Pulp-Fu

This is a review for the 38-page noir pulp action role-playing game, Pulp-Fu, written by Daniel Bayne. Pulp-Fu is currently available as a PDF through RPGnow for $5.00.

Time Required: Minimal.

Core System: Dice pool.

Playability: Subjective. (If you don’t like the genre you probably wont like the game.)

Complexity: Marginal. (Might need to reread certain sections.)

Quality: 5. (Needs illustrations and page numbers.)

Originality: 5. (rules) 8. (concept)

Grade: B+ / A-

Overall Rating: 8 ½ out of 10 golden apples.

At a glance the document is a bit bland, being comprised solely of text without any illustrations, and also sans page numeration. The document is presented in landscape format, which may pose a problem for some wishing to print this out. However the content is pretty straightforward and clearly written, as is the choice of font.

“Yeah, ok, but what is this Pulp-Fu thing about?”

Glad you asked. Please read on.

Summary

You probably have questions like: Is this game worth buying? Do the rules do what they are supposed to? Why should we care about yet another small press RPG product?

When queried via e-mail about what led to the creation of this role-playing game the author had the following to say: “I started writing my own rules because I was sick of wrestling with other systems to achieve the style of play I wanted: fast, cinematic, and improvisational. I wanted to emulate action movies, not get bogged down in round-by-round minutia.” So there you have it. The author, just like you, got tired of the endless stream of mediocre RPG products and decided to do something constructive about it. But how functional are the game rules, really?

System Mechanics: Additive dice pool. Essentially characters get X number of dice to roll after players declare an action, not to determine success or failure, but rather to find out how well the character performed their narrative action. At least that is how things are explained up front. However there are also “Scab rolls”, which constitute the non-narrative application of the die mechanic to determine success or failure of non-narrative actions; meaning the players can decide they don’t want to describe the action but just roll to see what happens.

Granted it could just be my initial reading was off base but Scab rolls sound like the author is making an effort to “have his cake and eat it too” by presenting a set of rules that could swing either way: fully narrative storyteller system or traditional “roll” playing experience. Yet it works. Or I should say it sounds like it works. I imagine that in actual play the rules should come together smoothly with a good Game Master at the helm. Too, having rules for rolls is something that is familiar to gamers not used to narrative games, so the rules should appeal a broader range of role-player.

Character Creation: Primarily relies on players to create suitable characters that fit into the milieu, though character templates are also provided. Character templates provided are: The Intrepid Explorer, The Hard-Boiled Detective, The Grifter, The Penitent Hitman, The Rumrunner, The Flying Ace, The Master Spy, The Man of Science, The Mystic, The Savage, and The Liberated Woman. And what about NPCs? Well the nameless goons you are likely to encounter in dark alleys are called Mooks while “non-player characters” with stats are referred to as Nemeses. Something about that made me smile. What Pulp-Fu doesn’t have is a character advancement system, the need to maintain banal equipment lists, or the requirement to rush out a buy lots of funny looking dice.

The Setting: According to the introduction this is a cinematic role-playing that is creating an atmosphere that combines “the dark, cynical style of a noir crime drama with the larger-than-life heroics of a pulp adventure and give the whole package the glossy presentation of a Hong Kong action flick”. If this sort of milieu doesn‘t appeal to you stop reading now because that is what Pulp-Fu is, nothing less and nothing more.

The Game: Just what are rules supposed to do, anyway? For one they need to support the chosen genre of the milieu. In this case cinematic role-playing with a cross between pulp noir flair and wushu action. The rules manage to do this and more. In fact there is even a section on “Eldritch Horror”, for those who would like to throw a bit of ye olde bittersweet taste of Lovecraftian horror into the mix. Nice. As are the “Illustrative Examples”, which include sections outlining how to conduct various styles of campaigns from hardboiled detective stories, suspenseful spy tales, and even slightly offbeat tales of rumrunners with Nazis!

Overall the game text and detail are very well presented. However there really isn’t a stock setting here, rather the rules are written to emulate a certain desired milieu, must as Dungeons & Dragons is. For a proper campaign setting you will need, and probably want to get ASAP, the supplement “Erebus: City of Shadows”. Therefore, as this presents all the basic rules you need to play, consider this document roughly equivalent to a RPG core rulebook.

This is a well done, if a bit too short in places, game that meets and exceeds basic genre expectations. The text is straightforward. The font neat and clear to read onscreen and when printed. Too, there are supplements available to expand these basic rules. All very nice. However the game covers a niche genre, or more precisely it comes close to creating a niche genre as I am not certain I’ve seen any other games that blend quite the same historical and cinematic tropes together. I could be wrong, but in many respects Pulp-Fu appears to take familiar genre elements and spin them into something unique.

The PDF: No discernable problems. The document is not locked, thus you are freely able to cut and paste, export to text file, and otherwise use the material to modify to suit your gaming group’s needs.

Negatives: This is the first PDF I have encountered that, when you click “select all” when on a specific page to copy to the clipboard what actually happens is the document actually does just that, it selects all. Meaning all the text in the document. Yes, I can fix that. (And did without a recurrence of the problem.) It’s just a simple matter of adjusting the view settings. But how did this document change them in the first place? Could it be because it’s in landscape format? I’m baffled.

As to the game itself, there are only a few problems that I’d like to humbly suggest might need addressing in future editions specifically concerning certain terms. I would like to have seen these concepts given a separate treatment, perhaps in a glossary entry, so that I can be 100% certain of what they mean in context. The main one that springs to mind is the idea of the in game “Filibuster”. I have a general idea of what the purpose is but, to be honest, it’s one of those things you can’t pick up at a glance. Which, I know, for a 38-page document sounds a bit silly since we should be reading every word. But if you’re like me and you skip around the document it would be nice to have a main reference/entry somewhere that says, “Hey, stupid, this is what this is all about.” Not complaining, just saying.

Positives: If you read this document through from beginning to end it is all very clear what is going on. Which is how it should be for a document of this length. Would I have liked to see more? Yes. Which makes me wonder when the author is going to release the next version and what sorts of additions might be made to the rogue's gallery of stock Villains. This is the sort of game that just might make you want to run out and grab you’re gaming group and force them to sit through a campaign, or three. It’s that kind of simple yet entertaining game.

Once learned the Pulp-Fu system could a perfect beer-and-pretzels style set of rules that also lends itself well to serialized campaigning. You could probably use these rules to do Chandu the Magician or The Mummy just as well as you could use them to do something along the lines of Vampire Effect or The Matrix. Then again Pulp-Fu could just as easily be used to do a good old-fashioned cliffhanger style story. It’s all a matter of approach.

When asked if there would be a print edition the author replied with an emphatic, “Not if I can help it. Electronic publishing lets me reach my fans directly with very little overhead. There's no good reason to pay a printer, distributor, and retailer a cut just to sell in volume. Power to the people, man.”

That sort of dedication just brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?

When further asked how, if pressed, he would describe Pulp-Fu in a single sentence the author replied, “Larger than life Pulp action with Noir style and just a touch of Hong Kong flare!” Yowzah!

Let’s hope that the author does well and changes his mind, because a print edition would be nice. Then again at 38-pages I wont complain. If I really need a print edition I have a printer and there’s always Kino’s. *wink*

Happy gaming!

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