Welcome to the second installment of Tropes, where we examine various genres of fiction with an eye to identifying and deconstructing the various narrative devices employed for adaptation to tabletop gaming.

Last time, we discussed the spandex and cape-clad crowd of Superhero Comics. In a very immediate sense, these comics were a direct outgrowth of the cheap mass entertainment that the public consumed between the World Wars.

Themselves the final form of the Victorian Penny Dreadfuls, these stories were known as Pulp Fiction after the cheap, low quality, thin paper stock upon which they were printed.

The actual pulp magazines covered every genre imaginable, from straightforward detective and gangster stories to romance, space opera and masked mystery men. Isaac Asimov and Tennessee Williams, for example were frequent contributors. The genre most modern audiences think of as “Pulp”, however, lies squarely in the high-adventure realm of the lurid, weird, and gruesome.

A group that wants to play a Pulp campaign needs to understand the following tropes common to all subgenres.

Nazis. I Hate Those Guys.

If not actual backwards-luck sign wearing jackbooted fascists, there is usually a Faceless Menace to thwart. The Mob has its fingers in everything, spies are everywhere, and in some settings, hidden aliens or lost civilizations are just waiting to make their move and get to the goods before the heroes can stop them. See There's A War On, below.

Uses: It's always appropriate to throw an organized resistance into the mix when the players objectives are defined and being pursued. If a plotline falls flat, no logical reason for something to happen can be found, or coincidences begin to stack up, toss in some Nazis hiding in the back room, or have a squealer rat out the wise guys who are setting your players up for a hard fall.

Pitfalls: To be honest, a great many typical pulp villain organizations are terribly unflattering stereotypes of real groups of people. Rather than an unfortunate Yellow Peril or Bone-In-The-Nose tribe of cannibals, you may want to keep your enemy organizations completely fictional. Although, Nazis and regionally, not ethnically accented mobsters are usually fair game.

There's a War On!

Or brewing. And if not, there should be, darn it! Somewhere, two governing bodies of whatever size have entered armed conflict. Whether your heroes are chasing the stolen Idol of Abdul, trying to locate the wreck of the experimental camera plane for the Brits, or just trying to get a brassy blonde to the courtroom to testify while traveling (See Location, Location, Location below), someone in the area will be ready to trade bullets, spears, or artillery in the vicinity.

Uses: This ties in with your Nazis and their ilk. As a jump-starter for a stalled game, nothing quite like a mob war breaking out on the streets outside the group's headquarters. Additionally, a fairly even challenge can be made more hazardous by simply putting an unrelated skirmish inbetween the heroes and villains.

Pitfalls: Players can get wrapped up in the conflict. Instead of enlisting to win for one side or the other, or as soldiers of fortune, you may want to remind them of their hopefully time-sensitive goal. Alternatively, if they would have a lot more fun fighting a war, make damn sure that objective is in the hands of the side they prefer to fight against!

Location, Location, Location.

As much an integral part of the Pulp experience as the characters, gear, and non-stop action are the exotic locales Pulp heroes routinely journey to. Lost cities, foreign countries, and occasionally, stranger places like lost worlds in the hollow earth, disappearing islands, or even brief jaunts to other worlds ala John Carter and Carson Napier.

Uses: Whenever an informant needs to be contacted, a clue needs to be chased down, or an ally recruited, or a villain pursued, there's no good reason not to locate them in another country. A few moments description, local flavour, and interactions with NPCs in the area will spice up the session to make it feel more pulpy. Lost cities of intelligent gorillas, eastern mystics, and ancient Ninja fortresses are just part of the Pulp adventurer's workday.

Pitfalls: Don't forget to mix in some small, noirish, contained area adventures, otherwise the globetrotting becomes routine. You want to maintain the majesty of your vistas by intercutting city or even single-cafe (and airport) Cassablanca-ish venues. Smaller more intense setting help build intensity that can lead to another mad dash across the skies.

I Gotta Get Me One Of Those!

As often as the characters are the focus of a Pulp game, their signature gear should be part of the spotlight. Doc Savage had his gold-clad, supercharged automobile, The Shadow had his gleaming chrome handguns, The Green Hornet had the Black Beauty. Looking at Pulp-tribute media, there's a plethora of jetpacks and suped-up aircraft. The Ride is one of the gang.

Uses: Travel time is less important in Pulp that the act of going somewhere. If you're in a city, the roar of the engines and the amazed pedestrians watching you whiz by is part of the cool. When heading skyward, it's about the awesome majesty of racing through the clouds faster than any horse or car could follow. Machine guns and mortars may raining lead, but it's not serious til The Platinum Pistol is drawn. If the bad guys have cool gear too, all the merrier. The chase is on, and now it's a fight!

Pitfalls: The character can begin to over-rely on their Cool Gear. In the game, as in the pulps themselves, there is every reason to frequently bust them up, shoot them down, and steal their gear. As long as they get it back later, it's all part of the adventure. Pulling up from a death spiral as the engine coughs back to life at the absolute last second (sorry about the paint, I don't think the trees made any new holes) is a day in the life of a Pulp adventurer.

I Make This Look Good

Pulp characters do not particularly dress like normal people. And if they do, they dress like normal people do in very specific circumstances, only all the time. Trenchcoat and fedora, opera cloak, top hat, and monocle, pith helmet and khakis, pilot or mechanic overalls, or a hundred dollar tux when you're on your way down to the diner. Pulp heroes stand out.

Uses:The signature look is a fast identifier. In the pulps, the heroes are famous, people know who they are. The signature look helps. And no one ever ridicules them for it... except the villain of the scene. This is useful both for the shorthand of people recognizing, but to set them up just by dressing like them and doing something untoward.

Pitfalls: It can go too far. If you're going to have a Black Bat, it should be pretty clear that it's not Batman. Masks and face-covering scarves or kerchiefs are fine, but capes and spandex is a bit too far. Of course, there is nothing at all wrong with pulp characters who do not dress distinctively. It's a trend, not a rule.

You Must Not Read Aloud From The Book!

The supernatural is a large, if low-key, part of the world of the Pulps. Cursed idols, native mystics, psychic detectives, forlorn ghosts hiring the Detective to solve their own murders, The Bermuda Triangle and the Loch Ness Monster all have a place in the pulps. Good luck proving it, though.

Uses: Players needing a hook can look here. Absolutely sure you fought a mummy in the last war? Did a Vampire bite your grandma? Do you posses the Lucky Cufflinks of Diamond Jim? As antagonists, there's very little as cool as a Nazi Werewolf or having to brave the Devil's Sea! Of course, the supernatural can simply get in the way, just like a war can.

Pitfalls: If it becomes overt, commonplace, and the focus of the game, you're probably not playing Pulp anymore. The Paranormal should always end up subtle, chilling, and weird more than big budget special effects. In the case of monsters, there will never be any lasting proof.

I Ain't Got Time To Bleed

Pulps are action-oriented. Very little planning or downtime occurs that is not an excuse for romance or interpersonal face time. The tribal chief tells you where his daughter was taken, the thug cracks and tells you where the boss hid the guns, or the Face falls in love.. for ten minutes, and then moves on, having gotten a valuable piece of information from her still-smitten boyfriend. Keep it moving, they're gaining ground!

Uses: This is pretty much the default mode of the majority of role playing game groups. Keeping the action moving is a matter or pacing, timing, and listening for moments. When the players are too comfortable, too complacent, and, importantly, not particularly deriving maximum enjoyment for a social or investigation scene, it's time for the Nazis, Zombies, Volcano, or what have you.

Pitfalls: With too much focus on action, no character development occurs at all. For some groups, this is fine. For those more interested in developing rounded characters, make sure to stage interludes in between chases, fights, and swinging across canyons as ancient rope bridges fail.

Sources

That wraps up this installment of Tropes. Next time, we'll continue our journey through these very closely interrelated genres with a trip into Space Opera. Meanwhile, here's a list of some past and present published games that deal with Pulp gaming. Look them up in