Classic two-fisted pulp adventures

Setting Rules

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition has a number of setting rules that are perfect for running a two-fisted pulp game.

  • Conviction (SWADE p 136)

  • Creative Combat (SWADE p 137)

  • Fast Healing (SWADE p 139)

  • More Skill Points (SWADE p 140)

  • Multiple Languages (SWADE p 140)

  • Wound Cap (SWADE p 141)

  • Dumb Luck (SWADE p 138)

  • Fanatics (SWADE p 138)

  • Heroes Never Die (SWADE p 140)

  • High Adventure (SWADE p 140)

  • Wealth (Wealth mechanics)

The following rules and directions further tune the setting for a classic pulp action game.

Bennies

Before the start of every standard combat encounter or standard chase encounter (i.e., not before a quick encounter), each hero gets a benny, provided that the benny does not exceed the character’s amount of bennies at the session’s start. A typical wild card hero has 3 bennies at session start, unless the hero has edges or hindrances that affect his starting bennies.

As a player (GM included!), if you have 6 or more bennies in your stack, the GM will not award you more for role-playing, etc. Spend your bennies, have fun with them, and trust that that the bennies will flow back to you.

Be the Hero

The protagonists are heroes so play them that way. If your protagonist commits an evil, villainous, or morally ambiguous act, expect to lose a benny.

This benny loss reduces the protagonist’s benny maximum until the start of the next session. For example, if the hero typically starts a session with 3 bennies, her benny limit would then be reduced to 2 for the duration of the session.
The game master should warn the player about this rule and the consequences of the action before the player’s hero commits an ignoble deed.

Stunts

A stunt action is any action that is performed in a flashier than normal way. Any hero who attempts a stunt action deserves a benny.

In game terms, a stunt is an action where the player purposefully makes the action more difficult for the hero. A stunt action always requires a trait roll, at a minimum -2 penalty. The GM is the final arbiter of the roll penalty of a particular stunt action.

Conventional action

Getting on board an airship before it lifts off from the platform is an action

Stunt action

Leaping from the sidecar of a speeding motorcycle onto an airship at the last second as it lifts off from the platform.

Surrender

When the heroes surrender at a dramatically fitting place in the story and go along with the demands of the antagonists, each player takes a benny. The GM may need to signal that we’re using the "surrender" rule at this point.

Setting the tone

Most action scenes in pulp need to be fast-paced and not get bogged down in combat mechanics.

Do not expect standard tactical combats that last beyond 3 or 4 rounds. For a standard combat, I’ll apply the "timers, threats, and treats" guidance from ICRPG.

The SWADE quick encounter mechanics will be used regularly. The dramatic task mechanics will feature prominently. The chase rules will be used regularly so players are encouraged to have some familiarity with them as they would the combat mechanics.

Cinematic death

In a pulp game death is not gory and messy.

Contacts

Once per adventure, one of the players can invent a Contact, who is a slightly helpful non-player character. A player may invent a Contact for his hero once per rank. A contact typically serves to provide gear, information, or clues and leads when parties are struggling. The GM gets the final decision on what the Contact provides the heroes.

Injuries are temporary

Heroes do not suffer a permanent injury. When the wounds from the injury heals, the hero no longer suffers the effect of the injury.

A character may spend a Benny at any time to make a Natural Healing roll.

Never-ending ammo

At the end of the scene, heroes recover all spent ammunition.

Police Interference

The cops do not turn up on the scene until after the action has ended.

Cliffhangers

The cliffhanger is a staple of a pulp-action story.

Examples of a cliffhanger

  • being captured

  • losing a piece of vital equipment

  • getting to the mission objective too late

  • a key NPC is abducted by the villains

Sometimes in a pulp-action story, the villains get the upper hand and the heroes suffer a setback, which they then need to overcome. A cliffhanger is an opportunity for a player to develop her character’s story and take narrative control. The good news is that, at the end of the cliffhanger, the character comes out ahead.

The Quick Encounter rules are used to resolve a cliffhanger.

  1. The GM sets up a seemingly hopeless scenario and declares a cliffhanger.

  2. (GM’s discretion) One character can escape the initial predicament with their gear. It is assumed that this character returns to help their teammates escape.

  3. The GM tells the players the grim news of their desperate situation.

    A character action cannot affect the initial predicament.
    Example 1. Cliffhanger predicaments
    The heroes are…​

    • captured, placed in a death trap, and left to die

    • overcome by hazardous conditions, stranded, and left for dead

    • trapped on a runaway vehicle that they cannot control and facing certain death

    • The GM will find more ways…​

  4. In a series of flashbacks (Quick Encounter trait rolls), each player narrates his hero’s action during the cliffhanger scene. The results and rewards can differ depending upon the situation, the roll, and player narrative. If a hero fails her trait roll, she might suffer harm (e.g., fatigue, wounds) or suffer a penalty to a subsequent action.

  5. The GM rules on the consequence of the setback.

  6. The GM rewards the heroes.

Setbacks caused by a cliffhanger situation might include

  • Lost time

  • Artifact lost

  • Information is disclosed

  • NPC is abducted (or worse)

Rewards for overcoming a cliffhanger might include

  • A benny or, in some circumstances, the replenishment of starting bennies

  • A conviction token

  • A new item

  • New information ◦ Draw an Adventure Card and gain an additional Adventure Card Play.

Facts about cliffhanger scenes

  • Wild card (heroes and villains) cannot die

  • The villains never tend to stick around

  • The big villain will likely monologue before he exits

  • The cliffhanger scene takes a plot-appropriate amount of time to resolve