How would one go about making a 1930s treasure hunter campaign?

>>51547120
4 words.

White dudes in China.

>>51547120
This is one of my many 'I will eventually flesh this out into something I could run' ideas, so following is very rough and unusable as-is. White dudes in china pretty much sums it up though.

"early days of the Royal Geographic Society as a campaign setting. Individual, end-closed campaigns in mysterious Foreign Climes, book ended by expedition prep and selling the Society on the value of your research, or information for the basis of trade/crime/? to anyone else. Need system with gunpowder/ship costs, probably lotfp. Highly limit what players can use in Other Lands.
This would be my Romantic Fantasy setting. (see against the Wicked City- focus on 'talk to everyone'/no irredemable evil except for literal demons) Visit established settings like ATWC, DCO (thematically kinda wrong)
Prestige/gold system from Perdition (note here for /tg/- perdition uses prestige instead of XP, and requires gold spent on levelup as a seperate component. Another good analogue would be Blades in the Dark, with Rep and Coin for crew levelups vs use in world). Drip feed prestige while on a Research Expedition, enough for maintenance/leveling. Allow use locally, to request free provisions or guides. Research generates big piles of piles of prestige when you take it back home- better/more cohesive/more fashionable research will render even more prestige. Prestige spendable at home to finance a new expedition; money is loaned for a purpose, and not to be spent otherwise (police are competent). High value jewels, or some currency types (age, pure metal) are worth a lot of Prestige OR money back home- tempt to collect and not spend."

I realise I focused a lot on a lot of the 'meta-campaign'. You could just take Yoon-suin and use that straight away, with more firearms owned by the PCs, and different assumptions about who the PCs are and what they represent.

>>51547120
probably indiana jones steampunk

I think everything in the entire setting should be exaggerated and bigger than any real life equivalent. Things like giant ancient temples deep within cloud rainforests and huge 200ft Buddha carved into cliff faces.

Emphasis should also be on grandiose complex traps like floor pits and snake rooms. Play to all the stereotypes.

The cultures of the colonial powers should also be exaggerated and play a major part in the game. Work to help one nation too much and you may find yourself vilified by others.

Transport should also be at least slightly important. It's the golden age of sea planes and and it is possible to fly across the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time. This could be used quite well.

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Bumping to save the thread while I write my full response.

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>>51558093
I'm very much in agreement with >>51555218, in that when I hear the theme of "1930s treasure hunter campaign" I imagine settings and scenarios that are exotic, romanticized and larger than life. As such, you should GM such a game as if you were the director of an old adventure movie or the editor of an old pulp serial with an eye for the splashy, dramatic and thrilling.

Environments play a major role in setting the tone of such games:
>The smoky bar reminiscent of the one in Casablanca.
>The remote military airfield at the break of dawn.
>The sprawling ruined temple clinging to the mountainside.

As does the means by which these locations are reached:
>The rusty, crusty tramp steamer sneaking up-river at night.
>The mule-train laden down with the expedition's supplies.
>The sea planes and flying boats flitting across the globe.

And, of course, the setpieces are crucial to these things:
>The sabotage and subterfuge of a rival treasure hunter.
>Altercations with local law enforcement and foreign militaries.
>A dramatic escape from a collapsing booby-trapped temple.

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>>51547120
I re-watched The Mole People a few months ago.

You should watch some actual 1930s adventure movies to get a feel for the genre that Indiana Jones was aping.

>>51555218
>>51558431
This is best advice

>>51558500
Oh yeah, and the premise of the movie literally begins with "white dudes in China".

>>51551744
>steampunk

Fuck outta here.

>>51547120
Spirit of the Century.

>>51558511
Tbh if you're gonna shoehorn any Xpunk stuff into a 1930s setting dieselpunk would probably be the best bet.

>>51558511
Only autists make a distinction between steampunk and dieselpunk these days tbf

>>51547120
>>51547634

Indiana Jones without Aliens

>>51558592
I saw all three Indiana Jones movies and I don't remember any aliens.

>>51558500
What films should I watch?

>>51558623

You weren't paying attention.

>>51558744
Just off the top of my head
>King Kong
>The Mole People
>...

Fuggit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_adventure_films_of_the_1930s

>>51558760
No. Your just imagining things, like the Bearstien Bears and your mother loving you.

>>51558763
Thanks.

Also something similar to the French foreign legion is super important

>>51558849
Them, and other expats of all kinds as well.

>>51547120
Take the Drake's Fortune series of games and place it in 1930s.

>>51558849
>>51559045

>>51558500 here

In my opinion, if OP is going to run this like a one-shot campaign, there should be five points along the journey:

>Setting out from home: This is when the players are still in the good old USA and have the opportunity to easily acquire the supplies they want. Travel arrangements across the Atlantic/Pacific, securing a guide (through contacts, remember, this is the 1930s so you can't just call someone in Africa, and any letters received might be weeks or months out of date if the GM wants to add a little tension and intrigue, maybe their contact's letters stopped coming, or maybe their contact disappeared in the time between sending the last letter and the PCs leaving the States). PCs are still confident, cocksure, and clean.

>Base camp: The PCs have arrived in Foreignistan, discover how weird and uncouth the natives are, and made contact with some white dudes who have been living here for a while. Having a base camp and some friendly NPCs who maintain a presence there is very important for a couple reasons: if the PCs are being pursued from events further up the river, the base camp can serve as a bulwark where they can get help in making a last stand to defeat their pursuers; and if the PCs get in over their head some friends from the base camp can plausibly arrive to aid them.

(comment too long, cont.)

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>>51559347
>The Ruins: This is where the PCs think they're going. They actually do get there, but when they do, they discover a mystery, which leads to...

>The Unknown: A cavern collapse traps the PCs and opens up a mysterious doorway carved in ancient hieroglyphs, the temple has a secret passage that actually connects to the inside of a volcano, the mysterious monks actually guard a portal to another dimension, the savage islanders have constructed a giant barricade and set up a sacrificial altar... whatever it is, when the PCs cross over into the Unknown, they're off the map, out of contact with their base camp, and on their own. This is a good place to winnow down some unnecessary supplies and give the players a reason to keep moving instead of turtling up and waiting for rescue. A couple of tragically killed NPC helpers/guides wouldn't hurt. They may find that the supplies they brought along for their expedition might be useless, or the simplest, cheapest items (maybe a flashlight that can blind and terrify the locals) are the most valuable all of a sudden. And speaking of the locals, that leads to our final point:

>The Denizens of the Unknown: These are the characters that live in this place that the PCs didn't know existed. Maybe there's a lost civilization of humans that escaped underground during the Biblical flood whose entire political structure relies on the belief that they're the only humans left. Maybe it turns out the island beyond the wall is full of giant animals. Whoever the PCs discover in the Unknown, they're on their home turf while the PCs are the clueless outsiders. If the PCs were looking for a mythological relic, chances are somebody here has it. This is the true adventure that the PCs will have to escape from.

>>51558573
>Only autists do X
>Proceeds to do X

So you're an autist then?

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Also big helmets

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Everybody loves big helmets.

Shows 'em you're important.

>>51560256
That looks like a cascade of delicious, buttery popcorn.

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>>51560392
Goddammit, can't unsee

Children Who Chase Lost Voices is sort of a modern Japanese take on similar ideas as >>51559347 >>51559370. It's (probably) present day Japan, but the second half of the film is essentially just the last two parts of >>51559370 and I thought it was well done, though it may or may not align well enough with the goals of this thread. Still, Hollow Earth Theory.

>>51559370
I think the last part goes too far into the fantasy realm. I like the idea of actually having to prepare an expedition properly though it sounds like it would add a new and interesting side to the game.

>>51565264
It would actually. Everyone likes the "pick your gear" phase of D&D, making that part of the challenge would be cool.

>>51565285
It could also be far more indepth than in D&D.

Eg party is majority screwed over if they run out of fuel deep in the jungle. Also having maximum carry weights more realistic in play would make things interesting.

>party runs out of boat fuel so must continue through tribal land on foot putting them in far more danger.

>>51547120
the original lost world book by Arthur Conan Doyle is good turn of the century inspiration

>>51567562
>separated from the rest of the party
>danger nearby
>cock your rifle
>realize you had grabbed the shotgun by accident
>you're carrying bullets, not shells

I read it in eighth grade and that scene still sticks with me.

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>>51547120

>>51571336
As much as I like that film I would rather set it in south east Asia. I just prefer the whole deep in a jungle fighting tribal savages to find an ancient idol deep inside a Cambodian Hindu temple.

Well there are 2 ways I would think to go about this. The first is straightforward, a treasure hunt in the 1930's. The setting and culture is based on that area in the 1930's, and the technology and equipment are also limited to that time. Pick an area or a treasure that interests you, do some research, and take it from there.

The other way is a bit more interesting. The 1930's treasure hunter genre as we know it today is because of Indiana Jones. So in the development, you'll need to make that distinction. Is it going to be just a treasure hunting campaign or will it be an Indiana Jones themed? If it is, it can't just be "We're in X location, and we're looking for Y treasure", and will have to have a lot more of a structured narrative. There would have to be some sort of evil organization that is also looking for the treasure, and sessions end with you discovering clues with where you're supposed to look next.

Two-fisted bump of heroism

>>51558573
Indiana Jones never wore a gear on his fedora for no fucking reason.

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Use this OP.

>>51558518
seconding

You already have a system purpose built for this exact thing, OP, and it's quite an underrated one too. And its rulebook is free.

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>>51578441
So in your mind, does every dieselpunk character wear a striped flatcap with a little smokestack puffing out the top?

>>51579534
>>51558518
I will take a look at it. Thanks.

>>51555218
>>51558431
Spirit of the Century described it like this:

The world is growing smaller. The maps are getting more detailed, the unknowns are becoming known. You essentially live in the last age where there are still dark, secret places. Where mysticism may hold sway. This doesn't invalidate the science as you know it, either. Because these places are exceptional. All over the world, all over the universe, even, two objects dropped at the same time will hit the ground at the same time (yes, barring air resistance and such). However, in the Temple of the Jaguar King, the heart of a guilty man will hit the ground before the heart of an innocent one.

>>51579846
I've always loved modern or near-modern settings in which there were pockets of the paranormal and places of power like this.

>>51580284
Same. The third Indiana Jones movie really hit me at a young age with its idea of this trace of actual magic left over from way back when.