Pulp

[abhorsen950]

Basically guys can anyone explain the genre?
It may sound stupid to you but it a genre that personally fascinates me and ide love to learn a bit more about it since i fancy playing it.

The reason for the love of pulp is Indianna Jones

[Doomhippie]

Now officially pulp is a kind of cheap paper used to print relatvely cheap books on. As these books were mainly published in the 40's and 50's (maybe even earlier?) they tended towards being good old detective stories, very often spy stories (hence the German archvillains you'll stumble acrossso often). However, stories like Bulldog Drummond also included some kind of "super-science" (not neccessarily ray guns etc - think about airships as hideouts for the villains etc).

Being very popular it is little wonder that at some point you'll find a movement away from being dead serious towards a more ironic approach, which, by the way happens to all literature at some point (like Western - Spaghetti Western, Horror movies - Zombieland etc.). Think e.g. superheroes. Let's face it, you cannot take anybody seriously running around in bathing costumes and capes and - uh -"yellow spandex".

Indiana Jones is of course a homage to the old spy stories mixed with the adventures of some kind of lost world setting etc.

The slightly childish grin that appears on my face when I think about pulp ist actually the result of the what Mr. Spielberg did with Indiana Jones rather than the original pulp stories.

[Argonor]

I think of Pulp as 'Historical Fantasy', most often set in the period between the 2 world wars (but it can expand both to earlier and later times).

What do I mean by this: Basically that you take a historical setting and add some extraordinary flavour - as little or as much as you like, ranging from the hard-boiled detective that always survives even the gravest of circumstances to ray guns and giant robots.

I like my Pulp on the more adventurous end of the scale (exotic locations, lost worlds (dinos and other fantastic flora and fauna), ancient magical artefacts that actually work, horror elements (like mummies or other undead creatures, c'thulhu-esque monsters), whereas others may prefer more 'realistic' stories where some heroes/investigators are searching for the beautiful girl's kidnapped/disappeared father, who might be a scientist of some sorts....

[flooglestreet]

Pulp is also upbeat. The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad period. Also the forces of law and order are good. They don't get corrupt until noir. Some pulp writers at the close of the period started writing things with a dark or perverse cast. They used anti-heros and corrupt police that got filmed in the film noir (early 50's) period. Pulp stories were usually written according to formula and the characters followed racial/ethnic stereotypes. You can find Lester Dent's formula quite easily by searching Doc Savage. Above all, pulp was about action. Most of it was set in the 30's and 40's but pulp westerns and science fiction were also common. The sword and sorcery genre has its roots in pulp fiction, specifically Robert E. Howard. Simple characters, plot twists andaction action and more action can describe pulp but the best way to find out about pulp is to read it. I think you might like stories by Talbot Mundy a very good author, largely ignored in the gaming community, who uses locales and characters similar to the Indiana Jones films. Also look at Lester Dent aka Kenneth Robeson, the author of the Doc Savage tales.

[abhorsen950]

Thanks guys!! Explained well and i think ive got a good understanding so far.

The reason i ask is because im looking into playing Savage worlds RPG.

So can you play Superheroes in Pulp?


Steve

[Mr.Dodo]

You can do whatever you want! Define 'super hero'.
I'd add that for gamming I found that I could do skirmish games without the need for ever more military troops. I find I'm more at ease with civilian or silly villain figures than yet more figures from real wars.
 I've ended up becomming pre-occupied with vehicles, fasion and even street furniture from the period!

[Digitarii]

For pulp, see movies like any of the Indiana Jones films, The Mummy franchise, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and I even place Tomb Raider and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the "pulp" genre

[archangel1]

Other than Doc Savage, your archetypal Pulp heroes include The Shadow, The Spider, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Tarzan and many more.  Of course, the epitome of Pulp villains has to be Fu Manchu.

[Puuka]

I also think the "Trench coat" comic heroes would fall in to this too. Sandman, The Question, The Phantom Stranger.

[wellender]

If you're into comic books at all I recommend picking up back issues of Ed Brubaker's "Incognito".  It's kind of a modern pulp story.  Very good.  However, the reason I say to pick up the back issues and not the trade is what is included at the end of every issue.

After each issue they give a very good history of a famous pulp character.  They covered Doc Savage, Fu Manchu, Operator 5, The Shadow, The Spider, and Zepplins.  Maybe a couple others.  These back-ups are not in the trade.  Very good read.  I believe the guy who wrote them was putting out a book on the pulps but the name of it escapes me.

[abhorsen950]

Cheers guys
Steve

[odd duck]

I think the guys have allready said most of the things I was planning to say but i would suggest having a look at the original pulps. the link below has lots of info on the main characters ,magazines and some of the authorsas well as selling reprints and pdfshttp://www.vintagelibrary.com/pulpfiction/PulpFictionCentral.php also
I'm glad to see someone mentioned Talbot Mundy although i find his writing stye a little difficult to read his Jimgrim stories have a lot of gaming potential

[Viper]

While pulp is usually pretty well based in the 30s-50s when it isn't being full on scifi I do love the more modern things which have pulp as major influences at the very least if you didn't want to call them pulp exactly.

Comics like the Danger Girl series, Marvel Noir, some of the darker DC "elseworlds" stories strike me as good examples of modern series that are at the very least heavily influenced by pulp.