Let's Review: Pulp!

 What is it?:

Pulp! Is a skirmish miniatures game that aims to replicate the feeling of old books and movies from the “pulp era” of media.

 

 The setting:

As mentioned above, the setting isn’t really one, but a genre instead. The book references a few of the more famous pulp series and media, but they do include two scenarios in the book. One is about a New Rome thing being discovered and the other is about ninjas and poison during the WW2 era. Otherwise, it’s up to you to come up with something.

 

The system:

The game is based around pools of d6’s, with the number and amount depending on a few things.

When it comes to the amount of models you’re going to have, it’s going to depend, but it recommends that you start with maybe a dozen models. Each of these models are going to have a rank, which is going to be the main factor in how many models you’re going to have and how good they’re going to be. To put it simply, the more powerful the unit is, the fewer models it will have. In the beginning of the book, they recommend one Hero/Villain model (or two), one or two 2-Model Elite or Veteran units, and three 3-Model Seasoned units. And we come to one of my first problems with the game. It doesn’t clearly state that you should have either one Elite Unit or two Veteran units, plus I don’t think this really reflects Pulp genre stuff. Usually, in the old serials and films, you’d have a main hero, a “trusty sidekick”, maybe a love interest and maybe a scientist or “Kenny” (young kid that’s going to cause problems but also be helpful) for the heroes. The villains were usually the main villain, be it the king, the priest, or whatever, and then a second in command (who might be traitorous), and a bunch of grunts. By requiring both sides to be matched like this, it doesn’t quite line up with how we see most stuff in the old stuff. Hell, even modern stuff doesn’t have things like this.

Anyway. Once you pick your models, you get to equip them. After a few games to learn the rules, which is fair. Models can have one ranged weapon, one melee weapon, and one explosive. In addition to the stuff you’d expect (pistols, knives, grenades, etc), they do have a nice list of Mad Science or Alien Technology weapons, with is kind of cool. I say you could also make them into spells or super powers, if you need them. That said, there are some special powers that a unit/model can use a few times per game. There’s a fairly sized list of them, but it’s not well organized, and they do have that “roleplaying element” where your Heroes can pick from a list of things that limits what general powers you can use, but also gives you another power instead. One the other side of that, there’s a list of drawbacks that you can use to balance it out. Not that this game really cares about balance, but it at least gives it lip service.

The game is broken down into several different phases in a turn, like a lot of games, based around movement, combat, and typical end of turn stuff. However, one thing that makes this game a little different is the “continuing combat” phase at the start of the turn, for hand to hand fights that hasn’t been resolved yet. When it comes to picking your actions, there’s a lot of leeway in how much you can move and what you can and can’t do in the next phases depending on what you choose to do. Out of everything they have, this is one thing that I like the most. Getting to choose between moving zero and four inches for the same action is really nice, because it reduces the sense of urgency or need to “do something” when you’re trying to set things up, and might make it harder for an opponent to guess what your plan is based on what action you’ve picked. Plus, I think I rather enjoy combined actions these days.

Now, on to some of the stuff that I feel like doesn’t quite work with this game. While you do have a rather nice list of classic wild and savage animals (yes, including dinosaurs) to include in games if you want to, I don’t feel like the rules work quite as well as I would like them. I can’t explain exactly what it is about them, but it’s just not clicking for me. And, as much as this game wants to be like character driven game, there’s no real rules for experience and campaigns. Part of this is because of the loose rules they have, but it’s also the fact that this game is trying to be everything to everyone, which is the downside of “universal” games and settings. What compounds this for me is the fact that the scenarios they give you are more outlines than real scenarios. While this is great for the intent of the game, as you don’t know what kind of games and settings your players are going to come up with, you can’t really give them firm games to play. There’s also several variations they discuss, should you be trying to run a campaign. Not that you can, not like other games, because there’s nothing but an outline of an idea of how to improve models and groups.

 

Is it worth it?:

If you have the models already, and it’s on sale, yes. Otherwise, probably not. Honestly, this feels unfinished or cut short. It’s almost there but there’s too much missing for me. I swear, it’s got to be that full page art that Osprey uses that must be cutting down the page count just enough to leave things undone.

Honestly, it reminds me a lot of Zona Alfa. However, ZA has two supplements that make it better, which is where it feels like the author wanted to take it, but didn’t have the space. If this game could do the same, I’d put this as a firm yes.

I only picked up this game because I’d heard really good things about it and I’ve been on the hunt for a good Pulpy game. Nothing in what I found pointed out the problems I found, which is a shame, because I’m still hunting for that game…

Random Update: Making terrain

 Okay, it's been way too long since I've updated here. I have been working on things here and there, but sitting down at the keyboard has been a little hard to do. So I thought I'd share some terrain I made. I may do a How To article about it in the future, but time will tell.

If you're curious, I found one of those novelty check in a Dumpster years ago and bough it home. Over the years, I've used about 2/3 of it now, as well as some other pieces I've been able to find here and there. I do have a lot more projects I'd like to do, too.

First off, let me explain how I started. I drew some outlines on a piece of card stock and then used them as a template on the piece of foamcore, trying to fit as many of them on there as I could. All in all, I think I did a decent job.

Here's a picture of the pile I ended up with:

With this done, I started using some bones I picked up at the Dollar Tree, some tropical trees I ordered on Amazon, and then some rocks that came in a bag of stuff I also ordered on Amazon. That is something I'll need to talk about in the future, too...

Anyway, here's what it looked like when I finished:

Now, that pile to the right is everything left over. That circle piece is about 6" around, so I'm setting aside in case I need something in the future. The thing in the back with the skull and bones is going to be used as a "Shrine" in Reign in Hell (when I get a chance to play that again). 

When it came to making the various "forests," I wanted to have them work as terrain, rather than have them look realistic. That's why they have trees around the edges and not in the middle. To break them up a little bit, I used the rocks and bones. I also made a thing of bones to act as area terrain, as well as the collection of rocks. I left some of the smaller pieces aside to be used as some ponds or pools.

I also made myself a little graveyard.

Yeah, I know, I should have left some more space along that one edge. I don't care.

Anyway. The next step is putting some sand on them, putting down some primer, and then painting everything up. I already have some craft paint I've been using for other terrain, but I might wait until I grab a kind of sandy yellow color instead of the browns I've been using. 

Before all of that, I have a lot of other pieces I've put together that are further along, so it'll be some time before you get to see the finished product. If there's anyone actually reading this, let me know if you want to see some more of the terrain I've thrown together and I'll share it.

Sources Say: The Deck of Many Things

 

Name: The Deck Of many Things

Produced By: Wizards of the Coast

System: D&D 5e

Genre(s): Fantasy

Ah, the Deck of Many Things, the destroyer of campaigns. I’ve had one encounter with the Deck as a player and once used it as a DM, back in 3^rd edition. I think many players have at least one story of the Deck appearing in their games, usually leaving death and discord in its wake. So, it seems that Wizards has seen fit to explore the Deck, its origin, and expanded it to fill many more roles in your games. The box comes with The Book Of Many Things, a reference book for the cards, and a set 66 very well made cards of the Deck of Many Things.

To start, let’s discuss the Deck. They’re Tarot sized (so about double the size of regular playing cards) with this gold leaf looking stuff on the edges. These cards look great, the art, and everything. They’re very well done. You get the original 22 Deck cards, two of which have been renamed, and then two more sets of another 22 cards. These can be used for the “expanded” uses for this deck, as I discuss below.

Which brings me to the next part of the box, the reference book. This book is kept with the Deck, which is nice, as it should prevent some damage to the cards if something happens. The book includes how to use the deck as an in-game Tarot type divination tool, letting the players or the DM do some fortune telling for the game. They can also be used to design an adventure or a dungeon, using the cards as an inspirational tool for games. I actually kind of like this idea, as it can help a DM come up with something on the fly or when they’re stumped on where to go next with the campaign. The last part of the book is the definitions the cards have as divination tools, how they can represent people, places, and locations, beyond their general meaning, as well as what they mean when reversed. If you’re familiar with Tarot, you’re going to know how that all works already. Honestly, I could totally see using these cards at a LARP or a party or a con and having a bit of fun with them.

The final part of the set is The Book of Many Things. This book is one that you may or may not find useful. It contains a history of the Deck (both in universe and production history), how to use the Deck in your games, and how to set up your Deck by selecting different cards. It then goes on to have a chapter based around the OG 22 (the original 22 Deck of Many Things cards from the various DMGs over the years). Puzzles, trap, adventures and side-tracks, as well as groups of importance that have risen up around the Deck over the centuries, each of these are given a chapter. As you might remember (or just look up), the Throne card gives the player ownership of a Keep, right? Well, if you don’t want to come up with one on the fly, they have one you can use, based on an old adventure published in Dungeon magazine. There’s also the Donjon and Void cards, which have very negative effects on the characters, and there’s a chapter for each of these effects. What I really love about this book (so far, still working my way through it) is giving you a lot of uses for the Deck itself. You can let players hang on to them after they draw them, using them as magic items on their own. They give you advice on how to use the cards to make and solve riddles, which is something I really struggle with.

I do hope that they’re going to sell these cards separately, maybe in a “core deck” that has the OG 22 cards, and then an “expanded deck” with the total 66 cards and maybe the reference book. Or just sell the cards and reference book as the boxed set they already kind of are. As for the Book, it’s one of those “nice to have but I probably wouldn’t buy it” for a lot of people. I’d be willing to bet that we’re going to see this set broken up into two different products down the road: The Deck of Many Things (with the reference book) and The Book of Many Things. It would make more sense to me for them to break it up into making people spend more on things as time goes on, especially since most people probably just want the Deck more than anything else.