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A Roleplaying Game worldbook for Steve Jackson Games' popular GURPS system, Tales of the Solar Patrol is set in the future of the 21st Century, as it was imagined by of pulp writers during the Golden Age Of Science Fiction. Venus is swampy, Mars has canals, and the Overlord of Jupiter rules its moons with a literal iron fist. Raygun Gothic and Rule of Cool, in other words, are the order of the day. Info here.
This game provides examples of:
- Badass Cape: Hey, the Overlord of Jupiter may be evil, but he looks great.
- Black-and-White Morality: Inherent to the setting. The Solar Patrol is good, and its enemies are irredeemably bad, apart from the rare rogueish Space Pirate.
- Energy Weapons: Atomic guns are the standard sidearm for both the Patrol and its enemies. Laser pistols, by contrast, are considered old-fashioned
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Overlord of Jupiter may want to conquer the entire Solar System, but he always keeps his word, and is willing to duel anyone who challenges him.
- Eye Beams: The Overlord of Jupiter's Gaze of Disdain, capable of vaporizing a victim on the spot.
- Officer and a Gentleman: The titular Solar Patrol keeps the spaceways clear and protects Earth against the Mind Masters of Mars and the Overlord of Jupiter.
- Raygun Gothic: the GURPS sourcebook.
- Shiny-Looking Spaceships: Inherent in Raygun Gothic.
- Space Opera: The setting favors dramatic plots by heroic characters against striking villains.
- Space Pirates: Of the "Yo, ho, ho!" variety, with a tendency to leave their victims alive to avoid getting stomped flat by the Patrol.
- Villain Ball: The Overlord of Jupiter is as actually noted in-universe to do this. Often choosing the complex and dramatic, over the simple and pragmatic solutions. Almost as if he knows that he is the main villain of a pulpy Space Opera story, and acts accordingly.
- Zee Rust: Deliberately invoked. Spaceships are shiny with visible rivets, while computers are still at the vacuum tube stage and require specialists to program and use.
