"Planning a "Spy Pulp" Project. Need your help." Topic

Ok, gang…

I'm planning a Cold War "Spy Pulp" project, related to the "Secret Underground Lair" concept that I discussed a few months ago, and other individuals have brought up at various times.
I've got a rough idea of what will be involved, and a rough idea of the terrain I'll use, but I could use your help.
I know the genre fairly well, but not as strongly as say, traditional 1914-1945 pulp.

So here's what I need…

Assume we've got various heroes attempting to force their way into the bad guy's lair to confront the evil bastard himself. Each of them has his/her own goals and perhaps a small number of assistants; but the bad guy is well prepared, too, with his own dime a dozen henchmen and specialized minions.

What would you expect to see in a typical Spy flick of the 1960s-1970s, particularly a bad one (ala "Danger Death Ray"). What sorts of villains? What sorts of heroes? What sorts of insidious traps?

Would the main villain be based underground? Would he base himself in an ancient castle? (I've seen both, just wondering what you guys think).

What other things would you expect to see? What would be totally out of place?

Any suggestions for appropriate terrain? At the moment I'm leaning heavily toward "World Works" First Light set, but the Castle Interior also has its strengths. Aware of the Copplestone stuff already, obviously, and that will be playing a role.

Keep in mind that the game will be somewhat err.. tongue in cheek.

Thanks in advance for your ideas, guys. Will report when it all comes together.

-Aurelian

Major villain has to be the final confrontation. I'd keep the villain to at the nerve center of the base until the stuff hits the fan, then the villain cowardly skulks off and tries to escape while the minions keep the agents busy. Don't forget the major big bad henchman ala Oddjob or Jaws. Usually that confrontation precedes the villain's fate.

Wondering if you can't combine the sets, transition to the high tech first light set in the dungeon of the castle?

More thoughts:

A cellblock is mandatory and could be the starting point for a group of agents who were previously captured. The villian needs to explain his plans to the agents to demonstrate his superiority. You need the world-altering/destroying weapon and a relatively easy means to impede it's deployment or destroy it.

As for deathtraps, things that extend the tension and give the players an opportunity to escape, like the slowly descending rope, the room with closing walls. I've always been partial to the Dr. No obstacle course to see how much pain the agents can tolerate.

Have you played the PC game "Evil Genius"? It's a lot of fun, and is full of ideas for you (especially if you're looking for humorous traps). I think it can be downloaded via Steam.

Every spy movie needs a girl ot save from death.
A super getaway craft for the villain.
Captured troops to free
An evil girl who wants the hero dead for rejecting her advances.
A big countdown clock
Lots of Mini Mokes!

An atomic bomb.
Girls in foil minidresses/bikinis.
Lots of good regular troops (US army) to come in at the last minute and have a big shoot up with the legions of boiler suited minions.
An indoor monorail.
A pool full of sharks/piranahs

Er..have you heard of James Bond, Derek Flint or Matt Helm..?

Think of any first-person shooter PC/console game. Each area should have bunches of cannon fodder minions and a boss. Each boss is worse than the last, until you get to the Big Boss.

May I recommend viewing "You Only Live Twice?" That is what keeps popping into my head during your narrative.

Is it too much to ask for a real volcano?

"You Only Live Twice" followed by "The Spy Who Loved Me" with its underwater base and the supertanker hiding the submarines… Cool.

For more tongue-in-cheek humor see the Evil Overlord Checklist. You'll have to google it on the web unless one of the other members has the webadress.

M-

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Ideas for various heroes with different (sometimes conflicting) agendas. Other than just simply thwarting the objective of the villian each hero player secretly draws a card with their own secondary objective or agenda.

These could be:

1) Character is so vengeful for some past wrong, that he will attempt to kill the villian or one of his lieutenants on site. He's awarded victory points for killing said target as soon as possible (use a degrading scale based on game turns) and must make an attack on that model as long as it is in LOS. The problem is that the target is necessary to provide a key or clue to the main objective (a password, key, or such). Thus it becomes important once this agenda is revealed that the other players must stop or delay his actions until the clue is obtained or else it becomes more difficult.

2) Model is a double agent working for the villian, but cannot reveal his intentions until a certain turn. His goal is thwart the heroes. He gains victory points as normal for helping the heroes up until that point, then only gains VP for attacks against Heroes.

3) Model works for an opposing organization which plans not to stop the villians plans but to take control of it and use it on someone else(e.g. re-target missile). Player must not allow objective to be destroyed, but to kill villian and take control of objective, even if it means killing the rest of the heroes in the process.

4) Model must rescue a loved one in danger. Model must first rescue a loved one who's been captured and will be executed in some creative manner (lowered into a vat of mutant sea bass with frickin lasers on their heads). Timing for this requires that it must be done before primary objecting, becoming a distraction for the rest of the heroes. Furthermore, this loved one may end up being an anchor (non-combatant, clumsy, etc.) to the rest of the team.

5) Model must secretly recover/destroy evidence of his organization's complicity with the villian. Model must get to this objective without any other hero being in LOS when this occurs (or living to tell about it!).

6) Model has a vendetta with one of the other heroes, may be picked at random and must be announced at the beginning of the game. It's only put on hold until their common objective is completed (stopping the villian) afterwards this model must kill that model before the heroes can escape the self destructing enemy base.

7) Model must secretly protect one of the other models and ensure that it escapes alive (even it that model dies in the process he gets VP if the selected model escapes alive).

8) Model must make sure it is the only one that escapes from the lair after the main objective is completed.

9) Model must ensure that it personally kills a certain Lieutenant. Objective is kept secret until objective is completed.

10) Model is somehow related to a certain Lieutenant, it must confront that model and attempt to convince it to change sides (opposed die roll). If successful, it will help the heroes achieve their objective and escape (could be complicated if another player has to kill this model).

11) Model must capture villian alive. Therefore it must subdue the villian and drag it's body out of the lair after the objective is completed.

12) Model must obtain an object off of the villain and escape from lair with it.

13) Model must find a certain objective in the lair before it is destroyed. There can be multiple cards for this, most can be different objectives.

How about a bounty on the villain's head that is WAY WAY to large for your typical spy to turn his or her nose up at. The heroes all come down on the 'secret' villains base and not only must you capture the villain and get them to safety… you must either kill or incapacitate the other heroes… because 'you' don't want to share the reward.

The villain has minions and henchmen who are too loyal or stupid to be bribed.

The hero comes in only with a gun, one secret agent style trick (laser pen, mentos that also are plasma grenades etc) and a radio phone to contact the other heroes/villain. Also the hero is alone… no sidekicks or K9 assistants.

All heroes are inserted into the base on it's periphery at various entry points.

The villain is tired of being a villain and isn't even at the secret base. S/he has hologramatic technology and occasionally taunts various heroes to higher efforts. Whomever gets to where the villain is 'supposed' to be and defends it against the other heroes and minions/henchmen for a required time will be teleported to where the villain really is and given an offer.

The villian steps down and the hero takes over all the villains operations.

"Er..have you heard of James Bond, Derek Flint or Matt Helm..?"

No, no, not at all. The mere suggestion of those names sets me buzzing. Where I can I find out about these guys? They sound great!;)

But seriously, thank you all for the many very useful suggestions. Great plot twists, traps, etc. Keep 'em coming.

I particularly like Kiley's different motivations (had already been cooking up something similar), and the suggestion to mix the Castle Interior and the Firstlight set is just inspired. The idea of the winning hero becoming the next super villain… that's great too. In fact they're all great ideas.

Any tips for possible terrain or bits for building some of this stuff?

Keep the ideas coming, guys!
-A

Any tips for possible terrain or bits for building some of this stuff?

Well, if you are going to build a true-life underground lair in an active volcano, I think a trip to Hawaii is in order. I am sure there would be some volunteers to help you conduct research.

I can assure you that I will not be building my real life lair in an easily accessible, obvious location.

;)

cmdrkiley got me thinking….a terrible thing to do. Each player's party has a mole from someone else's party who shares the aims/victory conditions of an opposing party. Play proceeds normally as the 'moles' are 'just going along'.
At a point of the owning players choosing the mole becomes an active member of the players forces, probably around objective time. The previous owner loses control of the figure.
To keep delousing operations down to a dull roar, there could be major points for unmasking the mole prior to activation such as the mole becoming a slavish follower of the unmasker…or just grabbing the points and blasting the mole. There could be point reductions for losing your minions in the hopes of losing said mole. anyway it could be a fun mechanic if the contesting parties have differing objectives. The more fun the more oppositional in objective, or so I say. I didn't say it was a brilliant idea….kinda stole it from bad spy movies. I leave the specific mechanics up to more gifted rules writers.

CmdrKiley's post reminds me of the plot from From Russai with love and Thunderball – lots of twists and double crossing

The Flint Movies were great…..

"In Like Flint", and ……

Can't recall the name of the other one, but they are worth watching.

Loved the one where the women decide to take over the world.

I'm sorry, but "underground lair" is too much in conflict with "sunbathing deck". I'd have to vote for the ancient castle, with the parapets and the entire East Tower completely devoted to femme fatales and cocoa butter.

Perhaps the castle sits on top of the vault doors to the underground lair?

How about a secret lair in a beauty spa?
With a Stepford Wives twist to the plot
Kind of like the Woody Allan spy movie Casino Royale

How about the agents thwarting this 3-part evil genius plan?

TMP link

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