Justice, Inc. is a role-playing game published by Hero Games in 1984 that simulates adventure stories that appeared in the pulp magazines of the 1930s.

Description

Justice Inc. is a role-playing game in which the players take on the roles of fictional adventurers in the 1930s similar to Doc Savage and Allan Quatermain. In keeping with the pulp theme engendered by Fu Manchu and The Shadow, a vein of the supernatural runs through the game and can be turned to horror similar to Call of Cthulhu.

In the January–February 1985 edition of Space Gamer (No. 72), Allen Varney commented, "Justice Inc. is fundamentally solid work, and certainly adaptable to a wide spectrum of pulp-era melodramatics. If your players want lots of variety in one campaign, this is your game! I realize it's a close call, but I'd say that with this publication, Hero Games probably has the strongest roleplaying line on the market."

In the January–February 1985 edition of Different Worlds (Issue #38), Russell Grant Collins gave this game an average rating of 2.5 stars out of 4, saying, "this game is pretty good, although it is marred by a few typos and suffers from incompleteness."

In his 1990 book The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games, game critic Rick Swan called this game "perfect for ambitious referees who enjoy mixing Indiana Jones with H.P. Lovecraft, or Sherlock Holmes with little green men." Swan concluded by giving this game a rating of 3 out of 4, saying, "Although [the] designers ... bit off a bit more than they could chew — it's unlikely, for instance, that the horror version of the game will make anybody give up Call of Cthulhu — the clean rules and attention to detail make Justice, Inc. far and away the best of the pulp-era RPGs."

Other reviews

  • Shadis #28 (1996)

See also

  • Justice, Inc. - the pulp magazine story that inspired the game title

References

  • Pulp Hero Pulp Hero section on Hero Games' official web site
  • Aaron Allston's game credits list
  • Hero Pulp Web Site Dany St-Pierre's fan site
  • Pulp Review: Justice Inc. by Paolo Marino
  • Lands of Mystery Supplement review by Kevin Mowery on RPGnet