Pulp Guns at the Movies
Pulp-Era Movie Guns in GURPS Fourth Edition
by Hans-Christian Vortisch
As supplements to GURPS High-Tech, the publications GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 1 and GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 2 are detailed catalogs of firearms for use in campaigns set during the "pulp era," defined here as the 1920s and 1930s.
While both intended and suitable to support historical campaigns -- for example in gangster-infested Shanghai or in Spain during the Civil War -- the books were especially designed to be useful for adventures inspired by fiction set in those years: exploration of remote places or secret cities such as The Lost City of Gold; combat against ancient and recent evils; war between gangsters and G-men; and so on.
To this end, the books make numerous mentions of films and television series featuring relevant hardware. This allows the reader to see a particular item in action, but it also permits players and GMs to place a specific weapon from a film in the game. Here, the most important films mentioned are examined in a way similar to "Modern Firepower at the Movies."
A [SPOILER ALERT!] is in effect for all discussions of these movies.
The Mummy and The Mummy Returns (Stephen Sommers, 1999/2001)
While with the Légion Étrangère in 1923, Rick O'Connell carries two Chamelot-Delvigne Mle 1874 revolvers (High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 1, page 7) in shoulder holsters (High-Tech, page 154), two Colt .45 Government pistols (High-Tech: Pulp Guns, Volume 1, pages 17-18), . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 25, 2008
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