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| Child of Storm by H. R. Haggard, 3rd edition frontispiece illustration by A. C. Michael, Public Domain Image |
So most people see the Raider class in Amazing Adventures and think of Indiana Jones. While certainly Indy was part of the template for that class and has been a defining factor of modern pulp, there are many different heroes that can fall into that category. Lara Croft, for example, is a character who in many ways personifies that character class and the idea behind pulp heroes in general.
What may surprise some players, however, is that Indiana Jones himself was modeled after earlier literary figures--no, I'm not talking about James Bond (who would actually be a Gumshoe, anyway). I'm talking about the inestimable Allan Quatermain.
Allan Quatermain (not Quartermain, as it's often misspelled) was the hero of a series of novels in the late 19th century by H. Rider Haggard, the most famous of which is King Solomon's Mines, which has been adapted several times into film. The character has been played by such luminary actors as Sean Connery, Patrick Swayze, and Richard Chamberlain, among others in various film adaptations of Quatermain's adventures.
Arguably the most famous version of Quatermain on film was the 1985 adaptation of King Solomon's Mines, which starred Richard Chamberlain as Quatermain. Best of all, you can watch the entire thing on YouTube for free!
For those whose tastes run towards the literary and who really want to see the origin of this character, one of the great progenitors of the pulps, you can also download the entire novel for free in ebook format from Feedbooks.com.
More About Quatermain
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