Pulp Alley: 4-3-2 = 3-3-3?

[mikedemana]

Hi,

I have a question for those who have run Pulp Alley. Dave and Mila were saying that larger scenarios work well with each player having just a Leader (Level 4), Sidekick (Level 3), and Ally (Level 2). What about a league that instead had 3 Sidekicks? I know the numbers add up to an equal amount. However, would it *not* be competitive without the leader, or too tough with all three being Level 3?

I'd be interested to hear feedback from anyone who's run or played a number of games about this. I don't want it to derail any play balance, but I think it would be a neat difference if it works...

Thanks!

Mike Demana

[FramFramson]

Well, you could also go 4-3-3 by taking the company of heroes perk, but that would be a straight advantage. I guess you're wondering if 3-3-3 would balance against 4-3-2?

I'm interested in hearing why the larger scenarios work better with the smaller number. Quicker gameplay without getting bogged down by bigger teams?

[d phipps]

Mike -- Yes, a Leader+Sidekick+Ally league will be fairly balanced against league made up of three Sidekicks.

To clarify, I mainly use 5 slot leagues when I’m running a quick demo game – just to teach new players the basic mechanics…

How does Initiative work? How do I steal the Initiative?
How does combat work? When should I dodge rather than counter-attack?
How do I complete Plot Points?
…and so on.

I'm interested in hearing why the larger scenarios work better with the smaller number. Quicker gameplay without getting bogged down by bigger teams?

Ayup, you got it. If I have 4-6 new players, these smaller demo games can help them focus on learning the rules without having a bunch of different characters.




HAVE FUN

[FramFramson]

Ah, for new players, yeah I can understand that.

[FramFramson]

Say, in a similar vein, do you think there'll be a few more 1-point League perks?

I think those help give you more options for playing with fewer figures if both players are using their full 10 points.

For instance, if you want a simple 5-person League, You can go Leader, Sidekick, 3x Ally. But in that case how to spend the last point? You can grab a cheap Follower or a handful of 1-point League perks. The pair in Perilous Island are nice, but most leagues won't be able to use Reanimated (and by the way does the bracketed word "(Location)" in the 'Altar' perk have a game function yet? I didn't see anything in the rulebooks, but maybe I missed that?).

Just wondering!

[d phipps]

Say, in a similar vein, do you think there'll be a few more 1-point League perks?

I think those help give you more options for playing with fewer figures if both players are using their full 10 points.

For instance, if you want a simple 5-person League, You can go Leader, Sidekick, 3x Ally. But in that case how to spend the last point? You can grab a cheap ally, but a handful of 1-point League perks. The pair in Perilous Island are nice, but most leagues won't be able to use Reanimated (and by the way does the bracketed word "(Location)" in the 'Altar' perk have a game function yet? I didn't see anything in the rulebooks, but maybe I missed that?).

Just wondering!

Yes, many more "Location" perks will be added with our Vice Alley expansion -- Library, Lab, Stable, Nightclub, and so on. Most will be 1 slot perks and, as with Altar, may not provide a bonus in every scenario.

AND...

There will also be a new 1-slot character type, called an Associate, introduced in Vice Alley. These will represent characters that are associated with your league but do not normally appear directly in the scenarios. An associate may be someone like a Butler, Historian,  Bartender, Scientist, Newsboy, and so on.



For playtesting and feedback, we'll be posting some of these rules on the Pulp Alley forum over the next couple months.





THANKS

[FramFramson]

Can't wait to see!

[pistolpete]

"3-3-3 would balance against 4-3-2" - for balance, i think it's more related to how the characters are used in relation to their abilities/skills, peril cards, and the initiative.  when i ran my first game for my kids we used the 4-3-2 for all the leagues and had different abilities.  even so, they focused all their actions on shooting/brawling which is pretty typical from other posts i've read so try to keep players focused on the plot points/goals and don't worry too much about the slots on setting up the leagues.  i agree that for demo games, keep the leagues smaller to get familiar with the rules.  let us know how it goes.

>fram - i know it's a little wierd to 'leave' a point left over as i thought i'd somehow be "under powered" or "less competitive".  in playing a couple of games, it really isn't that much of an impact, again going to my experiences as i mentioned above - but YRMV.