Pulp Alley Back Story - The Curse Of Anubis

So here it is, my first attempt at a solo Pulp Alley game using the Jonny Quest gang. My idea is to have this story line play out over four or five games - I've got a ton of really neat ideas, so fingers crossed! I thought it would make sense to do a post on the story, plot points, and the leagues for each chapter, instead of trying to do that with the actual AAR and then end up having one really long post.

And the two rival leagues for chapter one...

The good guys - The Quest gang, led by Roger 'Race' Bannon.

And the bad guys - Dr. Kazem's gang - led by mercenary for hire Andreas McLagen

Chapter One - Mayhem At Musgrave Manor.
Somewhere on the east coast of the United States...

Dr. Quest has been contacted by longtime friend and colleague Professor Albert Musgrave to help translate hieroglyphics on a newly discovered sarcophagus. The sarcophagus has just been shipped back to Musgrave Manor with the Professor from a recent dig he completed near Cairo. The game will begin with the Quest gang arriving by car just inside the courtyard, while Dr. Kazem's bad guys will enter from the woods behind the cookhouse - the small white building behind all the luggage and crates. They want to take back the sarcophagus for Dr. Kazem to translate . Both groups believe that the hieroglyphics will help lead to a map which ultimately will lead to a lost temple, fabled to hold the treasures of an Egyptian pharaoh, including the legendary Statue of Anubis.

The professor and his way overdressed for the occasion wife.

The major plot point is the sarcophagus in Professor Musgrave's office - on the third floor of  the manor. To secure this plot point your challenge will be to have 3 successes of finesse or cunning. A peril means 2 hits failed. The Professor will have to be secured with a successful challenge before attempting to get the major plot point.

A minor plot point is the professor himself.

Another minor plot point is this weapons cache in the carriage house; which can be used in the next chapter of the story.

The professor has just arrived back at home and has yet to get all his luggage into the manor - another minor plot point is a map of the dig site, where the sarcophagus was found, in one of his suitcases.

And the final minor plot point is the keys to the Mercedes Benz - the keys are actually located on the driver who was the unfortunate victim of Dr. Kazem's cronies who arrived at Musgrave Manor at the same time as the Quest gang. He is located next to the well.

One change I did make to Race was to drop his Dead Eye ability and instead give him the Quick-Strike ability - Once per turn, this character may shift their brawling dice-type down to gain a +2d bonus. I believe that this better represents Race's Judo ability.

That's it, wish me luck on this first solo go of Pulp Alley!

As always, thanks for looking!
Ivor

Plot Points and Objective Markers

Completed a few plot points and objective markers over the past two days.

As mentioned in some past posts, these are from Spartan Games and I highly recommend them. They are extremely detailed and the casts are absolutely flawless.

My first two completed markers.

An ammo cache.

This was the one that I added the scan of an old map onto it.

I thought these two could work for a fuel dump objective and then the entrance to a secret lair or underground facility - something spy/fi like.

These are from a Ral Patha blister I had grabbed off of Ebay. I really bought it for the canopic jars; I thought they would be perfect for a plot point in a Pulp Alley game.

The lid of the sarcophagus lifts off, which is pretty neat.

I really like the color of the jars :)

I also did some additional weathering on my Warlord resin Opel Blitz with that Vallejo set I got for 40% off at Hobby Lobby last week. I've seen the updated plastic version of this kit and it's a huge improvement over this one - where the doors connect to the cab is pretty rough on the resin kits as you can see.

Still, super pleased with the new look. I decided not to put any German markings on it so it be used in a wider variety of games.

And I had no idea I had this many beetle swarms to paint! Ready for a Mummy scenario I guess :)

As always, thanks for looking!
Ivor

Jonny Quest & Hadji Singh

Bet you didn't know Hadji's last name! The useless information we nerds store away is immense :)

Finally completed the last two members of the Quest team today, and though I'm not anywhere close to 100% happy with the figures - mostly the poses - there just wasn't a whole lot of choices. I'm just not skilled enough to work with green stuff and converting metal figures to make exactly what I wanted or had pictured in my mind as to what Jonny and Hadji should look like on the tabletop.

And it actually took me forever to find these figures - I have a bag full of 8 different "kid" figures I'd bought and attempted Jonny and Hadji before, with no success. I initially had this particular figure set as Hadji because I thought this pose was more in line with him, but the clothing of the other figure fit way better.

This pose is just a total head scratcher for me, and why I initially thought I'd make this figure Jonny - I was going to put a weapon in his hand. He's not holding anything, he's not pointing; maybe he's just opened a door and is saying 'c'mon in' or he's waiting tables and saying 'here is your table'??!! I tried to bend Hadji's arm as best I could to improve the look, but it didn't help that much. Oh, well.

It was nice not to have to try to worry about shading or different colors blending into each other for the entire gang, as I wanted that same solid block look from the cartoon.

Certainly not the best representation of the Quest gang, but until someone comes out with a "not" Jonny Quest blister (which why in the world has this not happened yet is beyond me!!??) this will have to do.

I also completed the league stats for everyone for Pulp Alley. Holy smokes was that difficult. I changed my mind on Leader, Sidekick, and Ally several times, as well as the skills. I initially thought maybe two Sidekicks, but decided that Race should end up as the Leader, as he was really the most powerful in the group. But then it was who should be the Sidekick? Dr. Quest? I ended up choosing Jonny, as I felt he'd be out running around the tabletop much more than Benton would. So that left Hadji and Benton as Allies.

After many changes I am pretty happy with the skills I finally decided on for everyone - though I think I'm going to give Jonny one more skill (even though it does break the points total for abilities slots). I'm going to give him the "Jonny Slide" which will allow him to  run up to 16" instead of 12" - which is just the level 1 ability Speedy. Anyone familiar with the cartoon knows all about the Jonny slide :)
And I think I knocked it out of the park with the Quest gang's League Perk of "Bastion of Science" - 'this perk may give you extra points to use towards selecting Gear. Before the game, the Leader may roll their Cunning skill to develop/request gadgets for the upcoming scenario. Each success counts as 1 point of Gear' - and there is a whole list of cool science/spy type gadgets and gear to choose from. Think Q Branch from the James Bond series. This is something that even though I'm rolling on Race's Cunning skill were going to say it's Dr. Quest making this happen :)

I also started on some scenery that I'm going to use for Pulp Alley. These are from 4Ground (of course!) and will create the ruins of an old building out in the desert.

Super easy to put together. I grabbed three different kits and have two completed as of this afternoon, so one more to go.

I also grabbed this set of Arabs, camels, and some goats. I though that would be neat to have as possible plot points or just interesting eye candy for the table.

As well as starting on some objective markers from Spartan Games. These are absolutely fantastic molds that have a ton of narrative built right into them. I added a scan of an old map onto the objective on the right which brings the piece up a level in the cool factor imho!

Inching closer and closer to a game.

My problem is I'm way too much of a perfectionist, and think I always need way more eye candy than is really necessary for an AAR. Artists...

As always, thanks for looking!

Ivor