What in your opinion has to be included in a set of Pulp Rules?

[rjandron]

I'd like to poll the members of the forum as to what they think absolutely has to be incorporated in a set of Pulp Miniatures Rules. First of all, a little bit of background: I'm in the process of putting a set together to go along with a Pulp Project I have in the works, and I'd be interested in releasing these commercially. Just so you know, my project is more focused on 1930s-era Gangsters and Nazis as opposed to Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon style space adventures.

So, in the interest of market research--and sharing the same market research with other rules writers/publishers on this forum--I'd like to ask you what features do you absolutely need to see in a Pulp ruleset to make you a hardcore fan?

I would ask, if you choose to add in your comments, that you avoid saying that rules should be "like this other ruleset that you enjoy." If you enjoy another set of pulp rules, I'd ask that you specify what features of those rules you enjoy and why.

Thanks in advance.

[Malebolgia]

*Lots of skills so you can make characters that are not alike and have a nice own feel. Making scalable models with different levels helps defining henchmen and characters. For example, henchmen can have 1 skill, leaders 2 skills and heroes 4 skills.

*Good and explaining examples
Often rules can be difficult to 'see' when reading. An example can explain everything in few words. The use of photos is recommended.

*Some rules for using vehicles.
A lot of rules sets don't have (good) rules for vehicles. In Pulp these are quite important IMO: get away cars, nazi tanks, etc.

*Scenarios
Scenarios are a good example of how the rules work and how a game can run. It also gives the players nice ideas.

*What dice will you use? In small scale gaming, the use of 1D6 doesn't have my preference. There are only 6 outcomes and it does not allow fo good modifiers. D10, D12 or 2D6 are in my opinion much better. For larger scales the number of D6 make sure the dice don't have that much influence but with fewer models a D6 can get frustrating sometimes.

*Indoor rules for playing in tunnels, caves and/or outposts (think Wolfenstein) with downloadable maps. I can understand this is a lot of work to do and requires lots of knowledge of Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. but I think it will add a lot to the rules set. Playing a nice Wolfenstein-like or Indiana Jones game in either a nazi base or a tunnel system with rolling boulders, pit traps, etc. will be loads of fun and will be something novel too.

[Doomhippie]

Weird science and/or some kind of vodoo magic. Nothing too spectacular but a little bit is fun.

Make sure you have a fast flowing system. Fast paced action is asked for.

[TadPortly]

Lots of stylish hats a villains that wear Fezes 

[NurgleHH]

Only basic rules for gameplay, the rest will be made by good gamers like Grimm and the HamburgConnection....

[white knight]

Would be nice if there could be simple, open rules that allow you to do anything like picking locks, searching places, using items found during the game. For instance, would be nice if you could search for weapons (which might have a limited ammo supply), maps, etc... or jump from one car to another, use a rope to swing down from one floor to another,... That sort of cinematic stuff.

And the hero's definitely need to have an edge allowing them to defeat hordes of henchmen without being much worse for wear.

As for character types: you need your "named hero" types (on both sides) and your faceless hordes (henchmen and minions, nazi goons and soldiers, etc...). Some preprogrammed archetypes are welcome too: adventurer/archeologist, professional soldier, superspy, mad scientist, criminal mastermind, etc...

[white knight]

Would be nice if there could be simple, open rules that allow you to do anything like picking locks, searching places, using items found during the game.

Doesn't need to be needlessly complicated. Eureka's free "and one for all" swashbuckling rules are a nice example of this, being action based and actions can also be interaction with objects (like picking up a tankard from a table and throwing it at someone, grabbing a girl's hand and dragging her along, ...).
They are available here as a free download and worth a look maybe: http://www.eurekamin.com.au/andoneforall.php

[richarDISNEY]

Solo play would be cool...

and free beer....

[Grün]

Hords of easy to kill mooks or henchmen

[Mosstrooper]

Scenarios ! (these give a idea of number of figures used and what type of game is being aimed at ) , and a solo option 

[Heldrak]

When I decided to get into Pulp-themed gaming, I did a fairly comprehensive overview/comparison of all the then-extant Pulp Gaming rules/systems (.45 Adventure, G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T., Rugged Adventures, Astounding Tales!, Necromunda, etc.). While I liked the simplicity of Rugged Adventures, ultimately, I settled on .45 Adventure because of its tremendous adaptability.

I think adaptability is key to rules for Pulp gaming because "Pulp" means so many things to so many different people. It sounds like you want to have a relatively realistic/historical rules set, but you'll be missing a big part of your potential market if you leave out fantastic, over-the-top elements (Robots, Rayguns, Eldritch Horror, etc.).

[twrchtrwyth]

A points system, helps with creating your own heroes/villains/monsters/machines/etc and keeps things sort of balanced.

A reaction chart, like in Tusk, would be excellent for solo play.

Aircraft/ships, rules don't have to be complicated, all you need is their move, morale and weapons.

[rjandron]

Thanks for all the comments so far. They are all very useful.

I'll just make a few notes...

Malebolgia: The rules I presently have written use d10s.

white knight: The Skills system is pretty much ready to go.

Thanks again, and please keep the comments coming.

[TadPortly]

I seem to recall somke weird SF/Fantasy roleplaying game where you could earn "possibility points" you could use these to re-roll dice throws, make several moves at once, use a skill that you don't have or simply to get hints from the GM etc.  I always thought this idea worked well and it did allow characters to do memorable daring feats (think indiana Jones escaping several death traps at once AND retreiving his hat). Perhaps you could call something similar "hero points" and allocate them to heros and villains alike? Just an idea

[Malebolgia]

Hmmm, that sounds rather cool. Earning hero points by performing heroic feats is actually a great system to make sure people don't always take the 'easy winning' route, but will rather take the cool route that seems hard and may even lead to certain death. This means that you either a) need a GM who says you've just earned a Hero Point or b) an opponent can declare when you've earned one.

I also like your idea on spending them. So:
*Activate a special skills/move
*Reroll Dice for an action
*Take an extra activation (or use X extra Action Points or actions if these are used)

I think this fits pulp very well and adds a lot of fun and flavour to the game.