It’s 101 degrees in Albuquerque today.  One of the players had a crappy day at work. Another two are having some personal troubles.  One player forgot his character and had to call up a version from online.  Not the best set up for a night of gaming.

But it was one of the better gaming nights I’ve had…period.

First off, we made shepherd’s pie for dinner — hand mashed potatoes, hamburger fried with onions, garlic, green oni0ns, salt, pepper, paprika and mixed veggies.  Absolutely delicious.  Blue Moon’s honey summer ale with lemon.  A good start.

The adventure was already underway — Gorilla Ace! and his “Flying Circus” have stopped an attack by radium-powered robot men (“Radio Men” for their remote control.)  They are investigating the parts necessary to build the thing and eventually, they find the warehouse the radio signals to control the machines is coming from.

The first fight is right out of the gate this night — two big metal robots with Bren guns on their arms v. Gorilla Ace with his Tommies.  The other characters fight Bulgarian henchmen.  One character gets into a chase through the London Undergound on hoop cycles.  (Stats in another post.)  Pacing is fast and the fight is won.

The chase leads to the underground lair of the Phantom — a Zinovievite communist on the run from Stalin’s purge, and fighting the fight against the British monarchy (which he sees as siding with the fascists in Germany against the proletariat.)  Character, Gorilla Ace’s wife, is captured in the James Bond-esque lair in the catacombs of London.  His plan:  use a mole drill train to dig through the Underground to Parliament, where the king is giving an address to Parliament on the eve of the 1936 Summer Olympics, and blow up the lot.

GA! and his compadres find the lair, thanks to the investigative talents of Dr. Robert Stanford and with the aid of the Special Branch and Scots Guardsmen, raid the lair in a massive fight with black rollneck sweaters Russian and Bulgarian toughs.  Lots of breaking glass, gunfire, fistfights (including one on a darkened catwalk in the catacombs that the hero lost, allowing the villain to escape.)

They stop the train and drive it through the streets into the Thames as it explodes.

Pure pulp.  The pacing was fast, smooth; the players were in their groove and really got into character, playing up their flaws and strengths to the hilt.  Style points were flowing back and forth like a tennis match.   They were challenged, they won out, lost the villain appropriately, and everyone had a fantastic time.

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how everything else is going, and you have that perfect game night.

I just did.