I have been running games using 7TV Pulp and Fantasy rules for some time now. I am a big fan of the rules for running pulp style games. Over the holidays, I saw that Crooked Dice Game Design Studios had done a consolidated second edition rule book, so I know I needed to have it. Unfortunately, I did not see the kickstarter and missed out on that, so full price for me…
The box arrived from jolly old England a week later (a little dinged from the shipping). I went through everything and read through the rules. The new set is a consolidation of all the other genres into one half height hard back set of rules (instead of the three soft cover landscape books of the other sets). The rules contain all the rules, scenarios, unit cards and everything else about playing the game. The book if fully bound, with a page stringer to mark your spots. The book is very nicely done from a materials perspective.
The rules do a number of things. First, they clarify a lot of language of the older rules. Next, they incorporate all the changes that happened over the different version, so you can play any genre with all the changes. Finally, they update some rules for cleaner play. They have done a good job and you can just use these rules in place of the other booklets. For the new player, you can pass on the older sets and just start here.
The rules start with building your caste. These are the rules of how you pick your characters. The difference between stars, co-stars and extras. The game revolves around the stars and co-stars, but you need a healthy supply of extras to give you coverage and numbers. Then you run though the character card and how to understand the various stats. You have six stats, but you normally only use them sparingly. You have a fight statistic, that sets the base value for your melee fighting attacks. This is modified by the weapon being used, so this one normally does not come into play, except as a base should you want to modify your characters (which is also described in this chapter). Then you have a shoot statistic, that is basically the same as the fight number. the defense rating is next as is used a lot, as it is the base that you roll your defense dice with to try to block attacks. Next you have mind, spirit and body. These are normally used for special attacks or scenario requirements. It is probably these that best help give the game that little extra, so you do not feel like you are just playing a historical skirmish game. Next, you have lines showing you all your weapons, their ranges, their strike values and their effects. These are broken down into fight, shoot and presence attacks. At the very bottom you have three circles that show the number of health points the character has and some icons showing what genre the character can be used with. There is also the points and character type and name at the top. Finally, the back of the card shows the characters special rules and availabilities. You also get other card instructions for vehicles, maguffins, equipment and genres. Generally speaking, these cards gives the players all they need to play the game, once they have a basic understanding of the rules.
The how to play section, is the core of the book. Here you have the rules for the game. This starts with the initiative phase. Both sides roll to determine who is the first player, rolling a D6 and adding their mind statistic. The highest roller then decides if they are first player or second. From there, the game goes back and forth until it is over.
You use Script cards to advance through the turns. The script is broken down into act one (where the cards are focused on movement, act two (where the cards are focussed on combat) and the final act (where the cards just do crazy stuff!). The number of each type in the deck is the same number, with the number determined by how large the game is. Most of the time, you will use six of each, for a total of eighteen. During the game, the phasing player decides if they want to flip one or two cards. This allows players to move the story along faster, should it benefit them. The cards all list various random effects that normally affect the active player, but sometimes both sides. Once the deck is done, the game is over.
The Plot Point (basically command points) are the mechanic for controlling your caste. You generate these from your active caste members and various things that happen during the game. You use the Plot Points to activate your characters to perform their various actions. In addition, you can use these to improve your various die rolls. The Plot Points can be saved from turn to turn.
To activate a character, you spend a plot point (unless you have a special effect that allows you free activations). These can be used to move, pivot, shoot, charge, remove statuses or take statistic tests. Models have two actions they can perform with every plot point. Combat attacks of each type can only be taken once, but the other actions can be duplicated. You assign your plot point, state what you are doing and then finish with the model. You then go to the next model and continue until you have activated all your models or have run out of Plot Point.
Shooting, melee and presence attacks all work the same way. The defender rolls a D6 and adds that to their defense value. The attacker then rolls a D6 and adds it to their specific attack characteristic. If the attacker rolls equal to or higher than the defender, the attack works and you apply the result to the defending character. These can range from actual wounds to various status changes (on fire, knocked down, captured, etc).
As mentioned, the die rolls can be modified. There are modifiers for cover and having statuses effecting your character, but the most common modifier is the use of Plot Points. Basically, you can add additional die to your roll for every Plot Point you use. You take the highest roll as your base. In addition, any results of 4+ add an extra plus one. So, you want to husband your Plot Points to get off important attacks, defends and remove of statuses!
Once you run through your caste, you go to the end phase. Here, you see if your caste is axed (is below fifty percent), deal with continuing statuses (fire and poison) and decide if you want to Steal the Scene. Stealing the Scene has changed from older versions. Each side still gets one. However, you do not flip the initiative order. You use this to activate one of your stars or co-stars for an extra set of actions (you need Plot Points too…). You would use this to perform some daring act or escape from a possible disaster.
You then go to the next player and, who performs the same steps. Each player goes until all the turn cards are flipped or they run out of characters. Once you get the hang of the system, things go quickly and easily.
Probably the hardest thing for players is to master all their special abilities for their characters. Some are used often and others occasionally. The new version lays these out much more clearly, giving icons to make it clear what actions are free, are passive, require an actual action and which require Plot Points to use. Newer players should probably keep their caste simple (extras of the same type), so they do not feel overwhelmed starting out. Once you get it, you can defiantly build castes with great supporting abilities. Isn’t that what playing pulp is about?
Chapter three is goes through the rules on scenarios and playing campaigns. There are the basic six generic scenarios and a couple of narrative scenarios. The first give you the framework to play a fun game. You can add table effects, genre effects, and objectives to make each of these unique every time you play. For those of us that are not the most creative, this is probably the games that will be played the most. The narrative scenarios are fixed and allow another form of play. The rules are there for the more creative to make their own scenarios from the ground up. Finally, there is a short section on campaigns that allow you to update your caste as you play through. The aids provided give you everything you need to quickly set up a game, without having to create everything yourself, but the flexibility to be creative.
Chapter four goes into more detail about weapons effects, statuses, props, magic and vehicles. The weapon effects are all the rules on how the various key words operate and the use of templates. Most weapons are straight forward with a hit against a single model and effect (usually minus one health or weakened). However, some attacks use one of the different templates. These include a three and five inch blast (circle), a beam (long straight), barrier (half circle) and tear drop. You place these within the range limitations on your card and then roll for each target separately.
As mentioned, once you get your hit, there is a status result. These include, minus health, captured, dominated, immobilized, infected, on fire, poisoned, scared, stunned and weakened. Each status does something a little different. If you get two of the same statuses, they convert to a wound. These stay in play until they are removed (costs one Plot Point per status) or the character is removed.
We then get into Props. These are kind of upgrades for your stars and co stars (some extras can get them too). They are randomly determined from by pulling cards. There is also a chart in the rules, if you do not want to use or buy the cards. This just gives some extra special abilities.
Next we have magic. This is more common in fantasy, but you can have occult effects in other genres also. This works a little different from the other attacks in the game. Each magic user character has a rating on their card. This is their level and determines how many magic dice they get each turn and the number of spells they can select. Players pick the number of spells from one of the four spell decks (flame, stone, winds, fathoms), which deck is specified on the card. You get less options than the Fantasy version, but still enough to work with. The die roll is added to the statistic type listed on the card. A successful roll gives you the result (no dispelling).
Finally, we have vehicles. These range from stage coaches to sports cars to jeeps. So, you have something to represent all the genres. There are also horses in the character deck that you can use. These are all forms of transportations that can carry one or more characters around. The rules cover moving them, how they get damaged and how to fight from them. All straight forward.
Chapter five covers advanced rules. Personally, I thought magic and vehicles should go here, but that is a quibble. The sections here cover adding injuries to your characters (as opposed to just taking wounds), different maguffins and genre effects. The injuries include a table you can roll on for a star or co star, in place of taking a wound. These represent broken bones an even loosing an eye! Each has its own negative effects on your character that can reduce the ability to perform various actions.
The maguffin section lists all the different maguffins available in the game. These are normally objectives on the table (the one farthest from both players at time of set up). The player that gets their first claims the objective and gets the maguffin. If it is not used, the player gets the victory points at the end of the game. Alternatively, the player can opt to just use the card effect. There are ten of them and they include noteworthy items like the ring of power and the Holy Grail! Each has its own special effect.
That brings us to Genre Effects. This is a new mechanic to the system. When a player builds their caste, they have to do it within a specific genre (which sets what characters you can select). In addition to that, players can use this advance rule to take the Genre Effects for that caste. These include Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical, Horror and Sci Fi. If the player flips to an act card that shows their specific genre, they can use one of the three Genre Effects that turn for their caste. Most of these cost plot points to use, but there are a few that are free actions. These give each genre their own special feel, on top of the characters chosen. All provide the free option to activate all your extras for free, so this is a great way to build up tokes when your genre comes up!
We end the sections with Central Casting. This section includes images of all the character cards for the game (not including upgrade modules of course). It gives a short narrative describing the character type and then shows the front and back of each card. If you do not want to buy the cards separately, you can just copy these yourself!
That is a run through the book as sold. With that said, you do not have to buy the hard copy. Crooked Dice has downloads of each chapter on their website. This includes the section on Caste Cards. This makes it easy for players to get into the game, without having to spend so much money. However, if you are like me and like your own hard copy, order away. This version of the rules defiantly improves on the old game. The rules are much cleaner and add some new wrinkles. Just adding icons to cards to label the abilities on when you use them is a huge plus. If you liked the older versions, you will like these. If you are new to pulp and would like a system that covers all the bases, using simple mechanics, 7TV might just be for you!
‘ Manteuffel