Pulp Cthulhu, for a lighter flavour of mythos madness

riotamot

Hearing @Stu talk about not being too psyched to dive back into bleak cosmic horror urged me to shill for Pulp Cthulhu. (Have I done that before? I feel like I've done this before.)

It's a set of rules tweaks and neat powers with which to equip your 7th Ed CoC investigators - for a little more pulp in your glass of unspeakable unknowns. You could reinvent the current cadre of characters as their pulpier, bull- and pistolwhipping selves. Doris struck me as such from the get go, and I'd love to see @CADave go full The Goon but with a russian accent. The proper* academics in the troupe will surely find exciting new fields of research to complement their resumé with. What is 'weird science' but natural science we don't yet understand why won't you listen to me?! I'll show them! I'll show them all!! 😉

*Citation needed.

malifer

riotamot How pulp-y is it? On a scale of Runequest to Savage Worlds?

riotamot

malifer Closer to RuneQuest I reckon. It's still BRP at its core. Off the top of my head, I think your hit-points doubled, Luck is regulary refreshed and if you have 30 to spare, you may escape any otherwise lethal consequence. There's also skills and talents of a pulpier texture: weird science gear, clairvoyance, trick shooting...

How We Roll Podcast have an ongoing AP of The Two-Headed Serpent, and the first few episodes might be an excellent primer on what kind of tone and content is achievable 😄

malifer

riotamot Good to hear. Refreshing Luck would be a big benefit.
I'm reading 7th CoC right now and digging it, but I love me some pulp and my GM style is probably way too camp for a serious CoC game.

Also the possibility of using Pulp Cthulhu rules with Achtung Cthulhu excites me. While I have enjoyed the Savage Worlds I have played, I am a bigger fan of d100 and I also like stories that avoid lethality while the heroes still get beat to hell a la Kiss Kiss Bang Bang or Die Hard.

Weaselcreature

There's also Berlin: The Wicked City (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/269387/Berlin--The-Wicked-City)
It has a bunch of pulp rules you can pick and choose from to alter your game: eg double HP (for heartier heroes), more rules for luck expenditure as well as LOTS of luck returned (it's more of a currency to be used more often), weird science, background perks.

In one of the games I'm in we use the double HP (we were actually doing it before Berlin came out) and the new luck rules, and it's going great so far.

Weaselcreature

Weaselcreature There's also Berlin: The Wicked City

So...I found out last night that my wife had actually bought two different Cthulhu supplements, and the pulp stuff I'm talking about is in the Pulp Cthulhu that was originally mentioned. The Berlin book is really cool, though.

OFTHEHILLPEOPLE

Wait, Savage Worlds is the maximum on your scale for Pulp?