Pulp Hero

[fredrik_nilsson]

In the Champions Universe book there are some hints about some pulp era characters. Are there any official stats on them somewhere?

 

There characters that a refer to are:

 

Empire Club (Gentleman's Social Club)

Axel Lidenbrock

Black Mask VII (Jason Ward)

Black Eagle

Ryanna the Jungle Queen

Raven

Velvet Phantom

Midnight Brigade (a team, that incl. the two above)

Black Mask VIII (Jeffrey Layton Ward)

Jimmy Tompion

Air King (Villain)

Bill Jeffries(Lefty Legrand/Black Owl)

King Oceanus of Atlantis

Dargon the Usurper

Nereus the Wizard

Mara of Atlantis (Sea Hawk)

Amy Levesque

Navt Lieutenant Barry Colville

Cobra

Futurian

Grey Guardian

Defenders of Justice

[Hermit]

Not that i know of, but if you have a copy of Millennium City you can find the write up for Mr. X. Detroit's Pulp age hero

[Lord Liaden]

The current background history of the Hero Universe interweaves some older material with lots of new stuff, and also recasts some older elements in a new form. Some of the characters and institutions mentioned have been written up in previously published Hero Games books using earlier editions of the rules, but exactly what form they'll take when and if they're published again is open to conjecture. However, I can give you some direction to the ones that I've seen before:

 

The Empire Club was first described in the classic Aaron Allston/ Michael Stackpole setting/game book for pulp adventuring, Justice Incorporated. IIRC there wasn't a lot in the way of character writeups included for the Club members. In any case JI is rather difficult to find nowadays, having been out of print since the 1980's, but I would highly recommend it if you can find it. Even with changes to the game system it's an excellent sourcebook for gaming in that era. There were also several articles written about the Empire Club in Hero Games' paper periodical magazine, Adventurers Club, although I don't remember which issues offhand.

 

OTOH, if you follow the "Hero Links" link at the top of this page and click on "Other Genre Links," you can find an unofficial (but well-developed and very cool) website devoted to the Empire Club and its members.

 

The Raven and the Velvet Phantom are both written up in the 4th Edition Dark Champions sourcebook An Eye for an Eye, along with some details on the structure of the Midnight Brigade. Both characters are statted for a more contemporary era and so their physical abilities are diminished by age, but they could be easily modified for their primes. The Raven would make an excellent mentor for pulp-era heroes, or modern heroic crime-fighting characters with a supernatural bent.

 

Stats for Jimmy Tompion at various stages of his heroic career - as an Indiana Jones-type adventurer, as the costumed "mystery man" Fire Watcher during WW II, and as a modern patron of the London Watch superhero team - appear in the fine 4E Champions sourcebook for the United Kingdom, Kingdom of Champions.

 

The Atlantean characters bear some resemblance to those mentioned in the 4E Atlantis sourcebook, but based on recent references in CU their powers and even genders may be changed, so that book wouldn't be a reliable guide. Nonetheless Atlantis is a very good sourcebook, and the 5E Champions Universe history of the lost continent seems so close to what appears in that book that it would probably be easily adaptable.

 

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the other characters mentioned, and couldn't tell you whether they're based on someone appearing in a published book or article.

 

I hope that's of some use to you.

[Redmenace]

I believe the Defenders of Justice is Steve Long's old campaign, a Golden Age superheroic one. It's where DOJ comes from. As they've been mentioned in Steve's work they'll probobly see the light of day when ver a Golden Age source book comes out.

 

In the mean time, check the Digital hero page by clicking on the various covers to pull up a table of contents for that issue. There have been some character write ups that might include what you're looking for.

[Darren Watts]

Actually, the DOJ was my campaign, not Steve's. Many if not all of the WWII-era characters listed (say, hmm, the last eleven) should appear in Golden Age Champions when I actually get around to writing that next year sometime. Mara was my PC in that game, and Amy and Barry were her DNPCs, while the assorted Atlantean bad guys regularly menaced the entire team. Some of their story continues in the forthcoming UNTIL book I should be finishing next week, as a couple of the DOJ-ers play parts in the creation of that august organization.

 

A sizable chunk of the others will no doubt appear in Pulp Hero when that book comes out as well. The Black Masks and Ryanna are from my home setting, while the Raven and crew are Steve's creations, and the Empire Club does indeed date back to Aaron and Mike. dw

[Redmenace]

Mea Culpa, DW. Sorry about mis representing.

[fredrik_nilsson]

Have I got this right?

 

Thanks for all the help this far guys!

 

Have I got this right?

 

From King Oceanus and down, the charaters are not Pulp Hero, but Golden Age Hero.

 

The rest are 4th edition characters that hasn't got a 5th edition write-up.

 

Plus I missed Dr. X from Detroit.

 

Are there any more official Pulp Hero material for the 5th ed of the HERO System?

 

I only have FRED, the free stuff from the home page, Champions and Champions (HERO stuff is hard to get in Sweden). I've also got all the Digital Hero magazines, but I haven't had time to read all of them yet.

[Steve Long]

We haven't published any official Pulp Hero material for 5E yet, though we do plan to eventually. Mostly what we've done, as others have pointed out, is reference Pulp-era crimebusters and such in Champions products. Only Mr. X has actually gotten a character sheet.

 

However, The HERO System Vehicle Sourcebook, which I'm currently writing, will have quite a few Pulp-era vehicles in it -- cars, motorcycles, planes, and such.