Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Tropical Island Paradise - a Pulp Alley Game

Vile creatures have been spilling from another dimension. Our heroes have traveled from the desert to the swamps, seeking a way to halt the foul creatures. At last, a portal has led them to a lonely island in the South Pacific. The island is none other than R'Lyeh, the domain of Cthulhu himself.
The leagues must collect four seals, and position them at the compass points surrounding the portal.
The portal itself. Rhys had rigged up a flashing light under this!
The first adventurers onto the island trigger the arrival of a wave of brain creatures.
At the same time, the portal changed colour. Urrk!
The heroes arrive in force, making short work of the brain creatures.
At this point, it looked like we were doing really well. Brain creatures dealt with, characters making for the seals. Too easy!
Then the portal began pulsing faster. And the robot noticed something in the water.
Arrghhh!!!! It's none other than Cthulhu himself!!!
(Rhys did a superb job on this bad boy!)
As Cthulhu rose from the ocean, the land began slipping into it! The small islands are gone.
The robot, immune to the terrors from beyond, stares down Cthulhu.
Cthulhu, immune to the stares of tin contraptions, lays into the robot.
As the robot versus elder god combat unfolds, the tramp steamer captain discovers a slightly smaller boat (hidden behind some rocks???)
Glub, glub, glub. It's beginning to feel a bit crowded.
The heroes have all but one of the seals in place. The mad scientist is having trouble deciphering his.
The bosun has no such difficulties and grabs the seal, bringing it up to the portal. The portal begins flashing rapidly, all sorts of colours.
Then it disappears, taking with it the creatures. The characters who placed the seals are transported back to the swamps from the previous adventure. All but the robot are driven mad by the experience!

Oh, and there's less land too.
But there is a boat! That holds five people...

I was the tramp steamer captain and this was quite the dilemma. My one remaining character was in the boat. Who do I let go first? In the end, I picked the mad scientist. The other player promptly dropped this card!
The mad scientist, in his enthusiasm to get to the boat, stumbles and falls. Everyone else treads very carefully!
Glub, glub, glub... 
The mad scientist has one last card up his sleeve. He's wearing a phase vest. He can pick any spot on the table and move there, but he will scatter 1d6". A 1" scatter and there will be an almighty fight to see who stays in the boat.
Glub, glub, glub... Should have picked the diving suit instead of the phase vest!

Five survive, but another two (Stanley with the rope and Erich with the pistol) also go mad. Just three sane survivors (and a robot stuck in some swamp in the middle of nowhere).

That was definitely one of the best games we've played (and we've played some good ones!) Rhys did a superb job with the terrain and with the scenario and it all came down to a glorious conclusion. It'll take something special to raise the bar again!

16 comments:

  1. Wow! Just superb! The portal (and changing colors no less), the island sinking into the sea, Cthulhu... great stuff!!!

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    1. Rhys really laid it on for us! It was a visual and storytelling treat!

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  2. What a great scenario, timed (flashing) suspense generating objectives, sinking islands, and an escape that doesn't quite fit everyone...

    That looked like a lot of fun.

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    1. Thanks Major, it did have a bit of everything, and it was a heap of fun!

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  3. One of the most interesting AAR's I've read in a long time Bill, a great use of the imagination from you mate, well done all.

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    1. Thank you Frank. Rhys certainly did a great job with it!

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  4. Do not wake up Cthulhu, DO NOT!!!!!! Except for sharing an excellent and beautiful report...

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  5. Man, that's so inspiring!! I need to run a scenario in this fashion, it's absolutely genius!

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    1. Thanks Suber. It did keep us guessing, and it was a whole lot of fun.

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  6. What a blast...and that's just reading about it! I can only imagine how much fun it was to play!

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  7. Great stuff! I really like the gate, gives food for thought.

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  8. Fantastic read! Has my mental wheels turning...

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