Pulp archtypes.

[Rage]

So, let us create a list of the archtypes featured within the Pulp genre (and its sub genres) so as to help us (and by us I actually mean me, I'm thinking of running a pulp game.)

So, let us go:
Costumed/gimmick Detectives, e.g the spider, the Spirit, Grey Shirt, The Sandman
Costumed Adventurers: e.g The Phantom, The Terror
Adventurers: e.g Indiana Jones, the gang from The Mummy.
More than mere men: e.g Doc Savage
Dames, Damsels, Love interests: e.g The woman in Red
Jungle Kings: Tarzan, The Phantom, Jill of the Jungle
Ethnic stereotype characters: e.g Fu Man Chu, almost every minority.
Better than average guys: Doc Savage's league, the gang from the mummy.

I've got to be missing some archtypes...

[Emerald Mask]

Two fisted tough guy
Two gunned avenger
Mad Scientist- evil
Forgetful , goofy scientist - good
Damsel in distress
Femme Fatale
earnest youg side kick- cannon fodder
Hulking , impervious to pain enforcer
sleazy informant
Nosy rewporter
Ace pilot
intrepid explorer
Suave, charming cat burglar - jewel thief
These just of the top of my head - and what they were doing balanced ther I do not know.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Only two I can think of off the top of my head are...
The Great White Hunter
& The Noble Savage

[Rage]

hey, it all adds up guys!

[gewing]

How about the Old "codger" who lived through the bad old days and is still tough as nails

Big Jake, a couple characters in Louis LAmour stories...

The unusual background as an explanation
Former sailor who learned martial arts in the Orient, etc...

[Lamrok]

How about the Old "codger" who lived through the bad old days and is still tough as nails

I think it is cool that in pulp stories, the really old codgers are Civil War vets.

Butch Cassidy might be an old codger in a pulp game.

[gewing]

I think it is cool that in pulp stories, the really old codgers are Civil War vets.

Butch Cassidy might be an old codger in a pulp game.

In one of the Louis LAmour stories, the bad guys made the BIG mistake of killing the old Trapper/prospector's mule when it wandered too close to their hideout.

The body of the one who did was found near the old corpse when all the shooting was done a couple weeks later.



In the 80s I shot at Camp Perry with a guy who was a marine in the Pacific in WWII. He had fun talking about surprising the British troops who were practicing throwing their commando knives.

He went back to his tent and brought back a hatchet. Much more effective.

The longest distance Kill by a thrown knife seems to have happened in WWII.

A Ranger (iirc) who had performed knife and lasso tricks during the Depression took out a sentry who walked out the back of the bunker at the wrong time. The bowie(iirc) knife was thrown down hill, but still!!!


70 yards!

[st barbara]

I have always liked the "Occult Detective" (think of "Carnacki the Ghost Finder" or a "Call of Cthulu" character) myself. Someone who investigates "things man was not meant to know about" ! Another character type that could work is the "Stage magician/Escapologist". Harry Houdini made at least one movie serial after all. Or what about a stuntman from Hollywood with all those riding, acting, breakfall and fighting skills !

[st barbara]

Then again there is the "tough as nails" Private Detective (like Sam Spade) and the "Great White Hunter" (Lord John Roxton, Alan Quartermain). Another that could be considered is the "Ex-Pro Fighter " (or wrestler)

[st barbara]

oops ! Sorry "Amadan Na Bionna" I see that you had already mentioned "Great White Hunters". The "Dashing Aviator/Aviatrix" (think Charles Lindbergh or Amy Johnson) works well in a pulp setting too !

[ZootSoot]

I don't know if this qualifies as an archetype but I have used him in a few games: The Fraudulent Psychic/Spiritualist

[gewing]

I have always liked the "Occult Detective" (think of "Carnacki the Ghost Finder" or a "Call of Cthulu" character) myself. Someone who investigates "things man was not meant to know about" ! Another character type that could work is the "Stage magician/Escapologist". Harry Houdini made at least one movie serial after all. Or what about a stuntman from Hollywood with all those riding, acting, breakfall and fighting skills !

Imagine what WIll Rogers could have done with a lariat?


My wife and I both miss "Kolchak, the night stalker." now with modern fx and decent writers...

[st barbara]

To "ZootSoot" Do you mean as a heroic P C or as someone that the PC's are involved with ? A character who is a fraud/con man might be fun to play (not sure that I could do it justice myself however !)

[The Monster]

Mad scientists aren't just evil - though good scientists aren't usually rederred to as "mad!" Two types of pulp-hero brains:
Dr. Zarkov(sp?) from Flash Gordon
Evie(?) from The Mummy (I just love her line "I...am a Librarian!")

In other words, techies and walking reference books.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Mad scientists aren't just evil - though good scientists aren't usually rederred to as "mad!" Two types of pulp-hero brains:
Dr. Zarkov(sp?) from Flash Gordon
Evie(?) from The Mummy (I just love her line "I...am a Librarian!")

In other words, techies and walking reference books.

This is the Archtype I like to call The Eccentric Genius

(EDIT):
Also... I noticed that there was no specific mention of the Professional Solider Archtype, a subcategory of the Strong Jawed Hero.
Examples off the top of my head include Brendan Fraizer's character from the Mummy (whose name I can't recall) and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia.