Release of this wonderful third SW RPG has me really lamenting that Indiana Jones as a thing is not popular now. I'd love to have a RPG based on the SW dice, even if it is just a core book and that's all. I guess I can only hope that Indiana Jones 5 is on the horizon and hopefully FFG still has the license at that time. I can only imagine what the amazing art crew at FFG would do with the franchise.
Fedora and Whip
Why couldn't you run it on a backwater world (pre-spaceflight) with a guy, his fedora and a whip? Art is art and if that backwater world just so happened to have the same continents as Indy's world, well, so be it. Then... when you get to the weird alien place with the skulls, he acquires his Base Spaceship and finds out there is a lot more out there than he thought previously.
Scale back the weapons, look up some historical documents, have fun with some nazi plastic soldiers and go adventuring in the Edge of the Empire. No reason not to start tonight!!!
Agreed, Grayfax -- and that'd be an awesome adventure / setting!
I'd love a FFG RPG with all the wonderful production values (including incredible art) that that entails. I've got a complete set of WEG's World of Indiana Jones and would love a new take on it with FFG SW's great rules framework.
Why couldn't you run it on a backwater world (pre-spaceflight) with a guy, his fedora and a whip? Art is art and if that backwater world just so happened to have the same continents as Indy's world, well, so be it. Then... when you get to the weird alien place with the skulls, he acquires his Base Spaceship and finds out there is a lot more out there than he thought previously.
Scale back the weapons, look up some historical documents, have fun with some nazi plastic soldiers and go adventuring in the Edge of the Empire. No reason not to start tonight!!!
I imagine the scene where he met Han Solo would be an odd one.
Or wait... what if you actually went with it? Han Solo and Indiana are actually twins, separated at birth? Henry Jones really is their father but their mother was someone from another planet. A sort of Indiana Jones meets Guardians of the Galaxy in a buddy comedy.
Release of this wonderful third SW RPG has me really lamenting that Indiana Jones as a thing is not popular now.
The Archeologist spec in Enter the Unknown is really inspired by Henry Jones Jr. so I don't think there is a lapse in popularity within this game...
It is a difficult thing to make an RPG about though, same as with Bond, these flicks focus on one man being able to overcome odds and being larger than life.
Henry Jones is actually a Time Lord, because the changing face of Bond reflects this, and Henry Jones was James Bond, so...
Depending on how you meant it, way back up there, an Indy RPG could suffer, the same way a Doctor Who RPG would; either there is one Indy/Time Lord, and a cavalcade of their sidekicks/hangers on/companions, all of which are inferior, or they are all a Time Lord/whip-wielding, immortal so long as he has his hat character, and that's not how the source material works/feels. This is part of why I've never played in a Doctor Who game, either. Of course, this BS might all have NOTHING to do with your thought, above, and if so, I apologize for the babbling.
It is exactly what I meant.
Two Thoughts...
Indy and Han meeting would be awesome. May have to work on that, cause it would be a blast! My wife's archaeologist would love the hell out of that.
Han as Time Lord (all kinds of cool threads of thought erupting here, but)... poor Chewbacca... how would like to give your Life Debt to someone you figured would die in the next 10-20 years (because Corellian and he should have over and over), only to find out he is a Time Lord and will outlive the long lived Wookiee... yeah, poor Chewbacca...
There is a dark horse comic where Indiana sets out to find Sasquatch and it turns out to be Chewie.
The falcon crashed on earth or something and han and Indy ar both in the book...
Terrible.
Chewbacca, the first Companion!
Henry Jones is actually a Time Lord, because the changing face of Bond reflects this, and Henry Jones was James Bond, so...
Depending on how you meant it, way back up there, an Indy RPG could suffer, the same way a Doctor Who RPG would; either there is one Indy/Time Lord, and a cavalcade of their sidekicks/hangers on/companions, all of which are inferior, or they are all a Time Lord/whip-wielding, immortal so long as he has his hat character, and that's not how the source material works/feels. This is part of why I've never played in a Doctor Who game, either. Of course, this BS might all have NOTHING to do with your thought, above, and if so, I apologize for the babbling.
Actually there is a Doctor Who RPG made by Cubicle 7 and they do a pretty amazing job of dealing with the problem of one person playing a Time Lord and the others, well, I would say humans except one of the more notable PCs I recall was an Auton spy and K-9 is one of the pregens, too. It is one of my favourite systems ever to be honest as they perfectly capture the TV series. For example, their initiative system goes Talkers, Doers, Runners, Fighters. Weirdly for something so focused on storytelling and a simple and friendly system, it has one of the most realistic and effective combat systems I've seen. I can't do it justice at all here and it deals with the problem of different levels of character ability head on, not shying away from it at all, with the way story points work and the rules make everyone very effective in different ways. I had a lot of fun with that system, it's really worth a look.
Edited by knasserIII think the FFG dice system would be a terrific match for Indiana Jones, but it strikes me Indy would only support a single book, and even that would be pushing it. Put out a beginner's box with pared down core rules, pre-built versions of Indy and companions, an adventure, and ideas for continuing the story.
It could also make a decent budget priced specialty game designed for just 1-2 players and intensely collaborative storytelling.
The only other alternative I see is to expand on the world building by taking the general radio serials influences of Indiana Jones and expand it into a whole pulp adventure setting. That could be amazing and support a full core book, but I worry it would draw so far away from Indiana Jones to basically be something else altogether.
Regardless, it's got solid art. Is that Sean Murphy's work?
Yep!
Yep!
Love that dude.
I think the FFG dice system would be a terrific match for Indiana Jones, but it strikes me Indy would only support a single book, and even that would be pushing it. Put out a beginner's box with pared down core rules, pre-built versions of Indy and companions, an adventure, and ideas for continuing the story.
It could also make a decent budget priced specialty game designed for just 1-2 players and intensely collaborative storytelling.
The only other alternative I see is to expand on the world building by taking the general radio serials influences of Indiana Jones and expand it into a whole pulp adventure setting. That could be amazing and support a full core book, but I worry it would draw so far away from Indiana Jones to basically be something else altogether.
If it were only Indiana Jones, then GM's might run out of ideas quickly, mainly due to confining themselves unconsciously to things from the movies and hinted at from there. But if you expand it to Pulp generally, there's a goldmine. Especially if you interpret it loosely enough to include cultural elements from that time period, rather than just that genre. I watched this film recently:
(And a great deal of fun it was too)
Throw together Indiana Jones, John Carter of Mars, She, Lovecraft, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Shadow, Phillip Marlowe and any two-fisted twenties style action-thriller-adventure thing that suits your mood. FFG should absolutely use this system for such a game. I would follow the WoD model personally, and call it "Pulp: The Thumpening." Supplements could be ancient tombs, occult / witchcraft, things from beyond (Meego and white apes and such), things that go bump (werewolves and haunts and so forth), etc.
I wonder if they'd accept a pitch to write it? 
Don't forget the wonderful world of Pelucidar if you are going out there for that... and you might as well bring in Tarzan for the tree swinging...
Yep, we have mined lots of that stuff. Never took a trip to Mars, but that would be fun too... low gravity Jedi jumping! Woot!
My current go-to game for pulp era rpging is Fate Core, with which I've had some great times running my alternate-history 1919 "Two-Fisted Pilot Tales" campaign.
That being said, with light coat of paint Edge of the Empire would work great for pulps. Scratch out the word stormtrooper (no, wait, there were stormtroopers in that era)... scratch out the word Imperial... (no, wait, Imperial works too!)...
Shoot, you can use it practically as is!
I can't believe you haven't mentioned the Rocketeer yet!!
WW had a pulp game, and it was pretty awesome. It was called Adventure! and Warren Ellis wrote for it! I'd love to see a pulp adventure game, I'm just saying there's a point where it stops being an Indiana Jones game and starts being something else entirely.
That said, all this talk kind of makes me want to home brew something. I think you'd probably have to pare the career system down to about three, dsay Two-Fisted Hero, Daredevil Adventurer, Mystic to simulate the Fighter/Rogue/Mage template and have maybe 5-6 specs a piece out the box (noble savage, tomb raider, urban vigilante, mesmerist, etc.). I'd probably abstract the currency system so you have a practical means to simulate, say, the underworld contacts of the Shadow or the vast resources of Doc Savage. I'd keep the destiny system (which seems pretty brilliantly perfect for this kind of game actually) and maybe add in class-specific uses for destiny points. As far as supplements, I wouldn't break them down into categories like "supernatural monsters" or "tombs", but instead treat it regionally. Do an oversized supplement for each of the three careers that provides more mechanics and added flavor for creatures and nemeses and the like. I'd square things out with some era supplements. Feed in the slightest bit of metaplot by having setting books that deal with specific spans of time. Extend from the high flying adventure of the post Great War years to the philanthropic society building of the Great Depression. Then move to a background threat of weapons experimentation amongst the great powers and manipulation by an evil consortium that culminates in the rise of the superhero.
Edit: Eeeeee.... Now that I'm reading that, it hews pretty closely to the ideas that were already in Adventure! I think... It's been forever since I've browsed that book, but yeah.
Edited by dxandersEotE is a good fit for Pulp. Like jbmacek, I used Fate the last time, but I can see EotE being used with minor reskinning.
I can't believe you haven't mentioned the Rocketeer yet!!
Rocka-who?
I can't believe you haven't mentioned the Rocketeer yet!!
Rocka-who?
Rocka Flocka Flame
This thread makes me wonder how you'd stat up a Lightwhip. (See: Lumiya)
Yeah, it's EU only, but...