

[jaerdaph]

...and actually, I'm going to go ahead and amend the offer: If you order now, I'll include ALL of the December releases as well (including the two that are currently available).

Okay, I joined the Secret Squadron a few days ago - how does this work? - how do I get the Paragon file (I see this is up now at RPGNow).

 

[GMSkarka]

You should have the Paragon now---I uploaded it right before 5:00 central time, and didn't expect that it would be activated for download until Monday, since RPGNow generally doesn't validate product over the weekend. Guess it snuck in under the wire! When I came back from my evening out, it had been activated, so I sent the link out to all Secret Squadron members.

 

[jaerdaph]

Thanks - the email arrived early this morning.

 

[GMSkarka]

For those folks who are interested, we've just released Advanced Class - MESMERIST:



Click on cover to be taken to RPGNow product page.

We currently have 4 of the Advanced Classes available, which means that customers who aren't sure about ordering the full Subscription can instead just grab the Classes, as there are enough now to fill a single RPGNow purchase.

More on the way this coming week!

 

[jmucchiello]

As a thought, have you considered Pulp Future, a la` Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon? (Or are they too Saturday morning serial?)

 

[philreed]

What's the source for the art? Those are nice.

 

[jezter6]

mm...pulp future. now that sounds like a fun idea.

I've always been thinking about playing a retro future game, similar to the zaniness of Q-ship with the technology of the stuff like lost in space...

I dunno how that fits in with pulp, but it sounds like an awesome game to me at least

 

[CarlZog]

Yup...and as a pulp collector and obsessive, using the word "pulp" as a genre descriptor bugs the living heck out of me. Pulp is a medium, not a genre--it would be like referring to something as being in the "television genre". Pulp was a medium that contained many distinct genres: Hero pulps, science fiction, mystery, wierd menace, westerns, horror, espionage, etc. etc.

But, when in Rome....

I agree. It's been very bizarre to watch this term grow and contort in meaning. It's beginning to seem like the term is taking on the meaning of any adventure set in the 1930s to 1950s.

But back in Rome.... most of my exposure to what's becoming known as the "pulp" genre comes from radio shows and movie serials.

For anyone with an interest, I STRONGLY recommend checking out www.serialsquadron.com, a group dedicated to old movie serials. For radio, check out the Cobalt Club -- a group of old radio adventure fans with a huge library of old shows, incl. the Shadow, Doc Savage, et al.

As for what I'd like to see from Adamant's Thrilling Tales series, I'd say aviation rules, and better chase rules in general. Dogfights and aerial adventure are a big part of the stories we're talking about, as well as car and boat chases.

We need rules that don't turn the flight/chase into a board wargame, but encourage cinematic heroics in a high risk environment. Rules that play out to cliffhangers!

Carl

 

[Piratecat]

I'm with Carl on this. For instance, using the Spycraft chase rules with Adventure! d20 turns out to be far too slow and complex. I need something that's fast, exciting and fun based off of opposed rolls... maybe a "degrees of success" mechanic.