Pulp Alley - Players vs Environment

[Ssendam]

I asked some questions in a THIS thread and as I don't like to hijack another persons thread I thought I'd pick up up things here.

Essentially I have a scenario designed for 4 players which is in effect a Jungle Search where players can fight each other but will mainly have the environment to contend with. My issue has been with the ruleset and I'm keen to give the Pulp Alley rules a go.

Pulp Alley has a Perils (card based) system for dealing with the environment whereas I want to treat the animals/monsters as a GM controlled character.

In our upcoming Perilous Island campaign book, we handle encounters both ways -- just depending on the scenario/situation.

Resolving an encounter as a peril works really nice for quick and/or less-violent stuff. For example, maybe you have a character encounter a bouncer as he tries to make his way back-stage at a nightclub.

And in one of the Perilous Island scenarios, involving living-dead, some encounters start out as perils -- and if the challenge is failed, then a model is placed on the table.

Ssendam, your idea of running the encounters as a GM controlled 'league' also works very well. FYI --- in non-GM'd games, we usually activate the non-league characters at the end of Action Sequence, after all other characters have activated.

I had a clear idea of how I wanted things, but looking at the Pulp Alley rules and reading some comments has made me think of ways to make my scenario fit the rules and not the other way around. For Example, I have search locations which I guess act as plot points. Sometimes there is a creature at these locations but sometimes something has to be done like, Climb a tree to retreive something. Using a peril here, e.g "Roll 2 successes with Dodge, 2 hits if failed (you fall)" works really well.

I also have an encounter card system to control the various players interaction with the environment and some of those card indicate a Jungle creature turning up ... say a Lion. I don't want the Lion to kill the whole group, just rough them up a bit, make the jungle feel dangerous and keep them on thier toes. The thought here is to treat the Lion as a GM faction for initiative ... my worry is that the player with the initiative will always activate the lion first. Would that be a problem do you think?

So many ideas now ...

[joroas]

Float this on the PA site:

http://pulpalley.com

[6milPhil]

Sounds interesting, cards are a great additon to any game IMHO.

... say a Lion.

More likely a tiger... being as it's in jungle.

[d phipps]

Cool ideas, Ssendam.

Yup, it sounds like your Search Areas would make good plot points. Also, remember that any plot point also has the potential to be perilous -- there could be a crouching tiger, dangerous snake, or even a trap. 



Here's another ideas that might work for what you're wanting to do...

You may want to use the 'story-icons' in the bottom right corner of the cards. For example, when a player encounters a peril, they can draw a random Challenge. However, if the card has the 'encounter' icon (two heads) in the bottom right corner, then it is upgraded to one of your Creature Encounters.

...my worry is that the player with the initiative will always activate the lion first. Would that be a problem do you think?

I don't see it as a problem. And depending on how close the creature is placed, they may be more likely to open fire and try gunning it down -- so don't forget your dodge-move option.



I'm excited to see what you come up with.





HAVE FUN

[macsparty]

Admittedly I am new here and new to Pulp Alley, but after a read through this is something I have wondered about too. I'm sure after some sample games I'll have a better grip on some ideas. Reason being the first setting I am looking at doing is Canada/Yukon with mounties and all that, and I would like to include some environmental/animal encounters. But aside from say a single lion, or in my case maybe a bear, I'm wondering about a wolf pack. Does it act as one entity (maybe the follow the "gang" rules?) or does it become a legion in its own right? I'm sure I'll come up with something!

[Ssendam]

Sounds interesting, cards are a great additon to any game IMHO.

More likely a tiger... being as it's in jungle.

African Jungle  (I know they live on the savanna but according to The Lion King, they can run away to the Jungle :-) )

[jet]

You may want to use the 'story-icons' in the bottom right corner of the cards. For example, when a player encounters a peril, they can draw a random Challenge. However, if the card has the 'encounter' icon (two heads) in the bottom right corner, then it is upgraded to one of your Creature Encounters.

This intrigues me greatly.

[Johnny Aces]

As I was writing Perilous Island, I thought alot about this as well. We're incorporated "moving" Plot points, some "animal" style encounters, and the "Story Icons" play a role in several scenarios.

Pulp Alley is very flexible when it come to something like this. You could easily institute a "moving" peril. After searching the location, the Character has stumbled across the "Beast!"(lion, tiger, bear, oh,my...). Failing the Peril, the Beast escapes back into the shadows. Move the Peril 12"(or a random number is you prefer) in a random direction(directly away from the discovering Character, toward a table edge, toward a predetermined point, basically whatever fits your scenario). Depending on how important the animal encounter is to the Scenario overall, you could have it start at one strength, each time the Peril is completed, it gets weaker until the final showdown.

Now Dave is still editing Perilous Island so I can't promise all these mechanics will make it in, but I think you will all be pleased.

[d phipps]

As I was writing Perilous Island, I thought alot about this as well. We're incorporated "moving" Plot points, some "animal" style encounters, and the "Story Icons" play a role in several scenarios.

Yes indeed! You'll lots of envirnoment/encounter perils scattered through the Perilous Island campaign. We're aiming to get this book finished before the end of May.