"Operator #5: The History of the Purple Wars " Topic

This might be of interest to some who post of this board:

link

It certainly will!

I needed a description and found this.
Wow!
link

>This might be of interest to some who post of this board:<

You guys should understand though that this isn't a re-print of the entire saga. It's just a description of it. I'm only missing one "pulp" from the run and it's a pain to find. Even in re-prints. IMO Op5 is one of the best Pulp magazines to come out of the 1930's and it deserves to be re-printed again.

It might generate enough interest to make a reprint of the entire series viable.

>It might generate enough interest to make a reprint of the entire series viable.<

That's possible, and it could be a very good book too. I'm not suggesting that it's not. I just wanted to give a "heads up" to anyone that had heard of the "Purple Invasion" series of Pulps and thought that they might be getting that. It's a fairly long series with a total of 13 novels. I haven't read them all yet.

You may want to give this a read:

link

Currently reading this "History" right now. Very entertaining.
I also do an OPERATOR FIVE blog (guess I don't have enough projects to keep me busy):

z7hq.blogspot.com

Timothy

Did you manage to aquire the entire "Purple Invasion" sequence?

OK Ed:

So how do I get a copy of "Death's Ragged Army"?

Operator 5 would be a great scenario for my next pulp game.

Chip

Chip

You can still get the first five novels as they were re-printed by "Pulp Collector's Press" now known as "Adventure House". They re-printed all 13 novels, but when they went to a larger format they sold all of those issues, from the 6th through the 13th, to Amazon.com and they are mostly gone. Good luck finding all 13 issues. They are not currently issued as E-Books either.

Here's a link to the first five issues for sale:

link

Thanks Ed

Sorry. The link didn't go directly to the page where the pulp re-prints are listed, so go to the left side box at the link that I provided and click on "pulp reprints" (not "pulp replicas") and then click on "pulp review".

I'm still working on it.
:)

The "Pulp Review" issues that re-printed "Purple Invasion" novels are number 18-21 and number 23. *Not* number 22. That was a "Weird Menace" issue.

"a skull ring and a rapier which was kept curled inside his belt"

You've got to love the pulps!!

I like all the larger-than-life heroes.

Chip

Here's an outline for a scenario from the "Purple Invasion" that I wrote and posted a while back in Howard's Yahoo Group "Astounding Tales". IMO it's from the most scenario worthy sequence in "Death's Ragged Army". The outline is as I originally posted it in it's entirety.

Quote:

The premise of the "purple invasion" series is that Rudolph I of the thinly disguised country of "Bulkaria" AKA the "Purple Emperor" has invaded Canada using deadly "green gas" which kills everyone that it comes in contact with. The American Northeast is invaded next and the United States Army is flung backward to Lake Erie and the shores
of the Susquehanna River and New York City has become a battleground with resistance fighters holed up in the ruins of Bellevue Hospital. Jimmy Christopher, aka Operator #5 is, of course, at the head of this resistance.

The first novel titled "Death's Ragged Army" has several sequences that can be used for "pulp gaming" scenarios. Here's one that I think will work well as the minis and terrain are certainly available and it can be played in one sitting with several players on a 4x6 or 4x8 foot table. Gangster figs, to be used as resistance fighters, are available from Murch, Copplestone, and Brigade. The "purple
army" is obviously supposed to be the "between the wars" German Army, and figures are available for that faction as well. Here's the scenario:

Operator #5's main squeeze Diane Elliot has been captured by
the "purple army" and they are going to make an example of her by chopping off her head in the middle of Union Square in Manhattan! Op5 and his men are the opposing faction. Outnumbered but valiant! He must rescue Miss Elliot, and spirit her away! There are two hundred "purple army" soldiers in Union Square, but Jimmy's pal "Plugger Dugan" has set up fireworks two blocks away. At the signal the fireworks go off drawing most of the "purples" away from
the square to chase non-existant resistance fighters on a wild goose chase! Leaving an evenly matched fight between the resistance and the "purples" in the square.

The scene:

Set up a park square with a scaffold in the center. Park benches, trees and bushes would look good and be great for cover! A street surrounds the park, and three streets, 14th, 15th and 16th streets should be on the table parallel to each other from both sides of the park and one from the center leading toward the edge of the table. Op5 and and his group may leave from any part of the park as there is
no wall or fence around it.

Diane Elliot is on the scaffold with an ax wielding executioner figure and one officer with a holstered pistol. Place 20 German Army ("purple army") soldiers, armed with bolt action rifles, in groups of three or four around the square. Place 16 resistance fighters in four groups of four armed with various weapons around the scaffold as onlookers, and a seperate team of Op5 and his buddy Tim Donovan in this crowd ready to rescue Diane. They must climb the scaffold, kill or overpower the executioner and one officer. A mix of shotguns, bolt or lever action rifles, pistols and clubs would be best for the resistance. I wouldn't include SMGs as the "purples" won't have them
either.

In the novel there are no resistance fighters in the square, and Op5 and his buddies get away on a trundle wagon used to carry victims to the scaffold, but that wouldn't make a very good scenario, so we'll use the resistance and leave an automobile or two on the streets by the park for the escapees to use.

At the signal the resistance fighters can draw their weapons and get a first shot at the "purple guards", then it's up to them to support Op5, Diane and Tim in their escape to any one of the waiting cars. If Op5 and Diane get away to the edge of the table it's a win for the resistance. If the "purple guards" can prevent the escape it's a win for the "purple invaders".

Four groups of five "purple guards" each, and four groups of four resistance fighters each, and one group (team) of Op5 and Tim will make a good group or convention game. You can also do it with two sides. Or divide the teams any way that you want. I think that this scenario can be very versatile that way.

Unquote:

When I posted the scenario there was some discussion about the "Purples" simply shooting Diane and Op5 and ignoring the resistance fighters. I gave this some thought and there are a couple of ways to handle that.

1st, if Op5 can capture the officer and drag him along, the rest of the "Purples" are not allowed to shoot at Op5, Diane and Tim for fear of hitting their leader, so they can only fight them hand-to-hand.

2nd, even if they don't capture the officer the "Purples" are not allowed to shoot at the escaping group until they are off the scaffold because they are recovering from the surprise. It's up to the resistance fighters to block any fire at the group once they are off the scaffold and headed for a car.

I think that will work.

Ed

I get the feeling that the Purple (what is it with the pulps and color?) Army was supposed to be Imperial Germany. Bismark, etc. At least this is the feeling I get from seeing the illustrations.
And boy are those illustrations crude. I guess there was only so much a poorly-paid artist could accomplish with letter press technology in the 1930's.
I'll be taking a breather after I finish the running commentary on CAVERN to review the PURPLE WARS book.
What sold me on OP5 was BLOOD REIGN.

>I get the feeling that the Purple (what is it with the pulps and color?) Army was supposed to be Imperial Germany. Bismark, etc.<

Correct.

>At least this is the feeling I get from seeing the illustrations.<

That's the feeling that you're *supposed* to get from those illos.

>And boy are those illustrations crude.<

Sort of. No Andrew Wyeth here. But I like them quite a bit. They convey the atmtosphere very well.

Ed:

Thanks for the write-up. Not so surprisingly, I happen to have a cityscape, park and a scaffold. I think I will use the Masked Marauders from London War Room for the Purples. I do need an executioner.

Do you think the author of the PURPLE WARS had any overall game plan? I wonder if he had planned the series as two or three installments and it just grew from there.

"Do you think the author of the PURPLE WARS had any overall game plan? I wonder if he had planned the series as two or three installments and it just grew from there."

Well, as you probably already know, Pulp Magazines could have a very long run, like "The Shadow" and "Doc Savage", or die after one issue, like "Flash Gordon", but most likely would last for just a few years, so any Pulp Magazine writer would have to be pretty optimistic to think that any Pulp would be around long enough to publish 13 bimonthly issues with his continuing story that would take two years to complete. Add to this the fact that many Pulp Magazines with a continuing character were written by several different authors over the years. However, there's no reason not to write a story with a "cliff hanger" ending that could be resolved in the following issue. Although the "purple invasion" sequence was written by only Emil Tepperman that magazine had at least 3 different authors during it's entire run and it could have changed authors at any point. That was the nature of the business. So although I haven't read the entire series yet, my impression from the stories that i've read is that any of the novels could end the series in the following issue or allow it to continue depending on how the author felt about it at the time. My guess is that's what the Tepperman's approach was. Since the sequence was popular, the author wasn't changed, and the title didn't look like it was going to be cancelled, he kept on writing it.

First time I ever even knew there was a FLASH GORDON pulp….

>First time I ever even knew there was a FLASH GORDON pulp….<

Yep. But as I said…just one issue. I've been reading "pulp magazines" and also buying and selling them for a long time and I've seen some very rare "pulps" like "Oriental Stories", "Weird Tales" and "Magic Carpet" with Robert E. Howard stories and "Black Mask" with Raymond Chandler stories, but I have yet to even *see* that lone issue of "Flash Gordon". I've known more people that owned copies of Action #1 than that "pulp", so it's no wonder that you hadn't heard of it. (-:

Just published my brief review of THE PURPLE WARS:

link

Tim

The problem, as I see it, with a book like this, is that it's nearly impossible to find the re-prints of this specific series, so if the book interests the reader enough to want to read the novels he's going to be disappointed. Or in a case like mine, where I *have* the re-prints, I have no interest in reading a synopsis of the plots. In short, I don't see any point in buying this book.

I'm hoping they will soon be reprinted.

>I'm hoping they will soon be reprinted.<

Don't hold your breath. Adventure House doesn't have the scans anymore. I asked the publisher. They *might* show up as E-Books eventually, but that's 13 issues, so it would take quite a while for them all to be offered. I dunno. Interest in fiction from pulp magazines is probably waning as the number of people that are aware that they once existed becomes fewer, so i'm not optimistic.

"…as the number of people that are aware that they once existed becomes fewer…."
Thanks. You just made my day.
:)

>Thanks. You just made my day.<

Heh Heh. Sorry. But what can I say. In order to have actually listened to radio dramas, and have seen serials in the movies, and to have seen pulp magazines still on the newstands you have to be over 60. I once played in a "pulp" game that revolved around "The Shadow" at Historicon and only one other person at the table had even *heard* of "The Shadow", and that was the radio version, not the pulp magazine version. It would be nice if people were exposed to pulp magazine fiction through schools and libraries, but *that* ain't gonna happen except for ER Burroughs, Chandler, Hammett, and a few others.

At least in the 70's you had all those Doc Savage and Avenger paperbacks.

Tim

The "Doc savage" PBs started in 1964, which is only about fifteen years after the pulp magazine ceased publishing in 1949, which was the same year that "The Shadow" bit the dust, so "Doc" wasn't completely erased from the general public's mind yet. Even still, the "Doc" series wasn't *completely* re-printed. I don't know how Anthony Tollin's "Shadow" and "Doc" re-prints are doing. I should ask him at the next "Old Time Radio Convention". But I'll be surprised as hell if he manages to do *all* of the novels. Even *i'm* getting burnt out on them.

1949…1964…somehow I never made the connection. It's a tendency to think of pre-60's popular culture as something which was erased as soon as it was used. Given the quality of the paper they printed those pulps on, it's amazing any of it survives.

>1949…1964…somehow I never made the connection.<

It's really not that long a period of time. The '60's "Doc" reprints weren't truly "nostalgic" the way they're thought of now. It would like being nostalgic today for something that was written in 1994. There were plenty of original pulps around at the time. I bought them by the box full in the late '60's.

>It's a tendency to think of pre-60's popular culture as something which was erased as soon as it was used.<

Well, TV in the 1950's is generally thought of as being pretty crappy compared to what's on today, but they are still re-running "The Honeymooners" and "I Love Lucy" and they are still funny. I enjoy watching TV westerns of the period like "Have Gun, Will Travel", "Wanted, Dead or Alive", and "The Rifleman". I find them very entertaining and in many cases they are also well acted and directed. "Twilight Zone" had quite a few *really* good shows too and are still being run on the Sci-Fi channel.

*Many* pre-1960's films are also considered to be true artistic achievements. It would be hard to find any top 10 list of films that didn't include "Citizen Kane". I could easily name dozens that stand the test of time.

I still love radio drama with "Suspense" and "Escape" at the top of my list, but unfortunately, like many pulp magazine titles, they are disappearing from the public's mind. I guess the genre just seems too archaic to bother with, which is too bad. In this era of audio books I'd like to see a revival of radio shows.

"Given the quality of the paper they printed those pulps on, it's amazing any of it survives".

I'll second that. The paper drives of WW II helped destroy a large percentage of them as well.

Ed and Tim:

I just got my copy of "The History of the Purple Wars" and since I haven't read any of the original, I appreciate the synopsis. I have also order the few reprints that are available for more reading.

Ed, I have spoken with my partner in crime, Jim B. and we are already working up your scenario idea for Recon. As you know, we usually have about anywhere from 10 to 12 factions in our games so we will probably be creating 5 or so groups of Purple forces and adding our usual regulars into the mix.

Looks like a fun one to do.

>Ed, I have spoken with my partner in crime, Jim B. and we are already working up your scenario idea for Recon. As you know, we usually have about anywhere from 10 to 12 factions in our games so we will probably be creating 5 or so groups of Purple forces and adding our usual regulars into the mix.<

Chip

The scenario include as many factions as you want. That's one of the reasons that I thought it would make a good convention scenario. If and when you do it that will mean that all three of my scenarios that I wrote; "Purple Invasion", "Passage to Marseille" and "Manila Calling" will have been done by GMs other than me at conventions. The other two reportedly worked out well. I hope that "PI" will too.

Here is a map of Union Square Park in Manhattan. As you can see, 17th st. borders the park on the north, 14th st. borders the park on the southern end, and 15th and 16th streets stop on the west side and continue on the east side. It is contoured as slightly oval, but i don't think it's worth trying to follow those lines. An oblong box would work just as well.

Ignore all of the blue boxes and circles. I believe that they represent concessions and a market that would not have existed back in the 1930's.

There is a stepped unlandscaped terrace that starts on 14th st. and leads up to a statue of George Washington on a horse at match line #2. I climbed that statue as a teenager and I can tell you that it's high and the pedestal is fairly large and would give good cover.

Those are "walks" branching out of match line #2 and running parallel to each other from the south to the north end of the park reaching a large pavillion.

The park has a *lot* of trees and bushes. This is important as you need to have LOS blocked to the escaping rescuers. This can afford a retreating cover by the other resistance fighters.

I would put the scaffold in the relatively open area near the center flag pole. If I remember correctly, the pole came out of a large round base that is big enough to use for cover.

The large open pavillion at the north end of the park can be used for general cover or as heavy cover for the escaping resistance fighters if you want them to go that way. A photo is provided in this post.

If you follow my idea, it should be noted that only 16th st. runs east toward the East River. 15th and 17th streets run west toward the center of Manhattan. 14th runs both ways. But I don't think that matters much as there probably wouldn't have been much civilian auto traffic during the "invasion" and you're breaking the law anyway, so i'd use any street to escape.

Here's the map of Union Square:

link

Here are photos of the pavillion at the north end of the park. Note that this angle is looking at the pavillion from *outside* the park on the north side:

link

I'll try to find more photos, but most of the available ones show the "modern" park.

Continuing from my last post. Here is a photo of the flag pole in the center of Union Square Park. This will also give you a fairly good idea of the spacing of trees and other foliage.

link

Ed:

Thanks for all the info. The scenario looks like a go.

For a title, "The Case of the Intolerable Invasion"

>"The Case of the Intolerable Invasion"<

I see that the hotel for "Recon" has been changed to one in Cocoa Beach. Looks like a nice area. I hope to be there this year.

Are you going to run this as a "Purple Invasion" scenario, or do you plan to modify it to include the usual plethora of pulp era personalities and your ongoing characters like "Dr. Katana" with his/her mysteriously changing sex? LOL

Oh, the usual gand of suspects will be there. Of course Doc will be integral to the story line.