Favorite Pulp Alley Products/Scenarios

[SteveAveryGames]

Hi, I am primarily a board game designer and RPG player but after stumbling across one of the videos of gameplay I'm totally enamored with Pulp Alley. I've already ordered the 2nd ed rules and the Tomb of the Serpent (and printed solo and horror decks.)

Does anyone have opinions on what products/scenarios they really like?  FWIW I will be playing cooperative gameplay as much as possible. Am I missing out by not doing competitive play?

[pistolpete]

Perilous island has some good scenarios IMHO. I also read a lot of AARs of the scenarios of the month to find some others too.  You can also make your own scenarios based on tv, movie, books or reskin an existing one.  Hard to give better advice because different scenarios have different approaches, some lean  more to combat, other less so but that doesn’t mean you have to play them that way, it’s  just different challenges.  The only ones I don’t like are the ones i don’t succeed.

[SteveAveryGames]

Thanks for the reply.  Have you tried some of the other products?  I was looking at the mini decks with contacts, gear, and cultists but didn't know how useful they'd be. They look cool though.

[Commander Roj]

I think it depends on what you like. I really like Perilous Island, which you could just as easily play as Perilous Planet, although I haven’t yet. Horror isn’t really my thing (Although I do like the 90’s Mummy film- it’s not really horror) so I am less likely to play Tomb of The Serpent, for example.

[pistolpete]

Thanks for the reply.  Have you tried some of the other products?  I was looking at the mini decks with contacts, gear, and cultists but didn't know how useful they'd be. They look cool though.

Character cards are a great help, play-wise as well as for changing the league between scenarios.  Obviously the solo deck for solo games (which is what I primarily do).  And lots of fortune cards.  The mini cards would be good I think even though I don’t have them (yet).  You don’t “need” to buy any of them as they’re available to print from the various books or written down on index cards as they’re chosen.  I buy them for convenience and to support dave.

You didn’t ask about the figures which are great too.

[nandrin]

The campaign books are great, with a different approach in each book. Currently we are about to finish "Tomb of..." and it is really a challenge if the cultists are played by a player.
The Horror Deck adds lot of fun.
Tomb of... and Lost World..scenarios are all designed to be played co-op or solo, as well as Perilous Island mostly. Only the oldest one (Vice Alley) is more for player vs player.

I like to include vehicles in games, so I use the Vehicle book a lot, but it is not recommended in all scenarios.
The mini cards are not necessary, the gear etc. is all in the rulebook, but if you like to have character cards and gear on table, the come in handy. Same goes for the character cards. I don´t use them because, RPG player as I am, I always make own leagues and minions.

[rafm3ic]

The rules are very flexible and the community has built leagues for almost any era. You could certainly throw together something with figures you may already have.

[Dangerboy]

My favorite book from Pulp Alley has to be Tomb of the Serpent. It can be played solo or competitive, and the later chapters allow for co-op as well. With a more experienced player GMing, the early scenarios make for good tutorials for beginning players, and the book even provides a means for catching up with other players if some of them fall behind early on. The story also recycles the same enemies, the Servants of Apophis, in different combinations to alter the difficulty from chapter to chapter without requiring an ever-changing pool of miniatures.

On the other end of the spectrum, though also worth picking up, is the Pulp Alley: Scenarios book, which collects all the Scenario of the Month releases for 2018. They don't have a narrative running through them or special campaign rules linking them, but that means you get an interesting variety of scenarios all in one package.

[pistolpete]

Since you asked about co-op play…here’s some advice right from the source

Another idea you might try is simply having the third player take the role of a "spoiler league". Their role is simply to prevent the other players from completing their mission, but they are not allowed to pick up plot points. This works really well if the third player is acting as the gamemaster as well.

For a "spoiler league" we do it different ways just based on whatever seems to make sense for the scenario. Sometimes it's just a normal 10 slot league, sometimes it's a Terror, sometimes they start with 5 slots on the table and then receive X reinforcements each turn, etc. Just try it different ways and have fun with it.

Another point to remember, if the players agree ahead of time to be "partners" then the other player's models count as friendly characters. Meaning they cannot shoot/brawl each other and so on.

[blacksoilbill]

I'd agree with many of the comments here: the scenario books are fantastic. I'm playing through Tomb of the Serpent at the moment and really enjoying it.

I also appreciate having lots of cards (I think I have all the sets of Solo, Horror and Fortune cards). It's great when players keep coming across cards they haven't seen before. I wouldn't worry too much about the Contacts, Gear, etc cards as that info is in the rules.

[Blink_Dog]

Vice Alley is my fav scenario book from Pulp Alley, but they are all good so collect them all. I would recommend getting the PDF as well.