At some point in a pulp adventure, you will run up against a slew of baddies. Henchman. Minions. Soldiers. Pirates. Whatever it is, they’re standing in your way and they’re just asking for a black eye. The “Usual Trouble” is a crew of foundational bad guys that you can throw at your players, reskinning them to fit whatever theme or adventure you’ve got going on.
The Base Crew
The Grunt
The absolute bottom rung. Nervous, undertrained, underpaid, and mostly here because someone tougher told them to be. They stand in groups, take orders they don’t understand, and crumble the moment a hero socks them across the jaw.
+1 ROLLS
#Mook
DEF/MOVE
Snatch up a broken bottle, a length of pipe, a dropped sidearm. Their next attack counts as WEAPON Effort.
ATTACK
A sloppy punch and desperate jab for BASIC Effort.
POWER
Swarm a single hero, dragging them down. While pinned, the hero’s DEFENSE is ignored until they break free.
The Bruiser
Big, mean, and built to take a hit. They walk in ready to challenge the hero on their own and have a talent for ending fights the fast, ugly way.
+2 STATS
+1 EFFORT
#Tough
DEF/MOVE
Square off, spit out a tooth, and get ready for the next hit. The Bruiser is HARD to hit for the next ROUND.
ATTACK
Throw a punch or swing some heavy object for WEAPON Effort.
POWER
Rush and tackle a target, carrying them through a nearby obstacle or dropping them to the ground.
The Gunner
Fast hands, twitchy reflexes, and always packing some kind of heat. Pistols, rifles, bows, crossbows, throwing knives—whatever they can get their hands on. They aren’t subtle.
+3 DEX
+1 GUN
#Support
DEF/MOVE
Roll behind the nearest cover. Cannot be targeted on the next ROUND.
ATTACK
Spray bullets, arrows, or a couple ninja stars toward the heroes, rolling BIG Effort.
POWER
Lay down fire across an arc; anyone acting or crossing through the line of fire rolls HARD until next ROUND.
The Saboteur
Every crew has a clever one—the tinkerer, grenadier, scout, or demolitions expert. They’re fiddling with something unstable and stuffing their pockets with smoke flares, flash powders, signal charges, traps, or explosives.
+2 STATS
#Volatile
DEF/MOVE
Throw a smoke bomb up to FAR, obscuring the scene.
ATTACK
Toss a grenade that will explode next ROUND for WEAPON Effort to all NEAR targets.
POWER
Plant an explosive, with a hidden TIMER, to deal ULTIMATE to all within FAR. Destroys terrain.
The Cutthroat
A stylish, unsettling operator who slides between shadows. They can be a pickpocket, assassin, smooth-talking gangster, or elite ex-soldier. They’re who the boss hired specifically for this job.
+3 WEAPON
#Sneaky
DEF/MOVE
Move behind a target within NEAR range.
ATTACK
Strike with a switch blade for WEAPON Effort.
POWER
Pick 1 CLOSE target; they must roll CHA or get pulled in tight with a knife to their throat.
The Field Leader
When the real boss isn’t around, the Field Leader is in charge. They’ve got orders to bark and will keep the crew straight when the hero undoubtably outwits them.
+3 STATS
2/Actions
#Durable
DEF/MOVE
Retreat away and bark a few orders. Crew members within NEAR gain +2 to their next roll.
ATTACK
A trained one-two combo using BIG BASIC Effort.
POWER
Give the word and all crew members within FAR deal BASIC Effort to a target CLOSE to them.
Reskin These for Any Faction
The crew is nothing fancy, but that’s kind of the point. In pulp, the base enemies are more like obstacles or difficult terrain than a serious fighting force. They’re in the way!
That doesn’t mean we can’t spice them up a bit or have some fun with it. You’ll see below that you can flavor this crew in a whole slew of ways, all without touching the mechanics in most cases. If you need to adjust the mechanics, keep them simple and save the really interesting stuff for your main villain. For example, a really easy bit of spice is just giving one or two of them names. That could be all you need for something memorable!
Pirates
- Grunt: scruffy deckhand with a bottle of rum
- Bruiser: tattooed heavy whose neck is thicker than the anchor
- Gunner: marksman perched in the rigging
- Saboteur: black-fingered powder monkey
- Cutthroat: rope-swinging knife fighter
- Field Leader: quartermaster or first mate barking orders
Nazi Soldiers
- Grunt: infantryman gripping his rifle and does what he’s told
- Bruiser: hulking mass in welded plates of bullet proof armor
- Gunner: machine-gunner filling the walls with lead
- Saboteur: combat engineer with a satchel of charges and a nasty toolkit
- Cutthroat: sergeant that isn’t afraid to fight dirty
- Field Leader: SS officer with plans to undermine the boss and take his place
Chicago Gangsters
- Grunt: twitchy lookout with a cheap heater
- Bruiser: Enforcer with a club that is two heads taller than you
- Gunner: tommy-gunner chewing up brickwork
- Saboteur: psycho arsonist tossing Molotovs
- Cutthroat: Gentleman thief with a switch blade and a pin stripe suit
- Field Leader: The boss’s son who’s out to prove himself to the family
Yakuza
- Grunt: overconfident kid who thinks he knows a few moves
- Bruiser: rolled-sleeve enforcer built like a brick wall
- Gunner: pistol man with calm, practiced aim
- Saboteur: quiet technician who “handles the messy bits”
- Cutthroat: katana-wielding shadow swinging that blade around
- Field Leader: wakagashira with a stare that shuts people up