Pulpy Goodness

I've taken the opportunity of a pre-order offer (which at the time of writing is about to close) to obtain Mak and Gauge, the latest figures from Statuesque Miniatures.  They're from their Pulp Alley range and therefore also available in the States through Pulp Alley themselves.  Andrew at Statuesque is Good People (as are David and Mila at Pulp Alley) and has been sending me updates on the order and a slight (one day!) delay.

Mak looks to me as if he could do as a Not-Tintin and Gauge's usefulness as a Kayley has be commented on elsewhere.

I also took the advantage of picking up at the Vice Alley supplement to Pulp Alley and a couple of the other figures from the range.

Egg Hunt! - The AAR (part two)

As we left our intrepid group of explorers, two of there number were facing the onslaught of the fearsome Allosaurus...

...now read on!

...but here Jenny and Penny justified their inclusion not only in the expedition party, but also in the college athletics team.  With a daring show of pluck and speed, Penny ran right past the dino to the now unguarded nest!  Jenny was equally speedy in taking up a covering position.

Taking her role as troubleshooter seriously, Miriam took aim and felled the mighty beast before it could turn in pursuit.

Over by the river, there was trouble for Bella and the professor.  That nest was not only guarded by an Iguanodon but also a Stegosaurus!  The professor took aim, but despite her usually high shooting ability, she again missed.

Bella thought it prudent to withdraw to her mistress' side. 

The shot was not without its benefits though, driving the timid Iguanodon up onto the hillside which was becoming even more crowded, given the arrival of a second Stegosaurus.

Penny's gambit had paid off.  As she examined the dinosaur nest she found and removed one of the prized eggs.

Encouraged by her friend's success, Jenny moved to her own nest and examined it.  She, however, was not so fortunate, and succumbed to the narcoleptic pollen of the nearby plant.

Things also took a turn for the worse for Penny.  She was suddenly rushed by the Brontesaurus,  She was unharmed, but lost her precious trophy!

Fearing a similar assault, the professor took aim at the Stegosaurus and fired.  But missed!  As Bella ran for cover the enraged creature charged across the river towards Professor Johnson...

More next time in:

Egg Hunt!

Egg Hunt! Playtest - Some Initial Thoughts

It's too easy for the player to stand back and pick off the dinos from a distance

• The dinos are too fragile - I will boost their stats
• More terrain might help by providing more cover (time to break out the BluTac!)
• I may be misunderstanding the PA rules about rushing, etc

The Wife suggested a mechanism which reduced the area of play each turn, creating more conflict between explorers and dinos (a lava flow - "All good dinosaur movies [sic] have a volcano!"), I like this idea, which would also mean limited turns, but I'm going to play on and see how the dynamic changes as the explorers move further into the dinos' territory and eggs come into play.  

I'm satisfied with the addition of an extra dino each turn and the random movement until explorers come into range.  In this game, the dice gods have decreed that three dinos mill around on the hill in the corner doing nothing, which may he why the explorers have been having it easy.

Making the explorers cross a river, swamp or crevasse at the start may make life more difficult for them.

I'm going to carry on with the current set-up and see what happens if eggs come into play.

Coming soon!  The next thrilling installment of...

Egg Hunt!

Egg Hunt! - The AAR (part one...)

Scenario here and set-up details here.

Following the ridicule she received on the presentation of her theories on the survival of animals previously thought extinct, Prof Johnson has assembled the St Margaret's Exploration Group (SMEG) to bring evidence back to the scoffers.  He aim is to collect at least one dinosaur egg.

By the 'Old College Bus'

The members of the expedition comprise of the Professor's trusty sidekick Miriam, the Lady Librarian;  Penny and Jenny, two bright young things from the JCR; and the ever-loyal Bella.  After an arduous journey, SMEG has arrived at a Hidden Valley teeming with exotic life.

Realising that speed was of the essence if eggs were to be collected before too many dinosaurs gather, the Prof splits the party into three groups: she and Belle headed in one direction, the Gels in another, and Miriam (with her Deadeye ability) was act independently in order to forestall any trouble.  For the moment, Miriam stayed with Penny and Jenny.

In the meantime, unaware of the approaching humans, the two dominant predators faced off against each other.*

*Nobody had told them about our discussion ruling out dino-on-dino action,

However, the humans were not completely unnoticed.  No sooner had they split up, than a curious triceratops approached.  The Prof, confident in her team's abilities, continued on her way.

Miriam and the Gels were in a quandary.  The dino may move away but should they want to more forward, it was bound to approach or even charge.  Miriam made the hard decision, and drew a bead on the herbivore.  She scored a glancing hit, that bounced harmlessly off its thick skin.  Jenny followed suit, but missed; it was left to Penny to make another try.

 A lucky shot!  The beast was felled.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between the predators was over and a mighty brontosaurus loomed over the horizon.

Indeed, many new dinosaurs were entering the valley, luckily at some distance from the explorers - it getting quite crowded on the high ground.

Suddenly a loud undulating cry rang out - the call of some lord of the jungle perhaps?  The dinosaurs stood, frozen in their tracks.*

*Actually, I'd misread this card to mean that no movement was allowed.

Miriam and the Gels were advancing on their target nests.  Between them and the eggs stood the two mightiest predators in the valley.  Again, Miriam took aim.  Again, her hit was ineffective, but the Gels were able to inflict some damage.

As the professor and Bella approached the river they were in for a shock.  The nearby nest wasn't unguarded as they had thought!

As Bella pushed on to investigate the bridge over the river, the professor took a shot at the iguanodon.  Unfortunately she missed.

Miriam was having more luck.  While Jenny and Penny edged around the pond, she aimed at the T, Rex.  With a single shot, it was down!  The echoing shot drove the Brontosaurus away, but the Gels were stunned to see the Allosaurus now bearing down on them!

To be continued!

Egg Hunt! - The Set-Up

For the rules and scenario, see here.

The Players

Yesterday evening The Wife showed an interest in the project.  "Where did all these come from?",  "Dinosaurs?  I thought were were going to do Egypt or London?". "Wouldn't the dinosaurs attack each other?".  And most pertinently, "Why are you doing a new League, why not use that one you did for me that time?"

"Stand down, Gentlemen!"

So, a change of personnel.  Instead of the Endeavor Expedition, let me introduce the St Margaret's Exploration Group (SMEG).

For the Dinos, I've just taken the off-the-peg Predators & Prey profiles from Perilous Island; I may tweak them later, but they'll do for now.

The Table

Perilous Areas include

• The nests (by definition as plot points)
• The climb onto the crags or hill
• The river or swamps
• The rickety bridge

The large dinos or giant croc aren't bothered by the water obstacles.  Characters can choose to cross them either by the bridge or swimming (egg-carriers cannot swim).

The initial dinos were chosen and allocated their nests by lot.

Croc near the river

Big Red on the hill

Big Grey

Rex and Little Green

Starting positions

The view from the College Bus...

...and another

An Egg Hunt - Thoughts Please

Thank you for all of you who got in touch following my last post, especially Jonathan, who has provided material support.

Following on from your suggestions, I'm going to try my hand at some solo games to see how I get on.  I'm going to try a Pulp Action dino hunt set-up.  The plot may be familiar, but so what!

This is a solo scenario, but I'm hoping it would also work with a second player who would take either a rival expedition team or a lost tribe/simians/lizard men/hippies wanting to protect the Thunder Beasts.

Hopefully, I'll play-test this week-end and report back.  In the meantime, I'd really appreciate any comments one what is a first draft put together in an hour or so.

Background

After years of ridicule from the academic establishment Prof Endeavour has put together an expedition to find evidence of his theory that animals previously thought extinct may have survived in unexplored regions.

After many hardships, the Endeavour Expedition has finally reached the Hidden Valley...

Objective

Set  out from the start point, collect one or more eggs and return with them to the start point.

Set-Up

Rules are Pulp Action

• League  of 5 explorers (including one animal)
• Dinosaurs - one per nest (plus one generated at a random nest at the beginning of each turn?)
• Six nests

3x3 table.  Various terrain (and perilous areas) placed.  The explorers start at one corner  of the table.  The nests are placed within 8in of the opposite edge, not closer than 8in to each other.   One dino is placed at each of five of the nests.

Mechanisms

Dinos

Dinos move in a random direction determined by roll of a d8 unless

• A hatchling is in play.  ALL dinos move towards the hatchling
• An egg-carrier is within 18ins – the dino moves towards the egg-carrier (unless the above)
• A character is within 12ins – the dino moves toward him (unless the above)

If a dino wins combat with an egg-carrier, the egg or hatchling is removed from play.

Nests, Eggs and Hatchlings

On making contact with a nest, the character takes a peril test.  If he passes he rolls to see if the nest contains eggs (50% chance of success).  Only three of the nests contain eggs: only one egg may be removed from any nest.  In the next turn the character can take a test to see if he can remove the egg.
On each activation, any character carrying an egg rolls a d6 for each egg carried: if a 6 is rolled, that egg hatches (only one egg hatches per game).

A character can carry any number of eggs: eggs and hatchlings can be passed between characters on making base-to-base contact and passing a peril test.  Characters carrying eggs or hatchlings cannot run.

Scoring

• 10pts for each human explorer returned to Civilization (40pt)
• 50pts for each egg returned to Civilisation (150pt)
• 150pts for each hatchling returned to Civilization

< 10pts – A Lost Expedition!
10-40pts – A tall tale, not believed.
50-150pts – Praise and academic honours.
 >160pts – Eternal glory!

New Stuff

Well, a jiffy bag dance today as a parcel from Statuesque Miniatures arrives.  In it is some pulpy goodness.

First up is the new supplement to Pulp Alley:  Pulp Gadgets, Guns and Vehicles

Nice lay-out

Secondly, because I was ordering from Statuesque, my resolve crumbled and I ordered the new Pulp Alley figures (Pulp Girl and the Phantom Ace) and Lillie Poots from the Statuesque Asylum range.  They really are very nice!

And because it was sitting in my Pictures folder next to pulpalley.jpg, here's putin.jpg...

Now the antidote to spending money is to spend more money, but tell yourself it's on a bargain.  Accordingly, I picked this up in the charity shop this afternoon.

I Need a Bigger Garage!

My struggles with the local incarnation of the Post Office have worn me down, and after a very tiresome episode yesterday I found a courier service that looked as if it would be very handy.  After a lot of trouble printing out the label (I had a hell of a day yesterday), I went to the advertised dropping off point only to be told they had no idea why people kept bring parcels in!  As it was pissing down all day, I'd got soaked twice and was a tad cross.

The upshot of this is that I went into Town (or as they say around here "the City") today to another drop-off point.  On the way back I went through the twee-er bit of Norwich and was able to have some theraphy poking about a couple of second-hand bookshops and Elm Hill Collectibles (who also have a fairly pointless website here).  If you're ever in Norwich, Elm Hill is a must-see place.  There's also a board game shop (run by a real enthusiast) for those of you interested in these things.

Elm Hill

For a while I've been keeping my eyes open for Lledel cars and vans in the local charity shops, etc.  I was really pleased to find that the shop. was selling them at £1.00 each - the cheapest I've seen them.  Now, whether it's because he's just a nice guy, or he remembered me from his old shop, or because I had to go and find an ATM (yet still came back!), he let me had five for £4.00.  A great bargain!

The question now is whether I go ahead and ruin them by painting or whether the Queen Mum's 90th birthday special or Andy & Fergie's wedding car are worth a fortune on eBay!

This makes them even better value than the Russian cars I picked up in Poundland yesterday to replace the one I gave away last month.

As the title of this post suggests, I need a new shelf (or a box).  I'm also off to pre-order the Pulp Alley vehicles supplement...

The current garage

Tamsin, who has a similar problem, poo-poos my suggestion that she build a multistorey car park.  Did they have them in 1920s Chicago or New York, she asks.  Well according to Wikipedia "The earliest known multi-storey car park was built in 1918 for the Hotel La Salle at 215 West Washington Street in the West Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois."  'Nuff said!  Though I can't help but mention that I'm sure I've read of a C19th multistorey for carriages in London...

Talking of recent purchases, I recently picked up yet another Egyptian cat from a charity shop.  This one particularly appealed because of the stonking great jewel on it's chest.

The new one is in the middle

It made me think of the old 'pry the stone out of the idol' routine.  Who first came up with that trope?  It's more India/Burma than Egyptian.  Conan Doyle uses something similar in The Sign of Four (a rajah's treasure stolen during the Indian Mutiny), but that's predated by The Moonstone (a diamond from the statue of the goddess of the moon) in 1868.  I imagine that the story would have been influenced by tales of fabulous riches seized during the Mutiny or by the earlier nabobs, such as Lord Clive.  But where do the tales of curses come from?  It is the kind of question James Holloway approaches so entertainingly on his blog.