"Funnest (?) rules for 30-40s Pulp and John Carter?" Topic

Our gang is entering two new table-top gaming genres: 30-40s Pulp (Retro Sci-Fi) and John Carter of Mars.

We are searching for Fun Fast Flavor!

Any ideas?

Gavin

Our Pulp Alley rules are great for that. You can download the free version of Pulp Alley from our online store. It doesn't include everything, but it will definitely get you started – link

Have fun!

-Mila
Pulp Alley

Savage Worlds has a Barsoom book.

Here's what you need for $5 USD:

link

'Astounding Tales!' Nothing Astoundier.

Simplest and free – Rugged Adventures link

G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T works very well for pulp games. If you buy the compendium you can do just about anything you want in pulp and VSF.

".45 Adventures" by Rattrap Productions is a set of Pulp rules that has been around for a while. Free downloads are available. Check them out here:

link

The actual catalog for Rattrap products is on another site here:

rattrapproductions.com/shop

Note that there is a specific supplement for retro-Pulp in space called "Fantastic Worlds" here:

link

Picking the specific rules might be a case of which dice systems you like. Both ".45 Adventure" and "In Her Majesty's Name" (from Osprey) use d10 modified by various factors. Both "Pulp Alley" and "Savage Worlds" use a variety of die sizes (d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12).

Some rules are a bit more abstract in the sense of health effects caused by hits and failures to save based on dice assigned to characteristics. Other rules might be a bit more detailed, such as including specific hits to legs, arms, head, or torso. Also the amount of damage might be related to specific weapons such as a shotgun or pistol or rifle of a certain caliber. Some people want rules a bit more concrete and others want rules a bit more abstract. When playing with children one might not want to detail the specific effects of a .45 pistol and the amount of time it takes the character to bleed out and die. With children one might prefer the more abstract "Pulp Alley" method of a health reduction to the point of the character passing out.

Because these rules usually involve similar character aspects, but with different names, it should be easy to translate ideas from one set of rules to another. So even though the dice systems may be different, it can be valuable to own several of these different rulebooks just to pull out the good ideas for a scenario or campaign.

I would suggest Pulp Alley. Just for clarification I am not associated with the Pulp Alley brand, other than a fan.

I did a LOT of searching, and some buying before finding them. I tried looking at a lot of different reviews and tried to see what they all offered.

The ones mentioned offer a lot of good stuff but I have found Pulp Alley meets my desire for fast, fun, and easy to play. I ran a game at Fall In last year and had great fun. The players picked the game up quickly.

The other thing I like with Pulp Alley is the flexibility. The system allows you to play virtually any skirmish from pirates to sci-fi. I remember people talking about pirate games, pulp games, pulp science fiction, war, Star Wars, etc. All with one set of rules.

I am painting up WW2 figures for a commando raid game, I also want to do French and Indian war raiding games, and James Bond type spy games with the rules.

I love the versatility.

I agree Mexican Jack. Astounding Tales is a blast! It is easy to teach and well suited to any of the pulp generes. Its easy to modify and make stuff up on the fly if need be.

+1 Pulp Alley

Pulp Alley is very versatile genre-wise and a great set. My favorite of those mentioned.

Another vote for Pulp Alley!

Gavatar, what did you decide to do? Buy anything yet?

As for me, after watching the total dominance of Pulp Alley on TMP and on Lead Adventures for the last year or more, I decided to take the plunge and buy Pulp Alley. I'm doing that in spite of the rules for shooting being too abstract for my tastes. I figure there must be something else about the rules that make them so popular.

I have a game to run next year at a convention, and will use either Pulp Alley or In Her Majesty's name, whichever feels best for the scale of what I want to do. Will be interesting to try out both.

We use the Dr Who Miniatures Game (DWMG) for our Pulp games, which is also a free download. 7TV is the commercial version.

link