PULP?

[g33k]

I've never much leaned into the genre, previously... other than some of my young/teenage reading.
But it seems to include (in the RPG genre) an emphasis on PC-survivability (which as a GM I prefer), alongside some more OTT action & a "romantical" vibe (as opposed to gritty/realistic)
I'm kitbashing/FrankenBRP'ing some BRP-esque rules together, and I think I need to get some more "pulpiness" into them.

So, I'm aware of "Astounding Adventures" and "Pulp Cthulhu;" there's a tiny bit of Pulp "advice" in BRP:UGE ...  Anything else that should be on my BRP-dar?
(I include various BRP-derived systems, including but not limited to:  TDM Mythras, C&W Renaissance, d101 OpenQuest, Stormforge Sigil, etc)

Suggestions, advice, etc ... ?

[svensson]

Well, you found Astounding Adventures, the BRP specific book. I'd also suggest GURPS Cliffhangers for some more ideas.

In addition, take a look at the old TV series 'Tales of the Gold Monkey'. It only ran one season, but was classic Pulp in concept and execution.

[Atgxtg]

Pulp Cthulhu, which you arelady mentioned, is probably the best BRP source, with reguarl Call of Cthulhu probably being a good soruce too, as much of Lovecraft's work was orginally published in the pulps.

The Investigaor Weapons series of supplements for CoC , especially the book for the 1920s, is a good sorucebook for the firearms available at the time. 

I also suggest looking outside the BRP-derived systems for inspiration, too. . There are some older Pulp genre RPGs such as Justice Inc., while not BRP based, are still good resources for a pulp campaign, and much of the game mechanics (in this case HERO system) can be adapted easily to BRP.A lot of the material in the game, such as the advice on writing adventures for the different types of Pulp stories (Crime-fighting, Espionage, Action, Horror/Occult,  Detective/Mystery, Spicy Stories,  Science Fiction, Western) and how to plot& prepare an adventure are  system neutral.   

Naturally, the pulps themselves are an invaluable resource for what works in the pulps and what doesn't.. Some of the films are serials of the 1930s and 1940s could work as Pulp stories too. In fact many of them were adaptations of Pulp heroes. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Atgxtg

[Mugen]

The RPG systems that have the most "pulp" feel for me are FATE, Qin:The Warring States, D6 and 7th Seas 1st edition.

There's no reason a BRP derived game can't be "PULP", but IMHO it needs to change at least two things that are common in BRP games :

• Wounds should be rare, and most Hit Points loss should be bruises or exhaustion, that can be quickly recovered.
• Skilled characters should be able to do much more things in a round than mundane characters. And all PCs should all have high skills.

[Kloster]

12 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

I also suggest looking outside the BRP-derived systems for inspiration, too. . There are some older Pulp genre RPGs such as Justice Inc., while not BRP based, are still good resources for a pulp campaign, and much of the game mechanics (in this case HERO system) can be adapted easily to BRP.A lot of the material in the game, such as the advice on writing adventures for the different types of Pulp stories (Crime-fighting, Espionage, Action, Horror/Occult,  Detective/Mystery, Spicy Stories,  Science Fiction, Western) and how to plot& prepare an adventure are  system neutral. 

Yep, 'Justice Inc' was good, but Hero system (especially the 3rd ed on which it is based) is completely different of BRP and quite difficult to convert into anything.

The other good pulp RPG I have played is 'Daredevils', fom FGU. It shares it's system (and authors) with 'Bushido', and is even more difficult to find and to convert.

[SJB]

There is a pulp d100 derivative entitled Gentlemen vs Demons. It uses the CoC 7e 1-100 characteristics.

[SJB]

I’ve posted some Pulp adaptations for Mythras:

Stock characters

https://the180fantasyproject.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/mythras-pulp/

Firearms

https://the180fantasyproject.wordpress.com/2022/11/16/mythras-pulp-guns/

Explosives

https://the180fantasyproject.wordpress.com/2022/11/20/big-pulp-explosions/
 

Aeroplanes

https://the180fantasyproject.wordpress.com/2022/11/18/mythras-air-pageant-of-1930/

Scenario

https://the180fantasyproject.wordpress.com/2023/01/13/the-devil-in-nyc/

 

 

[Atgxtg]

1 hour ago, Kloster said:

Yep, 'Justice Inc' was good, but Hero system (especially the 3rd ed on which it is based) is completely different of BRP and quite difficult to convert into anything.

It's not that difficult.

Both are skill based, and it's pretty easy to covert from one to the other. Especially is you convert 3d6 probabilities to percentile. I think I did a coversion sheet like that years ago to adapt ICE Robin Hood supplement (also uses HERO system). THe hardest bit is with advantages and disavatages but if you are using BRP chargen that won't come up, except for aliens and supernatural creatures.

Vehicles and Gear don't have to be converted but instead replaced with the appropriate BRP stats.  For instance you don't have to convert the bad guy's Luger P08 over, you can just use the BRP/CoC stats. It not even all that hard to figure out Handling, SIZ, and Speed stats from the HERO stats.

 

But the big thing Justic In has going for it is that much if not most of it's material is setting and genre related rather than game mechanics. So there is a lot of helpful advice for setting up and running a pulp game.

1 hour ago, Kloster said:

The other good pulp RPG I have played is 'Daredevils', fom FGU. It shares it's system (and authors) with 'Bushido', and is even more difficult to find and to convert.

Yeah, Daredevils is a bit tougher, to convert. Mercenaries, SPies & Private Eyes perhaps moreso. THere are a few other good pulp RPGs out there too (Spirit of the Century, Thrilling Tales) but my main reason for suggesting Justice, Inc. was that it was more focused towards the setting than the game system. Plus it's only $10 on Drivethrurpg. 

[DreadDomain]

When it comes to d100 mechanics, I believe Pulp Cthulhu does pulp best*. Beyond the fact that combat is very fluid it has a few nice features:

• The addition of archetypes in character creation adds more skill points to distribute and therefore more competent characters, but in a focused way. It can create very different flavors of characters even if they have the same occupation.
• The enhanced Luck rules, and players having more Luck points, enhance player agency on their characters.
• Pulp talents add that extra bit to characters that define them some more and let them shine in specific manners.
• More Hit Points. Combined with the Major Wound rule makes character very tough since they will not die on 0 HP unless they are suffereing form an untreated major wound.

The Two-Headed Serpent actual play on Stream of Chaos offered quite a few epic action scenes.

 

EDIT:  *I never played Astounding Adventures so cannot compare.

EDIT: Another d100 that may do Pulp well is Troubleshooters. It is geared toward franco-belgian graphic novels but the gap between the two "genres" is often narrow. Have not read or played it yet.

Edited December 3, 2023 by DreadDomain

[Ian Absentia]

3 hours ago, DreadDomain said:

When it comes to d100 mechanics, I believe Pulp Cthulhu does pulp best...

Pulp Cthulhu is the closest thing I've seen to the default house-rule system that I've been using for pick-up games and extended campaigns for ages.  It allows player and character roleplaying agency without undermining the challenge of the game.

!i!

[g33k]

Just wanting to clarify this double "all" ...

22 hours ago, Mugen said:

• ... And all PCs should all have high skills.

Do you mean that all skills should be high?
That part of the "pulpy" genre is to mostly-succeed in any/all skill-rolls?

Which, to be honest, makes for a decent argument!

[Ian Absentia]

Dang, what's the recent game I'm trying to think of where players can "buy" a stroke of luck by kicking a failed roll down the road to a later scene?  Because that's definitely a trope of pulp adventure.  Is that in the recent BRP Fate Point rules?

!i!

[Mugen]

5 hours ago, g33k said:

Just wanting to clarify this double "all" ...

Do you mean that all skills should be high?
That part of the "pulpy" genre is to mostly-succeed in any/all skill-rolls?

Which, to be honest, makes for a decent argument!

Err... No, I just didn't check what I wrote... You can ignore one of those "all"...

What I meant is that all PCs should have at least a couple of skills at 90+, an at least 65+ in some others.

[svensson]

11 minutes ago, Mugen said:

Err... No, I just didn't check what I wrote... You can ignore one of those "all"...

What I meant is that all PCs should have at least a couple of skills at 90+, an at least 65+ in some others.

Yeah, the PCs should be excellent at their key character-concept skills [for example Drive Aircraft for a pilot], good at a three or five other skills, and then a more reasonable level most other PC important skills.

Pulp isn't so much about how skilled the characters are, it how skilled the referee is at making their errors exciting! It isn't always about succeeding a swinging from the chandelier, it's how fun the tavern fire is when the chandelier crashes to the floor [PC in tow] and spreads lamp oil all over the place 🤣

[Raleel]

7 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Dang, what's the recent game I'm trying to think of where players can "buy" a stroke of luck by kicking a failed roll down the road to a later scene?  Because that's definitely a trope of pulp adventure.  Is that in the recent BRP Fate Point rules?

!i!

Cortex plus/ prime does something like this with at least some variations. Definitely has a “i told the wizard I would pay the gods” sort of vibe. 

[NickMiddleton]

9 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

… Is that in the recent BRP Fate Point rules?

!i!

From a quick skim of Page 115 from the PDF on my phone, don’t think so. But can’t see any reason one couldn’t include it with some house rules? 

Edited December 4, 2023 by NickMiddleton

[Jakob]

9 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Dang, what's the recent game I'm trying to think of where players can "buy" a stroke of luck by kicking a failed roll down the road to a later scene?  Because that's definitely a trope of pulp adventure.  Is that in the recent BRP Fate Point rules?

!i!

Maybe you're thinking of Haunted West, which has its own bespoke BRP-ish d100 system? There's a similar rule there, though it kind of works the other way round: It lets you send additional succes levels (called Jacks) that you don't need in the current situation down the river to use them as a bonus to a differnt skill later. The catch is that a. you can only use them on a different skill later, and b. you need to make a connection between the skill that gave you the jacks and the skill that you are using them on ("I'm a surgeon, I know where to shoot him so that it hurts!").

It's a pretty cool and pulpy mechanism, because you don't get that feeling of wasting a great success on a less than important roll; you get to use these jacks to shine later, and probably in an unexpected way.

[Atgxtg]

12 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Dang, what's the recent game I'm trying to think of where players can "buy" a stroke of luck by kicking a failed roll down the road to a later scene?  Because that's definitely a trope of pulp adventure.  Is that in the recent BRP Fate Point rules?

!i!

2d20 games sort of do that with their Momentum/Threat mechanics. Roughly speaking, when PCs success in tasks they build up a pool of momentum points that can be drawn on to improve future rolls. But a player may opt to increase their threat total instead of using momentum (or when they are out of momentum). The Threat pool is then used by the GM to create further problems for the PCs later on. 

 

Crtics of 2d20 note that players can just always draw on momentum for every roll to offset the additional Threat, causing a perpetual feedback loop of escalation. 

[Ian Absentia]

18 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Dang, what's the recent game I'm trying to think of where players can "buy" a stroke of luck by kicking a failed roll down the road to a later scene? 

Ah, I found it.  And it is BRP-adjacent.  It's from The Comae Engine, which is, at it's heart, a very streamlined d100 game.  The rule is "Negative Luck" (p.20 of the most recent version), where a player can use up to 2 extra Luck Points that their character doesn't actually have in a present scene as long as they agree to forfeit a successful roll in a future scene.

I gather the idea isn't unique, but it definitely suits the "pulp" genre.  For all the talk of how incredibly competent Indiana Jones is, he's an awful stumble-bum from scene to scene.  Even James Bond has to pay off his over-extended fortune from time to time.

!i!

Edited December 4, 2023 by Ian Absentia

[svensson]

35 minutes ago, Ian Absentia said:

Ah, I found it.  And it is BRP-adjacent.  It's from The Comae Engine, which is, at it's heart, a very streamlined d100 game.  The rule is "Negative Luck" (p.20 of the most recent version), where a player can use up to 2 extra Luck Points that their character doesn't actually have in a present scene as long as they agree to forfeit a successful roll in a future scene.

I gather the idea isn't unique, but it definitely suits the "pulp" genre.  For all the talk of how incredibly competent Indiana Jones is, he's an awful stumble-bum from scene to scene.  Even James Bond has to pay off his over-extended fortune from time to time.

!i!

Hey, if John Wick has to take that kind of beating, your player character is need health insurance.. 🤣

[Atgxtg]

 

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

I gather the idea isn't unique

Yeah, multiple RPGs have had something similar.

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

, but it definitely suits the "pulp" genre. 

It suits most "heroic" type genres. You want you heroes to seem vulnerable and suffer complications and problems or else they just look like they are blessed, not heroic. It's why Batman running into a burning building to save a child is more heroic that Superman doing it. It's also one of the reasons why Clint Eastwood often got beat up in his movies before coming back and taking out all the bad guys at the end. 

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

For all the talk of how incredibly competent Indiana Jones is, he's an awful stumble-bum from scene to scene. 

It's part of what makes his success believable. He succeeds but he pays for it by getting banged up along the way.

4 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

 

Even James Bond has to pay off his over-extended fortune from time to time.

He certainly does in the books. In most of the books Bond get's captured and tortured or beat up by the Major Villain. The films are (usually)  kinder to him.