Advice on running multi-player Pulp Alley?

[Jozis Tin Man]

I am hosting a game day next month and am planning on introducing folks to Pulp Alley.  I may have anywhere from 3 - 6 or 7 players.  Scenario-wise, I was planning on doing Hidalgo Fire and keeping it simple.

Any advice for running a game on the larger side?  I was thinking about halving the size of the leagues for everyone has maybe 2 or 3 figures.  Anyone have experience running a larger game?  Thanks in Advance!

[FramFramson]

Three-figure leagues is definitely a suggestion Dave has made for introductory games - One each of Leader, Sidekick, & Ally, or one each of Leader, Ally, & Follower if you really want to strip it down. I think that's enough to keep things quick and simple, though others might have more suggestions.

I wouldn't cut the leagues to two though as you might lose some significant tactical options which are important to learn.

[gweirda]

Two ideas I've used:

Use an extra Fortune Deck for two (or three) players to use/share to keep the ratio of the cards/deck similar to a two-person game.

Start the scenario with teams of allied players so that some cooperation can/may occur, but stipulate that there will ultimately be only one winner to create a stab-in-the-back tension.

[aircav]

Have you tried asking on the Pulp Alley Players group on Facebook?
There’s a few players who seem to run multiplayer games.

[Jozis Tin Man]

I am a luddite cumudegeon and avoid Facebook at all cost. 

I am going try try to run with 2 figures per player split into 2 teams if I wind up with a lot of players, and run normally if I have 4 or less.  I will post how it goes.

[oabee]

I have hosted at least a dozen Pulp Alley games at local conventions in Ohio and Michigan, USA, all of which were multi-player. All of these conventions had a four-hour time limit, which included teaching the rules.

I started out with scenarios for 4 players with 4 figures, but have tried 5 players with 4 figures and 6 players with 3 figures. All have worked, but now I always do 4-player 4-figure games. For me, 16 figures on the board works best and I would not recommend using more figures unless you have experienced players. The Leagues I provide the players all have a Leader, Sidekick, and two Allies. I would resist the temptation to add any extras (Perks, Gear, etc.)--new players have enough trouble getting used to Abilities. I have used the Horror rules with success, however.

I have done games in Victorian Steampunk, Gothic Horror (including, in various games: vampires, vampire brides, werewolves, ghosts, and ghouls), Pulp Science fiction, and Lost Worlds genres.

Just for fun, here are some photos of a Lost World of Lemuria game I hosted at Pro or Con convention in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan on March 12 of this year. The scenario was Death From Above, which I have done before with Pteranodons as called for, but this time I used murders of crows from the Zombicide game.

Here in the final moments of the game Jennifer Jones (daughter of Indiana Jones), having obtained the Major Plot Point, has dispatched an Amazon and a Snakeman, and resisted attacks from the crows to claim a victory for her League.


Here are the Leagues:

Jennifer Jones and her League of Archeological Adventurers whom have "discovered" Lemuria. These were printed from STL files designed using Heroforge.


Imperial Lemurian League representing the interests of the Emperor.


The E-E-E-V-I-L Snakemen who lurk in the Lemurian wilderness.


And last, and not least, the Amazons of the Lemurian forests who oppose Lemurian imperial rule to preserve their traditional culture.

[diehard]

@ oabee - those are some really fine looking miniatures, really digging the color choices and fine brushwork, thanks for sharing them with us. Especially liking the snakemen who I've never seen before, could you tell me where they are from?

[oabee]

Thanks for the kind words, diehard. The Snakemen are a multi-part plastic set made for Joseph A. McCullough's Ghost Archipelago skirmish fantasy game, which is a spinoff from his Frostgrave rules set. The minis can be found here, among other places:

https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=11821

[Sinewgrab]

In my experience, you want to keep a game to 5 or less leagues, and if you are providing models and rules, I would go with 1 leader and two sidekicks.

In the Before times, I ran 5-10 games a year at conventions, and that is the balance I found worked best.

[MaleGriffin]

WOW! Gorgeous! And I love the clear bases!

[mikedemana]

I have had the good fortune of playing in one of Oabee's games, and he is correct. It flows very well at a convention -- which I was skeptical of as I think Pulp Alley has a high learning curve on using the cards. Our Sunday night group played it in big, multiplayer games, too. We enjoyed it, but always had to get our head wrapped around card use again after any time off.

I look forward to your report on your game day, Tin Man!

Mike Demana