Pulp Alley-A few questions

[krieghund]

I like what I've heard about these rules but before I dive headlong into them I've a few questions.
Are they solo friendly ?
Could they be used in supernatural or Cthulu type settings ?
And finally, can they be played on a 2' x 2' board. The last point is a bit of a deal breaker.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[jet]

Are they solo friendly ?

I haven't played solo per say, but I have tested a couple of rules and scenarios alone to make sure I understand them. It works fine but, one of the great elements in the rules is the initiative system. The player who wins the initiative (and it can be lost, and re-won, and re-lost) gets to decide which player has to activate a model. Therefore, if there is only one human being playing, I'm not sure how that part would play out. On the flip side, the card deck has lots of random perils which can be used to represent how the characters are interacting with the environment. That part, I think, would work very well in a solo game.

Could they be used in supernatural or Cthulu type settings ?

God yes. Probably better than many games that were created specifically for those settings. The rules on Terrors (essentially a one-man/creature league) allow you to create larger than life threats such as Godzilla, King Kong, or in your case, Cthulhu, Ithaqua, or Hastur. The Perilous Island expansion (which is a must) contains all of the weird abilities and perks which would be used to represent dark magic, supernatural abilities, hordes of cult/undead/alien followers, and the list goes on.

And finally, can they be played on a 2' x 2' board. The last point is a bit of a deal breaker.

The game calls for a 3x3 tabletop, HOWEVER, I've played it on larger and smaller. For a few games, I used my interior building tiles to lay out the under-croft of a cathedral (which was less than 2x2 ft) and it worked perfectly. My only caution would be to have lots of blocking terrain so that shooting wouldn't be completely out of control.

[d phipps]

Jet is 100% correct, so I'll only add a few suggestions about playing the turn sequence solo ---


There aren't any official rules for solo-play (yet), but it does work pretty easily with just a bit of common sense.

As far as activating characters, I'd suggest making the side without the Initiative active their characters first -- or until they can steal the Initiative. When the other side steals the Initiative they can start making the opposing side activate. The exception to this would be if there is an obvious advantage to having the side with Initiative active a character, then they should do so.

> Shooty characters should shoot, Brawly character should try to get engaged in a brawl, and Action characters should be trying to complete the plot points.

> In general, I would suggest making the combat as bloody as possible when the antagonists are activating -- don't block/cancel any dice. And when your hero side is activating, just play it as you normally would and use your best judgment on how many dice to block/cancel.



The Fortune Deck works great for solo play and gives an element of surprise when it comes to resolving perils and plot points. You can make your own deck from out of the book or buy one of the printed decks.


Yes, if you're going for a supernatural/mythos theme then the Perilous Island expansion will have you covered.


Yes, a 2'x2' table will work fine.



A free version of Pulp Alley is available for download off of Wargame Vault. It's not the full game but it's enough to get started -- http://www.wargamevault.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=5628

Please let us know if you have any questions.




HAVE FUN

[krieghund]

Ordered, received and waiting to be printed. Many thanks.

[Amalric]

...There aren't any official rules for solo-play (yet), ....

Does this mean some are in the works?
 

[Prof. Dinglebat. Phd.]

Does this mean some are in the works?
 

'Perks' with ears wide open. 

[d phipps]

Does this mean some are in the works?
 

If "in the works" means that I have a half-page of notes scribbled down in a notebook, then yes.

However, right now my focus is firmly set on finishing the Pulp Vehicles book, and I seriously doubt that I'll work on the solo-rules for several more months.

We do have some very creative players out there, so if anyone wants to try their hand and writing up some solo-rules for Pulp Alley thats always an option as well.



THANKS

[Elk101]

As someone new to Pulp Alley who has just been through the same deliberations, I would say 'get it' as you won't be disappointed. The PDF on its own is great value if you want a low cost dabble. I put a few notes here on my initial thoughts which may help:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=58100.0

I'm looking to use them for Victorian pulp.