Amazing Jungle Adventures

This is a work in progress.

Amazing Jungle Adventures is a pulp miniature game using 28 mm figures where each player take control of a late 1930ies pulp hero and try to stop villains, hidden in a secret jungle base. It will be held at LinCon gaming convention in 2012. The game will have a base with two or three houses, a suspension bridge, an air strip, airplanes, lots of miniatures and an endless amount of missions to be carried out by players.

Previously...

Discovering several historical artifacts of Central American origin being sold and the money being used to buy ammunition, fuel and advanced technical parts, some archaeologists got suspicious. They were members of a group of heroes called "The Guardians" and decided to investigate further. What they found led them to believe that someone was constructing a doomsday device. They gathered all pilots of "The Guardians" and sent them flying over the jungle to search for clues, and sure enough, when approaching two mountains while flying along the edge of a lake in the Central American republic of Hildalgo, an aircraft was fired upon by an anti-aircraft gun. It evaded any direct hit, but heavily damaged it returned home without really finding out anything, except for a location.

Now Playing!

The game will have a continuous flow where a player choose a character and depending on the character he/she will arrive in an aircraft on the airstrip, by an amphibian aircraft landing on the beach, as a passenger in an aircraft or in a few cases may come through the jungle. Characters may enter in an ongoing game whenever there's a player, in true drop-in style. They just get a mission, their initiative cards is added to the deck and the game continues.

Pulp Poster.

There will be missions or plots pre-made on cards and some might be improvised during play. Plots will have hooks that serve to catch the eye of a hero and a level of difficulty. The more difficult, the greater the reward. There will be a series of missions that gives an over all story arc. There might also be character specific missions. Perhaps the villains could have real-time triggered events. Example: Zeppelin arrives three hour after game start with parts for a doomsday device. If shot down, an expedition will try to recover parts. After arrival and an additional three hours of uninterrupted work the doomsday device would be ready.

Meanwhile, in the Jungle...

There will be a lake shore, two mountains with a suspension bridge in between, an AA-gun at the top of one, a secret base, the very end of an airstrip with an open area to park planes, cars and trucks and the rest covered by jungle.

The Secret Base

In the jungle there will be a secret base. The base is a hide out in the jungles of Central America for a pulp villain. It will have a launch ramp for an evil device, about two houses and some wooden bridges connecting them to the road and each other. I'm thinking wooden houses on poles with balconies almost all around. Detachable roofs makes it possible to continue game play inside.

The Anti-Aircraft-Gun

On the top of one of the mountains there will be an AA-gun. From that a road will lead to the base and the airstrip across the suspension bridge.

The Airstrip

Only the very end of the runway will be in the model, but there will be an area where you can park the aircrafts and where cars and trucks can be parked. There will be a wooden house and/or possibly a shed.

The Zeppelin

It would be so cool to include a zeppelin in the game, but I would want it to be huge. At least one and a half meters or preferably two with a width of almost half a meter. It will have to be light weight and have some way to suspend it. I'm thinking making the surface out of cardboard with Styrofoam structure inside fixed to a PVC tube straight through the center. It would also be possible to use to suspend it. In the question of shape, would octagonal be enough to get the zeppelin hull shape?

The cabin might be built out of cardboard and foam-board. It would be nice if it would be possible to detach and use separately for indoors combat or the likes. I should probably make two or better four engine gondolas for propulsion. Those might be made out of cardboard or Styrofoam.

The Aircrafts

I have models of the following aircraft:

R3C-2 Curtiss Racer with floats - Pilot - "Original?"
Ryan PT-20 Trainer with floats - Pilot + Passenger - "Chrome yellow + Aluminum"
2x Grumman OA9 Goose Flying Boat - 2 Pilots + 6 Passengers - "Cutter's Goose" + Civilian Blue?
PBY/OA10A Catalina Flying Boat - 2 Pilots + 3 Gunners + 3 Passengers - "Chrome yellow + Aluminum"
2x Lockheed Model 10 Electra - 2 Pilots + 8 Passengers - "Earhart's Electra" + "Eastern Air Lines"
Junkers Ju52/3m Civil Version - 2 pilots + 17 Passengers - Red + White (Manfred von Richthofen)
Gee Bee Racer - Pilot - "Yellow-Black"
Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket - Pilot - "Blackhawk" Red-Blue
Travel Air Mystery Ship - Pilot - "Red-Black"
Shinden - Pilot - "Silver"

The flying boats that have retractable landing gear will be modeled with it retracted. I will make bases for them and those with floats, that is high enough so that the base's surface will be at the waterline of the flying boat hiding the plane below the waterline. This might not look perfect, but at least the planes will be stable. I will hopefully remember to put in weights in the models to make sure they are balanced enough to not tip backwards.
The aircraft with fixed landing gear will of course have the landing gear out, but so will also the Electras, the Skyrocket and the Shinden which all have retractable landing gear.
All aircraft will be painted in paint schemes according to some fictional crafts, civilian paint schemes or a non-militaristic historical paint scheme.

I have also bought this:

Ba349D Natter Test Flight Aircraft with Launch Tower

It will be a secret weapon with some kind of doomsday device that will be the means for total world domination.

For Biggles I might also buy a:

Smer 1/48 Supermarine MK II Walrus Floatplane "British"

Cast

These are the characters I'm thinking could fit. Now I only need to buy and paint all the miniatures for them, and make character cards with all skills and other statistics.

The Heroes

Example of Character Card.

There will be several heroes that the players may choose from. Anything from a strong hero to a slick flyboy or a beautiful dame. All will have a name, a picture, some background and gaming values on a card in the size of a collectible card game card. I will name most of them after famous pulp characters to make it easier to quickly get a hang of the character. Some will be movie heroes, some will be book heroes or comic book heroes and there might even be an old RPG character.

Diana Dale - Aviatrix and singer - Drive, Musical Talent - Fig - ♥A - Shinden (Silver)
??? - Jaguar - Fig - Same as Diana
Dr. Lara Croft - Archaeologist - Archeology - Fig - ♥Q
Cliff Secord - Rocketeer - Fig - ♥J - Rocket pack
Sarah Stickney White - Singer and spy - Fig - ♥10
Jenny Dare - Aviatrix - Drive - Fig - ♥6 - Mystery Ship
Glenda Thomas - Magazine photographer - Photography - No fig - ♥3
Betty Lou Barnes - Aviatrix - Drive - Fig - ♥2
Janos Prohaska - Aviator - Drive - Fig - ♣A - Skyrocket
John Clayton, Lord Greystoke - Lord of the Jungle - Tracking - Fig - ♣K
Sheena Rivington - Queen of the Jungle - Animal Connection - Fig - ♣Q
Kent Allard - Avenger - Stealth, Drive - Fig - ♣J
Allan Quatermain - Big game hunter - Tracking - Fig - ♣10
Capt. Tom Pickett - Texas Ranger - Intimidation - No Fig - ♣9
Tommy Tomkins - Aviator - Drive - Fig - ♣7 - PT-20
Denny Colt - Detective - Fig - ♣5
Skeeter Milligan - Mechanic - Fig - ♣2
James Bigglesworth - Aviator - Linguist, Drive - Fig - ♦A - Walrus
Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr. - Archaeologist - Archeology - Fig - ♦K
Pat Savage - No fig - ♦Q
Jake Cutter - Aviator - Drive - Fig - ♦J - Goose (Cutter's Goose)
Jack - Jack Russell terrier - Fig - Same as Jake
Corky - Mechanic - Fig - ♦10
Brigadier General Theodore Marley Brooks - Attorney - Fig - ♦9
Harry Steele - Adventurer - Fig - ♦7
John Smith - No fig - ♦5
Clark Savage, Jr - Adventurer - Fig - ♦4
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair - Chemist - No fig - ♦3
Richard Henry Benson - Dilettante - Disguise, Gadgets - No fig - ♦2
Commando Cody - Sky Marshal - No fig
Sir Dennis Nayland Smith - Law enforcement officer - ?
Umslopogaas - African - Fig - ?
Mina Harker - Chemist - ?
Captain Nemo - Submariner - No fig - ?
Tom Sawyer - American Secret Service Agent - No Fig - ?
Jim Malone - No Fig - ?

The Villains

The main villain plans to rule the world, perhaps through starting a second great war and rise from the ruins, or perhaps through some nefarious device. There will be opportunities to play a villain if someone wants to, but not from the start.

Fu Manchu - Fig - ♠A
Eddie Valentine - Fig - ♠10
Lothar - No Fig - ♠9
Neville Sinclair - No Fig - ♠J
Princess Koji - Fig - ♠6
Dorian Gray - ♠8
Dr. Vulcan - ♠7
Gunther Von Strum - ♠5
Ilsa Haupstein - Fig - ♠Q
Karl Ruprecht Kroenen - Fig - ♠K
Hickey - No Fig - J

The Goons

There will be goons that will be guards, gang members or perhaps handymen working for the villains. They will have a single card representing all of that type and usually be much less of a threat than all others.

Gangsters -
Tough guys -
"Soldiers" (Africa corps?) -
Female Übersoldiers - Figs -

Their attacks will all look like below regardless of weapon.
Primary: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Secondary or improvised: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Missions

There will mission cards that have all information needed. It will be noted if it is a personal plot, a main plot or a plot twist. There will be a text describing the mission, a reward it will give on completion and possibly there might be a small photo of an important item of character. Plot twists can be played when a player completes a plot allowing another player to continue the same plot.

Main Missions

Land and get ashore. Set up base camp. -
Capture the AA-Gun. -
Capture the Airfield. -
Capture fuel trucks intact. -
Capture an automobile. -
Disable the AA-Gun. -
Capture barracks. -
Shoot down the Zeppelin. -
Retrieve parts. -
Disable the Delivery System. -
Disable the Doomsday Device. -
Destroy the Laboratory. -
Bring Justice to the Mad Scientist. -
Bring Justice to the Main Villain. -

Personal Plots

Capture Nemesis alive. -
Make sure Nemesis is dead. - ♦2
Save captured animal. - ♣Q
Get the best story ever. -
Get a photograph of the action. -
Capture the action on film. -
Get the Inca artifacts. - ♦K, ♥Q
Save any Dames. - ♥J, ♦5
Find out if the Villains are connected. - ♥10
Make a daring jump. -
Make aerial stunts that affect a plot. - ♥A, ♦A, ♦J, ♥6
Threaten a Villain before you kill him/her. -
Make snappy remarks before attacking. -
Get hurt a lot but keep going. - ♦K
Trick at least one Villain. -
Kill a Villain with his own device. - ♦2
Rescue any captive Heroes. -

Tale Twists

The Villain is actually a Hero.
The Hero is actually a Villain.
The demolition charge is fake.
It wasn't the true Doomsday Device.
It wasn't the true scientist but a body double.
There's just water in the tank.
The AA-Gun was fixed.

Rules

The rules below is written specifically for the game and was made in a try to allow for quick play. There will be an iPhone-app available for download with the rules and helping the player to keep track of their character(s) and their advancement.

Initiative

Each character is assigned color and a value and two playing cards are added to the initiative deck as the player joins the game and removed if the player leaves or the character dies.

Skills

There are a few skills that all characters have but only at 7. These are the standard skills. There are also special skills that might not be as useful in a fight but give life to a character. If a character specifically have a skill it's at 15. A skill roll is handled by rolling a twenty sided die and rolling equal to or less than the skill, but the lower the roll the better the success.

Acrobatics - Physical ability to perform feats of mobility.
Fast talk - Ability to persuade or fool someone with words.
Mechanic - Ability to fix mechanical things.
Perception - Ability to spot things.
Science - Knowledge about things and MacGyvering.
Trick - Ability to distract or feint someone.

Examples of special skills follow: Dr. Jones - Archeology, James Bigglesworth - Linguist & Drive, Glenda Thomas - Photography, Diana Dale, - Musical Talent & Drive, Allan Quatermain - Tracking, Louis Lane - Journalism etc.

Movement

Most movement uses the standard game cards for measurement. The only exception is flying vehicles. Depending on the terrain, you use the length or width of the card. In the game only the roads, the beach and the airfield will allow for the length. The hills and the jungle will use the width. If a character is prone he/she can stand at the cost of all movement that round.

Terrain	Climbing		Normal Move	Running no action	Mounted
Terrain	Free	With Rope	Normal Move	Running no action	Mounted
Cliffs	1 width	2 widths	2 widths	3 widths	-
Open	-	-	2 lengths	3 lengths	+1 length
Jungle	-	-	2 widths	3 widths	+1 width
Bridge	1 width	2 widths	2 lengths	3 lengths	+1 lengths

Vehicle	Terrain	No Skill	Failed Skill Roll	Successful Skill Roll	Reckless Success	Reckless Fail
Car	Road	2 lengths	3 lengths	4 lengths	6 lengths	Crash
	Tight Bend	1 width	1 lengths	2 lengths	3 lengths	Crash
	Off-Road	-	-	2 widths	3 widths	Stuck
	Bridge	-	1 width	2 widths	3 widths	Crash
Truck	Road	2 lengths	3 lengths	4 lengths	5 lengths	Crash
	Tight Bend	1 width	1 width	2 widths	3 widths	Crash
	Off-Road	-	-	1 widths	2 widths	Stuck
	Bridge	-	1 width	1 width	2 widths	Crash

A red entry means that the vehicle sways wildly. All passengers loose their next action. Anyone clinging to the side or roof of the vehicle must succeed in an acrobatics skill roll or fall off.

Aircrafts entering play may land and move to where they want to stop as a single move and characters can exit and act the next move. If continually flying, the aircraft will move at least one meter if maneuvering and up to tens of meters depending on speed. Any manned Anti-Aircraft Gun or character prepared to fire at flying vehicles may fire at the aircraft at any time during the movement. If a flying stunt is tried, roll a drive skill check. Failure means that the aircraft didn't fly as low as wanted or pulled up before flying below the bridge. Only a fumble means crashing.

Apply damage to all occupants riding a crashing vehicle with a roll on the table below.
Crash: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

When a vehicle crashes roll on the crash damage table above for the vehicle too. Lethal damage means the vehicle is destroyed, serious damage that it need an extra part or can only be repaired between scenarios, medium damage that a successful mechanics roll is needed to repair it and light damage means the vehicle is stuck. The game master will decide what is needed to free a vehicle depending on circumstances.

Combat

Combat is handled by a roll of one twenty sided die and the use of the row of numbers per attack that is listed on the character's card. Effect will be color coded and each card show how much color coded damage the character can take. When a color is filled it overflows to the next. In close combat or melee the attacked character may strike back if able.

Example:

Fist: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Colt: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Brown: Lethal damage, Red: Serious damage, Orange: Medium damage, Green: Light damage, Gray: No damage / Miss, Purple: Fumble

Out Cold
♂ o Lethal wound - Prone. May not move by self.
♂ o o Serious wound - Movement -1 card.
♂ o o Wound - Lose action or move next round.
♂ o o Bruise - No penalties.

Cover in ranged combat protects from green results. Not much of an effect but real heroes don't use cover.
Running lowers the effect of a hit from ranged combat one color and is a kind of defense.

Heroics

There will be heroics cards that either is associated to a special character or that can be drawn or rewarded when completing a mission.

Utility:

Grappling Hook: Use to climb any surface. Takes one action to deploy and one to pack up.
Agile Climber: Hero may jump and/or climb as if aided by a rope. Reusable.
Dazzling Acrobatics: Hero may move an extra card length in any terrain and even past enemies by leaping over him/her. One use.
Great Horseman: Move an extra card while mounted. Reusable.
Dash: Move two extra cards lengths while on foot in good terrain. One use.
Aaah-eeeh-aaah!: Hero may move using card lengths in jungle, using vines. Reusable.
Jack of all Trades: Hero may roll any skill with a skill level of 15. One use.
Gadgeteer: Hero have brought along lots of useful stuff including a needed technical gadget. Reusable.
Avid Reader: Hero have brought along just the right book to look something up. One use.

It's Just a Flesh Wound: Hero may help other hero that got a lethal wound. Turn it into a light wound. One use.

Defensive:

Swashbuckler: Hero may parry a result from close combat. Roll the same color. Reusable.
I've had Worse: Treat hit from close combat as one color less. One use.
Tis But a Scratch: Treat hit from close combat as two colors less. One use.
Dodge Blow: Hero avoid being hit in close combat. If close to a tree, a wall or other structure roll attack on attacker. One use.
Parry Strike: Hero treats hit in close combat as green color. One use.
Glass Jaw: Hero may ignore one hit of any color from close combat, but is unconscious and prone next action. Reusable.
Swooning Beauty: Hero may ignore one hit of any color from close combat, but is unconscious and prone next action. Reusable.
Innocent Eyes: Even a villain hesitates to strike this hero. No close combat this round. One use.
I Give Up: Hero ignores any result from close combat but is captured. One use.
It Hit my Pocket Flask: Hero may avoid one hit of brown color from ranged combat. One use.
I Could Pull Through: Hero may avoid one hit of brown color from ranged combat. One use.
Bible in the Pocket: Hero may avoid one hit of red or brown color from ranged combat. One use.
Dodge: Hero may ignore one hit of any color. One use.
Close One: Hero may ignore one hit of orange or less that instead only tear the clothes. One use.
Power Walk: Regardless of how big an exposition is, the Hero is unaffected by calmly walking away. One use.
Stunning Beauty: Even a villain hesitates to shoot this hero. No shot fired. One use.
Nobody Could Have Survived That. Hero died mysteriously but may come back later.

Offensive:

Two-Fisted Action: Hero may strike twice in close combat. One use.
Two Guns Blazing: Hero may fire twice. One use.
Well Aimed Shot: When firing a shot, roll two dice and choose witch one to use. One use.
Haymaker: When fighting in close combat, roll two dice and choose witch one to use. One use.
Surprising Strike: When entering close combat, only this character may fight. One use.
Hail of Bullets: Instead of rolling to hit you can force all miniatures below a card to go prone. One use.

Villainy

Even villains have special powers that could be represented by cards.

Fumbles

If a fumble is rolled something bad happened. Roll a die and consult one of the tables below depending on what type of combat and read as a d10 for pistols or unarmed combat and a d10+10 for melee weapons and rifles. Fumbles using skills usually don't cause that bad fumbles and are decided by the Gamemaster as the occur. The tables below are only to be a help to the Gamemaster. If there's an obvious effect, don't feel restricted by the tables below.

Guns

Jam: Gun can't be used until a successful mechanics roll is made to repair it.

Cartridge is a dud.
You slip and fall prone, firing into the air.
Cartridge had bad gunpowder. Any following roll of 18 or 19 cause jam.
You drop the gun at your feet, demanding your next action to retrieve it.
Gun mechanism gets stuck. A firing result other than gray will force it working again.
Cartridge broke causing gun to jam.
You catch on fire
Overpowered cartridge. Your gun is thrown a card's length, in a random direction.
You dropped the gun and lost it. A successful Perception will find it.
Gun backfires and is destroyed. Roll to hit on yourself.

Cartridge is a dud.
You drop the gun at your feet.
You slip and fall to the ground, firing into the air.
Cartridge fire with bad gunpowder. Any following roll of 18 or 19 cause jam.
Gun mechanism gets stuck. A firing result of green or better will force it working again.
Your enemies pity your failure
Cartridge broke causing gun to jam..
Roll again. Your character is under the impression that the new fumble just happened and is fully aware of it, but your character is just being delusional.
Shooter accidentally struck something with the gun and it broke beyond repair.
You shoot yourself in the foot limiting your move to only one card.
If there's a friend in the reasonable field of fire, roll an attack on friend instead.

Unexpected recoil. Your gun is thrown a card's length, in a random direction.
Overpowered cartridge. The recoil of the butt causes a hit on yourself.
Gun backfires and is destroyed. Roll to hit on yourself.

Close Combat

Off balance. Next attack, roll two dice and let opponent choose result.
You swing wildly and fall over.
Overextending yourself, you straining your groin. No movement next turn.
Missing you stumble a card's width in a random direction.
If you are next to any hazard it befalls you, demanding your next action to overcome.
Your hat or some other clothing interferes. Use next action to correct it.
Attack leave you wide open. Your opponent gets an immediate free close combat attack.

You fall into your opponent becoming entangled. Both roll close combat to get loose.
You dropped your weapon. All hits will be a color less until weapon is retrieved.
You sprain an ankle. Your move is limited to one card instead of two.
Open wide. Next attack foe rolls two dice and choose which to use.
If there's a friend nearby you roll an attack on him or her instead.
You hit yourself with the weapon. Roll a new attack and apply to yourself.
Your weapon breaks, causing you damage. Roll a new attack and apply to yourself.

To be Continued...

If a character successfully completes a mission or just survives for a period of time it may get experience and improve a skill or get a Heroics or Villainy advantage that may aid in New Adventures of the Same Character.

External links

Official LinCon site

Miniature Color Code:
Darkred: No miniature,
Crimson: Bought, but not started,
Orange Red: Prepared, primed,
Orange: Partially painted,
Lime: Finished painting but lacks priming,
Dark Green: Completely Finished!