Pulp serial sci-fi RPG

[Cryton]

Interesting title for a thread, huh?

It is however, a very interesting lens to look through for Traveller.

1) The characters ARE heroes, doing things and getting into weird situations no matter where they go or are under the pretext of doing. (Whoot! ADVENTURE!)
2) The characters do not change much, if at all, from episode to episode, or even season to season. (no real advancement. Characters, their back-story and what they can do is are already written when the game begins!)
3) The setting is somewhat inconsistent, changes depending on the season, the writers of that season, their budget, and how long the series lasted. (What edition are you using? What Meta-plot is going on in the background?)

So, if you're using this lens, Whats the "Backof-the-Box" read on your "Series one collected volume" set?

 

[Timerover51]

Interesting title for a thread, huh?

It is however, a very interesting lens to look through for Traveller.

1) The characters ARE heroes, doing things and getting into weird situations no matter where they go or are under the pretext of doing. (Whoot! ADVENTURE!)
2) The characters do not change much, if at all, from episode to episode, or even season to season. (no real advancement. Characters, their back-story and what they can do is are already written when the game begins!)
3) The setting is somewhat inconsistent, changes depending on the season, the writers of that season, their budget, and how long the series lasted. (What edition are you using? What Meta-plot is going on in the background?)

So, if you're using this lens, Whats the "Backof-the-Box" read on your "Series one collected volume" set?

Hmmm, maybe something like Flash Gordon meets John Carter of Mars meets Magnus Ridolph meets Doc Savage meets Captain Nemo (I know that he is not Pulp Sci-Fi, but he is classic). I have the perfect RPG somewhere in my basement for this.

 

[Cryton]

Hmmm, maybe something like Flash Gordon meets John Carter of Mars meets Magnus Ridolph meets Doc Savage meets Captain Nemo (I know that he is not Pulp Sci-Fi, but he is classic). I have the perfect RPG somewhere in my basement for this.

Sounds like a Traveller setting to me!

 

[kilemall]

I've been thinking the anime One Piece would be a good conversion.

The magic power on power personal fights would not translate of course, but

• the power interactions between the four emperors, the seven warlords and the World Government backstory that drives the metaplot would be good stuff,
• the whole navigation mechanism plus islands makes for the 'world of the week' style,
• the crew mix makes for combined arms plus different backstories and inputs into the adventure, many of whom are classic Traveller archetypes and other unusual mixes (navigator, fighter, sniper/explosives, cyborg/engineer, martial arts/chef, organization/archeologist on the run for 'knowing too much', doctor/changeling, and pirate leader that can't do anything technical but can fight),
• the ships, new tech unknown in most quarters, and new gear are essential plot elements, and
• the World Government lies it's butt off while the pirate crew makes friends cleaning up immoral messes of the WG's making due to doing the 'expedient' thing, some supporters including being let go by the WG's own enforcers.

Got a lot going for it, and it's immense popularity actually makes it a major literary impact, in the same range as US superheroes, Potter and probably in LofTR territory.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece


Doesn't really fit my current milieu, but there is a lot to be said for a tight moral pirate crew running through a highly destabilized set of planets.

 

[mike wightman]

One of the Traveller campaigns I ran way back was very much planet of the week, pulp sci-fi adventure.
Nominally it was set during a 'long night', but I never defined the previous empire in any detail; the players made assumptions, I occasionally threw them a bone - or was it a red herring - but the empire of old remained a mystery.
I actually used a mash up of BRP and Space Opera as the game system, but the game was definitely Traveller (I used LBB2 and 3 for backgrounds stuff).
One set of adventures were based on a re-imaging of the Daredevils adventures (FGU pulp rpg - great game, brilliant scenarios), I also used old film noir stuff for inspiration, and the now totally politically incorrect Africa adventure/safari movies.

Reading the article about MWM running a Leviathan based adventure for an evening - TL1 troglodytes - reaffirms my opinion that I was doing Traveller right