Nile Empire Preview #2 – Pulp Powers

This week we look at the signature ability that characters from the Nile Empire possess: pulp powers.

Inherent Powers, Gadgets and Mystical Artifacts, and Pulp Sorcery Rituals

Pulp powers come in a multitude of trappings, but all of them are supported by the World Laws of the Nile Empire, not the Axioms. Inherent powers are associated directly with the character himself, like Superman’s heat vision and flight.

Gadgets and Mystical Artifacts are abilities that are housed in a device, which is a Minor Limitation. The origin of the device determines if it’s a gadget or mystical. We also include some gadgets that do not require Perks, but we’ll take a look at those when we get to the Gear preview.

Pulp Sorcery rituals have no specific Limitation associated with them, but often do have them, like requiring a full round to ‘cast’ the ‘spell’.

Enhancements and Limitations

Each pulp power has at least one Enhancement that increases the strength or utility of the power. In order to acquire an Enhancement you either have to spend a Perk, choose one Major Limitation, or two Minor Limitations. In the Nile Empire sourcebook we provide additional Limitations as well as some applied examples of those Limitations:

Pulp Powers

The Pulp Powers chapter includes quite a few new Perks to be selected. Here’s the list:

Adrenaline

Beastmaster (animal companions include a panther, a bear, or a business of ferrets)

Beastwhisperer

Dark-Sight

Dazzle

Fear

Gadgeteer

Gizmos (a.k.a. the “MacGuyver Perk”)

Invisibility

Mind Reading

Obscure

Power Upgrade

Pulp Martial Arts

Ray (including Blast, Electro, Heat, Mind, Cold, and Sonic)

Regeneration

Rocket Ranger Battlesuit (similar to the Dragon Warrior and Ion Gusoku Perks)

Sleep

Super Sense

Super Soldier

Super Swimming

Unbreakable Shield

Uncanny Dodge

Wallwalking

Sample Pulp Power

Finally, here’s an example of one of the new pulp powers:

As always, if you want to talk more about this, head over to our forums!