""Northern Pursuit" film and scenarios." Topic

"Northern Pursuit" directed by Raoul Walsh, with Errol Flynn, Julie Bishop and Helmut Dantine was just OK. Believe it or not I had never seen it before. It was made in 1943, which means Flynn had peaked and was now beginning his trip downhill. He still looked pretty good at this point, but he only made "Uncertain Glory" in 1944 and "Objective Burma!" in 1945, and after that the booze, and his age, were starting to show. In fact, the only movie of his that I liked after the mid 1940's was "Rocky Mountain" in 1950.

The major problem with this flick is that the plot is so hackneyed, as in "the good guy has to be ostracized to pretend that he's a bad guy to infiltrate (pick one) an outlaw gang. a mob, a prison, a coven of 5th columnists etc. etc. In this case he has to be kicked out of the Canadian Mounties to track down a group of Germans that are headed for far northern Canada to build a bomber in the snowy wilderness. Wait…it gets crazier! All of the parts have been pre-shipped and are now just waiting for them at an outpost so far from civilization that it can't be noticed! So the wiley RCMP corporal, who has now convinced the Germans that he is really on their side, is asked to guide them to the outpost.

OK, fine. It's a WW II propaganda movie, so we're gonna see a sneering Dantine be a very very bad guy! And he does it very well! But most of the flick is "set bound" with only a pretty good ski chase through the snow on location. I don't like Julie Bishop. She's an OK actress, but hardly Flynn's best co-star. She tries to be "cute" but just ends up being unbelievable. So "Northern Pursuit" was given two stars by IMDB, and I think that's accurate. It's OK if you like propaganda flicks, and Dantine is fun to watch, but it's only worth watching if you're a Flynn completest, or you're in the mood for an "A" movie that plays more like a "B".

OK, the scenarios:

A German officer and his squad must rescue several prisoners by attacking an RCMP compound. The compound is just a cabin with a stockade fence around it. All participants are using lever action rifles or shotguns. No grenades or automatic weapons. The Germans should outnumber the mounties by 2 to 1. Here's your chance to use those Murch Pulp Mounties, and the Germans should be disguised as woodsmen. And there should be snow! Lots and lots of snow!

Second scenario. The bomber has been assembled and an airstrip built. Don't ask how. Ask the guy who wrote the film. The German pilots must fight their way to the bomber and successfully take off. There can be less mounties than Germans, but one of them, representing Flynn, must have heavy stats. Try about 7 Mounties and Flynn against 10 Germans soldiers and two pilots. The piots don't fight. They just maneuver to the plane. No automatic weapons or grenades. There must also be a turn limit for the Germans to take off, or the Mounties would just take cover and pick off any Germans headed for the plane. And don't forget the snow! Lots and lots of snow!

Cool idea! Sorry, couldn't resist with the snow, lots of snow comment.

I actually just recently saw this was on, it didn't see it, and thought maybe some game scenarios might be possible from it.

Great idea. Maybe others could try scenario-ising old pulp films.

North by Northwest ending springs to mind.

Ice Station Zebra as well.

Lots of cool plots.

>>Maybe others could try scenario-ising old pulp films.<<

I started playing pulp games because that's exactly what I wanted to do.

I did a scenario from "Passage to Marseille" and another from "Manila Calling". I described both of them in this forum a few years ago. You might be able to search for them here if you're interested.

Here's my original post for the scenario from "Manila Calling".

I finally located a copy of the long sought after "Manila Calling" with Lloyd Nolan, Cornell Wilde, and Carole Landis.

Here's a plot synopsis.

"When the Japanese capture the principal radio station of the American Radio Communications Company in the Philippines, the staff manages to escape into the jungle, tie up with a band of Filipino Scouts (Moros) and make their way to the coast. The party, radio technician Jeff Bailey (Cornel Wilde) and communications men Lucky Matthews (Lloyd Nolan) and Tom O'Rourke (James Gleason), finds an advance Japanese unit on the plantation of an old friend and, working with the Moros as a guerilla unit, attack and seize the site from the Japanese in order to use the radio transmitter. Solidifying themselves in the stronghold they discover there is no food or water and it is surrounded by the Japanese. A night club singer, Edna Fraser (Carole Landis), escaping from the Japanese, gets into the plantation. Jeff is working to fix their radio set, hoping to send a message of hope and courage to the conquered and enslaved Filipinos of the district, and the Japanese, aware of this possibility, are using every means to wipe out the group".

Victor Sen Yung (#2 son in the Charlie Chan flicks) plays "Armando", Elish Cook Jr. ("Junior" in "The Maltese Falcon"), and Ralph Byrd ("Dick Tracey" in the serial of the same name) plays "Corbett".

Not only is this a great "movie movie" produced during WW II, but it offers an interesting pulp gaming scenario.

The Allied side can have as many as about 12 figures, many of them with distinguishable characteristics, but if you want to you can split the Allies into a couple of different groups. If I were doing this as a ".45 Adventure" I'd split the 6 point allied groups up this way:

Lucky Matthews' group

Leader "Lucky Matthews" Level 3.
Tom O'Rourke Level 2
Singer Edna "Eddy" Fraser Level 1

Moro Scouts:

Armando Level 3
three other scouts at level 1 each

Jeff Bailey and his Communications crew:

Engineer Jeff Bailey level 3
Chief Radio Tech Heller Level 2
Radio Assistant Gilman Level 1
Gilman's Monkey (seriously! He turns out to be a hero!)

Santoro Level 3
Corbett level 2
North Level 1

Ok. The plot of the movie is that these civilian engineers and technicians kick the crap out of the Japs and set up their communications station to broadcast to the Islands that the Americans will come their rescue and that they *must* keep fighting the yellow peril! While setting up the Comm. post the group manages to shoot down an enemy fighter. Santoro is an aircraft mechanic, so they attempt to get the plane running again to take "Eddy" away from the compound.

Set up your compound with a radio shack, a work area with the airplane, and a few defensive positions. Santoro's crew must use mechanical skill to get the airplane working. Bailey's crew must use mechanical skill to get the radio working. The Moros defend. Lucky's crew must defend and get "Eddy" across the compound and into the airplane, which, hopefully, Santoro has put into flying condition.

During all this the monkey must drink from a water jug that the Japs have poisoned. Roll to see if the monkey drinks. If he doesn't you must roll to have one random level 1 character die from poisoning. If the monkey drinks, of course he's dead. He has no other function.

About 20 Japs should be enough. All level 1's except for a commander. Split the Japs up into two groups for two players or let a GM handle them.

Have fun!

Sort, but I like the movie. I often use black and white movies as inspiration for my pulp games.

Buck

Sure. Wasn't that the point of pulp gaming in the first place? To port fiction from pulp magazines and related to the gaming table?

Yes, that was my motivation.

Wait, you mean this is fiction and not real???

Duke Morrison doesn't exist (played in few of Buck's GASLIGHT games at conventions), Northern Pursuit isn't a documentary?

Seriously, I have begun giving closer look at old movies and pulp stories for gaming ideas. The biggest problem I have can be finding terrain.

I can do a small WW2 village but want to put together a town (city) board for something more urban.

>>Seriously, I have begun giving closer look at old movies and pulp stories for gaming ideas.<<

It's not as easy as people might think. When it comes to fiction from the pulp era, most novels and stories show only conflicts between a couple of people. I've given some consideration to doing a shootout from "Red Harvest", or possibly the shootout from "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". "Gunga Din", "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" and "Beau Geste" are other possibilities.