Pulparize It!

[SKJAM!]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Naruto and One Piece are very dependent on their alternate-Earth settings, but we can get bits and pieces from them.

 

Naruto: The Hidden Village of the Leaf is a switchup from the usual lost civilizations, though you'll have to come up for a backstory for how several ninja families got to Africa or South America to get lost. Some of the more bizarre ninja powers might need to be toned down.

 

One Piece: The Merry-Go can become a treasure-hunting ship of the South Seas, with its wacky crew mostly intact. Some of the backstories will need to make the pirates involved more human, and Luffy's abilities are too freakishly superhuman for most pulp games. He'll be toned down to a contortionist with perhaps an inch of Stretching.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

And in the same line as Cowboy Bebop --

 

Outlaw Star -- the rag-tag crew of the Pacific Star -- a large flying boat, island hops around the Pacific, working as a plane-for-hire. They haul goods, people, repair engines, pursue bounties, and have non-stop adventures. Gene is the plane's captain and pilot, Jim is the chief mechanic and master of weird science, Melfina is the cute French girl who acts a navigator, while Suzuka (who claims to be descended from samurai) is security. Russian strongwoman Aisha does all the heavy lifting and pulls in extra cash fighting in underground boxing matches.

 

Angel Links: A buxom and gorgeous teenage heiress with impossible mad skills forms a private security firm with an international group of experts and charges them with the task of protecting vital shipments from the pirates who plague the South Seas, while being pursued by a handsome shipping magnate. But that magnate has a secret that links him inextricably to her and may inevitbaly destroy everything she holds dear....

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

One anime series that defines the anime pulp mindset, and can be used with very little alteration, is Lupin III. A globe-trotting master thief who ends up foiling all sorts of diabolical schemes as he attempts to gain riches for himself and build his reputation as "the greatest thief in the world", no to mention finally get the beautiful and deadly Fujiko into the sack again and continue his cat-and-mouse game with Inspector Zenigata of INTERPOL.

 

And here's one that you might not think is likely pulp material but is actually perfect for it: Saint Tail. A young girl uses amped-up stage magic to recover items wrongfully taken from their rightful owners, while falling in love with the detective who obsessively pursues her.

[Susano]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

One anime series that defines the anime pulp mindset' date=' and can be used with very little alteration, is [b']Lupin III[/b].

 

Lupin III isn't the only one. I already mentioned Steam Detectives, which takes place in the very Pulp-era confines of Steam City. There's also Sakura Taisen ("Sakura Wars") which occurs in 1920 (or so). It features steam-powered tanks and suits of powered armor, as well as various Weird Talents (so far I've seen telepathy, telekinesis, and possibly teleportation). Nadia occurs in either late Victorian or early Pulp-era (when exactly? anyone know?) and I think deals with South Pacific adventures. Then there's Steamboy which is so full of Pulp goodness it's almost overflowing.

 

Hmm... then we have Laputa: Castle in the Sky, a classic lost world adventure. While it occurs on a different Earth than ours, the flying machines, armored train, and giant armored zeppelin just beg to be used in a Pulp-era campaign. Not to mention the air pirate's ship and flyers are the perfect tools for PCs to boot around the world with. Oh, and let's not forget Porco Roso, which is 1930s era airplane goodness, complete with pirates and a pretty girl to save. Kishin Corp is a little late period (WWII) but features giant robots (with vacuum tubes and hand-cranked engines) fighting it out with alien invaders. Even more over-the-top is Big O, which looks like a giant robot version of Batman: The Animated Series, and clearly is set in a late-1930s/early-1940s era city.

 

Oh, and Doomed Megalopolis occurs around the time of the Great Kanto Quake (circa 1923 IIRC), and has several heroes trying to stop an evil spirit from destroying Tokyo (not exactly Pulp, but still cool). Of course if Pulp-era ghost-busting is your thing, there's a lot of anime series you can retro-fit into the Pulp-era. Just downgrade the technology, up the Weird Science and Weird Talents, and you're ready to go. Examples include: Hellsing, Phantom Quest Corp, Silent Mobius, Hyper Police, Sakura Taisen, Geobreeders, and even Bleach, just to name a few.

[mvoncannon]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

HA! This just came to me...

 

Dude, Where's My Car: The player characters wake up after a rather gregarious night (or nights) of ....

 

Repped and stoll.....Borrowed.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Lupin III isn't the only one. I already mentioned Steam Detectives' date=' which takes place in the very Pulp-era confines of Steam City. There's also [i']Sakura Taisen[/i] ("Sakura Wars") which occurs in 1920 (or so). It features steam-powered tanks and suits of powered armor, as well as various Weird Talents (so far I've seen telepathy, telekinesis, and possibly teleportation). Nadia occurs in either late Victorian or early Pulp-era (when exactly? anyone know?) and I think deals with South Pacific adventures. Then there's Steamboy which is so full of Pulp goodness it's almost overflowing.

 

Hmm... then we have Laputa: Castle in the Sky, a classic lost world adventure. While it occurs on a different Earth than ours, the flying machines, armored train, and giant armored zeppelin just beg to be used in a Pulp-era campaign. Not to mention the air pirate's ship and flyers are the perfect tools for PCs to boot around the world with. Oh, and let's not forget Porco Roso, which is 1930s era airplane goodness, complete with pirates and a pretty girl to save. Kishin Corp is a little late period (WWII) but features giant robots (with vacuum tubes and hand-cranked engines) fighting it out with alien invaders. Even more over-the-top is Big O, which looks like a giant robot version of Batman: The Animated Series, and clearly is set in a late-1930s/early-1940s era city.

 

Oh, and Doomed Megalopolis occurs around the time of the Great Kanto Quake (circa 1923 IIRC), and has several heroes trying to stop an evil spirit from destroying Tokyo (not exactly Pulp, but still cool). Of course if Pulp-era ghost-busting is your thing, there's a lot of anime series you can retro-fit into the Pulp-era. Just downgrade the technology, up the Weird Science and Weird Talents, and you're ready to go. Examples include: Hellsing, Phantom Quest Corp, Silent Mobius, Hyper Police, Sakura Taisen, Geobreeders, and even Bleach, just to name a few.

Chrno Crusade is even the right location and time period, and it has gun-toting babealicious nuns. Who doesn't love that? (Well, Pope Benedict would probably say he didn't, but I bet he's lying.)

[JakSpade]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Death and the City (Sex and the City): Carrie Bradshaw, a detective novelist and writer for a local sleuth magazine, solves mystery cases with her band of "meddling kids"... Samantha Jones, a dilletaunt and secret owner of a successful public relations firm... Charlotte York, wife to high society personality Dr. Trey MacDougal... and Miranda Hobbes, a struggling female lawyer. Together, they the ins and outs of relationships, shoes, and pre-meditated murder in a predominately man's world.

 

"Who says a girl's always got to be in distress!" ~ Carrie

 

Jak

[JakSpade]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

The Earth Stayed Still (The Day The Earth Stood Still, Part 2): Klaatu returns to the backwards blue planet called Earth, and the world discovers that he is actually a clone. The first time he came to Earth was to warn man, but this time, he has come to protect him. He and Gort have come to root out the individual or group that has made contact with a rival faction of the outer space alliance, one that will surely end in invasion. He enlists the help of scientists, warriors and regular Joe's alike, in a mission that could mean the survival or distruction of humankind as they know it.

 

Jak

[SKJAM!]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Nadia occurs in either late Victorian or early Pulp-era (when exactly? anyone know?) and I think deals with South Pacific adventures.

 

Late 1890s to 1900, I think. When was the Paris Exposition? It's certainly before the official invention of heavier than air flight. And the action moves around a lot; Europe, the South Atlantic, Antarctica, Africa, what's left of Atlantis.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Nadia occurs in either late Victorian or early Pulp-era (when exactly? anyone know?) and I think deals with South Pacific adventures.

Late 1890s to 1900' date=' I think. When was the Paris Exposition? It's certainly before the official invention of heavier than air flight. And the action moves around a lot; Europe, the South Atlantic, Antarctica, Africa, what's left of Atlantis.[/quote']

And one of the major supporting characters is Captain Nemo -- yes, that Captain Nemo.

 

Another series that combines tech elements in such a way that it would work as pulp (with a few alterations) is Last Exile, a saga of a pair of aviators (who would never in a million years admit to being a couple) caught in the middle when a ritualized system of war goes horribly, horribly wrong.

[Susano]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Oh.... Royal Space Force - Wings of Honneamise. More Pulp-era airplanes, military, and a plan to send a man into orbit. This is a drama, not an action/adventure anime, but still has excellent vehicle designs and the like.

[Vanguard00]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Real Genius - A couple of young scientists at a prominant college in the 1930s complete their term project - a vehicle-mounted laser! -- only to discover their professor is secretly working for the Nazis and plans to give them the laser to destroy enemy tanks and ships long before their own weapons come into range. After outsmarting the professor and putting the kabosh on the Nazis' plan--all without ever actually revealing their involvement--the young adults decide to ferret out and ruin other Nazi 5th Column scientists and their minions, including their new Nemesis, Professor Atherton!

[Blue]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Funny how everything is pulpy once you add Nazis!

 

 

Repo Man a depression era thug and fan of edgey new "swing" music is hired to repossess belongings from people who were victims of the stock market crash, discovers something strange and deadly in the trunk of a Model T.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

TRON - Sound engineer working with the experimental Total Radio Oversight Network, which allows for a series of relays to blanket the nation with a single broadcast, is transformed into radio waves when a freak electrical storm overloads his equipment. Now he has to navigate through deathly real versions of the various radio dramas the network broadcasts, trying to get past gangsters, savages and others to reach the Master Control which will allow him to escape this strange world...

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

TRON - Sound engineer working with the experimental Total Radio Oversight Network' date=' which allows for a series of relays to blanket the nation with a single broadcast, is transformed into radio waves when a freak electrical storm overloads his equipment. Now he has to navigate through deathly real versions of the various radio dramas the network broadcasts, trying to get past gangsters, savages and others to reach the Master Control which will allow him to escape this strange world...[/quote']

 

Ooh, cool idea. Repped!

[FenrisUlf]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Man of La Mancha: Don Quioxte' date=' a Spanish nobleman who has lost everything to revolution in his country, snaps and decides that he is a "knight errant" in the old style. His lunatic zeal to conquer evil leads him to travel the world with only his last remaining servant, the long-suffering and loyal Sancho Panza for company. Despite his uncanny knack for taking the worst concievable action at the worst possible time, and his utter lack of connection to objective reality, there are many criminals and conquerors who have come to regret meeting "the Mad Don" over the years, and in the midst of his mad dream Don Quixote may well end up becoming a genuine hero. Unless, of course, you're the guy whose windmill he blows up with a bazooka after mistaking it for a giant....[/quote']

 

And you as well, sir!

[Steve Long]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

TRON -- great idea, SS! That'd be a great game for a Weird Science-oriented campaign, or as a convention one-shot. For fun, don't use the word "TRON" and see how many gamers figure it out.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

TRON - Sound engineer working with the experimental Total Radio Oversight Network' date=' which allows for a series of relays to blanket the nation with a single broadcast, is transformed into radio waves when a freak electrical storm overloads his equipment. Now he has to navigate through deathly real versions of the various radio dramas the network broadcasts, trying to get past gangsters, savages and others to reach the Master Control which will allow him to escape this strange world...[/quote']

The dreaded "You must spread some rep around...." has struck, but this would be a wonderful idea.

[ArmlessTigerMan]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Stealth: "The Curious Contrivance of the Clockwork Cloudbuster." The Army Air Corp has developed a new unmanned medium range bomber, utilizing an extremely complex system of clockworks, compasses and primitive electric eyes for operations, navigation, and enemy evasion. On a practice bombing run north of Campaign City, a freak lighting storm shorted out some critical vacuum tubes. Can the pc's board the aircraft and disable it before it destroys downtown?!

 

The Doberman Gang: Some evil genius is using trained guard dogs to rob banks. Their fierce behavior and complex escape routes have the authorities baffled. Can the Jungle lord overcome their training and communicate with these beasts? Can the Detective track the dogs to their lair?

[SKJAM!]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Ranma 1/2: Skipping over the main plot, we have a set of valleys in the Bayankala region with not one, but three lost civilizations!

 

The Joketsuzoku, fierce Chinese Amazons with bizarre laws involving ritual combat.

 

The Musk Dynasty, dying remnants of a once-proud empire, supposedly strengthened by the animal ancestry in their clans.

 

The Phoenix People, who fly on actual wings!

 

And of course the Valley of Cursed Springs.

 

A treasure seeker or archaeological expedition could easily stumble into this fog-shrouded region without ever suspecting the terrors and wonders within.

[Susano]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Ranma 1/2: Skipping over the main plot' date=' we have a set of valleys in the Bayankala region with not one, but three lost civilizations![/quote']

 

Hmm... while on the Takahashi theme, there's Mermaid's Scar, which allows one to have a pair of several-hundred year old youths (one male one female) as part of your team. Not only are they immortal, but they heal from most damage very quickly (IIRC).

 

See the AB with Japan for more on how this works.

[Curufea]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

For fun' date=' don't use the word "TRON" and see how many gamers figure it out. [/quote']

 

I recommend "Carrier Signal" based on what the function of "Trace On" did for the early computer industry.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Urusei Yatsura: The lovely Princess of Mars has chosen a luckless Earthman as her groom. She dearly loves her chosen mate, to the point that she is blinded to his multitude of totally obvious faults, but he would rather be The New Casanova and have his way with every woman he meets except her. But when a millioanire playboy seeks the Princess's hand -- well, to say "chaos ensues" would be the understatement of the 1930's.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

Wow. Here I thought the "Everybody Loves Raymond" one would be the one people would like, but everyone's raving about "Tron". Goes to show you can never really tell what'll strike a chord.

 

I wish I had a good PC version of "Discs of Tron"! That game rocked!

[SKJAM!]

Re: Pulparize It!

 

More Western Hero than Pulp Era, but the classic Western is pulp.

 

Ruroni Kenshin: It is ten years after the end of the Civil War, in a western territory on the verge of becoming a state. Schoolmarm Miss Katie is both furious and worried about a series of murders around the town committed by someone calling himself "the Fastdraw Kid" and using some of her father's patented shooting techniques.

 

So Miss Katie straps on iron herself and goes looking for this sidewinder. What she finds instead is a mild-mannered redhead with a curious scar on his cheek, who seems dedicated to peace. Naturally, this redhead is in fact the real Fastdraw Kid, Ken Fireton. He was a top gun for the Union during the War, but he's sickened by the lives he's taken, and has vowed never to kill again. Ken locates the false Fastdraw Kid and ruins his hands.

 

Ken claims to be a drifter, but hangs around to help keep the school running. He's soon joined by Sam, who used to be the drummer boy for a unit of Confederate irregulars before they were framed for the massacre of a village and shot down like dogs. Ken also takes one of Katie's unrulier pupils under his wing, and has a standoffish relationship with Meg, the weird lady doctor.

 

Naturally, no shootist can ever fully retire, and Ken is constantly plagued by young punks wanting to prove their mettle, and old enemies who have scores to settle or want to start the Civil War all over again.