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Looking for pulp SF "Space Ranger" style inspiration

Started by daniel_ream, August 17, 2012, 11:23:43 PM

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daniel_ream

August 17, 2012, 11:23:43 PM
I suppose this isn't directly about RPGs, so my apologies if this needs to be in a different forum.

I'm toying with starting up a pulp SF game using the TSR Star Frontiers setting and the SBA rules.  There weren't very many adventures published for SF back in the day and they have kind of a wandering-band-of-mercenary-adventurers feel to them I'm not looking for.

What I am looking for is a kind of Golden Age pulp SF Space Ranger premise - not the itinerant criminals of Firefly or the Free Trader Beowulf Traveller crew, but sort of Texas Rangers in space.  Independent operators beholden to a cause and some kind of sponsoring organization, but with a large amount of freedom and the expectation that they will handle things themselves.

My library of pulp SF tends towards planetary romance and exploding starships, not this kind of thing.  So I ask the crowdsourced wisdom of the Web 3.0 social media Wikipedia generation (did I miss any buzzwords there?): can you recommend sources of inspiration for this kind of premise?
D&D is becoming Self-Referential.  It is no longer Setting Referential, where it takes references outside of itself. It is becoming like Ouroboros in its self-gleaning for tropes, no longer attached, let alone needing outside context.
~ Opaopajr

crkrueger

#1
August 17, 2012, 11:34:26 PM
As far as old stuff goes, Flash and Buck are what I remember.  Asimov had David Starr: Space Ranger under a pseudonym.  There was an old TV show Rocky Jones(?).  New stuff you can look at is Mars McCoy:Space Ranger and Lance Star:Space Ranger.  There's a webcomic Captain Spectre and the Lightning Legion, but that's more superheroish.

Heh, I see you found Rocky Jones.
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daniel_ream

#2
August 18, 2012, 12:20:00 AM
Good stuff, CRKrueger, thanks.
D&D is becoming Self-Referential.  It is no longer Setting Referential, where it takes references outside of itself. It is becoming like Ouroboros in its self-gleaning for tropes, no longer attached, let alone needing outside context.
~ Opaopajr

Ghost Whistler

#3
August 18, 2012, 03:26:11 AM
About the only thing covering that would be Starblazer Adventures.
"Ghost Whistler" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Parental death, alien battles and annihilated worlds.

Soylent Green

#4
August 18, 2012, 03:51:37 AM
The following aren't Golden Age, but might be helpful.

The roleplaying setting for D6 Space "Fires of armatsumara" is basically Firefly from the point of view of the lawmen. By default characters are assumed to be part of the Rangers trying to keep the law on frontier worlds.

There was also a short lived 90s tv series called Space Rangers. The Wikipedia entry for the series is pretty comprehensive (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Rangers_(TV_series) ).
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Bradford C. Walker

#5
August 18, 2012, 05:03:33 AM
For inspiration, you need go no further than Edward E. "Doc" Smith's seminal Lensmen series: Triplanetary, First Lensman, Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensman, Children of the Lens.

Panzerkraken

#6
August 18, 2012, 05:08:12 AM
Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;572963For inspiration, you need go no further than Edward E. "Doc" Smith's seminal Lensmen series: Triplanetary, First Lensman, Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensman, Children of the Lens.

This.

Doc Smith was the same to pulp sci fi as William Gibson was to cyberpunk.  You can find earlier and more esoteric references, but he really created what everyone recognizes as the setting.
Si vous n'opposez point aux ordres de croire l'impossible l'intelligence que Dieu a mise dans votre esprit, vous ne devez point opposer aux ordres de malfaire la justice que Dieu a mise dans votre coeur. Une faculté de votre âme étant une fois tyrannisée, toutes les autres facultés doivent l'être également.
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Bloody Stupid Johnson

#7
August 18, 2012, 06:54:23 AM
Jack Williamsons' "Legion of Space" books?
 
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (Carey Rockwell) ? -(50s) this is on project gutenberg e.g.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/19526/19526-h/19526-h.htm
 
Van Vogt's "The Silkie" ??? ( but maybe not quite what you're looking for - about guys who turn into living spaceships and fight aliens with psychology).

The Butcher

#8
August 18, 2012, 07:27:07 AM
On the comic book front, I'm familiar with DC's spacefaringh supers thing - Green Lantern, Adam Strange, Legion of Super-Heroes and maybe even L.E.G.I.O.N. The characters of these comic books might be bog-standard four-color supers, but you might crib some ideas from the plots and storylines. Except for Adam Strange, all of these fit the "space cop" archetype to some degree.

The Traveller

#9
August 18, 2012, 07:38:21 AM
"These children are playing with dark and dangerous powers!"
"What else are you meant to do with dark and dangerous powers?"
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jeff37923

#10
August 18, 2012, 08:23:40 AM
A little later, but still very Space Ranger are the Flandry stories by Poul Anderson. You may want to give them a read.

If you want your Space Rangers a little more hard science, then read Space Cadet by Robert A. Heinlein.
"Meh."

Silverlion

#11
August 18, 2012, 09:19:59 AM
I start packing and a thread I can post to, somewhat knowledgeably appears. Of course people covered the Lensmen stuff, David Starr, etc.

Modern versions: Galaxy Rangers Cartoon.
the Rangers in Babylon 5 (sort of Monk-Rangers)
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#12
August 18, 2012, 01:24:32 PM Last Edit: August 18, 2012, 01:28:30 PM by GameDaddy
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SgtSpaceWizard

#13
August 18, 2012, 02:05:44 PM
No one has mentioned Edmond Hamilton yet so I reckon I will.

Always wanted to run or play in this kind of game, I'd love to hear how it turns out!
 

Ronin

#14
August 18, 2012, 06:55:38 PM
Vive la mort, vive la guerre, vive le sacré mercenaire

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