"Wargame Rules for Pulp or Horror Investigators" Topic

Anyone found a quick and simple rules system for adding detection and investigations for Pulp or Horror skirmish games? Nothing as complicated as a fill-blown RPG, but something minimal that doesn't get in the way of the skirmish game? Or am I doing to have to adapt Call of Cthulhu, Top Secret, or another RPG?

Try .45 Adventure from Rattrap. You can get it from Brigade Games:

link

Two Hour Wargames has Larger Than Life. Description and table of contents here: link

Pulp Alley.

I'm not sure those have what you want which is adding a mystery/sleuthing to a game.

Ever try adapting the "Clue" boardgame mechanics?

Pulp Alley would work. Plot points could quite easily be clues.

I used the cards in the Sherlock Holmes board game as plot points in Pulp Alley. Took a little tweaking but it worked.

Larger Than Life has a high-level mechanic for sleuthing based on accumulating clues, but it's not really the player doing the sleuthing. .45 Adventure is sort of similar but the characters have more skills associated with investigating, it's closer to an RPG that way.

I think Pulp Alley is similar, but I'm less familiar with it.

In LTL – Director's Cut the Rep of the character (think how good a character is), is used to solve the Clue.The higher the Rep, the better the character,
His Rep is compared to the Rep of the person being questioned (Person of Interest) or the Difficulty Factor of the Clue.

The character and the Person of Interest or Difficulty Factor roll against each other. If the character scores more he can solve the Clue, not solve the Clue, or trigger a trap.

Pulp Alley covers detection/investigation with the 'plot point' rule. Fast, fun, and easy to play….

• Players never need to consult charts during a scenario. The action is on the tabletop – not in a rulebook.

• Control of the Initiative is based on events as they occur during the scenario rather than an arbitrary die-roll.

• Fights are fast-paced and simultaneously dangerous for both characters, instead of the old I-shoot-then-you-shoot sequence.

• Perils and challenges are unpredictable and offer multiple paths to success.

• Scenarios are plot-driven, encouraging action, and offering an array of different rewards.

• Through campaigns and experience your characters can increase their skills and develop new abilities.

Check us out – store.pulpalley.com

-Mila
Pulp Alley

Another vote for PULP ALLEY.

To Be Continued… by GASLIGHT is the pulp supplement to the GASLIGHT rules. It is also part of the The GASLIGHT Compendium, which has rules useful for both VSF and pulp skirmisher, large battles, aerial fleet actions, and even a role playing game.

There is a free quick start guide on RPG Now so you can try them out before committing.

Enjoy!

Monster of the Week Club is a campaign (7 days/encounters) horror skirmish game with clues, objectives, and hidden knowledge. It is based on a deck of cards, so you can shuffle and play a different campaign lots of times.

Also INLGames' Ace Goodknight and Penny Dreadfull are skirmish games with pulp detective objectives, clues, and slowly revealed plot points.

Though I haven't played it, I think Pulp Alley would work best for the skirmish rules.

For the Plot Points in the game, I would use the "clue system" and cards from the Mansions of Madness board game.

That should work very well, and do exactly what you're asking for.
It's also something I intend to do when I get the time.

Some photos of a Pulp Alley scenario based on the "Clue" board game. THANKS to Mad Lord Snapcase for sharing his pics with us ---

HAVE FUN

Dave
Pulp Alley

I recommend Strange Aeons. Loads of scenarios and has campaign system for improving investigators. The monster player gets to choose his force based on how powerful the investigators get. The current edition is great but there is an updated edition coming sometime this summer/fall.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions – some new systems for me to look into. It is interesting that the games with investigative systems/processes don't have supplements released for horror/Cthulhu Mythos, while the one game focused on Cthulhu Mythos doesn't have a strong investigative process/system.

I have both Strange Aeons and Fear & Faith for horror skirmish (both appeal to me for combat games), but neither appeals to my desire for adding investigations – too much RPG-like?

Pulp Alley, .45 Adventure, and Larger than Life – Director's Cuty seem to have good RPG-like investigative systems/processes, but not much available at this time for a quick-start to Horror/Cthulhu Mythos from the publishers or the gaming community, unless I missed something in my web search (which is highly likely!)

It sounds like I may need to adopt an investigative system from the Pulp games (or Clue?) to one of the existing Horror/Cthulhu Mythos skirmish games, or create a list of creatures with statitics for the Pulp games!

Good gaming!

Regards, Jeff