Pulp Alley - What is in which book?

[graydebowen]

I have the full basic rules, solo and fortune decks.
I am thinking of going for the new adventure (tomb of the whatnot) as a pdf.  Looking on the pulp site there is an index for some of the products giving me a rough plan.  It also seems that some information is repeated in more than 1 book.  With the pound dollar ratio a mess I do not want to buy book after book.
I am interested in using cults, gangs and animals (I think that there is a league benefit as well as the trait), horror would be nice but that is another card deck.  I am using Darkest Africa figures if that helps suggest what to use.
Clearly the leagues book is partly a compilation but it might be a better deal to buy the earlier books? As this will almost certainly be all as downloads having it all in one place is not an issue.
So can someone provide a list of 'to get this benefit you need this book'?

[d phipps]

I wouldn't think you need to add any other books at this point - other than a one of the campaign books. But I'll try to cover some of the basics....


Pulp Leagues -- When you want to add another book, I'd seriously consider this one. It brings alot of stuff together in one place -- Terrors, Associates, Gangs, abilities, perks, optional Setting Kits, optional Weapons List, and so on.

So, assuming you have Pulp Leagues...

Perilous Island -- Get this if you want to play through the Perilous Island campaign or simply want to use the 10+ scenarios for other settings. And don't forget the fun witch-doctor potions and charms. This entire campaign could easily be played in Africa.

Vice Alley -- Get this if you want rules for Bystanders and controlling Locations, but mostly for the extra scenarios and the Vice Alley campaign. Many of these scenarios could be used in the jungles of Africa.

Guns, Gadgets, and Vehicles -- The title should give a good hint about what is in this book. Get this for big guns, vehicles, planes, riding animals, and so on. This stuff can appear in just about any setting - and can just as easily be left out.

Tomb of the Serpent -- This book includes the Solo and Horror card printed on the pages, so you can make your own decks. Get this if you want to play through the campaign or simply use the scenarios.

[warrenpeace]

I bought Pulp Leagues early on, and that one is very much worth having. Beside being a compilation, it includes some modifications since the original rule book. Like it a lot.

I'll probably be buying the Guns, Gadgets, & Vehicles next, as I have a lot of interwar vehicles and planes now. But wouldn't really need that if well off the roads and away from airstrips in the heart of Africa.

[wulfgar22]

I'd third Pulp Leagues...as well as new rules it expands the perks and abilities substantially.

[BugPope]

Pulp Leagues is essential, the game feels bare without it, once you've read it. But it's a problem that it doesn't really explain how blast markers work (it doesn't even mention that blasts break line of sight, which is quite a big thing to omit!), you're expected to have read Perilous Island for that. Hopefully, that will be fixed in a future edition. Hint hint.



Pulp Vehicles adds a lot of new stuff like guns, vehicles and mounts , but suffers from two things: the rules aren't as well explained as in the other books (the whole Gear points thing doesn't help, and I'm still not really sure how buying artillery for a League is supposed to work). They're also much more complicated than the rest of the game (even if you don't use the advanced ones). Which I can understand, since vehicle rules are a cumbersome mess in nearly every wargame and RPG rule system I've ever read, and I've seen much more obtuse ones. But it really feels out of place in a game which strength is that it's extremely fast, simple and pretty much uses a just a couple of game mechanics. Meanwhile, Pulp Vehicles are full of exceptions, situations where things work differently from normal, bookkeeping and units that don't follow the rules of every other character. And while that is not rare at all in a game, it's something that the rest of the Pulp Alley rules lack. Which is one of the things that makes it good.
The vehicle rules work, but they feel like a different game, in a kinda awkward way.
Just my two cents, though.