fredrik_nilsson Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 I admit that the name of the header is really bad, but I couldn’t come up with something better. Hopefully the moderator of this forum edits it. Anyway, the reason I called it beyond LXG is because I intend to do something similar and I need some help to do it. From what I understand of LXG, every named character (except for one, I think) can be found in the Victorian literature. I want to create a similar world, but instead of using Victorian characters I intend to use Pulp Fiction characters. A few characters from Film Noir, Gold Age Comics or the Victorian Age might be welcome, but the majority of the characters should be more or less obscure pulp characters. The reason why I prefer obscure pulp characters is to avoid a world where every NPC is more interesting than the players. Is anyone interested in helping me create such a world? ---------------------------------------------- Provided that no one persuades me to change it, this is the current list of characters: Hugo Danner by Philip Wylie Gray Seal by Frank Lucius Packard Captain Future by Edmond Hamilton Bantan by Maurice Gardner Dusty Ayres by Robert Sidney Bowen Jr. Scimitar and the Sons of Liberty from the Fox Comic Samson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Do you have a detective in that lot, or an occult specialist ? How about Madame Rosika Storey "celebrated psychologist and consulting detective" created by Hulbert Footner in 1922 (series ended in 1935) to handle the former position (And she's female as well !) and Algernon Blackwood's John Silence for the second spot ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Oh and what sort of help do you want fredrik ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Do you have a detective in that lot' date=' or an occult specialist ?[/quote'] This is what I started with: Heroes Hugo Danner reminds of the Golden Age Superman Gray Seal reminds a bit about the Golden Age Batman Captain Future is a gadgeteer Bantan is a Tarzan wannabe Dusty Ayres is an aviator Villains Scimitar is a mentalist How about Madame Rosika Storey "celebrated psychologist and consulting detective" created by Hulbert Footner in 1922 (series ended in 1935) to handle the former position (And she's female as well !) and Algernon Blackwood's John Silence for the second spot ? They both sound great. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Oh and what sort of help do you want fredrik ? The game I intend to run will be a pulp superhero game. It will start out as normal pulp game, but it will gradually shift towards being a Golden Age superhero game. One common approach to run supers in a Victorian setting is to run it as a League of Extraordinary Gentleman game. I intend to do something similar here, but with pulp fiction characters (surprise, surprise!). The world I intend to create will use as many pulp characters as possible, but initially I want to have a quite small roster of heroes spread world wide. To give the world a potential to become a Golden Age setting I want to use pulp fiction heroes that remind of the characters in the Golden Age JSA. I want to point out that don’t intend to create a JSA homage setting, I just want to have the JSA roster as an example of the hero stereotypes needed to create the stories I want to tell. Can you help with me completing/correcting this list: The Atom: ??? Batman: The Shadow or the Spider Black Canary: ??? Dr. Fate: Dr. John Silence Dr. Mid-Nite: The Black Bat The Flash: ??? Green Lantern The Lensman (at least they remind of the Lantern Corps) Hawkman ??? Hourman ??? Johnny Thunder Aladdin of the Arabian Nights (is there pulp equivalence?) Mr. Terrific ??? Sandman The Green Hornet The Spectre ??? Starman Captain Future Superman Hugo Danner Wildcat ??? Wonder Woman Sheena (I’ll remove Bantan, since he fills the same role) The villains will initially be standard pulp villains, but the difference between early super-comic villains and the late pulp villains didn’t differ that much anyway. I want to have help with finding the following pulp villain types: Someone with a flying city Someone with an own tropical island (preferably moveable) A black magician (preferably if the voodoo type) Pulp villains inspired by mythic beasts (jaguar queens, vampires, and such) Pulp aliens (Little green men, space vixens, Martians, anything...) Martial artists (preferably female) Femme fatales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Well for a "Black Canary" equivalent you could have Nellie Gray. She was an associate of "The Avenger" described as "The Emma Peel of her day,a blonde grenade of a girl, barely five feet tall with soft blue eyes, who could fling herself like a dainty projectile, scattering men like indian clubs" ("The Great Pulp Heros" Don Hutchison Pp 215). One of Robert E Howard's boxing heros could be a "Wildcat" equivalent perhaps Dennis Dorgan but I will have to check another reference book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Foir "Mr Terrific" you could use a real life person. Harry Houdini, master escape artist and star of at least one movie serial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG "Iron Mike" Brennon, Sailor Steve Costigan or Dennis Dorgan could all fill the "Wildcat" role with ease ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG And for the Golden Age "Atom" I would suggest Henry "Homicide Hank" Armstrong. In 1938 he held the World Championship (boxing) title in Featherweight, Lightweight and Welterweight divisions ALL at the same time ! The only person to do this, ever. His full record (as quoted on "Wikepedia" )is 181 fights,151 wins, 21 losses, 9draws. 107 Knockouts. A "Mighty Atom" for sure ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Here's a web site for you http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/pulpsintro.html I recommend making heavy use of it's search function. For each character you're trying to find a doppleganger for, determine what teh key trait is your looking for and search for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Thanks for the help this far. Can you please comment this list (pros and cons): The Atom: Beau Quicksilver Batman: The Shadow Black Canary: Nellie Gray (The Avenger's sidekick) Dr. Fate: Mandrake the Magician Dr. Mid-Nite: The Black Bat The Flash: Red Knight (or someone fast) Green Lantern: The Lensman (help me with a name) Hawkman: Tahara Hourman: Lothar (Mandrake's sidekick) Johnny Thunder: Marshal Mr. Terrific: Jimmie Dale (or Doc Savage) Sandman: The Green Hornet The Spectre: Captain Satan (or someone supernatural) Starman: Captain Future Superman: Hugo Danner Wildcat: Sailor Steve Costigan (or Joe Palooka) Wonder Woman: Sheena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG The Lensman that you are probably after for your group is Kimball Kinnison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG I'll admit I didn't know who "Beau Quicksilver" was and hat to check out that link. Love the write up ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG My onlu really negative thought is that I am not sure that "The Shadow" or "The Green Hornet" could operate too well in the same group as "Doc Savage" and "Kimball Kinnison". These last two can be SO straight ! Might make the team dynamic VERY interesting ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Thanks for the help this far. Can you please comment this list (pros and cons): Green Lantern: The Lensman (help me with a name) Why/how is a lensman operating in the past? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 4, 2006 Report Share Posted April 4, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Doc Savage! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archon Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Doc Savage! Doc fills most of those roles by himself. You don't really need the rest of the team when you have the Man of Bronze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Why/how is a lensman operating in the past? "How" is easy, since Captain Future is involved with the team. Didn't he have time travelling powers (or equipment)? As for the "why"... Either the President of the Solar System (James Carthew) or the Planet Police could request Captain Future to go to a certain year to fight some problem that has its root in the past. To his help the Captain decides to travel thru history to gather help. I don't know. This is the pulps, things aren't always that logical. Doc fills most of those roles by himself. You don't really need the rest of the team when you have the Man of Bronze. He is easily outshined by Hugo 'the Gladiator' Danner, but then again the Gladiator is this teams Superman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG I had almost forgot that the Planetary had a pulp version of JLA: Tarzan (Lord Blackstock) Fu Manchu (Hark) Tom Swift (Edison) The Shadow/The Spider/The Green Hornet (The Shadowy Spider) G-8 (The Aviator) Operator 5 ("Jimmy") Doc Savage (Doc Brass) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG "How" is easy' date=' since Captain Future is involved with the team. Didn't he have time travelling powers (or equipment)?[/quote'] Actually, he didn't. The Captain Future stories were set in the future (1990 to be exact) but he had no time travel ability - he was basically a Doc Savage rip off in a space opera-ish setting. (I missed him in the list or I would have asked the same question about him that I did about the lensman). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG My onlu really negative thought is that I am not sure that "The Shadow" or "The Green Hornet" could operate too well in the same group as "Doc Savage" and "Kimball Kinnison". These last two can be SO straight ! Might make the team dynamic VERY interesting ! I wouldn't say Doc is really any more straight-laced than Superman or Captain Marvel - Batman seems to be able to operate in a team with either. It can work if people want it to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG The Spectre: Captain Satan (or someone supernatural) How about the Ghost? Ghost (II). The Ghost (II), Brian O'Reilly, was created by Wyatt Blassingame and appeared in Ace G-Men beginning in September 1939. He's a former stage magician who was forced to kill a foreign agent. In the aftermath of that fight he was declared legally dead, but the FBI began employing him as an undercover agent. He reported directly to The Chief (aka J. Edgar Hoover) , and used his magician's skills of disguise, sleight-of-hand, and ventriloquism to track down and catch the bad guys. He's not supernatural, but (legally at least) he is a dead man. (There just weren't a whole lot of truly supernatural pulp characters.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG If you take a Wold-Newton approach, Nellie Gray is the daughter of Tarzan, Lord Greystoke. She makes a reasonable Wonder Woman (or Black Canary) if you include the Tarzan link. Tarzan gives her a Lost World link, and WW was always in part a Lost World Character. Nick Carter once visited a hidden valley that included invisible planes and belts that gave the (Blond haired blue eyed) natives Superstrength. You could home brew a Wonder Woman tribute that way. I posted a sheet for Hugo Danner a while back, but he is the Wold Newton version. I also posted a sheet for Daya Clayton, my own home brew Pulp Wonder Woman. You might consider Pat Savage for the Wonder Woman role; unfortunately, most of her Pulp Heroine value is ret-conned. In the original stories, she was talked up, but never really broke the stereotypes of the period. Jess Nevins pulp pages are a treasure trove for this stuff. The Golden Age Green Lantern was not part of the GLC until he was retconned in; I would go with someone like Captain Philip Strange, a military guy with psychic powers, rather than import a Lensman. OTOH, Strange was kind of a lame G-8 ripoff, and he was depowered completely as the series went on. Mandrake was active in the 1930s, as was Doctor Occult, but neither were pulp characters per-se. Mandrake makes a good Zatara / Zatana type. For a timeline that assumes most of the pulps were "real", see HERE. This is very much a pulps to comics timeline; the Wold Newton pages present a more Pulps to SF path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG Actually' date=' he didn't. The Captain Future stories were set in the future (1990 to be exact) but he had no time travel ability - he was basically a Doc Savage rip off in a space opera-ish setting. (I missed him in the list or I would have asked the same question about him that I did about the lensman).[/quote'] I've never read anything about the Captain, but if you read the third paragraph about the Captain on Jess Nevins page you see the following: -------------------------------------------------- He wears a blue "synthe-skin" zipper suit and uses, among other advanced weaponry, a "proton pistol" and "antigravity boots." His arch-enemy is the Magician of Mars, a Martian half-breed and the son of Victor Kaslan; he is almost as brilliant as Captain Future himself, and challenged Curtis in The Seven Space Stones and The Magician of Mars before finally being killed in The Solar Invasion. Cap travels in time as well, going back a hundred million years in one story and, in another, three billion years backwards, to save the natives of the planet Katain. -------------------------------------------------- Anyway, if he's to close in character concept to Doc Savage I might as well remove him from the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredrik_nilsson Posted April 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 Re: Beyond LXG How about the Ghost? Wow, that's more or less identical to the Spectre. It's not hard to see how the character evolved to being a true supernatural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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