It was the dramatic end to "The Crystal Skulls of Atlantis," a game designed to play like a 1930's style pulp adventure movie, with three action packed reels and nine movie sets One thing I like about the game is the clever trick of playing a scene until it reaches an exciting finish, then picking up the characters and putting them right into another scene. All the boring and time consuming transitions are eliminated. You get to enjoy the heart of several scenes, like watching just the best parts of a movie, or watching the highlights from a sporting event.
The idea for this game comes from the imagination of Howard Whitehouse. The rules are very simple. Each character has a rating of 1 - 6 in categories called Fists, Gats, Smarts, and Stunts. Heroes, of course, sometimes have outrageously high ratings in some categories. For the extras a single rating for all categories is sufficient.
Once the scene starts the action is resolved by checking the appropriate category and trying to roll under your rating. There's an open ended list of special skills with names like "femme fatale" and "Mack the knife" that can affect the die roll. The roll is also modified depending on the difficulty of the task and the mood of the referee.
Two unusual rules are the Cut and the Interrupt. The Cut allows a player to have a second chance. This comes in handy when you fail the die roll during a car chase and the vehicle rolls over and bursts into flames. Third degree burns aren't very heroic, so just call out "cut" and try again. The Interrupt rule is also very useful since the villains usually like to tell the heroes what they're going to do before they actually do it. When the bad guy announces that he's going to push the scary red button and blow up his secret lair, with everyone inside, it's time for the heroes to invoke the Interrupt rule.
The rules matter little, however. Last year I neglected to read them before directing my scene in "The Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu." No one seemed to notice. Improvisation is expected. The key to the game is the amazing group of players that Howard is able to assemble. It starts with his reputation for putting on games that are hilarious fun. It also helps that his game descriptions are written to attract the right sort of gamers (and repel the wrong sort of gamers). This year's entry went like this:
Lost in the mists of antiquity, the sacred crystal skulls of antiquity blah blah blah conquer the world! Thrills-a-minute as gangsters, headhunters, mad cultists, femmes fatales in silky underwear and square-jawed heroes fight through episodes of a plot so incredible we haven't thought it up yet! An amazing old time movie serial set in the Amazon, old Cairo, London and Transylvania, all shot on a Hollywood back lot. Save the planet, win the girl, crash planes into volcanoes, smoke unfiltered cigarettes and drink bad liquor...
The players are given colorful characters to portray and encouraged to ham it up. Witty dialogue
is encouraged, and often rewarded. The directors provide a series
of exotic locations, and a steady stream of villains to keep the
action moving. This year's game, a sequel of sorts to last year's
"Fiendish Plot of Fu Manchu," attracted about 25 players.
The cast included some terrific performers.
Making a triumphant return was Roxy Smothers, a worldly starlet from Hollywood (by way of Hoboken). Her director for this feature was Erich von Schnitzel, played with gusto and a funny German accent. Another stand out performer was the fellow playing The Shadow. He had his own fedora, and an encyclopedic knowledge of pulp adventure stories. Perhaps the brightest star was the gentleman playing Biggles, who had the part down cold. He drew raves from Nigel Clarke.
"Brilliant performance Biggles, you were way over the top in every scene" Nigel gushed.
"Over the top? I have no idea what you're talking about" Biggles deadpanned.
The directors for this game included Howard, of course, as well as Dave Markley, Nigel Clarke, and Matt Fritz. The plot (and I use the term loosely) of this film focused on the fabled crystal skulls of Atlantis. In the first reel the heroes learn of the existence of the skulls, and battle Fu Manchu's henchmen for possession of the mystical artifacts.
More Crystal Skulls of Atlantis Filmed on Location at Historicon 2003
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© Copyright 2003 by Matt Fritz.
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