Madmen & Masterminds Question:the Skymaster

[FenrisUlf]

Just (finally!) got the book, love it, even if that ghoul character seems a bit nasty for Pulp, but I have one rather specific question: is the Skymaster G-8 gone bad? I can't help but to get that vibe off of him, especially with his mysterious past and his skill list (his Disguise and Acting both seem oddly high for a mainly aviation villain). Did the horrors of WW1 drive the formerly heroic G-8 over the edge? Or did Herr Doktor Krueger nail him with a dose of mind-altering nerve gas in their last battle?

[Steve Long]

The Skymaster was based on a one-line blurb/description I sent Rob Hudson for a villain I wanted to see in the book. He took that one line and went a-runnin'. I couldn't say what his inspirations might have been, but I didn't have G-8 in mind when I wrote the blurb.

[Kharis2000]

Actually, the only conscious reference to G-8 that I put into Skymaster's writeup was the nod in the section where the different versions of his (Skymaster's) 'origin story' were discussed. I'm not going to claim that there were not any other G-8 influences that crept in, but I have to (embarrassingly) admit that I actually don't own anyof the G-8 stories. I've read a number of summaries of the character and the like, but I've never had the opportunity to sit down and read the novels.

Mostly what I had in mind was to create a faceless threat that would be easy to tailor to an individual campaign if desired; also, by giving Skymaster no defined backstory other than that created by his actions, I hoped to come up with something a bit different and 'pulpish' in a different way as opposed to Dr. Fang or the other masterminds.

That said, there's nothing to say that you can't decide that Skymaster *is* G-8 in your game and give the players a chance to reverse the effects of whatever happened to make him turn evil. That's what makes everyone's game unique!

[FenrisUlf]

Thanks to both Messers. Hudson & Long for the response. And giving characters amysterious background is one way to get around pesky players who read all the books and think they (or their characters) now know everything.

But I do like the idea of a Pulp hero gone evil, even if that wasn't the intent.

[CrosshairCollie]

Ignorant Pulp Newbie Question Time.

What's a G-8?

(And now, I have those old V-8 commercials going through my head. "Wow!" *slaps forehead* "I coulda had a G-8!")

[Steve Long]

What's a G-8?

G-8 and his Battle Aces was a long-running (110 issues) Pulp magazine. The main characters, particularly G-8, were all ace aviators during the Great War. They also did spying, behind-enemy-lines commando work, and whatever else author Robert Hogan wanted them to, but there was always a heavy aviation element. G-8 frequently fought German aviators who tricked out their planes to look like dragons, giant dogs, enormous vampire bats, or whatever to scare the bejesus out of Our Boys.

You can get plenty of G-8 reprints from places like the Vintage Library and Adventure House, if you're interested. They're not bad Pulp stories, overall, but for my taste three or four of 'em is plenty. ;)

You can learn a bit more at this webpage and its links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-8_%28character%29

[st barbara]

"G-8 Reprints" " MMM! ("St Barbara" wipes drool from chin !) Writeups I have seen on "G8" seem to imply (actually they state it outright !) that "G8" was pretty weird. At this point I will include a quote (which I have used before) from Don Hutchison's "The Great Pulp Heroes" to illustrate the point. "Flying dragons, legions of defrosted vikings,death rays, robot soldiers,invisible monsters, tiger men, zombies, hordes of giant, mancarrying, bats from the Mato Grosso. Nothing, simply nothing was too fiendish or too gruesome for the Kaiser's mad scientists". What more could you ask for in a Pulp Adventure ?;)

[mraley]

I have to (embarrassingly) admit that I actually don't own anyof the G-8 stories. I've read a number of summaries of the character and the like, but I've never had the opportunity to sit down and read the novels.

And now I know what to get him for Christmas!

Mary Ann