The Speakeasy

[Rattrap1]

Sent to the Yahoo Mailing list by Michael Reitz

I will be running a .45 Adventure game at Origins this year (the only .45 Adventure registered so far - which is sort of disappointing since Pulp is one of the theme tracks). The adventure is based on the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The event is #1459 Temple of the Warriors on Friday at 1:00. Events registration begins today.

If you are going to be there, be sure to sign up for the game and get some lovely pictures!
_________________
Richard A. Johnson
Rattrap Productions LLC
http://www.rattrapproductions.com
http://www.pulp-heroes.com
http://www.45adventure.com

[DFlynSqrl]

I did sign up for this actually!

[Rattrap1]

Then I expect a full report Señor Squirrel!
_________________
Richard A. Johnson
Rattrap Productions LLC
http://www.rattrapproductions.com
http://www.pulp-heroes.com
http://www.45adventure.com

[DFlynSqrl]

Michael ran a great game (assisted by his daughter). I did take some pics which I'll post along with an a recap in a few days.

Right now my brain is a bit frazzled.

[Grimm]

please make pictures
_________________
http://grimm.backofbeyond.de/

[DFlynSqrl]

As promised here are some pictures and a recap. Just a note to say all miniatures, terrain and scenario work were done by Michael Reitz. And he deserves all the credit. Also I can only remember the name of the character I was given so I'll write this from the point of view of the character much later in life after he's had plenty of time to get REAL forgetful.

I'm sitting here today with Sir Charles Gripham-Titely, a well known professor of archeology and one-time adventurer. He has recently returned to society after a long absence in which he was thought to have been dead some 33 years now. Where have you been all this time Sir Charles?

In hiding mostly. I knew if I stayed away long enough all the people I owed debts would eventually die off.

I see. Interesting. So that's why you never returned from your last expedition to Peru. As a matter of fact your whole expedition was never heard from again. Could you tell us what happened?

Certainly. Certainly. We arrived in Peru by plane. 1935 or 36 I think it was... in search of the famous Idol of Pichui...pichuchu... I can't remember now. Never-the-less I was quite proficient at the local dialect back then and was able to learn a lot from the natives. They actually worshiped me at sort of a God as I recall... Anyway, I learned of a place that was said to have been the location of a great temple and so that's were we started our investigation.



Each of us was given a hidden character sheet and basic info for our characters. I was surprised to find out that I was in extreme debt and that I was going to betray the party. I'd also hired some local natives to help me with this task. My objective was to steal the idol and make sure there were no witnesses alive to report my evil deeds. I was also not supposed to take any unnecessary risks so I generally took my time idling behind the party...

So, we arrived at our destination by sea plane. There were 4 of us total. Professor...ah... Jones and his Yank bodyguard, Will. My other associate was a Professor...um...ah...well, let's just call him Guess-What-I'm-A-Nazi.



Did you just say Nazi?

Indeed. They seemed to be everywhere in the '30s. They could be a real nuisance from time to time. Now, we searched the area for clues and found several statues and one rather large boa constrictor. Both would prove rather helpful, but the statues were what led us to the temple entrance.




So you found the temple?

I'd rather like to think it was my research and investigative skills that lead us to it. Those Americans are always in a rush. I had no sooner pointed in the direction of the possible location and they were all off and running. Not dignified at all I must say. Even in all that rushing about they managed to avoid the spiders, the pit trap and the walls with poison darts.




Pit trap? Poison darts? Seriously?

Yes, indeed. Rather tricky business going about in those old temples. But it was certainly worth the trouble because we found the prize. Sitting up on a pedestal shining of gold in the few rays of sunlight.



So you did find it!

Yes, yes we did. And in his typical American fashion Professor Jones ran right up and snatched it off the pedestal and that's when all hell broke loose. The whole roof started collapsing. We dashed through the poison darts... rolled under a stone door. The bodyguard almost saw his life ended by a spike trap as well.



Who ever had the idol kept a large "idol" by his character sheet


And then what happened?

We all made it out alive. That's when I started making my move. I already had my native helpers in place and I slowly worked my way behind Professor Jones so I could easily snatch the idol in the confusion of the native attack. Little did I know that Professor-Guess-What-I'm-A-Nazi beat me to it. Nazi troopers came out of the jungle and started shooting.



Good heavens!

Indeed. Those Nazi's were shooting up the jungle and not hitting anything. Worst yet, Professor Jones and the bodyguard were getting away. That's when I signaled my native friends. I had 2 archers, 2 with blowguns and they were lead by a large brute named Bigol Stick.




Luckily the bodyguard was tied up with the boa constrictor from earlier so
2 of them quickly overtook the Professor and took him down with poison darts. For the first time today I was in possession of the idol.



The first time you say?

Ah, yes. The bodyguard broke free of the boa and shot my native down with his shotgun. The other panicked and fled from the fight. Then Professor Jones who proved to be rather resilient to the poison of the darts snatched up the idol and they were running for the plane yet again.


Whoever got the highest initiative die roll got to control the boa that turn.

With a whistle, Bigol Stick and his archers broke off from their engagement with the Nazi troopers and moved to cut-off Professor Jones and the bodyguard.



Meanwhile, all this time Professor-Guess-What-I'm-A-Nazi was tied up in the stranglehold of the boa.



Once again, we cornered Professor Jones and put him down. One of the natives took the idol and for the second time today I was in possession of the prize!



And?

And then the damnedest thing happened. Professor Jones snapped out of the poison induced delirium again and shot my poor native helper. He dropped it and the other cowered in the bush. All of this occurred while the bodyguard was able to dispatch my poor friend Bigol Stick.




Seems you had rather bad luck.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. The bodyguard and the professor narrowly avoided some quicksand attempting to get to the plane. All this time they were also having to dodge the reckless firing of those Nazi troopers and Professor-Guess-What-I'm-A-Nazi. I and my last remaining native helper remained in close pursuit as well.



So they got away then?

No, not quite. Professor Jones met his end in a swarm piranhas. Will, the bodyguard, had the idol in his grasp with his other hand holding a rope attached the the plane. As it was dragging him to safety his life ended when either a croc bite or machine gun bullet sent him to the bottom of the river with the idol.



And that's how it ended?

As far as I know. I didn't stick around to see what those Nazi's would do. I ran away to a nearby village and stayed in hiding for a while. I occasionally came back to search the river but never had any success.
But never mind that, let me tell you about the time I was able to elude an angry yeti while wandering through Tibet...

[timothymayer]

Awesome!
Wish I'd been able to make Origins.

[Rattrap1]

Great write-up there D! I love how you told it as though looking back on an old adventure. And it looks like Michael did a great job with the board and the scenario.

If the outcome is in doubt up until the very end, then it was a good scenario.

Thank you for taking the time to post the pictures.
_________________
Richard A. Johnson
Rattrap Productions LLC
http://www.rattrapproductions.com
http://www.pulp-heroes.com
http://www.45adventure.com

[Froggy the Great]

Yeah. I seriously covet your terrain and scenario here.
_________________
So full of courage
To draw the beast to herself
Pink mist and cat food

[mpennock]

It looks like it was a lot of fun.
_________________
"Nice going, Princess Mayhem...!"

[DFlynSqrl]

[CalicoDave]

I played Prof Jones in the game and had a great time. I had heard good things about .45 Adventure, but hadn't had a chance to play until this game. When I saw it in the Origins pre-reg schedule I jumped at the chance to get into the game.

Michael put on a very fun game and the rules were very easy to learn and fun to play.

The game actually ran a little long for it's time slot and I had to leave for another game so ended up missing the croc and the piranha swarm. I was wondering how things turned out, though!

[DFlynSqrl]

Welcome aboard CalicoDave. Was fun playing with ya... sorry I was trying to kill you the later half.

[lordsith]

Michael here, thanks for a great write up D, and the pictures. Running the game didn't give me much time to document the game. I'm glad everyone liked it. I had a lot of fun running it - and it helped to have such good players. Thanks Rich for the prizes. I passed them out to the players and gave the extras to interested passerbyers. A lot of the credit goes to my 17 year old daughter. She really loves playing .45 Adventures and has heard me talking about the design for this scenerio for a couple of years, so when she found out that pulp was one of the theme tracks for Origins this year she talked me into signing up to run it. She also helped me set up and run it - though she left to buy a new pith helmet in the dealers hall. So I spent all winter and spring making terrain and fine tuning the game with my friends. Little did I realize that it would end up being one of the featured events at Origins. I'm glad it turned out so well.

The real trick was in turning the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark from a one person adventure into a four person one. What made it work was the secret mission goals. Prof. Arte Fact (Indiana Jones), a Grade 3 Prof., was to simply get the idol back to the plane; he did have information that there was a thief in the party. Will Fyetum, a Grade 3 G-man, was the guide of the party was to make sure that the idol was recovered and that the govenment expert was protected. He also knew that a nazi was in the party. Unfortunately his contact had been killed before the party left the States so he had no clue as to who was the nazi and who he was to protect. Prof. Lance Boyle was a Grade 3 Gestapo, was to recover the idol for Germany. He thought the rest of the party was just a group of scientist, so he was to hold back and let them do the hard work and then kill them all after the idol was recovered from the temple. He had a squad of Grade 1 nazis to help him after he emerged from the temple. Sir Charles Gripham-Titely, a Grade 3 Industrialist/Banker was deeply in debt so he needed to recover the idol and kill the rest of the party much like Prof. Boyle. He was given a group of Jovito natives to help him.

The game did run a little longer than I had planned for. That is one of the difficulties in signing up for a game in January without having the chance to run it. In practice it usually ran a little short, but we did have two players who were unfamiliar with the game which added to the playing time. It also had an ending that had never occured before with the idol sinking to the bottom of the river. But that is what adds to the fun of .45.

Hopefully I can run it next year, but I'll need new players so that they don't know the different missions of the characters. The suprises really add to the game.

[Wirelizard]

Impressive scenery, and sounds like it was a tight cliffhanger right to the very end - classic pulp style!

Is that the Fiddler's Green Grumman flying boat paper model sitting in the river?