While the Princess Bride and I were off celebrating Independence Day in Amarillo, Texas, we popped into a couple of antique shops along Old Route 66, a stretch of shops and restaurants.

In one, I found this particular item:

The cover was seriously beat up, and I could tell just how fragile the pages inside were, even given its comparative youth (April 1955). But still, it is an honest-to-goodness pulp magazine, and I was able to by it (my first) for five measly bucks.

As noted in a previous entry, I'd like to try my hand at writing a Pulp RPG adventure. I selected as my inspiration a Shadow radio drama entitled Gun Island. I'm also drawing on the inspiration of Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery as the framing device to link the player characters together.

I then read a really nice blog entry from Dr. Rotwang on a concept called the Adventure Funnel. The concept is a means of getting ideas down on paper. What I appreciated about that entry is that the author not only provides a step-by-step presentation, he also provides examples of how it works, which I find incredibly helpful.

So, without further ado, here is Gun Island, put through the Adventure Funnel:

Goal: Stop Foreign Power from stockpiling weapons on island.

Obstacles: Pirates, Booby Traps on Island, Jungle Critters, Storm at Sea, Shipwreck?

Details: PC's are members of the Corps of Discovery, a special unit of the US Army. They have been assigned to survey an uninhabited Island in the Caribbean (possibly near Cuba?).

This island is actually the base of operations for a band on pirates who have agreed to serve as custodians for a large stockpile of ordnance. The weapons were placed in a booby-trapped bunker by a foreign power in the event hostilities should break out with the US. This way, they would have a more convenient first-strike option.

The bunker is located deep within the jungle of the island. Calling the jungle home is a variety of dangerous animals, insects and reptiles.

The PC's are being transported to the island in a chartered private yacht, which would be tempting target for the pirates.

There is also a storm brewing nearby that will create difficulty in sailing (and landing).

The Pirates are led by a "Captain John," a man with a thick accent, who claims that his real name is too difficult to pronounce. He usually uses trickery to lure victims nearby.

The favorite tactic is to feign a fire on his ship. The victim's ship will pull alongside and "rescue" the pirate crew. Then, in the night, the pirates overpower the crew and take the ship, killing the Captain and imprisoning. captive crew.

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Okay, I think this is a good start, and I do seem to have a number of things to build on. Now I have to turn these notes into some sort of a structured (but not railroady!) adventure. Comments, and suggestions appreciated.

I am now down to four Sundays left before I head west. Packing is slower than normal, and I only have two estimates for moving companies, and I need to nail it down, like yesterday. And to top it all off, the mother of one of my employees passed away, and I was asked to preach the funeral for a woman I'd only met, briefly, on her deathbed.

So, to take my mind off of the things I had no control over, I've been reading short stories, like This One from Larry Estep's PulpGen site. It's called "Dead Man's Chest," by Norbert Davis. It appeared in the November, 1936 issue of Thrilling Adventures, and right away it had me hooked.

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