Daring Adventure Tales

            “Two-Fisted Globe-Trotting Adventure!”

v     Setting Notes

Daring Adventure Tales is the basic setting for this sourcebook.  Players can explore lost worlds, solve puzzling mysteries, don mask and cloak and avenge crime on the mean streets, and save the world for democracy.

v     Pulp Examples

·         The Shadow

·         Doc Savage

·         Secret Agent “X”

·         Justice, Inc.

v     Helpful Clichés

·         Big Game Hunter

·         Explorer

·         All-American Athlete

·         Inventor/Gadgeteer

·         Gentleman Spy

·         Spy

·         Ace Reporter

·         News Photographer

·         Agency Detective

·         Costumed Vigilante

·         Vigilante

·         Private Investigator

·         Scientific Detective

·         Foreign Legionnaire

·         Military Veteran

·         Marine

·         Sailor

·         Ship’s Captain

·         Escape Artist

·         Stage Magician

·         Bon Vivant/Dilettante/Socialite

v     Sample Character

      Jackson Dare

      Rugged Soldier-For-Hire (4)

      Fearless Outdoor Survival Guide (3)

      Beer-Swilling, Cigar-Chomping Tall Tale Teller (2)

      Lucky Shots [] [] []

v     House Rules

-          Why No Magic Rules?

Players may be surprised to find that magic rules are not included in the basic setting, Daring Adventure Tales.  This is because in the classic adventure pulps of the 1930’s magic makes almost no appearance.  What is first taken for evidence of the supernatural is nearly always shown to have reasonable explanations.

            Magic does make appearances in other genres of the pulps, and Strange Western Stories and Weird Crime Report both contain a set of rules for emulating pulp magic in Risus.

-          Why No Weapon or Vehicle Rules?

           Risus tends to emphasize story over mechanics.  Combat is designed to be fast, and additional rules covering weapon types and damage modifiers are unnecessary.  Risus combat, which can be anything from a high school debate to a running firefight among rival street gangs, is predicated on two concepts:  combat is essentially wearing an opponent down in order to gain an advantage and  “to the victor go the spoils,” i.e., the winner gets to decide the loser’s fate. 

            Again, this fits ideally with the spirit of the pulps.  Combat is fast and furious, with incredible feats of derring-do, and occasionally, little regard for reason (how else could you get 11 shots out of a six-shooter without reloading?).  However, there is not much detail in the narration of the combat sequence (one possible exception is in the Air Pulps, where the types of engines and machine guns were described in almost excruciating detail).

            Vehicle rules follow the same rationale.  The fewer the rules, the quicker the action.  Personal vehicles can be created using the “Sidekicks and Shieldmates” rules from the Risus Companion.  Players can spend one die from their 10-dice limit at character creation to cerate a three-dice vehicle (car, plane, boat, jet pack, whatever).  A good example of this is found in Ripping Air Yarns with the sample character, “The Phoneix.”

            If necessary, GM’s may assign dice to a vehicle during the course of a sequence in order to help play out the scenario.

© 2004-2005 by Hank Harwell. This work can be distributed freely so long as the following conditions are met:  All credit is given to those individuals who have contributed material.