Mostlyjoe Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 I'm sure some of you have looked at D&D's Eberron. It's a pulpy setting you run D&D character through. But what happens with you invert the ratio a little bit and build a fantasy setting that Pulp characters can run around in. Less, Figther/Mage/Theif/Healer vs Pulp universe...more Dr. Frostbrand, The Mysterio Magister, Ulgan the King of Thieves vs Lord Farthington Necromonger and his Undead Assassins. What Fantasy tropes would migrate well into a Pulp feel, and what Pulp elements could be bent to Fantasy designs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorDRod Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Some would say that's what Castle Falkenstein was going for. There was a game put out by WEG at one point (Bloodshadows, it think it was called) that attempted to combine noir with fantasy. Not quite the same, but at least close to the ballpark. Of course, the question then becomes what do you consider fantasy. Hollow Earth Expedition, an awesome pulp RPG, bases its setting on the existence of a Hollow Earth filled with ancient artifacts, beastmen and dinosaurs, in the best Edgar Rice Burroughs tradition. That's certainly fantastical. I'll try to think of other potential examples as soon as my work-addled brain has a chance to cogitate on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorDRod Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy I'm also trying to better answer your question, but I'm stuck in identifying tropes that can be considered specific to the fantasy genre as opposed to fiction in general. At the same time, I feel that there isn't a trope associated with pulp that can't be implemented in any other genre. Larger-than-Life heroes, death-traps, exotic places; they can easily find a home in anything from fantasy to SF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy The best pulp characters are perfectly well suited to a fantasy universe. Not surprisingly given that they're constantly on the edge of dropping into one. It goes without saying that they're master equestrians who dabbled in fencing in college with weird talents (danger sense, bump of direction, gift of tongues) that the average Low Fantasy wizard would envy. Now, ten to one they invent gunpowder in Week One and steam power by Week Ten, but I consider that a feature, not a bug. Putting fantasy into real world gets you steamtech on the first pass. By extension, pulp is technically "gastech," but I'm not sure anyone has ever bothered to invent that on the grounds that weird science, superheroics and psionics gives you everything you really need already. Now, a fullblown, "psionics is magic" context might be interesting. Or even at this point overdone. Psychic elves who talk to trees, wolves and hot red-heads are honestly a dime a dozen, and IIRC I've even seen dwarves helping the US WWII war effort by inventing powder metallurgy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy So, LawnmowerBoy, psychic elves don't talk to hot blondes or raven heads, or . . . When I read the title of this thread, I immediately thought of the Thraxas books by Martin Scott. Thraxas is a fat, failed sorcery student, a skilled former soldier and a far-travelled mercenary who makes his living as a Philip Marlowe-style PI in Turai which is a city-state very much based on Ancient Rome. His girlfriend is a hawt half-elf/half-orc who works as a barmaid in the tavern below Thraxas' "office" and used to be a gladiator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorDRod Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy So' date=' LawnmowerBoy, psychic elves don't talk to hot blondes or raven heads, or . . . [/quote'] Well, they used to, but the blondes didn't get half the jokes, and the raven-haired ones would just kick their butts out of sheer boredom. It seems redheads are the only ones who find them amusing, if even for a short while... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothere Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy "Prof. Gandalf, we need your help. Our spies in Mordor have reported that Sauron is still alive." "What? But his head was cut off." "Apparently they were able to reattach it using the mystic properties in there Doom Labratory." "Amazing. Sauron was always an incredible man. Such a shame that intellect has been twisted to sinister purposes." "True, but we have more immediate problems. Some of the heads of the Nasgul cult have been dispatced to recover Sauron's secret weapon." "Not the T-ring?" "Presicly. It's too dangerous to let fall into enemy hands. We can no longer bother analying it, it must be destroyed." Prof. Gandalf scratched his granite hard square jaw. "With our limited understanding the only way to do that would be to penetrate enemy territory straight to Doom Labratory. I'll need top men." "Who?" "Top men" "Whoever you need Prof. you have." "I'll do it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy So cool and repped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Probably one of the most used ways to transform fantasy tropes into a more pulpish feel is to go for the Phillip Marlowe type of approach. Take traditional fantasy types and put them in a city setting working their own detective agency. A fighter could be a middle-aged former city guardsman who now prefers working for himself as a problem solver. Or a wizard may hang out a shingle and do the same, dealing with whatever "long-legged dame that comes in with a problem." A rogue type could be on the outs with the Thieves Guild, but not so far out that they want to kill him/her. A priest could be a drunkard and womanizer, but also has the ability to solve mysteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NestorDRod Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Yet the P.I. concept is more noir than pulp, at least as much as those terms can be defined. If I were to point to anything as demonstrating the combination of pulp and fantasy, it would be REH's Conan or ERB's Pellucidar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Swords & Sorcery is pretty much Pulp Fantasy, so I agree on the Conan example. Dealing with madmen and frothing cultists would be Pulp tropes that mix well with Fantasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5lippers Posted September 4, 2009 Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Not sure if this is what you had in mind but “pulp fantasy” always gets me thinking along the lines of noir, weird-menace and Edgar Rice Burroughs – a quick list: Science fantasy / Diesel punk tropes Tough guys with rifles/revolvers Savannah, lost worlds, hidden temples Primitive cultures that have somehow remained hidden from the modern world. Bi-planes and trains. Beastmen, lizardmen, devolved, subterranean (and evil!) humans (rather than elves and dwarves). Dinosaurs! ‘Dark’ magic, rituals, cults. Low-level psionic abilities. Power-mad dictatorships looking to subjugate the ‘civilized world’ and ‘civilized world’ governments that aren’t much better (just better at politicking and propaganda). Detectives with a twist Conspiracy and double-dealing (with a bit more conspiracy on top) Crime syndicates and secret societies Rational throught is becomming the defacto standard with mystics and priests becomming more of a 'curiosity'. Therefore, the consensus jars with the weirder pulp aspects. S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mostlyjoe Posted September 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2009 Re: Pulp Fantasy Thanks for the feedback folks. I'm still looking for a hook, but once I have one I'll post the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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