P.U.L.P.

[Sylus Thane]

P.U.L.P.- Pure Unadulterated Lazy Playing
Powered by the 6 Cylinder Dice Engine
By Jason Palenske

You live in the world of PULP fiction and movies. Ash lives down the street from you battling the Army of Darkness TM. You were smart and turned down taking Mrs. Wallace out on a date. All those thing's people read about in their little magazines or watch on their boob tubes is just another day in your world. Or maybe you just thought they were fiction and never really happened. Oh the voices, the voices!

Disclaimer and Consumer Warning:
P.U.L.P. isn't to be taken seriously. It's just a game people, meant for lazy days when you can't think of anything else to do. Need inspiration, watch a bad "B" movie, or read Weird magazine, and when your bored after doing that pick up P.U.L.P., wake up your drooling friends off the floor and couch and get playing. It should be good for an hour or two, if it turns into a regular thing you must be crazy, but at least you won't be bored anymore.

Attention: This game or the subsequent trauma that may follow it is not covered by any warranty valid in any country, state, township, principality, or parallel dimension. Any reference to people living, dead, fictional, living dead, undead, insane, or otherwise disturbing is purely intentional and a product of your friends deranged mind. If you end up with any angst or permanent psychological damage after playing this game take it out on them.
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Stats:
Stats are rating from 1-6. You get stat points by rolling 6d6 and spreading the points. Or just be lazy and roll once for each stat and see what you get.
1- you have got to be joking
2- get out of here kid, you bother me
3- Ok, you might have something
4- bring it on
5- Oh damn!
6- Holy Guacamole!

The stats are:
Tough
Big
Quick
Smart
Cool
Hottie

All players roll a number of d6's equal to their stat + skill
EX. Stat: 3 Skill: 2= 5d6 rolls, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3. Screw-ups remove the highest rolls first and then you just look at you highest die to see how well you did.

Difficulties are built into die rolls as thus.
1- screwed up, subtract one success
2- that's easy
3- no worries
4- of course I can do it
5- ok, so now I'm worried
6- are you insane

Screwed Up: You totally screwed up when you roll nothing but negative successes.
You Da Man!: You Da Man when you roll three natural sixes without any screw-ups.

Combat: That's easy, whatever your opponents Quick stat is, is your difficulty.
Initiative: Everybody just rolls a d6, then work your way down from 6. Ties go at the same time.
Contested rolls: Simply subtract the attackers roll from the defenders and then see how it looks on the difficulty.

Damage is done as thus: Simply look at your characters Tough and start taking damage from there.
6- is that all you got?
5- ouch, ok your starting to make me mad
4- hey, that wasn't funny
3- Stop it! Let go of me!
2- My eye, my eye!
1- Wow, look how pretty the stars are.
0- Mommy, make the bad man stop!
1- light wound no modifier
2- annoying
3- frustrating
4- aggravating
5- Ouch! Damn this really hurts
6- I think I'm gonna die...help...somebody...please?
7- "Well, there goes tonights luau."

Modifiers come in the form of Helps and Hurts:
Helps:
Hey that's nice- Minor Help +1
Cool- Helpful +2
That Rocks!- Major Help +3

Hurts:
Annoying- Minor Hurt  -1
Frustrating- Hurt -2
Aggravating- Major Hurt -3

Skills that pay the Bills:
You can get skills equal to your smarts times six.
Examples of Skills to pay the Bills would be like:
Gunslinger: "Hey there little lady."
Sword-slinger: "How art thou smalleth lady?"
Wheel man
Front man

Hell, just about anything, just think up something.


Boy I wish there had been an Iron Game Chef today.

What do you guys think?

Sylus

[Sylus Thane]

I'm thinking this would be a simple 2-3 page game for those late nights when people don't want to do a lot of thinking. I'm wondering if I should expand the skill list or the setting at all and if people think the mechanic works okay?

[Spooky Fanboy]

You live in the world of PULP fiction and movies. Ash lives down the street from you battling the Army of Darkness TM. You were smart and turned down taking Mrs. Wallace out on a date. All those thing's people read about in their little magazines or watch on their boob tubes is just another day in your world. Or maybe you just thought they were fiction and never really happened. Oh the voices, the voices!

Okay, you have my attention. Now:

Stats:
Stats are rating from 1-6. You get stat points by rolling 6d6 and spreading the points. Or just be lazy and roll once for each stat and see what you get.
1- you have got to be joking
2- get out of here kid, you bother me
3- Ok, you might have something
4- bring it on
5- Oh damn!
6- Holy Guacamole!

Random roll: Do you start play by envisioning the character you have in mind, and then adjusting the rolls to fit? Or are you to roll the character as the dice say, and make the character concept around the results? Either way makes a good B-movie character.

The stats are:
Tough
Big
Quick
Smart
Cool
Hottie

And how do these affect gameplay, other than Quickness?

Difficulties are built into die rolls as thus.
1- screwed up, subtract one success
2- that's easy
3- no worries
4- of course I can do it
5- ok, so now I'm worried
6- are you insane

Screwed Up: You totally screwed up when you roll nothing but negative successes.
You Da Man!: You Da Man when you roll three natural sixes without any screw-ups.

What effect does screwed-up and you da man have as far determining successes? Is there a set number of successes you have to get, and 1's subtract successes? What does You da Man get you? Can characters below three total dice get benefits from being Da Man?

Combat: That's easy, whatever your opponents Quick stat is, is your difficulty.

Seems to put a lot of emphasis on Quickness. Not happy. how about determining what you want to do, finding which stat it's based on, rolling that versus your opponent's appropriate Stat score? Since that was worded so poorly, in straightforward combat or a contest of speed, roll Quick vs opponent's Quick rating, in a strength contest, roll Big vs. opponent's Big rating, in a battle of wits, roll Smart vs opponent's Smart, etc.  

Initiative: Everybody just rolls a d6, then work your way down from 6. Ties go at the same time.
Contested rolls: Simply subtract the attackers roll from the defenders and then see how it looks on the difficulty.

Looks simple enough.

Damage is done as thus: Simply look at your characters Tough and start taking damage from there.
6- is that all you got?
5- ouch, ok your starting to make me mad
4- hey, that wasn't funny
3- Stop it! Let go of me!
2- My eye, my eye!
1- Wow, look how pretty the stars are.
0- Mommy, make the bad man stop!
1- light wound no modifier
2- annoying
3- frustrating
4- aggravating
5- Ouch! Damn this really hurts
6- I think I'm gonna die...help...somebody...please?
0- dead, dead, dead, dead

Can I assume that the numbers under the first zero are meant to be negative? Tough is what these levels are based off of?

Modifiers come in the form of Helps and Hurts:
Helps:
Hey that's nice- Minor Help +1
Cool- Helpful +2
That Rocks!- Major Help +3

Hurts:
Annoying- Minor Hurt  -1
Frustrating- Hurt -2
Aggravating- Major Hurt -3

How will you know when to put these modifiers in play? Do they add or subtract dice, or add/subtract from your highest number?

Also, is there a way to set the Gener expectation in this game, so the players know how things are supposed to be done?

OPinion: Nice, but needs more bones, and more meat on the bones there.

[Sylus Thane]

Random roll: Do you start play by envisioning the character you have in mind, and then adjusting the rolls to fit? Or are you to roll the character as the dice say, and make the character concept around the results? Either way makes a good B-movie character.

I think leaving either way would be best.

And how do these affect gameplay, other than Quickness?

Tough shows where you start at on the damage chart and easily you get hurt.
For example, if you hit a guy with a tough of six for only one success you'll get the standard turn back and smile at you. Where a shrimp with a Tough of 2 is going to be "My eye, Me eye!"

Smarts show how many things you know by giving you your starting skill points and used when rollings like how to Maquiver that nuclear bomb in time with the string and bubble gum in your pocket.

Cool would be doing things like keeping calm under pressure, or not.

I should probably write down a basic 1-6 range for all of them.

What effect does screwed-up and you da man have as far determining successes? Is there a set number of successes you have to get, and 1's subtract successes? What does You da Man get you? Can characters below three total dice get benefits from being Da Man?

Think of these as critical successes and failures. Nothing but screw ups rolled and you did something bad. If you Da Man, you did with flair and a cool one liner. If you were in a fight don't worry about them getting back up.

Seems to put a lot of emphasis on Quickness. Not happy. how about determining what you want to do, finding which stat it's based on, rolling that versus your opponent's appropriate Stat score? Since that was worded so poorly, in straightforward combat or a contest of speed, roll Quick vs opponent's Quick rating, in a strength contest, roll Big vs. opponent's Big rating, in a battle of wits, roll Smart vs opponent's Smart, etc.

Sorry, that was poorly worded. If you are wanting to hit someone or shoot them, you find out what their Quick level is and that is the difficulty you want to try and get a success on. But yes your right that if it is some other kind of contest you would use the appropriate stat instead.

Can I assume that the numbers under the first zero are meant to be negative? Tough is what these levels are based off of?

You would be correct sir!

How will you know when to put these modifiers in play? Do they add or subtract dice, or add/subtract from your highest number?

The modifiers are meant to be instant successes or screw ups on top of what you roll. They can be lessened by screw ups rolled. Like a guy may have a laser sight on his gun, that would be a +1 help, but if he rolls three screw ups it doesn't matter.

Also, is there a way to set the Gener expectation in this game, so the players know how things are supposed to be done?

I'm working on that right now. I'm thinking of a possible round robin style with a time limit that if you don't get finished in time you have to make a sequel or something.

OPinion: Nice, but needs more bones, and more meat on the bones there.

Hey I just did this this afternoon so any comments are helpful.

Sylus

[Spooky Fanboy]

How will you know when to put these modifiers in play? Do they add or subtract dice, or add/subtract from your highest number?

The modifiers are meant to be instant successes or screw ups on top of what you roll. They can be lessened by screw ups rolled. Like a guy may have a laser sight on his gun, that would be a +1 help, but if he rolls three screw ups it doesn't matter.

Now I am confused as to how to read success or failure from these rolls. Is it the highest die number read, the amount of successes, both? An example of play would be a big help for me.

[Sylus Thane]

Now I am confused as to how to read success or failure from these rolls. Is it the highest die number read, the amount of successes, both? An example of play would be a big help for me.

I'm sorry, that was poorly worded too. It's both, you look at the highest die first and then compare it to the difficulty to see if you made it and by how much. Then in the case of contested rolls or if there are ties, you look at how many you have.

I'll work on an example of play right now.

[Sylus Thane]

Your bored, you have this game called P.U.L.P. and a bunch of drooling bored, glassy eyed friends. It's say grab the closest movie and look at the running time, that's how long you have to play. Then it says rape your yahtzee set of its d6's. So you do it, your bored. The strange game keeps talking to you and says roll a die. You do and get a five, the game tells you thats how many obstacles you have to overcome in the game. So far so good. You then are told by the game that everyone rolls a d6, highest roll begins running the game, your drooly friends start perking up.

The higher roller starts the game and gets the characters introduced and gets the opening scene done with but then gets stuck. Since he was actually bored enough to read the rules the next highest roller realizes he can yell cut and take over. And so it goes until the time runs out. If you haven't overcome all the obstacles the lowest roller narrates a cliff hanger and you have to make a sequel.

A quick example of play:

Mucklar the Demon has a Tough of 6 and a Quick of 3

Barnes the hero has a Tough of 4 and a Quick of 4- he didn't expect to be a hero when all this started after all.

Barnes decides to give Mucklar a good right cross for throwing his volkswagon into the apartment building across the street.

Since Mucklar has a quick of 3 that is Barnes target number. He rolls his 8d6 and gets 6,5,5,5,1,1,1,1. Wow that sucks. Taking away highest rolls caused by screw ups Barnes gets only one success at a difficulty of 4 or of course I can do it. This knocks down Mucklar to his first owie level basically saying is that all you got and just turns his head back around and smiles.

Now they roll iniative since Barnes had the drop on him before
Barnes rolls a 3
Mucklar rolls a 4, he goes first.

Mucklar just decides to bash him back into his house. He rolls a 6,6,6,5,4,4,2,1. take away screw ups wow, Mucklar almost got a You Da Man, but screwups take away highest rolls first so he only got a That's insane success. But he did it with flair sending Barnes crashing through the front window and into the opposite wall. Since Mucklar got five total successes Barnes is now knocked down past mommy make the bad man stop and hurting. he needs to roll against his cool to see if his volkswagona worth it. The current director says he at a difficulty of now i'm worried. He has a Cool of 5 so he rolls 5d6 against difficulty five. he gets. 6,5,4,3,1 Subtract the screw up and wow he just makes it, if a bit grudgingly.

So he picks up his louisville slugger  that is in the front room and walks back outside. The reroll initiative, barnes goes first. Muck lar must have been shocked he wasn't still going through buildings.

Since a louisville slugger is helpful at this moment Barnes get an 2 automatic successes. Barnes rolls his attack, 6,6,6,5,4,4,3,2, Wow, no screwups and 3 natural 6's. plus his two successes for free Barnes wallops Mucklar into the dumpster and is out like a light. Then the next guy yells cut.

Hope this helps explain play a little.