The Land of the Lost - The Historical Background and Scenario Details - A Pulp Action Game

I learned a lot running the Pulp Terror on Skull Island game last year and this year with updates to the gaming system and still using adapted FUBAR VSF rules we're all set to go again, welcome to A Bad Day in the Land of the Lost! Here is the Scenario Background and information on the Teams involved!

Best not to be a wayward Explorer in the Land of the Lost...

you may end up on the locals menu!

Historical Background:

Captain Darling’s daring 1885 Darkest African Expedition came back to haunt the him and others during the Great War that ravaged the World! Darling had naturally answered the call of King and Country as soon as the conflict kicked off and his service found him engaged in all manner of outstanding adventures in which he carried out multiple feats of derring-do. The particular operation involving Darling that interests us this time dear reader sees him carrying out a Top Secret mission for British Military Intelligence in the Middle East during August 1917!  The assignment called for Darling and three associates to plan a route for the Entente’s imminent offensive targeting Southern Russia! They were the vanguard of Dunsterforce and their task would be complete once they met a British contact in Baku! Naturally under Darling’s command the path was quickly scouted successfully. They arrived in Baku just hours before the scheduled meeting with their contact allowing them time for tea and biscuits. The ‘contact’ turned out to be no other than S.O.E. Agent and long time friend of Darling’s Edward Bigger, the two men quickly finished their business and were retiring for an evening repast when things suddenly unravelled! They were ambushed by Cheka agents with Bolshevik military support! Darling and Bigger easily evaded capture and with their revolvers blazing they decamped with their accomplices leaving their Bolshie assailants confounded!

The next morning Captain Darling noticed two pages from his dairy were missing, they must have slipped from the volume during his escape from the Bolshies, Bigger quickly discerned Darling's misgivings regrading the loss of the pages. Overhearing Darling muttering to himself he may have unlocked the ‘Doorway to Hell’, he announced to his stoic companion he would recover the missing sheets for him forthwith! With that the two parted company Darling heading south and Bigger vanishing into the shadows which he consistently inhabited.

Our story then takes us forward three weeks to the headquarters of the Cheka in the bowels of Kremlin in the heart of Moscow. A top level meeting including representatives from the Politburo had taken place with the discussion revolving around two crumpled scraps of paper which lay before them on the table. The Head Cheka Agent summarised their conversation saying, “so Comrades it appears that the Evil Capitalist’s Great Land Grab in Africa has not been as complete as they believe, there is a void they are not aware of that we can fill and in which we can create a new Soviet State, there our egalitarian ideals can gain a foothold right under their big fat noses!” The statement was followed by murmurs of agreement and polite applause after which the attendees of the meeting adjourned for a celebratory round of vodka. As the Bolsheviks revelled none of them noticed the ornate Faberge Heirloom Credenza in the meeting room move slowly from the corner over to the same table at which they had gathered. Once there a wiry hand appeared from one of its drawers and snatched the crucial papers! The Credenza then edged silently back to where it first stood! Crack S.O.E. Agent Edward Bigger had come up trumps again, disguised as the Credenza in question not only had he recovered his best friends missing dairy pages but he had thumbed his own nose at the Bolshies!

Unfortunately for Bigger the contents of these pages had been perused and copied. They contained the location of the long lost plateau in central Africa that Darling had explored all those years ago. The 'Genie was out of the Bottle' and even though the Bolsheviks were embarrassed at losing the valuable original documentation they had all they required to send group of their own explorers to investigate (and conquer) this new land!

Two years later in 1919 the Russians were at last ready to mount their expedition to uncover the secrets and riches of the Land of the Lost...

The Teams...

From Great Britain! - The Fine British Explorers

British Military Intelligence supplied with S.O.E. Agent Edward Bigger’s comprehensive report on the Land of the Lost wasted no time in planning a mission to ensure the Pinko Bolshevik Horde could not spread their poisonous doctrine outside of their borders! A retired Guards Officer, Major Burke was tasked with organising a company to thwart the Reds! Naturally Major Burke found all the stout chaps he would require from his ‘Club’! So, funded by the British taxpayers and well supplied with tea and biscuits this stout band of Explorers set off to lands unknown ready encounter any dangers while beating the Bolsheviks to their objective, the Land of the Lost...

Major Burke (twice retired!) - Hero Type - Revolver

Sir Sterling Silver - Hero Type - Revolver

Prof Thaddeus Bracegirdle -Trusty Chap - Revolver

Steel Balls - Trusty Chap - Shotgun

Dick Bonefat - Average Bloke – Elephant Gun

Watson Later - Average Bloke – Elephant Gun

From the Middle East - The Jihadist Rabble

With the Great War ending the Western Powers began carving up the Middle East in what they believed would be best for its inhabitants. Eager to prove their worth many locals fired up with the spirit of Jihad resisted the Entente, it was time to strike a blow against these arrogant foreigners. Sultan Habib Hafiz while plotting his own Jihad learned about two Expeditions that were travelling into central Africa in search of great treasure, excited at the opportunity to hack these men into pieces whilst lining his voluminous baggy pants pockets with gold he gathered around him his most rabid followers. Once organised they travelled to the centre of the Dark Continent and followed the drums towards the Land of the Lost...

Sultan Habib Hafiz - Hero Type – Revolver & Sword

He-Is Afakir - Hero Type - Revolver & Sword

Boghus Fakir - Trusty chap – Revolver & sword

Alibaba the ‘Sheik’ - Trusty Chap - Bolt Action Rifle & Sword

Putta Inbin- Average Bloke - Repeater Rifle & Big Knife

Abu Nasal - Average Bloke – Repeater Rifle & Big Knife

From the Gutters of Society - The Evil Villain’s Minions

The seedy backstreet of London’s poorer districts were always abounding with rumour, gossip and scandal and a loose lipped British Civil Servant in search of dubious activities added to the mix! Whilst drinking in a dodgy establishment he let slip about Major Burke’s undertaking! It was not long before the evil mastermind Doctor Badlove came to hear of Burke’s mission and naturally his curiosity was peaked! He contacted an ex-Etonian known as Professor Omega and the two of them quickly organised their own Expedition made up of the dregs of society to beat the Governments official party to Africa. Well equipped they promptly departed Ol' Blighty helped by British Military Intelligence’s documentation, their destination the Land of the Lost...

Doctor Badlove - Hero Type - Revolver

Professor Omega- Hero Type - Revolver & Sword Cane

The Strangler of Edbury Hill -Trusty Chap – Revolver & Club

Jack the Knife- Trusty Chap - Shotgun

Fred Bedlam - Average Bloke - Bolt Action Rifle

The Moors Stalker - Average Bloke – Bolt Action Rifle

From The Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic - The Bolshevik Expedition

The Cheka furnished with information on a wonderous lost land from Captain Darling’s Diary pages were quick to realise they could use the information to gain the Marxist Revolution of the Proletariat a foothold on the Dark Continent! Advised of the details of the Cheka’s discovery the Politburo hungry for Prestige (and possible riches!) selected their two best Bolshevik diehards to lead an expedition to Africa. These two Commissars, Boris and Natasha were given support from the Cheka and the Red Army to complete their mission. It took time to organise but by 1919 they were ready. Two Junkers F-13 aircraft were secretly acquired to transport the Expedition members and their equipment on their glorious ‘crusade’ against the Capitalist West, they were headed to the Land of the Lost...

Commissar Boris – Anti-Hero Type – Mauser C96 Automatic Pistol

Commissar Natasha – Anti-Hero Type – Nagant M1895 Revolver

Cheka Agent Yuri - Evil Chap – Nagant M1895 Revolver

Private Sasha - Evil Chap - Rifle

Private Anatole - Average Bolshevik - Rifle

Private Pavel - Average Bolshevik - Rifle

Here is a sample of the Player Sheet which each Team gets, this is the Bolshie one...

And the updated for Pulp Gaming one page FUBAR VSF Rules we'll be using...

Here's the The Land of the Lost table ready to go, all the Event driven terrain has been removed and the silver Event Marker discs are now discretely hidden by jungle looking lichen!

Next Time: the Land of the Lost AAR!

Well maybe not as we're not playing for three of weeks!