Between the scientific romances of the Edwardian era and the Golden Age of Science Fiction and Superhero comics, there was the "pulp adventure genre," a style of popular fiction that inspired more modern works like Indiana Jones and The Rocketeer. Gamers interested in retro-games of early 20th Century heroics and villainy should check out these tabletop RPGs, each featuring rules and settings designed to let players tell their own two-fisted tales of thrilling adventure – car chases, fist fights, and cliffhangers included.
As far as genres go, "Pulp Adventure" encompasses a wide variety of adventure stories from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, and their heroic protagonists wildly different form each other in many respects. Some pulp heroes are prototypes of the modern superhero, such as the scientist-adventurer "Doc" Savage, the masked Green Hornet, or The Shadow ("Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man?"). The pulp adventure genre also included heroes that are archaeologists, explorers of lost worlds, intrepid reporters, detectives, barnstorming aviators like Captain Midnight, and super spies – united in archetype by their thrill-seeking tendencies, their belief in science, justice, and progress, and their tendency to run afoul of dastardly villains.
Tabletop RPGs inspired by the original "Pulp Adventure" genre and works of homages like Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow have two design challenges they need to tackle. First, their mechanics need to capture the the aesthetic, themes, and exuberance of thrilling adventure fiction from the early 20th century, full of enthusiasm for topics like ancient civilizations, aviation, athletic stunts, and scientific crime-busting. Second, they need to consciously address and reject harmful prejudices and colonialist attitudes baked into a lot of fiction from the early 20th century (no mighty white-guy heroes foiling the plans of racially stereotyped villains, for instance), making sure contemporary players of all races, genders, sexualities and identities have fair, forthright representation in the game's setting.
Pulp Tabletop RPG: Spirit Of The Century
Spirit of The Century, a 2003 pulp adventure tabletop RPG about the thrilling geniuses, experts, and adventurers of the Century Club, was the premiere publication of Evil Hat Productions, as well as the first RPG to feature their signature FATE RPG system. The key feature of the FATE system is its use of "Aspects," narrative details describing the qualities of players characters, people, and places.
By invoking these aspects through the spending of "Fate Points," players can re-create the antics of heroes in pulp fiction, who frequently use their environment and the personal flaws of their enemies to escape scenarios of certain doom. A FATE Accelerated spin-off called Young Centurions lets players portray young, teenage versions of their Spirit Of The Century protagonists, who have to worry about finishing their homework, helping out with chores, avoiding the neighborhood bully, and saving the world .
Pulp Tabletop RPG: Trinity Continuum: Adventure!
The Trinity Continuum trilogy of science fiction RPGs, published by Onyx Path, take place in the same universe across different periods of time. Trinity Continuum: Aeon focuses on star-faring psychics called "Psions" who defend far-future humanity from alien invaders and homicidal super-beings called Aberrants. Trinity Continuum: Aberrant is a modern-day RPG focusing on super-humans called "Novas" who channel spectacular quantum superpowers to fight crime as superheroes, commit crimes as supervillains, or change their worlds in subtler, more uncanny ways. Trinity Continuum: Adventure!, set in a pulp-adventure version of the 20th century, focuses on remarkable individuals called the "Inspired," heroic daredevils who can bend probability to pull of feats that are humanely possible, but defy rationality.
Pulp Tabletop RPG: Hollow Earth Expedition RPG
An obscure but creative pulp-adventure RPG available on Drivethru RPG.com, Hollow Earth Expedition, true to name, is centered around daring explorers trying to unravel the mysteries of the "Hollow World," a massive underground realm full of exotic jungles, dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, non-human hominids, and refugees from past eras of human history such as swashbuckling pirates and Roman Centurions.
A big strength of the Hollow Earth Expedition core books is the number of plot hooks it offers players - perils and mysteries within the hollow-worlds, as well as political conflicts and culture trends taken straight from the real-life year of 1936. Hollow Earth Expedition also innovates with dice mechanics where dice rolled on even numbers count as successes, letting players assemble dice pools composed of differently-sized dice.
Pulp Tabletop RPG: Savage Worlds: Thrilling Tales
The Savage Worlds game system, a setting-agnostic ruleset published by the Pinnacle Entertainment Group, has been adapted and customized for many different roleplaying game settings, ranging from the "Weird West" alternate history RPG Deadlands to the infamously genre-blending world of RIFTS. The default setting of the Savage Worlds core book, as seen in its illustrations and Thrilling Tales expansion, is classic pulp adventure, with fast-paced, intuitive rules designed to re-create the dramatic fist-fights, thrilling vehicular chases, and pursuit of mysteries that characterize period adventure serials, movies like Indiana Jones, and other contemporary works of homage.