Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pulp => Topic started by: Ironworker on 30 December 2007, 03:25:54 AM
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My Sky Pirate setting keeps stalling due to a number of factors including finding a stable game group at the moment. I do have two regular players at the moment. My wife and daughter. My other players show up from time to time but aren't regular so I was considering a serial based Pulp Adventure game with a lead character and sidekick played by my wife and daughter. This way other players could enter as co-stars. I know it's kind of odd to have a main character in an RPG type setting but my wife is my one constant player and I think it would work out pretty well for game reports.
Anyhow the two main characters are Abigale Blackfeather, and her daughter Karen. Abigale is of partial Native American decent. Her father was half Native American (haven't figured out the tribe). Though Abigale is throughly American she still has strong ties to her native roots. She's currently in charge of her families massive cattle ranching operation. I haven't decided if her father is dead or otherwise out of the picture. The Blackfeather Ranches are spread over several western states and Abigale pilots her Lockheed Vega from ranch to ranch managing the family business.
I have many adventures in mind centered around all kinds of Western stories, and pulp adventurers. Some of the theme's I have in mind include:
Spanish Gold hunters
Lost Mines
Cattle Rustlers
Protecting Native American sites
Tracking down criminals
Pirate treasure along the Gulf of Mexico
Native American Legends
I know the 1930s doesn't seem like a typical western era but the Western U.S. was still pretty vast and untamed at that time and there were still some of the same kind of things going on worthy of cowboy legend. The Western attitude was still there and to some extent is still there to this day. Basically I'm trying to balance something between Indiana Jones style adventure archeology and classic western adventure.
I'd love some specific ideas or any comments on this idea.
Also I have some miniature questions.
How do you think it would look to mix in some Cowboy style miniatures and perhaps Mexican Bandito style miniatures with regular style Pulp miniatures?
My thoughts are that it would be ok as long as I didn't push it too much. Of course I would avoid things like flintlock and cap lock rifles but I would think western style revolvers and Henry/Winchester style rifles would look ok.
Is there anywhere I could get mounted pulp era NPCs and heroes or at least good horses to do conversions?
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I know the 1930s doesn't seem like a typical western era but the Western U.S. was still pretty vast and untamed at that time and there were still some of the same kind of things going on worthy of cowboy legend. The Western attitude was still there and to some extent is still there to this day. Basically I'm trying to balance something between Indiana Jones style adventure archeology and classic western adventure.
Are you kidding? That´s the classic era of "A guitar for every singing cowboy", "Cars freely roaming the Prairie" and "A Mexican orchestra hiding behind every cactus"!!! :lol:
Really, it sounds like a great idea, and I like the idea of the female lead characters - unusual for the time, at least for serials, but jolly decent from our point of view. I guess Mexicans and Cowboys should work, "if you don´t overdo it" - I´d be careful on their weaponry, indeed, just sixguns and repeating rifles, if possible, anything else would look rather dated, methinks.
For scenarios, of course, there´s the topic of Indian burial grounds, with the heroines and heroes aiding hard-pressed "good" Indians against thieving villains. Or maybe a stash of stuff hidden by Spanish monks ("Cross of Coronado", anyone?). Or Nazis plotting to take over the us from a secret base hidden in one of those plateau mountains.
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Remember Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution. Thats very Cowboy. Just please, let Patton have his sqeaky voice back after years of sounding like a man who sandpapers his throat. Not to mention the classic "Bad Guy (Nazi/Japanese/Fu Manchu/Criminal Mastermind/Slaver) pays local yahoos to become his army". So you could have Klaus von Nasti, fiendish National Socialist, paying Texan Rednecks to attack oil wells.Other than that there's the possibility of rogue archaeologists (after the Spanish Gold?) or a Filipino Freedom Fighter bringing his fight to the US.
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the western storys work very good and I like the Idea .
for the adventures you can also make a Roswell UFO adventure with a flavour of Indian mythology , not the Mars Attack stuff more mysterious story.
And a bad Oil magnate try to drive some Indians out of there land ,with help from some Maxican Banditos ,is also a classic story .
For Figures you can use a lot of the Foundry Stuff and the Copplestone Hillbillys are also a must have .
I'm curious about it
Rock on Grimm
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You could also extend to prohibition by a few years, and have some alcohol smuggling/home distilling scenarios. "Last man standing" could lend a few inspirations.
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Or Nazis plotting to take over the us from a secret base hidden in one of those plateau mountains.
I was actually thinking yesterday of ordering some of the Pulp Figures Nazi She Wolves for a similar senerio. Basically the She Wolves take over a nunnery somewhere in the soutwest and pose as nuns. They then use their influence to brainwash some of the locals with Nazi ideaology. That is of course until they are discovered......
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You could also extend to prohibition by a few years, and have some alcohol smuggling/home distilling scenarios. "Last man standing" could lend a few inspirations.
Prohibition lasted until 1933 right? I may start out as early as 1928 so that will give me a lot of time to do those kinds of senerios.
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WOW! Nazis and nuns now that sounds sick, I'm in!
:D
Brian
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Sounds like a perfect excuse to buy Copplestone's Texas Rangers to me:
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/range.php?range=GAN
Very pulp western look to them.
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And that Thrilling Tales figure from Artizan based on Sharon Stone in the Quick & the Dead movie (at least, that's what I thought it was meant to be)... 8)
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Prohibition lasted until 1933 right? I may start out as early as 1928 so that will give me a lot of time to do those kinds of senerios.
Oops. I checked on Wikipedia and got sidetracked by the article on Al Capone. Might have mixed up some dates :)
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Basically the She Wolves take over a nunnery somewhere in the soutwest and pose as nuns.
That would make an excellent and archetypal Sexploitation movie in itself... :lol:
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Basically the She Wolves take over a nunnery somewhere in the soutwest and pose as nuns.
That would make an excellent and archetypal Sexploitation movie in itself... :lol:
Yeah but I won't be going that direction with my daughter playing......
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Hill Billies, thats what needs to be put in the mix :)
(http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/images/BMM405.jpg)
(http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/images/BMM406.jpg)
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Those are nice Lowtardog but. I'm almost afraid to ask where you got those very nice trucks?
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Those are nice Lowtardog but. I'm almost afraid to ask where you got those very nice trucks?
These aren`t mine :oops: they are pics taken form Blue Mon Manufacturing and very nice they are too :mrgreen:
http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/index.php?cat_id=18
the vehicles certainly look very nice
http://www.bluemoonmanufacturing.com/index.php?cat_id=23
I have managed to resist but only just :D
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Ah very cool thanks for the links I had forgotten about those.
On a note I'm just about done with a generic desert board I'll be using as my southwest desert terrain. Right now just the table top is done athough it needs a clear coat. I have some desert hills cut out and an old mesa of mine. This week I'm going to work on rocky outcroppings and some dead trees.
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If you want to get a bit more Indiana Jones flair in there, you could explore the possibility of America having been visited by various pre-Columbus explorers from the rest of the world, leaving behind tombs, treasures, and other such things. This kind of stuff gets suggested in adventure fiction often enough. Maybe some exiled Chinese nobleman got shipwrecked on the American west coast 1000+ years ago and hid his vast treasure of jade somewhere in the Rockies? Or maybe an ancient Egyptian colony lies ruined and forgotten somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico?
Now I want to do this kind of stuff, too...
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One more thing: Aren't the "Zorro Rides Again" films set in the western US of the 1930s? I haven't seen them, but I've heard they feature stuff like air pirates, so they certainly sound very pulp-ish.
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Maybe some hellfire preacher and his loony chums have turned up and are trying to "Make this place all moral like and fit for the eyes of the Lawd!" and have thearby reintroduced their own version of Prohibition. Then they might take umbrage at the Sky Pirates ("If the Lawd wanted men to fly he'd ha' given them a pair of wings ya buncha flyin sinners!") and possibly at the archeology ("Is idols of the devil. Them Mayans was Satan worshippers. An' any what wants them Satan idols must be a follower of Satan too. Hold 'em down boys, we got oursilves a burning comin up!").
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Speaking of Prohibition, I seem to recall that even though the national law was rescinded after a few years, it was still very much left up to local or town councils to decide whether to allow spiritous liquors within the city limits.
Surely there are still dry towns out there to this day? And wasn't (God forgive me) the movie Footloose set in such a town?
With that in mind, I could see a version of Xeoran's idea about a religious town council providing the oposition whenever you chose to set the game.
Hmmm, Footloose with shotguns. Now that's a movie I'd pay to see.
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Our very first Pulp game used the Old West scenery we'd already built for cowboy games. The scenario went something along these lines:
The evil Nazis had hired the SanFrancisco Tong to steal top secret information, and had arranged for the handover to take place in the ghost town of Hoople. Unfortunately for the bad guys, the Tong had been followed to the rendezvous by our intrepid heroes from the Boston University of Medicine and Science (BUMS). Just as the BUMS team had the jump on the Tong, the Zeppelin Troopen showed up and the balance swung in favour of the newcomers. This was not to last, as Brad Freely and the US Rocket Troops provided a momentary diversion, just long enough for the BUMS to stop the transfer and preserve the secrets of Area 51.
The reason that the momentary diversion was only momentary had to do with the rules we were making up on the fly. One of the Zeppelin troop managed to shoot a Rocketman. On the spot ruling: 1-4 was a hit on the man, 5-6 on the rocket pack. Rocket pack was hit, leading to another quick decision: damage! The hit could have no effect, or disable the rocket pack, or (as it happened) explode messily. To everyone's delight (except the rocketmen), the pack exploded! Next test was collateral damage. Everyone within 3" had to check to see if they were damaged. As luck would have it, this included two more rocketmen! As a result, the one zep trooper took out 3 of the rocketmen with a single burst of SMG fire, and the rocketmen learnt that close order formations should only be used in airshows.
For more inspiration for doing wild west in the 1930s, check out the Bruce Willis movie, Last Man Standing, and keep us posted on how the adventures develop!
Regards
will
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Great ideas everyone! I'm actually pretty supprised at the quality of feedback. I didn't realize some many people were interested in this type of setting. I'll be keeping this thread updated with some my senerio ideas and miniatures.
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Ok I'm trying to set up a senerio for my first Abigale Blackfeather adventure. My past pulp attempts have suffered from idea explosion. That is the ideas grew faster than my miniature collection or wallet could keep up with. This time I'm trying to focus largely on what I have. My pulp collection isn't big and it's mostly suited for the Sky Pirates setting I was and still am working on. My Southwest terrain is turning out quite nicely and I think I could finish any terrain needs for this project without too much trouble. I'm shooting for the end of the month at the latest for the first installment.
Here are the miniature resources I have at the moment.
These are my painted miniatures. Five U.S. Marines, Two male pilots, Two female pilots, Three dames with guns, a detective, Ten German Friekorps, and a 1918 Ford Runabout painted up in U.S. Military type olive drab.
(http://pinphoto.tripod.com/natesmiscpics/American%20Pulp%20Project/paintedfigs.jpg)
Here are some unpainted Pulp Figures with a few Foundry Detectives. Eight more marines, a dog, a pilot, a mechanic, three detective types, an Asian woman, and a Lockheed Vegaish die cast plane which needs to be re-painted. The plane with likely be Abigale's plane.
(http://pinphoto.tripod.com/natesmiscpics/American%20Pulp%20Project/miscandplane.jpg)
Next up I have a dozen Copplestone miniatures based primed and ready to paint. I believe the packs are, American Adventurers, Armed Archaeoligist, and Female Archaeoligist.
(http://pinphoto.tripod.com/natesmiscpics/American%20Pulp%20Project/copplestone.jpg)
Finally I have some early 19th century era Outlaws. They are Foundry and I think they are suppose to be the James gang. I've thought about using these guys as ghost.
(http://pinphoto.tripod.com/natesmiscpics/American%20Pulp%20Project/cowboys.jpg)
Here is my idea so far.
New Mexico 1928 at the Blackfeather ranch. Sheriff Frank Maxwell shows up at the ranch early in the Morning with a upset looking little Mexican girl. Maxwell explains that the little girl was traveling with her family and some other was trying to make their way to California when one of their party fell ill. The group decided to set up a small camp near a water hole to rest. Nearby they found the ruins of an old homestead so the scavenged some lumber to build some simple shelters. Three days ago some strange men came into their camp. There was an argument and two men from the little girl’s party were shot. The rest of the men women and children were taken south into the hills to look for something with the strange men. Only the sick person and one old woman were allowed to say in the camp but three of the strange men stayed behind to guard them. The little girl named Anita, escaped and ran off into the desert to look for help. She stumbled into the nearby town of "Dugan's Camp" early this morning. Sheriff Maxwell wants Abigale Blackfeather to fly him and some of his men out to the camp to try and find out what is going on.
The “strange” men are foreign treasure hunters looking for the lost treasure of the Dillanger gang. Somehow they have found evidence of where the gang’s treasure is hidden so they hired some mercenaries and set out to find the treasure.
The Dillanger gang was a gang of outlaws who robbed stagecoaches and trains during the late 1860s. Their last heist was a simple stage coach robbery. Unbeknownst to the outlaws however one of the passengers in the stagecoach was a witch from the old country. The gang shot the passengers and the driver but before the witch died she cursed them. When the gang returned to their cavern hideout in New Mexico to hide their loot a sudden rock slide closed off the mouth of the cave and trapped the gang inside. One gang member was outside tending to the horses and survived. He never returned for fear of the curse but he kept a map to the location of the cave in his journal. This journal was passed down through his family and eventually came into the hands of a young Texan who discovered the map which had been hidden inside the book binding. The young Texan however had been drafted into the army as was on his way to Europe to fight in The Great War. He was killed in Europe and that’s how the journal came into the hands of the European treasure hunter.
The cave itself is haunted by the ghost of the outlaw gang who also set traps to guard their treasure. No one knows this at the time of the scenario. There may also be other dangers like snake pits and wild animals. Also the witch’s belongings may contain some dangers of either the spectral or demonic kind that have been let loose inside the cave.
This is the basic idea. Now I just need to flesh it out using mostly what I have available. Any suggestions would be welcome.
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Cool looking plane - any idea of the maker ?
As for other plot lines and walk in characters - how about having Abigail's father as one of the possible walk-in extras ?
On the Chinese ideas, try and find a book called "1421" by Gavin Menzies, it has lots of detail about a Chinese fleet sailing around the world in 1421.
Apart from crazed Nazi nuns you could consider some sinister Chinese (Fu Manchu style) or perhaps Chinese Nationalists ? Also you might add in some Russians - Trotsky was murdered by Stalin's agents in Mexico in 1940, so you could have exiled Russians on the run from Communist agents. If they include exiled Russian nobility you get the possibility of more treasure too (a chance to make your wife a Faberge Easter eggg !)