Riding a wave of pulp

Man I love this cover.





Anyone who reads this Blog regularly knows what a fan I am of the Pulp genre. I often whine about not getting to play in my favorite genre mostly because Pulp heads like me are few and far between. But for some reason at the moment I’m riding a wave of pulp.

Mutants and Masterminds-Golden Age
My buddy Ed W. his son Eddie and my boy Anthony had a rousing game of Mutants and Masterminds this last Saturday, Ed ran the game and is using the Golden Age setting. It was our first foray into the M&M system. Ed and his son are old hands at the D20 system so the there was at least familiarity, though M&M is not straight D20 it’s more like D20 with modifications. I ran a “Rocketeer” type character; Anthony had a character who was one part Captain America, and three parts Sgt. Fury. Eddie had a mystery man type claw guy and Ed. Ran an NPC tracker/sharpshooter. We had a jungle adventure featuring killer apes, Nazis, lava caves and a huge earth/fire elemental creature. Our team dynamic was spot on, with each character having a chance to shine using their special powers and abilities. The game was really just a way for us to get used to the mechanics and run through some combats, but it was fun for its own sake as well. I really like the one dice roll thing what a concept! We had a great time and I hope that we make it a regular thing.



Swords of Skartaris
I’m also running an online Lost Worlds Pulp game, nominally using the Savage Worlds system and the Skartaris setting from the DC comics Warlord series.
After a bit of character creation and preparation the players have just crash landed in Skartaris and the fun stuff is about to begin. I’m even kit bashing some figures of the group; I’ll be posting those soon.



Lands of Mystery
As it happens I won an EBay auction for “Lands of Mystery” Aaron Allston’s classic gaming supplement for the Justice Inc. RPG. In my opinion this book is one of the best gaming supplements ever written. I have a copy in storage in Hawaii, but that was doing me no good here in Sacramento. Hence the EBay purchase. And what a timely arrival it’s been. Flipping through Lands of Mystery is like visiting an old friend. Usually when I get inspired by a book or movie, I’m usually playing in some other type of genre- but this time the planets were in complete alignment- my PBP game is getting a head of steam and here I have Lands of Mystery to keep me on course with great advice and inspiration.



The Sand Pebbles and Blue world
In the casual reading arena I’m reading Richard McKenna’s novel “The Sand Pebbles”
It deals with the adventures of a sailor serving in a navy gunboat on patrol on the Yangtze River in 1920’s China. Steve McQueen starred in the movie version.




I’m also reading a short story collection by horror author Robert R. McCammon, called “Blue World”. In particular a short story titled “Night calls the Green Falcon”, in this story an old and destitute former Saturday matinee movie star from the 40’s goes on a quixotic quest to bring a serial killer to justice in modern day Hollywood.



It’s all Pulp and it’s all good!