Pulp RPGs General Thread [+]

[Aldarc]

The Troubleshooters might not be intended to be pulp, but I think it would work quite well for it.

Doh! I knew I was forgetting one!

 

[Ulfgeir]

Doh! I knew I was forgetting one!

Was quite an impressive list you got though.

 

[Enaknomolos]

I'll add Dicey Tales to the list. It's Barbarians of Lemuria adapted to pulp, and it does it excellently.

 

[Staffan]

Here's a partial list of pulp RPGs, supplements, and resources.

TORG is fairly pulp-ish in its default mode (though perhaps it's more appropriate to call it "action movie"-oriented), but has the Nile Empire as an extremely pulpy sub-setting with overtones of Egyptian mythology.

Encourage your players (and you, for your NPCs) to think of the character as being played as a famous pulp character, or by a larger-than-life actor. Whenever you take an action, if you think to yourself, "how would Brian Blessed play this scene?" or "What would Indiana Jones do here" you will soon be playing a pulp game whether you intended to or not ...

You misspelled BRIAN BLESSED. His name should always be written in capital letters.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Daggerheart has a very pulp feel especially at tiers 1-2. At present there are too few non-magical character choices for me to think it's there for "standard pulp" and all the official gear is fantasy but it's only a few pages of a supplement away from doing a good Indiana Jones set in the 1930s

 

[JConstantine]

Anyone have any tips, tricks, recommendations, etc for pulp gaming?

This isn't strictly true when looking at the old pulp serials, but for me, the core of what makes a good pulp story can be summed up as "ordinary people in extraordinary situations." So I try to keep that in mind for pulp games.

 

[GreyLord]

Only ones I've played Pulp in would be Amazing Adventures (which was listed) and D20 Modern (which can be utilized to play a Pulp game very easily).

I'd think anything Cthulu (so CoC would count) would also fall under Pulp...though I haven't played CoC myself. I have played Arkham Horror though.

 

[aramis erak]

I've used Savage Worlds for Deadlands, and it felt VERY pulpy. de-pulping SW looks to be a fool's errand.

I also played Spirit of the Century (and not as the GM!) and it was also a great pulp feel. Complete with over the top villain on a bee theme. And I was a wall crawler in a trench coat.

Daggerheart has a bit of a pulp feel for me. I agree with @Neonchameleon about it being a few pages from doing Indiana, but I think it would need more like 30-50 pages for a decent treatment.

Space 1889 is based upon longer pulp novels, but doesn't quite feel pulp when I run it FTF... but I'm more likely to use either JCOM or SavageWorlds: Red Sands in the future. Note that Red Sands is the official licensed adaptation of 1889.

I see two missing:
Cosmic Patrol. it's rules light, intended for rotating GMing with limited GM authority, and build off both pulp comic SF and the early SF pulp serial films, including Buster Crabbe's filmography. (Buster played both Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and in the 1980 TV show, a retired Brigadier in a guest spot). It feels right in line with the 30's to 50's rocket ship SF stories.

Buck Rogers XXVc: AD&D 2e mechanics stripped down just a touch, set in the early comics style Buck flavor. (For those who don't know, there are various versions of Buck... the original Nowlan novels, the Dille comics, the later comics, the Buster Crabbe serials, and the 1980 movie/TV pilot and series. Each a different kind of pulp feel... save season 2 of the TV show, which jumped the shark, while Gil's belly lopped over his belt...) If one can tolerate AD&D 2, it's great and pulpy. Classes: Rocketjock, Warrior, Scout, Engineer, Rogue, Medic. does use NWPs.

Oh, and that reminds me:
Buck Rogers High Adventure Game - TSR's very light Buck ruleset that wasn't based upon AD&D.
TSRs' Conan and it's retroclone, ZeFRS - TSR color table style design, tweaked for doing a better pulp than AD&D could. Not sure it succeeds, but it's fun.

In the right adventures style, Firefly (Cortex Plus) rocks a pulp feel. (Serenity should feel the same, but doesn't. I think Cortex Classic was a serious mismatch to the setting). Match it with GF9's Firefly: the Game if you want a firmer economic grounding or as a mission generator.

Not Exactly RPGs:
Fortune & Glory from Flying Frog. It's a character per player pulp boardgame of Indiana Jones style smash-n-grab archaeology and cliff-hangers ending your turn... Feels very RPGish, especially in co-op.

 

[aramis erak]

This isn't strictly true when looking at the old pulp serials, but for me, the core of what makes a good pulp story can be summed up as "ordinary people in extraordinary situations." So I try to keep that in mind for pulp games.

And Action, action, action! Much of which is not enemies. Environments are important, and good enemies are, too.

If one can pull it off, the Villain Monoguing to his minion as an interlude is a very pulpy thing.

 

[Aldarc]

I'd think anything Cthulu (so CoC would count) would also fall under Pulp...though I haven't played CoC myself. I have played Arkham Horror though.

To an extent. The stories were published in pulp fiction. But Chaosium seems to draw distinction between CoC and Pulp since there is a separate Pulp Cthulhu book for modifying CoC to be pulp.