Spirit of 77 – STUFFER SHACK

Spirit of 77 Encore, Review Follow Up and Another Scenario!

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

Spirit of 77 RPG – Review and Scenario

I had the chance to try out Spirit of 77, a funky 1970’s tabletop role-playing game. I had backed the kickstarter back last fall and thought it would be fun for my Victoria group of friends. As it turned out, although I already had the pdf, my hardcopy arrived in the mail the day before our game.

The game is described by its creators as follows:

Spirit of 77 is an over-the-top, pedal-to-the-metal, nitro-burning, action adventure role playing game about an alternate history 1977. Richard Nixon has made a deal with aliens, and is still in the White House; renegade rock gods from another galaxy have shared with us the power of Glam; kung-fu bad-asses wander the city streets righting wrongs, and everyone is trying to stick it to The Man.

Spirit of 77 is about recreating all the classic action and adventure TV shows, movies, and comic books of the 1970’s. It draws inspiration from movies like Shaft, Smokey and the Bandit, The Warriors, Barbarella, Rocky, and Enter the Dragon; TV shows like The Dukes of Hazzard, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Rockford Files, and Charlie’s Angels; and music like James Brown, KISS, David Bowie, Jerry Reed, and Isaac Hayes.

The game uses the Apocalypse Engine created by Vincent Baker for his ground-breaking game Apocalypse World and subsequently used in many, many games. The base mechanic is roll 2d6 and on a 10+, you do what you set out to, on a 7-9, you succeed but with consequences or partially and on a 6 or less, the GM says what happens. It’s a simple game system that encourages fast and more narrative play. I like to refer to it as the game system that gets out of the way of you playing the game.

Character Creation

Character creation starts with choosing a role (what you do), a story (where you did or how you do it) and a buzz (what motivates you). Then you pick your stats (Might, Hustle, Smooth, Brains and Soul), pick a talent (your “Thang”), get your gear and select some links to the other players (“Hooks”). Then you’re good to go.

As with most Apocalypse Engine games, character creation takes about 5-10 minutes. This game was not much different. My only complaint was that the normal starting gear and hooks for the various character types wasn’t on the character sheets. That required a bit of referencing the books and slowed things down a little. Normally that wouldn’t be noticeable, but it added another 5 or so minutes nearly doubling normal character creation. I prefer players being able to check off or cross off things on the character sheets if the sheets are already created for each particular role.

Our group was composed of:

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 Payback; and
Jackie Chung, a Kung Fu Tough Guy looking for Honour.

Playing the Game

Then we jumped straight into play and our game began in Detroit City, 1977.

A well-dressed and obviously wealthy woman comes calling on Hugh’s autobody shop (where Rex helps out and Jackie has a gym upstairs). She explains friends on the force referred her to them as they are known to be discrete in helping people with problems and that her husband has gone missing for three days now and she’s worried about him. After some prodding, she lets loose that her husband is Lee Iacocca. She gives them a description of his car and a good amount of cash and they accept happily.

First stop, they race over to Ford’s HQ, but it’s late on Friday and closing time. A departing secretary is shaken down for some information and they find out a couple of his favourite haunts – a Chinese restaurant and an Irish pub. They also learn that Iacoka’s been seen earlier that day at the office. They decide to hit the restaurant for some food before going drinking, so they hop back into Hugh’s 1970 V8 Plymouth Barracuda muscle car.

At the restaurant, they notice the menu has page entirely in Japanese. Pulling aside the waitress, they start interrogating her right in the middle of the restaurant while Hugh heads to check out the kitchen. He sees a normal kitchen, but through a half-closed door, he can see a group of women huddled over a desk and a bunch of papers.

The waitress feigns ignorance and when they start asking about Mr. Iacoka, she flips the table, screams “Help!” in Japanese and cold cocks Jackie.

As an aside here, another important aspect of Apocalypse Engine type games is that the rolls are all made by the players. They make rolls to do things themselves and then roll to react to actions of everyone else. There are a number of what are called “moves” that they can do, but the fiction comes first (you describe what you want to happen) and then, if needed, you roll to find out what happens.

Also, this is the first Apocalypse Engine game I have seen published that uses an advantage/disadvantage system (called “rolling with something extra/less). Since you’re rolling 2d6, you roll 3d6 if you have “something extra/less” and drop the lowest or highest roll respectively. I’d incorporated it into my own Apocalypse Engine games after first seeing the mechanic in D&D 5e, so it’s interesting to see it start to crop up in published games. It’s a good mechanic and I recommend it for all your Apocalypse Engine games. It works well in this game as well.

The waitress races to the kitchen where Hugh has just missed beating another waitress to grab an SMG from a nearby cupboard. She opens fire in his direction as he hits the dirt. Jackie uses his Floating Cherry Blossom training to quickly cross the busy restaurant (now full of screaming, running patrons) and drops the fleeing waitress before she can reach her friend. Meanwhile, Rex has pushed his way through the crowd and exchanges fire with the armed waitress, both of them are hit. She is stunned, dropping her gun, which Hugh gets ahold of and dispatches her. Our heroes can see the women in the backroom are fleeing out the back and by the time they reach there, they have gone and are speeding off in a car. No one even manages to catch its license plate.

The combat system is fairly simple, as is common with these types of games. You have a basic fighting move, a basic shooting move and one for getting out of the way of or blocking attacks. They’re all named to fit the theme though (Deliver a Beatdown, Smoke his Ass, Get in their Face, Scope out a Scene, etc.).

The group decides, given all the sirens approaching, that it’s time to get going, so book out of there in a hurry. Not before catching some Heat though.

One of the new mechanics for this game is the concept of “Heat” or also known as police interest in you. As you gain more Heat, the more the police start looking for you and harassing you, until they start actively hunting you with all units. This worked fairly well and was a suitable consequence of the group having been involved in a major gun battle at a restaurant. There are apparently some moves associated with particular roles that can reduce Heat, but otherwise you are left to judge how much Heat the characters gain and lose based on the story, which worked okay, but seemed a little bit of a weakness for something they have made part of their game mechanic.

Since Rex has been hit pretty hard and they don’t have any ability to heal, they look up a back alley doctor they know and get fixed up there. Meanwhile, Hugh speaks with some youths in the area and, after plying them with “goods”, finds out that their gang has been dealing with a “Chinese” woman, in fact she just gave them a fancy new car.

The group decides rather than check this lead out, to head to the Irish bar. There, they lay low as they realize it’s home to the cream of Detroit society. Rex drops in uninvited on the police chief (we’ve established he left the force on okay terms) and asks about Iacocca. He’s told that he should keep his nose out of Ford’s business, they’re too powerful in this town to mess with. Rex explains he thinks Iacocca’s in trouble and confides that he’s helping the wife out to find him. The chief lets Rex know that the last time he saw Iacocca, it was at the Detroit Opera House, where a Japanese Kabuki theatre group is in town for the week.

Meanwhile, Hugh strikes up a conversation with a very inebriated regular at the bar and finds out, after buying many drinks, that he’s seen Iacoka in here on a few occasions recently with an asian woman.

One thing that many games leave out are social mechanics. Apocalypse Engine games don’t. There are moves in Spirit of ’77 for persuading others and these worked fairly well through these scenes.

They decide to turn in, it being very late at night, heading back to the garage. The next morning, they are woken up by a knock at the door. Hugh answers it and is confronted by two plainclothes detectives. They ask him about last night and he feigns innocence, convincing them that while he might not be innocent, that they’re not going to get anything more out of him. They warn him to keep his nose out of trouble and leave. The Heat is rising.

The group heads for breakfast to figure out their next steps and when they emerge, there is a group of gang members that surround them and start threatening them to stop poking their noses where they shouldn’t. Rex reaches the car and draws his pistol. He fires a warning shot at the gang members, who quickly back off and leave, making further threats. The group again speedily leaves the scene, having gained even more Heat.

Time is running out, so they head to the Opera House, bribe a guard to let them in (it’s closed on Saturday afternoon) and inside they are confronted as they make their way through the aisles by the lead Kabuki performer, the Dragon Lady, and two of her costars (each wielding two Katanas). She tells them that they have made a grave mistake pursuing this matter and offers a huge sum of money to walk away. They agree to take it and leave, but they want proof that Iacocca is okay.

Another Kabuki performer in make-up, armed with an SMG emerges with Iacocca in tow. He’s not bound and shows no signs of distress. He simply walks forward and stops when he reaches the Dragon Lady. A suitcase of money is slid to the group, who immediately draw guns and begin firing. Two more henchmen appear from the balconies above them, raining down SMG fire. The whole scene explodes into gunfire and swordplay.

Jackie engages one of the sword maidens, but finds she is far more skilled than he even could have imagined (and consistently rolls poorly against her for the whole combat, poor guy). The other two exchange fire, eventually taking out the various gunwomen, but meanwhile the Dragon Lady leaves with Iacocca out the back. By the time the fight is over, Jackie is badly injured and they can again see a car speeding off, but this time Rex manages to hit a tire and Hugh has raced out to get his car, then picks up the rest of the team and is in hot pursuit.

The chase is on as they race through the streets of Detroit, Kabuki performers hanging out of one car shooting up Hugh’s Barracuda while Rex and Jackie return fire. Just then, bad almost goes to worse as a pick up truck races up behind the heroes with a heavy machine-toting Kabuki performer. But before she can unleash a torrent of bullets, Jackie drops her with a single lucky shot.

Unfortunately, there are no chase rules in the game. There are some vague vehicle rules, which worked okay, but it would be nice to have chase rules given it’s a highly used trope in such a setting. Apparently there are racing rules in the Wide World of 77 Expansion, but actual chase rules would be useful.

The Barracuda tries overtaking the car ahead of them, but just barely avoids a head-on collision from on-coming traffic. Instead, he rams their car just as Jackie leaps from one car to the other. He lands on it as sirens can be heard behind them, the police have joined the fun.

The escaping car loses control and smashes into a building, Jackie is thrown but lands on his feet, but Hugh doesn’t stop in time and slams into their car, bashing himself against the windshield and losing consciousness for a second.

The Kabuki gunwomen emerge from their car and begin shooting back at the police who have also stopped and set up a perimeter. The cover fire allows the Dragon Lady and Iacocca to escape into a nearby building.

Our heroes let the gunwomen and police trade shots as they also race into the building. Searching through the rooms, they find the Dragon Lady with Iacocca. Before she can even say a word, a single shot from Rex drops her just as police fill the room. Rex and his friends are all carted off to jail and have to do some fancy explaining to get free.

They never hear from Iacocca’s wife again and Iacocca mysteriously resigns from Ford and is not heard from again. The group are eventually released, but have gained some powerful enemies.

The players had figured out that the Dragon Lady was with the Yakuza and trying to steal secrets from Ford using Iacocca, but didn’t figure out that the Iacocca they saw with her was a robot clone and she had already killed the real Iacocca earlier and stuffed his body in the stolen car’s trunk. If they had searched for the car and found it earlier, they might even have found the executive barely alive and been able to rescue him. The clone was being used to enter the Ford building and steal secrets for the Yakuza. The robot clone was uncovered after the heroes were arrested, which is why they were eventually freed, but the Powers That Be decided to keep it secret, so the public was never told and in this timeline, Iacocca simply resigns from Ford and is never heard from again.

Conclusion

Our group had an awesome time and are clamouring for another game of Spirit of 77, so I think that’s a pretty resounding success. The theme of the game is easy to use in a variety of settings and works well as an Apocalypse Engine hack.

I would have liked some things to be clearer (what happens if a PC has Armour 3 and most weapons do 3 or less harm? Can NPCs never harm that player? And how mechanically does Heat increase/decrease?), but those are minor complaints.

It’s a good game overall and we certainly enjoyed it. Check it out if it sounds like something you’d enjoy. I’m not sure it would work well for a long-standing game, but for a few one-shots, it’ll definitely fit the bill.

Here’s my notes for the adventure if you want to try it out for your group.

Spirit of 77 – Enter the Dragon Lady

There is also a free adventure – Cruise Ship of the Damned, if you want to play something official. It also has a lot of quick-start rules if you want to give it a try before buying.