 Goto [ Index ] |
The Book: Pulp HERO is a typically massive HERO System genre book, 432 pages including index. The cover of Pulp HERO doesn’t look especially authentic, given that it’s obviously computer-colored, but it does convey all the elements. Ancient temple in the background: Check. Rope bridge decorated with skulls: Check. Map and/or map scroll: Check. Beautiful blonde: Check. Handsome man in jungle khakis: Check. Zeppelin (MANDATORY): Check. One character shooting at the other, who is getting away by hanging onto the zeppelin’s ladder: Extra credit. This pretty much covers all the basics. Let’s move on.
The interior is more impressive, with most of the artwork (including archive pieces) being appropriate for the era. More importantly, the layout deviates from Hero Games’ generic format in several areas, with the logo pieces having a certain ‘arch’ look to them, quotes from the pulps being given in old-time Courier font, and the opening chapter pages featuring actual covers from the old pulp magazines, giving a very vivid representation of what’s being covered in the book. It’s as if Steve Long or someone else at Hero Games actually listened to customer feedback about all the other sourcebooks looking alike, and so made some little style changes to make this book better convey the tone of the genre. (Thanks.)
Chapter One: The Pulp Genre- Strong-Jawed Heroes, Beautiful Women, and Fiendish Masterminds
Chapter One begins with a two-page review of the Pulp genre in late 19th/early 20th Century fiction magazines, the name coming from the cheap wood-pulp paper that the original publishers used to cut costs. Thus, the stories in these magazines gained and retain a fairly seedy reputation, although they were immensely popular at the time and remain an inspiration in other media (such as the Indiana Jones movies, which are inspired by ‘30s movie serials that are basically the filmed equivalent of Pulp).
This is followed by a definition of Pulp as a genre. Primarily it is defined as “Action, Action, Action”- most stories basically piling obstacles onto each other as the plot drives toward a climax, an approach that the author points out makes Pulp a natural fit for RPGs. The second major trait of Pulp stories, according to Long, is shallow characterization:
“Even the best-known Pulp heroes- characters like the Shadow and Doc Savage about whom hundreds of stories were written- aren’t much more than collections of easily-identifiable personality traits, quirks, mannerisms and habits, possibly coupled with one or more distinctive elements of appearance that makes them easy to write and read about. “This is the other thing that makes Pulp so wonderfully gameable. The description of Pulp characters given above could apply word-for-word to the vast majority of gaming characters. Most roleplaying games, including the HERO System, require you to create characters through various attributes and traits defined by the rules. It’s a more elaborate, and sometimes ‘scientific’ process than how a writer for the pulps worked, but the end result is the same: a character who’s really not a character so much as he is a characterization- a collection of traits that identify him and let him take action, and not much more. In short: RPGs are ideally suited for creating Pulp-style characters.”
(If one is a fan of White Wolf, this analysis may seem insulting. If one is a Hackmaster fan, it probably goes without saying.)
The book lists other aspects of Pulp that flow from the above: melodrama, black-and-white morality, the deathtrap/cliffhanger ending, the use of exotic locations (including Chinatown) and the heroes’ facility in most relevant areas, including disguise. Pulp adventurers were usually independently wealthy (as one of Long’s sources puts it: ‘It was no game for a poor man’) and had little interest in romance (this was part of them being shallow, action-oriented characters). Given that Pulp was escapist literature, the Great Depression had little impact on the heroes (although it did increase the number of industrialist villains).
Long goes on to refer to the issue of racism and sexism in the contemporary pulps. While he points out that there were some competent female characters, like Jane in the later Tarzan novels, virtually all of the heroes were white; even the ones who gained their powers in exotic lands were white adventurers who’d “gone native.” The dilemma is that it defeats the purpose to play a period game if the PCs and NPCs are going to act just like modern people, but modern players would find many aspects of the setting intolerable. The author recommends a “middle approach” that leans toward modern sensibilities while using some period bits to portray the setting. For instance, “Oriental” was the accepted and proper term for someone of Asian descent, while nowadays it comes off as racist or at best quaint. (Same for ‘Negro.’) Long’s final advice on the subject is: “Figure out what’s ‘too far’ for your gaming group, and don’t go there.”
The chapter then goes into the various Pulp subgenres like “Air Adventure” (World War I dogfighting), Crimebusters, Detectives, etc. These include suggestions for beginning character point totals, with most characters being on the “Standard Heroic” level, but some like Crimebusters being almost on par with superheroes. The chapter also discusses “meta-genres” like Comedy and Horror, then defines how Pulp HERO would work mixed with other genre concepts (for instance, Pulp mixed with SF is more Buck Rogers than Cyberpunk, but Pulp mixed with Western is effectively redundant, as most of the concepts of the Western story were already defined by dime novels and contemporary pulps- i.e. ‘the typical Western is already a Pulp story’).
Chapter Two: 20 Years of Adventure- Pulp History
From pages 34 to 121- 87 pages- the book devotes itself to detailing the history of the Pulp Era, defined as January 1920 to December 1939. This is organized vertically by month and horizontally by subject, with “Politics & War” being most prominent of these. This format makes it very easy to pick out a certain date and determine what important event happened historically, in order for the GM to maintain some sense of accuracy and for players to get a better sense of their setting. However, you would still have to consult an encyclopedia or other source to look up an event and then determine its date.
The rest of the chapter after p. 121 is a comparatively brief biography section on the statesmen and celebrities of this era, which is well-done and mostly complete (although for some reason Amelia Earhart is nowhere to be seen).
Chapter Three: The World of the Pulp Era
Long opens this chapter with a brief overview of the factors shaping everyday life in the 20s and 30s: The League of Nations (near useless), the Great Depression (which, again, is not touched on much in the pulps, because their readers bought them as escapist fare), European colonialism (which we now acknowledge as a Bad Thing, and in any event was entering its decline) and the primitive but increasingly important use of technology. In this last regard, this section includes sections on the various modes of travel, distances by car between American cities, international air/water distances, and the various prices for travel and communications services.
Next is the travelogue of the various continents and nations, which confirms the author’s description of the setting as “a place both comfortingly familiar and disturbingly different to a modern person”: Not only is racism acceptable and fascism on the rise, France is considered *cool.* Indeed, France, along with Britain, is the major power of the day, although neither country is able or willing to spend much on defense, which of course has disastrous consequences in the late Thirties.
One thing that really helps this section come alive is the use of atlas-quality maps by Keith Curtis, which have certain style touches like the “Empire Club” label -a nod to Justice, Inc. -and local touches like a set of spears laid across the map of Africa (the detail map of Germany is shown with a Luger and an SS dagger).
Chapter Four: Guys and Dolls- Character Generation
So after 223 pages- even more setup than a White Wolf book- Pulp HERO finally gets to character generation rules for Pulp heroes in HERO System. Starting with an overview of a typical Pulp hero’s traits, the book goes on to list appropriate Package Deals covering all the basics like Athlete, Aviator and Detective, and on to exotic backgrounds like Masked Crimefighter and Wild Man (of the Jungle). Depending on how many points the characters are given to start with, they might possibly have more than one Package- like an Athlete who becomes a Scientist after college. There are some colorful backgrounds like Circus Folk, Dad Was a Scientist or I Fought in the Great War. The book also lists possibilities for how a character who starts with one Package Deal can “branch out” with experience, such as a Wild Man going back to civilization and inheriting a fortune (like Tarzan did). Many of the more basic Package Deals have “Two-Fisted Hero” as the recommended future career path because “this is Pulp HERO, where just being a right-minded guy who doesn’t back down in the face of evil is enough to make you an adventurer!”
This book, like Fantasy HERO, also includes a short section on the problem of “characteristic uniformity” in human-level HERO System characters, although given that Pulp heroes are generally supposed to be at or even slightly above peak human ability makes this less of an issue than it otherwise would be, IMO.
This chapter also reviews the Skills in the HERO corebook for use in the Pulp era. Obviously, anything dealing with computers is out, and some other skills (like Systems Operation) are required for what would nowadays be everyday tech. There is a variant of Acrobatics for ace pilots called ‘Aerobatics’. It should be noted that this book has no rules for Martial Arts- these are listed in the corebook and The Ultimate Martial Artist. While it’s possible for characters to learn Western arts like Boxing, Fencing or Savate, anything more exotic requires very good reason- that reason usually being that the character is an ‘ethnic sidekick’ or was trained by monks in The Far East; i.e. “The Gadgeteer has his Weird Science, the Aviator has his plane, the Masked Crimefighter has his eerie laugh; the Character Raised in the Orient has Martial Arts.” The book then goes into Perks, Talents and Disadvantages; these include the typical Pulp Hero’s Code (Psychological Limitation) and the social status of Minority (Social Limitation).
The remainder of the chapter deals with Heroic Talents, or “super-skills” bought as HERO System Powers to simulate the uncanny or even superhuman abilities of some Pulp characters. These are listed in the same format as the UNTIL Superpowers Database. Some of these abilities are intended to simulate the Psychic Powers and circus-stunt abilities (like Height Manipulation) that were originally in Justice, Inc. Others are super-skill attempts to simulate Pulp tropes like the aforementioned “Eerie Laugh” (bonus to Presence Attack), “Hang On” (bonus to DEX Rolls only to grab ledges, vines, etc. to stop a fall), “Never Look Mussed” (Transform only to make sure the character’s clothing never looks dirty no matter where he’s been), and of course extra dice of Luck only to avoid certain death, called “Nobody Could Survive That!”
Chapter Five: Gats, Duesies and Autogyros- Pulp Equipment
The first part of this chapter is self-explanatory, dealing with the standard equipment of the era, including a one-page sidebar on how common certain items are- for one thing, television did exist in the 1920s, it just wasn’t commercially viable. Firearms are included, as is a primitive bulletproof vest. Vehicle stats are included, ranging from the Duesenberg to the autogiro to an ocean liner.
More interesting to players might be the section on Weird Science, referring to both the vague principles by which fantastic Pulp artifacts work, and the artifacts themselves, also called ‘Weird Tech’. On some level Weird Science refers to a standard device that is simply a better version of the real thing, or an equivalent of a later-period technology. On another level it refers to Martian “eighth ray” flight technology and other such things that could never exist in the real world. Generally these things are plot devices- not requiring much explanation and generally not used by PCs; as Long later puts it in Chapter Six, the PCs are the focus of the story, and if they have Weird Tech or other Weird Powers, they have more of an impact on the campaign than the occasional villain who has them. Which isn’t to say they aren’t used by heroes: One quote from a Doc Savage story features a detailed example of the concealed gadgetry Doc carried around on him. The chapter includes a list of stuff that PCs might buy with Character Points, ranging from the sword-cane to the villainous Death Ray.
Chapter Six: A World of Adventure- Gamemastering the Pulps
This chapter is also fairly self-explanatory as an overview of GMing a Pulp game, and what is implied in the “goulash” of novels, comics, movie serials and tributes that comprise the genre. As Long puts it, “America in the 1930s is modern, but only just.” The stories reflect not only the idealism of the early 20th Century, but the approaching modernism of the post-World War I period, and the clash between them. Generally, though, Pulp is romantic in the sense that it is both optimistic and action-oriented, presenting the message that heroic people can directly struggle against evil and make the world better- and that the eagerness to directly struggle with evil is a primary sign of heroic character (i.e. ‘Violence Solves Everything’). To convey this sensibility, the book not only recommends some of the period radio shows and movies, but has sidebars summarizing the excellent writers’ guidelines of Walter Gibson and Lester Dent, which are also available online.
The middle section of the chapter goes over the Pulp campaign and how each particular subgenre (Air Adventure, Crimebusters, etc.) has its own benefits, drawbacks and requirements. Running a game is discussed in terms of one of the typical plotlines: the “trouble spot” (like an isolated island) that limits the scope of the action and sets up tension by bringing the PCs outside their home base and forcing them to deal with the locals who need their help. Indeed, Long mentions that it’s OK to just start a scenario at a particular point of suspense without worrying about how the characters got to that point- the GM and players can work retroactively to decide how the group ended up rescuing villagers in Tibet when last week they were fighting cultists in Egypt. This is cool because it resembles the way pulp stories actually worked from issue to issue. As in other HERO System genre books, there’s a Random Plot Generator, and advice on how certain “genre bits” don’t work that well in a game setting.
One optional rule change that this book uses to better simulate the Pulp hero’s luck is the concept of Heroic Action Points (HAPs). Anyone who’s read Adventure! will immediately see the resemblance between HAPs and Adventure’s Dramatic Editing rules, as both allow the players to spend points to alter the game in their favor in ways that the dice normally wouldn’t allow, although in HERO the mechanic already exists using the new rules for Luck in page 199 of HERO System 5th Edition Revised. The differences between standard Luck and these rules are that all heroes have HAPs (if they’re used at all), and players spend a finite amount of them to directly influence the game. In Chapter 7, Long’s sample characters roll 3d6 at the start of each session to determine how many HAPs they get. One suggested option is to have the GM roll secretly to determine how many each PC gets; this “blind” option means the player doesn’t know when he’s going to risk literally running out of luck.
The next section details environmental threats, always central to a Pulp adventure. The common diseases of the time are reviewed. There are specific rules for crossing rope bridges. And there are rules for triggered traps. There is even a sidebar for “Trap Degradation” for those GMs who wonder why the mechanisms inside Egyptian tombs hadn’t completely broken down after 2500 years.
And finally, this chapter goes over the Pulp villain in his (or her) various forms, the possible motivations for these characters, and the advantages and disadvantages of using them; while the Femme Fatale, the evil Nazi/German, and the Fiendish Oriental Mastermind are all classic to the genre, they also reveal the prejudices of the time and may alienate some players, depending on how willing they are to “roll” with the scenario.
Chapter Seven: Randall’s Raiders
This chapter is devoted to game write-ups of “Randall’s Raiders,” five heroes who could serve as models for beginning PCs, along with their primary archenemies. For the most part, these are pretty good characters, and the chapter art is even decent. The best character concept is probably Hamilton Cross, a jazz pianist who became an adventurer after the Mob broke his fingers. This not only explains how he got into the heroic life but why he stays in it (if he could still play, he wouldn’t be running around the world, he’d still be in a jazz band), which serves as an example of how someone of a non-adventuring background would be in a group. This chapter also includes some necessary write-ups for “mook” characters like cops, cultists and soldiers.
The book then concludes with a long appendix on Pulp-era slang, a list of the prominent Pulp authors (by printed name, since some of them used more than one alias), bibliographies, and of course an extensive index.
SUMMARY
Like the similarly mammoth Fantasy HERO, Pulp HERO is a sourcebook for its genre first and a HERO System sourcebook second. Its well-organized format and depth of information on the Pulp Era make it useful for those running other games in the period (like Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Adventures) and also makes it useful even for those who wouldn’t consider using HERO System.
For those who are HERO fans, Pulp HERO has a wealth of new details in its Package Deals, stats for period equipment and example gadgets and Weird Powers. Backed up by the new-and-improved HERO System rules, it certainly achieves the goal of being a proper successor to Justice, Inc. and might be the best overall Pulp game along with Adventure! – the difference being that Adventure! is a stand-alone game, but Pulp HERO doesn’t have tie-ins to the metaplot of the Aeon Continuum, or even necessarily the metaplot history of the Hero Universe.
Style: 4
Pulp HERO’s layout improves over the standard of previous Hero Games products (or at least most of the ones that came out in 2005) and is deliberately designed to bring the details of the Pulp setting to life. (This would be more accurate as a 3.5, but I’m feeling generous.)
Substance: 5
Pulp HERO is to substance what Doc Savage is to Pulp Heroes.
