.45 Adventure?

[redstarnyc]

Does anyone have any experience with this one?  I'd be really interested to read what people think.

[tereydavi]

I don't like the mechanics of the game (let's say "the engine"), but the points of interest (with events within) is f*****g treasure....

I apply that system to my games, setting points of interest that have to be checked and may include events, clues, enemies....

[Alcide Nikopol]

We downloaded .45 and gave it a go years ago. I thought it had some interesting ideas but it did not fit our style of play and some of the players didn't like it at all. Our go-to rules for skirmish level gaming is Pulp Alley.

[v_lazy_dragon]

It was one of the seminal pulp 'table-top RPG lite' pulp skirmish games; and spawned  sci-fi, swashbuckling and Sword & Sorcery spin offs. At the time it was very popular, but it's definitely 'crunchy' with lots of detail, skills with special rules and even location based hits effecting stats. Forces are 1-5 characters a side, occasionally up to 10 for a very rare Villain with minions type scenario. Characters are divided into 'grades' 3 - hero, 2- side kick, 1 - bit part, 1/2 - faceless red-shirt extra; all figures of a certain grade are notionally comparable, but a grade 3 may not be worth 3x grade 1's. The rules have a wide variety of archetypes, which can be further customised using a set number of points to buy skills, stat increases and weapons/modifiers.

I keep peering at various titles in the series, reading the rules, and then picking a different system to actually play with... Whilst I like the general concept the implementation is too rules dense/figure limited for my style of play

[joroas]

Exactly, Xander.  Take a look at Pulp Alley, much cleaner and streamlined....

[Commander Roj]

I don't like the mechanics of the game (let's say "the engine"), but the points of interest (with events within) is f*****g treasure....

I apply that system to my games, setting points of interest that have to be checked and may include events, clues, enemies....

I would like to know more about that mechanic. Could it be spliced into Pulp Alley? I do like PA, but the one weakness I find occasionally is that it can gravitate to “grab the closest plot point and fight for the last one” and turning into a bit of a dicing slugfest. The best games I have played in saw only the odd plot point on the table, or none, with the PP’s being revealed as the scenario progressed. I am not knocking PA. I have probably played more of it than any other game of late, but if there is a weakness, for me that is it. I am interested in mechanics that might mitigate this, although the best is probably clever scenario design.

[warlord frod]

Played it some much preferred "Astounding Tales" by  Howard “Masked Avenger” Whitehouse . Both are more involved then the current rule set I tend to use (Pulp Alley). However... Astounding tales is a great resource for pulp info. Still like them enough that I would use them again

[tereydavi]

I would like to know more about that mechanic. Could it be spliced into Pulp Alley? I do like PA, but the one weakness I find occasionally is that it can gravitate to “grab the closest plot point and fight for the last one” and turning into a bit of a dicing slugfest. The best games I have played in saw only the odd plot point on the table, or none, with the PP’s being revealed as the scenario progressed. I am not knocking PA. I have probably played more of it than any other game of late, but if there is a weakness, for me that is it. I am interested in mechanics that might mitigate this, although the best is probably clever scenario design.

For me Pulp Alley is one of the best games I've seen...
The setting is so thematic, the character/band creation is top, the dice mechanics are really good....

But...

The card system, from my point of view, is quite abstract...

So, what I have done is play Pulp Alley but changing the plot points and perilous areas and placing several point of interest tokens (like a plot point)

When checking those points of interest, you roll on a chart where the result can be a clue of the case, a peril, more enemies, allies... Or even nothing...

But every scenario has its own chart, so nothing is abstract...

Bear in mind that this is MY opinion!!!

(and also bear in mind that for me pulp alley is one of the best games I ve seen... In fact now I am playing a pulp alley campaign!!)

[nandrin]

I played ´45 a few years ago and agree with some of the other writers: it is a kind of lite-RPG and a little too rule-heavy in some areas. It works best with 1-3 miniatures, with more the games tend to be too long for my current preferred style of play. As for many, I find pulp Alley the best skirmish system currently available for my style.

I agree with commander roy: The best is clever scenario design, and that is where PA really shines in my opinion. There are so many different scenarios for PA out there, and it is amazing how easily you can make your own ideas work with the game engine.

@tereydavi: I think I understand what you mean with finding the card system of PA abstract. Being an experienced roleplaying GM and tabletopper, I have created dozens of scenarios for my group. I like the idea of "points of interest" which have an effect on the current game instead of mere plot points very much. But I found that real life does not leave me time enough to create a list of events for every scenario i would like to play.
Maybe it is more important for you because you are a solo player. Solo play can be a kind of boring without a scenario and game engine which keeps things interested, because the interation with other players ( for me the main reason to play in the first place) is missing.

[Burgundavia]

We used to play .45A for several years before Pulp Alley came out. I honestly can't remember much of the rules, but when we switched over to Pulp Alley it was a good thing

[Umlaut]

For me Pulp Alley is one of the best games I've seen...
The setting is so thematic, the character/band creation is top, the dice mechanics are really good....

But...

The card system, from my point of view, is quite abstract...

So, what I have done is play Pulp Alley but changing the plot points and perilous areas and placing several point of interest tokens (like a plot point)

When checking those points of interest, you roll on a chart where the result can be a clue of the case, a peril, more enemies, allies... Or even nothing...

But every scenario has its own chart, so nothing is abstract...

Bear in mind that this is MY opinion!!!

(and also bear in mind that for me pulp alley is one of the best games I ve seen... In fact now I am playing a pulp alley campaign!!)

I agree with this re: the card mechanic in PA. For me it is too "mechanical" and not narrative enough. Takes me and other players out of the immersion. I prefer to instead use predetermined perils and plot points that fit the narrative like a role- playing scenario, perhaps with some themed random result built in.

[Sinewgrab]

For me, the cards are only abstract if you have players who are not into what they are doing.  For example, when I am running a convention game, the first thing I do is start describing what the peril is based on what it calls for for rolls, and once players pick up on describing what the card will do, it becomes less of a card, and more of an event.

.45 Adventures was too dense and model specific for my tastes - I went from that to Rugged Adventures, and then to Pulp Alley. I've never looked back.
 

[gamer Mac]

I am not sure if they are still available but we used to post a lot of games on here years ago including the famous or infamous Zeppelin game good fun set of rules

[Commander Roj]

For me Pulp Alley is one of the best games I've seen...
The setting is so thematic, the character/band creation is top, the dice mechanics are really good....

But...

The card system, from my point of view, is quite abstract...

So, what I have done is play Pulp Alley but changing the plot points and perilous areas and placing several point of interest tokens (like a plot point)

When checking those points of interest, you roll on a chart where the result can be a clue of the case, a peril, more enemies, allies... Or even nothing...

But every scenario has its own chart, so nothing is abstract...

Bear in mind that this is MY opinion!!!

(and also bear in mind that for me pulp alley is one of the best games I ve seen... In fact now I am playing a pulp alley campaign!!)

Totally agree with you on all points and I like that idea. Deals with the “we all know where the plot points are” grab and smash and introduces a gives more thematic focus. Good idea. Having said that when I have played we tend to run our own narrative of events, which can be hilarious fun. What I miss is, say I have a game involving fauna, knowing a particular character is under threat from x creature, and putting that on the table. You can narrate that, but it loses the specific nature of the threat, if you see what I mean...

[warlord frod]

I like pulp alley for its structured system even though at times it makes it feel a bit like a board game. You can play a game in a short period of time and the cards give it a good deal of pulp flavor.

I liked astounding adventures because it was more like an RPG and had deep Pulp roots ie it had stats for almost every major pulp character found in the pulps. Pulp alley does not do that in fact someone attempted to get Pulp Alley considered for a pulp award at a Pulp convention in Pennsylvania and they said it did not do enough to highlight the Pulp Genre. Pulp Alley is a great pulp game and it would be even better if they would put out the stats for actual pulp characters like Doc Savage.  What do you say Dave?