Pulp Era OSR Make Over For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons's Modue Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull's UK3 The Final Enemy

At last! An opportunity to avert the threat to the little town of Saltmarsh! The real enemies have been identified - evil, cruel creatures, massed in force and viciously organized. Can the brave adventurers thwart this evil and ensure the safety of Saltmarsh?

The PC's have proceeded along the path of corruption to the well organized forces of the Sahuagin around the Atlantic area right into the lair of the monsters. U3 The Final Enemy by Dave J. Browne with Don Turnbull is gritty & dangerous with a military feel to the over all module.
U3 is one of the more unusual adventures in that it features a three level dungeon & actual underwater adventure. I've used the entire U3 Saltmarsh series of adventures for Call of Cthulhu & many other pulp based Sword & Sorcery games as well including using it as a lead in for Astonishing Swordmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea second edition's The Mystery at Port Greely.

The whole of U3 is made for three things; exploration, underwater dungeon crawling, & full on old school adventuring. The Sahuagin lair is almost fully a third underwater dungeon &  a dark & dangerous place with Saltmarsh being the beach head for a full on invasion. The feeling of U3 is the final piece of a very large & corrupt puzzle. The tendrils of the Sahuagin's cults in the upper world can be seen in the Saltmarsh series adventure. The lair of the Sahuagin is a perfectly polished mirror of a sink of evil from the Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg. 

The Sahuagin are an Atlantic ocean variant of the Deep One species with the Koa Tua being the lower oceanic variation of the species. The Sahuagin are looking to expand their ancient empire onto land especially after mankind has grown so lax.
"Y'ha-nthlei was not destroyed when the upper-earth men shot death into the sea. It was hurt, but not destroyed. The Deep Ones could never be destroyed, even though the palaeogean magic of the forgotten Old Ones might sometimes check them. For the present they would rest; but some day, if they remembered, they would rise again for the tribute Great Cthulhu craved. It would be a city greater than Innsmouth next time. They had planned to spread, and had brought up that which would help them, but now they must wait once more. For bringing the upper-earth men's death I must do a penance, but that would not be heavy. "
The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft

Characters of 3rd–5th level are the rule in U3 The Final Enemy, the module is completely lethal in places & not given for characters of at least the fourth level or below. The fact is that dungeon masters need to flesh out many of the more sinister aspects of the fishmen in U3. Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos is a viable option to do exactly that. The book lends itself quite nicely to fleshing out the more chaotic basis of the cults implied within the U.K. Saltmarsh series.


The world of an alternative history 1904 is a world in flux. There are several reasons to believe that the Sahuagin are actively on a black ops military warfare campaign across the globe. In 1904, with war in Europe a decade away, Britain and France sign an agreement, later known as the Entente Cordiale, resolving long-standing colonial disputes.On October 21, 1904, this almost happened. While en route to the Pacific Theatre, a nervous Russian fleet fired cannons at British fishing vessels thinking they were Japanese ships. In the confusion, some Russian ships even fired upon each other. Three British fishermen died and a host of diplomatic fall out resulted. Was this the fog of war or were there more sinister forces at work. This period of chaos happens across the globe & there is a method to this madness. Taking a cue from Dark Albion's set up for NPC's almost any can die within such a campaign & this fits with the dark & sinister nature of U3. The whole justifies the means of using Dark Albion's Cults of Chaos to flesh out the more nasty & dangerous of the Lovecraftian cults of the Sahuagin.



Infact U3 The Final Enemy can be used as a jump off point for an extended Lovecraftian campaign. There's enough background for a dungeon master to back fill in the details of the Saltmarsh adventure.This background material is perfect for  enabling a group of players to assume the role of smashing pulp heroes. This can take the PCs to far beyond where they expect to end up at the end of the Saltmarsh adventures. Many of the monsters found in Dark Wizard's Monsters of Mayhem #1 has several monsters that can easily convey the heights of alien weirdness that the player's PC's will be experiencing within the lair of the Sahuagin.

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!

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

"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!"
Its been a long while since I did anything with UK2 Danger At Dungwater after talking about turning UK1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh into a viable alternative Earth turn of the century introductory adventure. 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 will be called Renegade Heroes, Tyrannical Conquerors, & Wasteland Kings!
There are several updates that I'd do to U2 to be closer to an alternative turn of the pulp  Earth New York city adventure campaign setting. Saltmarsh is a fishing town left mostly untouched by the Martian invasion but the poor & immigrants in the area are another matter. They  have much lower technological axiom then those living in the golden  halls of power around New York city. There are lots of hazards from the invasion, crime is deadly, and there is a far more pulpy feel to this sort of a campaign setting.

Danger At Dunwater is the second in the "U' trilogies of adventures and pits the characters into the aftermath of  The Sinister Secret Of Saltmash adventure and meshes right into the front and back adventure plots of U1 quite nicely. But as a a hook I would have several New York city residents going missing & using an old pulp trick I'd use a mid tier monster to get the adventurers involved. Taking Monsters of Mayhem #1 from Dark Wizard games I'd grab the Lagoon Creeper & spin it as a Deep One variant that has broken rank from the Koa Tua. 
The Lagoon Creeper's traditional native New York city fishing waters have been disturbed by their more advanced Koa Toa brethen then there's bound to be blood in the water.

The war preparations of the both the lizardmen & the Koa Tua have disturbed the monsters in their New York city salt water swamp lairs. And because their weird & very pissed off they've begun to take residents from around their lair as sacrifices in eldritch rites to their own horrid demonic gods. Perhaps as a way to summon an aquatic demon  to stop the efforts of their neighbors.

Lagoon Creepers are not monsters to be trifled with & so have moved closer inland taking up residence in the ruins of old buildings, submerged basements, and other areas where the Martian invasion has left swaths of devastation. In fact the Lagoon Creepers are hardier & better able to survive the frigid waters of the Atlantic & their own populations are pushing the Kao Tua out of the New York & Long Island waters. This could be prompting the entire war surrounding the UK1 -3 series of adventures.

With a bit of work with the Deep Ones RC class from Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu  & a large swath of ACK's Lairs & Encounters we can really give the Lagoon Creepers an NPC pulp make over. We get several side quest dungeons to hook into before diving into the main course of Uk2 Danger At Dunwater. The DM could infact use the Deep One RC class rules to do hybrid Lagoon Creepers as a player option but these should be few & very far between.




This is just the preliminary adventure set up because racial & biological pressures from events from  N1 Against the Reptile Cult have driven the lizard men out of their traditional New York state hunting grounds. These three events have triangled the perfect storm for events in UK2 Danger At Dunwater. But what happens to the fanatics left behind after the events of N1 Against The Reptile Cult. These nasty & rather dangerous  Lovcraftian cults of N1 Against The Cult of the Reptile God might be found in some of the back alleys of New York City stretching its coils & influence deep into New York State's back woods. This could be represented by the very Adult themed Obscene Serpent Religion by Rafael Chandler. 

In part II coming up we're going to get into the stank & middle core events of Uk2 Danger At Dunwater.