Classic: Cliffhangers

This is Classic material. Some conversion will be needed to use with 4e, some of which may have been done for you.

"OK, little fella, Kingpin's gonna send a lot of mugs after ya, I'm talking hard boys, real biscuit boxers. Can you fight them all off at once?" — Spider-Noir

Classic: Cliffhangers (1989, 2002) involves the world of the dauntless men and daring women of 1920s and 1930s adventure tales seen in the pulps and the serials.

Basics

This is general information regarding the Era, the United States, South & Central America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the rest of the world.

The Campaign

There is a lot to consider regarding a Cliffhanger campaign.

Hindsight vs. Accuracy

Cliffhangers were a product of their time resulting in them being peppered with attitudes that verge on prejudice. Also while Nazis would become a cliffhanger staple, that wouldn't happen until well into WWII.

Campaign Styles

Cliffhangers had a gamut of styles some of which were mixed together.

• Adventure and Exploration: Unexplored Lands, Ancient Civilizations, and Lost Worlds.
• Crimefighting: Dick Tracy (1937)
• Horror: The Crimson Stain Mystery (1916)
• Spy and Espionage: Secret Agent X-9 (1937)
• Westerns: Zorro Rides Again (1937)
• War: Pearl of the Army (1916)
• Sci-Fi: Flash Gordon (1936); Buck Rogers (1939)
• Pulp Supers: Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941); Batman (1943), Captain America (1944)

A good example of a mixture cliffhanger is The Phantom Empire (1935); it is a western with sci-fi elements and an ancient high tech civilization.

Crossover Campaigns

Any genre and era that lends itself to action, adventure, style, heroism, suspenseful endings, and high drama can be used in a Cliffhanger campaign.

Historical note

While this book covers the 1925-1939 period of cliffhanger stories the actual genre wasn't limited to that time period.

The Zorro serials were set in the (1769–1821) period, there were Western serials set in the mid to late 19th century, there were serials set in "contemporary" times appearing as late as 1955. and the Buck Rodgers serial was set in the 25th century. Some serials were later edited into movies with mixed results.

Doctor Who from 1963 to 1989 followed the cliffhanger format with each story being a mini serial.

There was an attempt in 1979 to revive the genre for American TV with the Cliffhangers series. It didn't last long likely because it tried to run three separate serials together in the hour long time slot and none of the serials actually started at the beginning.

Additional Materials

• They Shall Not Pass!': The Spanish Civil War For GURPS Cliffhangers (10/12/2001)
• List of film serials
• Movie Serials At The Internet Archive
• comicweb.com serial-cliffhangers
• Sears Roebuck And Co Catalog 1922 (internet archive)
• The 1929 Stock Market Crash - Black Thursday (Extra History)
• GURPS Update
• GURPS Swashbucklers
• Cliffhangers WWII - GURPS WWII pg 166
• Income and Items for the 1930s
• Thilling Detective Website
• CBS Radio Mystery Theater - a 1974 to 1982 radio series that recaptures the feel of old time (1930s-1940s) radio. Internet archive has every episode and there is a website with a synopsis of each episode.
• Lz 129 "hindenburg" by Douglas H. Robinson (Famous Aircraft Series) ISBN 0-8168-5652-4: Has the complete deck plans for the Hindenburg it also has the front cover of the passenger list, the wine list, a passenger ticket (Franfurt to Lakehurst), the German Lakehurst medal, and finally Dr. Eckener's 1919 "Bodenee" Flight Manual.