SKJAM!

Re: "TaleSpin" as a pulp setting Shere Khan A large, powerfully built man of Indian descent, Shere Khan is the richest and most powerful man in Cape Suzette. He either owns or has a large share in every major sort of business on the island except organized crime. Cultured and urbane in his tastes and mannerisms, Khan was probably educated in Britain, as was the custom for high-caste Indians of his time period. Shere Khan is well known to be amoral in his business dealings, doing what brings him profit and/or amusement. It is rumored, but has never been proven, that he has killed when it is convenient. While not clinically sadistic, Khan greatly enjoys watching people squirm when he puts them in uncomfortable positions. Surprisingly to some, he does not bear grudges. He's perfectly willing to work with someone who's been his opponent in the past when it's convenient to do so. Less well known is that Shere Khan is slightly lame, the result of a "hunting accident" in his youth. He is somewhat vain about this, and prefers not to walk long distances, which would reveal this flaw. Shere Khan is more of a "foil" for the heroes than a "villain." They may not like him much, but he doesn't do illegal things that can be traced back to him, and without him the island's economy would be in chaos. Plot uses: Shere Khan's businesses are often the target of thieves and spies; it can be all too easy for player characters to get caught up in one of these plots as dupe or witness. While Shere Khan doesn't provably do anything illegal himself, he doesn't have any scruples about giving orders that strongly imply that illegal behavior is desired. If his employees are caught in wrongdoing, well, that's their own outlook. Player characters might stumble across Khan employees engaged in dirty work. If the PCs really are desperate for work, there are certain...tasks they could perform for Mr. Khan. Discretion and a habit of not asking questions is a must.

TaleSpin, of course, being the Disney TV cartoon that recast some of the Jungle Book characters for a late 1930s aviation show. I'm basically going to gloss over the "funny animals" aspect, because I think it will fit better into humans only campaigns that way. Note that I'll be using speculation and fanon as well as the show's canon. First, the island itself: Cape Suzette Cape Suzette is a small but prosperous island conveniently located at the crossing of several trade routes in the South Seas. Millions of years ago, it was an enormous volcano that thrust up from under the sea and built itself up through multiple eruptions. The last of these eruptions blew out one side of the volcano, allowing the ocean in. The magma flow has since shifted, and the island is reasonably stable. It looks from the air rather like a large bowl, surrounded by cliffs on all sides save one where there is a huge crack that lets in the sea. Inside the bowl, there is a large harbor, surrounded on three sides by a small city built uphill to where the cliff walls start. Cape Suzette's location and high defensiblity make it prime real estate in the South Seas. It was once a French possession, but is now an American protectorate (thus the mangled name.) There is a small US Navy base here, primarily to man the artillery defending the island from sky pirates (and their sea counterparts.) Cape Suzette the city is a cosmopolitan place, whose population has more than quadrupled since the War, mostly by immigration. It's rare to find a native; most of them moved to other islands during the time the French were in control. The city has most of the amenities of a large American town, but prices are high since almost everything has to be imported. There is a small amount of organized crime (gambling, prostitution, protection rackets) and spies from many countries frequent the island's dives. The crack in Cape Suzette's cliff is not quite wide enough for most ocean liners, making it more favored by smaller ships and air vehicles. The number one business in the city is shipping, dominated by Shere Khan Industries, but with plenty of room for competition.

Re: Adventure Seeds--Title Tag Revenge of Danny Deevers Most people have never heard of Danny Deevers, but back in the Forties, he was known as Demolition Dan. He had no actual powers, but used various explosives and a small army of thugs to extort money from Campaign City. A band of heroes (either powered or not, depending on the campaign history) tracked down and captured Deevers. Due to the people who'd been murdered by his infernal devices, Deevers was sentenced to a hundred years in prison, seventy with good behavior. He was paroled last year, and promptly vanished. Now, one of the player characters (one without healing powers or mind reading) is summoned to the local hospital, where Deevers lies dying. It turns out that Deevers never reformed, and has used his last year to plant bombs all over the country (or world, if the PCs are particularly powerful) that are rigged to go off sometime after his death. He hands the visitor a piece of paper with rather obscure clues to the location of these bombs, and passes away, a cruel smile upon his lips. Possible Complications: 1) There are as many bombs as there are player characters; each requiring a special power or skill one of the PCs has to disarm, and they must be disarmed simultaneously, or the remaining ones explode. (In the spirit of fair play, Danny Deevers has indicated which hero is for which bomb.) 2) One bomb is in a location forbidden to "outsiders", or where the local authorities hate the player character(s) and won't believe them about the bomb. 3) When the player character arrives at one site, the bomb is missing. It's been stolen by a local crimelord who is using it to extort money from the city. (The crimelord is probably unaware of the echo effect.) 4) The only clue to one bomb's location is a name. To be precise, the name of one of the people who put Deever away in the first place. If there's an appropriate PC or NPC in the campaign, use them. 5) One of the bombs is protected by a monster (or monsters) appropriate to the campaign. "Those Who Walk Away From Millenium City" "Queen of the Reich" "Who Mourns for Aphrodite?"

Re: Pulp TV Shows And just having finished its first season, Lost has a very good pulp premise. It shouldn't be too difficult to move it back to the 1930s or late '40s. Charlie becomes a hophead swing musician, Sayid is replaced with a German character with a similar occupational background, and so forth....

Re: Sample Characters Generally, this part of the forum right here is used for posting superheroic level characters, and the sort of characters that hang out with them. If it's more a street-level or gritty character, the Dark Champions forum is the most likely place; if the character is more of a pulp or early 20th century type, the Pulp Hero forum. Likewise with the Fantasy Hero and Star Hero sections. If it doesn't fit anywhere else, then Other Genres is available.

Re: Essence of the Golden Age Sidekicks were huge in the Golden Age. Not just kid sidekicks, but full-grown ones as well. Usually male adult sidekicks are comical in some way; dressing oddly, cracking jokes, not very bright, that sort of thing. Female adult sidekicks are almost always the hero's girlfriend. The majority of sidekicks did not wear costumes, which sometimes caused temporary Secret ID issues. (However, only the costumed sidekicks tended to stay active into the Silver Age, so those are the ones we usually think of.) "Multi-ethnic" means four white American kids from different states, or one white American kid and three Western European kids. Villains don't need much in the way of powers either--A concealable with effort Distinctive Feature will often suffice. ("Why is the Rattler in charge of this gang?" "He's got fangs, man! Isn't that enough?" "Are they poison fangs?" "No, just bad dental work. But hey, it's really scary bad dental work.") Like the heroes, it's often down to fisticuffs, or using a gun equivalent.

Re: Pulp archtypes.

Re: Musings on Random Musings True. They are both subjective statements, but to believe one is not necessarily to believe the other. (And vice versa.)

Re: A Thread for Random Musings This was brought to mind by the thread on the Senate compromise on filibustering judge nominees, but should not be taken as weighing in on one side or another. It's just a semantics note. There is a big difference between "deserves" and "is entitled to", and we shouldn't use one when we mean the other. "Deserves" means that something should happen, but no one is actually obligated to make it so. For example, "I deserve a girlfriend." It may be true, but I can't make anyone find me one who doesn't want to. It's also a subjective condition. "All judicial nominees deserve an up or down vote" or "President Bush deserves to shape the court system to his liking" are subjectively true to the speaker who believes them, even if his audience believes the statements to be subjectively false. "Is entitled to" means that there is a legal or contractual obligation to make the desired circumstance happen. For example, "I am entitled to forty hours of vacation a year, because it's in the contract I signed with my employer." This is a objective statement, because there's a written piece of paper that spells out my entitlement, as well as the obligations I have taken on to earn that entitlement. The judicial nominees are not "entitled to" an up or down vote; the Senate is not obligated to give it to them, no matter how much they may deserve it. For what it's worth.

Re: Characters for Hero High And a type not already in this thread... Name: John Holland Sex: (Male, Female) Male Race: Caucasian Ethnic Group: A little bit of every Western European heritage, but he likes to think of himself as just "American." Height/Weight: 6'3"/175 lbs Eye Color: Blue Hair Color/Style: Blond, cut relatively short. Distinguishing Feature: Tall for his age. General Appearance: Handsome, physically fit, wears letter jacket as much as possible. Grade: (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th) 11th School Social Grouping:Jock School Club: Basketball team, Young Republicans. Significant Skill/Ability/Talent: Good at basketball. Is only so-so at shooting baskets, but he's State-level at defense. Personality: Comes off as arrogant and bullying; secretly insecure and needing to put others down to establish his worth. Positive Trait: Physically brave Negative Trait: Homophobic Quirks: In denial about his bisexuality Any Fears/Manias/Mental Problems?: He's deathly afraid of not being a "real man." Religion: Conservative Protestant by upbringing, hasn't actually stepped foot in church or read a religious book since age ten. Any Strong Opinion on Todays issues?: Gays are the evil, anyone who criticizes American foreign policy or the war effort is a terrorist-lover, Anti-union. Does NPC Drink? and if so, what/how often: Beer, but only during the summer. Does NPC take drugs? and if so what/how often: Weed, but only during the summer. Basic Family Structure: Parents divorced, lives with mother. Any siblings? and if so how many?: None Short Background: (A few sentences only) John is the son of one of the richest men in the state, who divorced his mother for a younger women when he was about ten. John's mother took to drinking, and he doesn't like her much, admiring his socially Neanderthalish father instead. He gets an extremely generous allowance/child support, has a sports car, and is an important part of the basketball team. But he feels as though he's not a real man because he secretly has sexual desires for other boys. Thus he bullies others (especially those he believes to be gay) to show his superiority to them. He especially likes to torment Skyler Sands, who he's known and despised since kindergarten, because he secretly has the hots for him.

Re: Pulp archtypes. In one of the Supernatural Detective series Manley Wade Wellman wrote, the detective had a con artist medium as a reluctant contact. She had actual powers, but preferred not to use them because they were creepy, and conning the customers was more profitable.

Re: Team of second rate Villains How continuity-accurate do you want to be? If "not very", then Mastermind and Toad of the old Brotherhood of Evil Mutants come to mind. Mastermind has one heck of a useful/nasty power, but the fact that he doesn't have any other powers, is a little unimaginative, and tends to step out into the open so that people can figure out they're being illusioned has kept him in the ranks of second banana villains. Toad you'll probably want to use the upgraded version of with the nasty tongue. If you don't mind doing a lot of the work yourself, there's some anime /manga characters that might be worthwhile putting in the mix. Ooh, picked up the Seven Soldiers of Victory Archive Edition book, and there's a couple of villains in there that could be adapted for such a group: The Needle (tall, excessively skinny fellow with a needle gun) and the Hopper (uses a overpowered pogo stick, but also has strong legs all on his own.)

Re: Has anyone done a write up for the old DC character the Vigilante?

Re: Adventure Seeds--Title Tag A Day in the Life of (Hero or Hero Group Name) A camera crew starts following the player character(s) around, preferably with permission, but perhaps not, in order to do a special on their daily life. Possible complications: 1) One of the cameramen is actually a VIPER operative, and his camera is an Invisible Effects DEX Drain device that he will turn on when the player character goes into combat. 2) The show's producer has hired some criminals to pull off a staged crime to ensure there will be some exciting footage. Naturally, the criminals have decided to skip the "staged" part of the plan and actually commit a crime. 3) If one of the player characters is a glory hound or egomaniac, the show is not about him, but his least liked teammate. The camera crew will do everything in their power to avoid filming the glory hound and concentrate on their desired subject, and say so. 4) An opponent suddenly notices the fight is being filmed, and starts playing to the camera with flashy (and dangerous) uses of his powers. 5) A megavillain, way beyond our heroes' normal capacity to handle, shows up and humiliatingly defeats the player characters on camera. Fortunately, a megahero then shows up and saves the day. Was this a coincidence, or did someone plan for that to happen? 6) The shooting itself goes smoothly, but when the program airs, the player character(s) discovers that the story has been heavily fictionalized, including an entirely made-up subplot about the character's Secret ID. (This should not resemble the actual Secret ID, but be...plausible...to the public.) Despite the "some scenes were reconstructed" disclaimer, quite a few people in Campaign City believe the program's storyline. This should create some problems for the player character; worse, the actor who played his Secret ID is being stalked by not-very-bright villains.... "The China Syndrome" "Doomsday Tango" "Those Who Walk Away From Millenium City" (With apologies to Ursula K LeGuin)

Re: Has anyone done a write up for the old DC character the Vigilante? Ah yes, the 1980s Vigilante, New York District Attorney Adrian Chase. Frustrated by the inability of the legal system to properly punish the obviously guilty, Adrian took inspiration from the New Teen Titans and became a costumed crimefighter. However, unlike the Titans, Chase was willing to kill his targets. At least at the start of his career, 80s Vigilante is a trained normal (I think he was ex-Special Forces or something, to explain the combat skills) with various semi-real world gadgets. Including an actual gun that he uses for its intended purpose. Note that DA Chase's PS: District Attorney will depend on whether you're going by how people reacted to him within the comic book (good rep, so theoretically a high roll) or his on-screen actions as dictated by a writer who hadn't really done the research (a Familiarity at best.) See old "The Law is A Ass" columns for details. (Current killer vigilante Manhunter continues the fine DC tradition of prosecutors who have zero legal skills.)

Re: Characters for Hero High Name: Susan "Suzie" Sands Sex: Female Race: Caucasian Ethnic Group: Scots/Norwegian Height/Weight: 5'4/Slim Eye Color: Light blue Hair Color/Style: Blonde/long and straight Distinguishing Feature: None, as such General Appearance: Vaguely pretty, always dresses nicely for her economic status, minimal makeup Grade: 10th (but a bit young for it) School Social Grouping: Cheerleader School Club: Cheerleading squad Significant Skill/Ability/Talent: Blending in. Suzie is good at making friends quickly and looking like she belongs places. Positive Trait: Friendly Negative Trait: Gives in to peer pressure. Quirks: Pretends to be less intelligent than she actually is. Any Fears/Manias/Mental Problems?: Does not want to be seen with her older brother anywhere. Religion: Liberal Protestant, though not particularly observant. Any Strong Opinion on Todays issues?: Thinks gay people, like her older brother (she's mistaken) are icky. Does NPC Drink? and if so, what/how often: Has tried beer a couple of times, but has to be careful, as her parents are teetotallers. Does NPC take drugs? and if so what/how often: Smokes cigarettes about once a week, but is not yet addicted. Basic Family Structure: Parents both alive and married to each other, grandparents live next door. Any siblings? and if so how many?: One each older brother (Skyler, see above) and younger brother (a bit over three years younger.) Short Background: See Skyler's entry for basic background. Susan hit it much better in the looks department of the genetic lottery, and has a friendlier disposition. She enjoys being on the cheerleading squad, and wants to stay in with the popular crowd, something she views her older brother as an obstacle to. Susan has been talked into trying beer and cigarettes, and has shoplifted a couple of times. So far, her parents haven't let her go on solo dates, but Susan is looking forward to necking and maybe a bit more. Susan is actually nearly as bright as Skyler, but isn't nearly as interested in schoolwork. Also, her friends don't value intelligence nearly as much as looks and partying skill.

Re: Characters for Hero High Name: Skyler Sands Sex: Male Race: Caucasian Ethnic Group: Scots/Norwegian Height/Weight: 5'8"/140 lbs Eye Color: Light Blue Hair Color/Style: Dark brown/a little shaggy Distinguishing Feature: Glasses, small scar on nose. General Appearance: Weedy, acne-ridden, oily hair Grade: 11th School Social Grouping: Weirdo School Club: Band, Choir, Library Significant Skill/Ability/Talent: Teacher reading: He's good at figuring out what teachers want to hear, and answering questions and tests accordingly. It's not so good in subjects dealing with objective facts (like math), but excellent for English Lit and Psychology. Personality: Obsessive reader, does not make friends easily, surly when bullied. Positive Trait: Intelligence Negative Trait: Wimp Quirks: Reads while walking, eating, attending sports, etc. Hates loud crowds. Any Fears/Manias/Mental Problems?: Acrophobe. Religion: Liberal Protestant; his parents are more conservative. Any Strong Opinion on Todays issues?: Not really. Is vaguely worried about being drafted. Does NPC Drink? and if so, what/how often: No. Does NPC take drugs? and if so what/how often: No. Basic Family Structure: Parents both alive and married to each other. Grandparents live next door. Any siblings? and if so how many?: One each sister (a little over a year younger) and brother (five years younger). Short Background: Skyler's parents both work, father as a security guard and mother as a nurse. They supplement their small incomes by growing their own vegetables and goats on the family farm. Skyler is not happy about this, as he winds up spending most of his "spare" time doing chores. Indeed, part of his reason for being in band (saxophone) and choir is to have excuses to get away from the farm. While he's very bright, Skyler isn't very personable, kind of ugly, and has no athletic skills. He became the target of bullies early on, and they've never relented since. Skyler makes one or two friends a year, but so far they've all been transfer students, and they've all moved away again. He's also never had a girlfriend, or even a date. One of the bullies' favorite taunts is to spread rumors that Skyler is gay. If it weren't for the fact that most of the teachers (except the coaches) like him, Skyler would be in dire psychological straits. His sister is in the grade below him, and wishes she weren't, as she's constantly hearing him praised by teachers ("Why can't you be more like your brother?") and teased about his supposed loathsomeness by fellow students. This means that she and Skyler don't get along well.

Re: Adventure Seeds--Title Tag Werewolves of New London A sleepy Wisconsin town not too far from Green Bay is shocked when a number of first deer then cattle disappear, traces of blood and wolf tracks the only clues. A famous monster hunter shows up blathering about werewolves, which gets the case national media coverage (but still not as much as Sapphire's latest wedding being on hold again.) Then the hunter disappears, again with only blood and tracks visible. Interestingly, none of the hunter's weapons seem to have been fired, despite the obvious struggle. Time to call in the player characters! Is it a tourism stunt gone horribly wrong? One or more actual werewolves? Semi-intelligent mutant wolves, or some other force that's faking the wolf prints. "By the Light of the Silvery Doom" "15 Minutes...Or It's Free!" "Starlight Peril In Hollywood"

Re: Pulp Reading Yes, that's it.

Re: Adventure Seeds--Title Tag Alien Invasion : The campaign's resident villainous mad scientist has invented a device that allows (in the sense of forces) one to enter the "world" of a film for the duration of its showing, and interact with it. Once inside, the only way to escape is to survive to the end of the movie. And guess which film is queued up when the heroes arrive? (If the player characters are really tough, use "Aliens" instead.) "Of Mice and Mole-Men" "Make Me an Offer" "Tuxedo Mirage"

Re: Adventure Seeds--Title Tag "City From Tomorrow" The people of Campaign City are shocked, or at least mildly surprised, when an upside down ruined city appears in the sky above them. Once the player characters find a way to get to the ruined city and explore it (gravity does not flip; the city is actually upside down), they find indications that this place is actually Campaign City from one day in the future. There are no living beings in the city, not even bacteria that the characters didn't bring themselves. What happened to Campaign City? Where are all the people? Is this even real, or is someone perpetrating a horrific prank? And if it's real, how can the player characters stop it from happening? The next title tags: "The Man Who Praises Poison" "Alien Invasion" "The Cards With Teeth"

Re: Pulp Reading Strangely enough, the SF pulps are perhaps over-represented in available reading, though they may masquerade as serious books. Quite a few of the field's "classics" from the Thirties and Forties are simply reworked versions of stories that originally appeared in the pulps. And they can be found through your local library (especially if it has a good exchange program with other libraries.) The "Science" chapter of Villainy Amok has useful material on the stock Mad Scientist character endemic to pulp SF, and what he might be up to. Trying to remember the name of that novel where the protagonist winds up in a world where all the pulp SF cliches are literally true. "What Mad World"? Leiber?

Re: Pulp TV Shows "Talespin", the Disney TV cartoon, is set in an alternate history version of the 1930s South Seas. It has strong elements of aviation pulp, though it is aimed at children so elides some of the more unpleasant themes and tropes of pulp. For pulp SF, there's "Star Trek." The original series was very much in the style of the pulp SF of the late '30s to 1940s, with a veneer of 1960s social consciousness.

Since we haven't done this in a while: Three possible titles for an adventure are printed. Pick one of the titles to come up with an adventure seed (a paragraph or two will do, though a page is also good) that sort of matches. Then make up three possible titles for the next poster to work with. Our starter choices are: "The City of Broken Air" "The Man Who Praises Poison" "Perfect in Pink" (Bonus points if the adventure seed has no references to pre-pubescent or teenage girls.)

Re: Character: Inspector Allhoff (Identity Crisis tie-in) Refreshing lack of racism and anti-semitism for a 1930s pulp character, and that's about it.