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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 18 2006, 7:03 AM EDT | ghoyle1 | 102 words added, 136 words deleted |
| Jul 17 2006, 7:43 AM EDT | ghoyle1 |
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What is Pulp?
Pulp is both a medium and a very broad genre. Many popular magazines were once printed on cheap, wood-pulp paper, and included a variety of types of stories (detective, war, action/adventure, science fiction, westerns, romance, etc.). For the purposes of this page, "Pulp" includes not only the stories that appear in the original pulp magazines, but movies, radio, TV, and other media based on them, as well as modern tributes such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Mummy", and "Sky-Captain and the World of Tomorrow". They are typically set anywhere from the 1920s through the 1940s, and have a more "black and white" view of morality.
These cliches are divided up into some of the popular pulp sub-categories.
COMMON CLICHES
| Stage Magician | sawing people in half without hurting them, making dramatic gestures, wearing tuxedo and top hat, pulling rabbits out of hats | ||
| Femme Fatale | seducing the rich and powerful, falling in love with square-jawed hero | ||
| Jaded millionaire playboy/girl | throwing around lots of cash, drinking gallons of champagne, expecting to be waited on | ||
| Circus Performer | walking tightropes, getting shot out of cannons, swinging from trapezes | ||
| Shell-shocked Veteran | (being terrified by loud noises, using rifles and bayonnettes, reminiscing about the Great War, having nightmares) | ||
| Movie Star | looking glamorous, being idolized by millions, partying into the wee small hours | ||
| Stunt Man | escaping from certain danger, looking kinda like a movie star | ||
| Nosy Reporter | scooping other reporters, protecting sources | ||
| Wonder Dog | going for help, communicating by barking, scenting danger | ||
| Aviator/Aviatrix | storming barns, tinkering endlessly with engines, walking away from crash landings | ||
| Football Player | eating like a horse, dating cheerleaders, squashing poindexters | ||
| Poindexter | stammering around girls, getting leaned on by football players, being a walking encyclopedia | ||
| Concert Pianist | practicing constantly, acting snobbish, dressing impeccably | ||
| Daredevil | Escaping from crashing vehicle, leaping across crevices | ||
| Human Fly | Climbing the Empire State Building without gear, tightrope walking over Niagara Falls | ||
| Beat Cop | interrogating criminals, drinking gallons of bad coffee, [protecting donut shops | ||
| Linguist | translating ancient inscriptions, pronouncing the unpronounceable | ||
| Hobo | hopping freight trains, doing odd jobs, drinking anything alcoholic | ||
| Physician | making house calls, scrawling illegibly | ||
| Psychiatrist | Asking pointless questions, making everything relate to sex | ||
| Soldier | staying awake during guard duty, sleeping whenever you can | ||
| Clergyman | sermonizing, saving souls, damning sinners | ||
| Frat Boy | boozing it up, chasing girls, hazing freshmen |
Western
| Singing Cowboy | being followed by unseen musicians, shooting guns from outlaws' hands, helping widows and orphans |
| Handsome Stranger | wandering from town to town, inadvertantly getting into trouble, being the object of unmarried townswomen's desires |
| Gunslinger | never refusing a challenge, soaking up the redeye, being asked to get out of town by sunset |
| Crooked Sheriff | harassing the player-characters, taking bribes, doing what the bad guys say |
| Incorruptible Sheriff | refusing bribes, facing down the bad guys, getting shot in the back |
| Town Drunk | cadging drinks, sleeping in gutters, staggering |
| Saloon Girl | having a heart of gold, dancing for ruffians, falling in love with handsome strangers |
| School Marm | looking bookish, being prim and proper, falling in love with the handsome stranger |
| Sodbuster | hating sheep-herders, being a widower, forbidding beautiful daughter to fall in love with handsome stranger |
| Meek Townsfolk | hiring gunslingers to chase the outlaws out of town, gossiping about the other townfolk |
| Goofy Sidekick | behaving eccentrically, getting into trouble, having confusing plot points explained to you |
| Town Fathers | making deals with the local railroad barons, getting rich, selling out the townsfolk |
| Greenhorn | coming from Back East, not knowing anything about what's going on, being easy prey for the bad guys |
| Black Hats | stealing cattle, robbing banks, getting shot |
| Card Sharp | being lucky, pulling out hidden cards, being run out of town on a rail |
| Faithful Steed | pulling rider's chestnuts out of the fire, knowing how to count |
| Hanging Judge | hanging them all, letting God sort them out |
| Bounty Hunter | being gruff and cynical, trailing fugitives |
| Clueless Deputy | bungling arrests, letting the bad guys go, mistaking the good guys for outlaws |
| Doc | Being cantankerous, patching up bullet holes, drinking daily |
| Cattle Baron | Waging war with the rail barons |
| Rail Baron | |
| Civil War Veteran | |
| Determined Widow | |
| Snake Oil Salesman | |
| Preacher Man | |
| Indian Chief | |
| Savage Indian | |
| Noble Savage | |
| Medicine Man |
STILL IN PROGRESS (Guy Hoyle)
CRIME and DETECTIVE CLICHES
| Hard-Boiled Detective | spying on cheating husbands, dodging the landlord, hitting the bottle |
| Cheap Hoodlum | pistol-whipping victims, taking it on the lam, planning heists |
| Reformed Gangster | keeping nose clean, getting pulled in by the cops, repaying old debts of honor without getting thrown back in the slammer |
| Crime Boss | ordering your lieutenants around, having people rubbed out, running rackets |
| Gun Moll | being sexy in a cheap and tawdry way |
| Gangster | carrying a tommy gun in a violin case, talking like Edward G. Robinson or Jimmy Cagney |
| G-Man | nabbing Public Enemy No. 1, wearing snappy trenchcoat |
| Mouthpiece | defending bad guys in court, making objections, making deals |
| Stool Pigeon | betraying the bad guys, getting fitted for a pair of cement overshoes |
| Fence | Receiving hot property, paying off the cops |
| Obtrusive Police Official | stymieing investigator, hold press conference, arrest the wrong people |
| Psycho Killer | raving maniacally, skulking, wading through gore offscreen |
| The Butler | doing it, diverting attention from the ones who really did it |
| Amateur Sleuth | being smarter than the police, being resented by the police, having an eccentric hobby |
| Master of Disguise | Imitate absolutely everybody, wear several sets of clothes on top of each other without discomfort |
| Gentleman Thief | owning a tuxedo, going to posh events, stealing jewels stylishly during the party |
| Defective Detective | acting eccentrically, outwitting crooks |
| The Fat Man | being really fat, wearing white suit, being an evil manipulator |
Science Fiction
Weird Science
| Jetpack Jockey | scorching everything behind you, zipping through the sky like a bat out of hell, walking away without a scratch |
| Earthman Gone Native | getting stuck on alien planet, being better at what the aliens do, marrying an alien princess |
| Alien Princess | getting kidnapped, falling in love with handsome earthman, screaming piercingly, postponing “fate worse than death” |
| Gadgeteer | fixing almost anything with enough chewing gum and bailing wire, inventing half-baked contraptions, stammering and sweating around women |
| Rocket Pilot | counting backwards, looking good in uniform, out-running space torpedoes |
| Ship’s Engineer | complaining about poor abused engines, hide still, know every nut and bolt in ship |
| Absent-minded Professor | forgetting non-attached heads, meddling in God's domain |
| Robot | making whirring and buzzing sounds, interpreting all commands literally, going berserk at inconvenient moments |
| Stoic Intellectual | calculating probabilities in your head, expressing no emotions, being a wet blanket |
Weird Science
Lost World
Impenetrable jungles, deep caverns, and distant polar reaches are often crawling with representatives of unknown or long-extinct cultures. Often, you will find prehistoric animals such as dinosaurs have survived against all odds. (Thanks for many of these to Aaron Allston's "Lands of Mystery" game.
| Unfrozen Caveman | reminiscing about the Ice Age, hunt for mammoths, unfamiliar with modern world, spooked by modern gadgets, decorate apartment with cave paintings |
| Jungle King/Queen raised | swinging byon animals,vines, keentalking sightwith andanimals, smell,having great strength and agility, communicatetan |
| Handsome withStranger | foretelling animals,eclipses, survivegetting ininto theand wild,out swingof fromtrouble, vine,rescuing wrestleNative alligator Princess |
| Native Princess Fall | falling in love with handsomeHandsome Stranger, explorer,having screamweird piercingly,customs, misinterpretmisinterpreting handsome stranger’s actions,actions |
| Tribesman | menacing haveoutsiders, strangeselling tribal custom lands for beads and trinkets |
| Gladiator Throw | wearing spear,antiquated beararmor, load,fighting menaceto outsiders,the death |
| Rebellious suckerSlave | learning forabout cheapfreedom, trinkets rebelling against masters |
| Overbearing antiquatedShaman | talking armor,to speakspirits, slinging Latin,curses, “Bysacrificing Zeus!”,virgins |
| Jealous Prince | plot netagainst andHandsome trident Stranger, yearn for Native Princess |
| Native Slave GetSidekick | assisting treatedHandsome kindlyStranger, byknowing the outsiders, learnlay of freedom,the land |
| Great rebelWhite againstHunter | decorating your masters,home incitewith otherstuffed slavesanimals, toknowing rebellionthe ways of the natives, surviving in the wild |
Villains
Not a Pulp genre unto themselves, villains can be found in almost any other sub-genre (though you don’t find very many Oriental Mystics in Westerns).
- Bloodthirsty Fiend
wield axe/knife/noose, surprise victim, hide from pursuers, insanely strong, break into locked rooms - Sinister Warlord
conquer the world, devise fiendish tortures, utilize exotic devices, create elaborate plots, explain plan to enemy before you kill him, hire henchman without explaining what happened to the dozens of other henchmen you hired, secret escape route, destroy secret base - Oriental Mystic
Hypnotize do-gooders, be inscrutable, create illusion, quote Confucius and Lao Tsu - Snivelling Toady
Cringe and kowtow before the Master, fulfill his bidding to the letter, apprehend hero’s girlfriend, menace droolingly, inadvertently give away the Master’s plans, bungle job
Weird Stories
Tales of strange monsters, eerie settings, nightmares, hauntings,and the occult. H.P. Lovecraft was a master of this form, and his close friends Clark Ashton Smith, R.E. Howard, and Richard Bloch were but a few who followed him into this strange realm. Florian Edelbauer’s “Risus R’lyeh” page at http://www.edlbauer.de/risus/rlyeh.html is a good source for this kind of adventure.
- Ghost Chaser
Know all about ghosts, set up cameras to catch ghosts on film, disprove fake ghosts, get rid of real ghosts - Occult Scholar
Know weird phenomena, remember strange names, find ancient incantation - Bookshop owner
Obtain obscure titles, dust shelves, know where any book in the shop is, know what’s in all the books - Antiquarian
Quote from obscure authors, know obscure facts, cite reference - Librarian
Sort books, find newspaper articles, shh!, find obscure information, repair books - Anthropologist
Know aboriginal folktales, know tribal customs, eat disgusting things, speak obscure languages
- Solving unusual crimes or unraveling bizarre mysteries, Masked Crusaders are the predecessors of the superhero. Though usually possessed of great strength and cunning, they may also have a strange, signature power (like the ability to cloud men’s minds or immunity to pain) or a special gadget (anaesthetic dart gun, smoke grenades).
- Masked Adventurer (wearing strange costumes, foiling dastardly crimes, escaping from certain death, endangering clueless assistants)
- Clueless Assistant (Performing senseless tasks for masked adventurer, blunder inginto traps)
