A friend of the family, who had two young boys of his own, had purchased several Franco-Belgian comic books for his sons and The Adventures of Tintin was among them. When we saw each other I got to read their copies and was swept away by the clever and imaginative journeys of the heroic ginger haired youth, his dog Snowy, the coarse but bold Captain Haddock, and the many other eclectic characters they encountered.
Their sweeping capers to far off lands and even the Moon influenced our time in the playgrounds of New York's Central Park; we pretended to be searching for buried treasure, being chased by spies, or trying to save a priceless artifact from an evil organization of master criminals, all while climbing ladders, sliding down slides, and crawling about in a stone fort shaped construction.
Already into RPGs, I took some of what I'd seen in the Tintin stories and wove it together with other influences into a genre best described as, 'Globetrotting Heroes'. Not Superheroes, not really Spies, yet more than Kids-Solving Mysteries in the vein of Scooby-Doo and Mystery Incorporated, Globetrotting Heroes aren't even always heroes in the traditional sense. What they share is the tropes of being experts at something or other, basically good at heart even when they might be burglars or mercenaries by trade, and their desire to solve travel the world solving mysteries.
Examples of this genre aside from Tintin include, at least in my opinion, Spirou & Fantasio, Indiana Jones, Lupin III (the Anime/Manga series), and perhaps even Johnny Quest.
Their sweeping capers to far off lands and even the Moon influenced our time in the playgrounds of New York's Central Park; we pretended to be searching for buried treasure, being chased by spies, or trying to save a priceless artifact from an evil organization of master criminals, all while climbing ladders, sliding down slides, and crawling about in a stone fort shaped construction.
Already into RPGs, I took some of what I'd seen in the Tintin stories and wove it together with other influences into a genre best described as, 'Globetrotting Heroes'. Not Superheroes, not really Spies, yet more than Kids-Solving Mysteries in the vein of Scooby-Doo and Mystery Incorporated, Globetrotting Heroes aren't even always heroes in the traditional sense. What they share is the tropes of being experts at something or other, basically good at heart even when they might be burglars or mercenaries by trade, and their desire to solve travel the world solving mysteries.
Examples of this genre aside from Tintin include, at least in my opinion, Spirou & Fantasio, Indiana Jones, Lupin III (the Anime/Manga series), and perhaps even Johnny Quest.
While I have never actually run a game in this genre full on, the concepts and feel of these types of stories have made their way into many of the campaigns I have created. My Top Secret and other Espionage games often feel more like Lupin III, Tintin, or Blake and Mortimer (another Franco-Belgian title) then they do the works of Ian Fleming or Tom Clancy (otherwise they more closely resemble Get Smart).
Likewise I feel that if I were to run Tales from the Loop for any extended period it would become one part Stranger Things, one part the Goonies, and one part...OK, something akin to Scooby and the Gang.*
The crux of this post is that although the idea of world-spanning, teen to adult mystery solving do-gooders has always been a big draw for me, I've never found the game that quite does the concept justice. There is no Tintin or Lupin the 3rd Role-Playing Game.
Until now (I think I may have buried the lead)...
The Troubleshooters is an upcoming RPG from Swedish game producer and publisher Helmgast, currently on Kickstarter with 15 days to go as of this post.
The game is already funded and the first stretch goals have been met, enabling the company to produce a Director's Screen (the GM is called the 'Director of Operations') and Dinosaurs will be included in the corebook so your investigators can unlock the secret of a lost world (if they so desire).
Modiphius, the publisher of such awesome games as Star Trek Adventures and Tales from the Loop, will be either publishing or distributing the game for the UK and American market and whenever they're involved in a project I feel that much better about it.
As should be evident from this writing I am extremely excited for this game and I plan on putting up a number of posts about it once I get a hold of the rules (even Beta Test ones as I did for ALIEN). What would I do with such a game? How much Science Fiction/Fantasy should there be in a setting like this? Will I use the default setting (an alternative 1960s) or something a bit different (like the 1920s and 30s of Tintin)?
What will you do with it?
These and other subjects are just rife for discussion and I hope you'll join me in doing so.
That's all for now.
Au revoir mes amis!
AD
Barking Alien
Likewise I feel that if I were to run Tales from the Loop for any extended period it would become one part Stranger Things, one part the Goonies, and one part...OK, something akin to Scooby and the Gang.*
The crux of this post is that although the idea of world-spanning, teen to adult mystery solving do-gooders has always been a big draw for me, I've never found the game that quite does the concept justice. There is no Tintin or Lupin the 3rd Role-Playing Game.
Until now (I think I may have buried the lead)...
The Troubleshooters is an upcoming RPG from Swedish game producer and publisher Helmgast, currently on Kickstarter with 15 days to go as of this post.
The game is already funded and the first stretch goals have been met, enabling the company to produce a Director's Screen (the GM is called the 'Director of Operations') and Dinosaurs will be included in the corebook so your investigators can unlock the secret of a lost world (if they so desire).
Modiphius, the publisher of such awesome games as Star Trek Adventures and Tales from the Loop, will be either publishing or distributing the game for the UK and American market and whenever they're involved in a project I feel that much better about it.
As should be evident from this writing I am extremely excited for this game and I plan on putting up a number of posts about it once I get a hold of the rules (even Beta Test ones as I did for ALIEN). What would I do with such a game? How much Science Fiction/Fantasy should there be in a setting like this? Will I use the default setting (an alternative 1960s) or something a bit different (like the 1920s and 30s of Tintin)?
What will you do with it?
These and other subjects are just rife for discussion and I hope you'll join me in doing so.
That's all for now.
Au revoir mes amis!
AD
Barking Alien
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