We got caught stealing drugs from kids.

That was the opening conception for the collection of buff thugs starring in this week's 80s extravaganza. Following up from our 70s, disco-licious, narcotic upset the [URL=http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=29837]week before[/URL], it was a natural choice to fast-forward to the decade of piano neckties and statement-saying shoulder-pads.

The Cast


• Henri Jaffe, the Paranoid Transporter, who was betrayed by Dr. Jacob.
• Dr. Sam Jacob, the Cowardly Inside Man, whose fiancée was wasted by the limping Lushenko.
• Emile Lushenko, the Schizophrenic Brains of the Operation, whose leg was mangled when Badger fell asleep at the gun.
• The Badger, the Narcoleptic Demo Guy, who was left for dead by Jaffe in Haiti.

The Job
Get from Miami (of course) to the Escobar's drug palace in Columbia (of course). On the way, we'd have to Steal Files from the CIA (to see who turned us in), Kill Castro (the arbitrator of our demise) and capture Concita Escobar (the princess of the drug cartel).

Why? Because we'd been taken off death row to serve our penance on the world's bloodiest game show. Cue insane guitar solo.

Beginning
The first Checkpoint was ropey. One of the players had never played an RPG before, which made me a little nervous. I wanted him to enjoy himself, and this upset my mojo.

Additionally, some of the Objectives for the Scenes were a little broad. Like, the first Objective was "get away from the cops." It felt like a natural Objective, but in reality, it was difficult to achieve. Think about it. When would you ever get away from the cops during a game about pursuit? A better way to phrase it would have been "get away from that car on your tail," or "board that boat to get away from the cops." A good Objective should be specific and should lead toward the completion of the next Checkpoint.

In fact, that was a substantial issue for the opening apart of the game. We weren't driving our Objectives at the Checkpoint. Our first Checkpoint was "Steal files from CIA HQ." So, the resulting Objectives should have been things like "sneak into the CIA building," "disable the security," "blow open the safe," "land the helicopter on the roof," etc.

In our game, the Objectives for the opening checkpoint went something like this: escape the cops, find the codes to get into the CIA HQ from an old ally, and kill the old ally when he turns us in. There ended the Checkpoint (we'd achieved enough Victory Points). If we'd just ended it there, we'd still be missing a whole chunk of the story.

Thankfully, the new Checkpoint rules have this funky montage feature. That is, once the team achieve enough Victory Points to complete the Checkpoint, each player in turn describes his character's role in the "job." So, even if you mechanically achieve your Checkpoint way before you get there in the story, the story still gets told.

We had some nice descriptions here, like where Dr. Jacob runs down an alley and is followed a few seconds later by a hoard of cops. Afterwards, The Badger is rigging the safe to explode, Lushenko is executing some guards, and Henri is screeching a getaway car around the corner. The story was told, even if some of the coolest bits were done during the montage.

Middle
By the second Checkpoint we'd found our feet. Maybe it was because of the Rest Scene.

In Hell for Leather, you have two Scene types, Run and Rest. The former tells the story of the hunt, while the latter allows characters to argue out their grudges. Notice in the Cast section above how Lushenko's "leg was mangled when Badger fell asleep at the gun?" Rest Scenes allow you to explore this kind of issue.

First, The Badger is placed in a situation where he is about to succumb to his Flaw. Afterwards, Lushenko has a chance to try to change that Flaw.

For example, in our Rest Scene, Henri was helping The Badger to wire up a bomb. Suddenly, The Badger falls asleep (he's narcoleptic). Lushenko (who got his limp from a similar situation) walks into the room to find Henri holding a collection of wires with sweat pouring down his face while the demolitions guy lies asleep beside him. Cue conflict.

Lushenko ended up persuading The Badger to take a huge does of prescription amphetamine and his Flaw was changed from Narcolepsy to—the drug had unwanted side effects—partial blindness.

It was an entertaining scene, and gave a few of the players a chance to get in character. After this, though things went silly, we had loosened up to the task.

End
In the usual way of things, the last Checkpoint was the best. Everyone had started to get the hang of Threats and Objectives. Threats are when players jump into the narrative to include an obstacle for the team. For example, you might throw in a moustachioed boxer who is stopping the characters from getting to the escape vehicle, or, you might have the cute, pre-adolescent Concita Escobar armed with a golden Desert Eagle in her lunchbox—cue ensuing slow-motion gun fighting, with dives behind pillars. And doves.

We jumped from location to location, painting the desert schoolyard, the jungle rope bridge and the palatial drug mansion of the Escobar family. Every scene had a fun, direct purpose, and every location was peppered with fun, memorable details. For example, in dressing up as a man of the church, The Badger had ripped off his sleeves at the shoulder to better expose his 80s buffness. There was also another great scene where The Badger had to crawl along the canvassed exterior of an army transport truck (complete with oncoming train) a la Indiana Jones.

All the players had received Traumas, we were all forced to rolling with our left hands, and, to compensate, we had started to commit Violence during every Challenge. This, of course, leads to the fun mayhem for which Hell for Leather is played. Ba-boooom! Ker-splat! And so on.

Thoughts
Normally I'd have a few comments to make about where to go from here. Thankfully, I can finally say that Hell for Leather is nearly done. It delivers the kind of spectacle I set out to deliver and it does it consistently, even with new players. I just have to tweak some text (to highlight the purpose of the objective during scene framing). Other than that, and a bit of proofing, I'm ready to commit it to the printers.

Playtime: 3.5 Hours, Players: 4, Ruleset: [URL=http://cobwebgames.com/index.php/games/hell-for-leather/#downloads]FREE Edition[/URL]