80s Cartoon Inspirations: Intro

80s Cartoon Inspirations: Intro

I am planning on doing another article series based on three main 80s cartoons – Herculoids, Thundarr the Barbarian and Space Ghost – and draw adventure idea out of these episodes. Unlike my B-Movie series however, I am going to take an entire episode and expand it into a full adventure. Partially inspired by the setting I am writing – Praxium: Dead Empire. These will more than like by sci-fantasy adventures but with a little work, they can be adapted to pure fantasy.

What I have found is that these short cartoons had a fairly simple plot with a sort of simple twist at one point or another. What I want to do is add back story and motivation to the bad guys and expand on the overall story. This may require adding new elements, of course.

This should be cool!

When I was a kid, sci-fi cartoons were one of two kinds – American dumbed down Saturday Morning Cartoons and then there was Anime (Japanese Animation). Unfortunately, the Anime we got was the dumbed down and censored kind that was supposed to appeal to American kids when in reality, Anime was supposed to be more for older fans. While I liked some anime, the over-the-top cartoons of Saturday Morning really inspired me and made me want them to be more intelligent than they were. That desire has partially driven me to write this series.

There are a couple of key things to note about these inspirations.

  1. Same Universe: I am treating this as the same universe. Space Ghosts did in fact visit the world of the Herucloids. However, Thundarr is on a ruined Earth and Space Ghosts is in a future where Earth exists. I prefer to place Thundarr on the same world as the Herculoids as that world does look like a post apocalyptic world and Thundarr could exists on the other side of the planet just as easy.
  2. Player Characters Aren’t Super Heroes: While the Herculoids, Space Ghost, Jan and Jace, Thundarr, Ukla the Mock, and everyone else were super heroes with various powers, I want there adventures to be for regular adventurers and I am going to write them for that kind of character.
  3. Mixing it up: If I see an opportunity to mix two stories or more, I may do that.

Now I get it, there were kids shows and sometimes logic or physics were a little flexible, shall we say. But looking back, I do find some things funny in these episodes that kind of represent the times, the mind-set and the culture of the times.

The Herculoids may prove easier to translate to RPG adventures however Space Ghost may prove to be a challenge. The focus of Space Ghost is usually how his sidekicks get into trouble and in the end, they work together escape the danger. However, there is some inspiration there, even if it is simple and just something I could add to something else.

As I browse the Herculoids episodes, I do realize that some are going to be harder than others, and in these cases, I may have to expand on things further. Some episodes focus on general encounters with outside forces while others focus on the Herculoids themselves and their abilities. With the latter, there may be more expansion then others.