Explain to me the whole Cultists vibe within pulp

[boywundyrx]

I'm not sure it's been covered, but one of the things about the hooded cultist, that hits closest to home in the triple K type, is that the cowl is hiding the fact it's your neighbour, boss, brother-in-law, up to whatever it is. That doesn't really have the impact on a miniatures table that it would in an RPG, movie/novel, or real life.

Outside of that need for anonymity, a cultist could look like anything and be up to anything if you want it in a game.  They could be:
- 5th columnists for some warlord (though most of the literary examples are pretty offensive nowadays)
- religious oddities, the theosophists fall under here and can be amped up as you wish, they're the gift that keeps on giving
- 5th columnists for space aliens (theosophists can work here again)
- working for a capitalist coup under a religious guise
- political separatists
- cult of personality types, religion-over-the-airways preachers in the 20s and 30s gone bad

[Plynkes]

Personally, whenever I see figures of pulp 'Cultists', I can never think of anything but the Kih-Oskh from Cigars of the Pharaoh.




Once a Tintin fan, always a Tintin fan, I guess. To me Tintin always seemed like 'Pulp for kids', anyway. 

[Andy in Germany]

Nazi's could be considered a cult, I suppose.  But they all too often are the de facto bad buys (with good reason, of course) but, at least for me, growing stale and smacks of a lack of imagination...

I guess I have a different vision of pulp in some ways than others...

... And Jones and his situation hits way too close to home - didn't know the people, but they were from close to where I lived at the time, many of them.  And that does give me the shivers.

I can see where you're coming from here. The leftovers of the Nazi cult are still visible where I live, so like with the Jones cult, they are a bit close to home and I don't want to trivialise them.

Besides, I also see what Germany has become and the remarkable history it has outside the horrific decades of the 20's and 30's, so I'm interested in looking at the ways it could have developed differently, but also how things could have been different in the UK.

I think I have a different vision for my own pulp games, too, because I'm coming from a different background. I'm not likely to bother with cultists or many of the other tropes of traditional pulp gaming. That said, I enjoy game report where they're present...

[Redmao]

Faceless minions are a must for any settings. You heroes can fight through legions of them until they get the big baddie.

[FifteensAway]

Found this link on "Mooks" which might enliven the discussion:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mooks

[Cubs]

As already mentioned, Dennis Wheatley's books often included Satanic cults, born of the rise in the interest of certain 'esoteric' societies between the wars (Aleister Crowley being the most famous proponent) - essentially bored rich people, the easily led and those looking to exploit both. In the days before internet anonymity, cults may have been a way for people to feel special by being part of an exclusive society that promised all sorts of (often magical) rewards for its loyal members. Pyramid schemes for the soul, if you will. WW1 broke a lot of people and their faith in traditional institutions and organisations.

On a more light-hearted note, think about Terry Pratchett's 'Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night' in 'Guards, Guards' - a group of petty-minded men in robes, hypnotised by a charismatic leader, nonsensical ceremonies, chants and titles, willingly galloping to their own destruction, fuelled by the weak-willed bitterness of their own grudges and failings with the promise of power. 

A cult can be organised around anything, any sort of secret society promising rewards (earthly or otherwise) to its loyal members, operating in the shadows and being manipulated by its leadership. The fun in gaming terms might be trying to investigate who is and isn't a member, who the enigmatic leader might be, trying to bring the cult down either head-on or through infiltration.

[Freddy]

Cultists as enemies simply come from the civilised man's aversion of barbaric rituals: these were tales from exotic lands first, then a clever twist from a  clever horror story writer made them into the enemy lurking among us. They are the ideal bad guys, as they are
-faceless, so not emotinal connection
-pretty obviously evil as their only feature is serving some evil stuff
-for wargames: easy to model- they all look the same yet distinctively dressed in their church-going hooded robe
-easy to play as they are fanatics to the point of mindlessly attacking
-they can appear in any number, as an entire town can be secretly cultist. They can easily outnumber basically anyone, mob or police. For a lot of factions it would be highly unlikely to appear in great numbers.
-they can appear anywhere from the streets of Kairo to the underground tunnels of New York as they are bound to the people, not for some geographical phenomenon. The world getting smaller, better known and easier to travel do not help the Hidden Secret Empire Of [Wahetver] in the Faraway Lands of [Two Miles after the Worlds Butthole]-type of factions, Mountains of Madness worked because the Antartica was the last undiscovered place in Lovecraft's time.
-despite being pretty basic, they can hide the weirdest features: you kill 3 with two 22LR bullets, then the fourth one turns into the Avatar of the Outer Gods
-era-agnostic, if you do not play only one era, a Victorian cultist can easily be used in a modern times game.

[Khusru2]

Cultists can be any group with a motive, usually veiled, in which they gain control of society at large. This often takes the form of worshipping a statue/God/Demon figure to bring about a utopia for the cult and their enemies destruction.
The hard bit comes with thinking of a reason not thought of before for your bad guys to act as they do.

[jon_1066]

The ultimate real life cult has to be the Serbian Black Hand.  Surely kicking off a world war has to be up there!  Literature and real life feed off each other.  The Freemasons also loom large in all this as well.

[tin shed gamer]

Here's my take on Cultists.

Origins in Pulp ?
Towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century. There was a surge in secret societies, pseudo religious , mysticism, scientific,and naturalist movements.
These all made their way into popular culture at the time. As the unknown and nefarious( and probably perverse)elements of the upper classes,and has the middle, lower middle classes skipping along as followers desperately wanting to socially climb.whilst feeling disenfranchised.
Admittedly that's a more English and mid European view of the topic at the time. But that's the side of the 'Pulp' that I know.
Terry Pratchett touches on this attitude in 'Guards Guards'
Most of the English and western European cults centred around influences of Egypt, India, Afghanistan,and the near East. Movements tended towards the Celtic, Nordic,and Germanic influences.
All these gave birth to the idea of Pulp cults ,and predate the rise of the Hugo Boss wearing one.
In Gaming terms the Difference between Henchmen and Cultist's is motivation,and commitment. Given form in a narrative be it in a visual form.
But they don't have to be just a generic bad guy. You can play the Cultists as the leagues.
I've Cultists in cars , helicopters, mono wheels.with those English and European influences,and then a couple of leagues of Bob's US influenced ones.
It lets you go a little more off the beaten track with your scenarios,and include fantasy pieces from your collection without it feeling implausible.
In short Cultists are a better vehicle than Henchmen for bringing in the bizarre.

[FifteensAway]

So, from reading Tin Shed's post above, it would seem that the Nazi's were the penultimate result of cultism, especially the brown shirts and then the SS.  Which would also make sense as to why that phenomenon faded after WWII (faded, not disappeared).  At least that was my first thought reading through. 

Which means if you have a 'faceless' "horde" of Nazis in your game you have cultists in the game, yes?  In game terms a horde might only be 3-6 figures (or more if desired).  By faceless, I mean just anonymous Nazi Mooks, not hooded or otherwise robed - just in their uniforms. 

[Cat]

Occultist Nazis who steal arcs or whatnot *and* attempt to perform arcane rituals = cultists.
 
Non-sectarian Nazis in brown shirts = evil minions.
 
They have to be wearing some sort of religious garb/paraphenalia to be true pulp cultists.  No one would ever do a pulp cover of Nazi Cultists all just mooking around in their regular old brown shirts.
 
A Cultist baddie in a robe might be supported by a squad of regular non-cultist Nazis.

Also c.f. G-8 And His Battle Aces for a great variety of cultists in German employ during the Great War.  A lot of G-8 bleeds over into Mad Science (serums to make Purple Aces, etc., but iirc the Jaguar Men, Vulture Men, and the like tilt more Culty.

[Khusru2]

The other side of the equation is the cultists think THEY are on the right side. Think changing the world for the better, which is what they may think.

[FifteensAway]

So:




 

Hey, wait, does anyone make those in 15 mm!!!   

[Freddy]

The other side of the equation is the cultists think THEY are on the right side. Think changing the world for the better, which is what they may think.

Playing a game where you command the humble and selfless cultists against the evil murder hobos who can not stand people making the world a better place should be a nice twist.