Pulp Encounters ideas and advice

[oldskoolrebel]

I've recently been talking to Gmac about running another pulp game using the .45 rule set. Traditionally we've always played it with a DM/GM who controlled one faction or random encounters, while this has its uses I'd like to actually play with my fellow players!

There are 6-10 of us who turn up at the table, so you can imagine that there can be a lot of models on the table (in fact I've used a 3'x2' board during the last few games). Because of the number of players we'd need to limit the models. One was that I'm considering doing this is by having each player choose a faction. Each faction would contain a number of models that are the equivalent to a grade 3. I've identified the following combinations as being the most suitable for us:

1x Grade 3
or
1x Grade 2, 1x Grade 1
or
1x Grade 2, 2x Grade 1/2

I feel that these combinations allow players to utilise different tactics. I'm also considering randomly assigning the faction to the player. This will hopefully spice things up a little, and will hopefully make it a little less bias (I wouldn't be accused of choosing the best faction for example!)


The way that we organise and run encounters would have to be altered as well. Currently each encounter has been designed, numbered and placed by the DM. Instead I'd like to create a 'standard deck' of 18-27 encounter cards. At the start of the game a certain number of these cards would randomly be selected and mixed with any scenario specific encounters. When a mode activated an encounter the player would turn over the first card.

I'm hoping to create a short story arc, probably set in the Near East or North Africa. I've been creating a 'standard' deck to use and below is what I've come up with. Please feel free to critique or throw in any ideas.

General Event Deck (18 or 27)


Good: 6
Bad: 8
Neutral: 7

'Good' Events
1. Currency of the World: You find a crumpled up $50 note.Keep Card until end of game.
2. Peddler; 
3. Barber-surgeon; A local back street surgeon patches up your wounds. Remove two wounds of your choice.
4. Exotic Treasure; A glint in the sand captures your eye, upon closer inspection its revealed to be a relic from antiquity. At the end of the game add $50 to your total. Keep the card until the end of the game.
5. Psst! Over Here:  A hooded native has taken pity on you and shows you a short cut. You may immediately make an additional free move.
6. Wisdom of Age: You are approached by an elderly gentleman who offers advice. When you next activate an encounter draw two cards and choose one, return the second card to the encounter deck and immediately shuffle it.


'Bad' Events
7. Sniper
8. Sniper
9. High Winds; All models are affected. Movement is reduced to 1/2 and dodges are reduces by -2 (to a minimum of 1)
10. Rat Swarm;
11. Beetle Swarm;
12. Hostile Native!;
13. High Sun; The reflections from the high sun blind you. Next round you suffer a -5 to all attacks from sun blindness.
14. Asp;

Neutral Events
15. Nothing Happens
16. Nothing Happens
17. Nothing Happens
18. Sand Storm; All models are affected. The line of sight is reduced to 9". Negates High Winds
19. Clear Skies; Negates High Winds and Sand Storm
20. Clear Skies; Negates High Winds and Sand Storm
21. Beggars; You are surrounded by a ragged swarm of hungry beggars. You lose your next action as you fight your way out of the huddle. However any shot which are fired at you have a 1-5 chance of missing you because of the distraction of the beggars.

22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

Obviously the above is still a working list and will be altered/changed as and when I have time.


You may have noticed that I've included a couple of encounters that award the players money. I'll explain this shortly. With 6-10 players on the board and one central object I feel that the game could be finished very quickly. So to keep player's interests and make each scenario play a little longer I've thought about the idea of creating a deck of 'sub missions'. Some of these sub-missions would be scenario specific and some would be general (i.e. kill/incapacitate the leader of XX faction). These missions would be drawn randomly by the players and kept secret until they're achieved. The prize for completing the sub missions is money. The total money that a player has 'earned' is tracked and at the end of the arc a 'special prize' will be awarded to the player with the most money earned. Perhaps the Central mission would also prove to be financially rewarding, in addition to the normal benefits of winning.

I'm also considering the option of allowing the players to 'spend' the money on 'one off' items and such like. I'm considering awarding upto $350 for successfully completing the main mission and $250 for a sub-mission and I've put together the following list of 'one off' items for players to 'buy':

Dollars
During the course of a game player's will have a chance to gain money, this is achieved in a variety of ways all though the most common are random encounters and completing missions. At the end of each game the money gained during the game is added to  the player's total.

Money can be used to 'purchase' special one off 'power ups' before the next game

Value         Power Up
$500         Specific weapon reload: A reload for a specific weapon i.e. pistol, SMG, Rifle or shotgun.
$900         Generic weapon reload: A reload that can be used for any missile weapon
$2000         Native Assistant: For the next game the faction is joined by a grade 1 native assistant.
$2000           Chartered Zeppelin: The Player arrives for the next game in a Zeppelin. When setting up the player nominates    where he'd like the Zeppelin to drop them, a marker is placed here. On the player's first turn he must roll a scatter die. If it indicates that he's went off course the player actually lands 1D10" in the direction show. If the player was to have an extra or a free turn due to winning the last game he may subtract the slowest speed score from the 1D10"
 

[tima113]

Your encounters seemed skewed to bad events to me. I like to keep them roughly equal between good, bad and neutral but find it's easier to come up with bad events/challenges. I do like your weather event/clear sky encounter pairs and will definitely use it for a future game.

I think you have a good plan for secondary missions or victory conditions to keep groups in the running. For an ongoing campaign, tying the secondary missions or some encounters to entry advantages for a future scene is good. Personally, the money idea seems like too much bookkeeping for me, brings back bad memories of my old Top Secret RPG campaign gone awry. I'd just award the bonus based on a clue or advantage found during the previous adventure (save the zep driver and get a ride for the next adventure, if he and your grooup survives).

[Oldben1]

I really like your ideas, they can easily be re-used for another scenario.

I have standard archetype characters for my players to choose- it makes the game much easier to start.  I use player flaw cards - random cards that affect each character.  For example Double CrossOne of your contacts is secretly working for the wrong side.  If you roll a 10, 11, or 12 on your initiative roll you are considered activated.  I find this forces the characters to collaborate more.  Just like you I use encounter cards.  I have a basic plot outline with small encounters along the way.  I place secret treasure markers for the characters to find.  There are lots of good sites with cool pics for your cursed objects - The island of Yak Yak and Jordan Greywolf's tile site.

Sounds like a fun game!

[Operator5]

I like the idea of the sub-deck for a secondary mission. But for your primary mission, I always suggest that it takes 3 Encounters to trigger the prize (ie. 3 markers to locate the temple, three pieces required to build the "key", etc.) This will keep all players on the board longer as they first need to find the pieces and then they need to use them to locate the prize.

The money idea is not bad at all. It does potentially give some players an advantage later on, but as long as you keep the advantages non-game breaking. It should be good.

[cheetor]

I like the idea of a generic encounter deck that can be tweaked depending on scenario.  Thats a good plan.

While it might remove some of the specific story elements from some scenarios in favour of more generic events, it would be a very practical way to incorporate various things into scenarios.

[Operator5]

For a while, one of the encounters that appeared in nearly every game I ran was a camel stampede. Now, in North Africa and the Middle East that worked fine, even the Gobi or Australia could work. But you should see the looks on the faces of the players when it happens on a flying aircraft carrier hovering over the Pacific ocean.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Nice ideas. We've experimented with sub-missions ourselves and found it quite interesting. For more randomness I established a system where every player gets two secondary missions. After he has fulfilled one of them he is given a new one and may discard one of the both remaining. That's mainly to confuse the game master who's written the scenario, of course, but provided good fun. However, a lot of thought is necessary to get these missions right and not bearing on the scenario as a whole. I'd like to read more about your experiences.

[oldskoolrebel]

Thanks all for the honest replies and feedback.

Your encounters seemed skewed to bad events to me. I like to keep them roughly equal between good, bad and neutral but find it's easier to come up with bad events/challenges. I do like your weather event/clear sky encounter pairs and will definitely use it for a future game.

I think you have a good plan for secondary missions or victory conditions to keep groups in the running. For an ongoing campaign, tying the secondary missions or some encounters to entry advantages for a future scene is good. Personally, the money idea seems like too much bookkeeping for me, brings back bad memories of my old Top Secret RPG campaign gone awry. I'd just award the bonus based on a clue or advantage found during the previous adventure (save the zep driver and get a ride for the next adventure, if he and your grooup survives).

I agree with you about the encounters being skewed... I'll work on that! Even if I say so myself I love the idea of the weather events! I'd be tempted to class them as 'neutral' cards after all they aren't all bad.

As for the house keeping, I realise that this wouldn't work with all groups. I imagine it to be minimal, but only time will tell!

I really like your ideas, they can easily be re-used for another scenario.

I have standard archetype characters for my players to choose- it makes the game much easier to start.  I use player flaw cards - random cards that affect each character.  For example Double CrossOne of your contacts is secretly working for the wrong side.  If you roll a 10, 11, or 12 on your initiative roll you are considered activated.  I find this forces the characters to collaborate more.  Just like you I use encounter cards.  I have a basic plot outline with small encounters along the way.  I place secret treasure markers for the characters to find.  There are lots of good sites with cool pics for your cursed objects - The island of Yak Yak and Jordan Greywolf's tile site.

Sounds like a fun game!

Double cross sounds like a great idea! The only problem being I imagined the factions working individually, only teaming up when it was advantageous. Hmm I'll see if I can incorporate something similar into the game!

My googlefu is failing could you please provide links to the sites you mentioned? Cheers!

I like the idea of the sub-deck for a secondary mission. But for your primary mission, I always suggest that it takes 3 Encounters to trigger the prize (ie. 3 markers to locate the temple, three pieces required to build the "key", etc.) This will keep all players on the board longer as they first need to find the pieces and then they need to use them to locate the prize.

The money idea is not bad at all. It does potentially give some players an advantage later on, but as long as you keep the advantages non-game breaking. It should be good.

Good advice Rich. In the first scenaro we have to find a professor; originally I'd planned on just adding a single encounter for him but perhaps I could use your 3-clue approach... perhaps after finding his journal, glasses and then his pipe the good doctor would be revealed. Any ideas on how this would work?

Also Camel Stampede  Would you be so kind as to include the rules you use for this? Pretty Please?

I like the idea of a generic encounter deck that can be tweaked depending on scenario.  Thats a good plan.

While it might remove some of the specific story elements from some scenarios in favour of more generic events, it would be a very practical way to incorporate various things into scenarios.

Basically I hope that by using a generic encounter deck and random 'submissions' we can get rid of a GM/DM... I'll let you know how it works.

Nice ideas. We've experimented with sub-missions ourselves and found it quite interesting. For more randomness I established a system where every player gets two secondary missions. After he has fulfilled one of them he is given a new one and may discard one of the both remaining. That's mainly to confuse the game master who's written the scenario, of course, but provided good fun. However, a lot of thought is necessary to get these missions right and not bearing on the scenario as a whole. I'd like to read more about your experiences.

I'd considered something similar, except each player would be dealt two secondary mission cards and force to discard one before the game began... that way I could eliminate players sitting with the secondary mission of assassinating their own models!

I totally understand what you mean about getting the missions right; when I come up with ideas I'll post them here, hopefully people will be able to spot any game breaking ones.



So far a quick count shows the following break down of encounters:

Good: 3
Bad: 8
Neutral: 7

A definite skew! How about the following 'good' encounters

Psst! Over Here: A hooded native has taken pity on you and shows you a short cut. You may immediately make an additional free move.

Wisdom of Age: You are approached by an elderly gentleman who offers advice. When you next activate an encounter draw two cards and choose one, return the second card to the encounter deck and immediately shuffle it.

Any further ideas?

Cheers
Andy

[Oldben1]

Here is a collection of cool objects to use, trim the pictures
http://greywolf.critter.net/gb/gm.htm

Here are more cool cards
http://www.island-of-wak-wak.com/downloads/index.html

If you are interested in my character flaw cards I can post those too.

[tima113]

I agree that weather encounters are neutral since they affect all groups. I only consider an encounter good or bad if it gives an advantage/disadvantage to one group.

I like the shortcut and wisdom additions, simple encounters and give a little advantage but not so much that it will tilt the competitive balance. When crafting bad encounters, I try to make them of the "delay" sort rather than outright "kill the character" encounters. The climatic encounter and the ever-present threat of the competition typically provide sufficent danger fro multi-player games.

If it is a dangerous encounter, I often soften the blow by including save opportunities to notice it before activating the encounter (becomes a delay encounter - you notice a pit trap, spend your next activation moving around it) or give the character an opportunity to avoid/lessen the effect after activating (e.g. dodge roll to avoid).