Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Brass Jester]

The Idol of Unarpha - Episode One

THRILLING TALES

The Idol of Unarpha

Episode One - Paris by Night

This is an account of a Savage Worlds Pulp Game I ran for my son Ben, his girlfriend Chloe and his friends Kyle, Matt and Harry. They are all 14-15 and are at High School together.

The setting uses the Pulp rules from Triple Ace, plus the Savage Worlds rules. Before the session started I asked them to create new characters (they had all seen films like The Mummy and Raiders, so they knew something about the genre.) This is what I ended up with: -

Harry - Mr D Freeze - Reformed evil scientist (actually, more of a reformed evil lab technician)
Kyle - Alex "Scar" - Ex-gangster (Gunbunny)
Chloe - Carah Loft - Fiction writer (with a death wish)
Ben - Jack Ohio - Somewhat weird spellcaster, (ex-circus performer)
Matt - Yozmodius Ohio - Jack's younger brother, (ex-circus performer)

Err... ok. (puts head in hands). Let's see how they get on.

The adventure opened with them all receiving a message to meet with Dr. Murchison, curator of the Port Douglas Museum of Natural History. They all vaguely knew each other as 'obtainers of rare antiquities', although Freeze and Scar seemed to share a common background in even less legal activities. Dr. Murchison got straight to the point. The museum is in possession of a map fragment, supposedly showing the way to the lost Idol of the Unarpha. The map showed part of Burma and Rangoon, but no further details beyond a native village upstream.

"How did the museum obtain the map?"

"From a French dealer, M. Loupard. He is known on the international market, although the museum has never dealt with him before. We suspect that he has the other part of the map and may be attempting to sell that somewhere else. It is not unknown."

"So what do you want us to do?"

"M. Loupard's last known address is in Paris. We would like you to travel there and negotiate for the second part of the map. We paid $650 for this fragment and can pay $1000 again. Wire the museum for the money when you need it."

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A five day passage on the 'Mauritania', a crossing where Carah enjoyed dressing up for dinner (evening gown and elbow gloves), followed by a short train trip, saw them arrive in Paris.

M. Loupard lived in a pension just off the Gare du Nord, near Sacre Coeur. The door was opened by the concierge, an elderly Frenchwoman. Carah asked (in French) about M. Loupard, the vielle simply shrugged and pointed to a door at the end of the hallway. Carah knocked at the door but there was no answer. Yozmodius produced a set of lockpicks and went to work. At this point a voice behind them spoke: -

"So, others seek the dealer as well. No matter, for M. Belloch has first claim on him and what he has. Step aside and let us past."

The speaker was a large Frenchman, wearing a sweat-stained shirt and pants. On his fists were sets of brass knuckles. Beside him were two similar men, with three others behind, blocking the exit.

Carah tried to sweet-talk him, but failed; with the pleasantries over; the Frenchman ordered his companions to attack.

The fight was short and bloody. Carah distracted the leader long enough for Jack to cast Boost on Yozmodius' arm and fist, enhancing his Strength. One thug attacked Scar, who landed two good blows in return; slamming him back into the wall. Yozmodius hit the leader, Shaking him, then landing a subsequent blow that took him out. Carah yelled at the three goons at the back of the warehouse; they needed no further hints and ran. The final ganger was take out by Freeze; a maximum-strength blow that killed him instantly. The leader was still alive, the other ganger that Scar hit was also dead.

Leaving Scar and Freeze to watch the bodies, Yoz successfully picked the lock and went into the room, Carah and Jack following. Neither Freeze or Scar noticed that the concierge was nowhere to be seen.

The room was basic, a bed, table, two chairs, chest of drawers and a wardrobe. The wardrobe contained very few clothes, as did the drawers in the chest. The suitcase was missing from the top of the wardrobe and in one of the drawers Jack found a ticket stub for Marseilles dated three days ago.
Flashing lights and bells alerted them to the arrival of the police; Scar withdrew into the room but Freeze elected to stay and blag it out. Carah called to him: -

"Meet us at the Gare du Nord"

They forced open the room window and escaped down the alley. Freeze was arrested and taken into custody on a charge of double homicide.

The others discussed plans about getting Freeze out of custody, especially when they realised that France carried the death penalty for murder. Fortunately, the American Consul intervened and Freeze was released due to lack of evidence.
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Aftermath
M. Loupard has obviously travelled to Marseilles, and took a suitcase with him.
Someone else is looking for him (M. Belloch?)

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[Brass Jester]

The Idol of Unarpha

Episode Two - Night Train to Marseilles

The episode opened with them travelling south on the overnighter to Marseilles, following in the trail of M. Loupard. Some hours into the journey, they were rudely jolted into wakefulness by a scream from the next carriage.

Carah sneaked out into the corridor to see what was going on. In the next compartment she saw a middle-aged lady struggling with two men. One held her by the wrist whilst the other was demanding the return of his property. She was protesting that she didn't know what he was talking about. Yoz went and demanded to know was going on and suggested they should release her.

"Oh no, old chap, I really don't think that's on the cards at all", said the one. He turned to Yoz, showing that he was carrying a revolver. "Why don't you keep your nose out of things that just don't concern you?"

Freeze, Alex and Jack arrived at this point.

"Oh, so you're all in it together. Well, you won't get away with it; I want my stuff back."

The woman protested "I don't know what you are talking about; that is my case, sir. Mine!"

The thug holding on to her gave her a shake and looked over.

"What we goin' to do, guv?"

Realizing that the time for talking was over, Jack cast an Entangle spell on the accomplice, who had also pulled a gun. Yoz ducked into the carriage and grabbed hold of the woman, plus her case off the luggage rack. Harry produced his sub-machine gun from under his coat and made threatening noises; to which the villain looked singularly unimpressed. Jack cast a second Entangle on the villain and Alex grabbed hold of him.

"What's in the case?"

"Clothes. Just my clothes. Very expensive clothes, and I want them back"

Yoz opened the case, despite the woman's protests ("what do you think you are doing, young man?") and a pile of men's clothing fell out on to the floor of the carriage. Everyone glared at her.

"I must have picked up the wrong case at the station. I hadn't got my glasses on."

Carah stepped forward. "Look, why don't we all calm down. No-one has been hurt. You can take your case and just walk away and we'll forget about everything."

" I just take the case and walk away?" Carah nodded. "Well, a good evening to you all."

They watched them walk off; then returned to their own carriage

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In the evening, the train pulled into the station at Marseilles and the characters disembarked. Whilst enquiring about hotels, Carah overheard the woman off the train doing the same thing.

At the hotel, near to the docks, the receptionist gave them a letter from M. Loupard. They contained tickets for the "SS Rangoon", leaving for Burma tonight. The letter expressed surprise; he was expecting to meet them here in Marseilles four days ago. They took a taxi down to the docks and looked for the ship.

From out of the shadows stepped a group of drunken French dockworkers, looking for a good old-fashioned brawl. Yoz stepped forward to reason with them, but got punched in the face. During the ensuing brawl, Alex and Jack were hit and Shaken; Carah punched out one dockworker in a single blow, and from out of the shadows appeared the woman off the train. "What do you think you are doing?". So saying, she produced her umbrella and whacked two of the Frenchmen over the head, flooring them. Jack fired off "The Glow" (his Bolt spell) and took out the remaining two.

There was little time left; the ship's siren was sounding for the gangplank to be raised. They hurried on board, the woman as well. They were met at the top of the gangplank by a Frenchman, who introduced himself as Pierre Loupard. He escorted them down into the saloon, where they settled into their cabins whilst the ship set sail. Back in the saloon, they made their introductions. The lady from the train was Miss Isadora Downes, a retired schoolteacher of English and Ancient History. She taught in a school in Rangoon, then returned to England and took up a post teaching at Rodean until her retirement. Now she is a traveller; seeing the world. Loupard contacted her because she had some knowledge about the Unarphan Idol, picked up during her time in Burma.

"Where are we going?"

Loupard seemed surprised at the question. "Why, to Burma of course. We are to recover the Idol."

Carah frowned. "I thought you had the Idol"

"Non. I never said that. The Idol is in Burma, and we go to get it

Miss Downes piped up; "Legend has it that the idol cannot be taken"

"We'll see about that. Next stop, Rangoon"

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Hmm ... a bit of a chaotic session. We were picking up the Game after a break of a few weeks and so a fair bit of prompting was needed to remind the players of what was going on. Kyle and Harry are very eager to shoot first and ask questions later... this approach may well backfire on them

A house rule we (Ben and I) are going to introduce from next session - Mobile phones are banned at the Games Table: they are too distracting.

Oh... The guy on the train was a diamond smuggler. There was $5000 worth of diamonds hidden in a false bottom in that suitcase.
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Stay tuned for the next exciting episode: - The Living Jungle!
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[Ronin84]

I run for a group of high school kids and the school where I work and we banned cell phones, and laptops etc...a long time ago.

[Brass Jester]

THRILLING TALES

The Idol of Unarpha

Episode Three - The Living Jungle!

The episode opened with Yoz, Jack, Alex, Freeze, Carah and Loupard on a wheezy old river boat, chugging up the river towards the village indicated on Loupard's map. Miss Downes had elected to stay behind in Rangoon.
(The PC's took some time to Advance; Freeze did some tinkering and built a Lightning Bolt gun).
Disembarking at the village five days later, they were met by a group of villagers led by the headman. They did not look pleased to see them, especially when the headman saw Loupard was with them. It transpired that Alex had spent some time in the Far East and could speak Burmese. He acted as the go-between. Loupard stumbled out of the jungle many moons ago and the villagers took him in, fed him and healed him. In return, he stole part of the map from their shrine and a boat. He is not welcome here. Alex thought quickly and offered the headman $50, plus the return of the stolen part of the map. In return; they would be allowed to photograph the entire map. The headman was happy to accept American dollars; but insisted that only Alex was allowed into the shrine. He also warned him that "the Idol cannot be taken". Alex borrowed Jack's camera and took several photographs of the complete map.
That night, they were quartered in a native hut. Jack developed the pictures and they took turns scrutinising them.
The map showed a three-sided pillar in the jungle to the north of the village. The writing on the pillar was in Sanskrit; certain of the characters were highlighted. Jack could read Sanskrit and translated the symbols to read "Here is hidden the Opener of the Way". Certain of the characters seemed to be highlighted.

The following morning, after Alex had talked his way past the guards on the shrine and checked that the map was still there, they loaded up with the supplies they had bought in Rangoon (rope, rations, torches etc.). They quickly found that they were somewhat encumbered. None of the natives were available for hire as bearers.

Heading out of the village up-country, after some time they reached a clearing in the jungle. On a stone plinth stood a three-sided stone pillar, the same as the one shown on the map. Yoz pressed the symbols in the right order; the pillar rotated 120 degrees and sank into the plinth, revealing a flight of stone steps leading down. At the foot of the steps was a paved path, running between ancient stone walls. Freeze and Alex scouted around and determined that only animals and monkeys had passed along the path recently. As they were talking there was a grating sound and the pillar rose back up again, taking the stone steps with it. At least that stopped the problem of them being followed.

The secret trail was remarkably clear of debris, with only a few vines and trailing roots disturbing the clear ground. Jack examined the stone walls with interest; they were obviously thousands of years old. Eventually they came to a cliff face blocking the path; a tunnel plunged deep into the rock. Armed with flashlights they ventured in; passing through a curtain of greenery they emerged onto a grassy plateau overlooking a gorge. Night was falling and the plateau looked a good place to camp, there was a small stream flowing down the cliff at one edge to provide fresh water. They took turns on guard; during his stint Freeze remarked on a dull red glow outlining the mountains to the north. He felt like he was being watched by something in the shadows; he and Alex searched using flashlights but found nothing.

The following morning they remarked on a conical flat-topped mountain to the north; they rightly surmised that it was a semi-active volcano. On the edge of the clearing they found the imprint of a bare foot, ("a bear foot... like a claw print?" "No, a bare foot" "So a bear was prowling round the camp?" "NO. It is a bare foot, like in a foot not wearing any shoes or socks").
The trail out of the clearing led down and north towards the volcano, the ground in between was forested and covered in mist. At the edge of the ravine a rope bridge crossed the gorge, which was filled with a thick mist. When they got to the edge they realised that the 'mist' was masses of spider webs.

Freeze and Alex started to cross the bridge whilst the others stayed on the edge of the ravine. They were halfway across when the bridge started to sway alarmingly and a giant black spider climbed up onto the bridge in front of them. Freeze pulled out his Electrical Discharge gun and blasted it with a bolt of lightning, Alex followed up with a shot from his automatic and killed the creature, which fell into the mass of webs. At this, a huge mass of spiders swarmed up from out of the ravine and engulfed the others. Loupard panicked and froze on the spot; Yoz and Carah began stamping on the spiders. A second giant spider crawled up onto the bridge and scuttled towards Freeze and Alex; Carah, Jack and Yoz were badly bitten and wounded by the spider swarm...
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... To be continued
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GM: An interesting session; there were some good instances of role-playing. It should be mentioned that Kyle (Chloe's younger brother; who is playing Alex), is a newcomer to role-playing and this is his first ever Game. He was the one who came up with bribing the Chief (in the 1930's, American dollars were THE currency) and the idea of photographing the map.

D'oh Moment
When you re-roll a Test using a Benny, you keep your best roll (roll a 4, re-roll hoping to Ace, instead roll a 3, you keep the 4). Somehow, Ben and I have never actually read that rule until now.

The bit about the bare/bear foot was really funny round the table. Despite how many times I described what they had found, someone round the table was convinced it was a bear that was stalking them

Giant Spider, Freeze and Alex on a swaying rope bridge (Unsteady Platform), Alex is 3" behind Freeze. Innocent Bystander?
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[Savage Mommy]

Great Write-ups. I hope to see more.
_________________
Chris "Savage Mommy" Fuchs
Rocky Mountain Savages
http://www.rockymountainsavages.com
http://groupspaces.com/RockyMountainSavages/

Smiling Jack's Bar and Grill
http://podcast.smilingjacksbarandgrill.com/

[Brass Jester]

THRILLING TALES

The Idol of Unarpha

Episode Four - The Sacred Elixir

Jack shook off his fear and cast The Glow on Yoz, boosting his Strength; Yoz in turn stomped on more of the spiders. Carah was covered in them, although she was bitten many times she took no real damage. Out on the bridge, the monstrous spider scuttled towards Dr. Freeze, he was able to get a shot in from his Electrical Discharge gun that killed it. He and Alex ran across the bridge to the other side, closely followed by Loupard, disregarding the fact that bits of the bridge started to fall off.

Jack was bitten again; he recovered enough to cast The Glow on Carah, boosting her Spirit enough for her to easily recover and escape from the swarm. Yoz also ran out, spiders falling from him, finally Jack got away and across the bridge to the other side. The spiders milled around for a time on the other side of the ravine, then dropped back down into the depths.

Alex and Dr. Freeze stood guard whilst the others attempted to heal each other of the spider bites. Fortunately they had some first-aid supplies with them, they rested for an hour, then pressed on. Loupard was beginning to show signs of eagerness. After another hours travel through the rainforest, following a rough trail; they glimpsed the hills rising up ahead of them, and beyond these, the mountains.

The trail led through a valley, the sides covered in vegetation ("not webs?"). Dr Freeze was leading and was not being particulary on guard as, with a chorus of yells, a large group of native spearmen burst out of the undergrowth and surrounded them. Up on the cliffs above appeared several bowmen.. The natives appeared to be of hostile intent and threatened with their spears. In response, Yoz pulled his two automatics and fired into the air, causing them to hesitate.

"We come in peace. We are seeking the Idol. Do you know where it is? Can you take us there?"

They were escorted to the native village; a collection of huts at the foot of a cliff. From nearby came the sound of running water and the distant sound of a waterfall. The headman of the village was there to meet them.
(No one noticed the faint flicker of recognition that passed between Loupard and the headman.)

Yoz did the talking to start with.

"We are seeking the Idol. Do you know where it is?"

"We have our sacred relic and it cannot be taken"

(Cue massive interest from all of the party, except, perhaps, for Loupard).

"What is this relic? Could we see it, borrow it and perhaps not come back with it?"

"It is the sacred elixir, the source of power of the Americans. It is ... Coca Cola"

"WHAT!!"

After a little persuasion, the headman was persuaded to bring out the bottle of Coca Cola. It was carried by the village shaman, an ordinary bottle of Coca Cola, still sealed.

Jack and Dr. Freeze immediately hatched a plan to steal it, using Jack's magic and Dr. Freeze's Light Refraction Field belt. The others were not really interested in joining in, Loupard especially.

"Merde! Why are you bothering with zis sheet? We need to go to get the Idol!"

Carah negotiated with the headman to obtain a guide for part of the route; they were told they needed to go via the river to the waterfall. She, Yoz and Alex set off with the guide towards the river. Meanwhile, Dr. Freeze and Jack put Jack's plan into action. Being VERY persuasive, they got the shaman to show them the bottle again. Dr. Freeze then used his belt to turn invisible, then tried to grab the bottle off the shaman. Meanwhile, Jack loosed off The Glow twice, purple bolts of energy taking out two of the villagers. However, the plan went (badly) wrong; the shaman held onto the bottle and Dr. Freeze fled empty-handed. He and Jack ran off towards the river, hotly pursued by a group of spear-waving natives.

Down at the river, Carah and the others heard the noise and turned to see Jack running towards them, with the natives not far behind. There was no sign of Dr. Freeze. Carah grabbed hold of Yoz and dragged him into the river shallows, Alex followed and Jack jumped in after him.

It was then that they took stock of their surroundings. On the bank stood a line of upright stakes, driven into the ground (the sort of stakes that tend to have skulls on top of them.) The villagers had lined the edge of the clearing, spears at the ready. And rising out of the river, crawling towards the bank, were several large crocodiles ...

=======================
GM: How do you escape from a Swarm? Simples. Find out where it is, then be somewhere else.
I think this was a bit of computer game culture creeping in; they thought they had to defeat the spider swarm to move on/level up/whatever the term is. Really, all they had to do was run away from it.

I have no idea why they thought jumping into the river was a good move
=======================

[Brass Jester]

THRILLING TALES

The Idol of Unarpha

Episode Five - Riverbank Rumble

Dr. Freeze, still smarting at his failure to grab the bottle of Coca Cola, and annoyed at hearing Jack yelling to the others that "Freeze failed to get the bottle - it's all his fault", decided to stay invisible and hidden in the undergrowth.

Down on the riverbank, two large crocodiles surged up out of the water, one attacked Alex and the other attacked Carah. Fortunately, both missed with their bites, Carah pushed Yoz out of the way and back onto the bank. Yoz was able to draw and fire his automatics (double-tapping, his preferred method), to their horror they discovered that crocodiles are very immune to handguns. Alex had more luck, his shot hit home and the crocodile rolled over and sank out of sight.

This jubilation was short-lived as its place was quickly taken by another, which bit Alex, doing severe damage to his leg. Yoz fired again at the croc attacking Carah, then fired an intimidating shot towards the natives ringing the clearing. This had little effect, so he shot the nearest spearman. Jack readied 'The Glow' and cast two purple bolts at the croc attacking Carah, this hurt it badly and a final shot from Carah killed it.

Dr. Freeze moved out of cover and down to the river bank, becoming visible as his belt ran out of energy. The natives surged forward towards Yoz and Carah, several went down in a flurry of shots from Yoz's automatics, Carah's gun ran out of ammunition and she pulled out a hidden knife (she is Italian, of Sicilian descent!) and fought back, taking out a spearman.

Alex meanwhile, was in trouble. The croc had grabbed hold of him and rolled over, Alex was Shaken with three Wounds. He staggered back onto the bank and Yoz pulled off a superb headshot, killing the croc dead. Another croc appeared and attacked Jack, who was still in the river, causing a Wound. Dr. Freeze pulled out his Electrical Discharge gun (yes, firing an electrical attack when one of your friends is in the river). The gun sparked and fizzed, then went dead with a smell of burning resistors.

"Damn", yelled Dr. Freeze, and pulled out his Tommy gun, opening up on the advancing natives. Yoz took out the croc with a headshot and they dragged Jack out of the water. The remaining natives broke and ran, Dr. Freeze wanted to pursue them but Yoz prevailed on him not to.

Taking stock, both Alex and Jack were wounded. With Dr. Freeze keeping a careful watch on the path leading back to the village, Carah and Yoz performed First-aid and managed to heal all of the wounds. There wasn't enough time for Dr. Freeze to try and fix his Electrical gun.

"The headman in the village told us to head for the waterfall"

"He might have been lying. They did try and kill us"

"That was because you tried to drink his Coca Cola"

"Where's Loupard?"

There were two paths out of the clearing, one led back to the village so they chose to take the other one, leading upstream. The path climbed steadily, the river running in a deep gorge beside them. After a time, they heard the sound of falling water, rounding a bend in the path they saw a waterfall cascading down a cliff into the gorge. The path came to an end at the cliff face, about 50' up, hidden by the falling water, was a ledge.

"Great. Who can climb?"

"I'll try", said Dr. Freeze, drawing a few looks of astonishment from the others. Slinging a coil of rope over his shoulder, he set to climb up. There were few handholds and the rock was slippery, a single mistake would send him plummeting into the river far below. Yet, somehow, he made it. He threw the rope down and helped pull Jack up to the ledge. Jack then used "The Glow" on Dr. Freeze, boosting his strength and enabling him to easily pull the others up to the ledge.

At the back of the ledge, a cave led deep into the mountain. Dr. Freeze led the way, his Tommy gun at the ready, Yoz and Alex carried flashlights. Suddenly a shot rang out and Dr. Freeze buckled, shot in the stomach. Torches sprang to life to reveal a cave, filled with natives from the village. Most carried spears, some carried rifles (of Great War vintage). Loupard stood in the middle of them, a smoking pistol in his hand. He smiled an oily smile.

"So, regrettably, this is the end of the road for you, mes amis. There is only one Idol and it can have only one owner. You have served your purpose."

"Wait", said Yoz. "What do you mean, we've served our purpose? We were all going to share in the Idol, you would have got your share."

Loupard shook his head sadly. "The Museum was never going to get the Idol. I have been here before, some years ago, but was unable to proceed after the supplies ran out. I made friends here in the village, my late companions were not so accommodating. I could not afford an expedition to return, so I wrote to the Museum with part of the map. I knew they would send an expedition to retrieve the Idol, I needed you to protect me. Now, I need you no longer. The Idol is within my grasp."

Yoz said slowly, "so you don't actually have the Idol yet?"

To be continued...
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GM's notes:
Probably the biggest combat run so far, with a horde of natives, the crocodiles and the PC's. I did some preparation beforehand to make things easier.

1) After some searching on the Net, I found some Adventurer figures by Blue Moon Castings. They are perfect for 30's Pulp gaming, I bought a set of British Agents (very 'Avengers', inc. Steed & Ms. Peel), American Agents (inc. a very good Indie figure), German Agents (with a superb Todt (RoTLA)), and finally some Weirds (Mesmerist, Anarchist etc.). The figures are clean and well-cast, with minimal flash and are cast with integral sculptured bases. I did a marathon speed paint job over the weekend to get them ready; the effort was worth it as the kids loved their 'individual' figures.

2) I prepared, then photocopied loads of A1 squared grids, then drew out the caves and the river bank. These, of course, can be re-used, but are cheap to make and prepare.

3) I found some cheap plastic crocodiles and stuck them down to bases (in hindsight, there was no need, providing they stand up then that's ok). In the same set of figures (£1 from a cheapo shop), were some plastic spiders, just right for Giant spiders.

4) Finally, I made a load of 'pogs' to use as Extras. Figures are nice, but I can't carry a range to suit everything. The pogs were made by drawing round a two - pence piece onto card, then cutting it out. I made 40 in about an hour. They were labelled "Extra #" front and back, sets of ten in different colours , the back also had a large 'S' drawn in red to indicate Shaken.

5) I also experimented with using a variant of the Allies ammo rules for the PC's. They complained that keeping track of ammo was a chore and that they kept forgetting. As the Pulp rules assume that the PC's reload between Scenes anyway, all that was necessary was to determine if they ran out of ammo during a Scene. The rules are very rough and ready ATM, I intend to polish them up so if anyone is interested then please let me know.

6) Crocodiles are Tough! Even treating them as Extras (and Extras damage doesn't Ace); Alex (Kyle) was getting badly hurt. He'd already Soaked two Wounds from when attacked earlier. It worried them that they had come up against something that a single bullet couldn't kill!
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