Pulp of the Week - Ki-Gor, Jungle Lord

I have recently read four of the adventures of Ki-Gor, the white African jungle savage character presented in the pages of Jungle Stories Magazine from 1938 until 1954. I first read a 2 in 1 reprint from John Gunnison's Adventure reprint mag (actually the 39th and 40th Ki-Gor stories), and then read the first two issues as presented by Pulpville Press available in one reprint volume from their Lulu store. The 4 stories I read were all written by John Murray Reynolds, but after the first issue the publisher began using the house name John Peter Drummond.

The first two stories introduce Ki-Gor, the son of a missionary, who survived the Wunguba tribe attack that killed his father when he was a young boy and learned to survive in the wilds of the Congo with the help of his friend, Marmo, the elephant.

The first issue of Jungle Stories published at the end of 1938 contained the first story, Ki-Gor -- King of the Jungle, about an American aviatrix, Helene Vaughn, who is flying solo across the African Continent. Unfortunately, she has engine trouble and crashes her plane in the jungle. Ki-Gor rescues her and they slowly grow to trust one another. Despite not speaking English for 20 years, Ki-Gor remembers it quickly. After escaping from slavers (a recurring theme in this series) they grow closer.

 

The second novel, Ki-Gor and the Stolen Empire, follows the couple's growing relationship as they escape from slavers and discover the remains of a hidden ancient Egyptian City and the last of the line of survivors from ancient times. The lost city of Memphre has survived with the help of pygmies and an army of trained chimps.

In the nearly ten years of Jungle Stories that passed between issue 2 and issue 39 many things changed for Ki-Gor and Helene. They got married. Ki-Gor gained a best friend and blood brother named Tembu George, leader of the Masai people.

N'Geeso, the leader of the the pygmy tribe is also a very good friend of Ki-Gor and Helene and often keeps an eye on Helene. Tembu George and N'Geeso remind me of Monk and Ham from the Doc Savage novels, always bickering, but the best of friends.

The Ki-Gor story In the Summer 1948 issue of Jungle Stories happens to have two titles, one on the cover and one inside the magazine. Somehow Cromba Has a Thousand Spears became Zomba on the cover. There is no Zomba or Cromba in the story, anyway. There is, however, a former ship's captain that has gone insane and is seeking revenge. He attacks with an army of huge savage dogs.

The story opens with Ki-Gor finding a nude woman swimming in the pool near where he lives with Helene. She comes on pretty strong and Ki-Gor manages to extract himself from her charms. This scene demonstrates that at times the later Ki-Gor stories can edge toward the spicy side of the pulps. They are tame by today's literary standards, but compared to Doc Savage or the Green Lama, these jungle tales are sexed up a bit.

 

The next issue, Fall 1948 contained the story, The Golden Claws of Raa. This tale again returns to the slave theme with much excitement over capturing Helene and Ki-Gor. There is also a band of terrifying great apes that are vicious killers.

I would have to say that I enjoyed the first two novels the most, followed by The Golden Claws of Raa. All of these tales are full of captures and harrowing escapes, cruel villains and good friends.

The African characters are generally referred to by their name, their tribe, or for unnamed characters, as 'the black.' Ki-Gor is often called 'The White Lord of the Jungle.' That is certainly condescending, that the white intruder should rise up to be the hero and protector of the jungle, while the black natives depend on him. But, while Ki-Gor is the hero, I have to say that his friends are treated with respect and equality, something that didn't always happen in the 1940s. N'Geeso and Bantu George are fully fleshed out characters, not stereotypes.

As you can see, the covers tend to feature Helene as her image surely attracted the target demographic. Additionally, the editors have apparently instructed the artists to be sure she is in danger, or better yet in a bondage scenario.

Since I want to know how Ki-Gor met his friends and when and how Ki-Gor and Helene get married I know that these are pretty good stories with good characters. I want to know what happens to them. The stories seem to be in the public domain and there may be a few available as ebooks, but I don't have a reader so I haven't looked.

I would like to thank Peter Currane for his Ki-Gor bibliography and  Phil Stephensen-Payne and Galactic Central for the stellar Pulp Cover Gallery.

The Ki-Gor stories I read are pure adventure fiction, there are no supernatural powers or science fictional elements. If I find more Ki-Gor, I will read it.

Ki-Gor -- King of the Jungle 7.5 out of 10.

Ki-Gor -- And The Stolen Empire 7.5 out of 10.

Cromba Has a Thousand Spears 6 out of 10.

The Golden Claws of Raa 7 out of 10.

Game Spotlight - The Adventurers

The Adventurers: The Temple of Chac
Designed by Frédéric Henry and Guillaume Blossier
AEG/Dust Games
2-6 Players
MSRP $49.95
Online $35

Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) is best known for the terrific, long running CCG, Legend of the Five Rings, first released in 1995, following the release of Magic: The Gathering in 1993. L5R is one of the few CCGs to survive to to this day.



Starting with Tomb, published in 2008, AEG has been making a strong push into the boardgame arena. The successful launch of Tomb was followed by a flood of nine board games in 2009. Rush 'N Crush, Arcana, and The Island of Doctor Necreaux, and the Tomb sequel, Tomb: Cryptmaster were successful releases.





One of the biggest splashes at GenCon was made by The Adventurers: The Temple of Chac, a clever game of Archaeological survival in the temple the Mayan rain god.

Each player starts the game with two randomly chosen adventurers, but only one enters the deadly ruins seeking ancient treasure. If that adventurer should happen to die in one of the many traps set to protect the ancient tomb, then all their treasure is lost, but the player can send in the second adventurer to try and salvage a win.

The game play is quite straight forward and although there are different rules for each room, the basic choices are constant - move or pick up ancient relics. But there are many perils that must be faced to escape alive. Walls that crush you like a trash compactor; a giant boulder that may roll over you; a lava pit; a terrifying river and the rickety bridge that crosses it.

The Game Begins

The Wall Room

The game is great family fun and the challenge lies in balancing the amount of treasure you are carrying versus getting out before that giant boulder smooshes you or locks you in the temple. The treasure not only takes time to collect (allowing that boulder to move ahead), but the weight of it slows you down as well.

The boulder starts off slow, but rapidly gains speed.

If I have any qualms about this game it is that the abilities don't differentiate the characters enough. They are all identical other than that once-per-game special ability. Everyone can carry the same amount of treasure and everyone moves the same and checks traps the same. The characters are also assigned randomly. Given how unique and interesting the figures are, this is a shame and probably something I will address with custom rules.

The game is played out in rounds. The round begins with comparing the number of treasure cards you have to chart that gives you an Encumbrance number. One player, designated as the dicekeeper, rolls the 5 dice and each player compares that roll to their chart. The characters get one action for each die equal to or higher than their encumbrance number. So each time you take on more treasure you risk decreasing the number of actions you will get on future turns.

After determining the number of actions, the dicekeeper uses their actions to search for treasure, look of clues that warn of traps, or to simply move. The board is not a strictly straight line, but there is finality in that the boulder will block off the only exit and trap you in the Temple if you move too slowly, or spend too much time searching for treasure.

The traps are cleverly designed and serve to push you to the end of the game. The first room is the wall room. You can spend actions taking treasure, moving, or looking a the carvings on the walls. An ingenious bit of design lets you briefly look at up to four hieroglyphic tiles that will each match one of 14 on the tile floor over a pool of lava. However, those lava tiles are covered until someone gets to that room so you have to remember them.

The Lava Room

Of course, the hieroglyphics on the trap tiles are very similar to one another and you only get to look at them a few seconds. If you step on a wrong tile in the lava room, your character dies.

The Footbridge

You can spend actions in the room with the closing walls to find out which four tiles are traps, but that takes time away from either moving or grabbing treasure. But the walls are closing and the boulder is building up speed.

There is quite a bit of luck in The Adventurers (dice rolls determine how much you can do), but the choices you make do have a big influence on the outcome of the game. Each turn there are decisions to be made and if you choose wrong, the dice may hurt you.

All in all, I found the game a blast to play and so did my family.

Each character has one of six special abilities that can be used once per game to help out in dire circumstances. These are Leap (allowing one diagonal move), Linguistics (allowing a peek at an adjacent tile in the lava room to see if it's a trap), Lock Picking (helps with getting certain treasures, including the highest value treasure in the game), Sprint (move one space without using an action point), Stamina (get more action points for one turn), and Swimming (helps you escape the river without losing treasure).

The twelve figures included allow up to six players (as each player needs two figures).

 

Behind the Game

I asked some questions of AEG owner, John Zinser as well as Frédéric Henry and Guillaume Blossier, the designers of The Adventurers. (Hopefully the designers will reply. If so, I will add an article.)

At Gencon this year you really stepped it up in the board game arena. I believe you had 9 games this year and have plans for a big 2010. What led to the sudden increase in your board game presence?

John Zinser - The best way to be successful in gaming is to make what you play. We love board games and are playing lots of them. We have other non board game projects on our 2011 schedule but for now we had a bunch of really good ideas and a staff enjoying board games.

Rush N' Crush was previously available as a print and play game. How do you feel that has impacted sales?

John - Won't know for sure for months. Good games sell no matter what the previous incarnation.


What upcoming games would you like to hype for the readers?
John - well we are psyched about Thunderstone and Infinite City. Both were held up in customs so they will be available January 11.

Thunderstone is a deck building game - the first to follow Dominion. We love Dominion and Thunderstone is like a Reese’s peanut butter cup - you got your Dominion in my Dungeons and Dragons.... and it tastes great. Infinite City is as simple as play a tile do the effect but it has much deeper strategy and is one of the most amazing looking games we have done to date.

Was The Adventurers a finished game when you first saw it, or did you decide to buy it from Dust Games as a prototype or proposal?

John - Finished. I literally called Italy half way through the first run through to sign us up. We got to add some AEG flavor to the world but it was almost perfect.

The release of The Adventurers pre-painted figure pack has been somewhat controversial. Any time there is an exclusive, gamers get a little upset they can't have it. Do you have plans to make it available to the general public?

John - We have more coming, so yes. How we will make them available is still in question. If we put the painted figs in the box, the box would have been $70; no way around it. We are glad players like the painted figs and will try to make them available to players and collectors who want them.

(The game and figures are now available on the AEG site.)

In terms of new material, are you planning to release any additional figures or map packs?

John – Wow, fun idea. Yes, we have a promo fig in the works and Adventurers 2 is in development but with no date because we want it to be as good or better than #1.




There you have it - Part one. I'd like to thank John and Alderac for providing a review copy and for answering my questions. He was also gracious enough to send some questions along to the designers and with any luck, I will follow up with their answers and a look at the pre-painted pack in part two.