Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures, Part 3: Coming to a Boil (AAR added 2/17/14)

[mikedemana]

It is about time for a new chapter of


Here's the briefing that the Western archeological leagues will be getting. The scenario is planned for next Sunday, Jan. 26th. My goal is to set up the board the day before and take some good scenic shots of it. If I get real energetic, I will create a little slideshow previewing the action, and post it here...

Western Archeologist Briefing
Near the Ta-bo Mountains, French Indochina
December 15, 1930

   After collecting all the clues you could from the site of the attack on the Portuguese missionary post, you have pieced together a partial story. This area is called the Ta-bo Mountains because, over the years, it has been subject to irregular raids by a diminutive tribe called the Ta-bo. If this was Africa instead of Southeast Asia, you’d call them Pygmies. You’ve learned the Indochinese fear them. They spit when they talk about them and make a sign to wards off the “evil eye.” The Indochinese peasants say the Ta-bo are cannibals. They raid when game is scarce in their jungle homeland, and they need food. They are just as happy taking an unfortunate villager back for the tribal cook pot as a goat, chicken, or cow.
   You follow their trail down out of the hills, towards what appears to be an nearly unbroken canopy of green jungle. It is pierced here and there by mountain peaks, looming like watch towers over a landscape choked with trees, bushes, vines, and every plant imaginable. Occasionally, you catch flashes of sunlight from muddy, greenish-brown rivers slithering through the landscape. It gets hotter and hotter as you descend, and the insects begin to swarm as you descend beneath the canopy of trees.
   The attackers seemed to stick to a muddy trail. Tracking them is much easier than you’d dared hope. If you are to have any chance to find the lost city that Brother Virigi wrote about, you’ll need to rescue the monk before he becomes the pygmies’ next dinner! Two days into the jungle, you hear the drums in the distance. Soon, you seem to be passing between them, as you can hear their menacing throbbing to each side. Still greater numbers seem to come from ahead — where the trail appears to be heading. There are numerous side paths and forks on the trail, but each choice you make seems to lead you towards the sound of the loudest drumming.
   Finally, you come to what appears to be a crossroads alongside a jungle river. Trees have been felled that could easily be bound together into a raft. Another path leads up a rocky hill, looking like it circles around behind the area where the drumming is concentrated. The path through the jungle forks, tunneling through dark trees and vine-clogged limbs — looking as inviting as the maw of a giant serpent. You stare into the jungle, feeling the persistent drum beat in your chest, trying to decide which way looks best. Your leader’s voice startles you when it barks, “All right, here’s what we’re going to do…”


The map I am using as a guide to create the board for the scenario

More to come...!

Mike Demana

[Wolf Girl]

The board looks like it's going to be awesome. Can,t wait to see the battle report

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Really looking forward to this game! 

Now we are going to see your rope bridge in action. The map looks fascinating, how big is your game board for this?

[mikedemana]

Thanks..., the board will be 4 feet square. It will also inaugurate the slip over game board I designed and built to go over my living room coffee table.

One week to go...!

Mike Demana

[aggro84]

Looks great. I am a big fan of your work, so I am looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.
 

[Bluebear]

This looks very interesting, sir.

If you can, it would be nice to see the various Leagues photoed and profiled a bit so that we will know which figures go with which League.


-- Jeff

[mikedemana]

If you can, it would be nice to see the various Leagues photoed and profiled a bit so that we will know which figures go with which League.

Good call, Jeff. I will attempt to do that. After scenario one, I gave the players the option of re-buying their leagues. Two took me up on it, and a third is saying he will. My guess is he'll try to send it to me Saturday or Sunday, and I may just tell him that it will be in play for next time. I've got the new cards I made for the leagues, which I should be able to simply put in as images.

Thanks for the kind words. I am working on the last of the terrain pieces necessary -- jungle/forest paths. I'll post something up on how I did them, but I essentially used a method others on the forum (like Wirelizard) have done, with acrylic caulk. Of course, I know me. So, once those are done, I'll try to squeeze in another batch of jungle pieces because I can't possibly be relaxed and costing into the game...

Mike Demana

[d phipps]

Looks awesome! Your Pulp Alley games keep getting better and better. 



HAVE FUN

[mikedemana]

Looks awesome! Your Pulp Alley games keep getting better and better. 

Hope that's what the players say Sunday...! 

Mike Demana

[mikedemana]

Here are the leagues...not sure if all of them will be in attendance, Sunday. Notice that I am going with the 3-man leagues (Leader, Sidekick, Ally) suggested by Dave and Mila for larger games. I will probably let them purchase backup and stuff this scenario. I didn't do that last time because I wanted to see how quickly 3-character leagues played. I feel the game went fast enough I can allow in a 4th character for the league if they want to spend experience on it, or earned bonuses on it.

On some of the cards below I have the League perk listed, but on others I do not. All league perks are "suspended" until I figure out a balance for everyone having a 3-character league. That is why, for example, the Fire Coral shows "Stealthy Agents," but then the characters each purchase Stealth. I'll redo the cards once I figure out a more fair way to do it (since I'm not using the 10-slot league in these games). Hope that all makes sense.

So, without further ado, here are the dramatis personae...

DAKOTA SMITH'S LEAGUE

It was Dakota Smith -- renowned archeologist from Portland State University, who received the fateful letter from Brother Virigi about the lost city he'd discovered. The Portuguese monk had left on a mission trip to the mainland when Dakota and his companions arrived in Macau. They tracked down the Portuguese Mission only to discover it had been raided by a pygmy tribe called the Ta-Bo. Dakota is in hot pursuit of the cannibals, hoping to be in time to save Brother Virigi from the cookpot!

VON JAEGER'S LEAGUE

A spy in Dakota's office tipped off German archeologist Von Jaeger to Brother Virigi's letter. The appearance of the trigger-happy Nazi and his thugs were an unpleasant surprise for the other archeologists. Von Jaeger wants to get ahold of Brother Virigi, too, because the lost city he supposedly found is rumored to have a powerful artifact hidden there -- the Tears of the Buddha. His superiors hope a military use can be found for the artifact, if it is found.

HARRIS MCLEOD'S LEAGUE

This agent of the British Museum was tipped off about Brother Virgi's supposed discovery by their contacts in Hong Kong. McLeod and his companions arrived hoping to score big by being the first to discover a new lost city. McLeod knows that the first team in gets first access to valuable acquisitions for the museum in London -- which pays him well to keep it stocked with Southeast Asian antiquities.

PIERRE FOURNEREAU'S LEAGUE

Son of the famous discoverer of Angkor Wat, Pierre thirsts to make his own discovery. When the French Indochinese government tipped him off to the arrival of the American, German, and British archeological teams, he knew someone had found a tip. He is hot on the heels of the others, hoping to get there first, and see that his name takes his rightful place in the newspapers next to his father's.

SHANNON'S IRISH LEAGUE

Fortune hunter Lady Shannon was on the trail of a smaller prize when she bumped into the other archeological teams at the Portuguese mission. She interrogated survivors to learn that the Portuguese monk knew about a bigger discovery than she'd been tracking down. She and her guns-for-hire quickly switched targets and are tailing the others, hoping to dash in and snatch the prize from under their nose (whatever it ends up being...!).

THE ORDER OF THE FIRE CORAL

The mysterious and secret order of the Fire Coral is sworn to protect the religious artifacts of Asia from defilement and theft by the Western devils. They know the prize that lays in the lost city that Virigi spotted -- its spies at the Macau monastery having told them of the monk's tales. A team of martial artists was sent to frustrate the Westerners' plans and see that either Virigi or his discoveries never fall into their hands.

That is the tale up to this point. The story arc should last for a good four more scenarios before it comes to a final conclusion. It could be more, if my feverish mind generates even more outlandish ideas...

I'm pretty excited about this game, Sunday. It should be one of the most -- if not the most -- visually spectacular games I've run. It will feature flickering cannibal cookpots, rope bridges, skull cave, mysterious idols, pygmy cannibals, and more...! Stay tuned to this channel for more exciting action of...Dakota Smith's Oriental Adventures...!!!

Mike Demana

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Your various terrain items that you have been posting are fantastic, really looking forward to seeing them all in your game. I wish I could pop over on Sunday and watch but I think it's about 3,750 miles in a straight line from me to you!

[FramFramson]

Great bunch of leagues. What League perk is "Irish Archaeologists" supposed to represent? Or did you just use the League Perks as League names? (Since your Company of Heroes doesn't actually have two sidekicks either)

[mikedemana]

The Irish are the creation of one of the players. Painted and designed his own league. Not sure what the storyline for them is other than I got the impression they're fortune hunters. At least that's how I'm portraying them in my story...!

Ditto, Snapcase! I wish I could play in YOUR game. As you say, though, a bit of a haul for an evening of drinks and gaming...

Mike Demana

[FramFramson]

What I mean is that except for "Irish Archaeologists" the name for each league is also the name of a League Perk you can give your League in the PA rulebook. I thought that those were the League Perks you'd given each league. So "Network of Supporters" meant that Dakota Smith's League had the "Network of Supporters" league perk, etc.

[mikedemana]

What I mean is that except for "Irish Archaeologists" the name for each league is also the name of a League Perk you can give your League in the PA rulebook. I thought that those were the League Perks you'd given each league. So "Network of Supporters" meant that Dakota Smith's League had the "Network of Supporters" league perk, etc.

Yep, you're absolutely right. And they were the league perks for our first game, which featured 10-slot leagues. In the second game, I tried the 3-character league suggestion and "suspended" all league perks. I kept them on the cards, anyway, in case I went back to them. The guy with the Irish archeologists never chose a perk because I wasn't using them when he created the league (for the second game).

Sorry for the confusion!

Mike Demana