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!