Pulp Books

The Upside:



Masterminds And Madmen is an enemies source book for Pulp Hero. It provides five master villains, four organizations and dozens of other villains to pit against your two-fisted heros.



Chapter One - Masterminds. First master villain, Dr. Fang Shen, a Chinese Nationalist who is out to destroy western civilization. His organization is flung far and wide and into everything, with the help of his twin daughters and legions of enforcers he makes the perfect villain for a Pulp Hero set in the Orient, or with a Martial Arts focus. His two daughters capture the aspects of the classic Asian Femme Fatale nicely. The next mastermind is The Skymaster, after all what's a pulp game without airplanes! If your pulp game focuses on aviation Skymaster makes an excellent campaign arch villain, he's also useful anytime you need a mastermind in the air for your evil plans. The Crimson Wraithe is next, not nearly as epic as the other master villains, he's a good low level "The Shadow" style villain for pulp campaigns that aren't quite as far reaching as others. Geiskapitan is a master villain based at sea, using a stolen U-Boat to create havoc amongst former allied shipping lanes. If your focus is the oceans, or you simply need a villain to plague the heros as they get from one continent to another Geiskapitan is a good villain, with a bit of a twist to the mysterious. The Iron Claw is similar to the Crimson Wraithe, only large in scope, more deadly and perfect for Pulp Games set in a single city rather than as globe trotting adventures. He would have an excellent long time adversary to PCs looking to clean up their city.



The master villains are diverse, interesting, and can be used as the focus of entire campaigns or simply as major menaces in story arcs.



Chapter Two - Fiendish Organizations. Four groups are presented for use against the PCs. First, The Cabal, which is an organization of men and women bent on making as much money as possible and nothing else. While a good pulp enemy they aren't as strait forward as most villains, they would make a good backing group for any number of other organizations. Of all the enemies presented, this group has the most potential to be taken completely out of the Pulp Genre - they would make the perfect Board Of Directors to pit against PCs in a Cyberpunk game. The Coletti Mob, your classic Italian Mob, who doesn't need mobsters in their Pulp games? The Cult Of The Nine Degrees, for Pulp games feature of a bit of Mystic and Occult happenings this group makes a good mid-tier enemy. Large enough to pose a serious threat, small enough to be dismantled by some hard work and a good fist fight or three. The Cult is part demon worshipping cultists and part criminal organization. Most of their desire is the accumulation of material wealth more than the domination of mankind. The last group, The Frankenstein Mob, is good if your Pulp game involves some of the weird, if not out right supernatural. They're a low-level group of thugs who are mostly trying to get by in a world that rejects them as freaks.



Again, the organizations section provides a wide variety of foes for several kinds of games, or different types of longer story arcs. The Coletti Mob and The Cabal have the most potential to be used in other genre's or to become mastermind level threats should their operations expand.



Chapter Three - Solo Villains. Thirty four adversaries to pit against the PCs. Ranging from common thieves to madmen trying to take over the world. Here's a brief description of each one. Gilbert Allen, a man out to make money through land deals in the open west. El Azor, a self styled Robin Hood in Argentina. Achmed Ben-Ali, fencing anything you've got from out of Egypt. Cimba Janakadi, the spirit of the African Jungle (and naturally she's blonde haired and blue eyed). La Colombe Noir, an expert sneak thief. Il Corridore Notte, fastest driver in Europe, he'll smuggle the goods you've got across any border. Eppie Curran, the Ghoul Queen, good for Pulp games with a mystical twist. Etienne and Vincent D'Arques, two men with one soul between them, another good mystical Pulp opponent. El Diablo Robotico, what's a Pulp game without mad sentient robots? Der Dunkelladler, if the Skymaster is too far reaching he's a good substitute. Sir Jonathan Earle, classic great white hunter with no morals. The Electrocutioner, good for a Weird Science Pulp game. Fafnir, another sneak thief. Flambeaux, beautiful as she is deadly, good for weird science Pulp. Colonel Bruce Forsythe, a good classic Pulp villain, nothing nice about him at all. Alejandro Fuentes, guide to Central and South America, for a price of course. Darren "Gats" Gruner, a hit man with deadly aim. Ikeda Hideo, spy and assassin for the Japanese Emperor. Doctor Valentine Keene, pilfering artifacts from adventurers world wide. Maximilliam Kreiger, what's a Pulp game without a giant Nazi to beat you up a couple times. Li-Ming Jade, Pirate Queen of the South Seas. Caroline Nefertari Madison, reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian priestess, good for Pulp games with a mystical twist. Anezka Mrazovic, Decendant of Elizabeth Bathroy, and all that implies. Viktor Petrov, a classic werewolf. Professor Prospero, a magician thief, good for clue hunting Pulp adventures. The Red Sickle, the rising Communist power has agents even in America. The Scorpion, classic Pulp crime lord, a criminal with a theme. Jimmy Seldon, what's Pulp without it's hardboilded detectives? Peter Sinclair, upper crust snob, sure to infuriate the PCs. The Skywayman, some more weird science, this time a jetpack. The Terrormonger, another classic Pulp standby, the costumed mastermind, whose completely insane. Drisani Varmandali, heiress to a vast criminal empire, should something happen to her father. The Volcano Master, more weird science, because you can't have enough mad scientists. The Yellow Scar, out to destroy all of China's enemies, good for Martial Arts in a Pulp game.



As you can see there's a good wide variety of characters is this collection, from the mundane to the fantastic and on up to the just plain weird. All of them are well written, many with interesting twists. And of course, every character comes with three plot seeds in case you don't have any nerfarious ideas of your own to introduce them to your game. And the most fun comes when you start to combine and twist plot seeds together, the PCs won't know which way to turn next.



The Downside:



Several blank pages at the end and no Summary Table of NPC stats. I've noticed HERO stopped putting the summary tables in their last few Enemies Books. Which is too bad, they're extremely useful to quickly find important NPC stats.



Of course, those are the only bad things I can really say about this supplement.



The Otherside:



Unless you're into converting to your system of choice the stat blocks aren't much help to you. But the character backgrounds are more than worth the price of the book.



This is a collection of classic and interesting Pulp villains, adversaries and characters. All of the backgrounds are well thought out, there isn't much repetition or overlap in archetypes. From street thug to world conquering master villain it's in here. An excellent addition to any Pulp game.

A Mate for Murder is a collection of six 1940's pulp magazine mystery stories by Bruno Fischer. Although most folks today have never heard of Fischer, he was one of the pioneers of hardboiled detective fiction. As such, this book is a real treat for mystery lovers. One note of caution: The stories in this book reflect the prejudices of the times. Modern day audiences are likely to find some of the elements in some of the stories offensive. That being the case, this book is an excellent artifact of politically incorrect times gone by.

This is an enoyable, well-written and very even-handed treatment of a fascinating, discrete subject. One marvels at the heroism, tradition and bravery of the RN, and the author gives due credit to the aggressive tactics of the Luftwaffe. As for the Italian Navy,well, the author is fair, and says good things about the few things he can. I actually had no idea the Italian navy could have so easily swept the British from the Eastern Mediterranean, if they had the will, and the tradition. It always amazes me when I read books like this, meaning well-written ones, how brave people at war can be. Also a very fair view taken of Cunningham, not just hagiography. Finally, after getting their behinds kicked by the Luftwaffe due to no air cover for its ships, how could the Brits possibly have sent out the Repulse and Prince of Wales (w/o air cover) in December of the same year?

You would be crazy to buy any other Bill Gates book. This is an insightful look at the world's richest man -- from the days of his youth, the big battles with Apple and IBM, and revealing insights into the big anti-trust case.

It also includes a "built-in" flip book too that allows you to re-live the "pie-in-the-face" -- COOL!

There are reasons why French cooking enjoys a world-wide reputation for the excellence of its cuisine. Now the husband-and-wife team of Alessandra and Jean-Francis Quaglia (proprietor-chefs of the immently respected Provence Mediterranean Grill and the Provence Marinaside restaurants in Vancouver, Canada) have compiled "New World Provence: Modern French Cooking For Friends And Family", a cookbook collection featuring an impressive series of simple but elegant recipes specifically designed for the palates and preferences of contemporary North Americans. Graced with beautiful full color photography of finished dishes, "New World Provence" recipes are enhanced with a succinct anecdotal introduction introducing the recipe, which then lists the necessary ingredients and a series of thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' instructions for preparing the dish. From such gourmet delicacies as Stewed Squid in Tomato Saffron Sauce, to such hearty fare as Warm Potato Salad with L'Ancienne Mustard Vinaigrette, to impressive entrees like Seared Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine & Peppercorn Jus, to dessert delicacies such as a Lemon Tart, "New World Provence" is an elegant and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, family, and community library cookbook collections.

I love the way Ivan E Coyote writes like s/he is just sitting across from you chatting at your kitchen table. The stories are brilliant and well worth savouring. Coyote's best book to date. Highly recommended.

This is an exciting collection of anarchist writings from Canada over the past 25 years. I didn't know anything about Canadian activists until I got this, besides from what happened in Quebec in 2001, and this has tons of information about the movements up there. Especially compelling are the writings on feminism and music. I highly recommend this to anarchists and activists who want to broaden their understandings of anti-capitalist theories and tactics. But you probably ought to get it from your local infoshop.

Another great story from the master...
Jessie is a normal girl. She paints and has friends and loves to laugh. The problem is there is a fat man who lives in her apartment building. Like a troll, he lives under the stairs. He subsists only on coke-a-cola- and cheese doodles. His fingers are stained orange from the junk food. He is unattractive and he smells. Despite all this, Jessie finds herself obsessing over the man. He keeps telling her that he has nice things to show her in his apartment. When she does break down and enter his place, what he has to show her will keep you awake for a week and make you never enter a stranger's house again. It's that disturbing.

Thank you Mr. Martin.

Relic113

The Case of the Bigamous Spouse, by Erle Stanley Gardner

The 'Foreword' is dedicated to Mitsuo Yokoyama M.D., Ph.D., and the other Japanese hematologists who are a the forefront of research. They can "classify approximately forty blood group systems, seventy blood group factors, and more than 100,000,000,000 theoretically genotypes".

Gwynn Elston visits Perry Mason because she thinks her best friend's husband tried to poison her! Gwynn has been staying with Nell and Felting Grimes while she works selling books to families. One customer had a picture of her husband, who looked like Felting Grimes. That night Felting started asking her questions about her work. Later Gwynn tasted something bitter in the drink Felting gave her. Tonight Gwynn must return for her business meeting. Perry tells her what to do for her safety (Chapter 2). Later Gwynn calls to report that nothing happened (Chapter 3). The next day Gwynn tells of the strange event that happened, and how she was given a pistol (Chapter 4)! When she went to revisit that location, she found Felting Grimes dead, and that delayed her return to Perry. Perry Mason telephones Lt. Tragg to report the dead body. Lt. Tragg's quick actions finds the likely suspect (Chapter 6). Perry warns Gwynn to say nothing while in custody until Perry can find out about the situation.

Perry and Della go to visit Nell Grimes, Felting is away on business. Nell knows little about her husband's business. But news on the radio tells the police found a body and identified it. Perry's interview is quickly ended. Perry visits the murder scene to watch the police find a pistol. Gwynn's story about giving a strange man a lift is verified. If the father of Felting Grimes died the day before would that be just a coincidence?

Perry and Della visit the mountain town to inquire about Gorman Gillet, recently deceased (Chapter 10). Perry took fingerprints, and got a hit from the FBI. Now a new person could be a suspect (Chapter 11). Perry is able to get his fingerprints, but they do not match a known person. There are other complications and difficulties for Perry. Gwynn is in trouble as she started talking to the police without her lawyer. The missing witness shows up, confirms Gwynn's story, but can implicate her.

The Preliminary Hearing looks bad for Gwynn until Perry examines a hostile witness; the testimony reveals surprising facts that cast doubt about the prosecution's case. A prosecution witness is recalled and the mystery is solved in Chapter 15. [There is no comment on the unconventional household of the Grimes. Some items of everyday life then are noticeably out of date. Note the plug for the magazine that paid well
for Gardner's stories.]

This novel, set more than a century ago in backwater South Africa, is the great grandfather of today's thrillers. Buchan, who perfected the form in "The 39 Steps" some years later, gives his young hero plenty to do in sussing out and confronting a massive uprising by tribesmen who wish to slaughter all the white settlers for a hundred miles around. The writing is smooth and the situations are generally believable, though modern readers will have to forgive Buchan for some racist sentiments completely common at the time. Both black and white characters are compellingly and sympathetically drawn, though, so there's no reason to apologize for the book. Read it and be taken back to another time and another place, and imagine how Hollywood would produce this today-- it feels totally contemporary in terms of its "Indiana Jones" adventure plot. Enjoy! (Note: This book is available in its entirety online.)