telemachus

Re: Question about "Pulp"

I agree with you whole-heartedly on pretty much every point about the effect Raiders had. I recall a sudden lack of "Indiana Jones hats" in the thrift stores in the area right after Raiders came out (probably whips, too.) By the way, shouldn't that be "Nazi 1984 TSR, Inc.?"

About the lack of real world detail- I'd read in, I believe, Danger Is My Business that pulp writers were actually sticklers for detail, although that may have only applied to the higher profile magazines like Adventure.

Re: Question about "Pulp"

Or in the case of The Rocketeer specifically' date=' based on a modern retro-styled Dave Stevens comic book created at least partly as an excuse to draw Bettie Page a lot [/quote']

 

And Stevens' Rocketeer was, in turn, based on the Commando Cody/Rocketman serials, bringing the concept full circle. In fact, I still have my issues of Starslayer that introduced him (and caused me to quickly lose interest in the title character.)

 

I don't have any hard evidence, but I'd say that it was Stevens that single-handedly started the Bettie revival. I can only think of two publications before Rocketeer appeared that made any mention of Miss Page, but I'm not at liberty to discuss them here.

 

Email me if you're interested in what they are.

Re: Question about "Pulp"

I addressed this briefly in Pulp Hero (first paragraph, page 340, where I characterize my own take on the manifold nature of what RPGs call "pulp," with implied contrast to how pulp-collectors tend to divvy the matter) ... I wanted to make it clear that I was writing about an RPG genre above all (one which has only existed since the dawn of the 80s, more or less), and not any particular type of actual pulp-magazine story.

If only all those other games would have chapters like "The Pulp Feel" (hell, even that first paragraph)! I guess I'm just trying to preserve the sanctity of the pulps, whatever that is.

I think back in the days of Dave Cook's "Crimefighters", FGU's "Daredevils", and Hero Games' "Justice, Inc.", the pulps, in whatever flavor, hadn't yet bubbled back to the surface quite like they have in the past ten years or so, mainly attracting those that already had a familiarity with the magazines (I have my dad's copy of Steranko's History of Comics, with it's chapter on the pulps, to thank for turning me on to them at an early age.)

Anyway, I wasn't picking on Pulp Hero or the other pulp rpg's for that; I've heard or read that same sort of confusion among the unwashed masses in circles outside of gaming. Personally, I blame Pulp Fiction for it, but I could be wrong.

Re: Question about "Pulp"

Since I see this so often, I thought I should clarify the whole thing a little bit. "Pulp" technically has one meaning, that being the magazines printed on cheap, pulp paper,or the stories that appeared in them. Pulp magazines covered a whole lot of ground over the 40+ years they were around and calling every kind of story that appeared in them "pulp" can be very misleading.

Usually, what people nowadays mean when they're talking about pulps or pulp fiction is one of two things- "hero" pulps like Doc Savage and The Shadow or hard-boiled detective stories about Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe and the like (including sleaze-o stuff by writers like Robert Leslie Bellam).

Movies like Indiana Jones or The Rocketeer that are often referred to as being "pulpy" are actually based directly on the old movie serials, not the pulps. They were the film equivalent of the hero pulps, but had as much in common with comic books and comic strips of the time (there were serials based on Captain Marvel, Blackhawk, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers, for example). Like movie serials, "film noir" movies were the cinema equivalent of the crime/detective pulps, many of them taken directly from stories that appeared in the magazines (like Hammet's "The Maltese Falcon or Chandler's "The Big Sleep".)

It seems like "pulp" has come to mean cheap thrills from the 30's and 40's, but that type of "cheap, fast, and out of control" storytelling, whether it's in the form of film, print, or even radio, to a smaller extent was a product of the time just before, during, and after World War II.

I guess if you had to give it all one name, it might as well be "pulp", but calling Daredevils of the Red Circle "pulp" is like calling "The Master of the World" "steampunk". It just don't seem right, I tells ya!

Re: U.N. Armament

The reason I mentioned people dying is it's an integral part of war. I understand Smedley's objections' date=' but I think the energy he expends in this paper might be better spent looking to the needs of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guard service members than railing against the unfairness of war profiteering. Both conditions are abhorrent but as a combat leader one has a responsibility to the service members before the taxpayers. (Again, just my opinion)[/quote']

Well, lucky for the rest of us there are people in the world, whether civilian or soldier, who have the guts to speak their mind. Believe it or not, there are soldiers out there who think their sense of responsibility goes to more than just that of the military.

 

I know there are businesses, politicians, and others that seek to profit from war. I've seen it firsthand and I was angry as well, but to me having a soldier talk about it casts a pallor over the sacrifices being made by those in the war zone, we don't fight for money and I feel that complaining about money cheapens what service members do.

 

You have completely missed the point. Butler wasn't speaking out against soldiers (since, y'know, he was one), he was speaking out against the people who run the military (like, oh I don't know, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney) who thrust those soldiers into a conflict solely for the benefit of turning a profit.

 

I’m not going to say I’m more qualified to comment that him, but I feel it’s presumptuous for you to say he’s more qualified than me.

No, it is not presumptuous of me, sir. Smedley Butler was a decorated war hero with more than 30 years experience in at least five US military excursions, wrote a book seventy years ago that is still in print, had a Marine base named in his honor, and topical discussions about the man taking place 67 years after his death.

 

And you are...?

 

Anyhow, I feel like you may have misinterpreted my comment and lashed out because you were offended.If that’s what happened, I’m sorry I offended you. I probably should have made my post more unambiguous to begin with.

 

Nice try. No, I wasn't "offended" and, no, I didn't "lash out" at you. I made a simple statement of fact, nothing more nor less. This time, however, you were completely offensive on a number of levels. You can consider my utter disgust this time as "lashing out", if you like.

 

Oh, and apology accepted.

Re: Japanese Powered Exoskeleton

Here's HAL's uglier American cousin that I found last week. Looks like the Japanese have got a leg up on the competition.

Re: U.N. Armament

Just because some capitalize on the situation dosen't mean that everyone involved is just looking to get paid. I could easily make six figures doing my current job if I were a civilian, but I do it for about 50k a year because I believe in what I'm doing.

 

I agree many companies, politicians, and even general officers amy line their pockets during war, and it's a well-known economic principle that war can stimulate a flagging economy, but when you're talking about people dying, it's sort of in poor taste to overgeneralize.

 

Just my 2 cents.

I was neither generalizing nor overgeneralizing and I wasn't talking about "people dying", I merely cited the experienced viewpoint of someone more qualified to speak on the subject than anyone here on these message boards could ever be.

Re: U.N. Armament

What i am sure of though is that we do send our soldiers with the best intentions, we send them to foreign lands to kill and die so that someone can live a bit freer, a bit safer, maybe just so we can say we tried to do something good there.

I wouldn't be quite so sure, my fellow American. For a look behind the curtain, you should really consider reading this-

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

and for more on the guy who wrote it-

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

Re: Weird request

I know it's late in the game to bring this up, but do any of the write-ups take into account Fonzie's animated adventures?

Re: U.N. Armament

I find the 8 million number quoted for M16's to be absurdly low.

Actually, that estimate comes from the manufacturer of the M16, Colt Weapons Systems. That number struck me as a little low, too (though I'd understood the AK family to be the most common worldwide), so I thought I should check into it. Here's the link:

http://www.colt.com/mil/customers.asp

Re: U.N. Armament

Even in places where you'd expect the M16 to be ubiquitous (like, for example, Iraq) the AK is standard military issue - just look at the news photos (the Iraqi AK is made locally).

What's really weird about that was the report of missing weapons that the US gave to Iraq- among them an estimated 110,000 AK-47s!! I'm not well versed on the arms biz, but that just stuck me as a tad bizarre, not so much by the sheer volume (which is just mind-boggling), but that they weren't even good old American government issue!

Re: U.N. Armament

That's a reasonable assumption, but if the country was a former colony of a European power they may well have small arms from their former colonizer (UK, Belgium, France). But I would expect AK variants and M-16s to dominate the assault rifle category (The M-16 is well on its way to becoming the world's most popular assault rifle).

 

A few light tracked armored personnel carriers and wheeled armored cars with light cannon might add a bit more oomph. Peacekeepers might also have some minimal helicopter or air support, often provided by NATO countries.

That narrows things down very nicely. Thanks much!

The M-16 being a popular weapon came as a bit of a surprise. I thought it went the way of the dodo sometime in the 80's. "You can tell it's Mattel!"

Re: U.N. Armament

I may be mistaken, but aren't most peacekeeping troops light infantry? If that's the case, they'll have no armored vehicles, and not much in the way of trucks.

 

They'll have their AKs though.

True, I don't see them packing mobile artillery, but I did see some pics of light tanks and what were possibly APC's on the UN Peacekeeper Wiki. No info about armor or armaments, though.

Not quite sure what you mean about the trucks.

Re: U.N. Armament

No' date=' there is no standard UN equipment. They use the equipment the member nations provide the peacekeepers. Since most peacekeepers are from second and third-tier militaries (such as from Pakistan or African Union nations), their equipment as a rule tends to be rather poor compared to the latest US or NATO stuff. They also tend to be very poorly trained and disciplined.[/quote']

 

It's probably a safe bet to say, then, that most of those troops would be using something from the Kalashnikov family of firearms? Maybe even old Soviet surplus heavy and mobile weapons?

Does anybody know what standard-issue weaponry is issued to UN Peacekeeping Forces? Do they even have standard-issue weapons?

Thanks.

Re: Nexus universe

All I used from Nexus was the symbol for "credit" in my old Traveller game. Nothing else from Nexus seemed to fit very well into a hard sci fi setting.

BTW, I was literally a card-carrying member of the Nexus Fan Club back in the day. Still have the membership kit, even.

Re: Energy Absorber

You could use Endurance Reserve as a guide.

I fear the bookkeeping on that may trump the usefulness of the item. I guess I should have mentioned that this gadget (a crystal key from Fringeworthy for those playing along) has more than one power, but at the time it didn't seem like an issue.

I think the real problem is that I've been trying to convert a badly conceived item. I better take it back to the drawing board before it causes any more trouble.

Thanks much.

Re: Energy Absorber

does overloading the crystal cause it to explode or anything' date=' or give some kind of feedback damage?[/quote']

 

Nope, it just stops providing protection until it's been discharged.

Re: Energy Absorber

It really depends on what you're going to do with that absorbed energy. If the idea is just to absorb attacks, just create a FF with a limitation of only up to #x BODY.

 

If the absorbed energy actually turns the crystal into a battery of sorts, then it's probably Absorbtion with the "acts as defense" advantage that absorbs the Energy as END. The upper limit then becomes whatever buy in dice of Absorbtion.

You got it with the first one. The problem I'm having is that it needs to be "emptied" in order for it to work again and I'm not sure how to represent that. I guess I was looking for the right power when I should be looking in the Limitations.

Thanks!

I'm trying to work out a gadget (in this case a small crystal) that absorbs energy attacks up to a certain capacity, then ceases to operate when it's reached that limit. It won't absorb any more energy until what was absorbed has been (harmlessly) discharged via another device.

So far, I'm thinking either Absorption or an ED Force Field as a starting point, but I'm not sure where to go from there. Any suggestions? I'm really rusty on the rules, so go easy on me.

Also, what happened to Ablative?

Re: The ElDorado Directive

For flavor you might want to take a look at H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Mound". It's set in Oklahoma, but it might give you some idea of the area at that time.

Re: Golden Age Superheroes as Pulp Heroes

And how would you propose a pulp Ghostrider?

The original western Ghost Rider.

Re: Golden Age Superheroes as Pulp Heroes

Thanks to both of you for enlightening me.

 

Scott Baker

There's a "DC Showcase Presents" volume reprinting Challengers of the Unknown that's currently in print right now (and a bargain at only $17). The big booksellers like Borders do a really good job of keeping them (and the Marvel "Essentials" series) in stock.

Re: Golden Age Superheroes as Pulp Heroes

"The Green Lama" in his original incarnation (1940) would fit perfectly well into a pulp setting as his powers are mostly hypnotism' date='slightly enhanced strength and similar things (my reference book mentions a minor electrical power as well) he could be very "Shadow" like I think.[/quote']

 

The Green Lama actually started out as a pulp character before he moved over to comics.

Re: The United States is a constitutional monarchy

I know I'm coming in late on this, but there's a bit of mostly forgotten US history than can be exploited here and that's the fact that there were a number of US Presidents in office before Washington.

There were 11 "Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled", with Washington being the last in that line, but the first under the newly ratified US Constitution.

So, that's ten chances to screw around with US history even before Washington held office and the guy who held office previous to him even had a nice villain-y sounding name- Cyrus Griffin.

Probably way too late with this; just thought it was something worth mulling over.