Yesterday afternoon found me off enjoying my local convention, guns of August, where I ran a Pulp Alley game of wild West Cowboy Action!  This is the first time I have used Pulp Alley for a cowboy skirmish.

I decided to use the Crime Spree adventure in the Vice Alley campaign book.  This is of course designed for 1930s gangsters, but one of the greatest aspects of Pulp Alley is how easy it is to do whatever you want with it.  Because I was playing at a convention I decided to allow 6 leagues (and therefore 6 players) rather than the usual maximum of four.  Because I was allowing six players I decided to allow a larger playing area as well.  Pulo alley is usually played out of a 3″x3″ table, but I decided to use a full 6″x4″.

I can’t really give as much detail as I might like in an AAR.  The number of inexperienced players, the tight quarters of the gaming hall, and the roar of the fans trying so hard to cool the hot air all conspired against me for properly documenting the game.  I often wasn’t really sure what was happening myself.  Another great advantage of these rules is that while they can be difficult to explain, they are very easy to learn.  Very quickly the players were able to help themselves very ably.  This allowed me to prepare for another game I was planning on running directly after this one. Similarly, I had only a small number of photos to use here.  Many of these, most of the non-antiqued ones were taken by one of the players

Similarly, I had only a small number of photos to use here.  Many of these, most of the non-antiqued ones were taken by one of the players

Again, borrowing from the notion of Vice Alley, all of my leagues were intended to be classed as criminal or vigilante.  The leagues consisted of El Guapo and his banditos, The McBroom gang, Marshall Harris and the Pinkertons, Sheriff Silas and his Posse and of course Preacher Harris and his Evangelical Vigilante Suffragettes.  I had planned a sixth league which of cowboys but I ended up with just the five players, that’s fine.  I think in the environment we were ibn even five was probably too many.

The plot points consisted of Major Plot point:  An active Bank Robbery

Minor Plot Points: A witness

An assault

A burglary attempt

An informant

The game was a lot of fun.  Some of my players had no experience with gaming at all let alone with Pulp Alley, and two were children ( though one of those was probably getting close to adulthood).