Justice, Inc. (role-playing game)

<h2 id="description">Description</h2>
Justice Inc. is a role-playing game in which the players take on the roles of fictional adventurers in the 1930s similar to <a href="/facts/Doc_Savage/6V9mD4pd">Doc Savage</a> and <a href="/facts/Allan_Quatermain/MqE85RqG">Allan Quatermain</a>. In keeping with the pulp theme engendered by <a href="/facts/Fu_Manchu/zkP0a9Uc">Fu Manchu</a> and <a href="/facts/The_Shadow/bqXeWl2d">The Shadow</a>, a vein of the supernatural runs through the game and can be turned to horror similar to <a href="/facts/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)/DH9Lv8Eb">Call of Cthulhu</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a>
The game system was adapted from the superhero role-playing game <a href="/facts/Champions_(role-playing_game)/rflHVmFa">Champions</a> previously published by Hero Games, although superhero "Powers" are toned down to "Talents".

<h2 id="publishing-history">Publishing history</h2>
Hero Games published the superhero game Champions in 1981 and subsequently published several expansions and adventures. In 1983, Hero published role-playing in a completely different genre, <a href="/facts/Espionage!/1cBuog30">Espionage!</a>, that used a toned-down version of the Champions superhero rules. Hero followed this in 1984 with Justice, Inc., a game that used the Espionage! rules system. The two-volume set was written by <a href="/facts/Aaron_Allston/QqEgreTH">Aaron Allston</a>, <a href="/facts/Steve_Peterson_(Hero_Games)/zAvASecY">Steve Peterson</a>, and <a href="/facts/Michael_Stackpole/TgTV4PYK">Michael Stackpole</a> and includes a rulebook and campaign book. The campaign book discusses the pulp genre, the "Empire Club" campaign setting, a timeline of real-world events of the 1920s and 1930s, and several pulp adventures.
Espionage! and Justice, Inc. were the first non-superhero applications of the point-based game system developed for Champions. The generalized point system would eventually be published as the multi-genre <a href="/facts/Hero_System/0s9UXe3W">Hero System</a>, following in the footsteps of <a href="/facts/Chaosium/p3bW3b9d">Chaosium</a>'s <a href="/facts/Basic_Role-Playing/TpgmhxA8">Basic Role-Playing</a> System but preceding <a href="/facts/GURPS/wb5DH3Nr">GURPS</a> as a generic game system.
Two supplements were published: 

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Lands_of_Mystery/zMrG05nX">Lands of Mystery</a> (May 1985), a critically acclaimed sourcebook describing how to design and run "<a href="/facts/Lost_World_(genre)/eeocvtxC">Lost World</a>" adventures, like those found in the fiction of <a href="/facts/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs/lFWLFHpA">Edgar Rice Burroughs</a> and <a href="/facts/H._Rider_Haggard/x5bU2zsv">H. Rider Haggard</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-917481-60-7</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Trail_of_the_Gold_Spike/nJXbIJSl">Trail of the Gold Spike</a> (August 1984), an <a href="/facts/Adventure_(role-playing_games)/sf74LXl5">adventure</a> set around a <a href="/facts/Colorado/IgIHrJI5">Colorado</a> gold mine.</li></ul>
Both were written by Allston and also included statistics for <a href="/facts/Chill_(role-playing_game)/yjy77u2m">Chill</a>, <a href="/facts/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)/DH9Lv8Eb">Call of Cthulhu</a> and <a href="/facts/Daredevils_(role-playing_game)/qm9nvE5q">Daredevils</a>.
Unlike several other products in the "Hero" line, Justice, Inc. was not revised or republished decades after its release. However, at the end of 2005, <a href="/facts/Hero_Games/Ta3QeCh3">Hero Games</a> finally published a "<a href="/facts/Pulp_Hero/ICPp2jVc">Pulp Hero</a>" genre book that covered much of the same ground.

<h2 id="reception">Reception</h2>
In the December 1984 edition of <a href="/facts/Imagine_(AD%2526D_magazine)/nzlzNer1">Imagine</a> (Issue 21), Paul Mason stated, "If you like the Champions rules system and want a campaign set in the era of the pulps, then Justice Inc will be perfect for you. Otherwise, I'm afraid I can't recommend it over its competition."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a>
In the January–February 1985 edition of <a href="/facts/Space_Gamer/5tQHMBAb">Space Gamer</a> (No. 72), <a href="/facts/Allen_Varney/NWkzbqtN">Allen Varney</a> 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."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>
In the January–February 1985 edition of <a href="/facts/Different_Worlds/0vAshsqX">Different Worlds</a> (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."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>
In his 1990 book <a href="/facts/The_Complete_Guide_to_Role-Playing_Games/26pbuUEL">The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games</a>, game critic <a href="/facts/Rick_Swan/26pbuUEL">Rick Swan</a> called this game "perfect for ambitious referees who enjoy mixing <a href="/facts/Indiana_Jones/9p8H8HPn">Indiana Jones</a> with <a href="/facts/H.P._Lovecraft/hUATuFcN">H.P. Lovecraft</a>, or <a href="/facts/Sherlock_Holmes/fhN0w3Jv">Sherlock Holmes</a> with <a href="/facts/Little_green_men/E6tFLIol">little green men</a>." 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 <a href="/facts/Call_of_Cthulhu_(role-playing_game)/DH9Lv8Eb">Call of Cthulhu</a> — the clean rules and attention to detail make Justice, Inc. far and away the best of the pulp-era RPGs."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> 

<h2 id="other-reviews">Other reviews</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Shadis/apDIdEll">Shadis</a> #28 (1996)</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Justice%2c_Inc./cS0ItKfV">Justice, Inc.</a> - the pulp magazine story that inspired the game title</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20051211152535/http://www.herogames.com/Products/PH.jsp">Pulp Hero</a> Pulp Hero section on Hero Games' official web site</li>
<li><a href="http://www.aaronallston.com/cred-gam.html">Aaron Allston's game credits list</a></li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091027053554/http://geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/6532/">Hero Pulp Web Site</a> Dany St-Pierre's fan site</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pa-mar.net/rpg/pulp/library/justice.html">Pulp Review: Justice Inc.</a> by Paolo Marino</li>
<li><a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_619.html">Lands of Mystery</a> Supplement review by Kevin Mowery on RPGnet</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Swan, Rick (1990). The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 113–115. <a href="/wiki/Rick_Swan" target="_blank">/wiki/Rick_Swan</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Mason, Paul (December 1984). "Notices". Imagine (review). No. 21. p. 20. <a href="/wiki/Imagine_(game_magazine)" target="_blank">/wiki/Imagine_(game_magazine)</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Varney, Allen (Jan–Feb 1985). "Capsule Reviews". Space Gamer. No. 72. pp. 33–34. <a href="/wiki/Allen_Varney" target="_blank">/wiki/Allen_Varney</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Collins, Russell Grant (January–February 1985). "Game Reviews". Different Worlds. No. 38. Chaosium. pp. 28–29. <a href="/wiki/Different_Worlds" target="_blank">/wiki/Different_Worlds</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Swan, Rick (1990). The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 113–115. <a href="/wiki/Rick_Swan" target="_blank">/wiki/Rick_Swan</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Justice, Inc. (role-playing game) open-in-new

Justice, Inc. (role-playing game)