Saturday, April 30, 2016

Briscon - Pulp Alley

Had a great day at Briscon today. Along with a couple of mates from the club, I was running Pulp Alley participation games.
Most people were there for comps: we noticed a lack of 'casual punters'. Still, we got three games in: each with a new player.

The first couple of games resurrected an old scenario: 'That Darned Cat'. A movie star's cat is loose; everyone's after the cat and the reward.
A busy day at the bazaar.
The Secret League of Mayhem and Evil (SLIME) move in.
Checking out a favourite resting spot of the cat.
On the move: the mad scientist and his minions.
The robot moves in and grabs kitty.
This was the result for games one and two. The robot grabbed the cat and refused to let go!

The last game was one for the ages: SLIME have abducted Siegried Grunstrasse, a local crime lord, and whisked him off to their secret lair.
As is traditional with secret lairs, everyone who is anyone knows their whereabouts, and three other leagues are intent on getting their hands on Grunstrasse. Grunstrasse is hidden in one of the buildings, and the interlopers have to find him before they can grab him.
The tramp steamer crew take the direct route, ramming the front door down, and in the best action movie traditions, blasting cultists from the walls of the compound as they go.
The other leagues, car-less and door-less, have a slower path.
The spies spent most of their time slithering back down the walls before one of them finally got to the top.
The heroes head for the most heavily guarded building, only to discover it's all a decoy! Grunstrasse's in the other building.
The rest of the game was a beauty. Grunstrasse turned out to be surrounded by a pit of snakes (Fortune card made the 3" around him extremely perilous). Fortune cards and perils flew thick and fast as a succession of characters tried to ford the pit of snakes and failed. Finally, the tramp steamer's bosun forded the pit, passed the peril to grab Grunstrasse and, needing two successes on d8s to grab Grunstrasse, got a 7 and a 3. So close!

I've got some photos from other games on the day, but they'll have to wait for another post.

8 comments:

  1. Superb table and fun-looking game!

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    1. Cheers Gordon! We certainly did have fun. The last game was one of the best, and will I suspect be long remembered.

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  2. Very simple terrain layout, but evocative!

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    1. Thanks Conrad. Yes, it's nice how something straightforward can work well. It's one of the reasons I chose the Middle Eastern setting: plenty of nice quick boxes for buildings! At the same time it does convey the setting. I find little details help with that: everyone loves the marketplace and all the funny things going on there.

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  3. Good stuff sir! Nice to see the classic pulp tables come back out, love those!

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    1. Thanks Ivor! It has been some time since we've played straight pulp. It was really interesting: it was nice to go back to familiar characters, and we were often reminded of classic games we've played in the past.

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  4. Getting out there and drawing new players with a high quality convention game is one of the key pillars to our community.

    Great job, and thanks for your service to the hobby.

    Will

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    1. Thanks Will, totally agree. It's also a great chance to show off your work!

      Bill.

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