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!

Terror on Skull Island - Pulp Action AAR

And so our intrepid Adventurers took their first steps into the dark jungle of Skull Island...

The 'star' of the Terror on Skull Island Scenario, Kong seen atop the Island's Volcano...

The Action on Skull Island!

All four Expeditions pushed forward into the dense undergrowth as fast as they could inspecting every square inch of the ground they covered...

...and it was not long before the dangers of Skull Island began to reveal themselves; the SS Titan’s First Mate Erasmus nearly drowned in a fetid swamp which he and his ship mates were forced to circumnavigate…

…then Needlework Ladies became engaged in fisticuffs with some fiery Natives whom they eventually overcame.

The English Gentlemen and the Nazis soon split into two groups to cover the ground more quickly…

…it was a decision which the Nazis would later rue!

The unlucky Sailors meanwhile ran into quicksand and Erasmus again required rescue…

… only for them to encounter even more quicksand into which Popeye slipped into and had to be saved from…

...encountering quicksand seemed like a walk in the park compared to the the experience of the Needlework Guild's Les Beau-Dyke when turning a corner while following a small jungle path she was confronted by a monstrous Man-Eating, or in her case Woman-Eating Plant! Reacting quickly she sprayed it with perfume (quite a nice Parisian scent) and while the nasty plant recoiled she ducked back the way she had come!

…the fauna as well as the environs of Skull Island were taking a toll, Nazi Average Bloke Schutze Hans Mauser noticed a pretty butterfly as he stumbled through the dense foliage. He decided to snare it to take back to the Fatherland for research purposes, unfortunately it stung him, quickly his faced swelled to twice its normal size and moments later he fell dead before his comrades Feldwebel Schultz and Schutze Willi Luger!

The rest of the Nazis led by Walther Bergman continued on unaware of the fate of Hans Mauser…

...in the meantime the Needlework Guild after getting the better of the Native Warriors pressed on toward the Volcano only to be ambushed by even more Natives determined to make the Ladies day worse than it had already been! Professor Les Beau-Dyke and Fanny Farhts took them on and dispatched them in due course…

The Ladies were not the only Explorers in strife, while they battled Natives the Sailors ventured into the Pygmy Village only to be confronted with a Dinosaur! The creature leapt from the jungle literally ripping Popeye to shreds only to then slink back into the undergrowth from which it had sprung its hunger sated.

After this horrific incident the Men of the SS Titan and the Ladies of the Needlework Guild clashed in the Pygmy Village. After a brief exchange of shots, the Sailors scurried off leaving Cookie lying in a pool of his own blood riddled with bullets from the Guild’s Lewis Gunner, Helen Back. She sneered after the retreating Sailors taunting them while cooling changing her guns magazine!

The Englishmen at this time were plodding forward and quietly amassing Artefacts while keeping their heads down. They had uncovered some Ancient Tablets and maps of Skull Island made by the Long Lost 1933 Expedition. The crew of the SS Titan had also found treasure at this time albeit after avoiding a man trap consisting of a barrage of poisoned blow darts!

Nazis in the foreground and English Explorers in the distance almost came to blows near the second Pygmy Village!

At this point a terrific roar could be heard across the whole of the Island along with a deep drumming sound…the Mighty Kong had appeared on the lip of the Volcano’s crater beating his chest and bellowing…a more ferocious sight none of the Adventurers had ever encountered. They all looked upon him in awe and held their breath!

The Movie Cameras of the Expeditions were quickly set up with the emergence of Kong, every Team except for the Women’s Needlework Guild successfully took footage of the Great Ape. Unfortunately, the Ladies Cinematographer John Arnold fell as one of the Island’s frequent Earthquakes began and he split his head open on a sharp rock, Skull Island continued to claim the lives of the Explorers!

After the Earthquakes reverberations faded the Teams plunged further into the jungle but very wisely the Englishmen and Nazis dispatched their Cinematographers back to their Base Camps with their precious film footage ‘in the can’.

At this point both the groups of Nazis were assailed by Natives who were promptly dispatched in truly Teutonic style!

The ‘end run’ was now on as the rumblings of the Volcano became ever more audible and an eruption began…that's right an ERUPTION had started, the teams now had a limited time to clear out of the jungle!

The fine fellows of the Shooting and Yachting Club were next to fall foul of the fauna and flora! Their ‘second’ team were assailed by a violent Raptor! John Puller was snatched and disembowelled while his associates looked on helplessly!

Then to top that off Expedition leader, Colonel Crisp E. Bacon was confronted by a wild Man-Eating plant only his deft explorer skills allowed him to avoid a nasty whiff of poisoned pollen!

Smoke, flame and lava belched from the Volcano as the Nazis made a last lunge to investigate the ruined Temple, maybe it would have been better if they hadn’t! They were confronted by a wailing Priest and two fierce Native Warriors who were in the process of sacrificing a stray Hollywood Actress, Pauline, yes Pauline was in Peril!

A violent struggle ensued and both Walther Bergman and Hauptman Adler were killed!

Eruptions, Man-Eating Plants and Raptors, the men of the Shooting and Yachting Club were at the end of their tether, with enough discoveries and footage of Kong in their possession to justify their trip they decided to trek back to their Base Camp.

The Needleworkers too headed for the Temple as brimstone rained down upon them, they successfully chased off the Priest and Natives and rescued Pauline whom they escorted back to their own Camp!

With the other expeditions in retreat a final search through the jungle as the Island seemed to be exploding around them Captain Smith’s Crew stumbled upon the wreckage of a Lockheed Electra. It was the plane of lost Scottish Aviatrix Amelia Braveheart! She joined the Sailors and they escorted her from the jungle (as an aside she kept these rowdy Sea Dogs at a proper distance with her pearl handled pair of six shooters!).

The only remaining Characters on the play area as lava filled it were Feldwebel Schultze and Schutze Willi Luger. They were overtaken by the flow only a fraction of an inch from safety, it was an unpleasant end for them and the violent end to the game!

The Prestige Points for the expeditions were tallied and the results were:

First, The Royal Overseas Shooting and Yachting Club with 40 Points

Equal Second, Nazi ‘Ahnenerbe’ Expedition with 35 Points

Equal Second, The Crew of the SS Titan with 35 Points

Last errr Third, The Women’s Needlework Guild of America with 21 Points

The Survivors

Winners on the night were The Royal Overseas Shooting and Yachting Club! Loaded with riches and playing a conservative game they acquired all they needed to win and successfully got back to their Royal Navy Frigate losing only one man, John Puller to a roaming Raptor!

Equal second were the Crew of the SS Titan and the Nazis...

The rowdy Sailors got some vital film footage, saved a famous female explorer and picked up some treasures on their journey. They came close to winning and only lost one man the unfortunate Popeye felled by ravenous Skullasaurus!

The Nazis lost their Leaders to the Native Warriors and their Average Blokes to the fauna and last minute lava flow (ewwww nasty!) but gained clear footage of the mighty beast AND kept their powder dry earning their Evil Regime brownie points in international circles!

Last were the Ladies of The Women's Needlework Guild of America, their only casualty was their Cinematographer John Arnold who fell during the earthquake knocking his head on a rather sharp rock! They got quite a stash of artefacts together and even saved a stray Actress, losing their Cinematographer cost them the game!

The Credits

Okay to wrap up, a great game ensued and fun was had by all! The figures were great, the terrain looked good and the Event Markers worked as planned creating the story BUT there were a couple of points that need to be addressed if it is played again or if we play another large Pulp Action game using the Event Markers. First up, as play progressed players expected the Event Markers would only result in 'bad news' (not true!) so a couple started avoiding them, next time to ensure there is more interest in them they'll be a Prestige Point awarded to teams for each Event Marker investigated, in this game this could have given the Game to the Ladies or the Nazi's! Secondly half the players didn't reach the middle of the play area and because of this the old 1933 Camp Site was not investigated, so again to encourage this they'll be 10 Prestige Points awarded to the teams for reaching central locations, in this case the Temple and 1933 camp site, again enough points to have changed the result in this case. Lastly next time I plan a scenario of this type I won't have a huge impassable piece of terrain dominating the tabletop, the volcano was spectacular and really essential to the storyline but it prevented a lot of player interaction!

Next Time: Captain Darling and the Sudan!?!

PS for those interested here are the Player Sheets, The Events list and the Teams special victory conditions!

Terror on Skull Island - The Historical Background and Scenario Details - A Pulp Action Game

Well we're all set to play Terror on Skull Island this evening! Here is the Scenario Background and information on the Teams involved!

Members of the The Royal Overseas Shooting and Yachting Club tackling

the flora of Skull Island!

Historical Background:

The 1933 Expedition to Skull Island aboard the SS Titan departed Southampton as the sun rose on a cool autumn morning. The Titan could be seen steaming into the distance until Noon whence it disappeared over the horizon, it was never heard from or seen again!

We go to Berlin March 1936 and to 29 and 30 Bruderstraase the premises of the Deutsche's Ahnenerbe, in the spacious and well-lit upstairs operations room eminent Dutch Prehistorian Herman Wirth and his six staff poured over the very same Skull Island documents that the 1933 Skull Island Expedition had possessed. It was decided in the name of Aryan research that a group of Himmler’s Henchmen would travel to the Island to carry out a survey and search for artefacts of interest. Little did Wirth know during this crucial meeting but British Secret Agent Edward Bigger was in the room disguised as a Grandfather Clock. Bigger a master of disguise recorded all the details of Wirth’s operation and before nightfall that very day he had communicated the Ahnenerbe's intensions to his supervisors via carrier pigeon.

With the information of Skull Islands location and mysterious history revealed the Great Democracies of the West were prompted into action! To counter the Nazi’s Skull Island plans both the British Joint Intelligence and the American Interdepartmental Intelligence Coordinating Committees dedicated their own teams of investigators to travel the high seas and explore Skull Island!

October 1936 and all three of the new Expeditions were ashore on Skull Island preparing to strike inland but they were not alone! A dark enigmatic old tramp steamer had also dropped anchor near the southern coast of the Island. A closer inspection of this vessel revealed it was the long-lost SS Titan! The now rough pirate crew after abandoning the 1933 Expedition to their fate had heard through the dens of iniquity of South east Asia of the renewed interest in Skull Island so had returned in an effort to purloin some of the booty the new Explorers were in search of!

And so it was four intrepid bands ventured into the unknown…

The Teams:

From Great Britain!

The Head of the British Joint Intelligence Committee needed to find just the right sort of men to comprise their Company for the Skull Island escapade. They required men who could handle the Nazis whilst also coping with the demands of travel aboard into hostile environments. Where else would this breed be found but the Exclusive Men's Clubs of London, they approached The Royal Overseas Shooting and Yachting Club and they eagerly took up the task!

Colonel Chris P. Bacon (retired) - Hero Type - Revolver
Lord Butmann - Hero Type - Revolver
Dr. Whet Faartz -Trusty Chap - Revolver
Fred Quartermaine - Trusty Chap - Shotgun
John Puller - Average Bloke – Elephant Gun
Willie Stroker - Average Bloke – Elephant Gun
Gil Taylor - Average Bloke – Cinematographer with Revolver

From the  USA

Once the brief on Skull Island reached the Oval Office President Franklin D. Roosevelt summoned J. Edgar Hoover and set him on a quest to find the best representatives for the USA's mission to the Island. Hoover's G Men soon found a resolute group that would be ideal for the job, they were hands-on, practical and spirited, they were a close-knit clique from the Women’s Needlework Guild of America!

Tanya Hyde - Hero Type - Revolver 
Professor Leslie Beau-Dyke - Hero Type - Revolver
Francis “Fanny” Fahrts -Trusty Gal - Revolver
Hazel Knutts - Trusty Gal - Revolver
Tara Dacktill - Average Chick - Rifle
Helen Back - Average Chick – Lewis Gun
John Arnold - Average Bloke – Cinematographer with Revolver

From the SS Titan

After abandoning the Explorers of the 1933 Skull Island Expedition to their own devices the disgraced crew of the SS Titan took to the pirate life! Marauding the Seven Seas they became feared and hated. Yet they were always haunted by the events that had unfolded on Skull Island and were destined to return to the site.

Captain Ed Smith - Hero Type - Revolver
First Mate Erasmus- Hero Type - Revolver
Cookie -Trusty Chap – Thompson SMG
Popeye - Trusty Chap - Bolt Action Rifle
Davey Jones - Average Bloke - Bolt Action Rifle
Jack Tar - Average Bloke – Bolt Action Rifle
Dante Spinotti - Average Bloke – Cinematographer with Revolver

From Nazi Germany

Herman Wirth from the Ahnenerbe scoured the ranks of the Gestapo and the Schutzestaffel for the best of the best to find the recruits to form his Expedition to Skull Island. All were men who were ruthless and dedicated to the core! They would stop at nothing to deliver the 'goods' to him. their leader was a failed artist and the Gestapo representative had been a chicken farmer, the rest were a motley band of wannabes he figured with these stellar backgrounds how could they fail!

Walther Bergman – Anti-Hero Type – P08 Luger
Hauptman Ernst Adler – Anti-Hero Type – P08 Luger
Gestapo Agent Arnold Todt -Evil Chap – Mauser Automatic Pistol
Feldwebel Schultz - Evil Chap - SMG
Schutze Hans Mauser - Average Nazi - Rifle
Schutze Willi Luger - Average Nazi - Rifle
Fritz Riefenstahl - Average Bloke – Cinematographer with Revolver

Here are sample of the Player Sheet each Team gets...

And the updated one page FUBAR Rules we'll be using...

Here's the Skull Island 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 Terror on Skull Island AAR!