Cold Steel Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Anyone can tell me about this module? My friend claims he'd played it for a Justice Inc. campaign over ten years ago. It involved a gold mine and some villain called the Condor. That's all i know about it i'm afraid. My friend had moved to Ohio so until i can get in touch with him, you guys are my only hope. What can anybody tell me about the adventure and where i can find a copy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike It was written by Aaron Allston and I used to have a copy, a long time ago. It might still be around here somewhere but I doubt it, I don't recall seeing it in at least a decade. I hope I am not getting this confused with something else but here is what I seem to recall: The characters eventually end up at a large house in the country near an abandoned(?) mine. Someone is trying to scare away the land owners by faking ghosts and such (sort of a Scooby-Do thing, but more serious). There is an air strip involved. It is hard to remember much more it was a long time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike The Condor has a mind control drug, and he's building an army of near-drones. He's hiding out in an abandoned gold mine, but an active gold mine nearby has broken through into his compound, forcing him to show his hand before he's ready. Of course, the characters get involved right around this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted May 7, 2006 Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike From what I recall, it was a pretty good adventure. I'd recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aroooo Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike I ran this when we first started playing Justice Inc many many years ago. Good adventure. I still have a copy (maybe 2) if you want to borrow it. Aroooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roter Baron Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike If you can get it - GET IT! Really rocks! You have to rework the stats of the adversaries a little, but that is a piece of cake. Really a good adventure for a Pulp Hero campaign - has all you need: Mind-controlled henchmen, a colorful villain, biplane battles in the sky (WRRROOMMMMM!!!!!), a mysterious gold mine, a not-so-helpless lady-in distress and lots and lots and lots of flair. Ran it, loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharis2000 Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike It was the first Pulp-Era adventure I played in using the Hero System and I still recall how much fun it was. I've run it three times in varying incarnations of my Pulp Hero game over the years (with three different resulting outcomes) and it's been a hit each time. If you can locate it, I reccommend giving it a read. It will need some conversion, but it's worth the work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike To those of you who've run/played it -- what types of characters is it appropriate for? Would 150-pointers be too tough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aroooo Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike I've run it using 150 point PCs (75+75). I'd have to pull it from my book shelf tonight to be sure, but I think that the adventure as published made it challenging enough. Aroooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike To those of you who've run/played it -- what types of characters is it appropriate for? Would 150-pointers be too tough? The last time I used it was with 4th edition. The characters were 125 points (75 base + 50 disads) and it seemed reasonably tough. I don't think an extra 25 points in each character would hve made a huge difference (it might warrant a slight beefing up of henchmen). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharis2000 Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike At worst, only some slight revisions would be needed to bring things in line with a 150-point character campaign. Mostly beefing up the Condor in case there was a fight on the ground and so on; in essence the sort of things you'd want to do to tailor the scenario to your own campaign anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mraley Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Oooohhhh! My first very adventure! That was the one where you nearly killed Marcus by dropping a mine shaft on him. Bad Rob! Bad! Didn't Bird's character end up marrying the mine owner's daughter? After what's-his-name's character nearly beat her to death because he didn't recognize her in the dark? Mary Ann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharis2000 Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike That was indeed the adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roter Baron Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike At worst' date=' only some slight revisions would be needed to bring things in line with a 150-point character campaign. Mostly beefing up the Condor in case there was a fight on the ground and so on; in essence the sort of things you'd want to do to tailor the scenario to your own campaign anyway.[/quote'] Agree. I think some extra points are to be given to The Condor and his henchmen, because the main villain only has about 130 points and an OCV of 5 plus 1 level and some Martial Arts. He is some kind of a pushover if he steps into Strong-Jawed Hero's boxing punch. Then, on the other hand, I reembered that I ran him as is against my group of 4 or 5 150 plus XP heroes and thes got quite challenged. Don't know how you see it but I alway prefered my pulp villains to be loudmoujths in cool costumes that seem more dangerous than they are. They are wicked, ruthless, dangerous in their evil ways - but not invicible. The yhave a lot of Dex 11, SPD 2 lackeys, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted May 8, 2006 Report Share Posted May 8, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Thanx for the perspective, everyone who answered! It's always interesting to hear peoples' actual experiences with an adventure. I might dig it out for my PH campaign; it sounds to me like it'd make a great "filler" for an evening when only a couple of players can show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Steel Posted May 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Thanks all of you for the input! I don't know if i have enough info for creating my own version but i might have the Condor a rebellious former lackey of The Skymaster from Masterminds and Madmen. A "lesser of two evils" sort of thing. Was the Condor a former Army Air Force pilot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBikle Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Here's the cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kharis2000 Posted May 10, 2006 Report Share Posted May 10, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Cold Steel wrote: Thanks all of you for the input! I don't know if i have enough info for creating my own version but i might have the Condor a rebellious former lackey of The Skymaster from Masterminds and Madmen. A "lesser of two evils" sort of thing. Was the Condor a former Army Air Force pilot? You've got me there, man. I'd need to run home and check the HERO Shelf to see what the module said to be sure (but I'd tend to agree that he was as a default position). Running him as a former Skymaster minion isn't that bad an idea, especially given the way that the Condor operates; I think that the Skymaster would have violent disagreements with the way the Condor "acquires" his pilots and controls them. If you go with that idea, let us know how it worked out for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Steel Posted May 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Here's the cover. COOL!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCUBA Hero Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Was the Condor a former Army Air Force pilot?Unlikely. He was "a distinguished Army Captain in the Great War". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Technically the Air Force did not exist as an independent branch of the military until after World War 2. In the Pulp era it is the Army Air Corps, a subdivision, but still a part of, the US Army. So if he was a distinguished Army Captain he could have been a part of the Army Air Corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCUBA Hero Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Ah. Could be, then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tom Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike Hi all My group has run through the adventure and we've posted our writeup of the game here. Be warned, this will give away the plot but you may find it useful. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/carps/RPG/justice_associates/gold_spike/goldspike_prologue.html Regards Long Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edsel Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike An interesting read Long Tom, thans for the link. Repped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cold Steel Posted May 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 Re: The Trail of the Gold Spike THIS IS SO WICKED COOL, LONG TOM!!! I have everything i needed to run this right now. I rep you if i could. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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