I purchased the Pulp Alley Monthly Scenario 10 combo pack that included the printed cards with the PDF of the scenario. I thought today that I would give a short review of my purchase.
The PDFThe PDF comes in at 14 pages when you include the cover. The cover is full color with additional color through the remaining pages. The layout is clean and crisp. With a simple but effective design. It is very similar to what you see in the other Pulp Alley books. It starts out with an introduction advising of the methods of play for the scenario and recommendations on use of the Horror Deck and Strange Shadows booster pack for said Horror Deck. Next is a handy Turn Summary page that also includes reminders on the Fight Modifiers. This comes in very handy. Next comes a summary of the scenario. This details the background of the scenario, plot points, number of turns, deployment zones, and special rules used for the scenario. Following this is the rules for horror and non-player characters. Each one taking up a page. After this we have the setup of the scenario. This provides specific details on how to set up the play area, deploy, and such. After this we have a table of events that each player must roll on prior to starting the game. After this we have a page dedicated to the special rules of the scenario and then one dedicated to the scenario wrap-up. The remaining pages include the cards needed for the scenario. Players can print them out to make their own scenario deck and have the reference card for the living dead NPCs in the scenario.
All and all the PDF gives you everything you need to play through the scenario. It recommends some possible characters from the Pulp Alley line of miniatures to run through the scenario or encourages a player to create their own. The writing is what you would come to expect from a Pulp Alley product. Anyone who has previously purchased a Pulp Alley PDF will know what to expect from this one. Rating 4 out of 5.
The CardsThe cards are printed on the same type of card stock that you would expect from Pulp Alley. The colors are vibrant and the text is easily read on them. The set of cards contained 12 cards. 11 of these are the scenario cards that make up the scenario deck used during the game and the other is an ally card representing the living dead NPC. I love the layout and look of the Pulp Alley cards. I always recommend buying the cards if you can afford it. I know it is more expensive than printing your own, but I think they are more than worth it. The scenario cards continue the color coding of the backs helping to make the cards easily recognizable from others. For those who are curious, the scenario deck uses a yellow back laid out like the other cards with scenario written on them. Rating 5 out of 5.
The ScenarioThe scenario is designed to be playable solo, co-op, or versus. Each player takes control of one character. The scenario makes use of the horror and non-player character rules previously mentioned in the PDF section of this review. It also uses an event roll prior to the first start of the game. This is similar to the events listed in the original rulebook but the list is geared specifically to this scenario. When a character activates, they must first resolve a scenario card from the deck. These scenario cards can do various things such as spawn a plot point or a living dead. At the end of each turn, a new living dead is spawned at the center of the map.
I personally do not currently own a horror deck. When I played the game versus my wife we decided that whenever a horror check was called for, the character in question would just move 6 inches in the opposite direction of the nearest enemy. This seemed to work pretty well. I really enjoyed the scenario deck. It felt similar to what the solo deck does for solo players. The cards keep things exciting and I hope to see more use from a scenario deck. If you read this Dave, please make a more generic scenario deck. I think it could add an additional aspect to the game.
Overall, I really enjoyed playing through the scenario. There were only two issues that I had with the scenario and they are minor ones. The first is that the outer 6 inches of the play area is considered perilous area. This means that the regular perilous area rules on in effect. This is fine, but it leads to the second issue of the scenario. The living dead spawn at the center of the map. With the outside areas being perilous, it pushes players towards the center of the board. This greatly increases the chances of the plot points being spawned near the center of the play area. What I found this that this can lead to a character getting trapped within the 12 inch rush range of the spawning living dead. This ultimately is what made my character meet his demise. I moved him in to try and get a plot point that was discovered, but it was within the 12 inch range of the living dead. This meant that every turn a new living dead was rushing my character. It made it impossible to get away from them once there was more than one in the brawl. I would recommend that this be changed. I would suggest having them spawn from a random board edge and then move 6 inches towards the nearest survivor. I will try this method in my next play through and see what happens. Rating 4 out of 5.
Overall, I found the scenario to be highly enjoyable. I had been hesitant to purchase any of the scenario of the month offerings. But this one being a zombie survival scenario peaked my interest. I am glad that I purchased it and will probably consider purchasing some of the other ones.
If you would like to read my poor attempt at an AAR, please checkout the link below.
https://imgur.com/a/W0h2YaC