So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Read some of the adventures that these characters are having. You'll find that the adventures are very action oriented. The detective' date=' Jack Roscoe, is basically a light fighter. I haven't seen him figure out anything yet, really. (Note: I've only read the first three or so.) Problems are more often solved by giving evil a swift punch in the nose as they are deducted by reasoning. Just something to be aware of.[/quote']

 

So, yeah, the 23 INT and Skill Master with INT-based skills is overkill (along with the 10 STR and no Combat Levels ...). Ultra-Scientific-Genius-Inventor guy needs a new schtick, then. *ponder*

[austenandrews]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

So' date=' yeah, the 23 INT and Skill Master with INT-based skills is overkill (along with the 10 STR and no Combat Levels ...). Ultra-Scientific-Genius-Inventor guy needs a new schtick, then. *ponder*[/quote']

No he doesn't. The pulps were loaded with smart guys.

[Basil]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

He mentioned several movies and the like that fit the genre, of which I had (predictably) seen only one (the Shadow), which makes for, shall we say, a small representative sampling of the genre at hand. From what I gather, anything resembling 'powers' tend to be subtle (if not strictly kept to mental abilities, a la mesmerism and the Shadow's 'clouding the minds of men'), though there can be some very large and flashy pseudoscientific gadgetry, usually with unwieldy names.

Any pointers for a pulp newbie?

Check out the thread "Pulp: The Five Essentials," started by Derek Hiemforth. Full of great recommendations.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

No he doesn't. The pulps were loaded with smart guys.

 

True, but I was recieving the impression that they tended not to be the stars, but rather sidekicks or perhaps just contacts. Perhaps I'm wrong ... I just don't know.

[austenandrews]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

True' date=' but I was recieving the impression that they tended not to be the stars, but rather sidekicks or perhaps just contacts. Perhaps I'm wrong ... I just don't know.[/quote']

Doc Savage was a scientific genius. You can't get more pulp hero than that.

 

I would consider giving him some combat skills, though. Your average pulp hero is like your average Western hero, able to handle himself in a fight. (In fact Westerns basically grew out of the pulps.)

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Doc Savage was a scientific genius. You can't get more pulp hero than that.

 

Yeah, but according to his wikipedia entry, he was a lot more than a scientist.

 

I would consider giving him some combat skills, though. Your average pulp hero is like your average Western hero, able to handle himself in a fight. (In fact Westerns basically grew out of the pulps.)

 

The hard part, of course, is finding the points and working them into a very academic background. At one point, I was considering Find Weakness based on his ability to, basically, know how to find weak points in construction and bodies, but that was *way* too expensive.

[austenandrews]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

The hard part' date=' of course, is finding the points and working them into a very academic background. At one point, I was considering Find Weakness based on his ability to, basically, know how to find weak points in construction and bodies, but that was *way* too expensive.[/quote']

In my Atomic Space Adventure game, the scientist could buy Find Weakness, Usable By Others and tell his comrades where the weak points were...

 

Maybe your character grew up in a tough place - on a ranch, in a rough neighborhood, whatever - and grew up knowing how to fight. Science now consumes his life, but his knuckles are still plenty hard.

 

Or alternately, he could be a good shot instead of a brawler. That way he can make good use of the sleeping dart pistol he's carried with him ever since those Tongs broke into his lab a year ago.

[Fuzzy Gnome]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Trouble is Pulp is a medium, not a genre. It's like asking What is Manga? The Continental Op, Tarzan, and Kimball Kinnison are all pulp. Indiana Jones and Han Solo. About all they have in common is "two fisted action" and highly competent characters.

[Basil]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

{snip}

(In fact Westerns basically grew out of the pulps.)

Actually, more the other way around if anything. The Westerns got their start with the Dime Novels of people like Ned Buntline, back in the 1880's.

 

Also, some of the better-known Westerns' writers (like Zane Grey) started in the Pulp Era rather than after it.

 

However, you're right about the resemblence between Pulp heroes and Western heroes; both are almost always at least competant in a fight.

[austenandrews]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

I sort of lump dime novels with pulps. The one basically evolved into the other. Westerns got big in dime novels and continued to be big in the pulps.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Or alternately' date=' he could be a good shot instead of a brawler. That way he can make good use of the sleeping dart pistol he's carried with him ever since those Tongs broke into his lab a year ago. [/quote']

 

Now, THAT'S a good idea!

 

Almost forgot ... have some rep.

[rjcurrie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is that in Pulp Hero, you are dealing with a team of characters, so in many ways, roles that would be performed by "sidekicks" or "contacts" in a story are often incorporated into the roles of the PCs. But that really depends on the number of players.

 

A nice mixture of character types works well in my opinion. My favorite Pulp Hero campaign for playing in had the following mix:

• A private eye who was bad at detective work but good with guns
  
• A gypsy knife-thrower with a circus background
  
• A boxer with a heat of gold
  
• A con man with great disguise skills
  
• A clasical flautist who was an expert fencer (later replaced with a former NYC police detective with a limp from the wound that forced his retirement -- he had the detective skills that the private eye didn't)

And the classic Hero Auxiliary Corps/Infinite Imaginations Justice Inc. convention game included (among others) the following characters at various times:

• A hard-boiled PI
  
• A strong man with a high society background
  
• A stage magician
  
• The stage magician's assistant and romantic interest
  
• A scientitst with a raccoon sidekick (for a while, the raccoon became a player character and then was removed altogether)
  
• A tough female reporter
  
• An old British military man based loosely on the old cartoon character Commander McBragg
  
• A beautiful female archeologist who dresed in tweed suits and hid her beauty to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world or academia
  
• A teenage sharpshooter and acrobat with a circus background

You can see the influence of both these teams on my Pulp Hero convention team, The Friends of Justice.

[Trebuchet]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

So' date=' yeah, the 23 INT and Skill Master with INT-based skills is overkill (along with the 10 STR and no Combat Levels ...). Ultra-Scientific-Genius-Inventor guy needs a new schtick, then. *ponder*[/quote']It really depends on what kind of group you have. While it's useful for even a brainy scientist character to have some chance at beating a mook one on one (even if he does it by outwitting him), he doesn't need to be able to fight the higher ups in order to be critical for mission success. Unless you're doing a solo campaign, other player characters can pick up the combat slack just as your brain can pick up the smarts slack. That's why it's a team. I wouldn't recommend being totally useless in combat, but hypercompetence isn't strictly necessary either.

 

And as austenandrews has pointed out, relative expertise with a pistol is fairly inexpensive.

[BlackSword]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

I think you mean Rod Currie's Firiends of Justice characters which can be found here. Unless you are referring to something else, in which case, it's my mistake.

 

Of course, I can't really complain if my work is being confused for Scott's.

Nope, just had a brain fart, will teach me to look things up first.

[BlackSword]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Yeah' date=' but according to his wikipedia entry, he was a lot more than a scientist.[/quote']

Most of the super-genius pulp heroes were also physical specimens, advanced degrees from every institution on the East Coast, and a golden gloves boxer, but its also because many pulp heroes didn't work in groups. Having a group allows spreading around of skills. That being said, pulp also is full action, so it would be good to ensure that every character has some combat ability, even if it is a sleep ray, or needle gun. The scientist could also have Range PSLs to represent 'steady hands,' (anyone who has soldered on a circuit board knows how important steady hands are).

 

CVK can be handled, either a veteran from the great war that has seen too many friends die, or a scientist who just wants to stay in his lab, but his friends keep dragging him out on crazy adventures. If you go with a veteran, then that might also provide some background for minimal combat skills.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

One way to think about it IMO is to take the supers genre, then dial it back a notch. Superhero comics take a lot from the pulps, and just add a layer onto them. Characters like the Shadow, Green Hornet are mid-way characters.

 

Take many superheroes, dial them down a notch, take away their costume and you've got a pulp hero. There's more branching out you can do, but that's a good start.

 

Anthropomorphic animal guy? Ok, in a supers game, he'd be full-on furry, claws, snout, etc. For a pulp game, dial it back a notch. Created by Dr. Moreau or someone similar, a wolf evolved up to near-human form. Looks mostly human, but some lupine features, hairier than most people, etc. Can pass for human in most circumstances. Give them some enhanced senses and bonuses to PER rolls, science skills as one of the Doctor's old lab techs, and you're good to go. Enter Lothar Lobo, pulp hero. Latches on to the other PC's as his "pack".

[Markdoc]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Anthropomorphic animal guy? Ok' date=' in a supers game, he'd be full-on furry, claws, snout, etc. For a pulp game, dial it back a notch. Created by Dr. Moreau or someone similar, a wolf evolved up to near-human form. Looks mostly human, but some lupine features, hairier than most people, etc. Can pass for human in most circumstances. Give them some enhanced senses and bonuses to PER rolls, science skills as one of the Doctor's old lab techs, and you're good to go. Enter Lothar Lobo, pulp hero. Latches on to the other PC's as his "pack".[/quote']

 

While that's a pretty cool idea, if the GM doesn't go for it, a tarzan type with animal empathy (raised by giant rats in the sewers of Brooklyn!) should be acceptable.

 

There's a wide range of characters available. From my short-lived pulp (victorian era) game:

 

A French sailor with savate (the team brawler)

An English pukka-sahib (good with the sabre and guns)

An Russian anarchist on the run from the Tsarist secret police (basically a rogue: good stealth and spy-type skills)

A English daring explorer (languages, knowledge skills and a good right hook)

An American adventurer (think Indiana Jones)

 

And these were all fairly normal by pulp standards.

 

cheers, Mark

[Susano]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

[*]A scientitst with a raccoon sidekick (for a while, the raccoon became a player character and then was removed altogether)

 

Would that be "Bandit, Raccoon of the Future!"?

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

I'd also propose a bit of pulp player advice.

 

Take the old Raymond Chandler line of, "When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand" and turn that into a player call for action, "When in doubt, go confront the villain or suspected villain."

 

You won't always get in a fight, but it moves things along. Your dead-end research or investigation might get a shot in the arm, as the villain lets something slip, you notice a clue at his house, etc. Or realizing that you're on to him, the villain later sends minions after you (taking us back to the Chandler line) that you can get more clues from. Make like you know more than you actually do.

 

Think a mobster's behind the murder but your leads are coming up dry? Go to his house and raise a stink.

 

Research on a cult slowing down? Infiltrate a meeting.

 

Accept the invitation from the evil rival archaeologist for a joint dig, knowing it's a trap.

 

etc.

[austenandrews]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Take the old Raymond Chandler line of' date=' [i']"When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand"[/i] and turn that into a player call for action, "When in doubt, go confront the villain or suspected villain."

That's terrific advice!

[GestaltBennie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

I think you mean Rod Currie's Firiends of Justice characters which can be found here. Unless you are referring to something else, in which case, it's my mistake.

 

Of course, I can't really complain if my work is being confused for Scott's.

 

Jeez, and here I was about to say I was flattered by our campaign being compared to Rod's! :-)

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Anthropomorphic animal guy? Ok' date=' in a supers game, he'd be full-on furry, claws, snout, etc. For a pulp game, dial it back a notch. Created by Dr. Moreau or someone similar, a wolf evolved up to near-human form. Looks mostly human, but some lupine features, hairier than most people, etc. Can pass for human in most circumstances. Give them some enhanced senses and bonuses to PER rolls, science skills as one of the Doctor's old lab techs, and you're good to go. Enter Lothar Lobo, pulp hero. Latches on to the other PC's as his "pack".[/quote']

 

I'm not sure how themely it was, but I had the idea (at work today, of all places) of having the character be originally human and he used a combination of Dr. Moreau's and Dr. Jekyll's research on himself to give himself enhanced physical characteristics, albeit only temporarily (some manner of Hero ID or Multiform).

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

I'm not sure how themely it was' date=' but I had the idea (at work today, of all places) of having the character be originally human and he used a combination of Dr. Moreau's and Dr. Jekyll's research on himself to give himself enhanced physical characteristics, albeit only temporarily (some manner of Hero ID or Multiform).[/quote']

 

Sounds good!

[rjcurrie]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Would that be "Bandit' date=' Raccoon of the Future!"?[/quote']

 

Yup, that would be him.

[Susano]

Re: So ... uhm ... Pulp ... yeah.

 

Yup' date=' that would be him.[/quote']

 

Wow... I heard about him like.... (thinks) nearly 20 years ago, when an old room mate described a game he saw/was in at a con.