Pulp Review: Race for Eldorado
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Race for Eldorado: a Dreampark Adventure.
Author: William Moss. Published in 1992 by R.Talsorian
48 pages. Cover fold outs with color maps and pre-cut character cards (sort of mini PC sheets).
ISBN: 0-937279-33-1
Price: Out of Print
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Introduction
The Dream Park rpg was a short-lived attempt to cash on the
success of the Dream Park novels series (by Niven and Barnes).
The idea was to have a sort of meta-rpg in which player characters would
be... players in a futuristic, computer enhanced role playing game, a sort
of cross-over between a MMORPG and a Live-Action RPG.
Apart from the core rulebook and an advanced stuff supplement, only three
adventures were published.
Interestingly enough, one of these was set in South-America in the late
'30s, and can be easily used as a starting point for a new campaign.
All the published adventures had the following in common: player characters
were brought in "in media res", everything is clearly spelled out and well-
organized to allow the game master to play with minimum preparation time,
and all the adventures contained a twist which abruptly catapulted
characters in an unexpected situation.
As such, Dream Park material is very easy to adapt to different systems:
the game was fairly abstract (sort of a simplified Fuzion), and the
adventures are broken out in scenes, with plenty of cross-referencing, hints
on what happens when the players diverge from the expected thread and plenty
of background material in case the GM decides to go on adventuring in
the same setting.
The Story
PCs start the adventure on a sinking ship. The vessel is near the Peruvian
coastline and most of the passenger should be able to reach the shore.
Some hints point to the possibility that the ship (a passenger and cargo
steamer) has been sabotaged, but the local authorities don't seem to care
much. The PCs have probably discovered that at least one of the passengers
was already dead when the ship started to sink.
Having lost everything in the disaster, PCs (along a female NPC) are forced
to find some kind of lodging until the ship company complete the paperwork
and refund them... a fairly long affair, considering that the main offices
are in France, and that the local company officer does not exactly inspire
trust.
After a couple of days, the players (temporarily lodged in a local hotel)
are contacted by a plantation owner (the classic British ex-army officer)
who offers them a job at his farm, located many kilometers from the sea
village.
Their employer is currently locked in some sort of war with a rival planter,
and needs some more men (and women) to help protect his small but profitable
gold mine. The PCs will soon discover that the man who was killed on the ship
was working for their new employer.
The job goes pretty well for a couple of shifts (the PCs are asked to guard
the mine during the night), but nosy PCs will start to note that things seem
a little strange. When the GM decides that the time is right, all hell break
loose: first a large creature escapes from the mine and attacks the PCs,
then, just after they have successfully disposed of it, a fleeing NPCs
reaches them explaining that the plantation (which is a few kilometers from
the mine entrance) has been attacked by a group of mercenaries.
The PCs are forced to flee inside the mine, which goes deep inside the
mountains, and opens up in a hidden valley where volcanic heat allowed a
small ecosystem to remain insulated from the rest of the world: the hidden
valley is full of wonderful discoveries, untold riches, and plenty of
dinosaurs.
Adapting Tips
As I said before, the organization of the original material is pretty good,
and game stats are easy to replace. The story has plenty of pulp flavor,
without supernatural elements, but you must be ready to cope with the
classical "land the time forgot" themes.
Apart from the stats for prehistoric animals you should
also be ready to supply appropriate task rolls for a series of difficult
passages when the PCs need to run across the cave system. Another point to
consider is that when they are forced to flee inside the mine they may take
some stuff from the mining encampment, so you must be ready to cope with
some rationing and encumbrance factors.
The adventure itself covers different outcomes (the PCs may decide to remain
in the valley "forever", ambush their enemies and then mount a counterattack
and so on).
The adventure works pretty well for a group of new players, due to the fact
that it starts during a voyage. I used it to start my campaign, and just
needed to create a reason for coming back from South America for each PC. I
just added some details on other voyagers, invented a port list and added
some minor color instead of having everything start with the sinking ship.
Summing up
This adventure has everything: intrigue, femme fatales, dastardly villains,
retired British officers, mysterious places, natives, gold and dinosaurs. If
the last element (the dinos) doesn't disturb your idea of the world, I
strongly suggest you to try locating a copy on eBay or other out-of-print
games sources.
The adventure itself is set in 1937, but can easily be moved backward in
time, if required. The main plot covers no more than a couple of weeks of
time, probably less. It is strongly action-oriented, so white hunters and
mercenary types will probably have a field day. Engineers or scientists
(especially if interested in paleontology, anthropology or geology) may
work, too... all others will just have to cope, like the stage magician I
have in my group...