Rolling High on Adventure

So, I saw a post on social media where someone asked a few questions about running Pulp Cthulhu. I replied and said “I could write a blog post on that.” Here is that blog post.

Question 1 – How Different is Pulp Compared to Classic Call of Cthulhu?

Pulp Cthulhu isn’t a tongue-twisting, complicated new system. It’s as easy to play as classic Call of Cthulhu — roll that D100 and you’re good to go. But there are some great changes that tilt the tone towards action and adventure from vulnerability and frailty.

Bigger, tougher characters – Your investigators get double the normal hit points and one outstanding physical. This “pulp attribute” is usually set to 90% and defines your archetype. For example:

• Strength 90% would suit the Beefcake archetype, suited to occupations like Athlete or Soldier.
• Dexterity 90% could be a Swashbuckler, suited to aviator or spy style occupations.
• Intelligence 90% could be an Egghead, suited to Engineer or Scientist type occupations.

Archetype skill boosts – You’ll get an extra 100 skill points to spread across archetype-related skills (things like Jump, Climb, Stealth, Spot Hidden). Then, you build your character using occupational and education skill points, just like in classic Cthulhu.

Talents – This is where pulp characters shine. Talents give you special abilities, usually powered by a Luck spend:

• Shrug off damage
• See in the dark
• Scale walls with ease
• Weird Science lets you create gadgets ahead of their time.
• Psychic talents give you a choice of powers like telekinesis or Psychometry, the ability to sense the history of objects.

Keeper’s gameplay changes – Pulp Cthulhu tends to dials things up. If classic has one ghoul in the sewers, pulp might have two. Monsters can be bigger and badder — a hunting horror might be certain death for a classic investigator, but pulp heroes can (and should) take it down.

Luck spends are king – Every session, players get a Luck refresh to encourage bold action. Spend Luck to:

• Turn failure into a Hard success for story pacing.
• Pull off outrageous stunts.
• Avoid Certain Death — if you have at least 30 Luck, you can come back from the “dead” in a suitably pulp fashion. Think Indiana Jones going over the cliff, only to reappear moments later, dazed but alive.

If you’ve only ever played classic Call of Cthulhu, Pulp Cthulhu is like strapping a jetpack to your investigator — you’re still in the same Mythos world, but now you can punch the monster before you run.

Question 2 – How Well Does the Pulp Ruleset Work With Big Campaigns Like Masks or Horror on the Orient Express?

Short answer: beautifully.

Long answer: Many of the great Chaosium campaigns, including Masks of Nyarlathotep, already include pulp adjustments in the text. You’ll find “pulp enhancement” boxes that help you tweak encounters for tougher, more action-capable investigators.

Why it works so well:

• Character continuity – In classic campaigns, you might lose multiple investigators to the dangers of the Mythos. In pulp, Luck spends, higher HP, and talents mean your character is more likely to survive to the end. Their sanity might be shot, but their body will keep going.
• Heroic exits – If you do want your character to die, you can go out in a blaze of glory. Sacrifice yourself to save the group, drag the shoggoth king into the volcano – pulp lets you be cinematic about it.
• Variable pulp levels – You can play:
  • Low Pulp (one talent, modest boosts)
  • Mid Pulp (two talents)
  • High Pulp (three talents, more action, more Luck)
    Decide with your Keeper whether you want your heroes to still fear the dark… or to bench press the monsters in it.

Question 3 – What Are Some Recommended Starting Scenarios for Pulp?

The Pulp Cthulhu rulebook itself comes with a few great intro adventures:

• The Disintegrator,Waiting for the Storm and A Slow Boat to China all have great mystery as well as action-packed parts perfect for trying out pulp mechanics.

Classic scenarios that pulp up nicely:

• The Lightless Beacon – Usually a tense survival piece but pulp it up with more monsters and turn it into an action-mystery.
• Many starter box scenarios can be adapted, even if they don’t have official pulp enhancements just double the danger

The Miskatonic Repository has a growing number of pulp adventures from community creators — everything from 1930s globetrotting to pulp witch-hunters in the Dark Ages.

Question 4 – What Do I Love About Pulp Compared to Classic?

I love the adventure. You can absolutely still have a scary game of Pulp Cthulhu — fear of the unknown still works — but the dynamic shifts. You’re not just a fragile investigator hoping to escape; you can:

• Stand your ground.
• Dive into the lair.
• Engage the monster and (sometimes) win.

It frees up the Keeper’s imagination, too. Death rays, flying villains, cliffhanger rescues –  pulp embraces the over-the-top moments.

A favourites was in a Down Darker Trails pulp game: my character, a strongman, could literally lift a horse as part of his stage act. He fought off a mountain lion and lived — something that would have ended a classic party very quickly. It was thrilling, cinematic, and memorable.

Should you play pulp instead of classic?
Not necessarily. Think of it as another tool in your Call of Cthulhu toolkit, alongside Gaslight, Down Darker Trails, and the others. Pull it out when you want to tell heroic, high-stakes tales in the same eerie Mythos universe. Don’t pull it out because your players need to win all the time and think character frailty is a bad thing. After a few games of classic, player can rush to go insane or have their characters die!

Pulp Cthulhu is Call of Cthulhu turned up to 11. You’re still investigating ancient horrors… but this time, you might just blow them up, punch them off a cliff, and make it through to the next adventure.