Why Isn't There A Game for That? [Update '25]

I wrote the original version of this post in 2014, then I updated it in 2019. It's probably time to check back in and see how the rpg landscape is changed. There are a number of genres/subgenres that are under-utilized or not utilized at all in rpgs, despite the fact they would probably work pretty well. Here are the ones I listed originally and have been following up on:

Humorous Adventure Pulp
Basically this would cover the whimsical, fantastical, and often violent world of Thimble Theatre (later Popeye) and the Fleischer Popeye cartoon. A lot of fist-fights, fewer guns. This would also cover Little Orphan Annie, various kid gang comics, and (on the more violent end) Dick Tracy.
Update: Still nothing, really. Acheron Game's Helluva Town does a sort of Roger Rabbit or Cool World sort of setting, so references things like Popeye, but it's not quite the same thing.

Wainscot Fantasy
Little creatures hiding in the big world. Think The Borrowers, The Littles, and Fraggle Rock.
Update:  Some progress here! Household by Two Little Mice does this sort of thing, though from its specifically about fairies. There's also a game called Pixies and one called Under the Floorboards that specifically namechecks The Borrowers.

Kid Mystery Solvers
Scooby Doo is probably the most well-known example, but you've got several Hanna-Barbera returns to the same concept. Ditch weird pet/side kick, and you've got The Three Investigators, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. 
Update: There's Meddling Kids I mentioned in 2019, and then there's The Mystery Business that debuted in 2024.

Wacky Races
I've written about this one before--and Richard has run it. Still needs a game, though.
Update: Still just the board game, so far as I know.

Peacekeeping Mission to Mars

I was thinking about Leigh Brackett's Mars today (as I often do) and reflecting on how it isn't very science fictional at all, so that if you advanced the timeline of its colonial Mars about half a century to a century, you might get something that looks a bit like our modern world except with spaceships where Terran peacekeeping forces get bogged down in insurgencies or civil wars on Mars (or Venus).

With a set up like this, you could do the pulp Mars version of modern films set in conflict zones like Blackhawk Down or even better Three Kings. If you went with Earth in a sort of Cold War, you could even wind out with a Twilight:2000 sort of situation would troops lost on Mars and trying to figure out what to do next.

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1984 (week 3)

Inm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on July 19, 1984.

Justice League of America Annual #2: Well, here's the big change editorial has been teasing. In the wake of the Earth-Mars War and the destruction of the satellite, Aquaman officially disbands the JLA (his right as chair and the only founding member present, apparently) saying that the world deserves a more dedicated, full-time group of heroes. Having just had his wife leave him, he's willing to make that commitment, as are Elongated Man and Zatanna. Martian Manhunter also steps up and rejoins. Soon, new heroes Vixen and Steel volunteer. Steel even offers them a new base and training center--in Detroit. Shortly after the move they meet the empowered neighborhood youths, Vibe and Gypsy, and they are recruited for the team. The issue ends with the neighborhood throwing a street party in honor of their new neighbors.

This era of the League isn't well thought of, but I was there at the ground floor in 1984, having bought this issue off the stands. I wouldn't say I liked these characters better than the sort of Superfriends roster, but I did like getting to see a new team forming, and the fact that they would do this meant the title was actually going somewhere. Conway's obvious inspiration here seems to be the "Cap's Kooky Quartet" era of Avengers, but I don't think it works quite as well because some of the characters are a bit too "kooky" (Vibe and Gypsy). Beyond that though, I think was clearly an attempt to grab some of the energy of DC's successful Teen Titans and Legion of Super-Heroes franchises (and X-Men): a close-knit group of often younger characters whose adventures involved a lot of character drama. In fact, the new character's here kind of fill similar niches to the new Titans in NTT: Cyborg (Steel) as the cybernetic hero with parental figure conflict, Starfire (Vixen) as the vivacious warrior woman, Gypsy (Raven) the mystery woman, and Changeling (Vibe) for comedy relief.

Batman and the Outsiders #14: The 1984 Summer Olympics will get under way in Los Angeles on July 28, so Barr and Willingham/Anderson give us a topical story. Maxie Zeus breaks out of Arkham with the goal of trying to make Olympic athlete Lacinia Nitocris his queen. He calls up the Monitor (that guy again!) to outfit his New Olympians. When Maxie and his crew interrupt the Olympic games, Batman and the Outsiders are on hand undercover to challenge them.

In the first part of the issue, we get a peak at the Outsiders in their private lives, which includes a brief bit of romcom where Halo and Geo-Force first interview with each other's dating lives before acting on their feelings for each other.

Blue Devil #5: This is another (and the last to be published) of the stories in Best of DC #61 "Years Best Comics Stories" that I have mentioned several times. And this is a good one! Not an "Anatomy Lesson," perhaps, but Mishkin/Cohn and Cullins/Martin craft story that is both well-done and fun. After the events of last issue, Nebiros is rampaging in Mexico, and Blue Devil and Zatanna have to stop him. The Mexican army takes their shot, but Nebiros is too powerful. They are helpful with the army of lesser demons he calls up. The two magical heroes have to engage him. Blue Devil manages to regain control of his tridents and the two push Nebiros back through a portal to Hell.

For those keeping score, the Monitor and Lyla make a brief cameo this issue, uh--monitoring events in Mexico.

Green Lantern #181: This arc by Wein and Gibbons/DeCarlo might feel more noteworthy if it hadn't come closely on the heels of a long arc where Hal was at points at odds or on the outs with the Guardians. It's one of the inherent problems with serialized media, I suppose, but particularly comics: every new team wants to make sure classic stories are told their way, so you get repeated elements. Here, Jordan flies off to deliver his resignation to the Guardians on Oa so he can be with Carol. A group of his colleagues in the Corps try to get him to reconsider--and Katma Tui is angry because he convinced her to stay in the past, giving up her love to do so, but he won't be dissuaded. So, he goes through with it and returns to Earth a civilian, still wondering if he made the right decision.

While all this is going on, Jason Bloch is killed in his office by someone in shadow who looks suspiciously like the Predator and admonishes him for not listening to Smith from Con-Trol. Bloch manages to stumble out and try to out Jordan as Green Lantern before dying, but unfortunately for him the only person who hears his final words is Diana Prince, and she protects Green Lantern's secret.

In the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps backup by Kupperberg and Newton a robbed figure walks into a Star Wars cantina-esque bar. It's the Green Lantern Ch'p, and he teaches a group of space pirates not to take any member of the Corps lightly.

Infinity, Inc. #7: The Thomas' and Ordway/Machlan have us still in midstream of this Koehaha River arc. Power Girl is unable to stop Superman in Metropolis and has to escape or be killed. Fury, Northwind, and Silver Scarab try to stop Hawkman and Wonder Woman from stealing an ancient statue of Horus. Wonder Woman snaps out of the magically induced ruthlessness, but only after accidentally injuring her husband, Steve Trevor, ironically in an effort to win the secret of immortality for him.

Legion of Super-Heroes #3: The Legion of Super-Villains have 3 Legionnaires captive on Orando. They draw the other Legionnaires into a trap, attacking them in space as they are rushing to the rescue. A few more Legionnaires arrive, though, and the villains are defeated. Their ultimate goal is revealed: to somehow escape to a universe without heroes. Under good issue from Levitz/Giffen and Lightle/Mahlstedt.

New Talent Showcase #10: There's little to like in this issue, unfortunately. Jenesis is still the leader of the pack, with a story that has her attempting to use empathy and communication, not superhero brawn to win the day when a distraught man takes hostages at a medical facility. The police sort of spoil it though. There there's Astro-Busters by Stradley and Saltares about a group of miners in the Belt who have to put their interpersonal differences aside to deal with pirates.

Besides Nick O'Tyme, the other two stories are amateurish almost supers rpg-level superhero stories. Part 2 of the Progency story does have art by Jeff Dee, though, but he's not done any favors it looks like by Joyce's inks.

Saga of Swamp Thing #29: Moore and Bissette/Totleben have Abigail make the horrific discovery that her husband Matt who appeared to have gotten himself together, bought a house for them and got a job, has been taken over by her evil uncle Anton Arcane. A horror filled issue, but we are definitely in decompression here. The Pasko years would have probably handled all this in a page. I'm not complaining at all, just noting the shift to a more cinematic storytelling style that eventually all comics will embrace. 

Sgt. Rock #393: In the main story, Bulldozer's kid brother joins Easy. With flowers under his helmet netting, he seems to be coded with an anachronistic hippie vibe. Anyway, he proves his worth despite his unusual ways by getting Easy out of a tough spot with a disguise as an old Italian lady selling vegetables, so he can get close enough to lob grenades at a German installation.

The other two stories seem like leftovers from Weird War Tales and are by writers other than Kanigher. In the first, by Andy Kubert and Ron Wagner, a German grenadier discovers that he can't escape war even in death. The second, written by Alan Baker with somewhat amateurish but evocative art from Jim Balent's DC debut, takes the pessimistic that war crimes and attacks on civilians will still be a feature of warfare in the remote future.

Warlord #86: Cool Jurgens cover, though it oversells the "Forever Man" as a thing. I reviewed the main story here. In the Barren Earth backup by Cohn and Randall, Jinal and friend capture their Qlov after an extended struggle. A minor mystery is uncovered as the Qlov proves susceptible to a sedative that works on humans.

Thriller #11: DuBay/Niño limp Thriller toward its conclusion in a way that makes an already complicated title more so. It's an odd approach to use everything that your predecessors did on a title but completely alter the relationships between all the characters and their status quo. I suppose "everything you know is wrong" has a strong pedigree in comics, but usually that entails just dropping some stuff. Not here. Still dealing with the fallout of an aborted Golden Age last issue, we learn that Angie Thriller is apparently thrown in with Lusk as is apparently having an affair with him. And is sort of his daughter, in the sense that he (I guess, it's unclear) created her in a lab. Anyway, one issue to go, per the editorial here.

Going Beyond the Wall

 

A couple of weeks ago, my 5e gaming group agreed to give Beyond the Wall a try as a bit of a change of pace. While the setting is only defined in the broadest of strokes to give room to decide some things in play, it's the same setting as in the triads I presented here.

There was a bit of a learning curve. A couple of the players had either only ever played 5e or either hadn't played older D&D in a long time, and both rely on a virtual tabletop for running their characters, so had to discover or rediscover some terminology and how things fit together. That's a wrinkle that's worth considering when introducing players to a new game coming from 5e/Pathfinder: The new game may be less complicated in an absolute sense, but if they can't lean on a VTT, that might not help in getting the game up and running.

Anyway, once we got into the group character creation and associated village (and environs) creation everybody got into the spirit and enjoyed it. One player remarked it was the most fun that she had had in character creation. I gave them their pick of the playbacks in the original book and several supplements. In retrospect, I might have limited them a bit more or modified them slightly if I had thought to do so, but it will work out, I'm sure.

I did not follow BTW's advice and rush to complete chargen and play an adventure in one setting. I know that's meant to be one of the primary points of the game, but it's an advantage not really needed with our group, and we had a player out, so no reason to leave him behind.

Ozoom Revisited

Scott Martin can be blamed for this post for pointing out the similarities between Oz and Edgar Rice Burroughs fandom....

Mars is dying and has been for millennia. The only truly fertile land left is the squarish Land of Oz, surrounded on all side by deadly desert.

Oz has four countries, each home to a different race of men. The east is the home of the Blue Men, short in stature and friendly. It was once under the tyrannical rule of an ancient crone, but she was felled by a little girl from Earth. In the South is the Country of the Red Men, ruled by a benevolent queen. In the west are the Yellow Men, who are renowned for their technological skill. They are ruled by a metal man. The northern country is the land of the Purple Men. They've been ruled by a succession of queens, each with a mastery of the powers of the mind.

In the center of Oz is the Emerald City-State, and it's lofty spires and magnificent domes are made entirely of crystal. Their true color is in a part of the spectrum neither human nor Martian eyes can perceive, but the city's people wear optics which convert the color to green. It was formerly ruled by a man of Earth, a charlatan and huckster, but the rightful queen has been restored, after having spent her youth in exile, disguised as a boy.

Young Dorothy Gale was transported to Mars by a strange storm that tossed her, along with her dog and her home across the astral void. She killed a witch, exposed a charlatan, and helped restore the rightful ruler of Oz. She didn't do it alone. She was aided by a Lion Man, exiled for his supposed cowardice, an artificial man without the ancient brain that formerly guided him, and a Yellow Man whose mind was had been placed in a metal body. The companions took the Golden Road that followed the ancient canals that terminated in the great Emerald City, then undertook a quest to depose the witch that ruled the Yellow Men and who forced them to use their knowledge to build her an army of conquest.

This was only the first on many trips Dorothy Gale made to Mars. That young farm girl became a dying world's greatest hero.

The original version of this post appeared in 2018.

Wednesday Comics: DC, October 1984 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics released the week of July 12, 1984. 

Superman #400: I remember seeing this issue on the stands and thumbing through it, impressed by all the artists gathered, but not being much interested in Superman at the time, I didn't buy it. Reading it for the first time 41 years later, I think it's a better anniversary issue and commemoration of the character than Batman #400, which I did pick up. 

Maggin's sprawling story examines the meaning of Superman people of Earth across future times. In 2199 (rendered by Al Williamson) on U.S. lunar colony, an elderly snake oil salesman and his son weave a tale of an encounter with the now-legendary Superman to move their elixir. In 2230, in a segment with art by Miller, researchers announce discovery of 1950s media from an alternate earth that reveals the secret ID of Superman was Clark Kent, but commentors dismiss their findings in favor of the more popular theories regarding Morgan Edge or Bruce Wayne. In the most resonant segment (with art by Marshall Rogers), the U.S. ruled by a tyrannical oligarchy, until a homeless man seeking shelter in the forbidden Metropolis library discovers Superman's costume and puts it on. He is quickly killed by security forces who figure out the suit is impervious, but the man isn't, but his actions inspire the gathered crowd to resist, triggering a rebellion and, eventually, a Second American Revolution.

In a segment with art by Wendy Pini, historians debate the reality and nature of the Superperson whose costume is now a historical relic. Then, Kaluta draws the virtually reality adventures of two young boys who create their own Superman for play. In 5902 (as drawn by Janson), the real, time-lost Superman shares dinner with a family on Miracle Monday, the holiday established to commemorate him--though only one of them knows who he is. To end the issue, Steranko writes and draws an Olaf Stapledon-esque sweep of the even farther futuristic eras, making the last remnant of humanity escaping a dying universe also the descendants of Superman.

Interspersed are pinups by various artists. I don't any of them are real standouts, but it's an eclectic array of artists. I think this would be a good issue for a facsimile edition.

Arak Annual #1: The Thomases, and I believe, all the artists that have worked on the series thus far complete Arak's quest to request his friends from the Lord of Serpents. Satyricus and Arak trek across the desert and are ensnared by illusions: Arak of his Quontaukan village, and Satyricus of the Underworld and his friend Chiron. Only Arak's will and the use of Gabriel's sword is able to save them. They finally reach the lair of the Serpent Lord, and as he promised, Arak hands over the sword in exchange for Alsind and Sharizad. When a minion of the Lord of Serpents tries to claim the sword, it explodes with radiance and power. Arak shields his friends with his shamanic power, and the Lord of Serpents survives but his minions are destroyed. The Serpent Lord battles Arak one on one, and Arak wins. The sword then returns to Heaven, and Arak makes his escape with his friends. However, the Lord of Serpents, though wounded, also gets away.

Batman #376: Moench and Newton/Alcala introduce "Nightmare, Inc." a "scare for hire" operation new to Gotham that may be tied to robberies at the same locations, if Bruce's suspicions are correct. Turns out the leader of the group, Sturges Hellstrom, has a criminal record as well as a history in horror film special effects. Bruce hires Nightmare, Inc. for a party at Wayne Manor to lay a trap. Batman later goes to the group's hideout and tangles with Hellstrom, who manages to pull out some special effects fakery (and then a flamethrower) to get the upper hand and escape.

Later, in a cave on the outskirts of Gotham, Hellstrom trumpets his successes, despite setbacks, to the woman he's trying to woo, the true mastermind of Nightmare, Inc.: Nocturna.

Flash #338: Bates and Infantino/McLaughlin have Flash escape the demon-related deathtrap the Pied Piper put him in and defeat his foe. The Piper (previously noting he was already under stress) has some sort of nervous breakdown, which the media suggests is organic in nature, related somehow to excessive speed the Flash exposed him to. The other Rogues Gallery members take this as absolute truth plan revenge on the Flash for the escalation in their games of breaking the Pied Piper. They give armor supplied by the Monitor (that guy's into everything!) to a mental patient, turning gentle giant Dufus into a powerful super-villain dubbed Big Sir and send him against the Scarlet Speedster.

G.I. Combat #270: In the Haunted Tank story, the crew is split up so that their superior skills can help increase the competency of other units, but Stuart's Raiders don't do so well when split up, then wind up getting back together anyway in a stolen German tank after a mission goes badly. The brass sees the error of their ways and puts the crew back together.

In the first of the nonrecurring stories, an American sub captain gives his "Last Command" telling his crew to shoot his own dead body out of a torpedo tube so they can trick and destroy a Japanese ship, Akibi. In the second by Kashdan and Patricio, a ne'er-do-well brother saves his sibling from capture and torture by the Germans, finally becoming the family hero. 

The final story is another Sgt. Bullett and the Bravos of Vietnam installment. Again, we get high body counts and racial slurs as the group grimly makes their way down river on a raft after a helicopter crash under almost constant Viet Cong assault. 

Jemm, Son of Saturn #2: Potter and Colan/Janson pack a lot into this one. Jemm and Luther try warm themselves by a trashcan fire but get hassled by some homeless people. After that brief brawl, one of the homeless folk, Crazy Freddie agrees to help them find a place to put Gramps body to rest. He takes them into the sewer, but they are pursued by a Saturnian robot (I think), and then Jemm must battle perhaps the last surviving White Saturnian who has the power to inhabit and control inanimate material. He defeats and apparently kills her, so Gramps can have his burial at sea in the sewer. Meanwhile, the government is concerned with aliens loose in New York after the death of the scientists, and turns to an old associate, the crime boss Claudius Tull for help locating them. As it turns out, Tull's goons have, of course, already met Jemm.

Omega Men #19: This goofy story just keeps getting weirder. The asteroid the Omega Men are on is heading toward Euphorix, so Kalista (not knowing her estranged love is there) launches an unmanned drone to destroy it. The Omega Men still trying to solve the weird mystery facing them, explore the giant Tigorr, but for some reason are put t sleep and dream some of their origin. When they wake up, the giant Tigorr forms pustules that grow new, regular-sized Tigorr clones. They take refuge in a cave and discover the Psion monitoring the experiment. Meanwhile, Lobo, answering their distress call, races the missile from Euphorix to the asteroid.

Tales of the Teen Titans #47: Wolfman and Perez/de Carlo reveal that Raven rescued the other Titans at the last minute. The team rallies and renews their assault on the H.I.V.E. base. H.I.V.E. is revealed to something of a mismanaged entity. Attacking the Titans to begin with was merely a miscalculated attempt to gain notoriety, which is the aim behind their current attempt to destroy Atlantis. In the end, the Titans prevail, and Atlantis is saved. The mistress of H.I.V.E. commits suicide to avoid capture and kills her inner circle. The Monitor, monitoring these events from elsewhere, is disappointed with the H.I.V.E. 

Meanwhile, things start to look up for Changeling as his high school sweetheart returns. However, he still secretly harbors his plans for vengeance against the Terminator.

Prophet of the Wyvern's Word

Though the deadline's are tight, I thought it would be fun to join the Appx. N Jam over on itch. The challenge is to create an adventure homaging the style of the pulpier fiction of the fantastic of Appendix N. Your given a title and you have to work with that to create your short adventure.

I got "Prophet of the Wyvern's Word," for which I think I'll take inspiration primarily from one of my favorite's: Leigh Brackett, as well of a lot of general pulp fiction ambience. It will be a challenge getting everything done in the time less than 25 days remaining, but since it has to be 4 pages of less, I figured it was worth a shot.

Above is my work on a banner. I based it on the hand drawn title text of the Ace Double of People of the Talisman from 1964.