My Victoria gaming group asked for an encore of Spirit of 77 and I was happy to oblige them, giving another chance to check out the game.
This time, we had five player characters (pictured below)
- Hugh Mungus, a Good Ol’ Boy who’s One Bad Mother looking for Thrills
- Rex Cranium, a Vigilante who’s a Former Badge looking for Paybac
- Jackie Chung, a Kung Fu Tough Guy looking for Honour
- Rooster, a War Vet Bopper looking for Redemption
- Slick Grooves, a Glam Honeypot looking for Thrills
The sessions begins with Hugh and Rex in the auto repair shop office, Rooster working on the shop floor, Jackie upstairs working out in his gym and Slick next door at the bar. Hugh receives an invitation in the mail to a super secret race – the Gumbo Rally! The gang assembles and begin planning. Rex calls a friend on the force and confirms his suspicions, there’ve been several missing persons linked to the race. He’s suspicious, but agrees to go along. Hugh works on his car’s paint job (!) – an eagle on the hood. Rooster calls his gang and gets them ready for a cross-country trip.
The next day, they gather at the designated meeting spot, a diner in Detroit. There’s already a motley collection of other race teams. Most notably, there’s Sir Richard Laurence, British tycoon/man about town; Mikey Corleone, the local gangster’s son; and the Hall Sisters, Annie and Allie, hot and dangerous.
The race organizer welcomes them all and announces that the race has no rules other than the following: first team to New Orleans before six AM tomorrow wins the million dollar prize, there’s an obligatory check-in Nashville and each team must carry a locked suitcase with them (no opening it!). Then, he says, “And we’ve just called the police and alerted them, so… go!”
With that, they hear sirens approaching and it’s a mad dash as everyone races to their cars. Rooster finds his boys are beating up someone who tried to mess with Hugh’s Barracuda, so deals with them and then runs interference as Hugh and the group escape into the streets of Detroit. The biker gang then heads off to stock up on molotov cocktails.
Meanwhile, the Barracuda heads out of town only to find a massive roadblock set up, with Sergeant Bickle manning the blockade. Rex tries unsuccessfully to hide his face as they take a sharp turn down a side road and find an alternate route out of town. They do escape the police, and decide to take a different side route South, avoiding the main road where they suspect there will be more blockades.
Out on the open road, they soon come upon the Lamborghini driven by the Hall sisters. They pull up alongside and exchange pleasantries, then Annie, having finished toying with them, accelerates rapidly away and disappears into the horizon.
Not too long after that, they spot something strange on the road just in time to avoid running over what turns out to be a carpet of caltrops. Cursing the Hall Sisters, they start plotting their revenge. Hugh redlines the Barracuda and manages to catch up to them, Rex takes aim and shoots out one of the tires, sending the car spinning out, crashing into a ditch. The motorcycle gang approach, throwing molotov cocktails to finish the job and the Hall Sisters open fire, wounding Rooster badly. The gang decides it’s not worth the pain and carry on their way leaving the sisters in their dust.
At the Nashville check-in point, they find Corleone and his giant brother, Fredo. While Slick distracts him, Jackie tries to steal Corleone’s suitcase out of the back of the car. Unfortunately, just he is doing that, a patrol car pulls in to the lot and a second after that Rooster arrives with his gang, roaring in on their motorcycles. Jackie leaps into the back of the car as Corleone returns and quickly gets into the car, pulling out in a rush with his brother.
The cop, befuddled by what’s happening, is helped to understand who the “real” threat is as Slick explains who just left. The cop quickly races to his car and speeds off in hot pursuit.
The police car, lights blaring chases after the mob bosses’ son and Jackie in the back decides it’s time to get out of the car. Corleone turns to look at the cops and sees Jackie there. He’s draws his pistol and Jackie leaps from the car using the suitcase as a surfboard, skidding off the street into the ditch. Hugh and the group miss him as they speed past, but Rooster and his gang do see him and pull him onto the back of one of the motorcycles. They all race past the scene of Corleone pulled over to the side and the patrolman cautiously approaching, turning a blind eye to the inevitable bloodshed.
The patrolman obviously called for assistance though, as they soon come upon another police roadblock. This time, the cops are searching each vehicle and there’s a big lineup waiting to go through. They can see Sir Alexander up ahead, so Slick hops out and skates over in his fur coat (wearing only a gold Speedo underneath). While talking with Sir Alexander, he manages to plant some drugs on him. Then, they wait and watch as Sir Alexander pulls up to the barriers, speaks to the cops, passes something over and is waved through. Money talks.
Rooster and the gang have arrived, so Jackie switches back to the car and Slick decides to go talk to the cops and tries buying their way through. Sergeant Bickle is there and he’s having none of it, so Rex goes over and tries smoothing things over. Rex used to be on the force and knows Bickle. After some strong words are exchanged, they strike a deal where he lets them through, but Rex will owe him in the future. Meanwhile, Rooster and his gang have started a fire nearby, causing a distraction and they get through as the cops go to check that out.
Now late at night, they’re on the last stretch when lights appear in the rearview mirror. It looks like Rooster and the Thunder Flowers, so Hugh and the group don’t worry, but as the motorcycles begin pulling up along both sides, in front and in back, it starts to seem strange. Suddenly, Hugh’s side window blows open as a chain smashes through into his face. A shot blasts open Jackie’s window as well and the biker next to Rex’s window falls back, readying for a shot. The Barracuda swerves and takes out a couple of them.
The group in the car open fire on the mysterious bikers, but Slick is pulled from the car onto one of the bikes just as Hugh decides enough is enough and accelerates away from them, fleeing the scene.
Rooster and his gang come upon this group of bikers and begin fighting as they race along the highway. Slick is in a fight for his life atop the bike, caught between wanting to kill his captor and not wanting to wipe out at 100mph. Suddenly, the biker bites into his neck, blood splurting everywhere and the danger jumps another notch.
Rooster’s gang is also in desperate battle, as these inhuman bikers begin jumping from their bikes to take down Rooster’s Thunder Flowers. Rooster also takes a hit and, already bloodied, is now hurting bad. His gang holds off the bikers as he rescues a fallen Slick from the clutches of his captor and then takes off himself, escaping with only a handful of his gang members intact.
Hugh and the gang are feeling safe of the biker gang, but then out of the darkness they almost ram a Jeep with no running lights. It begins swerving, trying to knock them off the road. Jackie takes immediate action and pulls himself onto the roof then leaps through the air to the Jeep. He makes it across, but is pulled in by the vehicle’s unknown occupants, the door closing behind him. Inside, he is set upon by at least a half dozen assailants and only his Kung Fu protects him, but he knows his luck won’t last forever, especially since his attackers have bared their fangs and also have inhuman strength.
The Barracuda pulls alongside the Jeep, Rex pries open the gas tank and expertly drops a flare into it just as Jackie breaks free. He jumps and miraculously lands on the hood of the Barracuda as the Jeep explodes in flames. They carry on.
The group feels good now, they’re on the last stretch and all is well when they come upon a family standing outside an RV broken down on the side of the road. Hugh ignores them and continues along, but Rooster realizes that the vampire biker gang is no doubt behind them and will take out the family. He stops and manages to load them up on the gang’s bikes, holding off the bikers just long enough for them to escape to safety.
It’s clear sailing now as they arrive in New Orleans just before 6am, the sun still below the horizon. Rex tries directing them to the rendezvous spot, but messes up and they wind up arriving a little late, just as Sir Alexander and another team get there. The cars screech to a halt and one of the contestants leaps from one of the cars, running up the stairs as Jackie sprints from the Barracuda, suitcase in hand. He bounds up the stairs, knocking the lady down only to arrive at the man waiting there.
He congratulates Jackie, takes the suitcase, checks it and then hands over the cheque for one million dollars. They have won the Gumbo Rally!
Additional Thoughts on the Game
We had an awesome time playing again. I’m sure I missed a dozen or more of the group’s antics through the night. Each of the characters really shined and the players all commented how the archetypes were easy to play with and, more importantly, lots of fun to play.
The game system remains perfect for this type of game. It’s simple enough to not drag game play, but has enough crunch that it’s not pure story-telling.
I do find that the moves have too many options to choose from (up to 7!). On 7-9 rolls (which are the most common), I prefer to offer my players two choice, usually something bad and something also bad.
I understand from a design perspective wanting to have more than just a couple options, but I would suggest that the game master, or DJ as they call it, pick two of them that make the most sense and offer those to the players. Otherwise you get into a situation of having to read out each one several times and then decision paralysis sets in. Even if you provide a copy of the Moves to each player to read, it significantly slows down the game as they read through each option and again hit decision paralysis or seek explanations of how each particular option would play out in this particular situation, forcing the DJ to come up with creative ideas for seven different possible outcomes!
In any case, we all enjoyed playing it again and everyone wants to continue with it, so that in and of itself is a resounding success.
The Gumbo Rally
This adventure is a combination of all the various rally movies (Cannonball Run, Gumball Rally, Smokey & The Bandit, etc.) with vampires thrown in. If you would like to run your own Gumbo Rally, here’s my notes for running it: Spirit of 77 – The Gumbo Rally
Justin Schmid
Justin started tabletop gaming in 1983 with Basic D&D (red box) and never looked back. He runs and plays in a wide variety of games, including Savage Worlds, Dungeon World, Trail of Cthulhu and many, many more.
He also writes professionally for role-playing games, including writing and creating Night's Edge an Alternate Reality Universe for Cyberpunk 2020. He went on to write eight more adventures and sourcebooks in the Night's Edge line, adding vampires and other supernatural perils to the already dangerous world of Cyberpunk.
As a freelance writer, he wrote The Bermuda Triangle for Call of Cthulhu, Shadows of the Mind, and Psi Wars for Conspiracy X and contributed to Last Unicorn's Star Trek RPG, as well as to Cybergeneration sourcebooks, and many other games.
When he's not creating imaginary worlds for his daughter, he's running games for his friends and writing new adventures or designing new game systems. He currently lives in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.