.45 Adventure: Crimefighting Action in the Pulp Era.

.45 Adventure is a game of heroes. You can play a great game with each player having just three models. You can also step it up a notch and add more. The games that are currently out there (specifically for the Pulp genre) are wargames with a pulp slant. They were designed for players to build units that fight one another and a couple of heroes added in to give it a pulp feel. If you look at the pulp novels, serials, and noir films of the time, each scene has the hero or the hero and his handful of close allies battling equal numbers of villains and henchman. I wanted to capture that feel. .45 Adventure is about playing that moment when The Gargoyle is trapped in the flop house with 3 or 4 of the villain's henchman.

Second is the inclusion of the "hero points." Besides their stats, heroes get points that they can use to change their die rolls, increase the damage of their weapons, or make their bodies harder to wound.

A Character's stats also start to go down as they are wounded. But the system is simple. You simply cross off the stat line box for where the wound was scored. For example, if the character is hit in the arms, his ranged and close combat scores will go down. Some types of models have their stats go down at a slower rate than others. Some can take abilities that allow them to ignore their pain for a while.

And heroes are customizable. There are a few basic archetypes provided and a list of weapons and abilities you can give them. Henchmen won't have much, but heroes can take many more.

The other big thing, is that .45 Adventure does not require a gamemaster to play (one can always be used, but he is not necessary). The game uses encounter markers. For a game set on a 2' x 2' board, there will be six. Two will be duds, 2 will be clues or goals dending on the scenario, and 2 will be deadly traps or special situations. Players can determine what they are beforehand if they have the right abilities or simply take their chances and dive right in. If you are playing a multi-scene game, then the clue might be your "exit" to the next board. There is an incentive for player's to explore the board and not just sit and shoot at one another.

2' x 2' boards as the standard space for a scene to take place on. Players can expand this to whatever size they want, but for someone with limited space and/or time 4 sq. ft. is easily manageable both to fit on a kitchen table and to set up and take down in a matter of minutes.

All combat is opposed die rolls. This keeps players active and engaged and not just sitting there as their models get picked off. Damage however is usually not a die roll. If a model is wounded you cross off a box under the appropriate location. However, you can cause more damage than one box or get a save against damage.

Each weapon has a weapon strength and each body location has an armor value. If the weapon strength is equal to the armor then one box is crossed off. If the strength is double the armor then two boxes are crossed off, if it is more than triple the armor, then three boxes are crossed off. So, players can model more powerful weapons based on what they want the scenario to be.

If you take the reverse, and the armor is greater, then you simply add the difference to a d10 roll and if you score 10 or higher, you save. So, if The Haunt has armor 6 on his torso and is hit by a pistol with strength 3, he would get an armor save. He would roll a d10 and add the difference (3) to his roll. If he gets a 7 or higher (7+3=10) then he saves and no damage is taken. If he fails, then one box is crossed off on his torso location (which would consequently bring both his strength and morale scores lower).

I have made it easy to get into the game - low price tag on the initial rules, small number of figures required to play a great game, and a small space to get started. But you can expand out from there to more figures, expansions, and bigger boards if you choose. But, your friends, won't have to buy legions of figures to match what you decide to get.

The expansions are going to be like a pulp novel. They will include a three or more part scenario, rules and characters for that scenario, and ideas for building upon it or adding your own heroes and villains. The figures that are created will go along with these scenario packs. Eventually, things will be added to cover all sorts of pulp settings from the big city to the deepest jungle.