Is a Gadgeteer a good fit as a pulp class/template? I was thinking about it. Lots of pulp characters had gadgets of different sorts. But they seem more like gadget users as opposed to what I envision as a gadgeteer. I mean the rocketeer has a jet pack, but hes really an air ace that has a jet pack. Secret Agent X uses a gas gun, but hes still just a secret agent that has a gas gun. The closest character I can think of that is a gadgeteer would be Doc Savage. I personally see him more as a scientist/adventurer though. What do you folks think?

Yes, notably the "Professor" archetype is common--the perennial inventor always creating amazing devices. Although often secondary characters they do appear in pulp. (Notably different than the Two Fisted Scientist--Doc Savage)

They tend to have several gadgets but often trade in all except major ones for new ones..

Quote from: Silverlion;739936Yes, notably the "Professor" archetype is common--the perennial inventor always creating amazing devices. Although often secondary characters they do appear in pulp. (Notably different than the Two Fisted Scientist--Doc Savage)

They tend to have several gadgets but often trade in all except major ones for new ones..

I would say that pulp carries a lot of bias against the pure intellectual scientist. The Heroes are nearly always Jocks not Geeks. When they are scientists they are atypical physically tough scientists (like Doc Savage who is smarter than all his team of scientists who are also all more than capable in a scrap).

The bad guys however are often gadgeteers. The mad inventor is usually physically weak, or disabled in some way, and using evil science to wreak revenge on society. The Oriental schemer, the east European evil genius (complete with wheelchair, chemical burns or false arm), the traitorous US Scientist who will be weak and feeble or fat.

Pulp Scientists as sidekicks are common but typically the two fisted jock hero has to save them from trouble and usually can match their technical nous when he needs to by applying himself or can bypass the complex technical connumdrums with common sense and or brute force. So their will be a complex machine that is about to do something and the scientist will be trying to work out how to stop it but the hero will solve the issue by smashing he machine to bits with a baseball bat.

Quote from: jibbajibba;739960I would say that pulp carries a lot of bias against the pure intellectual scientist. The Heroes are nearly always Jocks not Geeks. When they are scientists they are atypical physically tough scientists (like Doc Savage who is smarter than all his team of scientists who are also all more than capable in a scrap).

True, but we don't necessarily have to replicate that in our gaming.

(Heck, there isn't a fantasy novel in fifty that has "Kill them and take their stuff" as a paradigm.  It doesn't seem to have stopped a generation of gamers from giving conventional morality the finger.)

So the way I figure, if the pulp party works on gadgets rather than on fists?  Sure, why not?

Quote from: Ravenswing;739991True, but we don't necessarily have to replicate that in our gaming.

(Heck, there isn't a fantasy novel in fifty that has "Kill them and take their stuff" as a paradigm.  It doesn't seem to have stopped a generation of gamers from giving conventional morality the finger.)

So the way I figure, if the pulp party works on gadgets rather than on fists?  Sure, why not?

Sure no worries on that if you want to play a party of evil gadgeteers go ahead

I was of course merely sticking to the pulp archetypes and genre. you can feel free to adjust as you wish

TORG had a nice section in the Nile Empire on Pulp heroes and gadgeteering.

I think Rocketman/Commando Cody may be one of the few gadgeteer types as he invented his rocket suit, the space ship, and a few techno items as well.

One of the common themes of the gadgeteer type is that by the time we see them. They usually have a mainstay of stable personalized gear that they rely on. and then tinker and experiment as needed.

Though not exactly pulp.

Artimus Gordon from Wild Wild West was a gadgeteer in my mind. He made all of his and James West neat toys.

No one else quite crosses my mind that isn't more a scientist than a Gadgeteer.

Well you guys have given me a lot to think about, and I have. I think for me it really boils down to terminology. Gadgeteer just does seem to jive in my head. But if you were to change it to say Professor/Scientist/Eccentric Inventor then it clicks in my head. Words, powerful things eh? I still think of them more as second tier/sidekick/NPC type characters. I see how they could work though as main line characters.

Cartoons sometimes have a gadgeteer character. Sometimes even as a main or at least support character. Gadget in the Rescue Rangers is a good example.

BESM's animal themed expansion Big Ears-Small Mouse even had a section devoted to gadgeteering with household items.

The "Science hero" is a sort of bridge between the purely scientific and the gadgeteer. They live by their wits and can cobble together a gadget. But only on a need-to-use basis. Rather than because they are perpetually tinkering.

I would say that the gadgeteer certainly fits into the Pulp genre.