PDA

View Full Version : What's a good system for Early 20th Century Pulp Adventure?



Coidzor
2016-02-20, 12:58 PM
Where there's larger than life derringdo and the heroes aren't invincible but can take a licking and keep on ticking, but there's also guns which are neither ultra lethal or useless

Or even, what specifically would you use to have an Indiana Jonesish game where you're going from punching Nazis in the schnoz to fighting insane cultists.

Hawkstar
2016-02-20, 01:17 PM
Savage Worlds is specifically designed for this kind of thing.

Eisenheim
2016-02-20, 01:37 PM
Spirit of the Century is a fate game that is exactly what you're describing. It's pre fate core, but It' easy enough to convert on the fly if you want a newer system. I play it and love it, and they've got whole books of just great pulp lore and world information as well.

Fri
2016-02-21, 02:02 AM
Spirit of The Century is exactly made for this kind of premise, but...

You'd be better using Fate Core and making up your own setting.

(Basically, Spirit of the Century is a specific Pulp Action Hero game based on the predecessor of Fate Core, while Fate Core is the next generation of SotC's base system, which is simpler and just play better, but it's a generic system without specific setting and you're supposed to add your own settings to it.)

Another one is Savage World, which is also made for pulp action adventure.

Both have similar premise, but wildly different playstyle. Basically:

Savage World is closer to DnD if you're used to it. Use similar basic gameplay where you have various stats and skills and have +1 or +2 to rolls and such, but it's much simpler than DnD and made so you can easily make a character and improvise stuffs, enemies, powers, etc.

Fate Core play a bit different than DnD if you're used to it and your group might or might not take some time to adapt. Basically it's a bit more collaborative, and the gameplay revolves around something called Aspects and exchange of Fate Points.

Basically everything, your character, enemies, environment, have aspects, which is a short description or phrase. For example, James Bond might have aspect "suave ladies man." James Bond's player might use Fate Point to use that aspect to add bonus on his attempt to charm a government official, or have a female guard slip a key to free him from his cuffs. But the GM might also use that aspect to give complications to him, for example the GM can say that the aspect make him follow the obvious female fatale's trap. He can reject it, but he must pay fate point, but if he follow that trap because of his aspect, he get a fate point.

You also use your skills to make aspects, for example you use your shooting skill at some oil barrel to make "covered in oil" aspect on the street, then you or your friend can use that aspect to give penalty to your chaser, or burn the street, etc.

goto124
2016-02-21, 02:07 AM
But the GM might also use that aspect to give complications to him, for example the GM can say that the aspect make him follow the obvious female fatale's trap. He can reject it, but he must pay fate point, but if he follow that trap because of his aspect, he get a fate point.

How does one do this without making the player think "why did the GM use a femme fatale, it must be to force me to pay a fate point or screw the party over, why did I end up with a killer DM, etc"?

Fri
2016-02-21, 02:15 AM
Simply put, it's a bit more collaborative feel than DnD. That's why I said some groups might need some adjustment to it.

And also, you can think of it like this. The GM give you complication so you can get Fate Point, so you can use the Fate Point later for cooler stunts. In fact, sometimes player will actively look for trouble or ask for the GM to give him more complication!

Or in other word, it's like a movie. At first you keep getting complications again and again, the enemies keep escaping, you keep stumble into traps, then at the final encounter, BAM! you unload all of the fate points you get from the complications to jump over a flaming building using a motorboat and shoot 20 mooks at once with your guns akimbo. It's a very simplified and gamist view of it, but you can definitely see it that way :smalltongue:

Thrudd
2016-02-21, 12:21 PM
The D20 Past supplement for D20 Modern has this type of early 20th century pulp setting.

Coidzor
2016-02-21, 10:23 PM
How does one do this without making the player think "why did the GM use a femme fatale, it must be to force me to pay a fate point or screw the party over, why did I end up with a killer DM, etc"?

From playing Dresden Files FATE, it's less screws the party over and more leads to a new fun altercation.

Sometimes it's more !!!FUN!!! though.

Airk
2016-02-22, 02:57 PM
How does one do this without making the player think "why did the GM use a femme fatale, it must be to force me to pay a fate point or screw the party over, why did I end up with a killer DM, etc"?

Because the entire underlying assumption of Fate is that if you picked an Aspect that would cause you to fall for a Femme Fatale, then you think the idea of your character falling for a femme fatale is FUN and therefore should be a thing that HAPPENS. The default response to the GM offering a compel should be "Hell yes, that sounds awesome" not "Uh oh, DANGER BAD!"

Thinking about it the way you are thinking about it is actually fundamentally incorrect for Fate; If you approach the game like that, it will fail and fail hard, because it's saying "Let's treat this game like adults who know what is fun for us!" and you are saying "Let's treat this game defensively, like D&D where the GM is trying to kill us!" Your aspects (in fact, everyone's aspects) are supposed to occasionally "screw the party over".

If you have chosen an Aspect in fate where you don't think the downside is fun and interesting, you have either picked the wrong aspect, or need to adjust your mindset with regard to how the game is supposed to work.

BWR
2016-02-22, 03:56 PM
It is the Dawn of a New Age...
A new era begins in the 1920s — an era of excitement and imagination, when men are forthright and women are courageous. An era of globe-trotting exploration and mad science. An era in which excitement awaits in the lofty skyscraper penthouses of New York City and the squalid slums of Hong Kong, in the frigid wastes of Antarctica and the sweltering jungles of the Congo. It is the era of Adventure!

Heed the Call to Adventure!
Adventure! is a game of pulp action, where you take on the role of an Inspired hero battling dastardly villains and bizzare monsters! If you liked the old pulp serials or movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy and The Rocketeer, this is the game for you! Inside, you'll find complete rules for playing any kind of pulp hero you can think of — from a shadowy detective to a bronzed powerhouse — along with rich source material, special powers, systems for building amazing inventions and more!

I had fun with Adventure (http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Adventure!), which is designed exactly for this sort of thing. It's more superpower-y/supertech-y than Indiana Jones (it would be excellent for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) but you should be able to tone it down easily enough. Out of print now but a new edition is in the works, and there is hopefully a nice site that sells PDFs of it, or copies on Ebay or something.

Velaryon
2016-02-22, 05:56 PM
Über RPG's Steampunk (http://steampunkrpg.com/) system yielded very good results for my friends and I when we ran a game of this type. The system is incredibly flexible, so you can tone down the steampunk aspect if that's not something you want to emphasize.

Eisenheim
2016-02-22, 10:50 PM
My suggestion would be to use the Spirit of the Century setting with fate core's rules. It's easy as pie to convert things forward, and there's a wealth of material in SotC for inspiration.

Friv
2016-02-23, 04:02 PM
I had fun with Adventure (http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Adventure!), which is designed exactly for this sort of thing. It's more superpower-y/supertech-y than Indiana Jones (it would be excellent for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) but you should be able to tone it down easily enough. Out of print now but a new edition is in the works, and there is hopefully a nice site that sells PDFs of it, or copies on Ebay or something.

I used to be a big Adventure! fan, but honestly it hasn't aged very well over the years. It's tied very heavily to White Wolf's older systems, which mostly means that the combat system is geared heavily towards a WoD-style "don't fight large groups of minions" rather than a pulp-style "minion fights are cool!"

The Inspiration system is great, but Fate does it better; the powers are cool, but Savage Worlds does them better. I'm eagerly awaiting 2nd Edition, but I wouldn't recommend 1st for anything but setting ideas.

Fri
2016-02-24, 08:45 AM
Because the entire underlying assumption of Fate is that if you picked an Aspect that would cause you to fall for a Femme Fatale, then you think the idea of your character falling for a femme fatale is FUN and therefore should be a thing that HAPPENS. The default response to the GM offering a compel should be "Hell yes, that sounds awesome" not "Uh oh, DANGER BAD!"

Thinking about it the way you are thinking about it is actually fundamentally incorrect for Fate; If you approach the game like that, it will fail and fail hard, because it's saying "Let's treat this game like adults who know what is fun for us!" and you are saying "Let's treat this game defensively, like D&D where the GM is trying to kill us!" Your aspects (in fact, everyone's aspects) are supposed to occasionally "screw the party over".

If you have chosen an Aspect in fate where you don't think the downside is fun and interesting, you have either picked the wrong aspect, or need to adjust your mindset with regard to how the game is supposed to work.

I know that what this might sound like some hipstery new agey rpg bull**** to some people, but this sum it well, and I hope it doesn't discourage them to try Fate. Sure it might not be for everyone, but I hope people at least give it a chance.

Also, another thing that I think actually might serve well for pulp adventure is d20 modern and Green Ronin's True20 system if you have a good GM.

Anyway, for me, the most important thing for a system to serve for pulp action adventure is simplicity and ease to improvise. Basically, you need a simple system so everyone are not bogged in the rules details and can just do cool stuffs and fistfight quickly, and also there's a way for anyone to improvise cool stuffs in the spot. Lots of games mentioned here have that second part inherent in the system so any GM can use that as guideline, but if the GM's good and the group's good, they can agree on rules to improvise in any system, that's why I mention d20 modern.