Netflix added the Rocketeer to their queue recently. I can't sit here and tell you that it is a good movie, but I can tell you that it is a fun movie, and one that I like. It has always had a special place in my heart, and probably because the first time I saw it I was pretty young.
In watching the Rocketeer this weekend though, I had an idea for a game that I think could be fun.
We set the game in the 1930s. Hitler has taken power in Germany, but World War II has yet to begin in earnest. The PCs are members of a secret organization - an Intelligence network we'll say - but in true pulp fashion are all something else as well. Actors, pilots, professors, scientists - all of whom are adventurers as well - are the kind of people I'm thinking of. People who can, do, and would travel the world for various reasons.
From there, it is just a matter of saving the world. Conflict is escalating. Both sides are looking for super weapons. It is a time for secret agents, globe hopping, and perhaps even magic to return to things. You have rocketmen who fly as if they themselves were a plane, large blimps, and scores of people trying to uncover the lost artifact of this deity or that.
Throughout it all you have the kind of action shots that make pulp adventure so gran. The driving shootouts, the fights in lounge clubs and casinos, the aerial maneuvering, boxing atop planes, devastating right hooks.
We can throw in a little Captain America and Hydra for a less country-specific enemy, and really have fun with it. The only question is, what system? Adventure! seems a good fit, and Fate is always fun. What else is out there for Pulp fun though?
If you want to run a one-shot, then I'd recommend hacking Lady Blackbird for it. It's an easy system, allows for a lot of improvisation and I think it'd work great for the colourful storytelling needed for a good pulp adventure.
ReplyDelete(I apologise if this comment appears a couple of times, the comment form and Firefox are not talking)