Batman Pulp Alley

Diamond Heist in Gotham City

The scene outside the First National Bank
on a seemingly peaceful day in Gotham City

It is a  seemingly peaceful day in Gotham City and all looks well outside the First National Bank.  But appearances can be deceiving, as the bank has recently received a valuable collection of diamonds for safekeeping from the Maharishi of Bengal which has whetted the appetites of some of Gotham Cities most notorious criminals. As part of Warden Creighton's criminal rehabilitation program the bank has hired the Black Cat to safeguard the diamond safe.


GM's Note:  This was a quickly thrown together Pulp Alley Scenario to fill in a spot at my local Games Club on February 11, 2018. I gathered up what buildings I had and re-based many Heroclix figures on clear bases.  It was also a good chance to try the new Cigar Store city mat. This was the first time I have used Pulp Alley for the Superhero genre, it seems like a natural fit.  I used the Lost Keys scenario, which means the mission for each of the 4 leagues was to locate a key or clue as step one then proceed to get the main plot point (the safe with the diamonds). This was a scenario originally designed for four players but we ended up only having three.  There was no "honour among thieves" so the Joker and Riddler's leagues did not cooperate, but rather fought each other for the prize (main plot point).

The Setting:

The bank has hired Black Cat to guard the diamonds.
The curious cat resist examining the bobbles.

The Riddler, Catwoman, their allies Conundrum, 
Ehco and Query, plus follower Lexa.

The Joker's League: L-R Gang of thugs, 
Penguin (sidekick), Joker
and Harley Quinn (sidekick)

Titanic Trio: Batman, and his sidekicks
 Robin and Batgirl

Commissioner Gordon, his plain clothes detectives
and uniformed officers plus their dog decided it 
was best to leave this job to the Titanic Trio.

Two reporters (Bystanders): Vicky Vale and Joey Day

The Story

The First National Bank faces the Gotham Library

.

The reports keep an eye on the bank
from across the street

The view from the bank

All seems calm at first

A car fills up with gas.

Overview: the Joker's League is  ready to move.

At the start line: Joker, Penguin, Harley Quinn & gang

Penguin and his deadly umbrella.

Vicky Vale standing next to a pillar plot point in
 front of the library  sees the Riddler approaching

 Catwoman and Conundrum square off against Joker's gang

There are two yellow plot points on roof tops,  
Harlequin attempts to gain the one on the left, 
Robin the on the right while Riddler goes after 
the pillar plot point by the Library.

Echo, one of the Riddler's allies, shoots Joker in the 
back,while Harlequin grabs the objective on the roof

Joker dodges the shot from behind.

Harley Quinn atop the garage roof manages to
dodge the gunfire from the Riddler's League 
and hold on to the plot point key

Batgirl gains the plot point key & passes it on to Robin who relays it to Batman

With the plot point key Batman makes the 
perilous climb to the roof of the bank

Joker's gang brawls with Catwoman.

Penguin urges the Joker's gang to keep fighting

 Query peppers Joker's gang with pistol fire while 
the Riddler sneaks into the bank, and his ally
 Conundrum prevents the Joker from following him.

There is a hale of gunfire from the gang and Query is down. 
Meanwhile the Joker with a plot point key tries to get to the 
bank door but is delayed by Conundrum and they slug it out.

Query recovers but the Joker eliminates Conundrum,
however her sacrifice prevents Joker entering the bank.
Joker's gang having taken too many casualties routes.

Riddler enters the bank and uses his power of persuasion
 to try to convince Black Cat to give him the diamonds.

Riddler is 2/3 of the way to successfully stealing
 the diamonds when Batman, Robin and Batgirl arrive.

The Riddler on his own is no match for Titanic Trio

The Titanic trio defeat Riddler and 
the diamonds are secured

Wrap-up:

The game finished after 6 turns and everyone had a good time. I will certainly run some more Batman games, perhaps tweaking some of the character stats due to lessons learned.
Thanks to Terry and Bob in Edmonton for their inspiration and stats for characters.  Also thanks to the Batman player who contributed many of these pictures as the GM was buys both running the game, playing the Riddler and taking only a few pictures.  Unfortunately the lighting was not very good so some of the photos are a bit out of focus.  I was however pleased with the clear 3mm thick acrylic bases from Litko, this was the first time I used them for the majority of the figures I fielded for a game.


Here are the Character cards for the Titanic Trio (others to appear in the next post)..

Titanic Trio

Company of Heroes [2]: Two Sidekicks: Robin & Batgirl

Bastion of Science [2]: Roll for Resource points using Cunning dice of leader.

Batman, Robin & Batgril

Leader:  Batman
Brawl     3 d 10
Shoot     2 d 8
Dodge    3 d 10
Might     3 d 10
Finesse  2 d 8
Cunning  3 d 10
Intimidating: Lower level enemies must roll a 1d Cunning success when fighting you. If failed, they can only dodge,
Moxie: Ignore multiple Combats penalty when rolling brawl dice.
Muscles of Steel: Brawl & Might dice not lowered due to injuries.
Batarang: Shoot never lowered below rolling 1 die, range 12”
Health:  d10 d8  d6 Down  Out

Sidekick:  Robin
Brawl     3 d 8
Shoot     2 d 6
Dodge    3 d 8
Might     3 d 8
Finesse  2 d 6
Cunning  2 d 6
Quick- Strike: Once per turn, shift your Brawl dice-type down to gain a +2d Brawl bonus.
Moxie: Ignore multiple Combats penalty when rolling brawl dice.
Batarang: Shoot never lowered below rolling 1 die, range 12”
Health:  d8  d6 Down  Out

Sidekick:  Batgirl
Brawl     3 d 8
Shoot     2 d 6
Dodge    3 d 8
Might     2 d 6
Finesse  3 d 8
Cunning  2 d 6
Deductive: Action: Draw one fortune card.
Moxie: Ignore multiple Combats penalty when rolling brawl dice.
Batarang: Shoot never lowered below rolling 1 die, range 12”
Health:  d8  d6 Down  Out