Yes well I seem to have the rules wrong (still) but hardly surprising. As a one time document controller and procedure writer I have this urge to sit down and rewrite Pulp Alley, but then the fit passes and what little sanity I have left returns.
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| The Bazaar at Deva, crossroads of Dimensions! (Apologies to Robert Asprin) |
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| Heading into the Bazaar, Batty gets exciting spotting a black cat. Will it bring bad luck! |
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| Eberhard spent a lot of time getting up from being knocked down by a blast each turn. Dashed annoying. |
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| Jabari runs out of moths, Batty goes down, Ackerly gets the plot! The black cat meows... |
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| The Dog and Niles had an adversarial encounter all game before finally taking each other out. |
Thanks to Bill Colyer for a fun game of Pulp Alley. My dice deserted me as usual, but that's to be expected. Learnt a few more nuances of the game. Yet for all that I learnt, I think that I will continue to play the narrative style game play I have become accustomed to. Pulp Alley supply a variety of abilities for characters to choose from, but from what I am seeing, there does not seem to be a lot of variety come game play. For instance I play the narrative story telling game and choose skills to suit a story, these do not do well when facing a competitive opponent whose League has no narrative and is essentially tooled to win (not saying that this was the case today but a general statement of games). Now before people go off the handle and attack me, I am simply making a point that I (and I am in the minority) do no operate in the world of tooled gaming (and not saying that that was what todays game was but a general reflection on games in general). I could if I wanted to create a "tooled" League made solely to win scenario's, but then it would look like most other Leagues that are out there and would be dull and boring. Then there would be counter Leagues to oppose the "strong" League, and then another League to... and I think you get the picture. I don't know what the happy medium is, which is why I tend to create the Leagues that oppose each other and the narrative story which goes with them.
Did I enjoy my game today. Yes I did. Was I frustrated over some rules that I hadn't understood? Yes I was. Will I continue to play this set of rules? Damn straight I will.
I'm looking forward to the solo deck and rules as my ability to get games is hard, being trapped at home 24/7 with the Blind Pig being my only respite. Getting old has it's disadvantages.
Anyway, hopefully some uplifting jolly adventures from Lord Wishart in the next few weeks now that my commitment to three weeks of club duties and a tournament are behind me.
Cheers
John
Hi John, some nice shots of the action there. I'm sorry the game raised some negatives for you: I was thinking afterwards it probably wasn't a great scenario. Which is unfortunate, because I think you're right - scenarios that tell stories are the strength of the game. I've read some good comments about the solo deck, so hopefully that works well for you.
ReplyDeleteThere was nothing wrong with the scenario. It was my inexperience with the written rules, the nuances of said rules and my bull headed insistence to abide by a narrative versus competitive League design. I'm also at present going through a period of ill health and my mood has coloured my view of the world in general, so I'm more bitter in general than I normally am (ha says everyone who knows me, where is that different than any other time they cry!). I do thank you for the game, for making the effort to coming to the club, I'm sure that had Glen been there or any of the others, things would have been far more rosy.
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