Tell us about your Pulp game!

[Talon65]

After some discussion in a another thread, I wanna hear what other people are doing in their pulp games. What characters are in it? What have you recently done? Other interesting tidbits? Stories?

 

Here's mine.

 

I'm lucky enough to be in two different pulp games running concurrently.

 

First is our "Crime Fighting Pulp Game". "The Phantom League". A group of crime fighters in their own right, brought together by The Phantom Detective under the cover of "Universal Imports & Exports Ltd.". We have:

 

The Shadow, yeah, that Shadow, pretty much as he appears in the movie.

 

The Wraith, a rip...eeer homage to Adam Hughes' "Ghost". Returned from the dead with no memory of her past, to seek vengeance for those innocence that have died a violent death.

 

The Red Falcon, two-fisted vigilante that can change into a Peregrine Falcon with the power from an Egyptian amulet. Dresses like "The Spirit" but in a dark red or maroon suit.

 

The Ace, gambler and disguise artist extraordinaire. Can make himself look like anyone and always leaves an ace as his calling card.

 

Madam Majestic, famous stage magician that uses her "magic" to fight crime. Physical appearance is the same as DC's "Zantana".

 

Tom Raven, Hard boiled detective born in the 1700's and immortal. An American-Indian Sam Spade. (retired)

 

We actually seem to spend more time in our secret I.D.'s investigating as we do our crime fighting personas. We recently foiled an alien invasion and have uncovered clues to a plot by the Japanese to destabilize America.

 

One of my favorite scenes was when my character (The Wraith) went to the scene of a mysterious train derailment with the detective, Tom Raven. You see the Phantom Detective set the Wraith up with a secret id (she has amnesia) and a job as Tom Raven's secretary. Well, it turns out the Raven is a "beat them 'till they give me clue" detective instead of a "look for a clue" detective and I spend half the game, surreptitiously give him the clues (I have detective skill) while try to appear as just a "piece of fluff".

 

And our second is an "Adventure Pulp" game. We have:

 

Betty Lou, the root'nest, toot'nest, pistol shoot'nest cowgirl ever. Welds a mean whip and lasso and you don't wanna know what she did to the Thugee that stole her shootin' iron...

 

Veronica Dare, debutante, big game hunter and gun bunny who's father is a famous adventurer. She grew up with John Dare and his Daredevils and is striking out on here own. With a little help from daddy's bank account, her trust fund and her trunk full o'guns of course.

 

Dr. Marion Alexander Grey, a proper, old English MD that can heal any malady and fight any evil with his "Umbrella of Marvels!". A medic during the Great War, the "Doc" (as those Americans call him) has a healthy distrust of those "Boche" and an umbrella that not only shoots bullets out of the handle which is also a sword but also shoots a harpoon! He's working on making it bullet proof I believe...

 

Dexter Thorn Smith or "DT", an intrepid National Geographic photographer that can go invisible in shadows and fights with dual Colt 1911s. Hmmm, sounds familiar... and also has a huge Mongolian sidekick named "Giggles".

 

We also have another, as yet un-named character joining us. A tough, two-fisted pilot and his crewman, Otto.

 

(retired) Dr. Rene Belloq, an archaeologist of questionable morals. Direct "homage" to Indiana's rival.

 

Brought together by the "Hellfire Foundation" to find missing archaeologist, Dr. Kenneth Gear. Turns out Dr. Gear had delusions of grandeur and decided to use his most recent find (the design of ancient automatons)to take over a province in India (right under the British Govt's nose) in which to start his conquest of the world!. We successfully defeated Dr. Gear and returned the lands to their rightful heir. Our next adventure should take us to the exotic orient.

 

I've been playing RPG's (D&D, Champions, Fantasy Hero, Star Wars, Star Frontiers, BtVS, etc.) for over 20 years and all of my other games I've played have always been very combat orientated. Get to the fight, defeat the bad guys and divide up the rewards. I've been wanting to play something more character driven ever since our BtVS game crashed and these two games have been. I am loving it. Getting to talk our way out of and into trouble, not every situation being "do or die" and doing outrageous feats way over our heads has been a blast and have been the best games I think I've ever played in.

 

So tell me, what is your pulp game like?

[RJB]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

An interesting question. The only campaign I have going currently is on HeroCentral. It's set in the 20's (so far) and could basicly be described as 'globe-trotting adventure'. As I only have one player so far (the campaign is about a week old) I tend to cater to the type of adventures suitable for that character. He's a sailor, so he gets washed up on an island with a mad scientist, simple as that.

 

Had I more players, or a local group who all wanted the same theme, I suppose I would try to create a campaign centered around that theme. As it is, all I really have is a timeframe and character creation guidelines. Personally, I don't really care what genre I'm doing, just as long as I have a chance to indulge in some seriously purplish prose;)

 

As far as influences go, Im a big Doc Savage fan, really enjoyed the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, read a heckuva lot of Weird Tales and some Victorian gaslight fiction, and am currently trying to get a hard-bolied detective short story published by Ellery Queen Magazine. It's only been six weeks, so Im still waiting.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

I am currently in a most enjoyable Pulp Hero game, set in NYC "sometime" in the 1930s. Our group are middle-grade members of the Adventurer's Club, an organization of ...well, you have probably guessed it. Nice address just off Fifth Avenue, full range of facilities (including a huge library), loads of potentially useful allies and connections - and some very formidable folks that run the Club.

 

Our small and diverse group has proven useful to have around, so the Club often employs us as a kind of emergency response force. Party members include an ex-gangster, a hard-boiled detective, an Irish padre, a soldier / pilot (Great War veteran), a lady librarian (from the British Library - Black Ops Branch), a doctor and a salty Aussie sea captain (me).

 

Thus far, we have fought assorted thugs and hoodlums, voodoo cultists in the Caribbean, Tong in Chinatown, cannibals in Borneo, things in the sewers, and the inevitable Nazis. We have also burglarized a secret library in the Vatican, blown up a Nazi research base (MOSTLY accidental, but no regrets either), bumped heads with various secret societies, and generally had a good time.

 

Currently, it looks like we may be lining up for a confrontation with some G-Men. The FBI has been called in to investigate security leaks from the AC's library (SERIOUS stuff, trust me), and their attitude towards clubmembers in general has gone from bad to worse. Apparently, J Edgar Hoover really doesn't like we Adventurers, and is just spoiling for an excuse to shut the Club down for good. Interesting times, as they say.

[carnifex]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

In my pulp game my groop of players are composed of white Russian nationalist. Their chief is a direct descendent of Micheal Strogoff, Simon Strogoff, a great white hunter-two-fisted heroes. Their base of operation is in Paris. Like the scarlet pimpernel they helps noble russian and politic opposant to the bolchevick to flee their countrie. They also help to organize and finance the fight againts the communist.

 

In the last episode the group attemp to track down the mad baron von Ungern-Sternberg to steal is warchest for the Mensheviks cause. They located him in a small island of the pacific south. He is living there under the identity of the Count Zaroff.

[clsage]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

After some discussion in a another thread, I wanna hear what other people are doing in their pulp games. What characters are in it? What have you recently done? Other interesting tidbits? Stories?

 

Well, my most recent Pulp Hero game goes back to the days of Justice Inc.

 

 

It started as a solitary adventurer, a hard boiled, low rent detective type

situation. One player and me as GM. After several adventures the detective

ended up recruiting a pilot to follow a lead on a missing person (the archeologist

father of the initial clients friend)....And so off to South America and an

encounter with the Japanese security services....It seems that the archeologist

had discovered an Asian fan which was a disguised map to a lost city. A

lost city founded by the Samurai who had, while protecting ships filled with

imperial treasure from the Chinese invasion (the one thwarted by the

typhoon which became the source of the term kamikazi), were themseves blown

off course and ended up on the shores of South America. With no way to

return they attempted to build their own empire in the jungle. And when the

founding samurai died, he was buried in armor carved from the native

gemstone in the area. A full suit of samurai armor, made of emerald.

 

The campaign had started to fall a bit apart prior to that point. And once the

adventurers made it back to civilization, the real world intruded and I ended

up moving. So the following adventure where the group would have ended

up on a search for a shipwreck with Civil War era Confederate gold coins

ended up never being played out.....

 

As I said, that was some while ago.....

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

First is our "Crime Fighting Pulp Game". "The Phantom League". A group of crime fighters in their own right, brought together by The Phantom Detective under the cover of "Universal Imports & Exports Ltd.". We have:

 

Heh heh. I came up with that name. Hope the game is going well, sounds fun.

[st barbara]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

I am currently in a most enjoyable Pulp Hero game, set in NYC "sometime" in the 1930s. Our group are middle-grade members of the Adventurer's Club, an organization of ...well, you have probably guessed it. Nice address just off Fifth Avenue, full range of facilities (including a huge library), loads of potentially useful allies and connections - and some very formidable folks that run the Club.

 

Our small and diverse group has proven useful to have around, so the Club often employs us as a kind of emergency response force. Party members include an ex-gangster, a hard-boiled detective, an Irish padre, a soldier / pilot (Great War veteran), a lady librarian (from the British Library - Black Ops Branch), a doctor and a salty Aussie sea captain (me).

 

Thus far, we have fought assorted thugs and hoodlums, voodoo cultists in the Caribbean, Tong in Chinatown, cannibals in Borneo, things in the sewers, and the inevitable Nazis. We have also burglarized a secret library in the Vatican, blown up a Nazi research base (MOSTLY accidental, but no regrets either), bumped heads with various secret societies, and generally had a good time.

 

Currently, it looks like we may be lining up for a confrontation with some G-Men. The FBI has been called in to investigate security leaks from the AC's library (SERIOUS stuff, trust me), and their attitude towards clubmembers in general has gone from bad to worse. Apparently, J Edgar Hoover really doesn't like we Adventurers, and is just spoiling for an excuse to shut the Club down for good. Interesting times, as they say.

Don't forget the killer apes and giant snakes in the Borneo adventure !

[Talon65]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

Heh heh. I came up with that name. Hope the game is going well' date=' sounds fun.[/quote']

 

Yes, thank you for the name!

 

We haven't been able to play since those posts. December's gonna be a bugger to get a game together so we probably won't get back together until January.

[The Monster]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

OK, a brief capsule of my Pulp Hero game: Voyages of the Airship Archangel©. Set in the late 1930's it's been going on for some 20 years now, although most of the time it's been a once-a-year event (though, on the other hand, several of the sessions have been 6-8 hour runs rather than the typical 4-hour). A team of officers and specialists travel the world aboard a large zeppelin, confronting evil in all its forms. The Archangel Corporation is a government-private partnership (which, after several episodes, turned out to be headed by none other than "Doc" Savage himself!), and the ship (basically a pulpified version of the USS Akron) acts as a rescue team, goodwill ambassador, and intervention force in remote places around the world.

 

The PCs include: the captain (an honorbound Navy vet), the weapons officer (a hardcase Southerner, descendant of Confederate general Longstreet), the linguist (a man who, when the campaign started, could recall nothing of his past; he went by "Jack Buck" because it was a little better than just being "John Doe"), the navigator (a slow-talking Norwegian), an ace pilot ("Marty," daughter of one of the chief builders of the ship), a half(?)blood Cherokee cowboy, a US Navy officer (in charge of the experimental airborne radar system), a British-Indian agent with mystical awareness (and a pet monkey), and, most recently, a Chinese mistress of martial arts (rescued from the clutches of Dr. Fu Manchu).

We've had two marriages, one between the captain and an NPC that player drew up, and another between two PCs (the amnesiac and the pilot). Some highlights from the adventures include:

--a Thomspon-toting polar bear (involving a mad scientist at the Pole)

--gangsters and ninjas deep underground San Francisco

--cannibals and spies in New Guinea

--gangsters and evil sorcerers in Hong Kong

--more evil sorcerers and hang-gliding swordsmen over China

--Mongols and renegade Germans stealing the ship (led by a madman who though he was Genghis reincarnate)

--saving General MacArthur and Colonel Eisenhower from ninja attack in the Phillippenes (they were really after the crew!)

--bombing runs against a pirate U-boat

--the amnesiac discovering his past, as the intended mortal vessel of an evil entity being summoned by Chinese sorcerers (and facing his former wife, who was already possessed)

...and much more!

 

Now, the campaign is in a second phase, beginning with the USS Archangel joining the Hindenburg in publicity flights over the 1936 Summer Olympics. The PCs have discovered plots by the Nazis to use supernatural forces of various kinds:

--disrupted a Nazi attempt to make an alliance with Deep Ones

--stole three brand-new Bf-109's

--rescued a number of Jews who gave them key info on the Nazi plots (smuggling them to Sweden past the noses of the Gestapo was a lot of fun)

In the most recent session, they managed to keep the Nazis from obtaining Mjollnir (yeah, Thor's hammer, the real one); they turned it over to Thor (who showed up with Odin and Vainamoinen in Finland). Unfortunately, the Nazis, equipped with rune-enhanced fighters, apparently killed Thor, so the crew took the hammer (and the gauntlets and girdle). Will the crew be able to keep them? Will the Nazis hunt them down? Stay tuned...

 

(In fact, my wife has written up the whole first phase as a novel, which she needs to get aorund to having published. It's mostly in the form of journal entries by her character, Jack Buck. )

[st barbara]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Sounds great "Monster" ! So neither pirates NOR ninjas like your group huh !

[pinecone]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Sounds great "Monster" ! So neither pirates NOR ninjas like your group huh !

 

"A man is judged by the coolness of his enemies. I am hunted by both Ninjas and Pirates, I suggest you flee while you still can"

[CthulhuAd]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

I have a Wednesday Night Pulp hero game running right now. We’re 10 episodes in, currently going through “The Malay Coins” adventure.

 

The group consists of:

• Mike “the Muscle” Mitchell (former circus strongman now working for Lord Basil)
  
• Squadron Commander Flashpants (ex-RAF, daring pilot, crack shot and ladies man; friend of Lord Basil)
  
• Eduardo Sampson (a wandering highly skilled Mr. Fix-it)
  
• Dexter Riley (reclusive gentleman inventor gadgeteer, zeppelin owner; friend of Lord Basil)
  
• Nathaniel the gamekeeper (ultra sneaky employee of Lord Basil’s)
  
• Hon. Hugh Winstanley-Chalmers (Oxbridge blue, Ancient History student; used to date Lord Basil’s niece, Lulu)
  
• and of course, Lord Basil Uttington-Yeull (rich, upper-class career diplomat and utter utter cad)

The group seemed to coalesce around Lord Basil as the figurehead at group creation, but as Lord Basil’s player is on paternity leave from gaming at the moment (off-scene Lord Basil was sent on a prolonged diplomatic mission) it hasn’t been too hard to hang plots on the other characters as well. The game started in 1932, and we’re moving ahead a month with each new scenario.

 

So far they have…

• … found Lord Basil’s missing niece Lulu,
  
• ... solved a series of hypnotism inspired assassinations by a Comintern agent (who escaped),
  
• … thwarted the machinations of the Cloud Commander,
  
• … recovered a meteorite from the Atlas mountains for the richest man in Britain,
  
• … helped Hon. Hugh Winstanley-Chalmers recover a priceless family heirloom from the clutches of Lulu,
  
• … caught the Radio Marauders, or at least stopped them (but the mad prof crashed into the Thames and they never found his body),
  
• … shot up the Flying Scotsman non-stop express and stopped the auto-gyro-borne reivers thereby saving London from aerial assualt,
  
• … caught a mad ape driven mad by weird science in Oxford,
  
• … and saved the Prince of Wales from brainwashing and kidnap by crazy Comintern agents.

[General Markov]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

"A man is judged by the coolness of his enemies. I am hunted by both Ninjas and Pirates' date=' I suggest you flee while you still can"[/quote']

 

That's the funniest thing I've heard all week. Imagine that said by a two uzi-wielding Chuck Norris. The horror.......the horror......

[Basil]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

... a lady librarian (from the British Library - Black Ops Branch)' date='...[/quote']

 

The British Library has a Black Ops Branch?

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

The British Library has a Black Ops Branch?

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Read_or_Die

[starblaze]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

The British Library has a Black Ops Branch?

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

 

That reminds me of the library detective from that Sienfeld episode.

[st barbara]

Re: Tell us about you Pulp game!

 

The British Library has a Black Ops Branch?

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

But of course ! Do you mean to say that there are libraries out there that DON'T have a Black Ops branch ? How on earth do they secure those "hard to find volumes" in that case ?

[The Monster]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Haven't you ever seen "The Librarian?" Not exactly Black Ops, but certainly decent inspiration for a secret ops branch. And from there it's easy to darken it to taste.

 

Besides, even if they would rather operate all civil and above-board, there are always those pesky secret societies, Nazi villains, and so forth who are willing to use violence and other extreme measures to obtain what the Library contains. They have to be resisted somehow, and normal law enorcement ain't gonna hack it.

[Maelstrom]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

My pulp game is actually set in a quasi-Victorian 19th century. More Steam Pulp than Nazi-bashing, the heroic adventurers represent the cause of Science! against superstition and magic.

[st barbara]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Haven't you ever seen "The Librarian?" Not exactly Black Ops' date=' but certainly decent inspiration for a [i']secret[/i] ops branch. And from there it's easy to darken it to taste.

 

Besides, even if they would rather operate all civil and above-board, there are always those pesky secret societies, Nazi villains, and so forth who are willing to use violence and other extreme measures to obtain what the Library contains. They have to be resisted somehow, and normal law enorcement ain't gonna hack it.

Actually I beleive that the character was inspired by Yumiko Readman from "Read Or Die". She (the character is female, the player male) is the martial artist of the group.

[NestorDRod]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

I'm lucky enough to be in two different pulp games running concurrently.

 

You get to play in not one, but TWO pulp games?

 

I hate you.

 

[Talon65]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

You get to play in not one, but TWO pulp games?

 

I hate you.

 

 

That's ok, kharma just bit me in the butt. The GM for the adventure pulp, that hasn't been able to run for almost 3 months now, has now decided to run this up coming Saturday. One of the only two Saturdays in the entire fricken year that I'm not available. Grrrr!

[Talon65]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

I like the idea of the Library Spec. Op. I LOVED Read or Die and just wish I'd thought of it...

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Actually I beleive that the character was inspired by Yumiko Readman from "Read Or Die". She (the character is female' date=' the player male) is the martial artist of the group.[/quote']

 

Yeah, note that the character is called 'Paper'.

 

Hey, but she is not the ONLY martial artist in the group. My character (the Aussie sea captain) is a two-fisted fighter known to use capstan bars and/or heavy furniture as melee weapons when things get tough. Gotta qualify as a martial art, surely - just not one that "nice" people send their kids someplace to formally learn.

 

All things considered, Paper is more of the team ninja - major skills in stealth, break-and-enter, etc.. A fondness for throwing knives (and LOTS of them). A certain ... aptitude for assassination-style attacks on the enemy. And so on. Not a lady to cross. Certainly not one to brag to about book-burning either - memories of several party-members once crash-tackling Paper because of a very obviously imminent ... violent outburst, shal we say. She had just seen an NPC mutilating books and was ready to do him some serioous harm.

[The Monster]

Re: Tell us about your Pulp game!

 

Well, I'm afraid that as far as martial artists go, my absolute all-time fave has to be...Bob Newhart!!! Watching him wade through thugs was an absolute hoot!