(Pulp Alley) #3.8 An Unorthodox Egg Hunt

As COVID, mandatory work from home, and the cancellation of the kids' extracariculars has allowed me a bit more time to paint, it's getting through the backlog of games I've wanted to play since late Summer 2019 that's proving trying.  

• Mousling Game?  Got it set up and run beautifully.
• Easter Game?  Together, but haven't gotten the kids to the table.
• Medieval Games with Maja and while everything is out...
• Medieval Zombies using Last Days
• The Maja Millie Pulp Egypt Game?  With the cliffhanger last episode, I'm still finalizing the details for 3.8.

So, to kill two birds with one stone, the Easter Game with become Episode #3.8 of the Pulp Game, as we attempt a Lost Worlds version of an Easter Egg Hunt, using Pulp Alley again!

Maja and Millie made up two new "leagues" earlier in the month (Cultists vs Explorers), and we put them aside until we finally had a chance to play.  Some of the figures got misplaced somewhere in the dining, so we've adapted and overcome.

Set-Up:  Six Potential plot points were set up on the board as potential dinosaur nests.  Each figure could pass a challenge to search, but eggs were only found on a 4+ on d6 on a subsequent roll.  Only one egg per location, and only three eggs could be found.   Hills with Easter Island heads were Perilous Terrain to move into, as well as the monolithic stones and the nearby volcano.

Turn One: The girls gingerly moved most of the figures.

Cult Leader Bartholomew was the first to encounter (and pass) a terrain peril.

Prehistoric allergies?  Not this guy!

"The Cheetah" from the explorers dashed madly into the fray, reaching the nearest egg nest, but being unable to search yet.

Turn Two:

But he did find an egg.

The cultists tried a different technique,.  Starting with their second-in-command, Cap'n Snake, they all risked the perilous hill with the strange heads.

And in a bucket brigade style, kept handing off the egg to the next cultist. ..

They were walking, and everyone walked up and passed their peril checks, so I allowed it.

Rose, leader of the explorers, passed two peril checks to scale a volcano for a better view/shot.

In the first round, the dinosaurs paid little attention to the small mammals scurrying around, but when they started stealing eggs, all the reptiles got worried.

This might be a problem.

Lady Meow-Meow of the Explores (not pictured) was caught unaware by a Brontosaurus and luckily only got knocked around for one hit.

Turn Three:  Deciding that Cheetah could use his speediness to get to another nest, Bob Franks dashed over to him, and like a halfback taking a hand-off from the quarterback, took the egg.

In the background, Doc Bush spotted the Cult Leader and fired, to no effect, and then realized he was stranded in the open ground.  The Cult Leader lowered his staff and with a mighty *ZOT*, Doc was a charred corpse.

The other cultists had conducted their egg brigade perfectly.  The last cultist narrowly avoided one of the heads falling on top of him (Millie played a Fortune card requiring yet another Peril.  These cultists are good, even the minions).

The dinosaurs were fooled for a moment by the egg handoff, but Bob had bigger issues.  He could hear the cracking in his arms!!! Moments later, he was holding an adorable baby dinosaur!

.... and the adult dinos went berserk!

Turn Four: Deciding one egg was enough for their nefarious plans, the cultists retreated.  This left the explorers with some free time to search nests unmolested (by humans at least).

Bob exited the board with the baby dino.

Turn Five:  Cheetah had reached another nest, but failed the initial test before he could search for anything... and those dinos' roars sounded like they were getting closer.

Turn Six:  Lady Meow-Meow had failed at her first attempt to search and had finally reached a second location.  Unfortunately the next around the deadly Wafflesaurus was treacherous, and she was injured... ultimately succumbing to her wounds.

RIP Lady Meow-Meow

With Millie's lucky egg roll, the bady dino netted the explorers enough points to win the scenario, only losing two teammates in the process.

When Episode #3.9 is finally run, I'll be running it with Savage Showdown/Worlds.   Everything that Showdown is missing, Pulp has in spades, but I prefer the Showdown base mechanics, initiative, die rolls, bennies.  Perhaps everyone just rolled well, but even the minions had no problems with the challenges and perils.  They succeeded even easier than the Savage Showdown characters. After two games now, I see the appeal, and I think after we finally complete this season of the Pulp campaign, I can see going into Season 4 running Perilous Island, Adventures in Lemuria, or Tomb of the Serpent.

This was inspired by "Egg Hunt" from Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist.. Outside of thinking up dinosaur stats on the fly, it was great resource.