"Poll Suggestion: Best Rules for Scooby Doo" Topic

What are your favorite rules to use for Scooby Doo adventure mystery gaming?

* Pulp Alley
* 7TV

Other, please make nominations.

Also please describe gaming experiences, if any, to support your choice!

I'd go with 7TV. Just so flexible.

"Fear and Faith" ought to be in there. There is an expansion for it called "Kooky Teenage Monster Hunters" which even has stats for a group of individuals very like Mystery Inc…

In Her Majesty's Name is good. I took a Mansions of Madness scenario and used figures with IHMN – it was one of the nest game I ever ran

colgar6, have you played Fear and Faith, or the expansion?

Anybody here have game experience with this?

I'll be using Pulp Alley

Lovecraft's Revenge, just make it non-lethal and you're all good -- even has investigation and campaign rules.

For some reason doing a Scooby Doo game has held a strong attraction for quite a while now. The trick, I think, would be to find some slightly silly looking ghosts and critters, though I suppose paint job could go a long way in getting the right vibe.

Funny, I am just now finishing up the Scooby Gang for a client. The Hasslefree figures are great, and a joy to paint.

Gone Fishing, it's always been a back-burner idea for me too.

But now that I'm working up the gaming table for Sleepy Hollow in the French Indian War with Donnybrook rules, I'll have a brilliant setting for the Gang too. ^,^

I don't think the ghosts and critters need to look silly. Standard Headless Horsemen will do fine, and the ghost of Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe in full-on spooky state.

(Reaper clear plastic miniature painted with clear acrylics — painting tartans like this is a sure-fire way to go really cross-eyed!)

QILS. The first game was recent, and played in this outdoor/dungeon

Basically, the Gang fell into a lost valley and immediately had a random member abducted (Scooby ended up being first). So they had to follow the Amazons up the pyramid, then down into the dungeon to save him.

Fred was statted out as a close combat fighter, Velma had a number of Deus ex Machina tokens, Daphne had short range attacks (throwing stuff) and judo (bonuses for pushing), Shaggy had no attack, but he was virtually indestructible, and Scooby had a very high movement rate.

Fred was the early star, as he could really deal with the Amazons. Daphne was right behind with ranged attacks to clear the path ahead – much more useful outside than in confined spaces. Shaggy came into his own in the dungeon where his ability to act as a distraction (draw fire and take lots of damage) helped the Gang scope out the progressively revealed dungeon. After rescue, Scooby's movement rate came in useful in the knee-deep water (hindering terrain) to run past monsters and get the raft in order to escape. Daphne's judo also helped push attackers out of the way and into other attackers, buying the Gang time for tactical advance to the rear. And, through it all, Velma was there helping out with obscure bits of knowledge that allowed rerolls of critical events.

Shaggy and Fred got knocked out during the game and Velma, Daphne and Scooby made it out. Daphne and Velma on their last die, and Scooby actually at full health, but he didn't start playing until after rescue in the 2nd to last layer of the dungeon.

All in all, the first game ended up being very much in character of the show. Since then, we've played a couple Monster of the Week Club games with them, as that is right in their lane. We're planning an Octopi Wall Street campaign this fall.

I use Pulp Alley with a house-rule special ability for Scooby and Shaggy, "Bait". This basically lets them rush into melee against a "ghost" (or monster or other masked villian) but use Dodge as their attack; if they're successful the ghost has to trail them by 3" until the end of the next turn. This lets Scooby or Shaggy lead a ghost into a trap, another custom rule I have for Scooby Doo.
For the trap, Freddy (of course) takes a full action to set one up within 6"; then as a simple action Freddie can spring the trap, which immediately knocks out anyone within 3".
So it takes some activation and initiative management for this to work correctly. On one turn you want Freddy to set up the trap within 1 turn's movement of the ghost Scooby or Shaggy will be baiting and have Scooby or Shaggy conduct a successful "bait" attack; then on the next turn Scooby or Shaggy needs to activate before the ghost and move so that the ghost trails them to within 3" of the trap, and then (before the ghost activates) Freddy must activate to spring the trap.
I use this with my 7 year old daughter in our Ghostbusters vs Scooby Doo games and it works pretty well, although because it takes 2-3 turns to execute its effectiveness is limited somewhat by the game turn limit. I also use similar trap mechanics for the Ghostbusters traps, and also for Predator (to recreate Arnold's log trap).

So, to put etotheipi's games in the form of poll options, that looks like:
* Quick Intermediate Level Skirmish
* Monster of the Week Club

As for Daphne's judo skills, in the Scooby-Doo Team-Up comics, she's really levelled up to great kung-fu after reading Hong Kong Phoooey's Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu back in issue 26!!

Here's an old write up of Ghostbusters vs Scooby Doo using Pulp Alley:

TMP link

colgar6, have you played Fear and Faith, or the expansion?

As it happens, I have: link

We felt that the game didn't work very well, though I would stress that this wasn't the fault of the rules. Rather, traditional, conflict-based scenarios just aren't right for some settings such as Scooby Doo or Doctor Who. More effort needs to be put into solving puzzles or whatever else is the differentiating feature.

Those write-ups are great!

Thanks colgar6, that confirms the impression I had from what I've seen of Fear & Faith.

Here's a shot of my Pulp Alley cards for Mystery, Inc (i.e., Scooby Doo's league).

Sorry, guess it's kind of hard to read, here's the link:
link

And the League Perks/gadgets for Mystery, Inc. (I'm sure it's obvious but I take liberty in renaming the standard PA abilities and perks to fit the setting.) I've tweaked a bit since making this card, but this is still the general idea.

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Did Sagan include game rules in that?

Yes the ghost/demons are revealed to be an angry carnival director on a dice role of 1-6.

Gulik23, downloded those cards, thanks — and very glad to see Scooby is in a league of his own! :D

Just found a free 7TV Progamme Guide for Scooby-Doo over here: gumroad.com/l/gnPC

Pulp Alley. Most versatile set of rules I have seen. I have run sci-fi, superhero, WW2, and have seen other people running horror, Wild West, and a whole lot of other types of games.
And you can even play pulp games…

If you go to YouTube you can find a lot of videos by the designer, Dave, that show you how to play. The horror deck would be useful for a Scooby-Doo game. Would allow them to be frightened out of their wits, but nothing a Scooby Snack couldn't overcome.