Pulp Alley

Main Rules

On the Lead Adventure Forum there has been (and is) quite a hype about the game Pulp Alley, created by a small Family enterprise.

I already got a playtest version a couple of years ago, and I had to see if the finished product was as good as the early draft let suspect, and the many fans seemed to think.

I ordered the bundle with the main rules in printed and PDF-version, plus the expansion Perilous Island, and the so-called Fortune Deck, essential to get the full value out of the game (the cards are printed in the rule book, too, so you can make your own deck).

I received the PDF rule book almost immediately, and I gave it a quick read.

The rules are very streamlined, with simple, partially card-driven, mechanics.

The cards do play a very central role in harassing the characters involved - sometimes to the level of frustration, but it's actually quite easy to remember how to use the effects.

The 'warbands' are called Leagues, each starting League comprising up to 11 figures (a balanced League will probably consist of 4-6). Character creation is easy and simple, and the biggest challenge is, what abilities to choose for especially the higher level characters.

Perilous Island

The expansion is mostly a long campaign, but it also comprises some new rules, especially weird abilities and the possibilty of having one's League become part of a Secret Society.

It also has rules for creating one-man Leagues, the so-called Terrors (think ancient vampire, super villain, etc.).

It also comes with a few extra Fortune Cards, which I mixwed into the basic deck right away.

I can see a lot of use for this expansion - the weird stuff fits wonderfully with my preferences for the Pulp genre, and I'm sure we won't play many games before the Leagues will see the participation of characters with weird abilities.