Thursday, May 3, 2018

Pulp Era OSR Make Over For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons's Modue Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull's UK2 Danger At Dunwater Part II


"The little fishing town of Saltmarsh is threatened! Why are lizard men gathering force nearby and why have they been buying large quantities of weapons? A party of bold adventurers must answer these questions or the people of Saltmarsh will never live in peace!"

So let's pick up what's been happening around 'the quiet' little fishing village around Saltmarsh. The action has picked up after the PC's have been involved with investigating a number of unexplained murders & attacks around the salt marshes &  swamps near New York City.  Everything picks up as the lizardman vs Kua Toa  military conflict begins to happen around the city & about 70% of the city is completely unaware that its happening up right under their very noses. The poor, displaced, & the gangs of smugglers around this area  know exactly what's been going on.
Pulp adventurers are going to have their hands full with managing negations with  an alien species that can go from enemies to allies in the space of adventure events.



All of the action is going to take place near a series of smaller islands around Manhattan & near the salt marshes of New York City possibly with Long Island being a connection as well.


The alien lizardmen might have moved into the area with some of the pulp elements taking place in the alternative turn of the century 1903 happening in some ruins that might in fact be a recast Keep On The Borderlands. The keep might have been a tourist attraction before the Martian invasion of 1897 & this helps to trace the lizardmen's route into the salt marshes. The Keep might be in Long Island or its environs.  Keep also helps to boost the PC's level from the low end to the higher end.


The turn of the century alternative Earth  old school OSR hybrid of Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Barbarians of Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu mixed in with Troll Lord Games Amazing Adventures firearms, modern equipment & more. The combination  called Renegade Heroes, Tyrannical Conquerors, & Wasteland Kings affords me more then a few indulgences such as getting rid of the Scooby Doo BS in U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. Playing up the alchemist as an NPC has all kinds of implications for a clever dungeon master.
The alchemist is a pulp villain of grand design whose been terrorizing the poor & fishing elements of New York since the days of the Dutch settlers. Make the alchemist an undead horror affords the DM gravitas with the players. 
Rather nasty & rather dangerous  Lovcraftian cults have been backing the alchemist & his henchmen for their smuggling operations in the face of the Martian invasion & making a very health profit.
But Deep Ones are not known for their charity & adventurers cutting into profits & the cult scene is about to boil over. The appearance of the lizardmen is a good indicator of the situation. A combination of the cultist class from
Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu & the very Adult themed Obscene Serpent Religion by Rafael Chandler  
help to bore out the cult seen in N1 Cult of the Reptile God. These bastards  have been muscling out the lizardmen from New York State or the salt marshes. The real trick here is to keep the players from killing the lizardmen. The cult has  literally been driving the lizardmen underground.






ACK's Lairs & Encounters  can really give the dungeon master the upper hand to create the background, treasures, and more for many of the monsters that are thumbnailed in UK2 Danger At Dunwater.



This turn of the century New York aspect of a campaign centered around UK2 Danger At Dunwater is going to have to take advantage of a massive amount of foreshadowing of coming events & pull the players along. Not rail road them but leading them deeper and deeper as we see in pulp magazines & comics.

The Salt Water fishing village & its environs around the turn of the century New York city are really going to shine especially in the foot lights of this sprawling massive metropolis. The Koa Tua, Sahuagin, & Deep One triangle in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons has always been a complicated one among certain groups of old school  dungeon masters. UK2 Danger At Dunwater really brings this issue to the surface. Tomorrow we'll get into how to solve this issue. When the UK3 The Final Enemy comes to call!

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