Mike and I got together this morning for another exciting game of Pulp Alley. Pulp Alley is a game that I have been playing for the last twelve years or so and it never fails to deliver a tense and engaging tabletop miniatures game with a compelling narrative. Today our game is set in AD74 in Vespasian’s Rome, although it could well have been set in another time or place as Pulp Alley can and has been used to game anything from Cavemen to Spacemen with just about every period or genre in between. For many years, both Mike & I have been captivated by the skilful story telling of Lindsay Davis, who brings Rome to life through the eyes of Marcus Didius Falco and the lovely Helena Justina. Falco is a first century Private Investigator, an Informer who travels the width and breadth of The Empire solving crimes and outwitting his arch nemesis, Anacrites, The Chief Spy. The style of Lindsay Davis’ writing, is that of a Pulp ‘Gumshoe’, so ‘Falco’ works very well as a Pulp Alley game.

For the last six months or so, Mike & I have been talking about, and trying out various ideas to incorporate the storyline of a detective novel into a game or a small Pulp Alley campaign, so although this game is set in Falco’s world the ideas could just as easily be used for Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Sam Spade or Josephus Miller from The Expanse!

We are using the new Pulp-Alley Adventure Deck for Plot Point challenges and rewards. In the first game (or until a league has solved a major plot point in a game), eight specific cards are removed from the adventure deck to make a ‘case deck’. We decided that the potential cases our detectives could work on are Murder, Theft, Blackmail, Corruption, Treason, Missing Person, Kidnap or Government Business. Each of these case types have a card associated with it which is drawn at random when the peril for the major plot point is overcome. In our game, Anacrites drew and solved ‘Secret Rendezvous’ which is associated with Missing Persons, so his investigation for this campaign will be a Missing Persons case. Helena also overcame the peril for the major plot point. She drew ‘Disturbing Remains’. If she had solved that challenge, Falco’s league would be investigating a Murder as that was the crime associated with that card. Unfortunately, she failed the challenge twice, so Falco is still not sure what case he is going to be investigating!

From the Adventure Deck cards that remained after the eight ‘case cards’ had been removed, four were drawn at random to be the minor plot points for this episode.

Mike was playing Anacrites. His league included a Watch Captain and some Vigeles together with three mobs of rather unsavoury low life. It appeared that there was a secret compartment hidden in the scaffolding, so Anacrites & the Watch Captain headed off to investigate.

There was also a NPC or Bot League that consisted of a Senator and an Optio and some Troopers from the Pretorian Guard. On hindsight, I think that the Bot League should probably only be used if you are playing Solo or Cooperative or with one players league against a scenario league controlled by another player. Anyway, Falco is a master of disguise so he started of hidden and sneaked 6″ past the Guardsman who failed his spotting check.

In the second turn Falco was well placed to investigate the Amphora of poisoned Wine (the cursed object plot point). Attempting the plot point was an action, so Falco ceases to be hidden and at the end of the turn the Guardsmen comes over and attacks him, but by then he has slipped the Amphora into a fold in his tunic.

The unfortunate Guardsmen patrolling outside the meat shop is set upon multiple times by two angry mobs. He does his best to hold them off.

Eventually weight of numbers overwhelms him (there were two mobs of five), and he goes down and fails to recover.

Meanwhile around the back of the Insula Anacrites’ mob beats a poor, defenceless beggar to death. Lindsay has hinted that there is no depravity to low for Anacrites to stoop to, and this game does seem to bear that out.

Around the market square, all is chaos. Quintus, (Helena’s brother) holds of the Praetorian’s Optio, while Helena and his girlfriend (of the moment) Juliana, attempt to get a ‘formal introduction’ to a suspect, before Juliana is knocked to the ground by the brutish (and corrupt) Senator.

Anacrites has now gathered two clues (minor plot points) which has allowed him to place the major plot point on the table, represented by the ‘Gazetteer’ or newsreader. After overcoming the peril, Anacrites draws ‘Secret Rendezvous’ from the ‘case deck’. He solves the major plot point, so he has found and taken his case which is a ‘Missing Persons’ investigation.

In this scenario, the major plot point stays in place, so Falco’s league can also attempt it. Falco and Quintus are locked in combat with the senator and the Optio so Helena is the only character who can get into position to attempt it. Helena overcomes the peril and draws a card from the ‘case deck’, ‘Grizzly Remains’. It looks like Helena has discovered a hand (or maybe just a finger) in the fountain. She fails the challenge and draws a ‘Horror Card’, collapsing in ‘Hysteria’. She try’s again on the last turn and fails a second time, so Falco’s league do not know what case they will be working on in this campaign.

Anacrites league won the first scenario. They gained five victory points as they had solved the major plot point and two minor plot points. In our detective campaign each victory point allows you to draw a ‘Fortune Card’ and consult the ‘Story Icon’. Each Story Icon is related to a ‘detection element’. These are Motive, Victim, Evidence, Inspiration, Opportunity, Weapon & Location. Different types of crime need different combinations of ‘detection elements’ to solve them. The more victory points you have, the more cards you can draw to select the one ‘detection element’ that you have discovered from the scenario. From the cards drawn, Anacrites selected the Flame Icon which is associated with ‘Motive’. Falco had only solved two minor plot points, so he drew two Fortune Cards and selected the ‘Magnifying Glass’ Icon which means he has found a piece of ‘Evidence’.

Handy Links:

USA – Click here for Pulp Alley Webstore

Rest of World – Sally 4th supplies Pulp Alley mail order and to shops & retailers outside USA

Pulp Alley Tomb of Serpent campaign set in Ancient Rome article