A Pulp Adventure in the 1930's

Thought I'd take a moment to let you all know what we're currently playing, and how it's going so far.  Because yes, we are still playing.

I started this new campaign letting everyone know I'd already created their characters.  This caused a bit of unrest as I normally let the players make their own characters or at least be a part of the creation process, but this time I made them all in advance.  "This will be a pulp adventure," I said.  "It takes place in the early 1930's.  No, your characters don't have super powers, but this is certainly a fantasy adventure.  And don't worry - you may not have been involved in making these characters, but you already know who they are."

Players were then handed their characters.

Indiana Jones, Rick O'Connell, Evelyn Carnahan, Jonathan Carnahan, and Sallah vs evil Nazi soldiers and supernatural mysteries in search of an ancient relic before it falls into the wrong hands.  The early Indiana Jones movies and the Mummy movies exist in pretty much the same time, and coincide perfectly with each other.  D20 Modern rules made character creation easy.  And, being the action movie icons that they are, I made everyone Level 10.  In order to make the adventure more exciting in game terms, I bumped up the supernatural closer to "The Mummy" levels rather than the much more subdued "Indiana Jones", but I made sure to pack it full of classic Indiana elements, from overwhelming numbers of Nazi soldiers who couldn't shoot the broad side of a barn, to that one big guy who has to be taken down with fists, even traveling by map.

Of course in my world, Indiana Jones + The Mummy movie is directed by Michael Bay.
Everything blows up!  

It's actually pretty amazing how well these two groups of characters complement each other.  Eat your heart out Avengers - here's a movie mash-up I wouldn't mind seeing.  This adventure was intended to be a one-shot, single-night campaign.  That was weeks ago.  We're still playing.  Mystery, intrigue, classic pulp action/adventure, guns, explosions, supernatural powers, no cell phones, and a bull whip.  ...and not a single Shia LaBeouf to be seen.  What's not to love?

Book Prices

I get it.  I do.  It costs "X" amount of dollars to print the book, plus "X" amount for all the stuff like distribution, royalties, rights management, yadda-yadda.  I totally get that.  But $50 for a role playing book seems a bit much, don't you think?  And it's often only half of what you need to actually play the game.  Sure it's hard cover, got glossy full color pages throughout, and so full of artwork that I have to hunt to find the equipment list.  But come 'on.  $50 for half a game?

"It's cool -- I'm a righty.  I'll save up for the other half later..."

All I'm saying is that I remember back when you could buy a good role playing game for about $15.  It was soft cover with cheesy black-and-white Manga-style cartoon artwork, and the corners crinkled in the first few minutes of owning it - but it worked, and it had everything you needed to play the game.  Then there were all of the various supplement books that ranged in price depending on how thick the book was or how very cool the content was.  In the end you could easily end up paying just as much, but you did so at your own pace and were still fully capable of playing the game with just that first core book.  It gave you a chance to try out all sorts of games.  If you didn't like it, no big deal.  Now I feel obligated, like I HAVE to like this game because I paid $100 bucks for it.

"Mmmm... 4th Edition.  It's (blurp) awesome."

At what point was it assumed that gamers had money?  It's a game played on sheets of paper - yes, it's for poor people who still rely on imagination to have a good time.  If I had money, I'd have bought a super computer and a subscription to an MMO...