Pulp RPGs General Thread [+]

[Neonchameleon]

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.

I consider actual Lovecraft and CoC the RPG to be separate things here. Lovecraft was pulp - and you could knock out Lovecraft's Cthulhu with a fishing boat. Chaosium CoC (which ironically is the pop culture one) isn't.

 

[Reynard]

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.

The Shadow. Doc Savage. The Sp;ider. Even Indiana Jones.

These are not "ordinary people."

 

[Aldarc]

The Shadow. Doc Savage. The Sp;ider. Even Indiana Jones.

These are not "ordinary people."

Even Conan the Barbarian is a pulp hero but he's larger than life.

 

[Aldarc]

The [+] is to keep things positive and prevent the same old, tired arguments about the style of play, genre, and time period. There are plenty of other threads to hate on games and play styles you don’t like.

One of my all-time favorite genres is pulp adventure. Instead of doing a thread about a specific game, I thought we could use a thread about the genre. So here goes.

This thread takes a broad approach to pulp. If it might be pulp, it's close enough.

I cannot recommend Pulp Hero enough. Even if you never use the mechanics, it's the single best gaming source for introducing the genre and its tropes to people.

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

ETA: Don't know what pulp is? Indiana Jones is pulp.

I also love pulp as a genre (sans the more problematic aspects of the early genre: e.g., racism, sexism, colonialism, etc.).

IMHO, pulp is almost an ideal model for many TTRPGs. It's short form and episodic, which is good for session play. It often focuses more story momentum than realism. It frequently features out of the frying pan and into the fire situations, often ending on cliffhangers. Is it realistic? Who cares?! It's exciting and dramatic! It focuses a bit more on excitement, immediacy of the action, and typically focuses on clear emotional stakes. There is a lot of moral simplicity (and lack of depth) which makes it easy to communicate in play.

 

[dbolack]

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

3 2 1 Action.
Acthtung! Cthulhu.
Adventure!
Amazing Adventures.
Atomic Robo RPG.
Broken Compass.
Daredevils.
Daring Tales of Adventure.
Daring Tales of the Space Lanes.
Dicey Tales.
Dime Heroes.
Everyday Heroes.
Fate Accelerated.
Fate Condensed.
Fate Core.
Forbidden Kingdoms.
Gear Krieg.
GURPS.
Hollow Earth Expedition.
Indiana Jones.
John Carter of Mars.
Justice Inc.
Lucha Libre Hero.
Mercenaires, Spies, and Private Eyes.
Modern Dispatch 42, 46, 86, 98, and 110.
Outgunned Adventure.
Pulp Cthulhu.
Pulp Hero.
Pulp Heroes d20 (from Polyhedron 149, Jan 2002).
Rocket Ship Empires 1936.
Rolemaster Pulp Adventures.
Savage Worlds.
Space 1889.
Spirit of the Century.
Strange Tales of the Century.
Thrilling Adventures.
Thrilling Tales.
Tomorrow City.
Torg.
Troubleshooters.
Two-Fisted Tales.
World War Cthulhu.
Young Centurions.

Two special mentions.

Pulp Hero. The single best general introduction to pulp adventure gaming I've ever found.

Jess Nevin's website. Link. Jess is a librarian with a deep love for pulps, the fantastic, and Victoriana.

I would add Feng Shui.

 

[JConstantine]

The Shadow. Doc Savage. The Sp;ider. Even Indiana Jones.

These are not "ordinary people."

Hence my stating it wasn't strictly true.
The only extraordinary thing about Indiana is his stubborn refusal to acknowledge anything close to magical despite all he's seen.

When I say "ordinary", I mean people without super powers, magical abilities and the like. Indiana Jones, Flash Gordon, John Carter, even Conan. Larger than life, and protected by plot armour, but not super.

Again, yes, not strictly true, when there's The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Phantom, etc. but those blur the line into Golden Age supers because genres are iterative and messy.

(Also, I can't believe you'd mention The Shadow knock-off, Spider, before The Phantom!)

 

[overgeeked]

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.

I do as well. It’s the same difference between something being published in a comic book vs the story itself being in the superhero genre. Only more confusing because they use the same name. Published in a pulp magazine (cheap, low-quality paper) does not make something the pulp genre (gonzo action-adventure).

 

[Aldarc]

I would probably move John Carter in to the second category.

John Carter was the basis for Superman. ERB basically gave John Carter superpowers with the justification that he came from Earth which had greater gravity than Mars. Originally, Superman's powers likewise came from the fact that Krypton supposedly had greater gravity than Earth. It was only later comic book writers that scrapped this idea in favor of Superman being powered by a yellow sun. Also there was some weird stuff about John Carter possibly being immortal or ageless.

 

[Reynard]

Hence my stating it wasn't strictly true.
The only extraordinary thing about Indiana is his stubborn refusal to acknowledge anything close to magical despite all he's seen.

He put all his points into Charisma and Luck.

Again, yes, not strictly true, when there's The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Phantom, etc. but those blur the line into Golden Age supers because genres are iterative and messy.

That is not particularly accurate. Golden Age comics characters were often inspired by pulp heroes, for sure, but there was no concept of supers during the height of the pulp mags.

(Also, I can't believe you'd mention The Shadow knock-off, Spider, before The Phantom!)

It's not my fault. That Billy Zane movie completed wiped The Phantom from my memory.

 

[overgeeked]

The overlap of pulp heroes and superheroes is something people have been talking about for almost a century. Batman being a Shadow knock-off. Superman being at least initially a Doc Savage knock-off. Etc.

The pulp heroes would be the equivalent to street-level superheroes using the superhero genre’s definitions. The Shadow, Doc Savage, et al are those kinds of pulp heroes.

Jess Nevins has already explored this quite a bit. Check out his stuff if you’re interested.