Well, it has been about a year since the last game of pulp. Why you ask? Several reasons.... A lot of us are busy with families, several of us like to play many different games (ok me), but one of the biggest reasons is because we could not find a set of rules we liked.
We started with Chaos in Cairo about 18 months ago or so. Tim and I played about 3-4 games. In the beginning, it was a lot of fun, but by the 4th game, we were tired of all the action points and all of the die rolls. Next up, .45 Adventure. This game has received a lot of praise all over the net so I was very interested in trying the game. I can see why people would like the game but it certainly is not for our group. A 2 foot by 2 foot table is not too interesting and again, there are way too many die rolls for what I get out of the game.
Believe it or not, there are not many rule sets out there for pulp. We talked about trying Savage Worlds and a few others but nothing caught our fancy. At the beginning of this project, Tim kept suggesting a port of Legends of the Old West. I poo-pooed the idea several times because I really did not think it would work. I did not think you could develop a good skill set or magic system using the rules.
After a 1 year hiatus, I suggested a game of pulp. I would host at my house and invite various friends. By the time the game rolled around, only 3 could make the game. I decided I would try using the basic Legends system (Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas) for a series of playtest games.
The first game was a 3 way battle with French and British contingents fighting against the forces of the Egytian evil minions looking for fortune and treasure. After a slugfest, the French were able to fight through 2 sandstorms and find a valuable artifact.
In our second game, the French force had to deliver the artifact to their bosses in the Egyptian town. It was a real close battle but the evil minions were able to stop the French as they climbed the stairs to the building where they had to drop off the goods.
So, the real question. How was the game? Did the port work? I will be honest, Tim was correct (and he really never is). Legends was a great port for pulp.
We all decided several things:
1. The warbands work well with half heroes and about half henchmen
2. The heroes must start with skills to give it that pulp flavor
3. The campaign system needs to be revamped for pulp since pulp is so story driven
Where are we headed? I think we will be playing more pulp than we have in the past. I also think we will be working on a solid conversion of the Legends system.
Stay tuned for more...
3 days ago
