CREDITS

Writing: Chris Halliday, Christopher Helton, Jonathan Nichols and Jonathan M.

Thompson

Additional Development: Adrianne Compton, Lee Szczepanik, John Snead, DM

Elliot, Anna Dobritt, Stephen J. Miller, Ramsey Lundock, Neale Davidson, José
Porfírio, Timothy Brannon, Eric Pavlet, J. Thomas Pavlat and Luke Green

Editing and Proofreading: T.R. Knight, Lee Szczepanik, Cameron Lyle, Martin
Tucker

Interior Art: Dean Spencer, Some art is © Otherworld Creations and is used here
with permission, Freepik

Graphic Design, Typography and Digitial Pre-Press: Morne Shaap

Playtesters: Jonathan M. Thompson, Adam R. Thompson, Terrence Thompson,

Clay Weeks, Christopher Helton, Ramsey Lundock, Mark Vorwerk and José
Porfírio

Cover Art: Robert Hack

Adventure: The Nemo Diary by Shawn Hilton

Pulp Fantastic (Savage Worlds Edition) Copyright © 2019 Christopher Helton and Jonathan M. Thompson. Pulp Fantastic is published by Battlefield
Press International, 4009 Baronne St. Shreveport, Louisiana 71109 First printing. ISBN 978-1-9162632-7-7. This game references the SAVAGE
WORLDS game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. SAVAGE WORLDS and all associated logos and trademarks
are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or
suitability for purpose of this product. Fantastic Universe, Pulp Fantastic, Fantastic World, Steel and Swords, Savage Adventures, The Legendary Flying
Calvary and Mystic East are all Trademarks of Christopher Helton and Jonathan M. Thompson. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be
duplicated without permission of the publisher or the copyright holder.

Errata and other feedback can be sent to thompsonjm@gmail.com. Attention: The bearer of this PDF has the permission of the publisher and the
copyright owners to have one (1) copy printed for personal use via any commercial printer. If you are a clerk in a copy print center and you are reading
this notice, please do not treat our customers or yours as if they were a criminal — print this file. We are allowing it and you should also.

2
 TABLE OF
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
CREDITS................................................................ 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................. 3
INTRODUCTION.................................................... 4
THE PULP WORLD GAZETTEER............................... 25
THE PULP YEARS................................................... 47
CHARACTER ......................................................... 72
CREATION............................................................ 72
ARCHETYPES........................................................ 81
GROUPS & .......................................................... 93
BASES.................................................................. 93
GEAR................................................................... 98
ORGANIZATIONS & SECRET SOCIETIES.................. 116
PULP VILLAINS..................................................... 139
BESTIARY............................................................. 180
LOST LANDS......................................................... 201
ADVENTURE: THE NEMO DIARY ............................ 220
ADVENTURE GENERATOR...................................... 228
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................... 249

3
 INTRODUCTION
T
he characters in a Pulp Fantastic campaign are
like the heroes from the pulp magazines of long
ago. They let the players be faster, stronger and
smarter, in a by-gone era where truth and justice
could change the world for the better, even if only
on a smaller scale. They are the technological
knights who sweep from the tops of their gleaming
high-technology towers with their wonders from the
world of tomorrow. They are the shadowy avengers
who step out of the darkness of back alleys to strike
against the criminals who are choking their city.
They are the garishly dressed masked mystery men
who use the loudness of their anonymity to work
against the forces of evil. They are the heroes of
Pulp Fantastic.
Back in the Pulp Era, the lines between those who
were heroes and those who were villains were
clearly demarcated in the stark contrast of black
and white. The heroes were giants in their world,
towering over even the colossal skyscrapers going
up in the gleaming metropolis that they would
safeguard. In the chapters that follow you will find
the rules that are the backbone of character creation
in Pulp Fantastic.
But these rules are only a part of the process of
creating characters. Pulp heroes are stories, modern
day mythologies that reflected the time period in
which they were created, as well as amplifying that
world. Those stories should be the most important
element of the character creation process, and those
stories should take precedence over the rules. The
rules of character creation should help to simulate
the stories of the character, stories yet to be told, not
limit them.
If at times Pulp Fantastic sounds too corny to be
true, remember this: The pulp heroes that inspire
this game were not life-sized characters when they
were created in the 1930s, and the decades have
done little to make them appear any more realistic.
4
They were larger than life colossi who stood astride
the mighty metropolitan cities in which they were
based, while their adventures spanned the globe…
and sometimes beneath the Earth’s surface or far
into outer space. These mythic figures were never
intended to reflect their contemporary world.
The pulp heroes were the last burst of those
mass-produced, formula-fiction factories known
as the pulp magazines. Born about the turn of the
century, the pulps — they took their name from the
inexpensive paper on which they originally were
printed — were usually of suspect literary quality,
but besides inflaming the imaginations of millions
of readers, the magazines provided a financial
foothold for numerous writers who went on to
create stories and books that are the great works that
the pulps were (for the most part) not.
Ray Bradbury, Max Brand, Jack London, Sinclair
Lewis, Stephen Crane, H.P. Lovecraft, Walter
Gibson, Lester Dent — the list of writers whose
works appeared in the pulps is long. The list of
styles and genres that flourished in those magazines
is just as long. They promised fantastic fantasy and
thrilling thrillers: from the whodunit to the horror
story, from the Wild West to the moons of Mars, the
pulps helped establish science fiction and fantasy in
the literary experience of the early 20th Century.
The pulp publishers were in it, of course, for the
money (some things never change). Fortunes flowed
from the promises of the sensational and the sleazy.
With literally hundreds of competitors on the news-
stands, the publishers constantly searched for the
type of story that would sell. And, in the 1930s, they
struck gold with tales of modern knights battling
evil —the tales that provided the fodder for Pulp
Fantastic.
The publishers could hardly help but notice that
their largest-selling issues were ones featuring
heroes — or villains — familiar to their audience,
main characters developed in earlier editions. From
that formula, it was a short alley-vault to continuing
series based upon the daring exploits of a Pulp hero.
And it is the exploits of the hero that Pulp Fantastic
and almost all other rpgs are influenced by.
The first of these pulp heroes was The Shadow;
the nemesis of the night, born from the runaway
typewriter of Walter Gibson in the early 1930s. The
pulp business was no more imaginative then than
television or Hollywood is today; soon, a host of
heroes was spawned to capitalize on the success of
The Shadow, from The Spider and The Octopus to
Doc Savage and countless others.
WHAT IS PULP
FANTASTIC?
Well, that is an easy answer. It is an alternate
history set during what was called the “pulp era,” or
the period in history existing between the wars. This
game is designed to emulate the adventure stories
from that period, this also includes radio dramas
and modern movies set in the period.
The world of Pulp Fantastic is the world of the
popular fiction of the 1920’s and 1930’s. It’s the
past of our world, but idealized, simplified, and
greatly exaggerated.
First, the bright spots were brighter. Scientific
achievements really could deliver on its many
promises. Heroes were generally the noble and
strong characters in stories, even if they had a flaw
or two. The question wasn’t if the good guys would
win. The question was usually “how?”.
On the other hand, the darker spots were dark.
Crime and corruption in the cities was even worse
than what the papers were reporting. Nefarious
schemes hatched by masterminds both criminal and
political were everywhere. But this all just gave the
heroes something to fight against.
The reason for this more ‘idealistic’ view of the
world was simple. The Great Depression was a
recent, ugly memory. Not too long ago, there’d
been a brutal war in Europe, and it looked like
another was on the way. In 1918 Spanish Flu had
suddenly, swiftly and inexplicably killed nearly
five per cent of the world’s population. Times were
5
hard, and people wanted to escape their lives with
light reading. They wanted stories in which the
good guys were stalwart, true and victorious, and
life’s problems could be solved with a solid right
hook. The pulps weren’t about realism, they were
simply about entertainment, about stirring stories of
adventure, intrigue, action and horror.
This world – a world of square-jawed heroes and
villainous masterminds, of weird science and lost
worlds, of mystery men and two-fisted justice – is
the world of Pulp Fantastic.
***
PULP! BY
JONATHAN
NICHOLS
New York City, 1937
The stake sank into the crumbled wall with
a shrunk and Veronica Pentecost sent the
vampire back to Hell. As the last pockets of
air wheezed out of the skeletal remains of
the undead thing of the night, Veronica lit
a cigarette and blew smoke into the fanged
skull of her prey. Her client would be pleased.
Satisfied with her victory, Veronica pulled her
trench coat around herself and turned to exit
the abandoned Brownstone.
But before the detective could even reach
the doorway, a most terrific upheaval of the
earth occurred! Debris fell from the ceiling
and came crashing to the floor. The walls
buckled and began to give way as well.
Veronica was going to be trapped in seconds!
Or rather she would have been, had she
not vaulted through the doorway and into
the street. It was perhaps not the safest of
moves, but a resident of New York seldom is
taught earthquake safety. And indeed that
is exactly what appeared to be happening
that very day in the nation’s largest city: an
earthquake.
Asphalt streets were cracked and split
open, building foundations had slouched and
dozens wandered in the dust-filled air of
the aftermath. As the tremors subsided, fire
trucks and NYPD arrived on the scene, eager
to put out the blazes instigated by broken
gas mains and fallen flammable materials.
Residents turned out to help one another out
from under the rubble and to rush those who
were wounded to waiting ambulances.
In still other pockets of the neighborhood,
plumbing had ruptured, spewing forth
water and lowering the water pressure
to a dangerously low level, a hazardous
development for the firemen.
What could have caused such a disaster to
occur in this part of the world? Veronica
did not know, but as her wristwatch began
to blink red, she knew that she would be on
journey towards the answer soon.
Hours later in the midtown Manhattan
penthouse of millionaire philanthropist
Sterling Westinghouse, Veronica Pentecost
brought her sleek and silky form to what
would otherwise be an all-boys club. And
what a posh and expensive tree house
that this boys club held their meetings in.
Overlooking the city and out onto the Atlantic
Ocean, the penthouse was furnished with
every modern convenience conceivable (the
largest television set that Veronica had ever
seen was placed in the lounge area near
the bar. She thought momentarily that she
might get to see “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but
then realized that it most likely would not air
due to the tragedy and the moderate damage
sustained by the show’s studio theatre)
as well as many a strange and ancient
archeological relic.
As was instinctive to the detective, Veronica
automatically surveyed the penthouse in a
flash, finding it full of the usual suspects:
Dr. Washington “Wash” Stuttz, archeologist
and worldwide adventurer. He was a man’s
man if there ever was one. Perhaps that is
why Veronica disliked him so.
Chase Danner, former agent of the O.S.S.
Although he was a skilled pilot and renowned
man of action, Chase was yet to turn thirty
and still had a brash and impulsive nature.
Perhaps that was why Veronica was so drawn
to him.
Dr. Campbell Fleming, theoretical physicist
and inventor. With a balding head
6
surrounded by long, white wisps of hair,
“The Doc” as he was known looked every bit
the part of the prototypical mad scientist.
Perhaps that is why he disturbed Veronica so.
And finally, there was Sterling Westinghouse,
millionaire Wall Street man and
philanthropist (how rare those two titles
were seen together). Whenever the world
was in danger, Westinghouse would call
upon Veronica and the three men mentioned
previously. Together, they would confront
the threat and always they would emerge
victorious. Perhaps that is what gave
Veronica hope when all seemed lost.
“Ms. Pentecost,” Sterling Westinghouse said
as he approached her in one of his custom-
tailored suits. He took Veronica’s hand and
lightly kissed it. “We were worried. When
you hadn’t arrived we feared you to be a
casualty of the quake.”
“As you might imagine, it’s nearly impossible
to make it across the city right now,”
Veronica explained.
“I’ve had a late supper brought up and
placed on the bar. If you’d care for any food
or drink, please feel free.”
“Rather get straight to work if you don’t
mind,” Veronica said while taking a seat
dangerously close to Chase.
“Very well. Obviously, New York City has
suffered a terrible natural disaster this day,”
Sterling said, taking center stage as it were
on a rise overlooking the lounge.
“But how?” Wash protested. “The city isn’t
anywhere near a fault line?”
“Precisely, muchacho!” bellowed Dr. Fleming
while his body quivered with nervous
twitches and jerks of excitement. “Something
is indeed rotten in the Big Apple and it’s not
the garbage scows!”
“It is beginning to look conspicuously as if
this disaster was not natural in any respect.
For as you might not be aware, Moscow,
London, and Paris have all suffered similar
fates this day. Someone is orchestrating
these earthquakes and I have been
authorized to put an end to them. Doctor?”
With that, Doctor Fleming stood up and
snorted. He then motioned for the others
to follow him as he walked away from the
lounge. They proceeded to follow him to
an open area of the hardwood floor where
some sort of mechanical device stood. It
was replete with tubes, wires, coils, and
components hitherto unseen before by
anyone in the room save for Jonathan.
Excitedly, Doctor Fleming rubbed his hands
together and then flipped a switch.
“Walla rutabaga!” the eccentric old man
exclaimed as the electric device buzzed to
life.
“It’s a doozy, Doc,” Chase said with a whistle.
“What is it?”
“In the aftermath of today’s quake,
inspiration struck me! I became host to
a grand idea that I hope will one day take
root in the rest of the scientific community
as well. Behold my fantastic device! The
siesmo-locater!” Dr. Fleming said, pressing
another button and causing his device to
utter a series of beeping noises.
“Congratulations, Doc,” Wash grunted.
“You’ve invented the seismograph…an
instrument that’s been around for years.”
“Oh no…” Dr. Fleming said with all
seriousness. “This is far beyond any
seismograph. It is meant to trace energy and
force of an entirely different order.”
“You were correct earlier, Dr. Stuttz,”
Westinghouse interrupted. “Each of today’s
catastrophic earthquakes occurred in
proximity to no known geological fault lines.
Therefore, they would have to be caused by
a construct made by man that emanates
powerful waves of force.”
“Force that I have called ‘epsilon waves.’
And now for the first time, you are about to
witness my device track these epsilon waves
to their point of origin,” Dr. Fleming said
excitedly.
Without another word, his machine clicked
and whirred and beeped in rapid succession.
Within the center of the device was a globe
of the world, a globe that turned slowly as a
metal pointer dragged across the surface.
“It’s moving…it’s moving…” Fleming said
with bated breath, anxiously awaiting the
7
discovery of the location.
The metal needle drew a slow but deliberate
line from New York City across the Atlantic
Ocean, over the coast of North Africa, and
finally came to rest in the center of the
nation known as Egypt.
“I will telephone the airport and have your
plane fueled and furnished,” Westinghouse
announced. “You will leave presently for the
sands of Egypt.”
“Hot dog!” Chase slapped his hands on
the machine, causing no small amount of
consternation from Fleming. “I’ve been
achin’ something awful to get back into the
skies, Daddy-O!”
“Pack few personal effects but make
absolutely certain that you have your
wrist communicators. Dr. Fleming and I
will remain in constant contact with you,”
ordered Westinghouse. “With you lies the
hope of humanity, democracy, and most
importantly…America itself! Godspeed!”
Moments later, a C-47 lifted off from a
municipal airport on Long Island. Chase
Danner, one of the world’s top pilots, sat
smiling in the captain’s seat as he nudged the
plane higher and higher into the sky.
But perhaps he would not have been smiling
so had he seen the mysterious man in the
gray suit who stood at the airport, watching
their every move before going to make a
phone call…a call uttered entirely in German.
CAN OUR BAND OF HEROES LOCATE AND
STOP THE SOURCE OF THESE EARTHQUAKES
BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE?? AND WHAT OF
THE MYSTERIOUS MAN IN GRAY FROM THE
AIRPORT?
***
CAIRO, EGYPT
The wailing of street vendors and beggars
assaulted the eardrums of the three as they
made their way through the marketplace. To
Veronica Pentecost, the entire display felt dirty
and untouchable as she continuously yanked
her flowing robes away from grabbing hands.
“Want to explain to me again why the hell
I have to wear this again?” Veronica cursed
from behind her veil.
“Because doll, that’s how women are
supposed to dress round these parts.”
Washington Stuttz explained. “Me and Chase
here just look like a couple of white men.
But if the locals got a good look at your
gams, we’d be in the soup for sure.”
“How many times have you been here,
Stuttz?” Veronica asked as she squeezed
herself between denizens of the densely
packed bazaar.
“I’m an archeologist,” Wash said blithely.
“Can’t really call yourself that until you’ve
been on at least a couple of digs in Egypt,
toots.”
Veronica Pentecost took hold of Wash by the
shoulder and spun him around to face her
glare.
“One day you’re going to call me ‘toots’ or
‘doll’…and the next words out of your mouth
will be ‘my crotch! She stabbed me in my
crotch!’” threatened Veronica.
“That’s right,” Wash replied with a dirty
smile. “I like ‘em rough!”
Mercifully, Chase arrived in their midst
and broke the confrontation apart. He was
wearing a turban and robes.
“So what are you supposed to be?” Wash
asked incredulously.
“One of the first rules of espionage. Blend in
with the populace and don’t call attention to
yourself,” the young secret agent stated. “Got
these from a vendor for a swell price.”
“Friends! Friends!” shouted a just-arrived
stranger.
The approaching stranger was a portly Arab
man in an ill-fitting and equally ill-fashioned
suit. A scraggly black beard surrounds his
lips and chin, contrasting against the pale
teeth of his smile.
“Welcome to Cairo, City of the Pharaohs! I
am to be your guide here, Re-Zal Evad,” the
man said with arms wide open.
“Sterling Westinghouse sends his
compliments,” Wash said to him in response.
“You know this cat?” asked Chase.
“Westinghouse called me just after we took
off and said he’d found us a local contact,”
Wash said.
“And when were you going to let us in on
that? I nearly blew this guy’s head off!”
Veronica growled.
“Come! Come! I have hotel waiting for you!”
beckoned Re-Zal Evad as he moved off into
the sea of humanity that was the streets of
Cairo.
A warm bath and a change of clothes later,
our heroes found themselves in their modest
hotel rooms, sitting and letting a ceiling
fan attempt to push back the desert heat.
Washington Stuttz sat on the bed and tuned
the knobs of his wrist communicator until
the vision of Sterlington Westinghouse came
into view in vivid black and white.
“We’ve checked into the hotel,” Wash reported
to the boss. “Our expedition leaves tomorrow
morning. Anything new?”
“No new quakes just yet, thank God. Be
careful…and contact me when you’ve reached
the target,” Westinghouse ordered.
“Got it, boss,” Wash said before cutting the
channel and lying back on his bed where he
promptly fell asleep.
Engulfed by the dense fog of exhaustion,
Washington was oblivious that night to the
cloaked figures that surrounded the hotel
and even made their way inside and up the
stairs. Unaware was he that three of these
cloaked ones in fact had arrived inside his
room while he slumbered and snored. So
light were their steps that not even the
squeaky floorboard beside Wash’s bed uttered
the smallest creak as it was pressed upon.
The lead would-be-assassin drew the length
of his scimitar blade from the cloth belt
that was around his waist. Directly and
with sinister intent, the assassin pointed
his sword downward, raised high above
the midsection of Dr. Stuttz. If performed
correctly, Stuttz would never even utter a
sound during his own murder. Were it not for
8
a single, solitary bead of sweat fallen from
the sword wielder to Wash’s nose, that is
exactly what would have happened.
Wash groggily came to after being jarred
awake by the impact of the sweat drop. His
open eyes saw the assassins above him
and immediately he gasped. This shocked
gasp continued as the cloaked men jerked
and jolted from the multiple gunshots that
suddenly tore through their bodies. Once
they had fallen to the floor, Wash could see
Chase Danner standing in the doorway,
holding a smoking automatic handgun in
each hand and smiling inexplicably.
“Sorry to disturb your sheep countin’,
Daddy-O. But it appears our hotel is
surrounded by some mean hombres,” Chase
said.
Washington Stuttz was not happy. They were
in danger, he had just come within a sweat
drop of being a shiskabob, and his rest was
disrupted…meaning he would be well beneath
his required 7 hours of sleep for the day.
Wash reached into his leather travel bag and
pulled from it an iron mace that dated to
medieval times.
“Sons of bitches must pay!” he sneered
before following Danner into the hallway.
Veronica was already in the hotel hall when
Chase and Wash arrived. She slapped a clip
into her pistol as bullets ricocheted from all
directions. The other attackers were now
pelting the building with rifle and machine
gun fire, indiscriminately shooting at the
windows in hopes of hitting their prey.
Boldly, Veronica charged to one such window
and began to blazingly return fire.
“I could stand some help here!” she yelled to
her cohorts.
“You got it!” Chase said, taking a stance at
another window where he let the attackers
have it with both of his barrels. His reply
came in the form of machine gun fire being
raked across the face of the hotel.
Meanwhile, Washington Stuttz had entered
the hotel lobby where guests were fleeing
their rooms in droves and the night manager
had ducked behind the front desk. Stuttz
hid himself behind the potted palm trees
near the stairs and watched as a group of
men clothed exactly like the ones who had
attempted to commit his murder ran into the
lobby. As they approached the stairs, these
men were met with the mace of Washington
Stuttz.
The leading man got the mace in his stomach,
the one who followed across his jaw, and
another a pile driver to the top of the head.
Over and over, swing after swing, bash after
bash, Wash left the veiled attackers in a mess
that was unfit to be viewed by any decent
American.
Upstairs, Re-Zal Evad came out of his room,
still wearing the soft, cotton cabana pajamas
that he had bought in London. He was just
in time to see Chase climb out of the window
that was his firing position and take up a
stance on the ledge.
“They’re splittin’!” Chase reported of their
attackers, firing off a few rounds in their
direction for good measure.
“Friends! Friends!” Re-Zal chirped with great
alarm. “Of what is this?”
“Being from out of town,” Veronica began as
she dragged an attacker’s corpse from Wash’s
room. “We were going to ask you the same
thing. Any idea who these jamokes might
be?”
“I have no idea who these could be!” Evad
replied, perplexed.
“Not a scrap of traceable evidence,”
Veronica spat as if what she had said were
a curse. Her hands continued to scour the
body beneath her. “This fellow’s face is
nondescript; he’s got nothing personal on
his body. All I can tell is that he smells like
goat.”
“Yeah, but that’s everybody around here,”
Chase said ignorantly. “No offense, Re-Zal.”
“Oh none taken!” Evad said through a forced
smile.
“That one seems a little cold for your tastes,
Veronica,” Danner chided, as Veronica could
not give up the search. “Should try to find
one a little hotter.”
“I don’t try anything, I just do it,” Veronica
Pentecost stated as she stood to look Chase in
the eye. “Want to try me?”
9
With bloody mace in hand, Washington Stuttz
came up the stairs just as Re-Zal Evad was
growing very uncomfortable.
“Well, that was a lovely way to spend the
evening,” joked Wash.
It was a two-day journey into the desert
to reach the target location. In a convoy
consisting of two old Ford pickup trucks and
the many camels brought by the local diggers
and workers that Re-Zal Evad had hired,
the three from America moved at a snail’s
pace to their destination. On the morning
of the second day, the expedition awoke to
find that the tires on the trucks had been
slashed during the night, along with many of
the water skins they had brought along. The
local help they had hired ran from the scene
even as Evad begged them to stay on until
they had reached their destination. To that,
the workers only replied, “mesh mumken!”
<impossible!> Evad then had to break
the news that he and Stuttz, Danner, and
Pentecost were on their own.
With the shapes of the great pyramids rising
in the distance before them, the desert
travelers finally arrived at the coordinates
provided by Dr. Campbell’s invention. The
destination itself was unremarkable, but as
they dismounted from their camels while
Washington rubbed his chin and gazed upon
the rock with great scrutiny, he rapidly
determined the object’s true nature.
“It’s a tomb,” Stuttz stated glumly.
“I thought those were the tombs,” Chase said,
pointing to the pyramids in the distance.
“Not all the ancient Egyptians were buried in
pyramids,” Re-Zal pointed out politely before
waddling across the sand to join Wash at the
carved rock.
“Maybe your next question will be better,”
Veronica suggested in a hot whisper directly
into Danner’s ear.
“Well let’s get started clearing the entry way,”
Washington suggested as he brought a shovel
over to the rock-hewn door. “It’s the grave of
a commoner. Shouldn’t have to worry about
any traps.”
But nothing could have been further from the
truth. As Wash Stuttz led his crew through
10
the tunnel that led into the ancient Egyptian
grave, a set of heavy, wooden spears tipped
with bronze launched out of the walls,
seeking to skewer whomever they could and
then block the way for the rest. It was only
because of Wash’s quick reflexes that he was
able knock the rest of the party backward
and spared them the fate of certain
impalement. Wash then immediately set
about to smash the crisscross of spears with
his mace while Evad went back to the camels
for a change of pants.
After the spears came the fire. Some form
of flammable substance had been released
through holes in the sandy floor of the
antechamber ahead and lit by a torch fallen
from the hieroglyphic-laden walls. Stuttz fell
backward into the others from the blast of
heat cast forward by the crackling flames.
“Stand back!” Chase shouted, forcing his
way past Stuttz and leaping through the fire.
His feet found their mark on the modest
sarcophagus that was in the center of the
chamber. “Just tell me what I’m looking for!”
“How the hell should we know what an
earthquake machine looks like?” Wash
hollered back at Chase, hands to his head in
order to deflect the heat.
“Boss? Are you there?” Veronica said into
her wrist communicator, wasting no time in
taking matters to the top.
“Yes, Ms. Pentecost,” a black and white image
of Sterling Westinghouse said. “I am here.”
“Get Doc Fleming on the line,” she asked, the
heat oppressing her succulent form.
“I need a few answers here!” Chase shouted
as he did a veritable tap dance upon a grave,
dodging the tongues of fire licking at his boot
heels.
Elsewhere, the image of Dr. Campbell Fleming
had replaced that of Westinghouse on
Veronica’s wristwatch. His white hair seemed
even more out of place than usual, his lab
coat more stained, and his demeanor more
harried than typical.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” he asked
in rapid succession. “I don’t have much time
because I’ve got to get back to the lab! One
of my atomic experiments is not going at all
the way I had expected and I’ve left Miss
Akimoto and my monkey charge of things
and I really shouldn’t even have departed
because an isotope of this nature can be so
readily…”
“The earthquake device!” Veronica cut him
off. “What does it look like?!”
“The earthquake device?” Doc Fleming
repeated the question. He then shrugged
and gave Veronica a dumb look. “Heck if I
know. Uhhh, it would have to be a massive
mechanical construct. Power cables and
conduit should be stretching out from it, it
should be radiating a great deal of power…
can’t miss it,” Fleming explained.
“There’s nothing even close to that in here!”
Veronica screamed.
“Huh, no foolin’?” replied Fleming, perplexed.
“Might it be underground?” Evad suggested.
Then Chase pointed. In the direction of
his extended finger was a conical wedge
of metal, camouflaged in the corner of the
antechamber amidst a few pottery urns.
Stuttz looked it over skeptically. Could Chase
reach it through the flames? As he looked
around at the burning room, Wash decided
that Chase Danner would have to and tossed
a heavy cloth bag to him.
“Grab it and get out!” Wash ordered and then
turned to Veronica and Evad. “The rest of
you get out, too! I think this fire is a self-
destruct mechanism!”
As his compatriots evacuated the tomb, Chase
leaped upon the odd metal object in question.
Rapidly he wrapped it in the heavy cloth
as to protect his hands from what was now
undoubtedly metal that had been heated to a
most scorching temperature. Lifting it he felt
resistance. With time running increasingly
short, Chase Danner gave the object a mighty
tug and felt it rip free. Beneath it stood now
severed electrical wires and cables…leading
to where Chase did not know.
Nor did he have time to investigate the
matter. With smoke now beginning to fill the
entire underground chamber, Chase took two
more determined leaps and bounded his way
past the ring of fire. Though fleet of feet, he
was not fast enough to prevent the flames
11
from licking across his legs and igniting his
pants on fire.
Finally, Chase emerged on the desert surface
as the fire consumed the entire underground
tomb. Immediately he fell to the sands,
rolling about in order to extinguish the
burning of his pants. Naturally, Veronica
Pentecost immediately went to his side in
order to determine just how much of his
pants had in fact disappeared.
“Here it is,” a coughing and smoky Chase
announced as he unwrapped the machine
that he had carried forth from the inferno.
“You were lucky,” Veronica told him. “You
could’ve gotten yourself burned alive by
charging into the chamber that way.”
“I tell you, lady. There’s the safe way, there’s
the dangerous way…and then there’s the
Chase Danner way,” Chase said as he lit a
cigarette that had mercifully not been ignited
by the flames.
“A most tiny machine to cause such large
earthquakes,” Re-Zal Evad said aloud as he
inspected the salvaged device that was now
sitting in the sands before he and Wash. At a
loss, Wash activated his wrist communicator.
“You there, boss?” he asked aloud.
“I am here, Dr. Stuttz,” came Westinghouse’s
voice from half a globe away. It still
astounded Stuttz how Doc Fleming could
arrive at such marvelous inventions.
“Have Doc take a look at what we’ve found,”
Wash said as he pointed his wrist towards
the machine so that the two men in New
York could see it for themselves. “It’s cone
shaped, kinda bent at the ends, there are
wires hanging out at the bottom from where
Danner ripped it free…”
“Mazoomba! It’s not the earthquake device,”
the voice of Campbell Fleming said.
“You better be joking,” Veronica Pentecost
said with no expression.
“As near as I can tell, it’s an amplifier…a
mechanism that magnifies the quake waves
as they move outward from their point of
origin. There could be many of these hidden
all over the world,” Doc explained.
“So what is it that we do now?” Evad
said, asking the question that was now on
everyone’s minds.
“We can only move on down the line,”
Dr. Fleming replied through the wrist
communicator. “I’ll use the seismo-locater to
run a trace.”
“It’s probably going to be a while,” Wash
announced to the others. “If you want,
Veronica, maybe you can go find a mirror
somewhere and you can pretty up.”
“I think I’ll toss you back into the fire
instead,” Veronica replied with complete
sincerity.
“I’ve got it!” Dr. Fleming’s voice mercifully
declared, breaking the ugly silence between
the bitter rivals. “Your next stop is…
Zanzibar!”
All that Dr. Fleming’s audience of four could
then think about is the hot, sandy, windy
journey back to the C-47 parked at Cairo’s
airport.
WHAT AWAITS OUR HEROES IN ZANZIBAR?
WILL THEY EVER ARRIVE AT THE SOURCE
OF THE TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKES? WILL
VERONICA FINALLY SNAP AND JUST KILL
WASH?
***
ZANZIBAR
Where was Washington Stuttz? That was
the single question on the collective minds
of Chase Danner and Veronica Pentecost as
they raced through the streets of the island
of Zanzibar, the two of them again finding
themselves in a crowded and exotic locality.
Shortly after Chase landed the plane on the
island, the four of them dispersed in search
of the earthquake machine. That was 8
hours ago. Wash had not been heard from
since.
The streets were clogged with bicyclists,
pedestrians, and a handful of cars that
seemed antique by American standards,
and even a healthy number of oxen driven
carts were thrown into the mix. Amidst the
teeming throngs of humanity, how could they
12
hope to locate Stuttz…let alone the quake
device?
“Zanzibar!” Chase hissed. “I’m back in
Zanzibar!”
“Not fond of ‘Africa’s Jewel?’” Veronica
asked as she dodged a bicyclist and made the
charge through traffic in order to get to the
marketplace across the street.
“Was here about a year or two ago,” Chase
explained as he tried not to bump into a
table that was covered with a pile of green
vegetables that he could not recognize. “We
knew that the Reds were real interested
in Africa. I went here on the sly-like to
discourage what the Commies had in mind.”
“You wouldn’t have been involved in a certain
Soviet freighter explosion from around
that time, would you?” wondered Veronica,
again squeezing between pedestrians, some
carrying heavy loads atop their heads.
“All I remember is how this damned
humidity made me constantly sweaty,” Chase
complained. Veronica stopped dead in her
tracks, and then turned to face Danner
directly in the eyes.
“And what’s wrong with being sweaty?” she
asked in her typically sultry way. Though
known for his cool, smooth, hipster repartee,
even this spy could be left speechless by the
withering and unbridled eyes of Veronica
Pentecost. Truth to tell, she loved every
moment of reducing the young agent to a
befuddled schoolboy.
“We…we’d better find Wash. Hey!” Chase
shouted, grabbing the shoulder of a young,
bare-chested boy who happened to be passing
by. He displayed an old photograph of Wash
to the boy, perplexing him even further.
“Have you seen this guy?”
The young African boy shook his head
negatively and then scurried off for fear of
being further accosted.
“Well, that didn’t work. Time to try
something else,” Chase said.
“WASH!” he screamed into the bustling
crowd. “WASH! WHERE THE HELL ARE
YOU?!” It was the best that Chase could
come up with. At his urging, the two of
them resumed their hurried pace of walking.
“Let’s hope that Re-Zal is doing better than
we are.”
Elsewhere, Re-Zal Evad was seated in a café,
fanning himself with his hat as the ceiling
fans did little to reduce the heat in the
room. He looked about tautly and nervously;
worried that someone would see him there,
even though there were only three other
people in Zanzibar at that moment that
might question his presence in a café. The
waiter brought Re-Zal his drink, unknowingly
bringing with it at least a small degree of
distraction and comfort.
And then the man in the gray suit sat down
at the table and Re-Zal jumped agitatedly.
“Colonel Leermeister!” Re-Zal said in
surprise.
“You have information for me?” the German
asked humorlessly. He was bald, craggily
faced, and seemed genuinely disdainful of life
in general.
“Please sir!” Re-Zal begged in a hushed tone.
“Do not call attention to me! There are ears
and eyes about us!”
“I am not concerned with that. I wish only
to know what you have planned.”
After looking about to make certain that the
café patrons were far more engrossed in
their own business than in his, Re-Zal leaned
across the table and divulged his secrets.
“All is ready and in place. Dr. Stuttz already
has been taken care of,” Re-Zal reported.
“One of the natives here who is on my
payroll is leading him to a substation of the
earthquake device that is located deep in
the jungle...but he will never find it. There
are a good many things in that jungle that
will have their way with him and very soon,
I will bring the others there for the same
purpose!”
“And they are unaware of your
involvement?” Leermeister questioned.
“They suspect nothing!” a giddy Re-Zal
replied.
“Stupid Americans,” the Colonel breathed
through a toothy grin. “You have done well,
Evad. Your payment will be wired to your
account.”
13
“Oh one more thing if I may ask?” Re-Zal
questioned timidly, the question bordering
on ingratitude and causing a raised eyebrow
from Leermeister. “I wish to go to America
and see…movie stars! And listen to this
jazz!”
Leermeister pushed his chair back and
stood away from the table, never once
removing his narrow, predator’s eyes from
Re-Zal. Grabbing the edge of the table and
the tablecloth, Leermeister flipped the table
over, spilling the drink onto his sniveling
conspirator. Without saying another word,
the Colonel turned and exited the café.
“So…I suppose that was the infamous
German temper,” Re-Zal said very very
glumly as the contents of the table saturated
him.
Once in an alleyway beside the café and off
of the bustling streets, Leermeister removed
what appeared as a small black and white
television set from his suit coat pocket. He
manipulated the contraption much as one
would the wrist communicators invented by
Dr. Campbell, turning small knobs to tune in
a fuzzy black and white image and coaxing
it into a clear form. A bald man with
pointed ears, a slender goatee and vaguely
Oriental features stared menacingly back at
Leermeister from the screen.
“We have success, Your Excellency,” Col.
Leermeister told the sinister figure.
Despite the language barrier between he
and his native guide, Stuttz felt confident
that at the end of the hike he would be
staring at two things: the earthquake device
and whoever had built it. The native guide
seemed every bit as adept at finding his way
through a foliage-ridden jungle as Wash,
for Wash had certainly done his share of
exploring in rough terrain. Along the way,
Washington had spoken with several villagers
who had reported strange, mechanical sounds
and strange, electrical glows emanating from
what used to be a temple of worship deep in
the jungle, confirming the rumors that the
guide had reported to him.
And now as the guide jabbered in a tongue
incomprehensible to Wash, he pointed past
enormous, green leaves the size of elephant
ears and directed Stuttz’s attention to what
lie ahead. It was indeed a temple, centuries
old by Stuttz’s reckon. But by catching
sight of the gleaming metal tube that was
at the temple’s center, appearing entirely
as an anachronism juxtaposed against the
ancient stonework, Wash knew that his
archaeological curiosities would have to take
a back seat to the dangers that the world
faced. He was, however, entirely oblivious
of the dangers that lurked just around the
corner for him.
Wary of booby traps placed in the temple
from ages forgotten, Stuttz entered the
structure that was overwhelmed by vines
and other foliage. The metal of the device
shined before him, looking most distinctly
out of place amidst the ruins. He looked it
over for a bit, studying all of its lights, wires
and panels. All told, the entire thing was no
longer than three or four barrels placed end
to end. Raising his wrist to his mouth, he
made what was to Stuttz, the only sensible
decision.
“Doc, you there?” Wash said into the
communicator. “I found the machine, but I’m
a little out of my depth here.”
“Well done Washington! Well done!” Dr.
Fleming exalted from all the way in New
York. “Now move over to the bottom of the
device where you’ll see a nodule protruding.
It should be the power coupling.”
Wash complied. He removed his fedora and
ground himself through the dirt until he was
underneath the rear compartment of the
technological cylinder just as if he were about
to change the oil on a car.
“What am I looking for again?” Wash asked
while struggling with the gizmo.
“A power coupling,” the Doc replied.
“What’s it look like?”
“A black cable.”
“Is it bigger than a bread box?”
“Of course it is! Don’t be ridiculous!”
“I don’t see anything like that.”
“Really? Are you sure you’re in the right
place?”
14
“Pretty sure, yeah.”
“I don’t understand. Why don’t you see the
power coupling?”
“Look Doc, if I knew that we’d be able to skip
this conversation altogether.”
“Now where are you on the device again?”
“Just where you told me to go! Under the
gizmo where the nodule protrudes!”
“Oh,” Fleming said with realization followed
by a brief silence. “That’s not it then. Let’s
start over.”
Dr. Fleming is indeed fortunate not have been
in the jungle temple with Dr. Stuttz, as the
latter would most certainly have shown the
former just where he could place the device’s
protruding nodule.
In time the proper instructions were
conveyed and the machine was indeed
deactivated. Wash tromped wearily out of
the ancient Zanzibarian temple and met
his native guide. Though his intellectual
curiosity implored him to return to the
structure in order to study it and discern its
social and historical implications, physical
exhaustion eventually won out in the
argument.
“Let’s go,” the archaeologist said to the
native. “I’ve had enough for one day.”
After they had been underway for a few
moments, Stuttz looked back and noticed that
his guide was no longer behind him, thus not
fulfilling the obligations of a native guide.
Where could he have gone?
Wash got his answer as the guide came
running out of the dense trees, hollering in
his native language. Though Stuttz attempted
to steady the man and calm him down from
hysterics, it was of no use. Instead, the
native merely pointed behind them in the
direction that he had just come running
from…so that they could both watch the
largest crocodile either of them had ever
seen come rising out of the jungle!
“Oh great,” Washington sighed in
exasperation.
Ominously it crawled, low to the ground and
slithering its tail. Its powerful, beak-like
snout opened ever so slightly and allowed
a reptilian hiss to escape. In a desperate
panic, the native guide charged the croc,
causing it open its ever-gaping maw. The
guide moved swiftly to jam his walking stick
between the upper and lower jaw of the great
lizard, rendering the beast unable to bite.
Infuriated by this, the crocodile mustered
all the strength in its jaw and snapped the
obfuscating walking stick as if it were a dry
twig. The native guide then proceeded to be
swallowed whole, down into the gullet of the
animal.
Stuttz did not believe the croc to be sated,
despite the human outline now in the belly
of the beast. It eyed him with eyes cold and
devoid of emotion. They appeared as two
black pools, darkened voids which stared
back at Wash. The giant reptile was rattled
and it knew that he was there, making Stuttz
a potential threat. Steeling himself, Wash
drew his mace and prepared for the worst.
First came its tail with a broad slash just
slightly over his head. Stuttz jumped back a
good six feet, narrowly avoiding connection
with the spiny appendage. The second time
around he was not so lucky. The tail swung
back and slapped into Wash’s hand with
surprising force. He watched helplessly as
the mace rolled away and into the green,
bushy, undergrowth of Zanzibar. The lizard
moved swiftly towards him, mouth agape
just as it had done with its previous victim.
Empty-handed combat between a Harvard
professor and a giant crocodile; sounded fair
to Wash.
With fight-or-flight instincts fully in place,
Washington Stuttz leaped onto the crocodile’s
head. The head was essentially flat and
made for a perfect springboard. Wash was
able to propel himself to the animal’s rear
flank in order to grab hold of its tail. A
wrestling match of evolutionary proportions
commenced. Reptile versus mammal. Cold,
indifferent blood versus hot, American blood.
As expected, the crocodile put up a fierce
fight. It flipped. It snapped. But Wash
eventually was able to twist its tail enough
to render it completely upon its back. Now
came the most harrowing and treacherous
part. Could he remember how to do it? He
had seen it done once before at the World’s
Fair in New York. You pin a gator down and
15
then gently rub its abdomen until it falls
asleep. Of course this was a crocodile…and a
big one at that. Still, there was little choice.
As a mother would to a child with a tummy
ache, Washington Stuttz brushed, rubbed,
smoothed, and even caressed the stomach of
the croc. He fought the urge to twitch and
retch as his hand moved over the outline of
the native guide, being slowly digested within
the animal’s stomach. Eventually, the reptile
massage paid its benefits and the crocodile
collapsed, fast asleep.
Wash followed suit. He fell backward into
the grass as a spent shell casing on the
battlefield of the wild.
Through the tropical foliage and across the
flimsiest of rope and plank board bridges,
Re-Zal Evad led Danner and Pentecost on a
most precarious trail that they could only
hope would end in finding their colleague, Dr.
Stuttz.
“Hurry! Hurry!” Evad encouraged them,
even as the rope bridge began to give and
buckle under their weight. “This way!”
“And how exactly did you find out that he
was here?” Veronica asked as she fought to
keep her footing.
“I bribed one of the local officials!” Re-
Zal said as if he simply wanted the line of
questioning to end. “Now we must hurry!”
End of bridge reached, the shores of Indian
Ocean could be seen ahead with the sun
setting in the distance. As fast as his stubby
legs could carry his rotund body, Re-Zal
ran to what appeared to be a log in the
brush upon which a figure was splayed in
exhaustion.
“Wash!” Chase exclaimed as soon as he
recognized the figure and then joined Re-Zal
in the beach foot race.
Much to everyone’s surprise, it was not a log
that Wash was upon, but rather a sleeping
African crocodile. Stuttz was barely conscious,
his mumbled and barely audible babble were
made all the more incoherent by the proximity
of the jungle noises. Chase urged him to keep
still and quiet while he administered a canteen
of water to him and cautiously dragged him
away from the deadly reptile.
“What the hell happened to him?” Veronica
asked as she arrived on the scene, observing
Wash’s torn clothes and bloody scrapes. “Is
he going to live?”
“He will live as long as the rest of you,
fraulein, which I’m afraid is not very long,”
came a sneering voice on the beach behind
them.
Veronica spun on her feet, her handgun
drawn and at the ready, only to find that
they were surrounded by soldiers holding
rifles who were dressed in entirely gray
uniforms and bearing the red and black
emblem of the swastika upon their lapels.
On their backs were metal gizmos the likes of
which neither Veronica nor Chase had ever
seen before. Standing amidst these troops
was a triumphant Col. Leermeister, smiling
like a fisherman who had just caught a prize
trout. Bitterly resigned, both Chase and
Veronica raised their hands in surrender
as the barrels of each rifle pointed towards
them.
“My name is Leermeister and I am Colonel
in the Fourth Reich. I have pursued you
halfway across the globe, mein freunde. At
last, I may stop chasing,” Leermeister said
calmly. “You have done well, Evad.”
With that Re-Zal Evad took his place at
Leermeister’s side, stunning the ones who
were once in his charge.
“Money is in my account now, yes?” Evad
asked. Col. Leermeister nodded affirmatively.
“There’s two things in the world I hate,
Daddy-O,” Chase said to Re-Zal. “Nazis and
traitors…and you gone and done did both of
‘em.”
“Enough!” the Colonel hushed. “It is time for
us to depart.”
Having said that, Col. Leermeister removed
a flashlight from his belt and pointed it into
the darkening sky. After flashing as series
of timed pulses from the hand-held light
into the sky, a response of similar flashing
occurred. Then came a low, rumbling sound,
as if the sky were about to become filled with
large airplanes. But no such thing occurred.
Instead, a large blimp came into view
overhead…a blimp that bore the swastika
emblazoned upon its canvas side.
16
“Come!” Leermeister barked. “We depart for
New Berlin!”
Despite Veronica’s obvious repulsion to their
hands, the soldiers took hold of her and
Chase and Wash, just before demonstrating
that the contraptions on their backs were in
reality rocket packs that would hoist them
into the air and into the gondola of the Nazi
Zeppelin. Where they would go to from
there…none could say.
***
NEW YORK CITY
“Dr. Fleming!” Westinghouse said sharply
as he entered the wood-paneled room that
had once been another study of his but
was now an impromptu laboratory for Dr.
Campbell Fleming, who was waving his hands
defensively in response to his name being
called.
“Not now, Westy!” Fleming pleaded in a
manner resembling an epileptic seizure.
“I’m up to my ass in alligators!” With that,
Jonathan returned his full attention to the
tuning knob of one of his devices.
“As is the rest of the world, Doctor. I’ve
just received word that Bombay, India has
just been toppled by a severe earthquake.
What is the status of our adventurers?”
Westinghouse asked.
“That’s just it!” Fleming explained. “I don’t
know! Maybe they’re alive…maybe they’ve
met an ill-fate. I don’t know…because I can
no longer get into contact with their wrist
communicators!”
Sterling Westinghouse paused briefly and
allowed his gaze to drift while he mentally
measured what his chief scientist had just
told him. If the expedition of the three was
indeed lost, then whoever was responsible
for these insidious earthquakes had already
won.
“You may have just written the world’s
epitaph, Dr. Fleming,” Westinghouse said
somberly.
HOW LONG CAN THE WORLD HOLD OUT aircraft hangar. And what aircraft it housed!
AGAINST THE EARTHQUAKE DEVICE? WHAT Chase’s jaw dropped as his eyes fell upon
WILL BE THE FATE OF OUR CAPTURED them for never before had he seen their level
HEROES? HAVE THE NAZIS RISEN FROM of sophistication. Some were jets shaped
THE ASHES TO AGAIN TORMENT THE as batwings, others as saucers (explaining
WORLD? to him the source of what people had been
calling UFO’s. Little did the world know
*** they weren’t from little green men, but from
ANTARCTICA men more evil even than the Commies), and
others were…yes they were! They had to be!
Silently and effortlessly, the Nazi blimp glided They were rocketships, on launch pads placed
above the frozen wastes. Securely fastened beneath silo doors in the rocky ceiling and
to a chair in the gondola, Washington Stuttz pointing towards outer space!
looked down at the mountains of ice and
swirling snows. Below him was the coldest “Damn,” Chase said with a long whistle. “I’d
continent on earth. Temperatures were give my right nut to fly one of those babies.”
regularly well into the hundreds below zero,
“When exactly did your people invade
any exposed human skin would freeze on
Antarctica, Colonel?” asked Veronica
contact with the frigid air, and with nothing
Pentecost as they were ushered into warmer
but white in all directions, it would be so
parts of the hangar. Technicians and
simple to become lost. There would be no
mechanics still moved about, shouting at each
means of escape for Stuttz and his crew this
other in German.
time.
“We’ve been here for a very long time,
“Don’t be so glum, Jack. I hear it’s nice
fraulein,” laughed Leermeister.
down there, this time of year,” came the voice
of Chase Danner, the man who was chained SS troopers on guard snapped to attention
next to him and reading the creased copy of and raised a flat palm upward as Leermeister
On The Road that he carried with him. approached victoriously with the prisoners.
the guards stood aside and allowed heavy
“Sure…if you call over a hundred degrees
doors to move away, revealing an entryway
below zero ‘nice,’” Wash said with a sullen
over which hung a swastika-bearing flag.
tenor.
“Quite an igloo you got here, Colonel,” Wash
“Sounds cold,” remarked Veronica Pentecost
remarked as his eyes wandered about. “Like
who was likewise chained to a nearby chair.
something out of Buck Rogers.”
“We’ll just have to keep each other warm,
won’t we Chase?” “This is all from technology invented by the
Reich years ago,” boasted Leermeister as he
The Nazis dispersed parkas to the prisoners
led them through metallic hallways, dotted
and soon the blimp descended and attached
occasionally with electronic access panels
itself to a gantry tower born skyward
and glorious portraits of Hitler. “Once you
out of the snow and anchored in a metal
had invaded France in 1944, we knew that
platform. The entire area around the tower
we were kaput in Europe. So into U-boats
was bustling with activity as the Germans
went our most secret technologies, our most
had apparently carved an airbase out of the
brilliant scientists, and our most elite troops.
ice of the Antarctic shelf. Snow crawlers
All of them brought here to the South Pole to
and tanks scurried about with mechanics as
build this Neuschwabenland that you see here
Leermeister brought his captives down to the
today.
metal platform via elevator.
“And while you stupid Americans occupied
At the edge of the apron platform was a
yourselves with your ridiculous victory
gaping black mouth that formed the entrance
parades, we were building rockets,”
to a cave. As the troops plodded them along
Leermeister said with a sly sneer. “And jet-
in a hurry to get out of the cold air, Chase
powered aircraft that far surpass any of the
could see that the cave stretched deeply
‘kites’ in your arsenal.”
into the recess of the ground. But what’s
more, the cave served as an improvisational

17
“This guy’s startin’ to bug me, Wash,” Chase
said in anger as he attempted to wriggle
loose of his captors. Stuttz cautioned him
to remain as he was and allow for time to
formulate a proper escape plan.
“I think you’ll find that the wings of liberty
haven’t lost a feather, Herr Jack,” Stuttz
bragged with all confidence. “America and
her allies stopped you once before and we
can do it again.”
“Ja? How interesting…” the Colonel smiled
menacingly as he brought the prisoners
to a halt by a closed door. “This time,
Deutschland has allies of her own…and we’ve
recently made an arrangement that will have
most dire consequences indeed for America.”
With that, the Nazi opened the door. On the
other side was a chamber that resembled
a dining room, complete with a long and
grandiose table with chairs and place settings
all around. At the head of the table was
a man in purple robes, a bald man with a
sharp goatee and pointed ears. Slowly, the
sinister being began to clap his hands…a
considerable feat given his sickeningly long
fingernails.
“Welcome, Americans,” he said with an accent
that was vaguely Oriental. “I am Xan, an
emissary from the kingdom of Hyperborea.”
This announcement was met with only an
exchange of dumb looks and disaffected
silence from our heroes.
“Of course, I should not expect you to
know of where I’m from,” Xan said smugly.
“Please sit. Our mid-day meal will be served
shortly.”
The Nazi troopers shoved the prisoners to
their places at the table. Resigned, Wash,
Chase, and Veronica each sat down and
unfolded their napkins.
“Hyperborea is a civilization which exists
many miles beneath the Earth’s crust,” Xan
explained. “Unbeknownst to your pitiful
scholars, an entrance to this kingdom lies
below the ice of this continent. We recently
encountered Nazi scouting parties and
though our rapport was tenuous at first, we
eventually came to find that we have…mutual
aspirations.”
18
“Namely, world domination,” Leermeister
said as he raised his recently filled flute of
champagne.
As if on cue, the sound of thunder rocked
the dining room and rattled all glasses and
dinner plates on the table. For Veronica, the
telltale shockwaves were far too akin to those
she had felt in New York.
“Earthquake!” she cried as she attempted to
crawl under the table, but was denied by Nazi
guards.
“No, no, silly frau,” Leermeister cackled.
“That is a squadron of our X-Jets, returning
from patrol, no doubt.”
“Man, I ain’t never heard engines like those
on a plane before,” Chase marveled in awe to
the sound of the Nazi jets.
“I would wager that there are a great many
things here that you have never seen before,”
Xan mused.
“Yeah, like an earthquake device,” interjected
Wash, attempting to bring the matter
to a head. “What exactly do you hope
to accomplish by bringing that kind of
destruction to the world’s cities?”
“Oh certainly I have now made our goals
most clear, Dr. Stuttz,” the sinister man from
beneath the earth pompously stated. “Unless
the nations of the world turn total control
over to Hyperborea…and of course the
Fourth Reich…we will level every major city
on the surface world in less than two days.”
“You fiend!” cursed Stuttz as he stood to
vault over the table and wring Xan’s olive-
toned neck. He was impeded however by
Chase’s outstretched arm. This prompted
only laughter from Xan and Leermeister.
“A pity, this aggression of yours, Dr. Stuttz.
You all could become part of the genesis of
the new world order,” offered Xan with a
fingernail thoughtfully poised at his lips.
“Hey I might not be a church-going, cookie-
baking, Donna Reed kinda gal,” Veronica
began, incensed. “But this girl stands for
only the good ol’ red, white, and blue!”
“No dice, square,” Chase concurred.
“Very well then,” a contemplative Xan replied
before pressing a button on his ornate
belt. “I shall have you now meet a few of
our other creations who escort you to your
cells…where you will await whatever form of
execution we deem most amusing.”
At that, the door to the dining hall slid
open…and six killer penguins entered the
room.
Yes! Killer penguins! Ordinary Emperor
penguins of the Antarctic now had rows of
razor-sharp, piranha-like teeth in their beaks
and heavy weapons held in their modified
flippers. Around their waists were belts
laden with ammunition clips and grenades.
The penguin in the lead of the formation
leveled his heavy rifle at the three captives
and opened his beak for the first time and
spoke:
“Eep!”
After being herded and corralled by the
killer penguins into a frigid jail cell, Stuttz,
Pentecost, and Danner had no course of
action but to sit and wait…and wait…and
wait.
“This is driving me crazy!” Wash exclaimed
as he stood up to pace, frustration finally
getting the better of him. “I can’t just sit
here! We’ve got to do something!”
“You’re flippin’ out, man!” Chase hollered
back. “There’s nothing we can do right now,
so let’s use our marbles to come up with
a plan!” And all the while, Veronica sat
silently, seemingly oblivious to their rant.
“Oh yoo-hoo!” a girly voice called from down
the hallway. Re-Zal Evad entered the brig to
stand before their cell and taunt sadistically.
His corpulent form had been squeezed into
the accoutrements of an American teenager.
“Re-Zal! You’re lucky I don’t tear through
these bars and stomp on your head while
cryin’ cocka-li-doodle-lee-doo!” Chase said
with his hands firmly planted on the steel
bars of their cell.
“Oh but sir! I was wanting to tell you that
soon I leave for America! I am going to hear
live jazz for first time! And I could not have
done it without money gained from your
imprisonment! Shukran! Shukran!” With
that, he cackled and departed in the same
19
direction that he came.
“Oh yeah?” Chase called after him, barely
able to stick his head through the bars. “I
hope your jazz show gets cancelled…and they
announce a puppet show instead!”
“I like puppet shows,” Veronica spoke for the
first time since they had been forced from
the dining room and into the brig.
“Yeah? Well I like not being locked up in a
cell by Nazis!” Washington complained. “Now
you want to actually contribute something
to our planning here, or are you going to
continue to just sit and stare like you have
been?”
Without saying anything else, Veronica placed
her hand down her cleavage and removed
a lock pick in the same manner that a
magician might extricate a rabbit from a hat.
She brandished it about in the air pompously
for the men to see.
“Where’d you get that?” Chase asked,
surprised yet delighted.
“I’m a private investigator,” she replied
plainly. “How else do you think I get into
buildings and rooms that I’m not supposed to
be in?”
Leaving that question to hang in the air,
Veronica reached her hands through the bars
and around to the lock mechanism that she
began to pick with all deftness and skillful
tenacity. After what seemed like endless
seconds of rattling and clanking of metal,
the lock popped and the door swung free.
Before they were trapped and desperate, now
thanks to Veronica’s crafty handling of the
situation, the fight was again theirs to be
had. Overwhelmed by enthusiasm for this
prospect, Wash took Veronica in his arms and
kissed her…before promptly dropping her.
“Sorry,” he said wiping his mouth. “Got a
little excited.”
“S-seems I underestimated you, Stuttz,”
stammered an uncharacteristically doe-eyed
Veronica.
“Chase, you get to a radio transmitter…or
whatever kind of Flash Gordon gizmo they
have around here…and get word to the boys
back in New York. Veronica and I will find
the earthquake device and see how we can
blow it up. Now let’s move like we’ve never
moved before!”
With those final instructions from
Washington Stuttz, the three moved out.
Back in New York City, the experiments of
one Dr. Campbell Fleming were suddenly
interrupted by the sound of an incoming
transmission on the radio receiver.
“Uhh, hello?” Fleming spoke into the
microphone quizzically. His reply was a
voice garbled through static. “Hello? Who is
this? What do you want?”
“Doc! It’s Chase!”
“Chase?” a startled Fleming hooted. “Chase
Danner?”
“The one and only, Daddy-O.”
“Where in blazes have you people been? I’ve
been trying to reach you for…”
“Cut out the hubbub, bub. We’ve been
Shanghaied to Antarctica by a bunch of
Nazis. They’re in cahoots with this other
strange guy who claims to be from a kingdom
inside the Earth and together they’re causin’
the quakes with an earthquake device.”
“Great Scott!” Campbell exclaimed after
slapping his forehead and jerking about.
“That ain’t all, Doc,” Chase cautioned. “These
Nazis we got here in the South Pole? They’re
building up for an attack. I’ve seen a lot of
military installations in my time and I should
know. I got a look at the hangars on base
and I saw they’ve been building super attack
jets, rocket ships, and they’ve been breeding
an army of killer penguins.”
“All right! All right!” Dr. Fleming
interrupted. “Listen, Chase? How warm is it
in that base?”
“You mean other than the brig? It’s actually
very warm.”
“A steamy sort of warm?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“If they’re working with the Hyperboreans,
then I assume that the Nazis must now have
the ability to tap geothermic energy sources.
20
Listen, you must detonate the reserves of
jet and rocket fuel that they have in storage.
Once you do, the heat from the blast will
ignite the geothermic gases…and that entire
hall of nightmares you’re in will go up like a
second sun. If we’re lucky, the blast might
even be severe enough to shut off the tunnel
entrance to Hyperborea. At any rate, we
must make certain that the Nazis not reach
into space! Just make sure that you’re all
plenty far away from there when it happens,
okay, Chase? Chase?”
“Dammit! Doc! I gotta go!”
And with that final, pleading statement from
Chase, the airwaves fell silent.
“Hold steady, boy! I’ll send help!” but
Fleming had absolutely no idea how he would
make good on that promise.
“You’ve found them?” asked Westinghouse
as he re-did his cufflinks and walked into the
room behind Dr. Fleming.
Rapidly, Campbell Fleming recounted
everything that the secret agent man had
reported to him over the radio and watched,
as the face of Sterling Westinghouse grew
grimmer by the moment. Though he
momentarily raised his eyebrows in optimism
as Dr. Fleming explained the physics behind
the explosion that he had just ordered them
to create, Westinghouse was still greatly
troubled as to how to get his three operatives
quickly out of harm’s way.
“I will call President Truman,” a determined
Westinghouse finally announced, and then
promptly turned for the telephone that sat on
the edge of Fleming’s cluttered desk. “And
tell him that a rapid strike force is needed in
Antarctica.”
“But Boss! Won’t he think we’ve failed in
our mission? Won’t he think…”
“Truman will think what I tell him to think!”
snapped the multi-millionaire as he picked up
the phone and dialed.
Well, that’s a radio that’ll never work again,
Chase thought to himself as he looked over
the shattered and smoldering radio console
with the legs of a Nazi trooper sticking
out of it. Far more serious than the state
of communications though, this trooper
would eventually be missed and it would be
discovered that Chase and his compatriots
had effected escape and were on the loose.
With those facts squarely in his mind,
Chase Danner drew upon all of his learned
instincts as a special agent in order to skulk
stealthily through the corridors of the Nazi
base. Deeper and deeper into what he was
sure was the recesses of the Earth beneath
the Antarctic ice and snow, Chase’s heart
leaped when he came across Veronica and
Wash as they were crammed into a confined
space that overlooked an open expanse of the
building that held storage tanks of fuel and
housed generators to power the hidden Nazi
fortress.
from the inferno that was the Earth’s core.
Veronica Pentecost shrugged off the matter,
claiming that dodging death was what they
did best and that the steaming gases had
actually been a benefit to her by curling her
hair. Less concerned with lady’s fashion and
more with escaping the Nazi’s Antarctic lair,
the men of the three rushed for the surface
to where the aircraft…and their escape…
awaited.
“Fools!” Xan cursed after the S.S. lieutenant
informed him that the cells containing Wash,
Chase, and Veronica were empty. “Find
them! You have 30 minutes to do so…before
I begin to find new ways of motivating you
and your men!”

“Here,” Veronica winked before tossing

a handgun to him. “I got our guns and
communicators out of hoc. Got Wash’s mace,
too.”

“Cool, man, cool. But I got to the radio and

chewed the fat with the Doc. Here’s what we
gotta do,” Chase began as re-told the plan to
the others.

“Theoretically sound,” Stuttz ruminated to

himself. “All we have to do is find a way to
blow this dump without getting ourselves
killed in the process.”

“Plenty of planes up top in the hangar,”

Chase remarked. “Just get me to any of ‘em
and I can fly us out of here.”

“Great, pretty boy. But outside of that we’re

stumped,” confessed Veronica. With no better
ideas coming, the three gave in and contacted
Dr. Fleming on their wrist communicators.

“Great day in the morning!” came Dr.

Fleming’s exclamatory expression,
transmitted from thousands of miles away.
“None of you ever studied science? Oh
for the love of… Break the piping of the
geothermal gases near one of the large fuel
tanks. The metal of the storage tank will
slowly rise in temperature and then ignite
the liquid fuel, causing a domino effect
throughout the area!”

And with the help of Wash’s mace, that
is exactly what the three accomplished,
despite the fact that all three of them were
very nearly sent to a scalding death by the
ensuing rush of gases that came straight
Not wanting to waste a precious minute
of that 30, the lieutenant gave a Nazi
salute and bolted out of the door. Xan
then turned to the table next to him and
ran his frighteningly long fingernails over

21
the scale model of the lunar base that was
planned. On the wall behind him were
biological diagrams showing the level of
genetic intricacy that went into breeding a
killer penguin. Too much was on the line.
Too much stood to be accomplished and
conquered to have it all in ruins because
these insignificant three. Leermeister stood
in the corner smoking a cigarette, seemingly
without sharing these concerns of Xan’s.
“They must not be permitted to disable the
earthquake device,” Xan told Leermeister, his
Hyperborean confidence breaking.
POW! POW! Gunfire filled the entire hangar
as Nazi troopers took cover behind aircraft
and equipment from the pistols of Veronica
and Chase. Rapidly they returned fire, their
stray bullets hitting a drum that contained
some form of flammable material and causing
a raucous explosion in the main hangar.
“Keep ‘em pinned down!” Stuttz shouted. “I’m
going to secure a plane!” Chase nodded in
understanding to Wash and then went back
to drawing a bead on the enemy soldiers.
Scurrying about and stopping to take cover
behind whatever equipment had been left
strewn about the aircraft hangar, Wash made
his way over to his plane of choice: a bat-
winged Nazi super jet. Not only did it appear
large enough to him to accommodate all
three of them and not only did it look speedy
enough to carry them safely away form the
blast, but it just looked cool as all get out.
Crouching low, Wash made his play for the
plane.
It was then that his head bumped into the
firmest set of abdominal muscles he had ever
seen. A large, bald Nazi guard had emerged
from behind the plane, carrying a workmen’s
wrench and batting it menacingly into his
left hand. Every muscle in the giant’s torso
rippled in a show of pure testosterone and
his face sneered in challenge to Washington
Stuttz.
That’s the biggest damned German I’ve ever
seen! Stuttz thought to himself. Oh well, no
sense dragging this out any further. With
that, Stuttz thrust himself forward and
slammed into the man’s mid-section. Though
tiny by comparison, Wash was a brawler by
nature and was not going to go down without
swinging a few. But then again, neither was
22
his opponent.
With a shove on the shoulders, the giant Nazi
flung Stuttz from on top of him, sending him
flying into yet another series of steel drums.
After quickly picking himself back up, Wash
drew his mace and closed to engage the
wrench-wielding menace.
Their metal weapons clashed and clanked,
connecting with each swing like swords in
a duel. Wash could feel the Nazi’s superior
strength battering away at him and did not
know just how much longer he could hold
out against him. Suddenly, the bald Nazi had
found an opening and gave Wash a haymaker
of a right hook to the jaw. Wash immediately
crumpled to the floor, seeing stars and very
nearly blacking out, an action that would
surely have doomed them all. The Nazi stood
over him, giving him insidious prodding kicks
to the stomach and jeering at him in German.
That was all it took for Wash to fight back
the falling curtain of unconsciousness. No
way was this man going to take a fall for a
Nazi! Thinking his prey had been sufficiently
disabled, the guard leaned his face downward
to inspect and ridicule his fallen foe. It was
a perfect opportunity for Wash to give a
massive swing of his mace and cave in the
side of the Nazi’s head entirely.
Elsewhere in the hangar, Veronica and Chase
had commandeered a tug cart. Veering and
careening between the parked jets, Veronica
drove the tug while Chase’s handgun spat
hot, leaded death at their enemies. A few
Nazis fled, fearing that if a bullet didn’t kill
them, Veronica’s wild driving would run them
over. Others still met one of the previously
mentioned fates.
“Hold on!” Veronica ordered as she found
herself unable to brake in time to avoid
hitting a wheeled tool chest.
Chase ducked and wrapped his arms around
his head just before there was a prodigious
crash and metal went flying. The tug went
into a skid. The world began to spin. And
though Wash stood by the flying wing,
frantically attempting to wave Veronica off,
the heavy vehicle clipped straight through
the nose gear of the jet, snapping it clean
from the fuselage. The front end of the
aircraft dropped to the floor with a heavy
crash, shattering the canopy and fragmenting
the nose into cracks with a small electric fire
beginning to burn. The tug came to a stop
after it veered out of control into the side of
the hangar, jolting its occupants free.
“It’s ruined,” Stuttz said sadly. “We fought
our way here for nothing.”
“We don’t have much time left,” Veronica said
somberly.
“Come on!” Stuttz said, shaking loose any
self-pity for their situation. “There’s a snow
crawler outside. Grab a parka from the
mechanic’s rack and let’s go!”
“This is a drag, Daddy-O!” Chase called out as
he held on to the side of the snow crawler. “I
think I just saw a turtle race pass us!”
Even Stuttz had to quietly agree with him.
The vehicle was already at top speed in the
snow and they had made only a modest
amount of distance from the base. The
ground shook from the shockwaves of the
initial detonation in the lower levels of the
base. Soon, the entire area would go up in
a gigantic paroxysm of fire. They weren’t
going to make it.
Fissures began to develop in the ice as the
tremors from the blast flowed outward from
the center. As these cracks in the ice gaped
open wide, a moving mass of black and white
began to spill forth from them…the Killer
Penguins. Their incubation chambers had
broken apart and the penguins had been
set free…massing their way straight for the
snow crawler.
“Man, those things are going to devour
every scrap of flesh on our bodies,” Chase
said in soft awe, catatonic in the face of the
oncoming tidal wave of penguins that emitted
and endless chorus of “Eep! Eep! Eep!”
“Devouring my flesh has been tried on me
before. But I somehow doubt it’s going to be
as fun this time,” said Veronica as she lit a
cigarette in preparation for an ugly fight.
The region around the snow crawler had
turned from an endless field of white to
a sea teeming of black and white. Stuttz
turned the beam of the snow crawler’s rotary
searchlight directly upon the encroaching
killer birds. Their beaks squawked out at the
light as they became blinded from the glare
23
reflected by the snow and ice. That is when
Veronica took the first shot. The rapport of
the gun made a sharp crack in the cold air.
A killer penguin suddenly fell over dead…but
another soon waddled into its place. Chase
Danner joined in on the action, blazing his
handgun towards the deadly beasts.
“Uh-oh,” Danner said as his pistol began
making a tattletale clicking sound. “I’m out…
completely out.”
“Probably should have saved a few bullets for
ourselves,” Stuttz remarked, grimly assessing
the tide of oncoming killer penguins.
It was not in the nature of Chase Danner to
give up quite so easily. With all the foolish
recklessness of youth, he dove from the
edge of the snow crawler and into the mass
of penguins. He punched. He kicked. He
wrestled. He had a decent-sized chunk bitten
out of the flesh of his back.
“Crazy kid,” Dr. Stuttz muttered while
shaking his head in disbelief.
Mace at the ready, Wash followed Chase and
jumped swinging into the fray. Through
fisticuffs and a mace, as well as the last
remaining shots from Veronica Pentecost,
many a killer penguin fell that day in the
Antarctic snow. But the situation grew
bleaker by the moment. For every avian
adversary that was killed, two more seemed
to follow in its place. The three fought as
Sisyphus against the stone.
It did indeed look like the end for our heroes.
That is until the blast of a laser beam
incinerated the penguin nearest Chase. Ray
after ray of red lasers shot down from the
sky, reducing the mass of penguins to a wide
pile of smoldering ash and cutting an arc of
safety around the snow crawler.
And as the three looked to the sky to
determine the source of their salvation, they
found it in the form of a group of men flying
through the clear Antarctic sky by way of
rocket packs strapped to their backs. Their
copper helmets gleamed in the sunlight and
shone as justice before the spawn of the Nazi
menace. It was the United States Rocket
Corps…The Fightin’ Rocketmen.
Three of the Rocketmen landed on the snow
crawler, causing Veronica, Chase, and Wash
to avert their faces from the brief burst of
heat that radiated from the rocket pack.
“We’re The Rocketmen. We’re here to get
you out,” the lead Rocketman said plainly
to Veronica. “Let me get a hold on you,
Ma’am.”
“Oh you betcha!” Veronica turned around
with a grin and allowed her to be enveloped
in the arms of the Rocketman.
Wash and Chase also allowed themselves to
be held by the other two rescuers (by the
underarms only) and soon they were soaring
up into the sky…just as a fireball of immense
proportions erupted forth into the air from
beneath the polar ice.
Soaring away from the blast like an insect
spat forth from an inferno was one of
the Nazi super jets. It desperately made
its attempt at escape, desperately for it
contained Re-Zal Evad.
“Hurry my friends!” Re-Zal whimpered to the
Nazi pilot and co-pilot. “If you can get us to
Argentina in an hour, I will pay you double!”
Before the pilots could answer the sniveling
coward, three Rocketmen appeared in front
of the plane, causing the pilots to point out
of the cockpit window and shout nervously in
German. The Rocketmen aimed their laser
guns at the plane, motioning for the pilot to
ditch the jet in the icy waters below so that
he and his passengers might be apprehended.
“I would have liked to have met Betty
Grable,” Evad sniffled pathetically in defeat.
The other remaining Rocketmen delivered
their rescuees to the deck of a U.S. submarine
that awaited them in the waters off of
Antarctica. Veronica promptly commanded
her Rocketman to remove his helmet so that
she might give him a deep kiss of gratitude.
Chase and Wash told their rescuers that a
hearty handshake was all they were getting
from them.
“How is that for a rescue with style?” came
the voice of Sterling Westinghouse on their
wrist communicators.
24
“It’ll do, Boss,” Chase said with false
indifference.
“And the entrance?” interrupted a frantic
Doc Fleming. “Did the explosion seal the
entrance to Hyperborea?”
Chase and Wash exchanged dumb looks while
Veronica continued to make out with her
Rocketman.
“Doc, there’s no way we can know that. We
had to high-tail it out of there before we went
up with the place, too,” Wash replied.
“Yes, I understand,” Fleming sagged with
dejection. “But I fear we may get our answer
to that question someday soon.”
Xan continuously lost his footing on the loose
rock of the tunnel, mainly due to the fact
that he was only wearing slippers on his feet.
He fell yet one more time onto his posterior
and uttered a curse in Hyperborean.
“Have you no decent footwear?” chided
Colonel Leermeister who was ahead of him in
the tunnel.
“Royalty seldom travel this way,” Xan
growled. “Besides, what time had I to change
shoes before our work went up into flames?”
Leermeister could feel the heat from the
intense fire that burned above them and
would probably continue to burn for another
week.
“They shall all pay dearly for this,” Xan
swore aloud as he once more started
down the path that led into the Earth.
“Hyperborea shall again rise to the surface
and when it does…I shall first go looking
for Veronica Pentecost, Chase Danner…and
Washington Stuttz.”
 THE PULP WORLD
GAZETTEER
THE COLONIAL
WORLD
Globetrotting adventurers in the pulp era
are living in the end days of the great colonial
empires. Many European nations still had
significant empires, with colonies spread all over
the world. Great Britain, for example, could still
boast an empire upon which the sun never set.
The coming war will soon change this, rewriting
the world map for decades to come, but all that
lies in the future. During the pulp era, heroes will
often have to deal with colonial authorities rather
than local governments, and the differences in
the relationships between the colonizers and the
colonized can lead to some tricky situations.
A list of 1930s colonies can be found in the book
on p. 26-27. Colonies are normally run by a
representative of the colonizing nation, who ensures
that their country’s best interests are protected. This
can mean anything from ensuring that business
interests from the homeland are giving preferential
treatment, to organizing outright slave labor. The
representative is usually back by the power of
a military garrison, and can make and unmake
laws as he sees fit, though the more enlightened
nations do at least pretend to be mindful of the
colony’s laws and the freedom of its people. Some
colonies are allowed a limited form of home rule,
in which the colonial representative takes on the
role of a counsellor or ambassador rather than a
ruler, allowing the colony more political and social
freedom.
Regardless of the nature of the colonial relationship,
the representative normally retains the power to
overrule the decisions of the local government.
In well-ordered colonies this power is only rarely
used, as experienced empires soon learn this leads
25
to unrest among the natives, civil unrest and even
open rebellion. Visiting heroes may find themselves
having to choose between supporting the rebels or
defending the interests of the colonial empire in
order to achieve whatever their current goals are.
Rebellions tend to be scrappy, ill-equipped affairs
led by hotheads, fighting guerilla wars with little
thought for collateral damage, often using the
opportunity to settle old racial or religious scores
along the way, and are easily put down by the
military might and technology of their oppressors.
Communist infiltrators can often be found behind
rebellions, providing weapons and advice in their
attempts to destabilize the empires of the West.
Many pulp heroes gained their military experience
from putting down local rebellions, experiences that
may come back to haunt them in later years (and
make good adventure seeds!).
TRAVEL IN THE COLONIES
T
ravelers in Africa and Asia could often do
so without encountering anyone but Europeans,
such was the spread of European control. Those
locals who were encountered very often occupied
subservient roles, such as waiters, valets, clerks and
other functionary positions. This often leads some
American travelers to think of the world in the same
way they think of a distant state, somewhere distant,
but basically the same as home. Nothing could be
farther from the truth, and it is this blindness to
cultural differences that has created many of the
problems Americans face when travelling the world
of the 1920’s and 30’s.
Travelers in the colonies are expected to check in
with the colonial authority on arrival, who will
advise them on the current political climate and any
local difficulties they might encounter. If the heroes
are of high enough social prominence, the colonial
authority may choose to provide them with support
(such as an armed escort if the times are particularly
turbulent) or may attempt to engage them as spies
or couriers. Alternatively they may take great
Colonial Holdings
pains to ensure that the heroes never see the way Around the World
things really are; in these situations, the heroes will Aden: Great Britain.
almost never encounter a native who hasn’t been Algeria: France.
thoroughly briefed on what they can and can’t say Angola: Portugal.
to the visitors. Annam: France.
Australia: Great Britain.
Casual racism and intolerance are often endemic in Bechuanaland: Great Britain.
the colonies, with the European colonists regarding Belgian Congo: Belgium.
the locals as naïve children who must be taught the Bissao: Portugal.
right way to live at best. Too often the colonizers Borneo: The Netherlands.
regard the natives as unwashed, lazy and ignorant British Guiana: Great Britain.
savages who cannot be trusted. In many colonies Burma: Great Britain.
white Europeans and Americans are strictly Cambodia: France.
segregated from the locals, who are prohibited Cameroon: France.
from sharing the same lodgings, transport and even Celebis: The Netherlands.
restaurants. Some colonies even had degrees of Ceylon: Great Britain.
segregation, keeping different ethnicities separate Cyprus: Great Britain.
from each other based on how “white” they Dahomy: France.
were. How you handle this in your Pulp Fantastic Dominion of Canada: Great Britain.
campaign is up to you, but Game Masters should Egypt: Great Britain.
be sensitive to how their players may perceive this, Federated Malay States: Great
and plan accordingly. As with the sexism of the Britain.
time, it’s up to you to decide whether to address it Formosa: Japan.
or ignore it. French Equatorial Africa: France.
French Guiana: France.
Gambia: Great Britain.
Gold Coast: Great Britain.
Greenland: Denmark.
Hawaii (Sandwich Islands): United
States.
India: Great Britain.
Iraq: Great Britain.

REGIONS OF THE
ERA
The world of the 1930’s is still dominated by
European interests, though times are changing
rapidly. At the beginning of the pulp era, Great
Britain and France were the dominant powers of the
world. The United States, for its part, was emerging
as a potential super-power and had gained enormous
respect very quickly.

26
 Jamaica: Great Britain.
Java: The Netherlands.
Kenya: Great Britain.
Korea: Japan.
Madagascar: France.
Morocco: France.
Mozambique: Portugal.
New Guinea: The Netherlands and
Australia.
New Zealand: Great Britain.
Nigeria: Great Britain.
Nyasaland: Great Britain.
Palestine: Great Britain.
Philippine Islands: United States.
Puerto Rico: United States.
Rhodesia: Great Britain.
Sardinia: Italy.
Sicily: Italy.
Sierre Leone: Great Britain.
Somaliland: Italy, Great Britain
and France (separate
regions).
Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan):
Great Britain/Egypt.
Sumatra: The Netherlands.
Syria: France.
Tanganyika Territory: Great
Britain.
Trans-Jordan: Great Britain.
Uganda: Great Britain.
Union of South Africa: Great
Britain.
West Africa: France.
Zanzibar: Great Britain.
Europe, though, was beginning to lose hold of
her assets. The Great War had cost the old powers
dearly, and insurgents were popping up everywhere.
The times became more and more turbulent, and a
smart adventurer could find fortune and glory just
about anywhere.
27
NORTH AMERICA
A land of opportunity and growth, the countries of
North America can be a focal point for adventure
and excitement. Cheap pulp magazines fill young
minds with tales of action, mystery, and danger in
the western lands of the continent. With influences
from all of the great and not so great powers of
Europe, North America can be a hotbed of activity.
THE UNITED STATES
America in the 1930’s was a far simpler place than
it is today. The Federalism ushered in by Franklin
Roosevelt and the Second World War had not yet
happened. States and communities largely tended to
their own affairs.
Police power was held in the city or state police.
Federal agents were called in for the ‘big’ criminals,
such as the mob, but there were only a handful of
such agents, and they were usually busy enough in
the largest American cities.
Internationally, the United States did its best to
distance itself from the rest of the world. Though
the States had significant colonial interests in the
Gold and Silver
Up until 1934, American citizens
were allowed to own gold, but this
was rendered illegal by the passage
of the Gold Reserve Act, which
required citizens in possession of
gold in forms other than jewelry,
dental work or coin collections to
turn it in to the Government for a
financial reward.
Prior to the Gold Reserve Act, gold
was valued at roughly $20 per troy
ounce (1/12 of a pound). After the
passing of the act, the price was set
at $35 per troy ounce.
Private ownership of silver remains
legal. Prior to the Great Depression,
silver was valued at roughly
$1.25 per troy ounce. During the
Depression prices dropped to half
that.
Pacific, and some interventionist policies in Central
America, isolationism was exceedingly popular.
This wasn’t entirely unjustified. Though America
emerged as a potential super-power with the
closing of the Great War, Europe seemed more
resentful than thankful of American ‘interference’,
refusing to pay debts, and often belittling the United
States’ pivotal role in ending the Great War. Most
Americans simply considered the rest of the world
not worth worrying about, an attitude that helped
keep the United States from entering the ill-fated
League of Nations.
On the other hand, having apparently beaten Europe
at its own game, Americans had seemed to many
to become ‘swaggeringly arrogant’, a not-entirely
inaccurate perception that endures nearly a century
later.
CANADA
The British colonies of Canada were a battleground
for the British and American governments during
the War of 1812. The treaties following the war
sealed a low-level animosity between the Canadian
colonies and the new nation of the United States,
slowing the migration between the countries and
increasing the American expansion to the west.
In 1867 the British North American Act took the
Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova
Scotia and formed the Dominion of Canada, the
first and largest self-governing colony of the
British Empire. The majority of Canada was a
vast, forested, unexplored wilderness. The great
cattle herds of Alberta, the metropolis of Montreal,
and the growing wilderness town of Vancouver,
were all linked in 1886 with the completion of
the transcontinental railway by Canadian Pacific
Railway. The opening of rail service, and the grand
hotels built along the route, sped up the expansion
of the Canadian west.
By the 1930’s, Canada is a modern nation, as
technologically and culturally advanced as her
southern neighbor, if slightly more civilized. The
combination of the American can-do attitude and
British social restraint has produced what some
have referred to as the nicest nation on Earth.
Great swathes of the country remain heavily
forested and largely unpopulated. Stories of
Wendigo, the embodiment of winter, isolation,
28
Forbidden Valley
Mentioned in legends for hundreds
of years but first explored by
modern man in 1904, Forbidden
Valley is an anomalous region
located in the deserts of Mexico
and bounded by high rocky walls.
Despite being located in an arid
desert with little water, the valley
apparently maintains a Jurassic
ecology including a thriving
dinosaur population. Like many
anomalous regions, there appears to
be only one entrance to the valley.
All attempts to locate it through
other routes have failed. Even
more curiously, a 1908 follow-up
expedition reported penetrating 12
miles into the valley and uncovering
a dense jungle before turning back
in the face of increasing losses to
dinosaur predation.
and cannibalism are still current among the Native
American population. Some claim that Wendigo
wander the wildernesses of Canada, preying on
hunters, trappers, and explorers of the arctic regions.
Others claim that the spirit creatures have been
encountered in towns like Vancouver and the newly
incorporated city of Winnipeg. Whether the tales
of the Wendigo and related stories of Sasquatch are
true or just the myths and stories of the local Indians
are unknown. Nobody who has gone hunting for
either creature has come back with one. Of course, a
few expeditions have never come back.
MEXICO
After a long period of scientific and technocratic
rule under the dictatorship of General Porfiro
Díaz, Mexico in the 1920’s is a turbulent country,
recovering from a recent civil war that has
transformed its cultural and political landscape.
American business interests in collusion with
wealthy Mexican landowners destabilized the
region in 1910, resulting in the collapse of the
Díaz government and a flood of immigrants to the
United States fleeing economic depression. Though
the conflict has largely ended by 1917 with the

Anomalous Regions
The term “anomalous region” is
one that is applied to geographical
areas where the normal laws of
nature – and sometimes physics –
are suspended or behave in ways
contrary to the predictions of
science. These regions often appear
to be in some way hidden, concealed
from the rest of the world as if
existing within a fold of space and
time. Normally these regions can
only be accessed in a very limited
and specific way; though a certain
cave, by following a concealed valley
or by navigating a specific course.
Attempting to find the region by
any other way will usually fail, as if
the region only exists when accessed
by the specific path. Exactly what
causes anomalous regions to exist
is unknown, though it cannot be
a coincidence that these areas
often contain deposits of Element
X. Anomalous regions are often
called “lost worlds” after the most
well-known and well-documented
example; Maple White Land in
Venezuela.
adoption of a new constitution, much damage was
done, and feelings still run deep in some regions.
Revolutionaries like Pancho Villa and Emiliano
Zapata are revered folk heroes to the common
people. The power of the Catholic Church is being
eroded, government power is being consolidated,
and industrialists are trying to navigate a difficult
landscape. Foreign powers are interested in Mexico
for its strategic position and natural resources,
and the American government is concerned that
Communist agents are attempting to turn the nation
into an ally of the Soviet Union.
Mexico in the pulp years is a land of great contrasts;
opulent wealth in the cities contrasting with dire
poverty in the slums, technology and high fashion
alongside mule-drawn carts and almost feudal
serfdom among the peasants.
29
Mexico has a long history, and is dotted with
ancient ruins, lost Aztec cities, and enough
adventures to keep anyone busy for many years.
SOUTH AND
CENTRAL
AMERICA
This politically unstable region was a hotbed of
intrigue and conflict, with numerous factions
fighting over the vast reserves of natural resources.
For explorers, the interior was an unexplored
wilderness, potentially full of lost cities and ancient
ruins just waiting to be discovered. For those
seeking the relics of lost civilizations, the Incas and
Aztecs had left behind more than enough to keep
even the most active adventurer or explorer busy,
and more than a few lost their lives chasing fortune
and glory among the winding tributaries of the
Amazon.
ARGENTINA
The United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata was
formed in 1816 from the Spanish Viceroyalty of
the Río de la Plata, the last short-lived Viceroyalty
of the region. The United Provinces comprised the
area of present-day Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and
Argentina. Political turmoil in the region caused the
Provinces to split apart, forming the four separate
countries.
Argentina is a largely agrarian country, with a
smattering of farms and a large number of cattle
ranches. This stable economy helped to unite the
mostly Spanish population. Exporting of cattle,
sheep, and wheat kept the nation from suffering the
effects of the worldwide depressions of the mid-
1800s, but it did not make them wealthy either.
While the immigrants to Argentina were a united
people, they still suffered from attacks by the
Indian tribes of the region. Argentina inherited the
problems of the Spanish Viceroy when it came to
dealing with the local tribes to the south, and they
did not handle this problem any better than the
Spanish.
Buenos Aires still has a colonial feel, even long
after its independence. The influx of Spanish and
Italian immigrants, along with a healthy dose of
financial backing from the banks of London, gives
the capital city a definite European feel. The rich
plains of the Pampas in the northern half of the
country and the rolling plateau of the south, contrast
sharply with the rugged Andes along western
border, giving the country an air of exotic mystery.
BOLIVIA
Of all the countries of South America, Bolivia
is the most unstable politically, economically,
and even geographically. The European wars of
Napoleon had their effects felt in far off South
America. The Spanish colonial territory known
as Upper Peru declared its independence in 1809.
Sixteen years of bitter war began, until finally
the Spanish were defeated, and a new Republic
was created. Calling themselves the Republic of
Bolivia, they joined forces with neighboring Peru
to form the Peru-Bolivian Confederation. Wars
with Chile and Argentina, while at first victorious,
turned disastrous. By 1840 the Confederation had
dissolved, Peru had found its independence, and
Bolivia entered a period of political and economic
upheaval. Wars with Peru, Chile, and Brazil over
the next few decades saw Bolivia lose much of
the land it once controlled, including access to the
Pacific Ocean and the fertile lands of the west.
Rising silver prices around the world had brought
about a rise of prosperity in Bolivia near the end
of the 19th Century. Now, in the 20th Century,
prospecting, mining, and treasure seeking are all
still profitable forms of employment in Bolivia.
With governments constantly teetering on the edge
of disaster, Bolivia is a land of adventure, intrigue,
and danger. The Andean Mountains of Bolivia
hold many secrets and treasures, perhaps even the
remains of the Empire of the Inca.
BRAZIL
Once the colony of Portugal, the largest nation of
South America has gone through many changes. For
three centuries the colony of Brazil was a powerful,
though often neglected, colony of Portugal. The
invasion of Portugal by the army of Napoleon
caused great uproar in the Portuguese court, with
the King and his retinue fleeing to Brazil and setting
up in Rio de Janeiro. The capital of the Portuguese
30
Empire lay in Rio for several years, with the colony
formally becoming the Kingdom of Brazil in
1815. The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and
Algarves, was ruled from Rio until 1822, when the
King of Portugal went back to Lisbon. A year later
Brazil gained its independence, with Dom Pedro
the first Emperor of Brazil. Emperor Pedro I, and
later his son Pedro II, ruled the Brazilian Empire
through the late part of the 19th century. Turmoil
and revolution resulted in the abdication of Emperor
Pedro II in 1889 and the Republic of the United
States of Brazil was formed.
In the 1930’s, Brazil is about to undergo another
upheaval, as army officers disillusioned with the
rule of Washington Luis and the upper classes band
together in mass revolt.
In the pulp era, Brazil is still sparsely populated,
with heavy rainforests and the largest river system
in the world. The great and mysterious Amazon
River is the heart of Brazil. Many European
expeditions venture into the Amazon Basin to
explore and bring back the natural treasures of the
region. Few ever return, but those that do bring with
them tales of immense snakes, rivers full of flesh-
hungry fish, and of merciless tribes deep within the
jungle whose poisonous darts bring instant death.
CHILE
Like many of its neighbors, Chile was a colony
of Spain until the forces of France’s Napoleon
invaded Spain in the early 1800s. This led the
people of Chile to break away from Spain. After a
brief attempt by the Spanish to re-conquer Chile,
the Republic of Chile proclaimed its independence
in 1818. This declaration did little to change
the colonial lifestyle of Chile, where social
stratification, family politics, and the influence of
the Roman Catholic Church strongly dictated the
course of the Republic. Chilean culture changed
very little over most of the 19th century, and the
generally stable government was a change of
pace in the otherwise turbulent history of South
America. In the late 1870s, wars with the new
countries of Peru and Bolivia, culminating in
the War of the Pacific, brought great expansion
to the lands of Chile. Territories rich in nitrate
deposits, which were part of their treaty settlements
with Bolivia and Peru, lead to an era of national
affluence. In 1886, José Manuel Balmaceda
was elected president. His economic policies
were radically different than those of previous
presidents. He began to violate the constitution
and slowly began to establish a dictatorship. These
actions were not tolerated by the Congress, who
voted on deposing him. Balmaceda’s refusal to
step down led to the beginning of the Chilean Civil
War of 1891. The President’s forces were quickly
defeated, and Balmaceda fled to refuge in the
Argentinean Embassy. There he committed suicide,
ending his reign.
During the era of Pulp Fantastic, Chile is a highly
regimented, tightly controlled, and predominantly
Catholic republic. While it may look calm and
orderly, underneath is a hotbed of subterfuge.
The mountains of Chile are large, dangerous,
and potential full of raw gold, silver, and perhaps
the lost treasures of the Inca or Aztecs. The
“savage Indians” of Chile can also be a surprise to
adventurers. They could seek revenge for wrongs
done to them by the Chilean government, or
they could be out to aid those hoping to find and
“preserve” the treasures of the mountains. They
may even know of the mysterious tunnels and caves
under Drakes Passage that lead to a legendary long-
lost kingdom below Antarctica.
ENGLAND AND
EUROPE
GREAT BRITAIN
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
during the Pulp Era, consisted of four different and
interdependent countries, all united under a single
flag. Wales is a land of rugged mountains and green
valleys and is a center for the mining of iron and
coal. Ireland, the center of unrest in the Empire,
fights for independence and freedom from their
repressive absentee landlords in England. Scotland,
the center of philosophy and science, has flourished
in its Union with England more than it ever could
as a free state, though no Scot will ever admit this.
England, the center of government and the heart of
the British Empire, sees herself as the jewel in the
crown. For many, England is the height of fashion,
style, and culture.
“If one does not live in London, one simply does
not live,” is how any “true Englishman” feels.
31
The British Empire
The saying that “The sun never
sets on the British Empire” is more
than just a cliché, though it is often
followed with “because God doesn’t
trust the English in the dark”.
Britain still has colonies of one sort
or another all around the globe.
Britain still controls vast swathes
of Africa and Asia, as well as the
Caribbean and Canada. Spain still
bridles at the presence of the Union
Jack over the colony of Gibraltar,
and Argentina looks covetously at
the Falkland Islands.
London is still the social, political, and moral center
of the Empire, though the Imperial Age is coming
to an end. The home of the English Parliament,
the West End theater district, the British Museum,
and a host of gentleman’s clubs to meet any man’s
tastes, London can truly seem to be the center of the
universe, if one avoids looking at the poor wretches
begging for coins in the gutter.
Great Britain brought the train to the world,
making many places accessible that were truly
out of touch with the time. Scottish inventors
and doctors managed to bring civilization to the
world, improving the quality of life everywhere.
Great Britain was the epicenter of the Industrial
Revolution, which brought about the development
of steam powered railways, ships, electrical power
generation, and machinery meant to make life easier.
For two hundred years, Great Britain had been the
dominant force in the world. The Great War changed
that and had been a humiliating experience. With
almost an entire generation of young men killed
or maimed in the fields of France, the Empire’s
confidence was broken. Colonies broke away, and
even Ireland had achieved its independence. Britain
could no longer be complacent.
The Great War has hurt British pride substantially.
By the 1930’s, Parliament has fallen under control
of a disturbing type of isolationism. Many believe
the lesson of the Great War was that peace is
desirable at any cost.
This policy of appeasement is designed to ‘keep the
beast at bay’, though many worry that this policy
only encourages Britain’s enemies to even more
audacious demands. Divisions between the ‘hawks’
and ‘doves’ in Parliament are exceptionally bitter.

Despite this conflict, the Empire is still a powerful

force with colonies and governance over much
of the world. Africa, Asia, and even pieces of the
Americas and Europe pay fealty to the Union Jack.
To the modern Englishman, it still feels as if the sun
will never completely set on the British Empire.

FRANCE
The history of France before the 20th Century is
one of periods of great turmoil in between periods
of great art, innovation, philosophy and scientific
thought. During the era of the Third Republic,
France saw great urbanization, industrialization,
and economic growth unheard of in Europe. Many
wonders and innovations come from France at this
time, which were highlighted in the Exposition
Universelle of 1889. There the people of the world
came to marvel at the recreation of the Bastille, and
the wondrous tower created by Gustave Eiffel.

By the Pulp Era, France’s colonial empire was

reduced, but still extensive and diverse. Most of
North, West, and Central Africa are under French
control, with the protectorate of Tunisia as one of
the centers of power. Morocco, Algeria, French
Somaliland, and French West Africa are French
holdings. In the South Pacific France has established
joint control of the New Hebrides with Great
Britain. France also controls New Caledonia and
the various island groups which made up French
Polynesia. French colonies even extend into the Far
East in French Indochina and a French concession
in Shanghai. France’s influence in the Western
Hemisphere is also quite broad. They maintain
an interest in Mexico, supporting the landowning
upper classes from behind the scenes. In the South
American colony of French Guiana is the notorious
penal colony Île du Diable, or Devil’s Island, the
most feared prison in the entire French domain.
Throughout the varied and diverse French colonial
system one can be assured of one constant: the
presence of the French Foreign Legion. This near
legendary military unit is the source of many
stories, a grand mixture of myth, hard fact, and
mystery that garners respect no matter where they
go.
France was devastated by the Great War and is
still struggling to recover. The Great Depression
further demoralizes the battered Republic. Sensing
weakness, France’s colonies demand constant effort
be put into maintaining the empire. Stretched thin,
France develops a unique blend of diplomacy,
precise military force, and intrigue to keep control.
It’s a complex juggling act, but one that can’t go on
forever.
France has begun to rearm itself, though it is heavily
reliant on expatriates serving as mercenaries,
irregulars, or within the Foreign Legion. A large
number of these are Americans, aiding a loyal ally
against Communist and Fascist insurgencies.
The emphasis on espionage within the French
government has one major drawback; corruption

32
has established deep roots within the colonies and
at all levels of the government. Illicit deals are not
uncommon, particularly in the Empire’s overseas
holdings. At this time, even weakened, France has
had many decades of relative stability compared to
many times in French history.
SPAIN
Once a major power in world politics, Spain has lost
the majority of her colonies by the 20th Century and
will suffer through the depression as did any other
nation. Political unrest plagues the nation through
the 1920’s and 30’s. Communist, Fascist, and even
religious uprisings occurred sporadically throughout
the era as each group promised a return to better
times and citing the elected governments as failures.
The situation takes a more dramatic turn in 1936
as General Francisco Franco led an uprising that
turned into a full-scale civil war. The two largest
camps, the Communist Republicans, and the
Fascist Nationalists, grapple for control of the
nation. Russia, Germany and Italy all supply their
respective sides with men and materiel. Volunteer
legions and mercenaries from America and around
the world fight on one side or another, but most of
Europe wants no part in the conflict, fearing that
the violence will spread and ignite a far greater
conflagration.
ITALY
During the Pulp Era, Italy is a wealthy European
superpower, with a respected military and a strong
technological and industrial infrastructure. Inspired
by a vision of a new technologically advanced
Roman Empire, in which the weaknesses of
emotion and sentimentality would be bred out
of the “new man”, and science would be revered
above all things, fascist political parties are on the
rise. Outraged by the outcome of the 1919 Paris
Peace Conference, in which Italy was forced to
cede control of the Croatian seaport of Fiume to
Yugoslavia, Italian fascists form the National Fascist
Party. Their paramilitary wing, the Blackshirts, soon
establishes their power base through a campaign of
violent action against their opponents, culminating
in an attempted coup d’état in 1922. Though the
coup fails, King Victor Emmanuel III agrees to make
the leader of the fascists, Benito Mussolini, head of
the Italian government.
33
During the 1930’s, Italy is becoming a power once
more. Mussolini’s Fascism has propelled the nation
forward, becoming a strong military power and a
leader in science and technology. Many believe
that Italy will be a strong power for the next few
decades.
Despite Mussolini’s brutal suppression of organized
crime and political dissent, Italy is far from unified
under their leader. Communist agents, rival fascists,
disaffected nationalists, and other groups are
demanding their share of power. The Mafia, though
wounded, is not yet dead and they are plotting their
revenge. Technologically, Italy is being outstripped
by Germany, due in no small part of a covert “brain
drain” by the Nazis; making off with promising
scientists and research from all over Europe.
During the 1930’s Italy’s relationship with Germany
is fluid. In the early part of the decade, Italian troops
were posted to Austria as a defense against Hitler’s
plan to annex the country. After Italy’s invasion of
Abyssinia in 1935 and her subsequent censuring by
the international community, closer diplomatic ties
with Germany were sought. These ties only became
stronger after Germany and Italy both supplied
General Franco’s Nationalist during the Spanish
Civil War. By the decade’s end, Italy and Germany
have formed the Pact of Steel, a mutual support
treaty designed to stave off action against Germany
by the rest of Europe.
SWITZERLAND
During the era of Napoleon, Switzerland was
occupied by forces from Russia and Austria during
their battles with France. After Swiss autonomy
was restored in 1815 the country suffered a period
of political and civil unrest, which culminated in
a month long civil war in 1849. The war produced
few casualties, but made the people realize they
needed to be united and strong in order to fend off
all external troops. A federation of all the cantons of
Switzerland formed a united and stable federal state,
which gave the country a level a peace not seen in
most of Europe.
Since medieval times, Switzerland has been known
as a stable, safe, and private banking community.
One can have money in a private account in
Switzerland, and be assured that nobody will know
it is there, or where it came from. Swiss bankers
are notoriously close-mouthed. The many treasures mostly by his regents. In 1848 revolutionaries took
and secrets hidden away in the vaults of Zurich and over the empire, entered the emperor’s palace, and
Geneva stagger the imagination and could produce convinced him to abdicate in favor of his nephew
a host of adventures for a Pulp Fantastic campaign. Franz Joseph.

In 1863 in Geneva, the International Committee Emperor Franz Joseph, in an attempt to increase
of the Red Cross was founded. This unique the power and influence of the Empire of Austria,
humanitarian organization was created to protect the negotiated an agreement with the nobility of
lives and dignity of the casualties of war. Many of Hungary. In 1867 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was
the countries of Europe, and later the United States formed. While the government and the economy
and Brazil, signed up to the guidelines, named “The both expanded and improved during the early years
Geneva Convention” after the meeting at which the of the new empire, it was also a hotbed of anarchist
rules were formulated. The legally binding rules activity.
guaranteed neutrality and protection for wounded
soldiers and field medical personnel, as well as The Empire of Austria-Hungary was a modern land
protecting the rights of specified humanitarian of great prosperity, an increasingly industrialized
institutions, in wartime. In the years since, the nation that is a multi-cultural region of prosperity
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and intrigue. While the emperor’s spies and secret
have spread all over the world. police were ever present, so were spies from
other countries and anarchists bent on ending the
Since the middle 1900s, Switzerland has maintained Emperor’s grip of power over the vast Empire’s
strict neutrality, making it an excellent place for domain.
business and for meetings needing to be kept from
prying eyes or governments. Despite this, every In the end of the First World War an Austrian
young adult is trained in the use of firearms, and has republic was formed, moving the nation into the
a government-issued rifle, exemplifying the Swiss modern times and away from a monarchy. Times of
penchant for wisdom and caution in all things. change have come to the Hapsburgs and along with
the times and change, comes opportunities.
AUSTRIA
The Empire of Austria, founded in the early 1800s,
was created on the heels of the abolition of the
Holy Roman Empire. Francis II, Holy Roman
Emperor, in the wake of the defeat of his military
coalition against Napoleon, was forced to dissolve
the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, but prior to that
in 1804 he declared his personal holdings to be the
Empire of Austria. This allowed him to retain rule
over this smaller realm after the dissolution of the
Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Francis I, a greatly
suspicious man, set up a vast network of spies,
censors, and secret police. This vast network of
informants was used throughout his reign to keep
the emperor informed about the actions of many
people he did not trust, including his own brothers.

The Emperor’s death in 1835 was sudden and

greatly mourned. His funeral was a spectacle unto
itself, with people filing past his casket for three
days. His successor, Emperor Ferdinand I, was
an epileptic, and most considered him to be not
terribly intelligent. Emperor Ferdinand I had a
mostly uneventful reign, with the government run

34

GERMANY
In 1871, following their victory in the Franco-
Prussian War, the Kingdom of Prussia allied the
many small German states into a single empire, with
the king of Prussia, Wilhelm I, as Emperor. The
Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, was
the true force behind the unification, and as Prime
Minister and later Chancellor of the Empire, much
of the power of the empire lay in his hands. Under
the hands of the German Empire, the constituent
states flourished and became an industrial power
unrivaled in Europe. The manufacturing of steel,
the exporting of coal and the industrial works
of companies such as Krupp, all resulted in the
German dominance in industry in the latter part of
the 1800s.
Germany was also the home of several semi-
autonomous regions, such as Bavaria, ruled by
King Ludwig II until his mysterious death in 1886
Often called “Mad King Ludwig”, he was a man of
peculiar vision. He loved to build lavish fairy tale
castles and buildings of elaborate design. Besides
his masterpiece New Hohenschwangau Castle, later
renamed Neuschwanstein Castle after his death,
King Ludwig oversaw the construction of the
Winter Garden in Munich. The garden, complete
with a lake and a technologically advanced
glass and steel roof design, included a grotto, a
Moorish kiosk, an Indian royal tent, an artificially
illuminated rainbow and intermittent moonlight.
When the Great War ended, Germany suffered the
indignity of a harshly punitive reparations treaty
imposed on it by European powers hungry for
revenge. The Treaty of Versailles limits Germany’s
military strength and is so harsh that the Great
Depression nearly drove the nation back to a feudal
state, forcing the people in some regions to resort to
cannibalism in order to survive.
The bitterness over Germany’s humiliation at the
end of the Great War has fostered the rise of radical
political groups, particularly the National Socialist
and Communist parties. Both groups promise to
terminate the punishing treaty and rebuild Germany
into a modern nation once more.
The National Socialist party, led by Hitler, offers
these promises without sacrificing religion or
personal liberties as the Communists demand. Using
popular sentiment, a promise of a greater nation,
35
and some more devious tactics, by the 1930’s the
Nazi party has become the dominant force within
Germany.
At first, the Nazi party seems like a godsend to
Germany. Austria and other lands are ‘annexed’
back into the Fatherland. The Treaty of Versailles is
terminated, and Germany, under Hitler’s unyielding
command, becomes a superpower.
But beneath the smooth skin, however, the darker
heart of Nazi Germany beats relentlessly. Jews,
Gypsies, and Blacks are being rounded up and
either ‘exported’, sterilized, or exterminated in
camps. The master race’ doctrine has been taken to
its extremes, and the new Reich now sees itself as
being the eventual rightful rulers of Europe, if not
the entire world. (For more information on the rise
of the Nazis, see page 133.
BEREZKIA
Nestled in the heart of the Balkans is the tiny nation
of Berezkia. Alternately conquered, fought over
and ignored by the greater powers for centuries, her
people are a mish-mash of ethnicities and faiths, but
are staunchly proud of their land and their history.
Largely over-looked in the 19th Century, Berezkia
suddenly came to prominence with the discovery
that enclosed within her borders was the largest
deposit of Element X ever recorded. By cleverly
exploiting historical treaties and alliances, the
Berezkian leadership maintained their independence
while using their new-found wealth to build up
their defenses. Today Berezkia is a fortress nation,
heavily guarded by the loyal troops of General
Kazan while her neighbors look enviously on.
RUSSIA
During the 1920’s and 30’s, Russia is a nation in
transition, transforming itself from an autocratic
monarchy to an industrialized totalitarian
superpower.
After the first revolution in 1907 toppled Tsar
Nicholas II from the throne, the succeeding
government had continued to pursue Russian
involvement in the Great War, leading to food and
fuel rationing. The provisional government – an
unelected body of the social and political elite who
had been given their jobs by the ousted government
– was unpopular with the people, representing a
 Element X Continued exposure to the element
over long periods produces stable,
Element X is a curious radioactive
beneficial mutations in higher
metal of extraterrestrial (and
organisms. Certain less reputable
possibly extra-dimensional) origin,
scientists have theorized that
that is known to behave in ways
Element X was used in the creation
contrary to the established laws of
of many “occult artifacts” and may
physics. Perhaps the most famous
be responsible for incidences of
specimen of Element X is the Wold
apparent supernatural or magical
Cottage meteor of 1795; the largest
events.
observed meteor landing in Britain.
However, since Element X has been
In its natural form, Element X
identified, traces and small deposits
appears as a translucent green
of it have been discovered all over
crystalline substance, like jade.
the world. Of particular interest
When subjected to an electrical
is the relatively high quantity of
field, the crystal glows faintly with
Element X in the K-Pg Boundary,
a viridian luminescence. If subject
the layer of sediment deposited by
to intense heat in this “excited”
the extinction event that wiped out
state, the crystalline element melts,
the dinosaurs.
becoming a dark green vitreous
material that can be cast, smelted
The exact composition of Element
and shaped like steel.
X remains a mystery, and there
is much debate as to whether it
Conventional science has yet to fully
is an element at all. While under
explore the exceptional properties
normal circumstances it behaves
and structure of Element X, possibly
like a stable transuranic element, it
because of its great scarcity (in 1910
displays no radioactive decay unless
it is estimated that less than five tons
placed within a mild electrical field,
exists on Earth, though this figure
whereupon it becomes a source of
is later revised upward after the
remarkable power. Furthermore,
reported discovery of large deposits
there is some evidence that the
in Berezkia), but also because of
Element is capable of warping
the high number of bizarre and
probability around it in some way,
unpleasant accidents that seem to
making it susceptible to unusual
befall researchers involved in its
coincidences and unlikely events.
study. Many scientific authorities
prefer to deny the material
While Element X displays no
even exists, rather than try and
detectable radioactive decay under
incorporate its anomalous behavior
normal circumstances, it has
into their model of the universe.
been known to act as a mutagen.

mere reform of the status quo, rather than the lasting
change the people had been promised. Eight months
after the February Revolution, Vladimir Lenin’s
Bolshevik Party staged an armed insurrection in
Petrograd, ostensibly placing power in the hands
of the Soviets (elected local councils formed by
rural and urban workers). Though popular among
the proletariat, the revolution was not universally
accepted in Russia, leading to a civil war between
the Bolshevik Red Army and the largely-monarchist
White Army that lasted until 1922 (though some
resistance from the White Army continued in the
Far East continued until 1923, and in Central Asia
until 1934). During the chaos, many former states
of the Russian Empire succeeded in breaking away
and establishing themselves as independent states,
including Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.

36

So, just what is
Element X?
Like any good MacGuffin, it’s
whatever the Game Master wants it
to be. There is no game information
associated with it as its properties and
its effects will vary according to the
needs of the plot. As a mutagen it may
be responsible for the extinction of the
dinosaurs (as well as their survival
in isolated parts of the globe) and the
presence of psychic powers in a small
percentage of the human population.
Descendants of those present during
the impact of the Wold Cottage
meteor are known to include some
of the 19th and 20th Century’s most
remarkable men and women, which
can’t be a coincidence.
Traces of Element X released into the
atmosphere by volcanic eruptions or
meteor impacts may be the cause of
“magical” phenomena or those brief
periods when the gods seemed to have
walked the Earth. Perhaps the strange
skies caused by the Tunguska Impact
of 1908 were caused by Element X
contamination, heralding the start of
a new age of heroes and monsters.
As to where it comes from, nobody
knows. It could be the radioactive
remnants of a distant world,
preceding the arrival of a strange
visitor with stranger powers. Perhaps
it is all that remains of magic in the
universe, awaiting the birth of a new
age of miracles. It could be ur-stuff
from the beginning of time itself, or
a relic of the reality before this one.
Maybe it’s not even matter at all,
but concentrated chunks of pure
probability, falling to Earth from
some higher Platonic dimension.
Whatever Element X really is, and
wherever it comes from; it’s rare,
valuable, unpredictable and in the
wrong hands, very dangerous indeed.
37
The end of the civil war saw Russia firmly under
the control of the Bolsheviks in the form of the
Communist Party, who formed the Soviet Union by
uniting the Transcaucasian, Russian, Ukrainian and
Byelorussian (now Belarus) republics into a single
entity in 1922. In 1924, Vladimir Lenin, the father
of the revolution, died in his dacha in Gorki, and
after a brief power struggle Josef Stalin succeeded
him as leader of the Soviet Union.
From the time they first claimed power in 1917, the
Bolshevik government had attempted to radically
shake up Russian politics by redistributing land
among the peasants and nationalizing the banks
and industry. Now the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret
police, conducts a violent campaign of suppression
against the government’s political enemies, with
tens of thousands killed or interned in concentration
camps in what has come to be known as the Red
Terror. The Cheka reign of terror uses fear to
turn anyone into a potential informer, creating a
population too scared to speak their minds in their
own homes in case a family member turns them in
for “disloyalty”.
On the global stage, the Soviet Union openly
supports the Communist International or Comintern,
an organization formed by representatives from
radical left-wing parties around the world to
promote revolution as a means to the creation of
an international Soviet republic as a transitional
stage to the complete abolition of the state. Lenin
believed that unless communist revolution was
widespread in Europe, Russia would be crushed by
monarchist militaries, and so created the Comintern
as a means of destabilizing potential enemies from
within. The Comintern provides arms, training and
agitators to communist cells in other countries,
sometimes forming secret paramilitary wings in
readiness for the opportunity to revolt and smash
the ruling classes. This tactic has proved remarkably
successful, with the Comintern being involved in
several European revolutions.
After the death of Lenin and the ascension to power
of Josef Stalin, Russia and the rest of the states of
the Soviet Union become even more oppressive.
Stalin is paranoid about enemies within the Soviet
Union and is known for “disappearing” those who
displease him. By 1934 this culminates into a
series of sweeping purges, during which time over
700,000 “enemies of the working class” are arrested
and executed.
In an effort to accelerate the country’s industrial and
economic development, Stalin has implemented
a series of Five-Year Plans, based around the
collective ownership of farmland. Peasants work
the land and sell their surplus food to the state at
a State-regulated price. State propaganda declares
this a great success. Though food shortages are
becoming more and more common, the hungry are
too scared of the Cheka to grumble.
While the Comintern supports several anti-fascist
organizations throughout Europe, Stalin is pursuing
an amicable relationship with Adolf Hitler, and
in 1939 signs a non-aggression pact with Nazi
Germany.
AFRICA
In the early 1900s, Africa fell increasingly under
European control, whose superior transportation
and firepower enabled them to conquer vast swaths
of land and take the Africans’ natural resources.
Most Europeans saw it as the “white man’s burden”
to control natives they viewed as incapable of
managing their own affairs. While some heroes
were ahead of their time regarding racial equality
and opposition to imperialism, only after the period
represented in this game did the empires gain
some degree of enlightenment and begin divesting
themselves of their colonies.
During the Pulp Era, there are still large areas of
Africa unexplored by white men. The continent still
holds great allure – and great danger – for those
wishing to uncover her secrets.
ABYSSINIA
Abyssinia may surprise visitors by having a
history traceable to the fourth century. Throughout
antiquity, it has been a Christian nation with a
notable Jewish population. Their religious leaders
claim to have the fabled Ark of the Covenant under
lock and key, though none may see it except the
religious hierarchy and the Emperor—who claims
to be descended from King Solomon.
All of Abyssinia’s borders are mountainous, making
it naturally defensible. In the late 19th century, Italy
tried to take it as a colony, but it was humiliated in
defeat, as had been all other nations who tried to
conquer it. In 1935, Italy tries again, and with the
38
aid of mustard gas, they succeed, Emperor Halie
Selassie fleeing the country. Abyssinia’s future is
unclear, as the League of Nations has turned a deaf
ear to the emperor’s cries for aid.
Visitors will find this country modernized in
comparison with other African nations, but it still
holds its enigmas. For example, questions persist
as to whether the title of emperor is equivalent to
the medieval “Prester John.” Likewise, the city of
Lalibela holds eleven eight-century-old churches,
hewn out of solid rock, supposedly with the aid of
angelic beings. The nearby caves have never been
fully explored.
THE CONGO
The Congo is foremost a site for human tragedy.
Even great men, faced with the full intensity of
mystery and suffering the Congo has to offer, have
lost their sanity here.
The Belgians exploited it first for ivory, then for
rubber, and later for copper, gold, and diamonds,
with brutal oppression for Congolese who failed
to meet their quotas (especially in the first decade
of the century, when millions lost their lives).
Inhabitants of the eastern Congo faced danger not
only from the Belgians, but also from Zanzibar’s
slave raiders, from whom they sometimes ransomed
their family members. In the North, the Portuguese
were slightly better rulers, avoiding the genocidal
violence of the Belgians and allowing a Kongolese
king to serve as vassal until a 1914 revolt.
The pygmy survives as a small minority in the
Congo, living in small hunter-gatherer communities
in various climates or serving as slaves to the
Bantu-speaking Congolese. Using traps, spears, and
crossbows with poisoned bolts, they are a source
of fascination for the public, one having been
displayed in a cage at the 1907 World’s Fair.
Safari hunters come to the Congo for its wild game,
especially the increasingly hard-to-find elephants,
prized for their rich ivory, and an elephant
graveyard would make any explorer wealthy beyond
imagining, though none has been found yet. A 1909
volume by one hunter notes Congolese locals’ tale
of a creature whose description reminded him of a
brontosaurus, a tale widely reported in newspapers.
A 1919 Smithsonian expedition trying to ascertain
the truth ended with a train derailment, resulting in
four deaths. Mysterious roars, not identifiable with
any known creature, had been heard earlier in the
expedition.
EGYPT
In 1904, Aleister Crowley, an Order of the Hermetic
Dawn member, claimed after visiting the Cairo
Museum of Antiquities to have an encounter with a
being named Aiwass, in the voices of three Egyptian
gods. The Book of the Law was the result of this
meeting, a book several members of the Nazi party
were known to possess in later years.
Many visitors come to this museum, for the
discovery of the Valley of the Kings in the Victorian
Era kicked off a mania for Egypt that has yet to
pass. From 1907-1922, archaeologist Howard
Carter has excavated in the Valley, less a three-
year break during the Great War. In November
of 1922, Carter’s discovery of the tomb of King
Tutankhamen, still intact with all its treasures,
reignite the mania. Rumors of the tomb’s fatal
curse have surely been exaggerated. Diplomacy,
entanglements, and spies are of far more importance
than supposed sightings of walking mummies, as
Egypt—Cairo in particular—serves as the meeting
place of Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Of
particular importance there is the recent rise in anti-
Semitism, exacerbated by the recent publication of
the fraudulent “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”.
The Nile River, economically priceless, has become
one of the most explored in the world during
this period, as adventurers try to find its source,
leading them south through the Sudan and beyond.
The river – though many view it as the source of
life – is home to Nile crocodile, hippopotami, and
over ten varieties of venomous snakes, so it pays
to be careful while navigating. Malaria-carrying
mosquitos are ubiquitous, and if one goes far
enough south, the rapids become … problematic.
THE SAHARA DESERT
Away from the river, much of Egypt is desert.
Referred to as the “Red Land” by the ancient
Egyptians, these vast, arid wastes were a natural
defense against invasion from the west. Sandstorms
can change the entire landscape in a day, creating
39
dunes over 100ft high. Water is limited to a handful
of oases, far and few between. Stone plateaus and
valleys can be found amidst the sands, sometimes
the sites of tombs or cliff settlements carved into
the rock. Ancient mastabas (“houses of eternity”)
or tombs can be found singly in isolated areas, or
gathered together in a vast necropolis, and these are
a temptation to treasure hunters and tomb robbers
alike. Rumors yet persist of a vast black pyramid of
a size to rival those at Giza buried somewhere in the
shifting sands, and yet more tales tell of the ruins of
a city so ancient that the desert-dwelling Bedouin
believe it was raised not by men, but by djinn.
Travel through the Sahara is likely to be fatal.
It’s simply hot, arid, and impassibly large. Even
if you’re prepared with a camel, proper dress,
and several days of water, violent Tuareg nomads
could attack, as could Arab slavers. Finally, there
are natural dangers, such as poisonous snakes and
scorpions, sandstorms, and even the uneven ground,
prone to injuries from sprains to broken bones. Even
near the oases, one may find hyenas. So why would
anyone go through the Sahara?
Wealth. There are lost cities to be found: Zerzura,
the white city, an oasis of precious gems and
sleeping rulers, for example. It’s possible that this
is a false lead, like Timbuktu, but that doesn’t stop
groups of explorers in the early 1930s from trying to
find Zerzura. (Of course, impoverished Timbuktu’s
real treasure subsists not in gold, but in in its tomes
of forgotten wisdom, its volumes of forbidden
lore.) Other explorers may wish for bragging
rights, surviving a trip to the top of Kaf Ajnoun,
“the Devil’s Hill,” where the Djinn supposedly
hold council. Alternatively, clandestine scientific
expeditions could search for the secrets behind what
would later be named the “Eye of the Sahara,” a
25-mile-wide crystalline depression, looking from
a zeppelin rather like a bulls-eye mark. The French
Foreign Legion patrols the Sahara, albeit irregularly,
making it nominally safer than it was some years
earlier. Still, you’re more likely to see bones in the
desert than you are a fellow traveler … if you can
discern anything besides heat-based hallucinations
and mirages.
SOUTHERN AFRICA
Circumnavigating the southern tip of Africa is
still dangerous, given the storms around the Cape
of Good Hope, and sailors still report seeing the
ghostly Flying Dutchman there on occasion. On
land, the once-formidable Zulus have become,
while not exactly docile, somewhat tractable in the
face of the overwhelming technological superiority
of the English and the Boers, and now face crushing
poverty.
The English defeated the Boers (descended from
the Dutch) during the early part of the pulp era,
and soon after the start of the Great Depression, the
nation of South Africa declared its independence.
At the end of the era, there is still great tension
between not only the black Africans and the
whites, but also among the whites themselves,
divided by heritage and language into winners
and losers. Additionally, during the entire period,
the indigenous people had virtually no economic
or civil rights, despite their actually comprising
more than 80% of the population. Complicating
the matter was South Africa’s third set of rights for
“colored” people: those of mixed race and those
who came from India, looking for jobs.
The southern Zulu would rather keep a discreet
silence about some mysteries, such as the Rain
Queen of the Karanga, or the carnivorous river
god Inkanyamba. The northern, central regions of
southern Africa are less explored, giving rise to
legends of lost cities—including one confirmed
discovery, the abandoned Great Zimbabwe—and
of a completely different ethnic group of hunter-
gatherers, as yet unknown, using poisoned spears in
the bush to catch their prey.
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan has been known as “the graveyard
of empires” for its role as the battleground for the
“Great Game,” a conflict fought between Great
Britain and Russia over control of Central Asia.
The First Afghan War (1838-1842) would end in
a humiliating defeat for the British, and although
guaranteed free passage, the British Army was
slaughtered during its retreat. Meanwhile, the
40
Mami Wata
The Igbo people of West Africa
sometimes report having encountered
a half-human, mermaid-like creature,
a witch and a snake-charmer, who
steals their children at night or
drowns their men in the river during
the day. Oddly, she is often seen with
modern trinkets, such as watches
or lighters. She has been known to
possess her followers during ritual
dances. Eyewitness reports of her
appearances have been surprisingly
consistent, but no expedition has
turned up reliable evidence of any
such being yet.
Lost Cities
Following the publicity surrounding
the research about Great Zimbabwe,
Europe became very interested in the
idea that lost cities could still exist
somewhere in unexplored corners of
the world, perhaps concealed within
anomalous regions. Zerzura, Opar,
Loo, and Kôr are all examples of this
trope. Often part and parcel with it,
unfortunately, is the racist idea that
Africans, unaided, could not build
a city themselves— yet it was the
Shona, a Bantu people, who built
Great Zimbabwe!
One never knows what one is going
to find in a lost city. Riches? New
technologies? Natural wonders as
yet unseen? All that’s certain is that
adventure and science mandate a
complete mapping of the African
continent, so that all may benefit from
their discoveries.
 The Walking Shade
The coast of East Africa is rife with
tales of a man who never dies. For
five centuries, observers have noted
a strange, small sign on certain
buildings and individuals, a sign that
locals call a “seal of protection.” In
hushed breath, the indigenous people
tell stories of a cave shaped like a
skull, a wolf and horse who respond
only to the speech of the undying, and
a stretch of coastland free from the
piracy that plagues so much of the
Indian Ocean. But, like an apparition,
the origin of these legends … and the
origin of the skull-shaped wounds
on some pirates’ faces … remains
impossible to find.
Russian army steadily advanced southward into
Afghanistan. During the Victorian Age, the British
would try again, sparking the Second Afghan
War in 1878. After getting a good part of its army
annihilated in Kabul, Britain managed to put an
Emir on the throne with whom both Britain and
Russia could live. During the 1880s, Emir Abdur
Rahman Khan would consolidate his power in
Afghanistan, strengthening military control and
modernizing the nation.
In the Pulp Era, Afghanistan has become a center
point of the intrigues going on between two great
World Powers, Russia and The British Empire.
Situated at a crossroads in a geographical context,
it is riddled with spies as well as those that follow
such activities.
BHUTAN
Bhutan is a small country nestled in the Himalayas
and was battered by civil war during the Victorian
Age. Governors of different territories within
Bhutan were vying for power through skirmishes
with the others. This came to an end in 1885, when
Britain backed Ugyan Wangchuck, the Governor of
Trongsa. He would consolidate his power through
the rest of the Victorian Age (and was destined to be
crowned king in 1907).
41
Shambhala and
Agharta
The twin kingdoms of Shambhala and
Agharta exist on the borders of Tibet,
nestled within an anomalous region in
the Himalayas.
Shambhala is a holy land in the
Buddhist faith, and was long thought
to be purely mythological. However,
in recent years a number of Western
explorers and mountaineers have
returned home with tales of the
beautiful warm valley hidden
amidst the snowy peaks, and of the
curiously ageless and gentle people
that live there. Many seem to have
returned home oddly rejuvenated,
as if they have somehow become
younger, while others appear to have
undergone some form of spiritual
transformation.
Like other anomalous regions,
Shambhala is extremely difficult to
locate, though in this case whether
the land can be found at all seems
to depend on the favor of the people
within it. Legends says that those who
are destined to find Shambhala will do
so, while those with evil in their hearts
never will.
Agharta is an underground realm
that exists somewhere beneath
the mountains of Tibet and can
be reached through tunnels in
Shambhala. Reputedly the home of
the mystical Meh-Teh, the realm is
also said to be the site of the dread
Forbidden Lamasery of the Mara
Brotherhood. Rumors persist that
Agharta was once an Atlantean
outpost, and that still functioning
examples of their transcendent
technology can be found there, if one
only knows where to look.
Ironically, although Bhutan was strengthening its
ties with Britain, it conducted most of its trade
with its northern neighbor Tibet. Tibet sided with
a rival governor against Wangchuck. A treaty with
Britain in 1865 allowed Britain to control Bhutan’s
southern border passes with India.
Not much has changed during the Pulp Era,
Bhutan is now a part of the British Empire,
allowing for a presence in this distant part of the
world for the English.
BURMA
Although not part of the Indian subcontinent,
Burma was slowly incorporated into British
India during the Victorian Age. Burma shared
its northeast border with China, and successfully
repulsed four Chinese invasions in the 18th century
before being absorbed into British India during
the next century. The lowlands of Burma have a
tropical climate similar to neighboring Bengal,
while the highlands can range all the way up to
heavy snowfall and arctic conditions depending on
elevation. Like Bengal, Burma was also prone to
floods and droughts.
It was Burma’s territorial expansion that concerned
both the Chinese and the British. Ill-defined borders
were part of the problem, as military operations and
refugees challenged territorial assumptions. Britain
fought Burma in a series of three wars during the
19th century, resulting in total control of Burma in
1886. Burma then became a province of India.
Burma thrives economically in rice production, but
at great cost. When the opening of the Suez Canal
increases demand for rice, Burmese farmers borrow
money to meet it, but often default on their high-
interest loans. As a result, the beneficiaries of the
Burmese rice trade are British and Indian firms and
migrant workers. Many Burmese are unemployed,
and neither the ICS nor the British military accept
them into their ranks.
RANGOON
The British annexed Rangoon in 1852. The British
immediately went to work on modernizing the
city, building colleges and bringing western
education to the Burmese people. Rangoon
primarily exported rice and timber. This stood in
stark contrast to the impoverished villages that
42
surrounded it. Rangoon was made the capital of
the Burmese Province in 1886.
CHINA
The Empire of China is still a mystery to many
westerners. The vast landscape of a country full
of strange customs, cryptic writings, and imperial
intrigue keeps many people fascinated and
sometimes obsessed with this great nation. During
the Pulp Era, China remains in the grip of a vicious
civil war, funded and supplied by interested parties
in the West. Nationalist forces led by Chiang
Kai-shek battle Communist insurgents led by Mao
Tse-tung, while lesser local warlords attempt to
grab and hold onto as much power as they can.
Western corporate interests, volunteers, spies and
mercenaries all add to the mix, making China a
hotbed of conflict and intrigue.
Unfortunately for the Chinese, the First Opium
War had showed the outdated nature of the Chinese
military. Many stunning defeats at the hands of the
Royal Navy and by soldiers armed with modern
rifles and tactics had forced the Manchu government
to surrender in 1842. The Treaty of Nanking forced
China to open her ports and created the British
colony on the island of Hong Kong. This foothold
in China, along with trade centers in Shanghai,
finally allowed western governments to have access
to the great wealth of products and labor that they
had long desired. During the 1920’s and 30’s, a
series of false-flag operations by the Japanese paved
the way for an invasion that allows the invaders to
turn Manchuria into the puppet state of Manchukuo.
China, and the “inscrutable china man”, is for the
most part a great mystery to most of the western
world. The high quality of silk and porcelain, the
exotic art and treasures of the ancient land, and the
strange forms of martial arts they use to protect
them all draw large numbers of adventurers to
China. If one believes just half of the rumors of
what can be found within China, then fame and
fortune awaits!
INDIA
The Indian subcontinent has a varied geography.
While most people think of India as a jungle, the
entire spectrum of climates can be found on the
subcontinent. The British divided the subcontinent
into northern and southern India, with the Vindhya
and Satpura mountain ranges acting as a natural
dividing line.
Black Lotus Powder
The Black Lotus is a rare parasitic
plant which grows naturally only in
the deepest jungles of Central Asia.
The pollen of the plant, when ground
up and dried, forms a powerful
psychoactive hallucinogen that its
users believe can grant ecstatic visions
of different times and places. The
priests of the barbaric Tsang-Chan
peoples believe that inhaling the dust
of the Black Lotus links them to the
spirits of everyone who has ever taken
the drug or ever will.
Black Lotus powder is highly
addictive, and regular use creates in
the user a peculiar veneration for the
Black Lotus itself, resulting in the
slow spread of the cultivated plant
across the planet. Addicts manifest
reduced willpower, a curious group
mentality, low empathy and a marked
disregard for their own personal
safety, making them easily dominated
by a powerful personality.
The Black Lotus is the subject of a
number of dark myths and legends. In
some stories, it was carried to Earth
as dust on the sandals of the gods,
sprouting in their footsteps in the
sacred places of the world. In others it
was sent from beyond as a sacrament,
to allow the faithful to commune with
their brethren across time and space
in worship of the Old Gods. Still
others claim that the Black Lotus is
itself a god, sharing itself among its
worshipers that it might live in them.
Botanists point out that the Black
Lotus is misnamed. Though the bloom
itself resembles a lotus flower, it is not
aquatic and appears unrelated to any
of the lotus family (genus Nelumbo).
In fact in many ways it is similar to
43
mistletoe, though the two species are
unrelated.
The shamans of the Tsang-Chan
and priests of the Black Scorpion
Brotherhood believe that chewing
the leaves of the Black Lotus will
give them strange powers and
an extended life-span, though no
scientific evidence has been gathered
to support this. Burning the dried
leaves of the Black Lotus produces
a dense soporific vapor, which
if inhaled induces rapid loss of
consciousness followed by a period
of delirium punctuated with horrific
dreams. Some native shamans claim
to be able to use the roots of the
plant to create a potion that induces
a state of hypnotic suggestibility in
those who drink it, but again there
has been little scientific investigation
to support this claim.
Regardless of the veracity of the
many claims made about the plant,
its rarity makes live specimens
among the most valuable plants in
the world today. While the Black
Lotus can be grown elsewhere in
the world, it is extremely difficult
and requires constant care. Some
even whisper that in order to grow
outside of its natural environment,
the plant must be watered in
fresh blood, though this is almost
certainly a myth. Pound for pound,
Black Lotus powder is more
valuable on the black market than
diamonds, and even dead plants
are highly sought after for their
pharmacological properties.
Northern India is bordered by mountain ranges
along most of its borders. The largest of the
northern ranges is the Himalayas, which India
shares with Bhutan, Nepal, and Tibet. The highest
peaks in the world are found here, including Mt.
Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. It is
named for the British Surveyor General, Sir George
Everest, who first spotted it. To the west are the
Hindu-Kush Mountains that separate British
India from Afghanistan. The Vindhya and Saptura
mountains, as mentioned, border the south.
Three major rivers dominate Northern India: the
Brahmaputra, the Ganges, and the Indus. These
rivers deposit rich, fertile soil during frequent
flooding, and are densely populated as a result
(although the Indus is threatened by the Thar Desert
to the east).
Southern India is home to two environments, the
coastal regions and the Deccan Plateau. The Deccan
Plateau is separated from the coast by two mountain
ranges known collectively as the Ghats. These
mountain ranges keep the plateau hot all year long.
The coastal regions, like northern India, have rich
soil. Coastal India usually has a mild winter, then a
short hot season, a rainy season, and then another
hot season before winter.
Most of India is subject to the rainy season
between June and September. This is the period of
monsoons, a seasonal wind that brings heavy rains
and flooding. While the Indian people welcome the
rains after a hot season, the resultant flooding can
cause loss of life and crop damage.
The British Empire politically separated British-
run India into three Presidencies: Bengal, Bombay,
44
and Madras. These three regions acted almost
independently of each other, and up until the late
1870s. Civilians considered themselves exclusively
belonging to one of the Presidencies (e.g. the
Bengal Civil Service), rather than India in general.
Among these regions were also many autonomous
“native states,” where the princes, (Maharajahs,)
were left to run their own affairs, provided that they
cooperated with British rule.
JAPAN
The Tokugawa (or Edo) period of Japan’s history
began in 1603. This time was marked by a major
decrease in the amount of violence that the Japanese
people were accustomed to surviving. Except
for common problems of the time such as the
occasional peasant revolt or famine, life for the
average citizen was greatly improved. However, the
country remained in almost total isolation from the
outside world.
The first significant exhibit of Japanese items in
the west was during the London International
Exhibition of 1862. These items were primarily
collected and presented by Rutherford Alcock, the
British minister of Japan. It would be five more
years (1867) before the Japanese government
presented their own cultural displays to the
world. In 1868, just one year later, the shogunate
government was overthrown in a popular revolt
and Meiji emperor was returned to power. It was
under this government that Japan was opened to
‘westernization’.
One group that did not benefit from the Tokugawa
peace or the return of the Meiji reign was the
little-known Ainu people, who by this time had
been forced to live only on the northern most island
of Hokkido. The members of this hunter/trapper/
farmer culture appeared to have more in common
with Native American than they did with their Asian
Skull Island
For centuries sailors in the South Seas
have told each other blood-curdling
tales of the “cursed isle” and the
“cradle of monsters”, also known as
the Island of the Skull. Supposedly
an uncharted island located far from
the shipping lanes and encircled by
permanent storms and fog, Skull
Island named for the numerous
carvings of human skulls found
among the ruins that sprawl across
the isle’s southern coast, and for the
skull-shaped rock formation that
dominates one side of the isle’s central
volcano. Extremely hard to find,
the island sits within an anomalous
region. Few have landed there, and of
those few even fewer have lived to tell
of it. Legend tells of an island of lush
jungle, swamp-land, deep crevasses
and high mountains, bearing flora
and fauna both wild and monstrous.
For more details, see page 218.
overlords. The Ainu were systematically persecuted
not only for their Caucasian racial stock but also
because of the strange animistic religion they
practiced. The Ainu religion was one of the last
‘Bear Cults’ to survive into the 19th Century.
Despite the pulp image of Samurai and Ninja clans
operating in Japan in the 1930’s, the feudal age of
Japan really ended with the Meiji restoration of
1868. Japan of this new era was a nation struggling
to become modern, despite suffering economic
45
disaster from both the Great Depression and the
powerful Kanto Earthquake of 1930.
Though the land was ruled by Emperor Hirohito,
it was controlled by a network of political groups,
secret societies, and cults. Power brokering
was commonplace, but the military, through
assassination and persecution, amassed power
through the decade.
In 1931, China’s warring factions began to expand
power into Japanese-claimed Manchuria. This gave
the military an easy excuse to consolidate power,
as well as reclaim Manchuria by force. After heavy
criticism for its actions, Japan pulled out of the
already-weak League of Nations in 1933.
By 1936 there are threats and rumors of war with
China, and even the most devout pulp heroes are
reluctant to take but a few assignments into the
heart of Japan.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian colonies of Great Britain covered
the entire continent and the surrounding islands. By
the late 1800s, the colonies were: New South Wales,
Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South
Australia, the Northern Territory, New Zealand, and
Tasmania. Many of the early British immigrants to
Australia were prisoners, sent to the far outreaches
of the empire as punishment for a variety of crimes.
By 1868 penal transportations officially ended,
though they had been sparse for several years before
that.
The discovery of gold in New South Wales in 1851
and in Victoria shortly after that brought a surge
of both population and prosperity. During the gold
rush, many people from England, Ireland, China,
and the United States came to Australia to discover
not only gold but creatures that defied description.
Kangaroos, koala, kookaburra, emu, and platypus
were just a few of the strange things they found.
The strangest things encountered by the new
inhabitants of Australia were the old inhabitants, the
aboriginals of Australia.
These strange people, living in “primitive” nomadic
groups, were a great puzzle to the newcomers. How
did they get to the isolated continent? How did they
develop their strange customs? And should they
be given rights and privileges of the “civilized”
colonists? The aborigines’ oral history, their talk of
the ancient era known as the Dreamtime, all seemed
to be a collection of myths and legends to the
English colonists. The boomerang and the strange
musical instruments used by the aborigines added
further mystery to these already curious people.
The vast deserts, crocodile filled mangrove
swamps, thick tropical jungles, and sweeping
grasslands make Australia a diverse environment for
exploration. The largely unexplored desert regions
could be host to ancient ruins, lost cities, or even
gateways to the aboriginal Dreamtime.
ANTARCTICA
At the south end of the world is the frozen continent
of Antarctica, twice the size of Australia and almost
entirely empty of life. It is the coldest place on
Earth, covered by a crust of ice with an average
depth of over a mile. Temperatures range from
-89 ˚C (-128 ˚F) to a maximum of 5 ˚C (41 ˚F) at
the coast during the summer. Despite the abundance
of ice and snow, it is also the driest place on Earth,
as the sub-zero temperatures freeze the moisture out
of the air.
46
Poetically referred to as “the Land of the White
Death” by some explorers, Antarctica has no native
people, and precious little plant or animal life.
What human life there is, is restricted to whaling
stations inhabited during the summer, and scientific
exploration teams. Animal life is strictly limited
to the coastal area, and consists of seals, penguins,
birds, fish and the occasional orca and colossal
squid. Plant life is limited to lichens and fungi.
Rumors of a hole in the middle of the continent,
leading into the Earth’s interior, have persisted for
years. No one has ever returned from an expedition
with evidence of the legendary hole, or at least no
one was ever believed. Stories also persist of a lost
world; a region of tropical environs surrounded by
nearly impenetrable mountains.
 THE PULP YEARS
T
his chapter is not a complete history on the Pulp
Era, it is an overview of the things that happened
during the period, a timeline and a general sense
of what is what. There are many other books both
in reference and roleplaying games that go into
much more detail on the era than we have gone into
here, and any of them can be used as supplemental
material to a Pulp Fantastic campaign.
INTERESTING
TIMES
The “pulp era” is a little difficult to pin down. Pulps
themselves, in one form or another, existed since
the late 1800’s with fantastic tales and adventures
drawn from the Old West and far-away places being
sold to readers in New England and Britain.
Tales of courage, daring, and science were
popularized through the turn of the century, the
Great War, and well beyond. But the pulps hit
its stride in the 1930’s, as many people turned to
cheaper entertainment to try and escape the rigors
of the Great Depression and the political upheavals
happening all over the world.
For many, this decade between the wars would
define the Pulp genre.
THE GREAT WAR
The ‘War to End all Wars’ started with the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914,
though it had been a long time in coming. Tensions
between various European powers had been
escalating and brewing for years. Skirmishes were a
common occurrence as old nobilities vied for power
over one-another. The assassination was simply
a match in a room full of gas. Everything simply
exploded.
47
War was far from new in Europe, but this war
would change everything. New weapons were
brought to the field, including tanks, aircraft, and
the horror of chemical weapons. Nearly twenty
million people would die in the Great War’s four
years, devastating the European powers. The cost of
war was simply too high for the ‘old world’ mindset
to continue.
The end of the war found Germany as the defeated
instigator, much of the rest of Europe in ruins, and
the United States both victorious and relatively
unscathed. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war,
laying all the blame at Germany’s feet. It also
established the League of Nations, a political body
that was supposed to mediate disputes between
nations. It only had modest success, even at its
inception.
For better or worse, the Great War had
accomplished bringing in the Pulp age. But it had
done little to settle the disputes in Europe and
invited even more. Skirmishes and government
upheavals would last for the next twenty years,
bringing rise to Fascism and Communism. The old
‘class system’ was falling apart as the workers of
the world, who had suffered the most in the war,
were no longer content with their nobility. The ‘War
to End All Wars’ concluded with an even more
unstable world largely in economic collapse, and
seemed to ensure that more, even more vicious wars
would be coming.
THE ROARING 20’S
For the United States, the 1920’s seemed like a
period of great promise. Though Prohibition had led
to dramatic increases in crime, they were considered
to be good times.
The United States didn’t suffer as badly in the
‘Great War’ as Europe. Indeed, most of Europe
owed the United States great amounts of money.
Cities hadn’t been brought to their knees and
required rebuilding. Unlike the rest of the world,
everything in the United States was up and running.
With enthusiasm bordering on delirium, Americans
charged to the future. Scientific achievement was
often celebrated without often being understood.
Technology promised cures for every disease, as
well as a new convenient gadget for any worldly
inconvenience. Companies spent millions buying
into the idea.
Movies had changed entertainment as well, bringing
the glamor and glitz of a new age of celebrities, as
well as some mindless fun over the weekends at the
matinee. In the homes, radio programs of music,
comedy and sports brought people together in a way
that hadn’t happened before. It really seemed that
the miracles of technology and ‘new science’ were
reshaping the world.
But beneath the wood grain and brass gadgetry,
however, lied a different image, even in the
incredibly optimistic America. Crime and
corruption were rampant. Labor Unions had turned
to organized crime for muscle and were easily
infiltrated by Communist insurgents. Prohibition
and dramatic corruption had destroyed public
confidence in the government and police. Everyone
seemed to be drinking, and they were in much larger
numbers than before prohibition set in. Things got
so bad in Chicago that the city is still known for its
booze-smuggling gangsters, a full eighty years later.
On top of this, race relations were atrocious in the
states, and not just for black men. Due to economic
disaster in the rest of the world, immigrants came
to American shores by the millions. Trouble is,
there weren’t that many jobs even in the land of
prosperity. Small ethnic clashes over work and older
disputes erupted frequently.
Race relations in the south were even worse. Many
sons of the Confederacy had power, and weren’t too
fond of the black race that they blamed the Civil
War upon. Segregation was the law, and any man,
regardless of color, often had more to worry about
than just getting arrested. Racial tolerance was
nearly unheard of.
The decade of American excess may have been
good times for some. All that excess, however,
came at a terrible cost, and the worst of it was just
around the corner.
48
Black Thursday
Though most of Europe struggled
in the 1920’s, America had enjoyed
a tremendous financial boom. The
Great War that had devastated
Europe barely touched the Americas,
and all the new science and
technology that the war brought was
being applied to civilian life. New and
greater uses of electricity promised
a brighter and greater future for all.
Banks and citizens invested millions
hoping to cash on the next new
technological or medical innovation
that promised to change the world.
And, for a while, things were well
and good. But the euphoria of the
time was reckless. The first sign, for
America, that trouble was coming
was the Dustbowls of the Midwest.
Terrible farming habits and a windy
drought had eroded the earth,
devastating crops. Precious, fertile
land was literally blowing away in
a choking wind. Farm after farm
failed, destroying that aspect of the
American economy.
Technology too was floundering.
Despite great achievements, the
demands of the investors, and
the promises of the scientists, just
couldn’t possibly be met. Enthusiasm
became frustration, and the sell-
offs began. The decline started
most severely on 24 October 1929.
Seeking to escape disappointing
markets, investors began to cash out
in large amounts. The ‘boom’ was
going ‘bust’. By 29 October 1929,
the infamous ‘Black Thursday’,
the bottom had dropped out of the
market, despite J.P. Morgan’s last-
minute attempt to shore it up.

..continued
Citizens that had invested heavily
couldn’t manage to sell their now
near-worthless stocks, and often
lost their homes. Businesses folded
from their losses, causing dramatic
unemployment. Even worse, many
banks had overextended into the
markets and were unable to pay
their member’s accounts, destroying
the personal savings of millions.
Within a few months of Black
Tuesday, the United States had
joined in the Great Depression. Even
worse, since the United States was
one of the few nations supporting the
struggling nations within Europe,
the already-destitute economies
collapsed even farther without its
aid. The party that was the Roaring
20’s had left one heck of a hangover.
TIMELINE •
1901 – 1939
1901
• Queen Victoria dies. Prince Albert Edward
becomes King Edward VII.
• The Boston Gun Club builds a large cannon in
Florida (United States) which they say will be
used for exploration of the Moon. The firing of
the canon attracts the attention of the war-like,
space faring Martians, who have spent decades
preparing for an invasion of Earth.
• Creatures believed to be from the planet Mars
invade Great Britain; they are seemingly
defeated by terrestrial bacteria but are in truth
killed by an unknown synthetic toxin. Smaller
Martian taskforces land in China and the United
States. The invasion of Britain is chronicled by
H.G. Wells, but due to the efforts of the Invisible •
College, much of the world regards his report
as a work of fiction. In response to the Martian
49
attack, President McKinley signs an Executive
Order creating Division 4, the American
version of the British MI7 group.
• President William McKinley of the United
States is assassinated.
• Sam McCord strikes the largest gold strike in
the Alaskan Territories.
1902
• 5 workers killed in an explosion during IRT
subway construction (New York City).
• American Automobile Association, AAA,
founded in Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1st motion picture theater opens in Los
Angeles. Denmark is 1st country to adopt
fingerprinting to identify criminals.
• Sherlock Holmes investigates the “Adventure
of Shoscombe Old Place.” Cuba gains
independence from Spain.
• President Teddy Roosevelt became 1st U.S.
chief executive to ride in a car.
Trans-Pacific cable links Hawaii to US. Boers
and British army sign peace treaty.
1903
• San Francisco - Hawaii telegraph cable opens
for public use. Harry Houdini performs at
Rembrandt Theater, Amsterdam. 1st regular
transatlantic radio broadcast between U.S. and
England. Harry Houdini escapes police station
Halvemaansteeg in Amsterdam.
• The killer known as “The Hoxton Creeper”
resurfaces in London after being presumed
dead for over five years following an encounter
with Sherlock Holmes. By means unknown the
brutish back-breaker finds his way to America,
apparently tracking the notorious Borgia
Pearl after its sale to an unknown American
millionaire. Over the next three decades, for
reasons unknown, he will find and murder
every owner of the Pearl.
Ford Motor Corporation and Pepsi Cola
Company both form.
• Joe Pulitzer donates $1 million to Columbia
University and begins Pulitzer Prizes.
• First motorized flight performed at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina by two bicycle makers
from Ohio, Wilber and Orville Wright. Fire at
Chicago’s Iriquois Theater kills 602.
1904
• Russo-Japanese War begins between Russia
and Japan, with Japan launching a surprise
attack on Port Arthur. The United States of
America gains control of the Panama Canal
Zone.
• Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the
first person to make a political recording of a
document, using Thomas Edison’s cylinder.
Russian troops in Korea retreat toward
Manchuria, followed by 100,000 Japanese
troops.
• The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s
Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri. People claim
that Government agencies chased a “Beast
Man” through the fair. The government flatly
denies any such activity.
• U.S. Army engineers begin work on The
Panama Canal.
• Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the
first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
• The third Modern Olympic Games opens in
St. Louis, Missouri as part of the World’s Fair.
The British expedition under Colonel Francis
Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet.
• The Russian Baltic Fleet fires on British
trawlers it mistakes for Japanese torpedo boats
in the North Sea. The first underground line of
the New York City Subway opens.
• Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt
defeats Democrat Alton B. Parker. The first
successful caterpillar track is made (it later
revolutionizes construction vehicles and land
warfare).
1905
• Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an
50
elected assembly (the Duma). U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt begins a full term. Russian
troops begin to retreat from Mukden after
losing 100,000 troops in 3 days. The Japanese
capture of Mukden (now Shenyang) completes
the rout of Russian armies in Manchuria.
• Albert Einstein works on the special theory
of relativity as well as the theory of Brownian
motion.
• The Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro
Togo destroys the Russian fleet under Admiral
Zinovi Petrovich Rozhdestvenski in a 2-day
battle.
• The Norwegian Parliament declares the union
with Sweden dissolved, and Norway achieves
full independence.
• Russo-Japanese War ends results in disastrous
defeat for Russia; a treaty mediated by U.S.
President Theodore Roosevelt is signed by
victor Japan and Russia. Russia cedes the
island of Sakhalin and port and rail rights in
Manchuria to Japan, and major civil unrest at
home for Russia.
• The Wright Brothers’ third airplane (Wright
Flyer III) stays in the air for 39 minutes with
Wilbur piloting. This is the first airplane flight
lasting over 1/2 an hour. Tsar Nicholas II is
forced to grant Russia’s first constitution,
conceding a national assembly (Duma) with
limited powers.
• Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon
VII of Norway.
1906
• British launch HMS Dreadnaught, first
“dreadnought” class battleship.
• Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
• Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated. He is reinstalled
in the French Army on July 21, thus ending the
Dreyfus Affair.
• The first Victor Victrola, a phonographic record
player, is manufactured.
• Thomas Carnacki, psychical researcher,
is nearly killed during the “Black Veil”
investigation. Dr Ronald Aster, a colleague,
dies of fright after refusing to take protective
measures.
• The first German submarine, U-1, enters the
German Imperial Navy.
• On 18th April, a massive earthquake strikes
San Francisco. The quake and the subsequent
fires destroy over 80% of the city and kill more
than 3000 people.
1907
• Elections to the new Parliament of Finland are
the first in the world with woman candidates,
as well as the first elections in Europe where
universal suffrage is applied. Nineteen women
are elected. The first taxicabs with taxi meters
begin operating in London.
• Korea becomes a protectorate of Japan.
• Parties led by T. W. Edgeworth David became
the first to climb Mount Erebus and to reach the
South Magnetic Pole.
1908
• A long-distance radio message is sent from the
Eiffel Tower for the first time.
• The Tunguska event, also known as the Russian
explosion, occurs near the Podkamennaya
Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Siberia,
Russian Empire. The cause of the explosion is
never determined, though theories range from
the explosion of an extraterrestrial craft to the
impact of cometary debris. Shortly after the
explosion, the first samples of Element X are
discovered.
• Robert Peary sets sail for the North Pole,
ordered by his superiors in Division 4 to
investigate the source of strange radio signals.
• At Ft. Myer, Virginia, U.S.A. Thomas Selfridge
becomes the first person to die in an airplane
crash. The pilot, Orville Wright, is severely
injured in the crash but recovers. Henry Ford
produces his first Model T automobile.
51
• Thomas Carnacki files a patent for his “Electric
Pentacle”.
• Western bandits Butch Cassidy and The
Sundance Kid are supposedly killed in Bolivia,
after being surrounded by a large group of
soldiers. There are many rumors to the contrary
however, and their grave sites are unmarked.
• A 40,000-year-old Neanderthal boy skeleton is
found at Le Moustier in southwest France.
• Professor George Edward Challenger mounts
a solo expedition to South America, during
which he claims to have discovered evidence
that several dinosaur species have survived
into the modern day. His evidence is scoffed
at by scientific authorities, and the intense
interest (and mockery) of the press results in
Challenger assaulting several journalists.
1909
• William Howard Taft succeeds Theodore
Roosevelt to become the 27th President of the
United States. Einar Dessau uses a short-wave
radio transmitter, becoming the first radio
broadcaster. Theodore Roosevelt leaves New
York for a post-presidency safari in Africa. The
trip is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution
and National Geographic Society.
• Robert Peary, Matthew Henson, and four
Eskimo explorers come within a few miles of
the North Pole. They discover a previously
unknown Martian advance base, what they
discover inside is classified Above Top Secret.
• Louis Bleriot is the first man to fly across the
English Channel (thus a large open body of
water) in a heavier-than-air craft.
• The U.S. Navy founds a navy base in Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.
• King Albert I of Belgium succeeds his uncle,
Leopold II, on the throne.
1910
• Comet Halley is visible from Earth.
• Edward VII of England dies from an unknown
lung condition. George V succeeds him as
 King of England. History records the disease
that kills Edward VII as bronchitis. Privately,
physicians suspect a pathogen left over from
the Martian invasion of 1901.
• The DELAG Zeppelin dirigible, Deutschland,
makes the first commercial passenger flight
from Friedrichshafen to Düsseldorf in
Germany. The flight takes nine hours.
• A wireless telegraph sent from the SS Montrose
results in the identification, arrest and execution
of murderer Dr. Hawley Crippen.
• Portugal becomes a republic; King Manuel II of
Portugal flees to England.
• Professor Challenger mounts a second
expedition to South America, accompanied by
Lord John Roxton, Edward Dunn Malone and
Professor Arthur Summerlee, and discovers
Maple White Land, the fabled “Lost World”.
On their return, Challenger presents a live
pterodactyl to the Royal Zoological Institute.
Despite the creature escaping, Challenger is
vindicated.
1911
• In London, in what becomes known as the
Siege of Sidney Street, the Metropolitan Police
and the Scots Guards engage in a shootout with
a criminal gang of Latvian anarchists held up in
a building in the East End.
• The United States Army formally adopts the
M1911 pistol as its standard sidearm, thus
giving the gun its 1911 designation.
• Pancho Villa launches an attack against
government troops in Ciudad Juarez without
Madero’s permission. Government troops
surrender May 10.
• Thomas Carnacki gains wide notoriety when
an investigation of an apparently haunted ship
ends with the destruction of the vessel under
mysterious circumstances.
• The liner RMS Olympic, sister ship to the RMS
Titanic, collides with the Royal Navy cruiser
HMS Hawke outside Southampton, England.
52
Sabotage to the Olympics steering mechanism
by the Order of Victoria is suspected.
• George V of the United Kingdom and Mary
of Teck are crowned as Emperor of India and
Empress Consort, respectively, in New Delhi.
1912
• New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
British polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott and
a team of 4 become the second expeditionary
group to reach the South Pole.
• Arizona is admitted as the 48th U.S. state.
• On April 10, the British ocean liner, RMS
Titanic, leaves on her maiden voyage for
New York, three days later she will strike
and iceberg and sink to the bottom of the
ocean, taking with her the lives of more than
1,500 people. Again the Order of Victoria is
suspected.
• The 1912 Summer Olympics open in
Stockholm, Sweden.
• While campaigning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot by
saloonkeeper John Schrank. With a fresh flesh
wound and the bullet still in him, Roosevelt
delivers his scheduled speech. After finishing
his speech, he is admitted to hospital, where it
is deduced that if he had not had his speech in
his breast pocket when he was shot, he most
likely would have died.
• Woodrow Wilson wins a landslide victory over
Republican incumbent William Howard Taft.
Taft’s base is undercut by Progressive Party
candidate (and former Republican) Theodore
Roosevelt, who finishes second, ahead of Taft.
• Edward Dunn Malone, assisted by Arthur
Conan Doyle, publishes The Lost World, his
account of the Maple White Land expedition of
1910.
1913
• The United State Congress passes the Income
Tax amendment to the US Constitution.
• The United States Congress passes the (500,000 killed/wounded) in the Allied victory.
Senatorial Election amendment to the US China declares neutrality.
Constitution.
• British and German soldiers interrupt World
• Thomas Carnacki publishes a paper detailing War I to celebrate Christmas, beginning the
the workings of his “Mentaphone”, a device for Christmas truce.
detecting and recording mental impulses.

• The 50th anniversary commemoration of

the Battle of Gettysburg draws thousands of
American Civil War veterans and their families
to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

• The Federal Reserve is created by Woodrow

Wilson.

• The British steamship Calvadas disappears in

the Marmara Sea with 200 hands on board.

1914
• Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, American
editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and
satirist, disappears while traveling with Pancho
Villa, documenting the Mexican Civil War, and
is never seen again.

• Katherine Routledge and her husband arrive in

Easter Island to make the first true study of it.
(They depart August 1915).

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the throne of

the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife are
assassinated in Sarajevo.

• The Signal Corps of the United States Army is

formed, giving definite status to its air service
for the first time. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
orders a full mobilization against Austria-
Hungary.

• Germany, an ally of Austria-Hungary, declares

war on Russia and demands the neutrality
of Russia’s ally France; France refuses and
mobilizes.

• No member of the Triple Entente (Britain,

France, or Russia) may seek a separate peace
with the Central Powers. First Battle of the
Marne: Northeast of Paris, the French 6th
Army under General Maunoury attacks German
forces nearing Paris. Over 2 million fight

53

1915
• The first use of poison gas in WW1, by
Germany at Bolimow in Poland.
• The United States House of Representatives
rejects a proposal to give women the right to
vote.
• German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great
Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United
Kingdom for the first time, killing more than 20.
• Germany declares a submarine blockade of
Great Britain. Any ship approaching England is
considered a legitimate target.
• The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German
U-boat, killing 1,198.
• The Pennsylvania Railroad begins electrified
commuter rail service between Paoli and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using overhead AC
trolley wires for power. This type of system
is later used in long-distance passenger trains
between New York City, Washington, D.C., and
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
• The first prototype tank is tested for the British
Army for the first time.
• Former cartoonist John B. Gruelle is given a
patent for his Raggedy Ann doll.
• The U.S. recognizes the Mexican government
of Venustiano Carranza de facto.
• The governments of Britain and France secretly
agree to overtake the Middle-Eastern regions
of the Ottoman Empire (mostly Syria and Iraq),
and establish their own zones of influence.
1916
• Paris is bombed by German zeppelins for the
first time.
• The Battle of Verdun begins in France.
• Pancho Villa leads about 500 Mexican raiders
in an attack against Columbus, New Mexico,
killing 12 U.S. soldiers. A garrison of the U.S.
13th Cavalry Regiment fights back and drives
them away. President Woodrow Wilson sends
54
12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-
Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa; the 13th
Cavalry regiment enters Mexican territory. The
U.S. 7th and 10th Cavalry regiments under
John J. Pershing cross the border to join the
hunt for Villa; however, Pershing’s real mission
was to capture a Mayan crystal skull from Villa
by any means necessary.
• The light switch is invented by William J.
Newton and Morris Goldberg.
• The British 47th Brigade, 16th Irish Division
is decimated in one of the most heavily
concentrated German gas attacks of the war.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill
incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
• Portugal joins the Allies.
• British pilot William Leefe-Robinson becomes
the first to shoot down a German airship over
Britain.
• Press magnate Charles Foster Kane runs for
governor of New York State and loses.
1917
• President Woodrow Wilson calls for “peace
without victory” in Europe.
• The United States severs diplomatic relations
with Germany.
• Mata Hari is arrested for spying.
• United States ambassador to the United
Kingdom, Walter H. Page, is shown the
intercepted Zimmermann Telegram, in
which Germany offers to give the American
Southwest back to Mexico if Mexico declares
war on the United States.
• Professor Challenger and Lord Roxton take
a second expedition to Maple White Land,
returning with dinosaur eggs, diamonds and a
small amount of Element X.
• The Russian Tsar is overthrown, Provincial
Government under Alexander Kerensky now in
place.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S.
Congress for a declaration of war on Germany,
and they grant it.
• The workers of Petrograd in Russia, led by the
Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, attack the
Kerensky Provisional Government.
1918
• President Woodrow Wilson declares his 14
points as the path to permanent world peace.
• Germany, Austria and Bolshevist Russia sign
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia’s
involvement in the war. Moscow becomes the
capital of Soviet Russia.
• Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous “Red
Baron”, is killed in an aerial dog-fight.
• Grand Duke Michael Romanov is murdered,
thereby becoming the first of the Romanovs to
55
be murdered by the Bolsheviks.
• In the Argonne Forest in France, U.S. Corporal
Alvin C. York almost single-handedly kills 25
German soldiers and captures 132.
• At eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of
the eleventh month of 1918, the war ends as
Germany and Allies sign an Armistice.
• President Woodrow Wilson departs by ship to
the Paris Peace Conference, becoming the first
United States President to travel to any foreign
country while holding office.
1919
• The United States Congress approves the 19th
Amendment to the United States Constitution,
which would guarantee suffrage to women, and
sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
• League of Nations formed, the USA is not a
member.
• The United States fails to ratify a peace
treaty with Germany and sues for a
separate peace.
• John Moses Browning finalizes the design
for the M1919 .30 (30-06) caliber medium
machine gun, the first widely distributed
and practical air-cooled medium machine
gun introduced to the US Military. It
receives an official designation and
production is started in the same year, a
very uncommon happening.
1920
• Prohibition goes into effect in the United
States as the “Law of the Land” by the
passage of the 18th Amendment to the
Constitution the following year.
• Pancho Villa takes over Sabina and
contacts de la Huerta to offer his
conditional surrender. He signs his
surrender on July 28.
• The Nineteenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution is passed, guaranteeing
 women’s suffrage.
• A bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of
the J. P. Morgan building in New York City,
killing 38 and injuring 400.
• The first domestic radio sets come to stores in
the United States; a Westinghouse radio costs
$10.
• The League of Nations moves its headquarters
to Geneva, Switzerland.
• In Geneva, the first assembly of the League of
Nations is held.
• The Brussels Conference establishes a
timetable for German war reparations intended
to extend for over 42 years.
1921
• Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th
President of the United States.
• The Allies of World War I reparations
commission announces that Germany has to
pay 132 billion gold marks ($33 trillion) in
annual installments of 2.5 billion.
• During an Armistice Day ceremony at
Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of
the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President
Warren G. Harding.
• Russian Civil War ends after three years with
Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, in full
control.
1922
• President of the United States Warren G.
Harding introduces the first radio in the White
House.
• United States commissions its first aircraft
carrier, the USS Langley.
• Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary
of the Central Committee of the Soviet
Communist Party.
• U.S. President Warren G. Harding makes his
first speech on the radio.
56
• United States and Germany sign the Treaty
of Berlin, officially ending the state of war
between the two countries.
• Benito Mussolini becomes the youngest
Premier in the history of Italy.
• British archaeologist Howard Carter discovers
the tomb of Tutankhamen in Egypt’s Valley
of the Kings. When he enters the tomb on
November 21, along with Lord Carnarvon, he
is the first person to step into the tomb in over
3,000 years.
1923
• Juan de la Cierva invents the autogyro, a
rotary-winged aircraft with an unpowered rotor.
• Pancho Villa is assassinated.
• In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first American
airship, the USS Shenandoah, takes to the sky
for the first time.
• Roy and Walt Disney found The Walt Disney
Company.
• Warren G. Harding dies in office and is
succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, as President of
the United States.
• In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an
unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German
government; police and troops crush the
attempt the next day.
• The crown prince of Japan survives an
assassination attempt in Tokyo.
1924
• Following the death of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph
Stalin immediately begins to purge his rivals to
clear the way for his leadership.
• Adolf Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in jail for
his participation in the Beer Hall Putsch (he
serves only 8 months).
• Harry Grindell Matthews demonstrates his
new weapon, the death ray, in London but
fails to convince the British War Office of its
importance; however, he does gain the attention
of MI7.
• J. Edgar Hoover is appointed head of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
• U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian
Citizenship Act of 1924 into law, granting
citizenship to all Native Americans born within
the territorial limits of the United States.
• Zeppelin LZ-126 makes a transatlantic delivery
flight from Friedrichshafen, Germany, to
Lakehurst, New Jersey.
• U.S. bootleggers begin to use Thompson
submachine guns.
1925
• Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf (My
Struggle) in Germany.
• Benito Mussolini begins his rise to power in
Italy.
• Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as President of the
United States. His inauguration is the first to be
broadcast by radio.
• The Tri-State Tornado devastates Missouri,
Illinois and Indiana. Nearly 700 are killed, and
over 2000 injured. In the aftermath, Baron Ace
Franklin’s Air Cavalry fly supplies and aid to
stricken communities.
• Tuberculosis vaccination programs begin in the
United States.
• The “Great Race of Mercy” ships diptheria
antitoxin across Alaska by dog sled to fight an
outbreak of the disease.
• Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signs the
Butler Act, making the teaching of evolution in
state schools illegal.
• The Geneva Protocol against Chemical and
Bacteriological Warfare is produced by the
Conference on the International Arms Trade.
Both the United States and the Empire of Japan
refuse to sign.
• Arkansas passes a law making pre-marital sex
illegal.
• The Treasury Department estimates that only
5% of the liquor smuggled into the United
57
States is intercepted by law enforcement and
customs officials.
• British explorer Percy Fawcett disappears while
exploring the Amazon jungle.
• Charles Francis Jenkins successfully
demonstrates his “radiovision” in public.
• British race driver Malcolm Campbell breaks
the land speed record, exceeding 150 mph at
Pendine Sands in Wales.
• The Ku Klux Klan marches in Washington DC,
with an estimated 35,000 attending.
• The Schutzstaffel (SS) are founded by Adolf
Hitler to act as his personal guard.
• Russia and Japan sign an agreement to end
hostilities left over from the Russo-Japanese
war of 1904-5. In exchange for oil and coal
concessions, Japan agrees to withdraw its
troops from Sakhalin Island.
• The infamous German serial killer Fritz
Haarmann, known as “The Vampire of
Hanover”, is beheaded for the murder of at least
24 young boys and men. Haarmann’s favored
technique was to bite out the throats of his
victims, and it is believed after dismembering
the bodies he sold some of the flesh as pork or
horse meat.
• John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching
evolution in violation of Tennessee state law,
despite a spirited defense by lawyer Clarence
Darrow. Scopes is fined $100 and is ordered to
pay court costs.
• The hydrocarbon synthesis necessary for the
development of synthetic oil (the Fischer-
Tropsch reaction) is discovered in Germany.
• At the age of 77, retired Field Marshal Paul von
Hindenburg is elected president of Germany.
Former Crown Prince Wilhelm hails this as an
opportunity for the restoration of the German
monarchy.
• US Navy dirigible Shenandoah crashes near
Caldwell, Ohio, killing 14 crew.
• John Logie Baird successfully transmits
television images in London. Rumors persist
that the first transmission attempts instead
received strange images of another world.
1926
• A lightning strike ignites the Picatinny Arsenal
in New Jersey. Over the next 2-3 days, several
million pounds of explosives detonate, causing
widespread destruction.
• Boxing champion Gene Tunney defeats
Jack Dempsey in Philadelphia to become
Heavyweight Champion of the World. The
bout last 10 rounds and takes place outdoors in
heavy rain.
• Explorers Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett
claim to be the first men to fly over the North
Pole in a monoplane, in a flight lasting over 15
hours. Some mechanics express skepticism,
claiming that the plane could not have made the
trip in so short a time.
• Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Treaty
of Berlin, pledging neutrality should either
party attack another country in the next 5 years.
• At Auburn, Massachusetts, Robert Goddard
successfully launches the first liquid-fuel
rocket.
• General Francisco Franco becomes dictator of
Spain, Theodoros Pangalos becomes dictator in
Greece, while General Óscar Carmona seizes
power in Portugal.
• Assassins fail to kill Italian Fascist leader
Benito Mussolini.
• African American pilot Bessie Coleman dies
after falling 500 feet from an airplane.
• Roald Amundsen flies over the North Pole in
his airship, the Norge.
• In the United Kingdom, Martial Law is
declared in response to a general strike in
support of coal miners, ending the strike after
9 days.
• Rudolph Valentino dies suddenly at the age of
58
31, prompting a world-wide wave of grief and
hysteria.
• The Weimar Republic of Germany joins the
League of Nations.
• In Illinois, the North Side Gang attempts the
assassination of Al Capone, firing over 1000
machine gun rounds into his headquarters.
Miraculously, Capone escapes unharmed.
• Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis
after his infected appendix ruptures.
• San Francisco is terrorized by a necrophiliac
serial killer the press dubs “the Gorilla Man”.
• The village of Rocquebillier in France is almost
completely destroyed by a freak hailstorm.
• The Great Miami Hurricane wreaks havoc in
Miami, killing over 100 and causing millions of
dollars of damage.
• British crime novelist Agatha Christie vanishes
from her home in Surrey, re-appearing at a
hotel in Harrogate 12 days later. She claims to
have no memory of the intervening days.
1927
• New Years’ Day: Bad booze causes at least
41 deaths at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
By this point, “bathtub rotgut” has killed over
50,000 people and caused thousands of cases of
blindness and paralysis.
• Al Capone’s income from bootlegging
operations is estimated at $60,000,000 per
annum.
• Fritz Lang’s cinematic vision of the future,
Metropolis, is released in Germany. The
film features state-of-the-art special effects,
including a startlingly realistic robot woman,
rumored to have been inspired by a real “iron
maiden” encountered by Lang in Bavaria.
• After appealing to the Tennessee Supreme
Court, John T Scope’s conviction for teaching
evolution in a Tennessee school is dismissed on
a technicality.
• The first transatlantic telephone call is
transmitted by radio between New York and
London.
• Britain sends troops to China to suppress anti-
foreign riots.
• US Marines invade Nicaragua on the orders of
President Calvin Coolidge and remain stationed
there until 1933.
• The first armored car robbery takes place near
Pittsburgh. The Flatheads Gang gets away with
over $104,000 after detonating a home-made
mine beneath the vehicle.
• Henry Seagrave breaks the land-speed record,
becoming the first man to travel at over 200
mph on land.
• The Great Mississippi Flood puts more than
270,000 square miles of land up to 30 feet
underwater, displacing over 700,000 people.
• Philo Farnsworth successfully transmits the
first electronic television images. All previous
systems have been mechanical.
• Andrew Kehoe, a 55-year-old school board
treasurer, murders his wife and firebombs his
farm, before detonating incendiary devices
placed in and around the Bath Consolidated
School Building in Michigan. The explosions
kill 38 children and two teachers. Kehoe
then kills himself and several bystanders
by triggering shrapnel-wrapped explosives
concealed in his truck. Investigators later state
that his plan had taken months to conceive and
execute.
• Charles Lindbergh is the first man to fly non-
stop across the Atlantic, from New York to
Paris, in his aircraft Spirit of St. Louis. The
flight takes 33 hours and 30 minutes.
• The Gulang Earthquake in northwest China
kills over 40,000.
• A new island, Anak Krakatau, begins to emerge
from the site of the Krakatoa eruption of 1883.
• The Soviet ambassador to Poland, Pyotr
Voykov, is murdered.
59
• Italian American anarchists Bartolomeo
Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco are executed by
electric chair, despite world-wide protests.
• Aviator Paul R. Redfern crashes in the
Venezuelan jungle while attempting a solo non-
stop flight from Georgia to Rio de Janeiro, and
is never seen again.
• The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting
System (later shortened to the Columbia
Broadcasting System, or CBS) goes on the air
with a network of 47 radio stations.
• Work begins on the Mount Rushmore National
Monument. It will not be completed until 1941.
• A chasm opens beneath the mining town of
Worthington, Ontario, swallowing a mine
and much of the town. No-one is killed or
injured, as the town had been evacuated due to
unexplained tremors.
• Three gas storage tanks in Pittsburgh explode,
killing 26 and causing almost $5 million in
damage.
• The Ford Model A automobile is unveiled as
the successor to the Model T.
• US Navy submarine S-4 is accidentally
rammed and sunk in a collision with a Coast
Guard cutter, all hands lost.
• The Jazz Singer, the first talking motion picture
with synchronized sound and dialogue, is
released to theatres.
• Princess Elizabeth of York, destined to
be Queen Elizabeth II, is born in London,
England.
• The Stork Club opens on New York’s 53rd
street.
• Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season
for the New York Yankees.
• Duke Ellington and his orchestra start a four-
year run at The Cotton Club in Harlem, New
York City.
• Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev are ejected
from the Soviet Politburo, cementing Josef
Stalin’s control of Russia.
 • Assassins attempt to kill Benito Mussolini by
1928 bomb, killing 17 bystanders. Mussolini escapes
• The novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. unhurt.
Lawrence, is banned in the United Kingdom on
• Federal Reserve withdraws $80 billion from the
grounds of obscenity.
US Government.
• During the Summer Olympic Games in
• Scottish microbiologist Dr Alexander
Amsterdam, women’s events are featured for
Fleming discovers penicillin after accidentally
the first time.
contaminating a staphylococcus colony.
• Experimental results reported by British
• Herbert Hoover is elected president of the
bacteriologist Dr Frederick Griffith indirectly
United States after decisively defeating the
prove the existence of DNA.
Democratic candidate, Al Smith.
• Dodge Brothers merge with Chrysler. The
• The United Kingdom lowers the voting age for
De Soto and the Plymouth models both
women to 21, giving them equal voting rights
launch later in the year. Riding high on these
with men for the first time.
successes, Chrysler announce their plans for a
new headquarters in Midtown, Manhattan, to • The first regular television broadcasts begin,
be known as the Chrysler Building. from General Electric’s station W2XB in
Schenectady, New York. Broadcasts are for two
• John Logie Baird successfully transmits a
hours, three times a week.
television signal across the Atlantic to New
York. • The first commercial television sets go on sale.
Priced at $75, only the very rich can afford
• 65 nations, including the United States, sign the
them.
Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact in Paris.
• Stock market breaks and falls in June but
• The Third International Congress of Eugenics
recovers quickly. Market breaks again
is held in New York. At the conference, Dr.
December 7, but once again recovers. Trading
Theodore R. Robie calls for the sterilization of
volume reaches almost seven million.
14 million Americans with low IQ scores. The
proposal is widely supported. • Aviatrix Amelia Earhart becomes the first
woman to cross the Atlantic, as a passenger in
• The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin – Germany’s
a Fokker Trimoter airliner, piloted by Wilmer
hydrogen-filled, 776ft -long dirigible – arrives
Stultz.
at Lakehurst, N.J. after her maiden transatlantic
flight. The journey takes 111 hours. • The Italian Air Force dirigible Italia crashes
at the North Pole, prompting an international
• North of Los Angeles, the St. Francis Dam
rescue mission.
fails. The resulting flood kills 600 people.
• Australian aviator Charles Kingford makes the
• Charles Lindbergh receives the Medal of Honor
first successful crossing of the Pacific, from the
in recognition of his achievement in crossing
United States to Australia, by plane.
the Atlantic by plane for the first time.
• The first Mickey Mouse cartoon, “Plane
• The Republican Party primary elections
Crazy”, premieres.
in Chicago are disrupted by 62 bombings,
violence and assassination attempts. Two • At the annual exhibition of the Model
politicians, Giuseppe “Diamond Joe” Esposito Engineers Society in London, England,
and Octavius C. Granady, are killed. The inventor W.H. Richards exhibits Eric, the
election becomes known as the “Pineapple first humanoid robot. Consisting of a suit of
Primary” due to the use of hand grenades in the aluminium armor moved by electromagnets,
violence.

60
 Eric can be activated by remote control or voice
control.
• John Logie Baird demonstrates color television
for the first time in Glasgow, Scotland.
• Serial killer Carl Panzram is arrested in
Washington DC for burglary. He confesses to
thousands of burglaries and arsons, and dozens
of murders.
• Ahmet Zogu is crowned King Zog I of Albania.
• In Russia, Josef Stalin launches the first 5-year
plan.
• Opus Dei (Prelature of the Holy Cross and
Opus Dei) is founded in Spain by Catholic
priest (and later Saint) Josemaría Escrivá.
• An iron lung respirator is used for the first time
at Children’s Hospital, Boston.
• The International Red Cross and Crescent
Movement is founded.
• The ruins of the Canaanite city of Ugrait are
discovered in northern Syria.
• Hans Geiger and Walther Muller make first
feasible Geiger counter to measure radiation.
Geiger had invented the original device in
1912.
• Professor George Edward Challenger invents
a drilling machine and drills into the Earth
in order to prove his theory that it is a living
being. Unsubstantiated claims are made that
his machine is destroyed by an unknown
subterranean creature, contradicting the claims
of previous deep geological explorers.
1929
• The first Academy Awards are held at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.
The ceremony lasts 15 minutes.
• Belgian comic strip adventurer Tintin debuts
in the pages of Le Petit Vingtième, a children’s
newspaper supplement.
• Italy and the Catholic Holy See sign the
Lateran Treaty, establishing the Vatican City as
an independent state within Rome.
61
• The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre leaves
five members of Chicago’s North Side Gang
and two civilians dead in a Lincoln Park
garage. Al Capone is widely thought to have
ordered the hit against Bugs Moran, but this is
never proven. Moran escapes, having left his
apartment late for the appointment.
• The San Mateo-Hayward toll bridge, at the time
the longest bridge in the world, opens in San
Francisco bay.
• The Young Plan sets Germany’s reparations for
the Great War at over $26 billion, to be paid
over the next 58 years.
• Fritz von Opel flies the first rocket-powered
aircraft in Frankfurt, Germany.
• The Wall Street Crash wipes out over $30
billion from the New York Stock Exchange,
more than ten times the annual Federal budget.
The resulting Great Depression lasts twelve
years and effects every industrialized Western
nation.
• Richard E. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt
Balchen, co-pilot Harold June and
photographer Ashley McKinley, are the first to
fly over the South Pole in a journey taking 18
hours and 41 minutes.
• The old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is demolished
to make way for the construction of the Empire
State Building.
• Hans Geiger and Walther Müller develop
the Geiger- Müller tube, refining the 1908
discovery by Geiger that led to the creation of
the Geiger Counter.
• German psychiatrist Hans Berger publishes
his first paper on the recording of cerebral
electrical activity, leading to the invention of
the electroencephalograph. The paper is widely
ridiculed by the German medical and scientific
establishment.
• Professor Challenger and Edward Malone meet
with Professor Theodore Nemor, who has built
a machine that disintegrates and reintegrates
objects and people. Nemor is never seen
again and the device is seized by the Invisible
 College just prior to agents from MI7 arriving
on the scene.
1930
• The Mickey Mouse comic strip debuts in US
newspapers.
• Scotch tape goes on sale for the first time.
• Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers the
planet Pluto, confirming the prediction made by
Percival Lowell in 1909.
• Mahatma Gandhi begins his campaign of
peaceful civil disobedience in India.
• The Hays Code is instituted in the USA, strictly
limiting cinematic depictions of sex, violence,
crime and religion for the next four decades.
• The Interstate Bakeries Corporation invents and
markets the Twinkie.
• On 18th April, BBC Radio reports from
London “There is no news”.
• Warner Brothers release the first of their
Looney Tunes cartoons to movie theatres.
• Great Britain, Japan and the United States
sign the London Naval Treaty, regulating
submarine warfare and placing limits on naval
shipbuilding.
• Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly
solo from the United Kingdom to Australia.
The flight takes her 19 days.
• The British airship R100 flies from England to
Canada in only 78 hours.
• The Shadow radio drama debuts in the United
States.
• Judge Joseph Crater vanishes in New York
City. He is never seen again.
• The British airship R101 crashes in France
during a thunderstorm, killing 48 of the 54
passengers and crew. Rumors surround the
events of the crash. One has it that it was
carrying a newly discovered Tesla device. Its
whereabouts, if it existed, are unknown and is
presumed to have been destroyed in the fire. A
62
second, less wide-spread rumor, is that the craft
was engaged in secret diplomatic work with an
extraterrestrial visitor. Little evidence is found
to support either story.
• Haile Selassie becomes emperor of Ethiopia.
• Mount Merapi erupts in Indonesia, killing
1,300 people.
• Ruth Wakefield invents the chocolate chip
cookie in Massachusetts.
• Dr Sir John Hamish Watson, former colleague
of Sherlock Holmes, retires from medical
practice at the age of 71, after the death of his
second wife. He moves to a villa on the coast of
California, north of San Francisco, in order to
be close to his remaining family.
1931
• Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, the first
particle accelerator.
• Albert Einstein starts his research at the
California Institute of Technology, alongside
astronomer Edwin Hubble.
• The movie adaptation of Dracula, starring Bela
Lugosi, is released in movie theatres.
• The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the
national anthem of the United States.
• Nevada legalizes gambling.
• The Porsche motor company is founded by
Ferdinand Porsche in Stuttgart.
• Austria’s largest bank, the Creditanstalt,
declares bankruptcy, triggering a worldwide
financial collapse.
• In an attempt to mitigate the banking crisis
from spreading, President Herbert Hoover
issues a one-year moratorium for war-debts and
reparations. Following the failure of Danat-
bank in July, all German banks close until
August to prevent a run on currency.
• Wiley Post and Harold Gatty complete the first
aerial circumnavigation of the globe in a single-
engine aircraft, completing the journey in 8
days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.
• The Jehovah’s Witnesses are founded in
Columbus, Ohio.
• Devastating floods in China kill nearly four
million people in one of the worst natural
disasters in history.
• After being kept a virtual prisoner by her uncle
for months, Geli Raubel, niece of Adolf Hitler,
commits suicide in her apartment.
• The Dick Tracy comic strip debuts in the
Detroit Mirror newspaper.
• The George Washington Bridge opens for
traffic across the Hudson River.
• Mao Zedong declares the creation of the
Chinese Soviet Republic.
• Earthquake damage forces the temporary
closure of the Panama Canal.
• James Whale’s movie adaptation of
Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff, opens in
New York City.
• The Manchurian Incident: Japan stages a
false-flag attack by bombing one of their own
railways and blaming it on Chinese dissidents
as a pretext for invading Manchuria.
• Mahatma Gandhi and the British Viceroy of
India sign the Gandhi-Irwin Pact, bringing to
an end the second civil disobedience campaign.
The British release all non-violent political
prisoners but hang several revolutionary leaders
for conspiracy to murder.
• Construction of the Empire State Building
is completed. Reports that construction
was delayed by sightings of strange robotic
machines and pig-like humanoid creatures in
and around the building remain unsupported.
• Al Capone is arrested and charged with tax
evasion. After a lengthy trial he is eventually
convicted and sentenced to 11 years in federal
prison, is ordered to pay $50,000 plus court
costs, as well as $215,000 in interest on
his back taxes. While in prison, Capone is
diagnosed with syphilis and gonorrhea. He
is eventually shipped to Alcatraz, where he
remains until 1939.
63
• Karl Guthe Jansky, an American physicist and
radio engineer, detects radio waves coming
from the center of the Milky Way galaxy while
working at Bell Labs in New Jersey. His work
becomes the foundation of radio astronomy.
1932
• The Shanghai Incident: 7,000 Japanese troops
clash with the Chinese 19th Route Army
for control of Shanghai after five Japanese
Buddhist monks are attacked. Japanese aircraft
launch from carriers to bomb the city. Facing
stiff resistance from the Chinese, the Japanese
ship an additional 80,000 troops to the area,
rising to 100,000 by February. Unable to
defend against such overwhelming odds, the
Chinese withdraw, and agree with the Japanese
to make the city a demilitarized zone.
• Japan establishes the puppet state of
Manchukuo in Manchuria. Investigations
by the Lytton Commission for the League
of Nations reveal the Japanese deception of
the Manchurian Incident, and they argue that
Manchukuo should not be recognized. In
response, Japan withdraws from the League of
Nations.
• In the United States, unemployment reaches
nearly 14 million. Worldwide the figure is
closer to 30 million.
• A general World Disarmament Conference
begins in Geneva, to answer German demands
for Part V of the Treaty of Versailles to be
abolished.
• The SS Venture returns to New York from Skull
Island with a living specimen of an unknown
species of ape, larger than any previously
recorded. At the first public exhibition of the
creature it breaks free, causing chaos before it
dies in a fall from the top of the Empire State
Building. The body is immediately confiscated
by Division 4, along with all charts and
documentary evidence showing the location of
Skull Island.
• The British submarine HMS M2 is lost with all
hands.
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century debuts as the
first science fiction drama on radio.
• Aldous Huxley publishes the dystopian
scientific romance, Brave New World.
• The FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory
opens in Washington DC.
• The BBC Empire Service begins radio
broadcasts from Daventry, England.
• Junnosuke Inoue, a prominent Japanese
businessman and former governor of the Bank
of Japan is assassinated by the right-wing
extremist terror group, the League of Blood.
• Charles Lindbergh Jr, infant son of aviation
hero Charles Lindbergh, is kidnapped from
the family home. After the ransom of $50,000
is paid, the child is later found dead, causing
a public outcry. Violet Sharp, a servant of the
Lindbergh’s commits suicide by poison under
the pressure of police questioning, but is later
found to have been innocent.
• The United States proclaims the Stimpson
Doctrine, in response to Japanese aggression
in China, stating that it will not recognize
territorial changes executed by force.
• During the Summer Olympic Games in Los
Angeles, a secret arm of the Nazi party attempts
to disrupt the games by killing athletes. They
are thwarted by agents of Division 4.
• Adolf Hitler is granted German citizenship,
allowing him to run in the election for
Reichspräsident.
• Dan Takuma, director of Mitsui Corporation, is
murdered by the League of Blood.
• George Eastman, founder of Kodak, commits
suicide in Rochester, New York.
• Tarzan the Ape Man, starring Olympic
swimming gold medalist Johnny Weismuller,
opens in movie theatres.
• Paul von Hindenberg is re-elected president of
Germany.
• King Faisal I of Iraq orders that the graves of
two companions of the prophet Muhammad
be moved, after he has a dream that they are
discomforted by water.
64
• Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected president of
the United States in a landslide victory over
Herbert Hoover.
• Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to
fly solo across the Atlantic. Her flight from
Newfoundland to Londonderry, Ireland lasts
13.5 hours.
• Jack Benny’s radio show debuts.
• General Kurt von Schleicher conspires with
Adolf Hitler to bring down the German
government. Violent clashes ensue, and
Schleicher convinces the Defense Minister
to resign having lost the confidence of
the Army. Schleicher takes control of the
Defense Ministry. President von Hindenburg
dismisses the chancellor, and establishes a
new government run by his friend, Franz von
Papen. In July the German federal election
sees the Nazis become the largest party in
the Reichstag, winning 37% of the vote.
Hitler immediately meets with Schleicher and
demands he be made chancellor.
• In the German town of Potempa, five
Nazi brownshirts break into the house of a
communist miner, castrate him and beat him
to death in front of his mother. It is only the
beginning.
1933
• Unemployment in the United States reaches 17
million.
• Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins
in San Francisco.
• Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of
Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg.
In a secret meeting with his military leaders,
Hitler outlines his plans for Europe, beginning
with the rearming of Germany in violation of
the Treaty of Versailles.
• The Lone Ranger radio show is broadcast for
the first time.
• Guiseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate
President-elect Roosevelt in Miami, but
succeeds only in fatally wounding Anton
 Cermak, the Mayor of Chicago.
• The Reichstag, the German parliament
building in Berlin, burns under mysterious
circumstances. Adolf Hitler uses the fire to
force through the Enabling Act, granting him
dictatorial powers and ending most German
civil liberties.
• The movie King Kong is released, based on
events taking place in New York the previous
year. Despite protests from the families of some
of the dead, the movie is a major success. Many
are convinced that the events of the previous
year were a publicity stunt that went badly
wrong.
• Thomas Carnacki investigates an apparent
haunting in the vault of a central London bank.
He is sealed in the vault overnight inside his
electric pentacle. When the vault is opened in
the morning Carnacki has vanished. He is never
seen again.
• Germany formally withdraws from the League
of Nations.
• Admiral Byrd begins his second Antarctic
expedition, and locates Captain Nemo’s
hidden Antarctic Base. Byrd is debriefed by
his superiors in Division 4 and upon his return
to the United States and all records of his
discovery are seized.
• Under the Secret World Treaty of 1933,
signed by all the members of the League of
Nations, the Flying Cavalry is given their
role as the official “protectors of the skies”
by world decree. Their activities are often
downplayed and passed off as part of the public
entertainment.
• The United States repeals prohibition with the
passage of the 21st amendment to the U.S.
Constitution.
• Despite being blind in one eye, Wiley Post
succeeds in circumnavigating the globe in his
Lockheed Vega aircraft, in 7 days and 19 hours.
• Malcolm Campbell steals back the land speed
record, reaching 273 mph in his car, Bluebird.
• The British Marquis of Clydesdale leads the
Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition,
65
successfully flying a plane over Mount Everest.
• Monopoly is invented in the United States.
• The US Navy airship Akron crashes in New
Jersey, killing 73 of its 76 crew.
• The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness
monster is reported by Mr and Mrs George
Spicer.
• Albert Einstein begins work in Princeton, at the
Institute for Advanced Studies.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt launches his “New
Deal” economic plan.
1934
• The Flash Gordon comic strip debuts in
American newspapers.
• Nazi Germany and Poland sign a 10-year non-
aggression treaty.
• Right-wing extremists attempt a coup d’état in
Paris. Police shoot and kill 15 demonstrators.
• In the Austrian Civil War, the fascist Fatherland
Front consolidates its grip on power.
• Gangster John Dillinger escapes from jail with
a wooden gun and rejoins his gang to begin a
four-month crime spree that ends when he is
shot dead by FBI agents.
• Dr Robert Wilson takes a photograph that
purports to show the monster of Loch Ness.
• Outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are
gunned down in a police ambush in Louisiana.
• General Kimon Georgiev Stoyanov and his
right-wing Zveno movement stage a successful
coup d’état in Bulgaria having been inspired
by Benito Mussolini. He soon bans political
parties and trade unions.
• Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet for the
first time.
• Nazis purge the government of anti-fascist
leaders in what becomes known as “The Night
of the Long Knives”, executing nearly 700
people.
• After the death of President Paul von
Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of
Germany. The Wehrmacht swears a personal
oath of loyalty to Hitler. In a referendum of
the people, 90% of voters approve of Hitler’s
taking power.
• Police officers arrest German carpenter Bruno
Richard Hauptmann for the abduction and
murder of the Lindbergh baby.
• The Muroto typhoon kills over 3,000 people
in Honshu and Osaka, Japan. Two weeks later
a tornado hits Osaka and Kyoto killing 1,660,
injuring a further 5,400 and destroying the rice
harvest.
• The Soviet Union and Afghanistan join the
League of Nations.
• King Alexander of Yugoslavia is assassinated
by Vlado “The Chauffeur” Chernozemski on a
state visit to Marseille. The assassin is beaten to
death by French police and bystanders. French
Foreign Minister Louis Barthou dies from a
stray bullet fired by police during the fray.
• The sonoluminesence effect is discovered
by Frenzel and Schultes at the University of
Cologne.
• The Yomiuri Giants baseball club is established
in Tokyo, Japan.
• Japan renounces both the Washington Naval
Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of
1930.
• Serial killer, rapist and cannibal Albert Fish
is arrested after being tracked through a letter
written to the mother of a victim, in which he
described eating the child.
1935
• Libya is formed from the Italian colonies of
Cyrenaica and Tripoli.
• Amelia Earhart is the first to fly solo from
Hawaii to California.
• Ma Barker and her gang are killed in a shootout
with the FBI.
66
• Prontosil, the first broad-spectrum antibiotic, is
discovered by Gerhard Domagk in Germany.
• Germany reinstates the Luftwaffe, violating the
Treaty of Versailles. Shortly afterward, Hitler
announces German re-armament.
• Persia renames itself as Iran.
• The Dust Bowl: after a period of severe
drought, a series of dust storms devastates the
American and Canadian prairies, forcing tens
of thousands of farmers to abandon their farms.
• T.E. Lawrence, the famed “Lawrence of
Arabia”, dies in a motorbike accident in Dorset,
England.
• The SS Normandie, the largest and fastest
passenger ship of her day, travels from Le
Havre to New York on her maiden voyage,
making the crossing in a record 4 days and 3
hours.
• Baseball superstar Babe Ruth plays his last
career game for the Boston Braves against the
Phillies in Philadelphia.
• At Quetta, Balochistan (now Pakistan) a 7.7
earthquake kills nearly 50,000 people.
• Britain and Germany sign the Anglo-German
Naval Agreement, allowing Germany a navy
limited to 35% the tonnage of the British Navy.
• Sir Malcolm Campbell sets a new land speed
record, reaching 300 mph in his car Blue Bird.
• Outspoken politician Huey “the Kingfish” Long
is assassinated by the son-in-law of a political
opponent. His killer is shot more than sixty
times by Long’s bodyguards.
• Germany passes the Nuremberg Laws, making
all Jews non-citizens.
• The China Clipper, a flying boat, delivers the
first airmail across the Pacific Ocean, flying
from Alameda, California to Manila in the
Philippines.
• After publishing a series of articles accusing
politicians of collusion with organized crime,
journalist and editor Walter Liggett is gunned
down by mobsters at his home. Despite
 numerous eye-witnesses naming him as the
killer, gangster Isadore Blumenfield is acquitted
and goes free.
• The Nazis begin their Lebensborn program of
eugenics.
1936
• Albert Fish is executed by electric chair in Sing
Sing prison, New York State.
• King George V of England dies and is
succeeded by his eldest son, Edward VIII.
• The Green Hornet debuts on radio in Detroit,
Michigan.
• An occasional agent of Division 4, locates
and captures what is believed to be the Ark of
the Covenant from Nazi agents in the deserts
of Egypt. The device is stored in Division 4’s
Warehouse 51 for study by top men.
• Synthetic radium is manufactured for the first
time.
• The Phantom debuts in American newspapers.
• Junior army officers attempt a military coup in
Japan. Emperor Hirohito orders the arrest of
123 conspirators in the Tokyo government. 19
are executed.
• Construction is completed on the Hoover Dam.
• Nazi Germany reoccupies the Rhineland.
• Radical hawk Kōki Hirota become Prime
Minister of Japan.
• The St. Patrick’s Day Flood: with waters
reaching a depth of 46 feet, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania experiences the worst floods in its
history.
• Richard Hauptmann is executed for the murder
of the Lindbergh baby.
• The RMS Queen Mary, the most luxurious
passenger liner of the day, completes her
maiden voyage across the Atlantic.
• Thousands die in a summer heatwave in North
America.
67
• The Spanish Army of Africa revolts in
Morocco, beginning the Spanish Civil War.
• African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the
gold at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin,
Germany.
• Beryl Markham becomes the first woman
to make a solo east-to-west flight across the
Atlantic, travelling from Abingdon-on-Thames,
England, to Nova Scotia.
• Josef Stalin begins his “Great Terror”, purging
the Communist Party and Red Army leadership
of anyone Stalin deems a threat. Over one
million are dead by the end of the purge.
• Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini form the
Rome-Berlin Axis.
• The BBC launches its first regular television
service.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt wins a second term
as US President, winning in a landslide over
Kansas Governor Alf Landon.
• Japan and Germany sign the Anti-Comintern
Pact, pledging to support each other in the
event of an attack by Soviet Russia.
• A fire destroys the Crystal Palace in London.
• Hitler makes it mandatory for all German
boys between the ages of 10 to 18 to join the
paramilitary Hitler Youth organization.
• In Britain, King Edward VIII creates a
constitutional crisis by abdicating to marry an
American divorcee, Wallis Warfield Simpson,
and goes to live in Austria. Rumors abound that
he is a secret Nazi sympathizer ‘following’ his
abdication of the throne. The reality is much
worse. His brother becomes King George VI.
• Famine in west China kills over five million.
• The LZ 129 Hindenburg passenger dirigible
begins regular transatlantic crossings.

1937
• Howard Hughes sets a new record by flying
from Los Angeles to New York City in just
over 7 hours and 28 minutes.
• John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men is
published.
• 17 leading Communists are put on trial in the
Soviet Union for plotting to overthrow Josef
Stalin. 13 are executed by firing squad, the rest
are sentenced to life in the labor camps.
• The first issue of Detective Comics is published
in the United States.
• A catastrophic natural gas explosion destroys
a school in New London, Texas, killing 295
students and teachers.
• Frank Whittle tests the first jet engine at Rugby,
England.
• The Luftwaffe bombs the town of Guernica in
Spain in support of General Franco’s forces.
Hundreds are killed and over three quarters of
the town is destroyed.
• The airship Hindenburg explodes in flame over
Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 passengers
and crew.
• Police in Chicago shoot and kill 10 unarmed
demonstrators.
• The White River Monster is sighted in
Arkansas for the first time in the modern era.
• Aviator Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred
Noonan disappear after taking off from New
Guinea during her attempt to become the first
woman to fly around the world.
• Japanese military forces invade China.
• The Irish Republican Army attempts to
assassinate King George VI in Belfast and fails.
• J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is published for the
first time in the United Kingdom.
• Troops in the Dominican Republic murder
68
thousands of Haitians living there, on the orders
of President Rafael Trujillo.
• The former King Edward VIII and his wife tour
Nazi Germany, meeting Adolf Hitler.
• Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact and
withdraws from the League of Nations.
• In Brazil, President Getùlio Vargas becomes
dictator and announces the New State (Estado
Novo).
• Italian psychiatrist Dr Amarro Fiamberti
develops the controversial transorbital
lobotomy technique to access the brain of a
patient through the eye-socket.
• Walt Disney Productions and RKO Pictures
release Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the
first full-length animated feature film. It is an
instant smash hit.
1938
• The March of Dimes is established by President
Roosevelt to fight infant polio.
• The Benny Goodman Orchestra are the
first jazz musicians to headline a concert at
Carnegie Hall, New York City.
• German War Minister Field Marshall Werner
von Blomberg resigns after it is revealed that
his new wife had posed for saucy photographs.
• Adolf Hitler dissolves the War Ministry and
establishes the German High Command
(Oberkommando der Wehrmacht) giving him
direct control of the military. Military leaders
unsympathetic to the Nazi cause are dismissed
and replaced.
• King Carol II of Romania assumes dictatorial
powers.
• Adolf Hitler meets with Chancellor Kurt von
Schuschingg of Austria and threatens him with
invasion unless he allows greater Nazi power
within the Austrian government.
• The British present Hitler with the proposal
for creating an international consortium to rule
Africa, with Germany taking a leading role, in
 exchange for which Germany would promise
never to resort to war to expand her territories.
Hitler rejects the offer.
• German troops invade and annex Austria. In
a national referendum, the Austrian people
approve of the move with an unprecedented
99% of the votes.
• Italian theoretical physicist and mathematician
Ettore Majorana vanishes from a ship while
travelling from Palermo to Naples. He is never
seen again.
• Benito Mussolini is made First Marshall of
the Empire, granting him power of the Italian
military equal to the king, Victor Emmanuel III.
• The first issue of Action Comics brings the
astounding adventures of Superman to the
readers for the first time.
• The United States rejects the Soviet Union’s
proposed joint defense pact against the rise of
Nazi Germany.
• Chile withdraws from the League of Nations.
• Joe Louis, the “Brown Bomber”, defeats Max
Schmeling in the first round of their boxing
rematch at Yankee Stadium.
• A 450-ton meteorite explodes 12 miles above
Pennsylvania.
• The Evian Conference on Refugees is convened
in France. No European country will accept
Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, and the United
States declares they will take less than 28,000.
• Howard Hughes sets a new aviation record
after flying around the world in 91 hours.
• Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan flies from
Brooklyn, New York to Ireland. He claims to
have done it by mistake but had previously
been denied permission to make a transatlantic
flight. Most people believe the “error” was
deliberate.
• The course of the Yellow River is diverted
by the Nationalist government in China in
an attempt to slow the advancing Japanese
forces. The flood kills over 400,000 people
69
and destroys thousands of square kilometers of
farmland.
• The Hawaii Clipper, a Pan Am flying boat,
vanishes en route from Guam to Manila with
15 people – 9 crew and 6 passengers – aboard.
• British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
returns to Britain from a meeting with Adolf
Hitler and declares he has brought “peace for
our time”. Meanwhile, Hitler issues a secret
memorandum to his high command stating
they should prepare for the liquidation of
Czechoslovakia.
• Britain’s Professor Challenger dies at the
age of 71, peacefully in his sleep. Shortly
afterward, Enid Challenger, her husband
Edward Malone and Lord John Roxton found
the George Edward Challenger Institute for
Exploration, Innovation and Research, more
commonly referred to simply as the Challenger
Centre. The Centre’s annual Challenger Award
for Scientific Reasoning becomes one of the
most hotly sought-after prizes in the science
community.
• At the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Germany,
Albert Hofmann synthesizes LSD from
ergotamine.
• A hurricane strikes Long Island and the south
of New England, killing 600 people.
• Orson Welles broadcasts the Mercury Theatre
on the Air’s adaptation of The War of the
Worlds for Halloween, causing nationwide
panic. Welles is coerced into making the
broadcast by Division 4, as part of a cover-up
after a second Martian expeditionary force
lands near the town of Grover’s Mill, New
Jersey. The invasion is swiftly halted by agents
of Division 4. Despite several casualties and
substantial property damage, the cover-up is
successful and almost brings Welles’ career to
a halt.
1939
• German science journal Naturwissenschaften
declares that nuclear fission has been achieved
by chemist Otto Hahn.
• An earthquake in Chile kills over 30,000 people
and flattens nearly 50,000 square miles of land.
• Adolf Hitler orders a 5-year program of Naval
expansion, intended to allow Germany to crush
Britain’s Royal Navy.
• Hitler gives a speech at the Reichstag where he
states that “Jewish financiers” are attempting to
start a war with Germany that will result in the
annihilation of Jews in Europe.
• Neville Chamberlain, speaking to the British
Parliament, states that a German attack on
France will be considered an attack on Britain.
• Borley Rectory, considered the most haunted
house in England, burns to the ground in
mysterious circumstances.
• In Durban, South Africa, the English and South
African cricket teams play the longest game
ever recorded. It last twelve days, and only
ends because the English team have to catch
the last ferry home.
• Czechoslovakia effectively ceases to exist as
German troops occupy Bohemia and Moravia.
• American adventurer and author Richard
Halliburton disappears while trying to sail
a Chinese junk from Hong Kong to San
Francisco.
• The Spanish Civil War finally comes to an end
with a victory for the forces of General Franco.
• Hungary withdraws from the League of
Nations.
• John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath is
published in the United States.
• Singer Billie Holiday releases “Strange Fruit”,
a song protesting the lynching of African
Amercians.
• In April the 1939 New York World’s Fair
opens, drawing record crowds.
• Batman debuts in issue 27 of Detective Comics.
70
• German politician Carl Friedrich Goerdeler
informs the British that Germany and the
Soviet Union are in talks to divide Eastern
Europe between them. Goerdeler is not
considered credible by the British and his
warnings are regarded skeptically.
• Spain withdraws from the League of Nations.
• Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Friendship
and Alliance, known informally as the Pact of
Steel.
• The United States turns away the St. Louis,
a refugee ship carrying 907 Jews fleeing
Germany. They are forced to return to Europe,
where most of the passengers are later
murdered in the Nazi death camps.
• Murderer Eugen Weidmann is guillotined in the
last public execution in France.
• The Kingdom of Siam changes its name to
Thailand.
• The First World Science Fiction Convention is
held in New York City.
• Mahatma Gandhi writes to Adolf Hitler in an
attempt to forestall war. Hitler’s reaction is
unrecorded.
• Leó Szilárd and Albert Einstein, in consultation
with Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner, write
a letter to President Roosevelt warning him of
the possibility that Germany might develop an
atomic bomb, and suggesting that the United
States should start its own nuclear weapons
program.
• MGM’s movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz
premieres in Hollywood.
• Germany and the Soviet Union sign the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a neutrality treaty
that also divides eastern Europe between the
two nations. When the news leaks, Britain
orders the Royal Navy to a war footing, recalls
British citizens in Germany and begins the
creation of coastal and air defenses.
• The first televised Major League Baseball game
is broadcast by experimental station W2XBS.
• Germany test flies the Heinkel He 178, the first
turbojet-powered aircraft.
• Nazi troops posing as the Polish Army stage
a series of false flag attacks, giving Germany
a pretext for invading Poland. German shock-
troops cross into Poland, while the German
battleship Schleswig-Holstein begins shelling
Polish army installations in the Free City of
Danzig.
• Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland,
Spain and the Irish Free State all declare their
neutrality.
• The United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland, France, India, New Zealand
and Australia all declare war on Nazi Germany.
The United States declares its Neutrality.
• Winston Churchill is offered the post of First
Lord of the Admiralty by Neville Chamberlain.
• Canada declares war on Germany.
71
• German physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer
composes the Oslo Report, a letter detailing
weapons systems being used and in
development by Nazi Germany, passing it to
British Military Intelligence.
• Semyon Kirlian invents Kirlian photography.
• Sir John Hamish Watson begins a second
career as a radio broadcaster in America.
He introduces a long-running series of radio
adaptations of his adventures with Sherlock
Holmes, with Holmes played by Basil
Rathbone and the younger Watson played by
close friend Nigel Bruce. The introductions to
each series are recorded in Sir John’s California
home, and feature frequent interruptions
from his two dogs. Watson uses this public
platform to campaign for War Bonds and
to speak out against the evils of racism and
fascism. Rathbone eventually gives up the role
of Holmes in 1946 when Sir John dies from
natural causes at the age of 87, and the role is
taken over by sound-alike actor and friend, Tom
Conway.
 CHARACTER
CREATION
T his section of the Pulp Fantastic rules outlines
character creation. This is where you make your
character for the campaigns (or stories) created
by the GM of the game. Your character is like the
main characters in a Pulp Fantastic comic book.
The player characters are the ones around whom
the action of the stories told by the Game Master
and the players revolve. Like the main characters
in a movie, the player characters should be the ones
doing the important actions of the story and not the
non-player characters (or NPCs) that are played
by the GM. The player characters are always the
important part of the story, and at the heart of the
action.
Really, the only way to play Pulp Fantastic
incorrectly would be to not have the player
characters at the center of the action of the
campaign. This is not a game just for the GM, it
is for everyone at the gaming table – players and
GM alike. This is the best way to get the maximum
enjoyment out of a Pulp Fantastic game session.
CREATING A
GROUP
Before beginning character creation, players and
Game Master should get together to discuss how the
game is going to work. Questions that need to be
considered are the kind of heroes everyone wants to
play, what might bring them together, and if there is
a theme or goal to the campaign? Ideally, everyone
will understand what the game is going to be like so
that they can make smart choices during character
creation.
This shouldn’t prevent players from creating the
characters they want, but it should ensure that
the characters fit well into the kind of adventures
they’re going to face. If you come up with an
72
Gaslight Victorian
Fantasy in Pulp
Fantastic
There is no reason that you cannot
envision the world in Pulp Fantastic as
the pulp world for Gaslight Victorian
Fantasy. To pull this off all you have
to do is pull the elements from the
Gaslight Victorian Fantasy and apply
them to the Pulp Fantastic setting. The
authors see no reason why you cannot
run this setting as a potential future for
the Gaslight Victorian Fantasy setting.
The world they live in however, has a
couple of rules… even in this day and
age they have yet to recover healing
magic, so they must be very careful
when coming into gun fights. What is
deadly for anyone is especially deadly
in the world of Gaslight Victorian
Fantasy. Gamemasters should limit
spellcasters to exactly what they are in
the Gaslight Victorian Fantasy setting
(see Gaslight Victorian Fantasy for
more information) Everything else
should work the same as it is presented
in this book, so go and have fun with
it. It is also assumed that the races are
public and well known to the general
populous, as if they had been there the
entire time.
English Big Game hunter traipsing through the
wastes of Antarctica, you have to have a reason
why.
At the end of the discussion, the players will have
an idea of the campaign themes, the tone and the
basic premise.
 THE PREMISE
The premise for the campaign is the “elevator
pitch”; a quick, one paragraph summary of what the
game is going to be about.
For example, the Doc Savage stories were about an
altruistic scientific genius surrounded by men who
were experts in their fields, who teamed up to help
people and make the world a better place. While
Doc was undoubtedly the powerhouse of the group
and the reason they stayed together, each member
was a capable adventurer in his (or in the case of
Pat Savage, her) own right. The Shadow and The
Spider stories featured a vengeful crime-buster with
a cadre of assistants and operatives who frequently
went off on adventures of their own, often coming
to their leader’s rescue at the last moment.
What about your group? Are they a team of treasure
hunters and archaeologists, working for a major
museum? Are they government agents, bent on
cracking down on Nazi spies and threats from
the Orient? Are they G-men, striving to crush the
home-grown disease that is organized crime? Are
they the agents of an ancient mystical brotherhood,
fighting to push back the forces of supernatural
darkness? Are they explorers and hunters, trekking
off the edge of the map in search of fame, glory and
a dinosaur head to mount over the club fireplace? A
good premise gives the characters something to do
and a reason to do it.
With the above examples, many different types
of character can be brought together by similar
experiences. Perhaps the agents of the mystical
brotherhood all encountered some foul supernatural
threat at some point in their lives and are now
bound together by a sacred vow to protect the
innocent from Eldritch Abominations. Maybe the
wise-cracking, whip-wielding adventurer and the
stuttering, bookish scholar both lecture at the same
university, and maybe the grim government agent
has been assigned because the artifacts they recover
tend to be… dangerous.
73
WHO’S THE
SUPPORTING
CAST?
Who are the key non-player characters? Do the
characters have a mysterious benefactor who
bankrolls their adventures in return for whatever
scientific knowledge they acquire along the way?
Do they know a long-suffering Chief of Police, a
dry-witted University Dean or a particularly feisty
lady reporter with a knack for finding trouble? A
good Premise gives the Game Master a few fun
recurring characters to play. The GM characters are
the supporting cast, not the stars of the show — it’s
up to the player characters to actually solve the
mysteries, defeat the bad guys and save the day.
WHAT
RESOURCES DO
YOU HAVE?
When creating a group of heroes, it’s important
to consider how much support they have, and the
resources they can call upon. Are you amateur
sleuths or secret government agents? Have you
got a luxurious headquarters in one of New York’s
tallest buildings, or are you operating out of the
back room of a disreputable bar on the docks of
Shanghai? Do you have the legal authority to go
stomping around the country looking for spies,
cultists and madmen, or do you have to sneak
around and bluff your way in?
Look at the rules for Groups & Bases on page 93
for ideas.
WHO’S AGAINST
YOU?
Pulp adventures always had a notable antagonist.
Who opposes your group? Who’s your Evil
Mastermind? In Sax Rohmer’s classic Fu Manchu
stories, the eponymous “Devil Doctor” was the
main antagonist throughout the series, but there
were also lesser villains like his daughter, the
beautiful and venomous Fah Lo Suee and other
senior agents. Disposable mooks and goons make
good cannon-fodder, but longer campaigns work
better if there’s some returning villains or ongoing
antagonists, the quirkier and more memorable the
better.
TIE IT ALL
TOGETHER
Once you’ve come up with some interesting ideas,
take a look at them and see if you can find any
connections. The stunning Femme Fatale is much
more interesting as a character’s ex-wife or lover
than if she was just a random spy, and the twisted
Mad Scientist’s grudge could be made even more
personal if he was once the lab partner of one of
the heroes, and blames him for being laughed out
of University. A few unexpected links can really
breathe life into the campaign.
What if your resources come from the wealthy
industrialist who ruined your father? What
if evidence comes forward that he was a war
profiteer? What if the opposition are a secret faction
of the US Government, run by a Shadow President?
What could raise the stakes and tear your group
apart?
SAMPLE
CAMPAIGNS
BRING ‘EM BACK ALIVE!
The characters are a group of naturalists, guides,
hunters and reporters who travel the world in search
of the biggest, most elusive and mysterious game
for study in a major metropolitan zoo. Funded by a
mysterious benefactor, their mission is to investigate
reports of strange and unusual wildlife and retrieve
live specimens if possible. So far they’ve not had
a lot of success, mainly because the Nazis keep
getting there first. But what does the Fuhrer want
with these animals, some of which seem as if they
shouldn’t be native to the Earth at all?
74
KNIGHTS OF THE ELECTRIC
TABLE!
Nikola Tesla, the “wizard of the 20th Century”,
has created a new technological Camelot in upstate
New York. Playing both Arthur and Merlin, the
quiet genius has recruited some of the world’s
most extraordinary men and women to serve as
his “knights”; guardians who serve to advance the
boundaries of human knowledge, and protect the
people from the willful abuse of that knowledge.
Together the characters investigate abuses of the
new technology, fighting to stop the fruits of Tesla’s
genius from ushering in a new Dark Age. But how
are dictators and mad men getting hold of Tesla’s
designs? Is there a traitor in Camelot? And what
of Thomas Alva Edison and his insatiable desire to
make Tesla’s discoveries his own?
TALES OF THE AIR
CAVALRY!
From their super-secret floating island, the
brave airmen and women of the visionary Air
Cavalry protect the skies of the world from the
machinations of science villains, dictators and
criminal masterminds. Beholden to no nation, the
Air Cavalry has vowed that the skies shall remain
free from war. But as the nations of the world
move closer to conflict, and Herr Hitler’s scientists
experiment with new and faster aircraft, and newer
and more terrible technologies, can the Air Cavalry
really hold back the tide and keep the skies open for
Freedom?
TWO-FISTED ACTION
TALES!
The publishing industry in the pulp-era is a cut-
throat business, and these days a magazine has to
have a gimmick to stay in print. Say, wouldn’t it
be a great idea if, instead of paying hack writers to
churn out unbelievable stories month after month,
the magazine had its very own real-life adventurers
and chronicled the scrapes they got into? Sure it
would! If that’s not a sure-fire hit idea, then my
name’s not J. Montgomery. Cruickshank III. Get
to it boys! And where’s that copy-boy with my
danish?!

FIGHT THE FUTURE!
You’ll always remember the night the time traveler
appeared. Grim, determined and weighed down
with terrible knowledge, he first convinced you
of his veracity with information about your life;
information that no-one alive could possess. Then
he told you a little about the terrible future he had
seen, on his voyages astride his chronovelocipede.
Finally, he told you that you, and others like you,
were the key to stopping that awful, empty future
from coming to be. Shortly after the traveler
introduced you to his other recruits, he vanished,
leaving behind a tattered journal brimming with
notes concealed in a complex cipher. The brightest
guy you know is decoding it, and lets you know
whenever he uncovers something useful. The
trouble is, you don’t know how that dreadful barren
world will come about. You hope you’re doing the
right thing, but what if you’re just making it happen,
or even making it worse?! And who are the dark-
suited strangers you seem to be running into more
and more often? Are they time travelers too? Or do
they serve an even murkier, more fantastic purpose?
MAKING HEROES
Pulp characters tended to break into two broad
categories: Protectors and Avengers.
The Protector is a bulwark against evil; defending
the “common man,” society, the American
government, Truth and Justice. While the Protector
is willing to bend rules and laws in the pursuit of
higher goals, ultimately he is about upholding the
that law. Regardless of what evil and heinous acts
occur the Protector will work within the system to
prevent those acts from happening. The Protector is
a role-model, as well as a model citizen. He is the
one given the public plaudits, the honorary police
badge, the one handed the key to the city.
The Avenger acts from the shadows and embraces
them as a part of his way of life. While the Avenger
may hold the Protector in high esteem and respect,
he knows that having high morals can get in the
way when trying to break a crime ring. The Avenger
is about practicalities and getting the job done, even
when it means breaking the law…or the occasional
bone.
75
Remember that regardless of which of these two
general archetypes is used as a theme for your
character, that character is supposed to be a hero.
The world of the Pulp Era can be brutal at times, but
the characters are the heroes who are striving for a
better world – even when their motives may appear
vague and mysterious to others.
The Pulp Era was before the time of the anti-hero.
Whenever the pulp magazines tried to create
a magazine with a villain as a main character
within a few issues that magazine would fail in
the marketplace. The readers wanted to know that
there were heroes out there in the world, leading
by example and deed, making the hard choices
and who could not live an easy life. They wanted
heroes, and at its roots it is heroes that Pulp
Fantastic is actually about.
Character conception is also the most important idea
to remember when actually playing your character.
The basic, all-important basis of role-playing
games is that the players role-play. Players put
together their characters according to their character
conceptions, and in all subsequent adventures react
to situations as would their characters.
This means that if a player has put together a
character who is a fearless-unto-self-destruction
hero of heroes, when playing this character, he
should react as this strapping hero, even if the real
player is a skinny and pacifistic scholar. On the
other hand, a strapping player may wish to portray
a near-sighted and indolent coward – and should, in
spite of any real-life inclinations, respond to most
threats by running away and using his wits.
Of course, the situations the GM creates will not
merely be threats and danger. Role-playing games
should not consist of a series of incidents of random
violence and combat. So, our strapping hero may
have the fighting ability of a squadron and the social
awareness of an orangutan, while the sniveling yet
scholarly coward may not be able to out-wrestle
an over-stuffed armchair but may be able to read
hieroglyphics by touch and operate every known
mode of transport in the world. And all this, of
course, is at the choice of the individual player and
his GM.
In order to role-play more effectively—providing
for more depth, enjoyment, and color in the
campaign— you should;
• Talk to your GM and understand the nature and
scope of the campaign he is creating. You’ll
want to create your character to fit comfortably
within the nature of the campaign. A chivalrous
adventurer or a genius inventor/ scholar will fit
in well in practically any campaign; however,
a hard-boiled detective may feel a little
foolish within the pyramids of Egypt, a devout
monster-slayer may feel useless in a campaign
where creatures of the night do not appear (or
worse, do not exist!), and a whip-cracking
and boisterous adventurer may be of little use
tracking delicate sets of clues through the social
strata of Boston.
• Become familiar with the genre—understand
the very feel of the pulp adventures from
which this game is derived. Heroes were a
trifle more single-minded than those today;
happily, distinctions between good and evil
were also clearer. Think in black and white,
and remember that your characters should be
portrayed as larger than life.
• Try also to become familiar with the historical
period that is the basis for the campaign. The
Source-book included with this game, the
Pulps themselves, and many readily-available
books on history will supply you with most
everything you need to know. (You don’t need
to be as relentless as this game’s designers
and purchase mountains of books, magazines,
almanacs, encyclopedias, and gazetteers from
the period for your research...but it helps).
• Lastly, get inside your character’s head. You
should essentially have done this already,
when conceiving your character. How does he
respond to danger? To prolonged stress? Is he
cynical or romantic? Curious or indifferent?
Outgoing or introverted? Absentminded or
fiercely intent? Comprehend your character and
react to the adventure’s situations as he would.
That is role-playing. It is the most important part
of a role-playing game. If the characters react to
dangers, clues, and each other and without those
interactions, a game becomes nothing more than a
tactical exercise in mayhem.
1) SPECIES
Most characters in Pulp Fantastic are human, so
76
they gain one free Edge during character creation.
You may choose any nationality you would like.
They automatically speak this language. If you
want to play something other than human – an
atom-powered robot, or a strange visitor from a
destroyed planet – you’re going to need to discuss
this with your GM and come up with a good reason.
Examples of other species can be found in the
Savage Worlds Adventure Edition core rulebook.
2) ATTRIBUTES
Your character’s attributes are determined normally
according to the Savage Worlds rulebook. Each
character has five points to distribute among the five
attributes, starting with a d4 in each.
SECONDARY STATISTICS
Your hero’s Pace, Parry and Toughness are
determined normally.
3) SKILLS
Your character’s skills are determined normally
according to the Savage Worlds rulebook with the
exceptions noted below. Each character has 15
points to distribute among the skills.
4) HINDRANCES
Modified Hindrances
• All Thumbs
The All Thumbs Hindrance applies only to
complex technology, not simple technology as
might be found in more primative regions.
New Hindrances
• By the Book (Minor)
You follow the rules, even when it’s against
your best interest. You follow proper protocols
at all times. This has good and bad points
– on the plus side, you’ve got a +2 bonus
to Spirit rolls to resist influences that might
distract you from your duties. The downside
is that you’re a stickler for following written
instructions and official policy – if you disobey
the orders of a superior officer, breach the rules
of your organization, or even skip the boring
paperwork, the Game Master can decide that it
costs you bennies.
 Note: Cannot be taken with the Impulsive
Hindrance.
• Dependent (Minor) or justice, or it could be as grand as an insane
The character has someone they care deeply for
such as a family member, close friend, or lover
and will do all they can to protect that person
so long as they are able to.
• Depression (Minor or Major)
Your character’s emotional problems make
the very act of living a chore. Symptoms
include sleep problems (either oversleeping
or insomnia), severe procrastination (to the
point that the sufferer may find it hard to hold
down a job), and a lack of interest in anything.
With anti-depressant drugs (limited to opioids
and amphetamines during the Pulp era) there
is no penalty, and this is a Minor Hindrance.
Without drugs this is a Major Hindrance and
characters suffer a −2 to most tasks and tend
to avoid getting involved. A life-threatening
crisis or shock may snap the character out of
it for a while, but when the crisis is over, the
character sinks back into inactivity afterwards.
Note: Characters with this Hindrance during
the Pulp era are at risk of becoming addicted to
their medication (a Major Habit Hindrance), as
non-addictive anti-depression drugs won’t be
discovered until the 1950s.
• Love (Minor) Traumatic Stress Disorder). They often wake
The character is in love. As this is a Hindrance,
it will be either a wild tempestuous destructive
car crash type of a relationship, one that is not
reciprocated by the other partner or a similar
tragic and harmful situation, such as being in
love with the spouse of a powerful political or
criminal figure. cowardice. Officers on both sides of the
Whenever you have to choose between your
head or your heart in situations involving the
one you love, you must make a Spirit roll and
score a raise in order to act as common sense or
your head would dictate. •
Naturally the Game Master will use this love in
adventures in order to make your life difficult
– for example, your love may become a villain
and you’ll need those Spirit rolls to try and
bring them to justice, or they may keep getting
into situations that require you to abandon other
activities and help them out, unless you make
those Spirit rolls.
77
• Obsession (Minor or Major)
Your obsession consumes your life. It could be
as small as a compulsion for cleanliness, order
scheme to wipe out humankind by igniting
the atmosphere and then reseeding the Earth
with your private menagerie of “improved”
plant and animal species. Either way, it drives
everything you do.
As a Minor Hindrance, it means you’ve got a
compulsion of some sort, a nervous habit or
obsessive tic like always washing your hands
or always worrying about disease or demanding
that you be the driver of any vehicle you
travel in. It’s annoying, but not especially hard
to handle. The GM might demand a bennie
off you if you’re forced to overcome your
compulsion As a Major Hindrance, your
obsession drives everything you do. You’ve a
+2 to any skill rolls related to accomplishing
your obsession, but you find it hard to do
anything that doesn’t further your crazy goal.
This trait is really only suitable for NPCs and
villains, but as always consult your GM prior to
taking this hindrance.
• Shell Shock (Major)
At the end of the War the character had
horrific experience on the battlefield. This has
left them with psychological scars, what in
the modern world is known as PTSD (Post-
up screaming in the middle of the night, may
experience flashbacks in response to stress,
and must make a Fear check whenever an
unexpected loud noise goes off.
In the Pulp era shell shock was poorly
understood, and was often confused with
trenches frequently executed men suffering
from shell shock in the mistaken belief that
they were weak and likely to desert.
Strange Visitor (Minor or Major)
Maybe you grew up in the jungles of the
African Congo, or on an isolated plateau
populated with dinosaurs, or in a vast cavern
beneath the Earth’s crust colonized by the
last survivors of fabled Mu. Whatever your
origin, you’re not from around here. You’re a
strange visitor in a different world to the one
you knew. As a Minor Hindrance, you come
from some another country or province with a
very different culture, but not too alien. Your
 Skills are unaffected by these differences, but
it’s unnerving and you occasionally run into
more changes that you weren’t expecting.
The Major version of the Hindrance is only
available with the GM’s permission; wherever
you come from, it’s a very different place. You
suffer a -2 penalty to any rolls dependent on
familiarity with the cultures and technologies,
and this penalty may be increased when
trying to do anything dependent on advanced
scientific knowledge or specialist training at the
GM’s discretion.
• Xenophobic (Minor or Major)
Whether because of simple racial intolerance or
past dealings, the character has a dislike of all
cultures other than his own and finds dealing
with them unpleasant at best. He suffers a –2
penalty to Spirit when dealing with foreign
cultures with the Minor version and –4 with
the Major Hindrance. Openly voicing his
xenophobic beliefs, something he finds hard to
control, may lead to confrontation or ostracism.
5) EDGES
This section contains new and modified Edges for
the Pulp Fantastic setting.
Background Edges
• Gizmo •
Requirements: Novice •
Your hero has found a piece of working Weird
Science technology, either from the arsenal of
a mad genius, the depths of a ruined temple
or from some other obscure source, and can
use it as if they have the Arcane Background
(Weird Science). The hero did not create it but
has been granted access to it for some reason.
Perhaps they found it, were gifted it, or earned
it somehow. Sherpa, Tibetan.
The device is created like a normal Weird
Science gadget, but using it requires a skill
other than Weird Science (for example,
Shooting for a Weird Science weapon, Piloting
for a Weird Science vehicle, Notice for a Weird
Science detector, etc.). If damaged, the gizmo
can only be repaired by a Weird Scientist.
• Linguist world.
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+
This Edge from Savage Worlds Adventure
78
Language Groups
There are thousands of languages to
choose from when a character buys a
language. A few are listed here, sorted
into their general language groups.
This list is by no means exhaustive
— there are many more language
groups, and most groups contain more
languages than those listed here.
• Algic: Algonkin, Arapaho,
Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Shawnee.
• Armenian: Armenian
• Athabasan: Apache, Chipewyan,
Navaho.
• Attic: Ancient Greek*, Greek.
• Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian.
• Celtic: Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic
(Scots), Welsh.
• Chinese: Cantonese, Mandarin.
• Finno-Lappic: Estonian, Finnish,
Lapp.
• Germanic: Afrikaans, Danish,
Dutch, English, Flemish, German,
Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish,
Yiddish.
• Hamo-Semitic: Coptic*, Middle
Egyptian*.
• Indic: Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit*,
Urdu.
• Iranian: Farsi, Pashto.
Japanese: Japanese.
Korean: Korean.
• Romance: French, Italian, Latin*,
Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish.
• Semitic: Akkadian (aka
Babylonian)*, Ancient Hebrew*,
Arabic, Aramaic*, Hebrew.
• Slavic: Belorussian, Bulgarian,
Czech, Polish, Russian, Serbo-
Croatian, Slovak, Ukrainian.
• Tibeto-Burman: Burmese,
• Turkic: Azerbaijani, Turkish,
Uzbek.
• Ugric: Hungarian (aka Magyar).
*This is an ancient language. In the
Pulp Fantastic world, it is spoken only
by scholars, or in some cases by small
populations in isolated corners of the
 Edition has been modified for use in Pulp
Fantastic. The default globe-trotting Pulp
Fantastic campaign uses the Multiple
Languages setting rule, so all characters are
assumed to have this Edge for free. A character
who actually buys this Edge has an ear for
languages and a rare talent for recognizing
similarities between them, and starts with a
number of languages equal to his Smarts die.
Whenever the hero encounters a new language,
either spoken or written, that he or she does not
know the hero can make a Smarts check (in the
same Language Group at -2) to determine if he
or she can understand it.
• Photographic Memory
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d8+
Your hero can recall everything you’ve seen,
read, or experienced perfectly. If you forget
some detail your hero experienced, you may
spend a Bennie to have the GM remind you.
• Super-Amalgamated
Requirements: Wild Card, Smarts d8+ You
read a lot and tend to use large words. You
live by the philosophy of why use a fifty-cent
word, when a two-dollar word will do, and
your voracious reading has given you a little
knowledge across a broad range of subject.
Once per game session, you may spend a
bennie to recall a useful fact that relates to the
current situation.
Combat Edges
• Long Shot so you know whether to make the attempt or
Requirements: Heroic, Marksman, Strength
d8+, Shooting d10+
Some shooters can see a far target as if it were
right in front of them. If a shooter does not
move in a round or has aimed the previous
round, the range of his ranged weapon is now
doubled. Targets at long range are treated as if
they have +1 armor.
• One Shot Left +2 to Academics Tests when determining the
Requirements: Novice, Shooting d6+
The character will always have at least one
projectile remaining for his or her ranged
weapon, even after an extended combat. This
might be a final bullet in a gun, arrow in a
quiver, or stone in a sling. This option does not
remove the need to reload weapons in a game
79
that uses realistic ammunition rules, but rather
assures that the character will not be forced to
reload at a critical moment.
• Portable Armory
Requirements: Novice
The character will always have easy access
to any weapon required for a particular task,
including illegal weapons and accessories not
available to the general public. The actual
weapons and accessories must still be acquired,
but remarkably, the character can access them
whenever he needs them instead of being
forced to return to where they are normally
stored. Characters with Portable Armory may
also make field modifications on their weapons,
switching options such as telescopic sights or
specialised ammo in a single round. For every
piece of gear beyond your starting list, you may
make a Spirit check (Bennies apply to this roll)
against a Target Number assigned by the Game
Master. If the check succeeds you are able to
own that piece of equipment.
Professional Edges
• Breaking & Entering
Requirements: Agility d6+, Smarts d6+
You’ve got a talent for bypassing security and
sneaking past guards. Firstly, this Edge gives a
+2 bonus to Stealth rolls when trying to get into
a guarded building or compound. Secondly,
you get to know the difficulty of the test before
you roll the dice. For example, if you come to a
locked, alarmed door, the GM must tell you the
difficulty of disabling the alarm before you roll,
back off.
• Gold Bug
Requirements: Novice, Smarts d6+,
Academics d6+
Treasure Hunters are those people that travel
the globe looking for treasure and priceless
relics. They can be found in ancient burial
grounds to ruined cities. Relic Hunters gain a
location to ancient treasures.
• Master of Disguise
Requirements: Novice, Persuasion d6+,
Stealth d6+
There is an art to disguise, and if you are
very lucky you can fool everyone. You have
become an expert at the art of disguise. This
 goes beyond the level of a regular disguise, • Older Than I Look
involving elements of performance as well, Requirements: Veteran, Ageless
allowing you to inhabit the disguises you The character has lived lifetimes, increasing
create. A Master of Disguise gets a +2 to his life experiences so that he adds +2 to most
Persuasion and Stealth rolls that involve Common Knowledge rolls. In a pinch, he
trickery of some kind, including disguises, may spend a Benny to gain a temporary d4 in
bluffing and outright lying. any normal Skill (not including Faith, Focus,
Psionics, Spellcasting or Weird Science), for
• Weapons Encyclopedia
the duration of the scene.
Reqirements: Smarts d8+
Your hero can recall the vital statistics and
important quirks of practically all known
commercially available weapons. This includes
SETTING RULES
– but is not limited to – general levels of The following setting rules are in place for the
reliability, material composition, ammunition default Pulp Fantastic campaign.
capacity, caliber, possible outfitted accessories,
etc. Characters without this ability will only • Born a Hero: Heroes may ignore the Rank
have such information on weapons they own qualifications for Edges during character
or use regularly and will need to successfully creation. They must still meet any other
roll a Smarts based Knowledge Skill check to Requirements as usual. The usual rules for
recall important details. In addition, Weapons Rank Requirements apply afterward.
Encyclopedia also includes knowledge on
• Fanatics: When a Wild Card enemy character
acquiring weapons, so characters will have a +5
is hit by a successful attack and the GM thinks
bonus on any Skill checks needed to locate or
it’s appropriate, one of his henchmen, goons,
buy weapons. or other allies jumps in front of his master and
takes the attack instead.
Social Edges
• Fast Healing: Wild Cards make natural healing
• Legal Protection rolls once per day instead of every five days (or
Prerequisites: Seasoned once per hour if the race has Regeneration).
Somehow, your hero’s police file has a little red
line across it that makes beat cops think twice • Bumps & Bruises: Wild Cards recover one
before they haul you in on minor crimes. The level of Fatigue from Bumps & Bruises (every
character gains a +4 Persuasion bonus when four hours instead of the usual 24.
dealing with the security forces in his or her
home area. • Multiple Languages: In the Pulp Era, heroes
trekked around the world, and didn’t usually
• Low Profile have to struggle with languages. The heroes of
Requirements: Novice Pulp Fantastic speak many different languages.
Even though you have had your name in the Wild Cards have the Linguist Edge for free,
and ignore its usual Requirements. A character
spotlight, you have managed to downplay your
who actually buys the Linguist Edge knows
involvement in events. When a roll is made to a number of languages equal to her Smarts
recognize you, the roll is at -4. This modifier (instead of half her Smarts).
can be doubled by spending a Benny.
• Unarmored Hero: Pulp action tales often
Weird Edges feature heroes with little or no armor defeating
far more heavily armored adversaries. In these
• Ageless settings, if a Wild Card chooses not to wear any
Requirements: Novice armor (ignoring shields), he adds +2 bonus to
The character doesn’t age like normal people his Soak rolls!
and is either immune to the passage of time or
ages very slowly.

80
 ARCHETYPES
T his chapter gives you several archetypes to play
in your Pulp Fantastic game. Archetypes can be
used to make quick characters; all you need is the
archetype, the rule book, dice and a piece of paper
to play. By using the archetypes, you can begin
play within a few minutes. Let’s say you have a few
friends over and you want to play Pulp Fantastic
that night, this is where the archetype comes in. You
can read the descriptive text below and determine
which character type (or archetype) you would like
to play. They are built as any other character would
be, with the exception that they have some places
that are customizable. Add a name, Hindrances, and
gear, spend any remaining skill points, and you’re
ready to play! This makes these archetypes more
uniquely your own, and less like carbon cut outs of
character types.
These character types are the ones most commonly
found in stories from the pulps. Contrary to the
popular belief that the pulps were dominated by
white males, there were plenty of pulp heroes
who were black, female, and Asian, so there’s no
reason for players to assume that there aren’t untold
stories of all sexes and races. We encourage players
and GMs to use these archetypes to go beyond
traditional stereotypes, creating new characters to
represent the goodness and heroism of many people
at that point in history.
Game masters in a hurry may also choose to
use these archetypes as the basis for non-player
characters and supporting cast.
Note: The Edges and Hindrances here are
suggestions only. Feel free to swap them out for
Edges and Hindrances of equal value as part of the
customization process. All the following archetypes
are Novice humans with one free Edge.
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ACADEMIC
Though not naturally adventurous, the academic is
often drawn into adventure by their overwhelming
thirst for knowledge, for their hunger for the
answers to the questions that plague them.
Living between the explorer and the scientist, the
academic is driven by their near-obsessive interest
in their particular field (usually something dry,
like history, archeology, anthropology, linguistics
or paleontology). Academics rarely consider the
scientific or practical application of the knowledge
they uncover; for them, the great prize is knowledge
itself. Their desire for new information can be
so great that it leads them into danger, as they
disregard their own safety in pursuit of new and
fascinating data.
While rarely well-suited for travel to strange lands,
and uncomfortable outside the grounds of their
university of library, academics are nevertheless
often found in the field, accompanying explorers
and relic hunters to ensure proper rigor and
procedure is followed at all times – or just to try and
ensure that the “hot heads” don’t get themselves
into yet more trouble!
Quote: “Fascinating! The inscriptions on this jar
appear to be Etruscan, but the syntax is more like
Sumerian...”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d6,
Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d4, Common
Knowledge d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Research
d8, Stealth d4, + 3 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Bad Eyes (Minor), Mild Mannered
(Minor), Tongue-Tied (Major)
Edges: Linguist, Scholar

AIR ACE
While no longer a new technology in the Pulp Era,
flight has yet to become commonplace and to many
the air ace personifies the spirit of the age. Flight
is still seen as daring, glamorous and alluringly
dangerous. Every passing year brings new advances
in aircraft, new achievements and new records
broken. With the Great War only a few years past,
aviators have become dashing, heroic figures, and
their adventures are a thrilling escape from the
mundane problems of the day-to-day life.
Many of the Pulp aviators were ex-military pilots
and veterans of the Great War against the Germans,
though their adventures in the magazines were often
even more bizarre than those of their comrades.
For example, heroes such as G-8 and his Battle
Aces fought mad scientists, monsters and even
supernatural menaces. The adventures of these
heroic aviators encompassed speed, travel to exotic
locations, high technology, the freedom of the air
and thrilling dog-fights with merciless and deadly
opponents.
There are only a handful of commercial airlines in
operation, so unless they are of independent means,
most air aces will be forced into freelancing if
they want to stay in the air. Possible freelance jobs
include flying for Hollywood, mercenary work,
giving lessons, or performing daredevil stunts at air
shows.
Quote: “YeeeeeHAAAAAA!”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Piloting d8, Repair
d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Impulsive (Major), Enemy (Minor),
Loyal (Minor)
Edges: Ace, Alertness
ARCANIST
Though magic-using Pulp Heroes did exist, they
were by far the minority, their hard-won occult
wisdom and experience tainting them with an inner
darkness and mystery not normally associated
with the heroes of science and technology. What
normally separates occult heroes from the villains
is the type of magic used; most heroes use purely
82
defensive magic, in the form of exorcisms,
protective circles, charms or counter-spells.
Offensive spells tend to be seen as inherently evil.
Many rely on a single powerful item - such as
Thomas Carnacki’s famous “Electric Pentacle”,
John Thunstone’s silver sword, or John the
Balladeer’s silver-stringed guitar – in conjunction
with one or two spells. Very few are powerhouses
of magic in the tradition of Dr Stephen Strange or
Gandalf the Grey, or are interested in pushing the
boundaries of magical knowledge. In a very real
sense, it could be said that what distinguishes the
villains from the heroes is ambition. To the occult
villain, magic is the key to power, and power is the
gateway to the fulfilment of their desires; desires
that must be satisfied, at any cost…
Quote: “By the Eye of Odin, what is that?”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4,
Fighting d4, Occult d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Research d6, Spellcasting d10, Stealth d4, + 2 Skill
Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Stubborn (Minor),
Vow (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), New Powers,
Power Points
Powers: Arcane Protection, Detect/Conceal Arcana,
+3 additional powers.
Power Points: 15
BIG GAME HUNTER
In a world largely unconcerned or unaware of
animal extinctions and ecological issues, the big
game hunter still cuts a dash in the Pulp Era as he
returns from untamed lands far beyond the reach of
civilization bearing exotic trophies and even more
exotic after-dinner tales of peril and excitement.
He brings with him a touch of the jungle’s primal
savagery, a hint of danger and more than a little
disregard for the rules of “polite” society.
Big game hunters often worked as safari guides,
leading parties less-experienced hunters through
dense jungle and across lion-haunted savannahs
or working with explorers. In the Pulps, he was
often the foil or business partner of the main hero.
Big game hunters were also frequently depicted as
villainous; greedy poachers, insensitive colonialists
or deranged obsessives.
Quote: “Move quietly, but confidently. If we act like
prey, they’ll act like predators.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Shooting d8,
Stealth d6, Survival d6, + 2 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Death Wish (Minor),
Thin Skinned (Minor)
Edges: Alertness, Trademark Weapon
BRAWLER
His whole body hurt, and Ted’s arms felt like he
was trying to lift soaking wet blankets. This was
the big fight though, and he had to show the folks
from back where he came from that he was as
tough as they thought he was…at least as tough as
the palooka he’d been trading punches with. This
is what it felt like to be thoroughly beaten and he
didn’t like it. Ted didn’t like it when he was a kid
either.
Being raised on the streets makes you tough. Tough
guys can go one of two ways on the streets: go into
crime or help others. The brawler didn’t start out to
be a hero, but when it came time to make the tough
decisions and push came to shove, he ended up on
that path anyway. You never thought that you would
ever end up as anything but another broken down
palooka, but it looks like your choices are taking
you on to bigger and better things in this world.
Many Pulp heroes were brawlers or boxers, tapping
into the growth in popularity of boxing during
the era. Boxers were modern gladiators, manly
and heroic, and boxing itself was referred to as
“the pugilistic art” or “the sweet science”, valuing
technique and skill over brute force.
Brawlers usually have a day job that involves
physical work and a lot of exercise that helps keep
them at the peak of their fitness, and they often use
any spare time to work on improving their style,
technique and endurance. A brawler might work as
a dock worker, a meat packer, cop, bouncer, soldier,
sailor or mob enforcer while in training for his next
fight.
83
Quote: “You gotta stay humble, kid. Remember
where you came from, ‘cause there’s always
somebody tougher out there, and the way down is
faster than the way up.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Stealth d4, Taunt d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 7
Hindrances: Heroic (Major), Loyal (Minor), Ugly
(Minor)
Edges: Brawler
ESCAPE ARTIST
In the age of the Pulps, escapes artists like Harry
Houdini are big news, drawing massive crowds and
gathering the attention of the Press wherever they
go. Like Houdini, many were also stage magicians
and illusionists, with a side-line in debunking
claims of the supernatural.
Escape artists can break free from deadly traps
and horrible contraptions. The twist is that the
traps belong to the artist. Most escape artists
are consummate perfectionists — indeed, their
profession, as well as their lives, depends on
executing every twist, turn, and key perfectly.
Quote: “For my next trick, I shall escape from my
shackles while immersed in an air-tight chest sunk
in a vat of boiling acid...”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Performance d6,
Shooting d4, Stealth d6, Thievery d8, + 1 Skill Point
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Doubting Thomas
(Minor), Secret (Minor)
Edges: Fame, Luck

EXPLORER
The world is an exciting place and the explorer
views it as a huge opportunity. Explorers are the
first to go anywhere from the unknown plateaus
to the center of the earth, equally at home hacking
their way through sweltering jungle or trekking
across icy wastes. They rely on their bravery
and experience to travel through the unknown
on all seven continents, always seeking out new
adventures.
Explorers fall into two basic categories; sponsored
and self-funded. Sponsored explorers are those
funded by external bodies such as scientific research
societies, museums, universities and governments.
Due to the high cost of transportation, equipment
and qualified personal, most explorers fall into the
latter category.
Quote: “If you believe conventional wisdom, there
are no blank spots left on the map. Conventional
wisdom is wrong. If you want to find the blank spot,
leave the map behind.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4,
Fighting d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Riding d8,
Shooting d6, Stealth d4, Survival d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Loyal (Minor), Ruth-
less (Minor)
Edges: Linguist
FEMME FATALE
Equipped with charm, beauty and brains, the femme
fatale uses her feminine wiles to achieve her goals
while stealing the hearts of the men around her.
Using her sex appeal to turn men into stuttering
fools, this alluring vixen is strong-willed, confident,
highly intelligent, frequently physically formidable
and often utterly lethal. In an era when women
were encouraged to be little more than docile wives
and mothers, the femme fatale is anything but.
She craves adventure and excitement and is often
attempting to right a wrong done her in the past.
Usually portrayed as villainous – or at least morally
84
ambivalent – the femme fatale nearly always gets
what she wants and is mistress of every situation.
She is skilled at manipulating men into doing what
she wants and rarely does her own dirty work.
Though her facade is usually transparent to other
women, she is a master at projecting an air of
wounded vulnerability and innocence, making their
accusations seem petty and motivated by jealousy.
Quote: “If it’s fun you’re after boy, come on over.
But be warned - I bite...”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d10,
Stealth d6, Taunt d4, + 2 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Ruthless (Minor), Secret (Minor),
Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Attractive, Charismatic
G-MAN
Smart, stalwart and rigidly dedicated, G-men are
agents of some branch of the U.S. Government:
the FBI, the Prohibition Bureau, the Treasury
Department, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics
(FBN), the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
etc. Almost always college-educated, armed with
access to national resources and powers far beyond
that of local law enforcement, the G-Man is the
sworn enemy of espionage and organized crime.
Quote: “No sir, the FBI does not have a sense of
humor that we are aware of.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d4, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d8,
Persuasion d4, Research d8, Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Heroic (Major), By the Book (Minor),
Obligation (Minor)
Edges: Connections, Investigator

GANGSTER
Like the gentleman crook, the gangster is a
criminal. Unlike the gentleman crook, he’s no
gentleman. The gangster may be a bank robber,
mob enforcer or simply a low level mook involved
with the rackets (illegal gambling, bootlegging,
extortion, kidnapping, fraud, etc.). The pulp era was
highly conscious of crime. The “Ten Most Wanted”
list turned bank robbers into national heroes of a
sort, while prohibition made bootleggers rich, and
gang wars with Tommy-guns created legends.
Quote: “Gangsters don’t ask questions, sweetheart.
Gangsters just get answers.”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d6, Spirit d4, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d4,
Persuasion d4, Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Enemy (Major), Ruthless (Minor), Sus-
picious (Minor)
Edges: Menacing, Streetwise
GENTLEMAN CROOK
For the idle rich, boredom is a constant threat.
With nothing more serious to do than plan the next
party or the next seduction, the gentleman crook
has turned to crime to provide the ultimate thrill
or to right some perceived wrong. Motivated by
a need to outsmart the opposition, the gentleman
crook usually cares little for the money he steals,
preferring instead to focus on the style and daring
of the crime itself. Rarely does he steal from those
who cannot afford the loss, and his spoils are often
donated to the poor or those in need, giving him a
“Robin Hood” reputation. Many gentleman crooks
prefer to steal only from those who it is felt deserve
it; criminals, corrupt politicians or just people with
appalling taste and bad manners.
Some gentleman crooks operate under an assumed
identity, while others are known but rely on their
great skill to avoid being caught. Examples of the
gentleman crook are Simon Templar (AKA The
Saint), Arsène Lupin and A.J. Raffles.
Quote: “What a charming necklace, Lady
Carstairs.”
85
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d4, Fighting d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d8,
Stealth d6, Thievery d6 +3 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Secret (Major), Quirk (Minor), Obses-
sion (Minor)
Edges: Charismatic, Luck, Thief
GREASE MONKEY
The grease monkey is a skilled engineer and
mechanic with a natural affinity for technology,
particularly of the vehicular variety. With his
stained overalls and battered toolbox, the grease
monkey may often look slightly shabby next to the
square-jawed hero types, and may have difficulty
talking to anything that doesn’t have an overhead
camshaft, but he’s the best there is at what he
does, and what he does is fix things. Courageous,
loyal and hard-working, the grease monkey is as
invaluable a tool in the fight against crime as the
chrome-plated .45 and the domino mask. He’s the
one who keeps the crime-fighters esoteric vehicles
and arsenal of equipment in peak working order,
the one who coaxes a battered engine into life just
long enough to track the gang of hijackers and who
is always willing to wade into a scrap armed with
nothing but his trusty over-sized wrench.
Quote: “I knew I should have brought a bigger
wrench!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Repair d8, Science
d4, Stealth d4, + 3 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Clumsy (Major), Loyal (Minor), Thin
Skinned (Minor)
Edges: McGyver, Mr. Fix It

GUMSHOE
Hard-boiled, cynical and wisecracking, this is the
down-at-heel private detective in the tradition of
Sam Spade and Mike Hammer, a tough guy often
ready to fall for the first dame through the door. In
the Pulps, the gumshoe could be your best friend, or
your worst enemy. Most of the time he’s broke, with
nothing to his name but the name on the door of his
rented office, a half-empty bottle of cheap bourbon
in his desk drawer, a filing cabinet with the details
of the case that got away, a loaded .38 in his pocket
and a rep for getting the job done. The gumshoe’s
life is hard and often grimy, but it’s never boring.
While the Pulps did feature examples of rogue
private eyes who’d branched out into blackmail,
theft and even murder, by far the majority were
bound by a deeply ingrained sense of justice and a
personal code of honor.
A private detective with his own business will need
to find suitable office space and advertise. On the
other hand, he can also set his own fees. The private
detective’s relationship with the local police may
be one of mutual respect or complete antipathy.
A private detective must have a license. It gives
the private detective the right to advertise and to
charge for Investigations; otherwise he has the same
powers as any private citizen.
86
Quote: “I woke up feeling lousy, mostly because I’d
gone to bed sober.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Research d8,
Shooting d6, Stealth d6, + 1 Skill Point
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Heroic (Major), Habit (Minor), Loyal
(Minor)
Edges: Investigator, Streetwise
JUNGLE KING
The Jungle King (or Queen) is a native of Western
civilization who – due to bizarre and unfortunate
circumstance – was raised by animals in an isolated
wilderness and has attained a peak of physical
perfection. Jungle Kings often possess enhanced
senses and the ability to communicate with animals.
They use their heightened abilities to protect their
“kingdom” from intrusion and exploitation by the
outside world. Their adventures often bring them
into the civilized world, where their rough and
ready nobility highlights the hypocrisy and shifting
morality of modern life.
Quote: “N’gawa!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Riding d6, Stealth
d6, Survival d6, + 1 Skill Point
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Impulsive (Major), Loyal (Minor),
Strange Visitor (Minor)
Edges: Alertness, Beast Master
MARTIAL ARTIST
The martial artist hails from – or has travelled in
– the “mysterious east” and is a student of one or
more martial arts disciplines. To the martial artist,
these disciplines represent more than self-defense
and combat expertise. The training includes a
profound philosophy that teaches restraint and
humility. Martial artists work to master their mind
as well as their body, attuning both to work in
harmony through the techniques they have learned.
Martial artists might develop their combat skills
and philosophy to aid a career as an agent or a law
enforcer, or might become an independent operative
whose entire person is a weapon. No matter
what career they choose to pursue, martial artists
possesses confidence, commitment, and the means
to get the job done.
Quote: “If you know your enemy, but not yourself,
you will always be defeated.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d10, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Stealth d4, + 2 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Enemy (Major), Mild Mannered
(Minor), Vow (Minor)
Edges: First Strike, Martial Artist
MASKED AVENGER
The laughter lilted softly through the wet, dark
alley. “Crusher” Kreel had run into a dead end,
and had just realized it. He drew his gun, more out
of fear than out of any desire to use it. The quiet
voice of Smoke filled the darkness and the alley. It
was everywhere, echoing and filled with menace.
“Guns are useless, Kreel. You should know that you
can’t shoot…Smoke.”
Kreel fell to his knees and dropped his gun as the
laughter again filled the alley.
The weed of crime bears bitter fruit, and the
masked avenger intends to ensure it tastes very
bitter indeed. While some characters thrive on their
reputation – on being known – the masked avenger
thrives on being unknown. His weapons are rumor
and superstition, his cloak secrecy. The masked
avenger represents those “normal” men who use
their abilities at stealth and disguise to terrify the
cowardly and superstitious criminals that they face,
giving them a superhuman edge over their much
more numerous opponents.
Crime in the Pulp Era was often brutal, and brutal
methods were sometimes necessary to fight it. A
vigilante who deals with criminals too powerful
or strange for the police, the masked avenger is a
weird figure who uses terror, darkness and (usually)
blazing twin .45’s to deliver justice and hot lead to
the guilty. While a predecessor of the super-hero,
the masked avenger’s costume usually consists of
87
a dark suit, a trench coat or cape, a fedora and a
domino mask or concealing bandana, though more
outlandish and garish costumes have been known.
Due to their lethal methods, masked avengers were
often as persecuted by the police as they were hated
by the underworld, hence the need for a secret
identity. Masked avengers often faced gangsters and
mad scientists, but their investigations frequently
led them into conflict with stranger and darker
adversaries, such as vampires, ghouls and black
magicians. While most masked avengers used
theatrical tricks and special effects to terrify their
opponents, some used psychic gifts and mesmerism
to achieve their aims.
While some masked avengers are motivated by
tragedy, the majority are simply trying to do the
right thing. Many are wealthy young men (very
rarely women) who have decided to put their
natural gifts and extensive resources to the service
of justice – as opposed to the Law. The masked
avenger is a staple of the Pulp genre. Examples
include the Shadow, the Spider and the Black Bat.
Quote: “Crime does not pay!” BLAM! BLAM!
BLAM!
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Shooting d8, Stealth d6, Taunt d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Vow (Major), Secret (Major)
Edges: Ambidextrous, Two-Gun Kid
MOB MOLL
Working in partnership with the gangster, the mob
moll is his right-hand woman. Providing brains,
guidance, support and a safe place to stay, the mob
moll is frequently a good woman who’s simply
fallen in love with the wrong man. More often
though, she is a hardened thrill-seeker; a tough-
minded, glamorous dame who gives as good as
she gets. Some mob molls act as spies for their
men, while others are the real power behind the
throne, secretly running a criminal empire while
maintaining a facade of innocence.
Quote: “Fill ‘em full of lead, boys!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d4, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
MYSTERY MAN
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv- Grant could never get used to the view from up on
ing d6, Fighting d6, Gambling d4, Intimidation d6, top of his building…looking out over the city, his
Notice d4, Persuasion d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d4 city, he could almost fool himself into thinking that
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5 it was clean…
Hindrances: Enemy (Major), Vengeful (Minor),
Loyal (Minor) Somewhere between the Masked Avenger and
Edges: Attractive, Streetwise the yet to emerge super-hero is the Mystery Man
(and Mystery Woman). From out of the shadowed
MYSTIC back alleys, and the rain slick rooftops, comes the
Mystery Man. Unlike the Masked Avenger, who
To the mystic there is no such thing as magic, prefers to remain in the shadows and have his
there are only occult sciences and technologies of existence known only to the criminals he haunts, the
the mind that man has yet to master. The mystic Mystery Man understands the value of publicity and
has delved deep in areas shrouded in darkness public knowledge in the battle against crime.
and ignorance, be they the secrets of lost Atlantis,
ancient Tibetan meditations, the true power of
mathematics, the power of the Chi, or the correct
pronunciation and power of a handful of the true
names of God. Some bear amulets or rings that help
them focus the power of their mind. The weight of
this knowledge separates mystics from their fellow
man, and they keep their secrets close.

Mystics use their innate psychic disciplines to

further their investigations into the higher laws that
govern the supernatural world, and tread a fine line
between scholar and scientist, with the occult and
the unknown as their specialty. Many mystics –
such as the “Dream Detective” Dr Morris Klaw, or
Simon Iff – operate as “ghost breakers”, using their
genuine arcane skills to uncover frauds and hoaxes.
Some mystics operate as supernatural detectives,
using their special gifts to solve both mundane and
arcane mysteries.

Quote: “The aetheric vibrations are very strong.

There’s been a manifestation here.”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d4, Common
Knowledge d4, Fighting d4, Notice d6, Occult d8,
Persuasion d4, Psionics d6, Research d8, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Cautious (Minor),
Secret (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), Scholar.
Powers: Detect/Conceal Arcana, Mind Link, Arcane
Protection
Power Points: 10

88
The Mystery Man wears a (very often brightly-
colored) costume. Unlike the Masked Avenger,
he prefers to use his fists rather than hot lead
to dispense justice. He is the prototype of the
superhero, and his costume is as much a uniform
to him as is a policeman’s. While most Masked
Avengers avoid the limelight, the Mystery Man
embraces the attention, using it as a tool in his
campaign against crime. Public awareness and
support can often be as valuable as the fear of
criminals.
Quote: “Stand back, I’m here to help.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Stealth d6, + 2 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Secret (Major), Heroic (Major)
Edges: Hard to Kill, Rich
NEWS HOUND
The news hound is an agent of a major newspaper.
He is a high-caliber journalist and regards his
calling as more of a religion than a job. He sees it as
his duty to locate a story and report it to the people,
as long as his editors believe it will sell papers. The
people have a right to know, and the news hound is
the one to tell them.
The news hound goes where the story is, wherever
that story makes take them. News hounds
sometimes travel with photographers, camera crews
and other groups, but those are rare. There are far
more undercover journalists, writers, and news
hounds traveling around behind the scenes than
anyone knows. Not all these actually work for news
services. Some are researching articles, books, and
other publications.
In the end, though, journalists are all good at one
thing and one thing in particular – digging for
secrets. To find out what they need to know, they
will often do or say anything at all. They do have
their own level of integrity, however. In pursuing
their knowledge, all good news hounds instinctively
obey the following rules:
Verify the Facts: Journalists never report
information as truth without verifying them first.
89
Something that is unverified is merely ‘alleged.’
If two or more independent sources corroborate a
piece of data, that is enough to consider it a fact. A
news hound who fails to obey this rule receives a
-2 penalty on all future Persuasion checks against
people familiar with them.
Protect the Source: Good news hounds never
reveal the source of their information. A news
hound who gives up his source quickly receives a
reputation as untrustworthy and finds it much harder
to get anyone to turn over information. A news
hound who does not live up to this restriction suffers
a -2 penalty to all Knowledge checks from people
who recognize them.
Remain Impartial: A good journalist always
avoids making judgments about what he learns,
even if he is an eyewitness to events. The news
hound’s job is to present the news or information
strictly as it exists, without any attempt to analyze
it. If a news hound resorts to judging the news
or telling others what to think, he tends to make
others angry and upset. He receives a -2 penalty to
all Persuasion checks from anyone who knows the
news hound’s identity.
Quote: “I need to phone my editor. Pulitzer, here I
come!”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Research d8,
Stealth d6, + 2 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Doubting Thomas
(Minor), Obligation (Minor)
Edges: Investigator, Streetwise
OCCULT INVESTIGATOR
To the occult investigator, magic and the powers of
the supernatural are simply another area of human
study, to be analyzed and understood through the
proper application of the scientific method. Occult
investigators tend to regard the forces of the arcane
as impersonal and amoral, as simple expressions
of the natural (and supernatural) world, rather than
spiritual beings with intentions and motivations of
their own. Occult investigators are prone to lengthy,
rambling explanations of magical phenomena, but
usually possess the most open minds, preferring
to approach each new case as if it had an entirely
mundane origin.
Occult investigators rarely use magic directly but
may occasionally use protective circles and other
simple wards or protective devices. Usually they
use their knowledge of the laws of magic, rather
than using magic itself – a subtle distinction, but an
important one.
Occult investigators such as Thomas Carnacki,
Anton Zarnak and Jules De Grandin use a blend of
arcane science and psychic mastery to overcome
genuine intrusions of the unknown into the
everyday world.
Quote: “Stay within the circle! Your life – your very
soul! – depends upon it!”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d4
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d4, Common
Knowledge d4, Fighting d4, Occult d8, Notice d6,
Persuasion d4, Research d8, Stealth d4, Weird Sci-
ence d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Overconfident (Major)
Edges: Investigator, Arcane Background (Weird
Science)
Powers: Detect/Conceal Arcana, Arcane Protection.
Power Points: 15
OPERATOR
Only three living people in America knew that the
secret city existed underneath Washington D.C.,
and even fewer knew as completely as Jimmy what
secrets were inside of it…
Spies and Special Agents have long been a staple
of Pulp Fiction, and The Operator is the cream of
the crop, the best that his country has to offer. An
Operator is the type of secret agent who tends to
tackle, and beat, foreign (sometimes very foreign)
invasions of the shores of his or her country, usually
single-handed. A government will often only have
one person who has been elevated to the rank of
being an Operator (on rare occasions two) per
branch of Intelligence or Espionage organizations.
Operators are as rare as they are deadly.
Quote: “History may be moving pretty quickly
these days, but I know which side I’m on.”
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Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Research d4,
Shooting d6, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Enemy (Major), Ruthless (Minor), Sus-
picious (Minor)
Edges: Calculating, Connections
PERSONALITY
The Personality is in the public eye by day. A movie
star, radio star (or both!), a high-profile community
leader or politician, or maybe even a world-famous
novelist — all these and more fit the Personality.
Personalities are recognizable, have some amount of
fame and a following, and often have the reputation
and wealth (or illusion thereof) to go along with
the spotlight. Personalities might simply be famous
because of who they are or may have earned their
status by what they’ve done. A personality could be
an entertainer, a celebrity, a dilettante, a politician,
or the bored offspring of one of these public
personalities.
Quote: “Daaarling! How simply delightful to see
you!”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d8, Performance d8,
Shooting d4, Stealth d4, + 4 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Clueless (Major), Big Mouth (Minor),
Vengeful (Minor)
Edges: Fame, Rich
RELIC HUNTER
We made our way through the tunnels at a run. I
could hear footsteps behind us, but with the echoes
and dripping water, it was impossible to tell how
close they were. Suddenly, a light at the end of
the tunnel. At the exit, a long stone ladder leading
down… way down. I hate heights.
– from the Journals of Malcolm Gideon
Part archeologist, part researcher, part adventurer,
the relic hunter explores ancient and unknown ruins,
seeking treasures from the past, either in the form of
ancient artifacts or forgotten wisdom. Relic hunters
may be motivated by a desire for personal fortune
and glory, or by an altruistic desire for what they
find to expand the boundaries of knowledge and be
available for all to see. Sometimes, it’s a little of
both.
Relic hunters, while tough and independent,
also work well in teams. They’re specialists and
recognize the need for expertise in other areas.
They’re often found in company with explorers, big
game hunters and air aces.
The villainous relic hunter is another Pulp Era
staple. In this character the desire for knowledge
has become an obsession, eroding their morals and
humanity as they fight to be the first to obtain some
secret treasure. These individuals are often little
more than tomb robbers, holding little respect for
the cultures they encounter and caring nothing for
the furthering of human understanding. As such,
they’re often found in the company of mercenaries,
Femmes Fatale, Evil Masterminds and Nazis.
Quote: “We are simply passing through history.
This...this is history!”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d4, Common Knowl-
edge d4, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Research d8, Riding d4, Shooting d4, Stealth d4,
Thievery d4.
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Impulsive (Major), Phobia (Minor),
Stubborn (Minor)
Edges: Danger Sense, Gold Bug
ROCKET MAN
While the air ace personifies the spirit of flight,
the rocket man (or woman) is flight. It takes a very
special sort of bravery to strap a small bomb to
your back, but it takes a particular kind of lunacy to
activate it and turn yourself into a human missile.
Rocket men have nerves of steel, lightning reflexes
and an almost total disregard for their personal
safety. They have a love of speed, thrills and the
kind of daring that makes normal people question
their sanity.
While some rocket men create their flight packs,
91
most are not scientists. Instead they are test pilots,
stunt men or even simply hapless bystanders who
happen to be in the right place at the right time.
These rocket men tend to come with a grease
monkey or scientist friend who maintains the device
and keeps it operating at peak efficiency (often with
the aid of strategically placed chewing gum).
Quote: “Ignition on and....rockets away!”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Piloting d10,
Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Impulsive (Major), Overconfident
(Major)
Edges: Ace, Gizmo (Rocket Pack)
Gear: Rocket Pack (Arcane Device, Powers: Fly,
Power Points: 10)
SOLDIER
The Soldier is a trained warrior, as good with a gun
as he is with a knife or some other melee weapon.
The Soldier might be a dedicated idealist or a profit-
seeking mercenary, a recent veteran of the Great
War, a hired gun or a highly skilled adventurer.
In all cases, the Soldier learns how to defeat his
enemies, to complete his missions, and ultimately,
to survive. Soldiers who survived the trenches of
the Great War may suffer from shell shock.
Mercenary characters fight on behalf of their
employer for as long as they are being paid.
Mercenaries frequently find themselves dispatched
to hot spots for duties their employer would rather
not be associated with directly. Mercenaries may
work covertly for governments, corporations or
private individuals.
The soldier character is a well-rounded combat
expert, combining both melee and ranged weapon
expertise.
Quote: “A well-trained soldier can beat anything,
except a superior officer.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d4,
Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Survival d6

Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Code of Honor (Major), Death Wish
(Minor), Ruthless (Minor)
Edges: Command, Hard to Kill
SCIENTIST
The scientist character excels at scientific theory
and knowledge and has the ability to apply it in the
field to solve problems and discover the truth of any
situation.
In the Pulp Era, the scientist is the prophet of
the coming age. His is the vision that will shape
the world of the future and bring that world into
the present. More than any other character, the
scientist is driven by curiosity, by the need to know.
Though he values his time in the laboratory, the true
scientist knows that he needs to be out in the field,
gathering data, observing phenomena and testing
hypotheses.
An oceanographer willing to dive into the water
and swim with the sharks fits this category. So does
a meteorologist who chases tornadoes, a military
mission specialist with a scientific background, a
criminal psychologist who studies crime scenes,
and a zoologist eager to hunt crocodiles and handle
poisonous reptiles.
92
Quote: “Huh. That’s odd. I wonder if...”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Research d8,
Science d8, Stealth d4, + 3 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Curious (Major), Driven (Minor), Pac-
ifist (Minor)
Edges: Scholar, Super-Amalgamated
WEIRD SCIENTIST
Like the scientist and the grease monkey, the weird
scientist is technically and scientifically skilled.
Unlike both, weird scientists are also inspired in a
way that seemingly allows them to see beyond the
realms of the possible, forming theories and crafting
devices that apparently defy the laws of science as
they are currently understood.
Also known as the mad scientist or evil genius, the
weird scientist is a staple of the Pulps. Passionate,
driven and obsessive, they are also often jealous,
irrational, vengeful and arrogant, prone to grandiose
plans and even more grandiose speeches. While the
scientist hero represents the potential of science for
good, the weird scientist represents its antithesis –
science without conscience.
Not all weird scientists are evil, but even those that
aren’t are eccentric in some way, as if the bright
flame of genius they carry within them can’t exist in
a completely normal mind.
Quote: “They laughed at my theories, and they
laughed at me! I’ll show them! I’ll show them all!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d4, Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Science d6, Stealth
d6, Weird Science d6, + 3 Skill Points
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Jealous (Major), Ruthless (Minor),
Quirk (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science)
Powers: +2 Additional Powers
Power Points: 15
 GROUPS &
BASES
Doc Savage had the 86th Floor of the Empire
Note: This Edge can be taken more than once,
giving access to a different gizmo each time.
State Building and Superman had his arctic
Fortress of Solitude – what’s your group’s center of ARCHIVES
operations? Are you working out of a custom-built
secret fortress filled with technological wonders, or Requirements: 1+ group member with Research
are you hunting criminals from the sub-basement d8+
of an abandoned theater? Do you belong to a
The group has access to records and files relating
government institution, a secret military unit, or are
to their purpose. This might be in the form of an
you just a gang of amateur investigators who’ve
extensive specialist library, access to government
discovered the thrill of fighting evildoers?
records going back years, or the group may just
Just like characters, Groups and Bases have Edges be really good at collating data. Your hero has
and Hindrances. All the players decide collectively information at her fingertips, and the means to store
what Group & Base Edges and Hindrances to buy. and use it.
Groups start with three Edges and one Hindrance.
This Edge provides the group with 3 bennies per
They can gain additional Edges by taking further
game session that can only be spent on Research
Hindrances on a one-for-one basis.
rolls related to the groups purpose.

GROUP EDGES ARMORY

The group has an arsenal of weapons and other
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY equipment. This might be an actual armory, with
racks and crates of weapons and ammunition, a
Requirements: 1+ group member with Arcane
wall full of guns hidden behind a sliding panel, or
Background (Weird Science)
a bunker full of illegal weaponry and army-surplus
Your group has some unusual technology related gear. Whatever its nature, you have firepower, and
to their purpose, the nature of which is decided plenty of it.
in discussion with the GM. The group has two
Your heroes can get any normal weapon required
options; either the technology is a gizmo assigned
without a problem and can spend a bennie to obtain
to everyone in the group as if they had the Gizmo
hardware normally restricted to the military from
Edge (page 78), or a larger device built into their
the Armory, such as grenades, mortars and high
base.
explosives. Without this Edge your group is limited
The gizmo is created like a normal Weird Science purely to the weapons owned by the characters and
gadget, but using it requires a skill other than what they can purchase.
Weird Science (for example, Shooting for a Weird
Science weapon, Piloting for a Weird Science
vehicle, Notice for a Weird Science detector, etc.).
If damaged, the gizmo can only be repaired by a
Weird Scientist.

93

BARRACKS
The group’s base has a small security force of five
men, and the space to house them. This force (use
the soldier template in Savage Worlds Adventure
Edition) performs guard duties and will help repel
attackers. This Edge can be taken multiple times,
increasing the size of the security force by five men
each time.
COMPUTING POWER
Requirements: 1+ group member with Science d8+
You’ve got access to a powerful calculating engine.
This Edge provides the group with 3 bennies per
game session that can only be spent on Science rolls
related to the groups purpose, like performing some
complex calculations to solve a problem.
FORTIFIED
The group’s base is a hard nut to crack. The walls
are thick and sturdy, the doors are reinforced, the
glass is bullet-proof. The place is surrounded by
walls and fences. Anyone trying to take it is going
to have a fight on their hands. Enemies attempting
to penetrate or attack the base directly suffer a -5
penalty to all related rolls.
JAIL
You’ve got somewhere to keep unruly prisoners,
either a brig on a vehicle or cells in the basement.
Prisoners confined to the jail are going to stay
there until they get broken out or you transfer them
somewhere else. What you do with them while
you’ve got them is up to you. Your jail’s cells may
even come with a few previously captured inmates!
However, note that even a sturdy holding cell can’t
hold an Evil Mastermind for long.
LAB SPACE
Requirements: 1+ group member with Science d8+
Your base has a fully equipped laboratory and the
research staff to run it. These lab techs are lousy
in a fight, but they can work a test tube with the
best of them, and can perform analysis, synthesize
compounds and provide similar technical support
tasks.
94
This Edge provides the group with 3 bennies per
game session that can only be spent on Science
rolls and related activities, like performing chemical
analysis, producing anti-toxins and so on.
LANDING STRIP
Requirements: 1+ group member with Piloting d8+
The base has an airstrip or a Zeppelin dock and
hangar facilities, as well as the necessary equipment
and staff to maintain the aircraft in usable order.
Pick one of the following to decide what aircraft
you have:
• Auto-gyros
• Small planes
• Zeppelins
• Armed Biplanes
Note: You can take this Edge more than once; each
time you take it, pick another kind of aircraft.
LOCKDOWN
When necessary you can seal up your group’s base
tighter than a drum. At the pull of a lever the doors
lock, shutters drop over the windows, even the air
conditioning shuts down. Taking this Edge means
that nothing bigger than a whisper can escape your
base using conventional means when it is locked-
down. Bases with this Edge also have their own
emergency air supply, which can come in handy if
the Death Dragon’s minions are attempting another
gas attack.
INFIRMARY
Requirements: 1+ group member with Healing d8+
Your group has access to a good infirmary and the
necessary medical staff to help you recover from
injury and illness. This Edge provides competent
medical care for even serious injuries without
having to involve the authorities, providing the
group with 3 bennies per every game session that
can only be spent on Healing rolls and related
activities.

MENAGERIE
You have a large holding facility for keeping exotic
creatures that you are unable to return to their
natural habitat. What is it with Evil Masterminds
and their venomous pets, anyway?
MOBILE HQ
The base is a giant vehicle and can move under its
own power. Maybe it’s built into an airplane, maybe
it’s on board a ship or slung beneath your very own
Zeppelin! Whatever it is, it moves around, making
it harder for the bad guys to track you down and
easier for you to get back up in the field.
OFFICIAL
You’ve got official backing, and you can flash
an impressive-looking badge or ID. The Powers
That Be – the army, the navy, the government, the
secret service, the National Science Foundation,
the League of Nations, or some other group with a
LOT of authority is backing your adventures. This
doesn’t give you carte blanche, but it does give
you a +2 to all Persuasion and Intimidation checks
made when attempting to get official cooperation in
pursuit of official business.
Note: A group cannot have both the Official Edge
and the Criminal Hindrance.
SECRET BASE
Your base is hard to spot and is cunningly concealed
to prevent accidental (or deliberate) discovery.
It could be disguised behind a bakery, buried
underground or just hidden beneath some Weird
Science active camouflage. Even if an enemy knows
the base is there, it’s still almost impossible to find,
requiring two raises to uncover.
TRAINING ROOMS
Your group has access to training facilities, such
as a gym, a firing range, pool, and others. Between
adventures you have everything you need to keep
yourselves sharp and in tip-top shape. Your base
includes a gym, a firing range, and other training
facilities. Between adventures, you’re busy honing
your skills.
95
This Edge provides up to 3 additional Advances per
game session, to be divided between the characters
at no more than one per character.
GARAGE
Requirements: 1+ group member with Driving d8+
Your base has an extensive motor pool, and you’ve
got access to a variety of vehicles. Characters can
easily obtain any normal motor vehicle and may
spend a bennie to get more unusual or specialized
vehicles.
WEALTHY
Requirements: 1+ group member with the Filthy
Rich Edge
Your group is well-funded, and members have easy
access to money when conducting group business.
Characters can easily obtain normal items (not
weapons or vehicles) easily and may spend a bennie
to get more unusual or specialized items.
Note: Groups can’t have both the Wealthy Edge and
Underfunded Hindrance.
GROUP
HINDRANCES
Every Pulp Fantastic group faces terrible dangers
– bloodthirsty assassins, Evil Masterminds, Mad
Scientists, spies, gangsters, Things That Should Not
Be – but your group faces them with a handicap.
BYSTANDERS
Your group’s base is in a public location. It might
be famous, located in or near a tourist attraction
(if your group is famous it might BE a tourist
attraction), be in a or near a very public place or
simply have a lot of foot traffic passing by. When
the chips are down and the bad guys come calling,
your heroes will have panicking civilians to deal
with as well as armed goons.
CODE OF CONDUCT
Your group has a specific code of conduct that
you’re expected to adhere to. Maybe it’s the military
chain of command and rules of engagement,
or maybe you’re bound by religious oaths.
Regardless, you must abide by the rules, and if you
don’t, there’ll be trouble bound by civil service
bureaucracy. You’ve got to keep to the code, or
there’ll be trouble.
All group members are treated as if they have either
the Obligation (Minor) or Vow (Minor) Hindrance –
decide which in discussion with the GM.
CRIMINAL
The Law frowns on the activities of your group.
You’re doing something that’s genuinely illegal,
like smuggling fugitives across state lines, or the
government doesn’t want anyone else fighting
crime. If you’re caught, you’ll be arrested.
All group members are treated as if they have either
the Wanted (Minor) Hindrance. If a character is
already Wanted, they are treated as if it was Wanted
(Major).
Note: Groups can’t have both the Criminal
Hindrance and the Official Edge.
DANGEROUS CONSE-
QUENCES
Your group uses (or has used) your base for a
troublesome experiment involving Weird Science,
Magic, Psionics or something else peculiar and
dangerous. They might have once accidentally
created a deadly bacillus, attracted the attention of
Eldritch Abominations or a poltergeist by reading
the wrong book aloud, or accidentally given
independent form to a latent psychosis. The fallout
from this can – and will – cause problems for your
base and the people within it. The consequences can
be awkward and troublesome but are rarely deadly.
Once per game session, the GM may choose to have
something related to the nature of the experiment
go wrong for those in the base, usually at the worst
possible time, unless every member of the group
sacrifices a bennie.
96
DARK SECRET
Your organization has a dark secret, and you don’t
know what it is. The nature of the dark secret
is up to the GM. It could be another Hindrance
(maybe your mysterious benefactor is actually a
Nazi spymaster or a notorious crime lord, not the
government, so you’re actually Criminals; maybe
the organization was set up to atone for a dreadful
crime, or to correct the effects of an experiment that
went horribly wrong) or something even worse.
DEMANDING SUPERIORS
You’re not your own boss, and your boss is a
jerk. You’re in the hot seat and you’re expected
to perform, no matter what. Whatever it is your
group does, you need to do it better, and to a tight
deadline. Your bosses want results!
Your group answers to a higher power, one that
can’t keep its sticky fingers out of your business,
keeps interfering with your decisions and generally
makes your life hell. Taking this Hindrance gives
the GM license to go with the kind of Boss from
Hell who doesn’t understand why you haven’t
captured the Crimson Claw yet and won’t sign off
on your ammunition requisition.
TRAITOR
Someone in your organization is working for
the opposition, feeding them information and
sabotaging your plans. Maybe they’re working for
an organization (like the Syndicate or the Tong
of the Black Scorpion) or an enemy (Like Herr
Doktor Todeskopf or the Crimson Claw). The GM
determines who the traitor is. It could be your
superior in the organization, or a trusted underling.
It could even be one of the player characters!
UNRELIABLE
Something about your base or group is unreliable
and is liable to fail when it’s needed most. Pick one
of your Group Edges. That Edge is now unreliable
and cannot be counted on all the time.
For example, if you have an unreliable Landing
Strip, then either your source of aircraft is unreliable
(sometimes, your old war buddy just can’t get the
parts!) or the aircraft themselves tend to break down. Once per game session, the GM can withdraw a
Group Edge from play, unless every member of the Group sacrifices a bennie.

UNDERFUNDED
Your group is poverty stricken and desperately short of cash. You can’t afford new equipment, you can
barely make the rent, and you’re on a shoestring budget. A frayed shoestring.

Members of the group can’t buy even the most common equipment, items or services without first securing
the funding.

Note: Groups can’t have both the Wealthy Edge and Underfunded Hindrance.

97
 GEAR
T his section covers the wide variety of general
gear available to adventurers of all sorts.
General gear mostly does not need any special
rules. Players are free to equip their characters
with whatever they think they are likely to need
in the form of tools, clothes, personal effects, and
other sundry items. Generally, these do not affect
Trait or Skill rolls in any way, though they may
be necessary for the effective use of some skills.
For example, repairing an engine without a proper
toolkit is difficult and should be performed at a
penalty, and treating a wound without a first aid
kit likewise. Attempting a complex Skill without
the proper tools should be done with a -2 or more
penalty applied to the roll.
Certain items of equipment, such as any high (or
Weird) technology or arcane artifacts, may have
Powers. These are usually obvious, but the Game
Master makes the final decision on the capabilities
of any mundane equipment, though the expenditure
of Bennies to get minor things to work should be
allowed.
Note that any device that uses batteries comes with
them. Generally, ignore battery life—assume that
heroes (and their antagonists) are smart enough
to recharge or replace their batteries between
adventures, and that the batteries last as long as
needed during adventures, only running down when
dramatically appropriate.
GEAR THAT’S NOT LISTED
Pulp Fantastic takes place in a rough analog of our
world of the 1920’s and 1930’s (assuming you don’t
decide to create a truly fantastic pulp world). If you
want an item of gear that exists in the real world but
isn’t listed here, discuss it with your GM.
98
OF COURSE I HAVE IT!
With most items of gear, the GM shouldn’t require
the player to declare their character is carrying it in
advance. The Pulps played fast and loose with the
capacity of their hero’s pockets, and you should too.
A simple rule of thumb should be that if an item is
required for the character to use their skill, they’ve
probably got it on them (unless it’s something too
big to carry, like a boat or a car). For example, the
player of a big game hunter doesn’t need to tell the
GM that he’s taking a hunting rifle with him every
time he leaves the country – it’s always assumed to
be in his travel chest.
If an item is something you might have with you,
but it’s not something you’d normally carry around,
you can spend a bennie to have it, if you can justify
it to the GM. If the big game hunter goes for a night
at the Stork Club, he’s not going to bring a hunting
rifle with him – but he might have a derringer in his
pocket, just in case!
Losing equipment is a bigger problem. Even if an
item is part of the trappings of a skill, if you lose it
or it’s destroyed, it’s gone until you can realistically
replace it. Note that some skills require specialist
equipment to perform successfully, so be careful
with your gear!
IMPROVISING GEAR
If you’re stuck on a dinosaur-infested South
American plateau, of course, you’re unlikely to
find a handy branch of Sears. The Survival skill
can be used to find food and build a shelter, while
a Gadgeteer could build basic gear out of any junk
they might have handy. The McGyver Edge can be
particularly useful in situations where you may not
have the necessary tools to hand.
When using improvised gear, any critical failure
result means that your improvised gear has broken.
Buying Used
For some objects, a character can
try to go the cheaper route and
buy used. Used car lots, used book
stores, second-hand and refurbished
electronic equipment shops, pawn
shops—all these establishments
and more offer deals on previously
owned goods. In general, only
Uncommon items get a price break
if you can find them used. Common
items don’t receive a price break if
you find them in used condition.
Whether you can find an object
to purchase used instead of new is
entirely up to the Game Master.
Except for purchasing a used car,
finding other objects through a used
market takes time and a bit of luck.
Shopping for a used object takes
twice as long as shopping for the
same object new. In addition, after
spending the time shopping, the
GM can determine that the exact
item you were searching for isn’t
available. You might find a similar
object, or you might not find
anything like it at any of the used
outlets you’ve checked out.
Buying used doesn’t negate the
penalties and fees associated with
buying restricted objects or objects
that require a license.
If you do find a used item, and the
Game Master agrees that it qualifies
for a price break, it is reduced by 1
rank (i.e. from Rare to Uncommon,
and Uncommon to Common).
Used objects are harder to repair
if something breaks or is damaged.
Whenever a used object requires
a Repair check, the GM should
impose a -2 penalty.
Remember that buying something
used is different from buying
something on the black market.
While a hot object might be used, it
is sold as though it was new.
Optional Rule:
Planning
Stricter GMs may prefer to follow a
more traditional approach to gear,
allowing the heroes to carry only
their basic gear with them unless
stated otherwise. If a player wants
to have an elephant gun and some
Nitro Express cartridges, then he
has to say he’s going down to the
gun room to get them instead of
just assuming he got them between
scenes. This rule places more of an
emphasis of careful planning and
preparation over fast, furious and
fun, which is why we’ve listed it as
an optional setting rule.
WEAPONS
It’s a dangerous world out there, especially
criminals, enemy agents, or those who fight them.
Most heroes carry weapons, ranging from baseball
bats to Thompson submachine guns.
This section concentrates mainly on period specific
firearms, as virtually all other weapons are covered
in the Savage Worlds rulebook. Note however
that costs listed here are as they would have been
during the Pulp Era. As a rule of thumb, dividing
the modern cost by 5 should give you a reasonable
approximation of the cost during the 1920s and 30s
(if it was available at all). As always, use a little
common sense when shopping for weapons; just
because we’ve listed a Martian Heat Ray doesn’t
mean your character is going to be able to find one
to buy!
Players should also remember that even in the
rough and tumble world of the Pulps, carrying a
weapon openly — especially a firearm — is rarely
acceptable, even in the rare cases when it’s legal.

99
GUNS
Since this is a cinematic-styled game designed
for fast play, we are not going to get into the nuts
and bolts of varying gun calibers. When one starts
worrying about the difference between 9mm and
9x18mm pistols, it is easy to lose sight of the more
important aspects of play – action and drama. Thus,
we break guns down into general categories instead
of specific calibers and loads.
Pistols
Pistols are small, hand-held weapons that come
in a variety of shapes and sizes from tiny palm-
sized derringers to sleek semi-automatic jobs, to
imposing revolvers with 30-cm barrels. They have
a shorter accuracy range than rifles, but are much
faster to use, less unwieldy to carry, and far easier to
conceal.
Handguns can be broken down into three smaller
groups: autoloaders, revolvers, and machine pistols.
Autoloaders (sometimes called “automatics”), such
as the Colt M1911 (the venerable .45 pistol), feature
removable box magazines, and some models hold
quite a lot of ammunition. They work by using
the energy of a shot fired to throw back a slide,
eject the shot’s shell casing, and scoop the next
round into the chamber. They are more complex
than revolvers, but nevertheless have become
increasingly popular in the modern age.
Revolvers, such as the .38 Special side-arms carried
by many police officers, are relatively simple
firearms that store several rounds (usually six) in
a revolving cylinder. As the trigger is pulled, the
cylinder revolves to bring the next bullet in line
with the barrel.
Machine pistols are automatic weapons small
enough to be fired with one hand. Some are
autoloader pistols modified to fire a burst of bullets
in a single pull of the trigger, while others are
modified submachine guns, cut down in size and
weight to allow one-handed use.
Ranged weapons that use box magazines come with
one full magazine.
100
Ammunition
It’s entirely up to you how strictly
you want to keep tabs on how much
ammunition characters have in their
weapons. Some people prefer a light
touch – maybe only running out
of ammunition when it adds to the
story or they make a spectacularly
bad roll. Others like to carefully
manage their ammo expenditure,
and it can add tension when they
run low as the cultists close on their
position...
You don’t need to track individual
shots. A failure or critical failure
could indicate that you’ve run out
of ammo and need to reload (“You
hit the electric myrmidon with your
first shot, but the hammer clicks on
an empty chamber the next time
you squeeze the trigger”). Reloading
a gun takes an action for most
weapons.
The ammunition that different
weapons hold is presented here as
an ‘average’ for a weapon of that
type. If your players have done some
homework on specific guns, by all
means use the information that they
have found.
Option: Mercy
Bullets
Many scientist heroes and
adventurers prefer to use nonlethal
weapons. One option is to
use tranquilizing “mercy bullets”.
Mercy bullets deliver an impact
similar to a quick punch and will
leave a bruise but inflict no actual
physical damage. Instead the
damage for the weapon is applied
to the target’s Vigor as per the rules
found in the Savage Worlds Core
Rulebook.
Holdout Pistol – tiny pistols that hold small caliber ammunition and do more shock than actual damage.
These guns hold from one (single-shot derringers) to seven (revolver) to fifteen (automatic pistol) shots,
and are generally double-action, meaning the gun can be fired as many times as the trigger can be pulled.
The character can empty the weapon in a single Round if he or she chooses. Examples include;

• Double Derringer: This pistol breaks open at the breech like a double-barreled shotgun. The two-shot
weapon has one barrel atop the other and is barely 5 inches long, making it easy to conceal in a boot or
garter.

• Pocket Revolver: Designed as a weapon of self-defense, this small revolver is a popular personal
weapon, though never as popular as the Derringer.

Holdout Pistols
Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min STR Weight Cost
Double 3/6/12 2d4 - 1 2 d4 1 $20
Derringer
Note: −2 to
be Noticed if
hidden

Pocket 5/10/20 2d4 - 1 6 d4 2 $25

Revolver

Small Pistol – any snub-nose weapon, such as an American Saturday Night Special, or snub-nose police
revolver, usually in .32 to .38 calibers. Most guns in this category are small revolvers, limited to six or
seven shots. These guns deal normal damage and can be fired multiple times in a Round.

• Beretta M1934: The standard side-arm of the Italian army through the Italian-Abyssinian War (1935-
36), the Beretta M1934 has a short barrel and underpowered ammunition, resulting in its low damage
capability.

• Walther Model PP: The Walther, designed as a replacement for the Luger, is widely issued to German
forces in the 1930s. The Swedish army also purchases Walthers in 1939.

101
Small Pistols
Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min STR Weight Cost
Beretta 12/24/48 2d6 - 1 7 d4 2 $50
M1934
Walther 12/24/48 2d6+1 - 1 8 d4 2 $40
Model PP

Colt 12/24/48 2d6 - 1 6 d4 2 $25

Detective
.38

Medium Pistol: standard police and military side arms in 9mm to .40 caliber size, holding 10-15 rounds.
These guns can be fired multiple times but each additional shot after the first imparts a -2 cumulative
penalty from recoil.

Beretta M1934: standard police and military side arms in 9mm to .40 caliber size, holding 10-15 rounds.
These guns can be fired multiple times each Round.

• Nagant Model 1895: This Russian revolver is used in the time of the Russian Revolution and beyond.

• Luger P08 Pistol: This is the famous weapon of German officers in the Great War.

Medium Pistols
Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min STR Weight Cost

Nagant 12/24/48 2d6 - 1 7 d4 2 $50

Model
1895
Luger P08 12/24/48 2d6+1 - 1 8 d4 2 $30

Large Pistol: guns like the U.S. Colt Army Revolver or Russian Tokarov TT-33, from .45 to 7.62 caliber
in size and holding 6-10 rounds. Like a normal Medium Pistol, but deals higher damage. Period examples
include;

• Browning High Power: Originally manufactured in Belgium, the Browning High Power is used by
military forces around the world: Lithuania, Canada, Germany, China, and Britain, among others. Its
large magazine capacity makes it particularly popular.

• Mauser “Broomhandle”: This popular, if slightly awkward, pistol has the magazine mounted in front
of the trigger, making it somewhat nose-heavy. Its nickname comes from the narrow grip. A stock can
be mounted to the grip, counterbalancing the magazine.

• Colt M1911A1: A slightly modified version of the pistol adopted by the American army in 1911, this
weapon’s .45 round gives it more stopping power than any other pistol in service.

102
• Tokarev Model TT33: Designed as a replacement for the Nagant, the Tokarev is based on the Colt
M1911. Because the Soviets favor mass produced submachine guns, the Tokarev never becomes an
especially common weapon in the Red Army. The same statistics can be used for similar weapons, such
as the Polish Radom (a 9mm pistol) and the German Walther P38 (also 9mm).

Large Pistols
Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min STR Weight Cost

Browning High 12/24/48 2d6 1 1 7 d4 2 $50

Power
Mauser 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1 8 d4 2 $30
“Broomhandle”

Colt M1911A1 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1 7 d4 2 $40

Hand Cannon: guns in this category include
.357 Magnums (introduced in 1934) or .50 caliber
pistols. They hold 6-7 rounds. They deal a lot of
damage and may be fired a maximum of twice per
Round. Examples include;
• Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum: Developed
in response to the Colt .38 Super Automatic,
this famous revolver was designed to be able
to penetrate automobile cover and early “bullet
proof” vests.

• Colt Peacemaker: The most famous weapon
of the Old West, the Peacemaker is widely
available, powerful, and rugged. The same
characteristics could also describe similar
weapons of different calibers, such as the .38
caliber Colt Lightning or Thunder.
• Tranter: This huge British single-action
revolver, developed in 1865, was designed to
discourage opponents from approaching for
close-quarters combat, turned up in all corners
of the British Empire, even though few were
made.
• Smith & Wesson 38/200: Called a .38, this
revolver is Smith & Wesson’s standard Military
and Police .38 but chambered to take the
British .38 cartridge - which actually measures
.357 inches. While technically this weapon
wasn’t available until 1940 (after the scope of
this game) it could be possible that characters
with access to advanced weaponry may have
the pistol in their possession.

103
Hand Cannon
Type Range Damage AP RoF
Colt 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1
Peacemaker
Tranter 12/24/48 2d8 2 1
Smith & 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 1
Wesson .357
Magnum
Shotguns and Rifles
Rifles have a much longer accuracy range than
pistols do, but are a lot more obvious, awkward,
and less portable. Unless the rifle is set and aimed
already (as with a prepared sniper) a character with
a pistol will always shoot before a character with a
rifle. Shotguns have much shorter ranges but have
the drawback of being large and awkward like rifles.
Rifle: These are hunting rifles of the bolt, pump, or
lever-action variety. They hold 2-10 rounds. Period
examples include the Winchester Models 1903 and
1910, and the Remington Arms M1903 Springfield.
• Mannlicher-Parravicino-Carcano Carbine
M1891: The Italian army uses this weapon
during the Great War. The Japanese Arisaka
Meiji 38 is almost identical, except for its
smaller magazine (5 rounds) and greater weight
(10 pounds).
• Springfield M1903: This American rifle is
licensed from an earlier Mauser bolt-action
rifle. The same statistics can be used for
later Mausers such as the Gewehr 43 or the
Sturmgewehr 44.
• Lee-Enfield SMLE MkIII: The British
Army’s standard rifle from 1895 to 1957.
• Mosin-Nagant M1891/30: The standard bolt-
action rifle of the Soviet Red Army through the
pulp era. Nearly the same statistics can be used
for modified versions of the M1930G, such as
the M1938G.
104
Shots Min STR Weight Cost
6 d4 4 $30
6 d6 6 $45
6 d4 5 $50
Big Game Rifle: This is an elephant gun or other
big, heavy rifle. Expensive, but very accurate and
long-ranged, plus it can stop a charging rhino.
Guns like this are both rare and expensive. Classic
examples from the Pulp Era are the Continental .600
and the Holland & Holland .500/450 Nitro Express,
both designed to stop a charging bull-elephant.
Shotgun: Shotguns firing buckshot (lots of
little pellets) add +2 to the user’s Shooting rolls
and cause 3d6 damage at Short Range, 2d6 at
Medium, and 1d6 at Long. Buckshot may not be
fired at Extreme Range. Standard shotguns hold 2
cartridges, pump-action or automatic shotguns hold
2-10.
• Double-Barreled Shotgun: Some shotguns
have two barrels welded side-by-side. If an
attacker wants to fire both barrels at the same
target, roll damage once and add +4. Once both
barrels have been fired, it takes a full Round to
reload afterward.
• Slugs: Shotguns can also fire slugs. The
attacker doesn’t get the +2 buckshot bonus
to his Shooting roll, but the damage is 2d10
regardless of Range (and they may be fired at
Extreme Range).
Assault Rifle: During the Pulp Era, assault rifles
were in their earliest stages of development and
were Rare, though characters with access to
advanced weapons technology may be able to find
them. An example of an early assault rifle is the
M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle.
Shotguns and Rifles
Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight Cost
STR
Mannlicher-Parravicino- 24/48/96 2d8 2 1 5 d6 9 $120
Carcano Carbine M1891
Springfield M1903 24/48/96 2d8 2 1 5 d6 9 $120
Lee-Enfield SMLE MkIII 24/48/96 2d8 2 1 10 d8 9 $60
Mosin-Nagant M1891/30 24/48/96 2d8 2 1 8 d8 10 $60
Continental .600
Note: Snapfire 30/60/120 2d10 3 1 2 d8 11 $1000
Holland & Holland .500/450
Nitro Express
Note: Snapfire 50/100/200 2d10+1 4 1 2 d10 12 $750
Double-Barrel Shotgun 12/24/48 1-3d6 - 1-2 2 d6 11 $45
Sawed-Off Shotgun 5/10/20 1-3d6 - 1-2 2 d6 6 $45
Pump-Action Shotgun 12/24/48 1-3d6 - 1 2 d6 11 $105
M1918 Browning Automatic 24/48/96 2d8+1 3 3 20 d10 24 $800
Rifle

Machine Guns
Machine guns are large, dangerous weapons used to inflict mass carnage. They are always mounted on
bipods or tripods and cannot be fired on the move unless by characters with Strength d8 or more. Using
a machine gun is identical to using an Assault Rifle on full auto, save that
machine guns deal more damage, and smaller arcs of fire can be better
controlled. A 45° arc uses one-half of an ammo clip or belt, and a
90° arc uses an entire clip or belt. A clip holds up to 100 rounds;
belts hold thousands of rounds but aren’t very portable. Smaller
or in-between arcs of fire may be possible at the Game Master’s
discretion.

Period examples include;

• Maxim Gun Mk 1: The first automatic machine gun, the

Maxim gun is portable enough to see widespread military
use. A .450 caliber version of this gun was developed in
1885, but the British army’s adoption of the weapon in
1889 contributed to its great success. The Maxim gun
is water-cooled.

• Colt-Browning M1895: This early gas-operated

machine gun is colloquially called the “potato digger,”
because the movement of the gun’s levers sometimes
kicks up loose dirt from the ground. Its light weight
and portability compensate for its relatively slow rate
of fire compared to its main competitor, the Maxim.

105
• Browning M1917: This medium machine gun is used by the U.S. Army at the end of the Great War.
It is water-cooled, though an air-cooled version is issued to infantry (as the M1919A4) in the 1920s.
The Browning M1918 Automatic Rifle uses the same statistics, except that it has a small (20-round)
magazine instead of using linked ammo.

• Browning M2HB: Originally designed as an aircraft weapon, the Browning is adopted by the U.S.
Army in 1921.

Machine Guns

Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight Cost

STR
Maxim Gun 100/200/300 2d8 4 3 100 d8 60 $2,000
Mk 1
Colt-Browning 100/200/300 2d8 4 3 200 d8 35 $2,000
M1895
Browning 75/150/300 2d8+1 4 3 250 d8 104 $3,000
M1917

Browning 250/500/1000 2d8+1 6 3 100 d8 83 $2,800

M2HB

Sub-machine Guns statistics can be used for similar submachine

Sub-Machine guns are somewhere between pistols
and machine guns. They look cool but are not
weapons of precision. In the Pulp Era, submachine
guns are exceptionally uncommon. Period examples
include;
• Thompson M1921 Submachine Gun: The
famous “Tommy gun” of American gangsters
is one of the first hand-held weapons capable
of automatic fire. Its large-caliber bullets give
it greater damage potential than many more
modern submachine guns, although at a shorter
range.
guns, such as the Erma MP38/40, the Sten
Mark 2, the Shpagin PPSh-41 (7.62mm), or the
Sudarev PPS-42 (also 7.62mm).
• Waffenfabrik Steyr Maschinenpistol 34
(MP34): Developed in 1934 from the MP18,
which saw limited service in the Great War, this
exceptionally well-made submachine gun was
used by the Austrian police and by units of the
Waffen SS during World War II. The same stats
can be used for the later MP38.

• Beretta M1938A: Primarily an Italian

weapon, the Model 1938A is also issued to
some Rumanian and German troops. The same

106
Sub-Machine Guns

Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight Cost

STR
Thompson 12/24/48 2d6+1 1 3 20/30/50 d6 15 $200
M1921
Submachine
Gun
Beretta M1938A 175/250/500 2d6+1 1 3 30 d6 9 $200

Waffenfabrik 65/130/260 2d6+1 1 3 20/32 d6 10 $300

Steyr
Maschinenpistol
34 (MP34)

Sniper Rifles • Lee-Enfield SMLE MkIII: The British

Sniper weapons allow the shooter to remain at
a relatively safe distance, using high-powered
telescopic sights and long-range weaponry. The
sniper usually holes up in a location that gives him
the best possible view over the proceedings, taking
shots of opportunity when possible. At this point
in history, most sniper rifles were simply standard
rifles fitted with a telescopic sight, rather than the
specialized sniper rifles of today.
Period examples include;
Army’s standard rifle from 1895 to 1957, when
modified with a heavy stock and telescopic
sight became a highly effective sniper rifle.
• Mauser Gehwehr 98: The main German
infantry bolt-action combat rifle during the
Great War. When modified with telescopic
sights and a modified bolt, this became one of
the most effective sniper weapons of the war.
• Springfield M1903: This is just the standard
Springfield fitted with a telescopic sight that
gives it a +2 to hit over long distances.

Sniper Rifles

Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight Cost

STR
Lee-Enfield 24/48/96 2d8 1 3 20/30/50 d8 10 $60
SMLE MkIII
Mauser 65/130/260 2d6+1 1 3 20/32 d6 10 $300
Gehwehr 98
Springfield 65/130/260 2d8 2 1 5 d6 9 $150
M1903 Notes:
+2 to hit with
telescopic sight

107
Beam Weapons they are incapacitated. If the character rolls
a critical failure on their Vigor roll, they are
Beam weapons are weird technology devices that immediately Incapacitated.
project an oscillating beam of directed energy.
Usually derived from principles discovered from • Tesla Rifle: A bulkier version of the Tesla
recovered Martian armament, beam weapons pistol, the Tesla rifle has an extended range and
are incredibly rare to find and almost impossible battery life but does no more damage.
to build. They’re fragile, power-hungry,
• Tesla Cannon: This large tripod-mounted
temperamental, and incredibly expensive. So far,
weapon is the only Tesla weapon that does
no-one has found a way to mass produce them, and
lethal damage, with the effects being similar to
the knowledge that they’re even possible remains
being struck by a massive bolt of lightning.
extremely limited.
• Martian Heat Ray: The signature weapon
• Tesla Pistol: Named after the noted inventor,
of the Martian invader, the dreaded heat ray
the Tesla pistol transmits a massive electrical
is still a potent weapon. With a seemingly
charge to the target. Most “Tesla Pistols”
inexhaustible (and still unfathomed) energy
don’t pack enough punch to do much damage,
source, heat rays have been found in the
instead producing an effect like a modern taser.
possession of criminals and military forces all
They aren’t subtle weapons, producing a vivid
over the world. Still, functional heat rays are
blue flash of electricity and a loud crackle when
rare – many exploded with shattering force
fired. Targets of a Tesla pistol must succeed
when being probed for their secrets. Martian
with a Vigor roll at –2 or become Fatigued.
heat rays are bulky devices about the size of
Each successive hit before the fatigue state is
a man, designed to be mounted on the tripod
removed is resisted with a Vigor check at -2,
walkers, and need to be adapted for human with
plus penalties for being Fatigued. If the target
a tripod and a man-usable trigger system.
fails, their Fatigue increases by one level until

Beam Weapons

Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight Cost

STR
Tesla Pistol 12/24/48 See notes 1 1 10 d6 4 $10,000
-non-lethal
damage
Tesla Rifle -non- 25/50/100 See notes 1 1 20 d8 10 $20,000
lethal damage

Tesla Cannon 50/100/200 3d10 1 1 10 d10 50 $50,000

Martian Heat 500/1000/2000 10d10 4 1 ∞ d12 200 NA

Ray

108
 successive failure increases the level of Fatigue
EXPLOSIVES until the hero is incapacitated. Resisting
Mines, rockets, grenades and other explosives the effects of a tear gas grenade counts as a
are area effect attacks, inflicting full damage to Reaction, so the hero will be at -2 to their next
everyone within a given blast template. Most roll made that round.
explosives are not for sale on the open market and
• Stun Grenade: Stun grenades (also called
are only available to military personnel.
Flashbangs) are designed to briefly overwhelm
• Anti-Personnel Mine: Heavy weapon. Step on their targets and weaken resistance. Targets
it, and it goes boom. Spotting an anti-personnel must make a Vigor roll (at –2 with a raise) or
mine requires a successful Notice check, with be Stunned.
a -2 penalty if the surface is muddy, overgrown
• Fragmentation Grenade: You throw
or generally uneven. If a character steps on a
them, they go boom, bad guys fall. Pulp era
mine, they get a Notice roll. Failure means they
examples are the British Army Mills Bomb,
realize it before stepping off and detonating it.
the Mk 2 US Army fragmentation grenade
Saving the victim requires a Repair roll at −4,
and the well-known German “potato-masher”
but failure detonates the device immediately.
Steilhandgranate.
• Anti-Tank Mine: Heavy weapon. Like the
• Dynamite: Perhaps one of the most common
anti-personnel mine, with a much bigger boom.
and straightforward explosives, dynamite is
Most anti-tank mines were designed to only
very stable under normal conditions. A stick
trigger in the proximity of vehicles and could
of dynamite requires a fuse or detonator to set
be walked over without detonation. Anti-tank
it off. Additional sticks can be set off at the
mines have an AP of 5 versus half the target
same time if they are within the burst radius of
vehicle’s Armor value (round up).
the first stick, increasing the damage and burst
• Bouncing Betty: Heavy weapon. The German radius of the explosion. Each additional stick
Schrapnellmine or S-Mine was designed to multiplies the damage (i.e. 2 sticks deal 3d6 x 2
launch 3-6 feet into the air when triggered and damage, 3 sticks do 3d6 x 3 damage, and so on)
then detonate in a lethal spray of shrapnel. It and increases the explosive radius by 2 yards.
was developed in the 1930’s for use in open
It’s possible to wire together several sticks of
areas against unshielded infantry, but pulp
dynamite for even greater explosive effect. Doing
heroes may come across early prototypes in
so requires a Repair check at -1 per additional stick,
their adventures. Only full overhead cover
with a success increasing the damage and explosive
offers an Armor bonus against such devices.
radius by a further 50%.
Simply being prone offers no protection from
these deadly explosives. To set off dynamite using a fuse, the fuse must
first be lit, requiring an Action (and a lighter or
• Smoke Grenade: Throwing a grenade uses
other source of flame). The amount of time until
the Throwing skill; a smoke grenade fills the
the dynamite explodes depends on the length of
area with thick, blinding smoke. Trying to do
the fuse—a fuse can be cut short enough for the
anything while blinded is worth a -4 penalty at
dynamite to detonate in the same round (allowing it
least.
to be used much like a grenade), or long enough to
• Tear Gas Grenade: Like a smoke grenade, but take several minutes to detonate. Cutting the fuse to
the smoke released is a potent irritant, causing the appropriate length requires an Action.
blinding tears, choking and pain. Heroes caught
in tear gas without a gas mask that covers their
full face must succeed in a Vigor check at -2 or
become Fatigued, repeated for every round they
spend in the cloud without protection. Each

109
Explosives

Type Range Damage AP RoF Shots Min Weight

STR
Anti-Personnel Mine - 2d6+2 - - SBT

(4 yards) 10 NA
Anti-Tank Mine - 4d6 - - MBT
(8 yards) 20 NA
“Bouncing Betty” - 3d6 See notes - SBT 9 NA
Schrapnellmine
Smoke Grenade 4/8/16 See notes - - LBT
(12 yards) 1 NA
Tear Gas Grenade 4/8/16 See notes - - LBT 1 NA
Stun Grenade 4/8/16 See notes - - LBT 1 NA
Mills Bomb 4/8/16 2d8 - - MBT 1 NA
US Mk 2 Grenade 4/8/16 3d6 - - MBT 1 NA
Stielhandgranate “Potato 5/10/20 3d6-2 - - MBT 2 NA
Masher”
Dynamite Stick 5/10/20 3d6 - - MBT 1 $2

LIFESTYLE
treat, but they can’t regularly afford anything more
expensive without spending a bennie.

What sort of lifestyle does your character live?
Does he drive an exotic car and own a speedboat,
throwing lavish parties and flying off to Rio for the
weekend? Or does he subsist on pasta in a one-room
apartment?
An average character (one without the Poverty
Characters with the Rich Edge are comfortably
well-off. They can easily drop about $500 at a time,
meaning that they will fly, drink and eat first class
often. Having the Filthy Rich Edge means that
money is no longer something they must worry
about.

Hindrance or the Rich or Filthy Rich Edges) can
afford a meal at a good restaurant, a ticket to a
basketball game, or a new book pretty much any
time they want.
More expensive lifestyle options are always
available, but they can’t really live beyond their
means for long without becoming temporarily
Impoverished. Of course, if they already own a
Bugatti, becoming Impoverished doesn’t necessarily
mean they have to give it up. The character can still
drive an expensive car — they just can’t currently
afford to do all the other things people associate
with that kind of life.
VEHICLES
The essence of the Pulp Era is speed. As new
technologies shrank the world, people became
obsessed with travelling further and faster than
ever before. Pulp characters in general are always
leaping on a plane or a boat (or zeppelin!) and
travelling across the globe in search of action and
adventure. This section deals with the various
vehicles the characters will rely on to get them from
place to place.

A character with the Poverty Hindrance is nearly

always broke. A night at the movies might be a

110

SAMPLE VEHICLES
Motorcycles
• BMW R12: A sturdy well-built motorcycle,
available with or without a sidecar, used by the
Third Reich as a vehicle for scouts or couriers.
• Indian Hendee Special: The Indian Hendee
Special is the first electric start motorcycle. It
is a powerful bike capable of high speed. It’s
smaller than most vehicles occupying only a
single square. This bike is the favorite of a lot
of daredevils and speed freaks.
• SdKfz 2: A treaded motorcycle half-track,
the SdKfz 2 Kettenkraftrad was originally
conceived as a light support towing vehicle
for mountain troops, but found favor with all
Wehrmacht troops, especially those in the
Eastern Front where its excellent cross country
ability allowed it to maneuver in the mud-
bogged roads and the mountainous Caucasus
region.
Cars
• Bentley-3 Litre: Known for both speed
and reliability, the Bentley 3-Litre has been
jokingly referred to as “The fastest truck in the
world.” With the convertible top up, it provides
two-thirds cover to its driver and passengers;
with the roof down, this is reduced to one-third
cover.
• Mercedes-Benz SSK: A fine early sports car,
the SSK pales in comparison to the Alfa Romeo
that comes along a few years later.
• Model A Ford Roadster Pickup: This is a
typical early pickup truck, lacking the large
capacity of more modern pickups. The driver
has two-thirds cover, while the rear bed
provides one-third cover.
• Model A Ford Station Wagon: Later known
as a “Woody” for its wooden sides, this kind of
early station wagon is intended for commercial
use (replacing its passengers with additional
cargo capacity). It provides two-thirds cover to
its occupants.
111
• Alfa Romeo 8C 2900: The Alfa Romeo 8C
2900 is a fast two-seat racer. It provides one-
third cover to its occupants.
• Duesenberg Model J Phaeton: This luxury
automobile brought the term “duesy” (or
“doozy”) into popular slang. It has a separate
windshield for the passengers in the rear seat!
With the convertible top up, it provides two-
thirds cover to its occupants; with the roof
down, this is reduced to one-third cover.
• Citroen Traction Avant: One of the first cars
to use front-wheel drive, the 1934 Citroen
Traction Avant is a technology leader. It
provides two-thirds cover to its occupants.
• Buick Series 90 Convertible Phaeton: A
popular car in the early days of Hollywood,
the Buick Series 90 Convertible is elegant and
often seen in light colors. With the convertible
top up, it provides two-thirds cover to its
occupants; with the roof down, this is reduced
to one-third cover.
• Auburn 852 Speedster: Another speedy racing
car. With the convertible top up, it provides
two-thirds cover to its occupants; with the roof
down, this is reduced to one-third cover.
• BMW 328: A lightweight and aerodynamic
sports car, the BMW 328 is speedy (for its
time) and maneuverable. It is 3 squares long
and 2 squares wide. With the convertible
top up, it provides two-thirds cover to its
occupants; with the roof down, this is reduced
to one-third cover.
• Bugatti Type 57 Atalante: The Bugatti Type
57 is a sleek and elegant racer from 1937 and
provides two-thirds cover to its occupants.
• Hispano-Suiza H6C Saoutchik Xenia Coupe:
A masterpiece of artistic design, this is a
successor to the classic Hispano-Suiza sedans
of earlier years. Its art deco styling and teardrop
shape set it apart from any other car on the road
at the time. It provides two-thirds cover to its
occupants.
Military Vehicles
• Panzerkampfwagen III: One of the Reich’s
famed Panzer tanks, the Panzerkampfwagen
III was relatively lightly armed and armored,
with 15mm armor. This vehicle is armed with a
single 37mm cannon and a MG34.
• SturmGeschuetz III: The SturmGeschütz
(Assault Gun) was designed using the main
hull of the Panzer III. Originally designed as
support artillery weapon it was later up gunned
with a massive 75mm cannon and used as a
tank-killer.
• Type VIIA U-boat: Another iconic Nazi
vehicle, the U-boats traveled the Atlantic in
predatory “wolf-packs”, harassed shipping,
delivered Nazi spies onto unsuspecting enemy
beaches, and carried secret archeological
discoveries to hidden island fortresses! There
were many types of U-boat – this vehicle is
armed with a 75mm deck gun, 11 torpedoes in
4 forward tubes.
Aircraft
In the 1920 and 30’s, the airplane was still a
relatively new technology, and flight was the
gateway to adventure.
• Fokker Triplane: The only fighter plane nearly
comparable to the Sopwith Camel during the
Great War, the Fokker is just as well known,
as it was made famous by the exploits of the
legendary Red Baron. It carries twin Spandau
machine guns. (Use the statistics for the
Browning M1917 machine gun.)
• Sopwith Camel: One of the most famous
fighter planes of The Great War, the Sopwith
Camel is a highly maneuverable biplane with
twin Vickers machine guns mounted in the
nose. (Use the statistics for the Colt-Browning
M1895 machine gun.) The breeches of the
guns are covered by a hump that gives the
plane its name. Other Great War-era biplanes
have -1 maneuver modifiers but are otherwise
comparable to the Camel.
112
• Messerschmitt Bf109: One of the best
air superiority fighters ever built, the
Messerschmitt was the predator of the skies.
The Bf109 was the Luftwaffe’s standard single-
seat fighter since 1935 and was able to outfight
or outrun virtually all opposition. The fighter
was used primarily for intercept and bomber
escort duties.
• Junkers 87D Stuka: Stuka is the abbreviation
of the German word Sturzkampfflugzeug,
which designated all dive bombers. The main
fighter/bomber used by the Luftwaffe, the Stuka
would play a major role in the Blitzkrieg that
swept across Poland, northern Europe and
France. In the later years of the war, the Ju
87 had a successful second life as an antitank
weapon, striking armor columns from above.
• Sikorski S-42 (Seaplane): Before the extensive
development of airports, seaplanes such as the
Sikorski S-42 (Seaplane) are popular passenger
planes. They can carry nearly three dozen
passengers in comfort.
• Curtis Condor: This was the ultimate airliner
prior to the 1933 introduction of the Boeing
247. Despite its – at the time – luxurious cabin,
the Condor was a beast to fly and a nauseating
ride for passengers.
• Autogyro: Invented in 1923, the autogyro is
a predecessor of the modern helicopter. Built
from airplane components, an autogyro has
the body of a light plane such as the Sopwith
Camel, but with rotary blades mounted above
the cockpit in place of wings (though it does
have a pair of light stabilizers extending to
the sides where the wings would be on a
monoplane). A propeller on the front or the
rear moves the autogyro forward. Pre-WW2
autogyros cannot hover or reverse. Rare.
Zeppelins
One of the most visually distinctive and graceful
means of transportation, the zeppelin is also
practically synonymous with the idea of Pulp in the
minds of most modern gamers.
A zeppelin consists of a large hydrogen or helium
filled balloon that is steered by rudders on the
aft and given thrust by propellers. Rigid-bodied
zeppelins usually have a small control gondola
beneath, with passenger accommodation and cargo
holds within the body of the craft.
At over 328 ft long with a carrying capacity of up
to 72 passengers, a standard large passenger airship
could cross the Atlantic in two and a half days. The
113
world-famous Hindenburg was over 803 ft long, the
largest object ever to fly, while the Graf Zeppelin
was the first aircraft to fly around the world.
While most zeppelins were filled with highly
flammable hydrogen, American airships used
helium and therefore weren’t exposed to the same
risk from fire.
Land Vehicles

Type Size Handling Top Toughness Crew Cost Examples

Speed
(MPH)
Motorcycle -1 +1 100 8 (2) 1+1 $350 BMW R12

Large 0 +1 100 8 (2) 1+1 $450 Indian Hendee

Motorcycle Special
Small Car 3 -1 50 10 (3) 1+3 $350 Ford Model A
Big Car 4 0 100 10 (2) 1+5 $850 Lincoln Zephyr,
(Large) Packard Twelve
Victoria, Hudson
Terraplane
Sports Car 3 +1 130 10 (2) 1+1 Or $3,500 Bugatti Type 57
1+2 Atalante, Mercedes-
(with Benz SSK, Alfa
rumble Romeo 8C 2900,
seat) Auburn 852 Speedster
Luxury 4 0 120 14 (2) 1+5 $10,000 Duesenberg Model J
Car (Large) Phaeton, Rolls-Royce
Phantom III, Pierce-
Arrow Model 41
LeBaron
Utility 5 0 50 14 (2) 1+3 $600 Model A Ford
(Large) Roadster Pickup,
Model A Ford Station
Wagon, Ford Sedan
Delivery
Truck 7 -1 70 14 (2) 1+3 $1000 Ford Model AA
(Large)
Jeep 4 +1 65 10 (2) 1+3 Military Willys MB, 1940
(Large)
Motorcycle +1 -1 70 10 (4) 1+2 Military SdKfz 2
Half-Track Kettenkraftrad
Light Tank 7 -1 5/10 20/15/14 5 Military Panzerkampfwagen II
(Large) (8/3/2)
Heavy 8 -1 5/12 21/16/16 5 Military M4 Sherman,
Tank (Huge) (9/4/4) Panzerkampfwagen
IV

114
Watercraft

Type Size Handling Top Speed Toughness Crew Cost

(MPH)
Canoe/Rowboat 1 -2 5 (Paddle) 8 1/2 $25

Inflatable Dinghy 2 -2 5 (Paddle) 0 1+3 $30

Speedboat 4 (Large) +1 90 10 (2) 1+3 $2000
Luxury Yacht 7 (Large) 0 30 12 (2) 1+10 $60,000+
U-Boat 15 -2 20 (surfaced) 14 (3) 52 Military
(Gargantuan 9
(Submerged)

Aircraft

Type Size Handling Top Toughness Crew Cost Examples

Speed
(MPH)
Autogyro 4 (Large) +1 110 10(2) 1+1 $10,000 Cierva C.30

Racing 4 (Large) +2 300 10 (2) 1 $25,000 Gee Bee R-1

Plane
Biplane 4 (Large) +1 113 10 (1) 1+1 $2000 Sopwith Camel
Fighter 6 (Large) +1 313 10 (2) 1 Military Curtiss P-36
Plane
Fighter 7 (Large) +1 211 10 (2) 2 Military Junkers 87D
Bomber Stuka
Utility 9 (Huge) 0 225 11 (2) 2+6 $50,000 Beechcraft
Plane Model 18
Cargo 11 (Huge) -1 230 15 (2) 2+30 $35,000 Douglas DC-3
Plane
Sea Plane 9 (Huge) 0 200 15 (2) 2+8 $25,000 Grumman G-21
“Goose”
Airliner 11 (Huge) -1 210 11 (2) 2+12 $35,000 Douglas DC-1

Zeppelin 20 -2 85 15 (2) 50+70 $750,000 LZ-129

(Gargantuan) Hindenburg

115
 ORGANIZATIONS
& SECRET SOCIETIES
Organizations are important to any setting, but most
of those in the Pulp Fantastic campaign are secret
and hidden. They are active, and player characters
are typically members of one of these organizations
and will do what they can in the best interest of the
organization.
From the dawn of the fantastic there has been a war
raging outside the view of humanity. This so-called
“Secret War” is a symbol of the way humanity is
viewed. Sides determined to release the new found
knowledge into the world, versus those who are
determined to hide it, believing that the human race
is not yet ready and there are things out there that
“man was not yet meant to know.”
Across the centuries there have been wheels
within wheels, secret deals, and behind closed-
door meetings that have resulted in the turmoil and
conflict over last few centuries. Intellectual powers
in conflict with each other have had their differences
moved into the greater world and in so doing caused
great strife across the planet.
There is a secret war that rages across the class
lines, national borders and even philosophy. There
is a secret war that has spilled out into open warfare
that has taken the world by storm and destroyed
nations as well as families.
The records are unclear, but sometime in the 15th
or 16th century a group of learned men got together
to form a secret society dedicated to controlling the
world with political and economic force to ensure
the safety and well-being of the human species.
A worthy and noble goal, which led to tragic
consequences.
As the years then decades passed this nameless
secret society worked to influence kings and
princes as well as captains of industry with varied
results based on who was doing the manipulation
and how well their advice was received. However,
116
this unknown group amassed great wealth for
themselves along the way.
As the years passed these secret masters, as they
thought of themselves, split off and each had their
own nation or region of the world to guide as they
saw fit. With this splintering of their core they
naturally came into more and more conflict as each
sought to guide their part of the known world in
a direction which they thought was best. This led
to a rise in the struggles between nations as each
master worked with a different methodology as well
as competing aims came into greater and greater
conflict.
This competition ranged from political attacks
to discredit opponents, to duels between proxies
or actual masters, to outright assassinations and
religious denouncements. These led to instabilities
in the world and politics as each master would
struggle against one and another.
As centuries pass the secret masters would name
successors and groom them to take over when their
time would come. Naturally drift in ideology and
methodology came about, and when a master would
have multiple heirs or would die too soon, internal
wars would take over, leading to several revolutions
in nations, such as the Protestant Reformation and
the American as well as French Civil Wars.
As time passed the secret masters of the world
worked with or against each other, these efforts gave
rise to wars in the 18th and 19th centuries such as
the Franco-Prussian War and with the assassination
of the Secret Master of Eastern Europe which led to
the start of the First World War.
With the advent of advanced technologies as
well as the heroes of the modern age these secret
masters would recruit those bravos and adventurers
to fuel or fulfill their goals and aims, often
through intermediaries or by posing as wealthy
philanthropists funding these men of mystery or
stalwart adventurers.
This then is the secret history of the world, a war
that is being waged behind the scenes and now
waged in distant jungles or crime ridden streets by
the pulp heroes of the day.
DIVISION 4
In early October 1901, President William McKinley
signed the executive order that created Division 4.
Prior to this, the work that was eventually assigned
to Division 4 was done by a special unit of the
Secret Service, under the direct authority of the
President of the United States. This transfer of
power, and the creation of this new Federal unit,
was done about a month prior to his assassination at
the hands of Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist.
The primary mission of Division 4 is to locate,
track and gather new technologies – whether alien,
arcane or terrestrial – and store them for the United
States government to study and duplicate. Division
4 is under the direct command of the President of
the United States, and they are quite often mistaken
for Secret Service agents, and frequently use that
for cover as a notable amount of Secret Service
agents were doing the job of Division 4 prior to its
inception. The President issues all orders directly,
but depending on the President they are often left to
their own devices.
What prompted the formation of Division 4 is
unknown, though rumors and legends abound of
crashed alien spacecraft, an ancient city of forgotten
technologies, or even items falling backwards
through time from a distant future war. If anyone
in the Division knows the truth, no-one is telling.
Division 4 guards its secrets even more jealously
than it does the items it recovers.
Division 4 uses fair means or foul to acquire new
technology, and has built in a substantial network
of informants, smugglers, thieves, tomb looters
and spies that it uses to locate new and interesting
finds. Division 4 agents have been encountered
doing everything from stealing – or neutralizing
– new inventions developed by enemy nations
to recovering “outsider technology” and ancient
artifacts from all over the globe.
117
Materials acquired by Division 4 agents are stored
in vast underground high-security warehouses
with attached laboratory spaces, normally located
near major Universities, where they can be studied
by “top men”. Research staff are clandestinely
recruited from the Faculty in order to study and
duplicate the technology, if possible. While most
of the scientific staff can be sworn to secrecy,
a few have had to have their memories altered
after proving to be a security risk. An unfortunate
side-effect of this process has been the accidental
creation of more than a few “mad scientists”, whose
lunacy grants them scientific insights denied to
saner men. Curiously, these “mad scientists” often
display the unique ability to recreate magical effects
by super-scientific means, sometimes even melding
science and magic into something altogether
different and more terrifying.
Division 4 rarely cooperates with other secret
organizations due to their role in maintaining the
security of the United States, but will occasionally
approach research groups like the Citadel when
dealing with items that prove to have occult, rather
than technological, powers. These artifacts are
normally stored in dedicated facilities due to their
tendency to react unpredictably with advanced
technology. Even so, these supernatural storehouses
suffer an unnervingly high staff turnover, with
personnel developing paranoid delusions, strange
diseases or simply vanishing without a trace with
remarkable frequency.
Very rarely, Division 4 will call in so-called
“Science Heroes” to study those technological
artifacts that have defeated their top men,
sometimes using less than savory methods to coerce
the reluctant or unwilling. Those who cooperate
willingly with Division 4 can find themselves in on
the ground floor of cutting edge research for years
to come, if they can keep their mouths shut.
Division 4 agents are frequently called upon to
test the technologies developed in the research
complexes, gloomily referred to as “suicide duty”
due to the often-spectacular (and occasionally fatal)
effects of malfunctioning experimental equipment.
Division 4 agents themselves are rarely scientists,
but are always college educated and intelligent
young men and women. They are often equipped
with strange devices and super-scientific gadgets,
though they usually prefer to use the old-fashioned
– but more reliable – “mark 1 eyeball”, fist, and
automatic pistol.
 GRAIL
In the war to protect the mystical artifacts of the
world, MI7 and Division 4 are foremost at the fight,
retrieving powerful objects, and storing them safely.
But there are more organizations at work then just
those two, and the game will allow you to run inter-
agency operations. What are some of those other
agencies and organizations?
What about objects that are too big to remove, or
mystical locations? That’s where GRAIL comes
in. The origins of the name GRAIL are rooted
in Grail Banking and Investments, the massive
multi-national bank that serves as a redoubt and
center of funding for their operations. To the
public, GBI is a massive financial behemoth, but
outside of the boardrooms and cubicles, GRAIL
channels funds and equipment to both DIVISION
4 and other organizations who defend the world.
The operatives of GRAIL stand as the last bulwark
against corruption of mystical sites and locations
throughout the world.
GRAIL is an offshoot of the infamous organization,
The Poor Fell-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple
of Solomon or the Knights Templar. After the fall
of the Knights Templar in the early 1300s, the
escaping members granted their relics to some
of the forerunners of various organizations and
vanished into the night. After hundreds of years,
GRAIL returned, a fully-fledged organization
hidden inside one of the world’s oldest and largest
banks. Over the last centuries, GBI has positioned
its fingers and informants in industries around the
world. Every port, every shipping center, every
financial institution, likely has secret members
of GRAIL who watch and wait, protecting the
world by tracking criminal activities, black market
antiquities, and desecration of ancient sites.
GRAIL works much like the Knights Templar of
yore in structure. Their head, the Grand Master
Jean-Baptiste Perrin, a citizen of France, who serves
as the Director-General of UNESCO, and on the
board of Grail Banking and Investments. Perrin uses
his position at UNESCO to protect mystical sites
and keep abreast of developing situations.
GRAIL has three arms, the Sword, the Shield, and
the Heart. Each of the three divisions is headed by
a secret leader known as “The Knight-Director”
118
whose identities are only known to the Grand
Master. Each division is tasked with certain duties
and responsibilities to keep GRAIL functional and
effective.
The Heart serves as the information gatherers and
power brokers of GRAIL. The most numerous in
position, they are bankers, traders, merchants, and
scholars, who gather, and direct the constant flow of
data that GRAIL receives. Their Knight-Director is
a curmudgeonly Spaniard, Lucia Martinez, a world-
famous CEO and banker who has a sharp eye for
unusual trends and developments. Internally, their
operatives are called Chaplains, and considered
among the most valuable of members.
The Shield protects the mystical sites and objects
that cannot be relocated. Known as Paladins,
members of the shield are usually former security,
paramilitary or police who live near the places they
defend and protect, making sure that all remains
safe. Considered the most dangerous job, their
Knight-General is a bitter and grizzled Dane named
Adrian Ullrson, who nevertheless has been one of
the most lauded Paladins in GRAIL history.
The Sword is the smallest division, and they stand
as the tip of action against aggressors. While
Division 4 has a retrieve and secure policy, GRAIL
is willing to take the fight to the enemies of the
world, and this is the duty of The Sword. Almost all
soldiers, operatives are are often called Templars
in honor of their history, and their current Knight-
General is the respected Egyptian warrior Asim ibn
Khalif al-Salah.
HERMETIC ORDER
OF THE GOLDEN
DAWN
The Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, later
renamed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, is
one of the largest and most influential organizations
of western occultism. Though relatively new,
this organization has greatly expanded in both
membership and power, and some claim it has an
impact on both the political and industrial fronts
that is without compare.
 THE INVISIBLE
In 1886 Rev. A.F.A. Woodford was given a
document called the Cipher Manuscript. The

COLLEGE
Manuscript, written in English but encoded, did
not interest the Reverend, so he passed it on to his
friend Dr. William Wynn Westcott. Dr. Westcott
managed to decode the Cipher Manuscript, The Invisible College was born out of a dream…
discovering it to be a detailed outline of the Grade and a nightmare.
Rituals of the Order, and prescribed a curriculum
Mary Shelley, wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley and
of specifically graduated teachings that encompass
author of the gothic novel Frankenstein, found
the Hermetic Qabalah, Astrology, Tarot, Geomancy,
inspiration during her stay in Switzerland. In the
and Alchemy. Dr. Westcott brought in his fellow
summer of 1816, she accompanied Byron and
Freemason Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
Shelley during their travels. The legend created by
to confirm his deciphering of the manuscript and
Byron and the Shelleys is that one night, when a
to assist in turning the writings into a usable set of
storm was raging over the lake, Mary Shelley and
rules for a new lodge order. Mathers asked a third
her husband spent the night at Lord Byron’s. Byron
Freemason, Dr. William Robert Woodman, to assist
challenged them to think up ghost stories, but Mary
in this endeavor, and the core of the Esoteric Order
Shelley wrote nothing. Then, the night before Byron
of the Golden Dawn was formed.
and Shelley’s boat trip on Lake Geneva, Mary
In 1887 the trio officially opened the Order to Shelley had a nightmare.
others, and soon a great many Initiates were
That nightmare wasn’t what would become a
learning the esoteric arts. As the number of initiates
popular book that would have a life longer than the
grew, the influence of the Order also grew. The
original author herself. No, her nightmares would
teachings outlined in the Cipher Manuscript were
be of humanity destroying itself with sciences that
quite detailed, and those who followed the course
it did not understand, advances that it had neither
of study soon found their astrological readings
the ethics nor morality to use as they were intended
were quite specific, and quite accurate. In 1891,
to be used, or to ignore those things that were not
new initiate Arthur Edward Waite began extensive
meant for mankind.
teachings in the use of the Tarot, consolidating the
knowledge scattered through the ages on their use From this weekend in Switzerland came a seed
and meaning. Other young initiates, like Edward that would bloom into the Invisible College.
Alexander “Aleister” Crowley in 1897, showed a Percy Shelley would begin to formulate some of
great deal of talent in Alchemy and the Qabalah. the theories of this organization in his 1819 essay
In Defense of Poetry: “Poets are the hierophants
In 1890 it is rumored that the Order managed to
of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of
acquire the secret writings of Sir Isaac Newton,
the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon
which contained his notes on the creation of the
the present; the words which express what they
Philosopher’s Stone. Some claim that the Order
understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle,
was able to complete the work that Newton was
and feel not what they inspire; the influence
not able to finish, creating a Philosopher’s Stone
which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the
and ensuring the Order’s means of wealth. Turning
unacknowledged legislators of the world.”
base metals into gold meant that the order was not
dependent on the generosity of their members, and It was a feeling that only the artistic could save
meant that they could pursue even the most obscure the world and save humanity from itself. In this
and costly of rituals in their quest for knowledge. period between 1816 and 1819, the guiding lights
behind the Invisible College began refining their
processes. One of their primary methods is to make
actual events look fictional or so sensational that

119
people would not believe that the events could have
possibly occurred. Hiding things in plain sight is
the best tool of the Invisible College. It was Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein that tested this technique for
the first time.
It is not coincidental that the period of the
ascendancy of the Invisible College is parallel
to the periods of the increase of the popularity
of Spiritualism and of the general interest in
the fantastic in literature. These were all tools
encouraged by the Invisible College in order to
create an environment of belief in the unknown and
strange, but only amongst those who would be easy
enough to discredit or mock. This created the fertile
ground into which the membership of the Invisible
College could place ideas so that they could be
more easily disbelieved by the majority of “right
thinking” individuals in the world.
These methods also make it easy for a small, yet
incredibly dedicated group of individuals to be
able to mold and form public opinions on what
is rational and what is irrational, what can and
what cannot be believed as true and proper. These
methods have also had far-reaching repercussions in
the realms of politics and marketing, and have had
an incredible impact on the world as a whole.
It is always important to remember that the Invisible
College has never had a large membership. While
the founders felt that artists and writers of all
stripes were the best suited to invisibly guide the
world, they also knew that those very people were
very often the ones who could be the least trusted.
This is, in part, what has led to the existence of
the Invisible College information being revealed
at all – the pettiness of individuals, particularly
those of an artistic nature, often leads to secret
information being released. This can also lead to
rival organizations, fighting against the Invisible
College…or some even claiming to be the Invisible
College! Just because players are fighting against
the Invisible College, or think that they are
members of it, it does not mean that they are doing
what they think that they are doing.
This is a problem in a world where there are too
many secrets. It is so much harder to get at the real
truths of things, if that is what you desire to do.
This goes to demonstrate that there is no central
dogma to the Invisible College. As it has adapted,
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evolved, changed and grown with each successive
set of leaders, so too does each individual cell
(called Universities by the organization) make
its own rules and interpret the ideology of the
organization according to its own goals and plans.
Often, people working towards the goals of a
University, or of its leadership, will not realize that
those goals do not completely match up with what
the College itself is “teaching” to its membership.
All of this is intended to give a GM the maximum
flexibility with using the Invisible College in their
games. There is no one official Invisible College.
The role of the Invisible College in Pulp Fantastic
can be varied. However, the basic role of the
organization will fall into one of two distinct
categories; the rest is just further detail. The
Invisible College is either the heroes or the villains
of the overall story. In addition to the role of the
Invisible College, the GM and the players would
probably need to determine whether the player
characters are employed by, or are acting against,
the Invisible College. These two do not have to
impact each other in the way that players would
think though. The Invisible College can be a force
for good in the world of the campaign, and the
characters could still be working to actively bring
them down (either to free the secrets that they have
or because the characters are misinformed about
their goals and nature).
KNIGHTS OF THE
ROUND TABLE
The year 1837 saw not only the coronation of
Queen Victoria, but also the foundation of the Most
Holy and Restored Order of the Knights of the
Round Table. Joshua Griffyth-Jones, a prominent
New York banker and amateur historian, began
the fraternal organization because of his family’s
fascination with the original knightly order. Family
tradition holds that the Griffyth-Jones family is
direct descendants of Sir Girflet, one of the last of
the original Knights of the Round Table. Sir Girflet
fought alongside King Arthur in the great final
battle against Mordred. When Arthur fell, it was Sir
Girflet who was there to fulfill Arthur’s last wish.
Arthur commanded Girflet to cast Excalibur into a
nearby lake. When he did so, a hand rose up from
the lake, caught the sword, and sank below the
water. Sir Girflet alone knew the secret of the lake.
Feeling as if he were the last defender of Camelot, of New York society, and so in 1835 he began his
Sir Girflet vowed that he would maintain the honor, own personal quest. In short order a dozen members
the integrity, and the true goals of the Order of the of the local aristocracy presented their pedigree as
Round Table. He swore that one day, when the knightly families, and the core of the new order was
world was in need, his descendants would restore formed.
the order and prepare the way for the Arthur, the
King Eternal. Over the centuries the descendants of In August of 1837 Griffyth-Jones gathered the
Sir Girflet is said to have kept this vow, though no gentlemen at his summer house in Montauk, on the
records of his family seem to exist anywhere. tip of Long Island, and proposed the re-founding
of the Knights of the Round Table. Headquartered
Joshua Griffyth-Jones was born in Hempstead in offices above Griffyth-Jones’s main Manhattan
Harbor, New York bank, the chosen men
in 1805, the son of power in New
of David Michael York took on a most
Griffyth-Jones, a daunting task. The
trader in gold and new Knights swore
silver. Joshua grew an oath to Griffyth-
up hearing stories Jones, who claimed
from his father about the title of Steward of
chivalry, knights in the Order, to defend
shining armor, honor, the code of chivalry,
fighting for the forces to right wrongs, to
of good, and always, not seek glory in
the story of the death their duties, and
of King Arthur. above all, to restore
The Knights of the honor and prepare
Round Table were a for the coming of
constant fascination King Arthur and
to young Joshua, and the recreation of his
he promised himself realm in America.
that he would become The Knights worked
a Knight of the Round both openly in
Table when he got charitable causes
older. and more actively
in clandestine tasks.
As he grew up, The Knights and their
Joshua remembered Squires -- trusted
the stories and the associates who cannot
rules of chivalry, honor, and loyalty his father had trace their lines to the original knights -- strive to
spun when he was a child. These rules guided him bring honesty to the business world, true justice to
as he attended Yale University, and continued to the legal trade, and fair practices to the factories.
guide him as he made his way through the intricate
and cutthroat world of financial banking. To the The altruistic goals of the Knights of the Round
surprise of many, his personal code of conduct was Table held strong until the death of their Steward in
quite successful, and Joshua Griffyth-Jones soon 1877. Rhys Griffyth-Jones, the eldest son of Joshua,
became a name to be reckoned with in the financial assumed the role of Steward upon his father’s death.
world. Rhys believed strongly in the stories of the original
Knights of the Round Table his father told him. He
Griffyth-Jones conducted constant searches about felt that the Restored Order needed reminders of
the original Knights of the Round Table, searching the original Knights, what they stood for, and what
for new information about the knights and their were their sources of power. His obsessions became
descendants. He felt sure that other descendants of the objectives of the Knights. That is when their
the Knights could be found among the upper classes most clandestine of tasks became The Quest.

121
The ultimate goal of The Quest is nothing short
of recovering artifacts of the original order. The
greatest honor for the knights is to be sent on a
Quest mission, to look for one of the ancient relics.
The scabbard of Excalibur, the Holy Grail, the Staff
of Merlin, and Sir Gawain’s Armor are just a few
of the relics sought by the Knights of the Round
Table. Because the Steward believes that the relics
can only belong to true descendants of the original
Knights, and because the members of the Order
can prove their claims of heredity, Rhys Griffyth-
Jones feels that no action taken to recover them can
violate their Code of Conduct. This has led some
members of the order to take actions which could be
morally questionable. Have the Knights found any
of them? Are the relics genuine or clever forgeries?
Only the Steward of the Round Table knows for
sure.
The Most Holy and Restored Order of the Knights
of the Round Table can take many different paths
in your Pulp Fantastic campaign. They could truly
be descendants of the original order. They could
be a group founded on good meaning, but false
assumptions. They could be knowingly founded on
false pretense. Are they truly a force for good and
the last bastion of chivalry? Are they a once proud,
but now corrupted fraternal organization? These are
just a few of the questions a Game Master will want
to ask himself about this group.
MI7
Ask anyone working in Her Majesty’s government
about MI7 and you will likely get blank stares. Ask
too many questions about MI7 and you might find
yourself being questioned by members of MI7.
What is the mission of MI7? Officially they are
tasked with uncovering and dealing with “unusual,
exotic and unconventional threats to the United
Kingdom, her interests, territories and allies”.
The reality is that they find the unfindable. They
discover the reason behind the unreasonable.
Everything MI7 is involved in has some curious or
unusual fact or twist of logic behind it. Of course,
what the public knows about and what the truth of a
matter is can be two very different things. Often, the
reason behind those differences is MI7.
122
Created by order of King Edward VII in 1909,
the Secret Service Bureau was originally jointly
controlled by the Admiralty and the War Office,
under the guidance of the Prime Minister. Formed
with the task of controlling all secret intelligence
operations both at home and overseas, the SSB
initially concentrated its efforts on the Imperial
German government. Bureau operations were
divided between army and naval sections, due
mainly to pressure from an Admiralty reluctant to
share power and resources.
During World War I, the Secret Service was
absorbed into the Directorate of Military
Intelligence, which was divided into numbered
sections according to function. MI1 dealt with
codes and cyphers, MI2 and 3 dealt with specific
geographical areas. MI4 made maps. MI5 (later the
Security Service) performed counterintelligence.
MI6 dealt with foreign intelligence and later became
the Secret Intelligence Service, and so on. In total
nineteen specialized sections helped coordinate
and control the intelligence needs of the United
Kingdom, before being themselves absorbed into
the Defense Intelligence Staff in 1964.
The smallest of these sections, almost lost among
the vast budgets and sprawling staff, was MI7.
Officially, MI7 was the Press and Propaganda
Section, rather sniffily referred to by operatives of
other sections as “Blue Pencils”, and eventually
destined to be absorbed into the Ministry of
Information in 1940.
This is the official history. The reality, however, is
somewhat different.
The history of modern spying and counter-
intelligence in Britain begins during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth 1, with her Secretary of State and
spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. Walsingham
was a committed anti-Catholic and developed a
network of spies to root out suspected subversives
and sympathizers when Elizabeth came to the
throne. At the same time, she took as her adviser
the noted natural philosopher, astrologer and
sorcerer, Doctor John Dee. Dee was an advocate
of the creation of a “British Empire” and helped
Walsingham build a network of spies across Europe
to provide the Crown with information on the
plans of her allies and enemies. As the network
grew, Walsingham and Dee became aware of an
increasing number of “unconventional” threats
to the kingdom, threats that could not be stopped
by normal means or faced by ordinary men.
Walsingham and Dee agreed to divide the protection
of the realm between them, with Walsingham
dealing with mundane threats, and Dee the more
exotic and specialized.
Dee developed his covert “Bureau of Secrets”, and
encouraged the use of numerous codes and cyphers,
and pioneered the use of advanced weapons and
gadgets for his agents. He recruited exclusively
intelligent, literate men (and unusually for the time,
women) and began the now accepted practice of
recruiting agents directly from university. Some
agents were rumored to possess magical powers,
and he is known to have recruited many mystics,
seers and dabblers in the occult. Over the years,
the Bureau protected both the Crown and the land
from a variety of threats and in some circles is even
credited with the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
By the late 1800’s, the Bureau was considered
a myth, relegated to a roomful of dusty archives
lost within the mazy corridors of Whitehall. This
changed after the 1880’s, when concern over
a vampiric incursion on British soil, the occult
activities of Jack the Ripper, and sighting of
flashing lights on the surface of Mars prompted a
lone civil servant to press for the re-activation the
Bureau in defense of the Realm. That civil servant
was the quiet yet brilliant Mycroft Holmes, elder
brother of the noted detective.
Officially Mycroft was the only member of the
Bureau, selected because of his excellent deductive
skills, said to exceed those of his brother, and
because of his discrete handling of information
sensitive to the Crown while working with his
brother on the Queen’s behalf. The fact that he
never seemed to leave the Diogenes Club while
working on a case was truly amazing. Unofficially
Holmes maintained a network of highly capable
and experienced agents who faced – and dealt with
– many of the horrors of the Victorian Age, from
supernatural menaces to technology run wild.
The Martian attack in 1901 left a mark on the
Bureau. The destruction of many buildings in and
around London meant that most of the resources
and archives of the Bureau were destroyed as
123
well. Director Holmes assembled a team to rebuild
his Bureau, picking up the pieces of a shattered
organization. Prime Minister Balfour, unlike
his predecessors, did not find the Director to be
agreeable, or useful. The PM stymied the Director
at every turn, thinking the department was not
necessary. The PM found the “stories” of the
exploits of the Bureau fanciful and unbelievable.
After two years of reduced funding, rescheduled
or canceled meetings, and constant stonewalling,
the situation came to a head. To the surprise of
those who knew the situation, in March of 1904
Mycroft Holmes retired as the Director of the
Bureau. After 16 years, the Bureau would be under
the guiding hand of someone other than its founder.
Prime Minister Balfour had different plans. Instead
of appointing a new Director he left the position
vacant and suspended funding. For all intents and
purposes, the department was dissolved.
When Henry Campbell-Bannerman became PM in
1905, he began a thorough review of the archives of
No. 10 to see what the Conservative PMs had been
doing for the last twenty years. The Archives Panel
discovered references to a strange department of the
Ministry of Intelligence that ended abruptly the year
before. While no information could be found on the
activities of the department, one name came up time
and time again: Mycroft Holmes. Meeting with the
aging Holmes at the Diogenes Club, the PM learned
of the purpose of the Bureau and of its shutdown.
Determined to restore the department to its intended
purpose, the PM asked Holmes to return as its
Director. Holmes refused, citing age and a desire
to avoid further adventure in his life. He suggested
one of his former junior aides, Edwin Masterson-
Smythe.
Masterson-Smythe reformed the Bureau, now
code-named MI7, and built upon the foundation
of Mycroft Holmes’s work. Some of the former
Bureau agents were found and recruited to join the
new organization, but most of the agency consisted
of new agents. In the years leading up to World War
II, MI7 agents operate around the globe, inspiring
many of the myths of the British super spy, while
managing to hide the nature of the enemies they
faced from the world. During World War II, MI7
operatives worked together with Ian Fleming’s
“Department of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and
may have inspired the creation of literature’s most
famous spy.
The secretive nature of MI7 makes the organization
an excellent resource for the Pulp Fantastic GM. Is
the Department a source of good information or a
fountain of propaganda? Does the Department work
with the Player Characters or against them? MI7
can also form a base from which Player Characters
can launch their adventures. The choice is up to the
Game Master.
THE AIR CAVALRY
The Charter of 1933
Charles Lindbergh was not the
only one to recognize the value
of a free air force independent of
national politics and able to work
in areas where official presence
was forbidden. In the spring of
1933, and after months of work by
the Cavalry’s best political minds
(and careful work by agents of the
Invisible College); the civilized
nations of Italy, America, Russia and
Great Britain signed a secret charter
with the Air Cavalry.
Patterned after colonial Letters of
Marque, the charter established a
protocol for allowing Air Cavalry
planes and personnel to cross
the airspace of the participating
countries, to make use of certain
military airbases and to act -
in certain ways - almost as an
independent country. In turn,
Baron Ace Franklin swore that his
people would never attack any of
the participating members, would
follow the honorable customs of
warfare and would come to the aid
of embattled nations and peoples
the world over. It was an ambitious
promise, but the Air Cavalry
remains steadfast in its dedication to
these ideals.
The Charter was the final piece
needed to bring the Air Cavalry into
the world as a force for good.
124
Baron Ace Franklin was born too late to fight in the
Great War, but the sky was in his blood. His father
was a pilot of the Great War, an ace with thirty-
eight German kills under his silk scarf. Raised in a
traveling barnstormer show, Ace lived among planes
and pilots from the day he could walk. It was the
life he knew, the life he loved, and Ace might have
been content to live as a star of the barnstorming
circuit, but the Tri-State tornado of 1925 changed
all that.
In its earliest years, the Air Cavalry was a show,
famous war battles - including the final battle
between the Red Baron and Captain Roy Brown
- were re-enacted for the amusement of paying
customers. Some of the pilots also flew mail, or
private passengers from city to city in order to help
pay for their expensive flying machines.
In 1925, the Air Cavalry flew to the rescue for
the first time. On March 18th, the great Tri-State
tornado to tore through Illinois, Missouri and
Indiana, leaving hundreds dead and dozens of towns
and cities in ruin.
The Air Cavalry took to the skies on a mission
of mercy and battled the treachery of the Storm
Riders, a group of criminals who followed the path
of the tornado to steal and pillage those too weak to
defend themselves.
PINKERTON
DETECTIVE
AGENCY
The world of Private Eyes begins with the
legendary Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
Their logo, with its big central eye and the motto
“We Never Sleep”, spawned the nickname Private
Eye, and the image of the tough guy determined to
solve a case.
In 1850 Allan Pinkerton and Chicago attorney
Edward Rucker formed the North-Western Police
Agency, later to be known as Pinkerton National
Detective Agency. Pinkerton became famous in
February 1861, when he foiled an assassination plot
in Baltimore, Maryland, of President-Elect Abraham
Lincoln. His efforts in this case impressed Lincoln
so much that Lincoln hired Pinkerton to provide
his security during the American Civil War as well
as performing as head of the Union Intelligence
Service during the first years of the war. Pinkerton’s
investigative techniques, created during his days
in the North-Western Police Agency and refined
over the years, were an innovation that lead the
Pinkertons to be the most well-known specialists in
criminal investigations and undercover operations.
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency became a
unit to be feared.
After the end of the American Civil War,
Pinkerton’s offices opened across the United States.
Their services were used to track down outlaws
such as Jesse James, The Wild Bunch, and the Reno
Gang. Their services spread far and wide, even
assisting Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes in
several cases involving crimes on both continents.
Starting in the 1870s, the Pinkerton Agency was
hired by several large companies to investigate
efforts to unionize workers. Quite often this led
to violent conflicts and a bad reputation for the
Agency. Pinkerton Men became associated with
“Corporate Thugs” and were known for being union
breakers. Pinkerton Agent John McParland managed
to infiltrate the militant labor union of coal miners
in Pennsylvania known as the Mollie Maguires. The
Mollies were a secret Irish organization that worked
for labor unionization and were known for stirring
up trouble throughout Ireland. McParland, under
the name of James McKenna, became a member
of the Mollie Maguires in Pennsylvania. Using
the knowledge he gained from them, a great many
members of the group were arrested, leading to
the end of the violent unionist efforts of the Mollie
Maguires.
As the 20th Century dawned, the reputation of the
Pinkerton National Detective Agency was anything
but sterling. Hired by many large companies as
union busters, Pinkerton agents were often thought
of as little more than thugs, and often that was not
far from the truth. This changes in 1907 when Allen
Pinkerton II, grandson of the founder, inherited the
company. Slowly, over the course of the next three
decades, the Pinkerton Agency gradually moved
away from union busting. Trying to improve its
image, the Agency acquired the C. E. Vandercamp
Aetheric Investigations Agency in 1920.
Christopher Vandercamp started his business
in 1915 in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.
Investigating crimes, missing persons, and other
125
occurrences with a mystical slant, Vandercamp
became known for solving cases others thought to
be unsolvable. His business grew from a one man,
third story walk-up to a 250-man office in their own
building on Stony Island Avenue across from the
famous Jackson Park, home of the World’s Fair:
Columbian Exposition in 1893. Vandercamp’s
company became experts in the esoteric
investigation field, making him a wealthy man and a
well-known socialite in Chicago.
With the acquisition of the Vandercamp Agency,
Pinkertons became the preeminent investigative
service in the western world. Some of the cases
pursued by the Pinkerton Agency include the
Patterson possession case in 1922; the New Orleans
mafia crackdown of the late 1920s; the Bassett-
Sutton bank robbery of 1930; the Lindbergh
Baby kidnapping of 1932; and the Thule Society
Conspiracy of 1936.
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency makes a
great resource in any Pulp Fantastic game taking
place in the United States. Players can work for
Pinkerton’s as investigative agents, as undercover
agents, or even as consultants to Pinkerton’s. The
Agency can also be used as an adversary, bringing
truth to claims that Pinkerton Agents were violent
thugs with a badge of authority.
SCOTLAND YARD
In the eighteenth century came the beginnings of
immense social and economic changes with the
consequent movement of the population of England
to towns. The parish constable and “Watch” systems
used throughout the country failed completely and
the impotence of the law-enforcement machinery
was a serious menace. Conditions became
intolerable and led to the formation of the “New
Police.”
In 1829 the Metropolitan Police Act introduced by
Sir Robert Peel, was passed by Parliament. This
Act replaced the numerous local constables with a
single police force that covered Greater London,
excluding the City of London, which had its own
Police Force. The Marine, or River Police as well
as the Bow Street Patrols (both mounted and the
“Runners” on foot) were also outside the command
of the new London Metropolitan Police. The task
of organizing and designing the “New Police” was
placed in the hands of Colonel Charles Rowan and
Richard Mayne (later Sir Richard Mayne). These
two Commissioners occupied a private house at 4
Whitehall Place, the back of which opened on to a
courtyard. The back premises of 4 Whitehall Place
were used as a police station. This address led to
the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police being
known as Scotland Yard.
By 1890 the Metropolitan Police had taken over all
the buildings surrounding the original private house,
as well as many buildings, stables, and storehouses
in the surrounding area. Scotland Yard outgrew
its origins. Headquarters were moved in 1890 to
premises on the Victoria Embankment designed by
Richard Norman Shaw and became known as New
Scotland Yard.
Metropolitan police officers carried firearms only
when given special permission by a judge; normally
they were only armed with a truncheon. Their
jurisdiction was limited to the London Metropolitan
area unless requested by outside authorities and
given permission by the Home Secretary (the
cabinet officer who commands the police). The
officers, often called “Bobbies,” after Sir Robert
Peel, wore a unique and very sturdy hat. This officer
could stand on his hat, allowing him to see over
fences quite easily. They were charged with keeping
order in public thoroughfares, ensuring that Public
Houses follow strict hours and serving laws, fining
establishments that conducted bear baiting or cock
fighting, and ensuring that people going about their
lawful business were not menaced by “general riff-
raff and ne’er-do-wells.”
The Metropolitan Police Service Criminal
Investigation Department, or CID, the first criminal
investigation department, was set up in April 1878
by C. E. Howard Vincent. Originally it was only
responsible to the Home Secretary, but since 1888
it had been under the authority of the Metropolitan
Police Commissioner. CID officers did not wear a
uniform, instead they were plainclothes officers.
CID officers were involved in the investigation of
major crimes such as rape, murder, serious assault,
fraud, and any other crimes that require complex
detection. They were responsible for acting upon
intelligence received and then building a case; from
analysis of the initial incident through the arrest and
prosecution of any suspects.
126
The success of the men of Scotland Yard did not
go unnoticed. Throughout the world, police forces
were modeled after the Metropolitan Police. By the
end of the 1890s uniformed and organized police
forces could be found in nearly every major city.
Some of Scotland Yard’s most famous investigators
include Inspector George Lestrade, who consulted
with Sherlock Holmes on a number of cases;
Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline, who
headed up the dreadful Whitechapel Murder
investigations; Inspector Montgomery Pettiman,
who broke the horrific case of Sweeney Todd,
but was unable to capture him; and Lady Molly
Robertson-Kirk, the first female detective in the
Metropolitan Police.
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL POLICE
ORGANIZATION
The International Criminal Police Organization
(ICPO) is the worldwide, nongovernmental police
agency that will in later years become known as
Interpol. It is a clearing house for information,
furnishing member nations with data on criminals,
unidentified bodies, stolen property, etc. Founded in
1923 to reduce international crime, the ICPO deals
strictly with international crimes - most revolve
around smuggling, narcotics and counterfeiting - but
is strictly forbidden to meddle in political crimes
such as espionage and terrorism.
Original founder countries were France, Belgium,
Germany, Hungary, Austria, Sweden, Italy, Greece,
the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and Switzerland. Great
Britain doesn’t join until 1928, and the United
States doesn’t join until 1938.
Unlike most law-enforcement agencies, ordinary
ICPO agents do not make arrests themselves,
nor do they detain criminals. Instead they act as
consultants, liaising between the law-enforcement
of member countries, helping to co-ordinate the
international response to crime and terrorism. The
ICPO helps track criminals and criminal activity
around the world.

With the slow proliferation of recovered Martian
debris and Element-X technology throughout the
world, and rise of the “master villain” during the
1920’s and 1930’s, the ICPO committee created a
specialist division to deal with what they described
as “extraordinary threats to law and order”. This
highly secret division fielded operatives tasked with
facing and overcoming problems too strange and
deadly for normal law enforcement. Divided into
continental bureaus, the ICPO’s Special Crimes
Service works in much the same way as the modern
FBI, taking command of investigations that may
involve master villains, weird science, magic and
the occult (though this remains highly controversial
within the organization) and other unusual threats.
Operatives for the SCS have full law-enforcement
powers in all of the signatory nations and can act
as extradition agents in any nation with which a
signatory nation has an extradition treaty. Each
signatory nation maintains an SCS office in the
capital city, run by a dozen operatives and overseen
by a commissioner – normally a senior ICPO
officer with field experience of weird crimes.
These operatives are rarely involved directly with
field work, instead acting as a support team to the
Continental Inspector, who handles the majority
of the field work for the region on a roving brief.
Each office acts as a clearing house for information
and coordinates local operations. When a national
office obtains intelligence of an extraordinary threat
in their region, the Continental Inspector is called
in to investigate. These individuals are the best of
the best; experienced, bold and resourceful, there
is very little they can’t handle. However, they are
authorized to obtain expert help if required, and
very few that last long have a problem asking for
help or talking advice.
While the SCS favors working with local law
enforcement to accomplish their goals, they are
often resented by those they hope to aid, and there
are occasionally tensions between the ICPO, the
SCS and the signatory nations. As much of what
the SCS accomplishes is kept secret from all but
the highest levels of government, cooperation
with the SCS is sometimes used as a political
football by politicians and others ignorant of the
true necessity of the organization. As a result, the
SCS is almost always underfunded, and has had to
supplement their budget with resources and money
confiscated from the master villains they fight,
which sometimes results in an undignified scramble
to annex the scenes of extraordinary crimes.
127
RED HEADED
LEAGUE
There are some that will tell you that the Red
Headed League is nothing but a story. Others will
tell you it was a “League” of two, thwarted in the
1890’s by the crime solving duo of Mr. Holmes and
Dr. Watson. Only a truly rare person can tell the
truth about the Red Headed League.
The real Red Headed League was founded in 1875
in Boston, Massachusetts. Patrick Michael Sullivan,
David O’Hirllihy, Peter Flynn, and Kevin Muldoon,
all of them red headed men, formed the League for
what could only be called nefarious reasons. This
criminal syndicate, which over the years expanded
across the ocean and into Europe, was initially
created as an act of revenge.
In 1872 Patrick Sullivan, an accountant of modest
means at the First Mercantile Bank of Boston, was
accused of improprieties in his work and promptly
fired as a result. Patrick was an innocent man set
up by his superior, David Patterson, to cover up
embezzlement and misconduct on his part. After
spending a year in search of proof of his innocence,
Patrick Sullivan’s efforts proved fruitless. Because
he could not prove his innocence, and felt his life
was destroyed by the acts of David Patterson,
Patrick turned his energies to destroying the life of
his tormentor.
Sullivan recruited his friends O’Hirllihy, Flynn,
and Muldoon to help in bringing his revenge upon
David Patterson, and so the Red Headed League
was born. After quite a lot of discussion and
planning, it was decided that Patterson should suffer
a similar fate as did Sullivan -- to be found guilty
of a crime he did not commit and to not be able
to prove his innocence. Over the span of several
years, Flynn and Muldoon worked their way into
the confidence of David Patterson. Flynn began
working as a clerk for Patterson under the name
Thomas O’Hara. Muldoon, as Douglas O’Toole,
became part of Patterson’s social circle, meeting
him at clubs, the theater, and the opera. Douglas
O’Toole was soon the close confidant of David
Patterson, and they were often seen together about
town.
With Flynn and Muldoon supplying them with
information, Sullivan and O’Hirllihy crafted a
subtle plan to destroy David Patterson’s name and
his life. In 1786, on the Monday after Easter, it was
discovered that the First Mercantile Bank of Boston
had been robbed over the weekend. Someone had
entered the bank and absconded with nearly fifty
pounds of coins and gold ingots valued at more
than $20,000. Careful investigation of the banking
house revealed a muddied handkerchief belonging
to David Patterson in the bank’s gold storage room.
A search of Patterson’s home, much to his surprise,
revealed detailed written plans of the break in, and a
small handful of gold coins. It was also shown that
Thomas O’Hara was hired by Patterson and was
working under an assumed name, though his real
name was not in the records.
Patterson strongly professed his innocence,
claiming he and Douglas O’Toole spent most of
the weekend together at O’Toole’s home. When the
constables went to Mr. O’Toole’s home, they found
it empty, and the owner’s whereabouts unknown.
With the mountain of evidence piled against him,
David Patterson’s life and name were in ruins. His
protestations of innocence fell on deaf ears. In a fit
of melancholy, David Patterson took his own life
rather than suffer the punishment of others.
Many would think that this would spell the end of
the Red Headed League, but that wasn’t the case.
The members of the League, flush with their ill-
gotten wealth, found they rather enjoyed their more
nefarious ways. They stayed together, developing
new means of acquiring wealth at the expense of
others. Adding additional members as necessary,
the League expanded until they numbered 500
members. The “President” of the League, Patrick
Sullivan, grew truly wealthy during the next 15
years, and upon his death the leadership of the
League went to the son of Peter Flynn, Frederick
Flynn.
Over time the League expanded and continued their
elaborate crimes of subterfuge and larceny. Flynn
diversified the League, getting them involved not
only in complex bank robberies, but blackmail,
extortion, and selling secrets to the highest bidder.
The true secret of the League is that each member
only knows a small number of members. You cannot
reveal a secret if you don’t know it. That’s what
leads the League to be so successful year after year.
128
In Pulp Fantastic the League is a great foil for
a group of adventurers. Secretive, moderately
powerful, and spread out enough to make them a
hard target to eliminate. This is what a recurring
villain is meant to be.
COMINTERN
With the success of the October Revolution in
Russia, many radical Socialist groups around the
world began to take notice. The revolution and the
rise of the Russian Communist Party showed them
that there was another way to power. Rather than
try and fight the system from within, they could
undermine the establishment and seize power for
themselves. Founded at a congress in Moscow, the
Third Communist International or Comintern was
tasked to “struggle by all available means, including
armed force, for the overthrow of the international
bourgeoisie and the creation of an international
Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete
abolition of the state.” What this meant in real
terms was the creation of an organization dedicated
to fomenting revolution in Europe and across
the globe, looking to create civil war when the
conditions were favourable.
During the 1920’s, the Comintern concentrates
on exporting the idea of the Bolshevik revolution,
providing local communist groups with weapons,
agitators and money. Several foreign communist
parties form their own secret paramilitary groups,
like the M-Apparat and the Roter Frontkämpferbund
(Alliance of Red Front-Fighters) of the Communist
Party of Germany. The Comintern is heavily
involved in the Aster Revolution in Hungary that
leads to the eventual formation of the short-lived
Hungarian Soviet Republic, at least two actions in
Germany, and in a failed coup in Estonia.
After the death of Lenin in 1924, Stalin turns the
Comintern into an organization intended not simply
to promote communist revolution, but also to
protect the Soviet Union by undermining attempts
to act against her. Stalin’s repressive regime makes
sure that only the Soviet model of communism
is to be tolerated, Anything else is disloyal, and
disloyalty is likely to get you either a bullet in the
head or a long stay in a Siberian labor camp.
In several countries, the Comintern exploits anti-
fascist feeling by creating cover organizations with
which they can destabilize the current regime.
In others, they create links to organized crime,
and occasionally undermine opposing political
ideologies from within.
The Comintern are very, very good at playing mind
games, and they excel at using dirty tricks like
extortion and blackmail to get what they want. In
later years, this will lead to the Red Scare used so
well by Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House
Unamerican Activities Committee, but in the 1920’s
and 30’s the scare was real.
ORDER OF SAINT
RACHAEL
Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church
has stood guard at the gates of Hell, steadfastly
defying Lucifer and his many children. The
Church has always known that monsters lurk in the
darkness. Jesus and His disciples cast out demons,
and the Roman Empire was filled with stories about
sinister cults, shadowy monsters and even stranger
things, things beyond the power of the human mind
to even begin to comprehend. Over the centuries,
many different branches of the Church have
waged a secret war against the cults, the beasts,
the demons, the powers and the principalities who
collectively threaten the lives and souls of mortal
men. Today, the battle goes on, more intense than
ever, and the brave warriors who fight it make
up the Order of St. Rachael. The Order of Saint
Rachael is a secret organization within a secret
organization. Technically their members are part
of the Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion,
but they have a very different role in the Catholic
Church.
The Order’s history begins in medieval England.
The coastal hamlet of Cobham, near Lytham St.
Anne’s in Lancashire, is gone now, and even in
1187 it was a quiet and marginal settlement. On
October 29 of that year, even as Pope Gregory
VIII proclaimed the Third Crusade in the Bull
Audita Tremendi, nineteen-year-old Margaret, the
fletcher’s daughter, gave birth to her third child, a
girl given the name Rachel (spelled “Rachael” in
some accounts). According to later accounts, young
Rachel nearly died in the womb and barely survived
her birth; her 14th century hagiography says her
birth was attended by white clouds in the night
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sky, spectral visitors and other typically elaborate
legendary motifs. A sickly child, Rachel was blind
for several years, and spent most of her days shut
up in her home, secluded from the world. It was
on September 2, 1192 (the very day that the Third
Crusade came to an end) that Rachel’s blindness
was miraculously cured by an anonymous traveling
monk. Curiously, when Rachel’s sight was returned,
it brought with it an unasked for gift; Rachel
claimed now to be able to see the spirit world, and
in particular the legions of angels and demons that
fill the air around us.
Rachel’s visions brought her fame and suspicion in
equal measure, and she developed the ability to cure
illness and injury through prayer, and to unerringly
discern a person’s guilt or innocence. When she
displayed the ability to accurately predict who was
to become sick or mad based on the activity of the
spirits around them, she was accused of witchcraft
by Giles of Berwick, a local landowner, and put
on trial. On May 4, 1210, Rachel was summarily
burned at the stake. Witnesses to the execution
claimed that the flames bent away from the young
woman as if held back by invisible hands, only
claiming her body when Giles of Berwick shot her
with an arrow. Giles was later revealed to have
murdered his elder brother and his family in order to
claim an inheritance, and a number of contemporary
commentators suspected that he acted out of fear
that Rachel would perceive and reveal his crime.
Shortly after the revelation that Rachel had been
executed based on false evidence, the monastic
Order of Rachel was formed. The Order was based
around the idea that a world of spirits and other
powers exists unseen around us, and that only
by learning to see beyond our limits can we fight
spiritual corruption and move closer to God. A
hundred and twenty years after her death, Rachel
was canonized by Pope John XXII, and the Order
was absorbed into the Inquisition, becoming “an
Office for the discernment, identification and
punishment of sorcery, spiritual crimes and heresy”.
In reality this meant that the Order became a kind
of spiritual counter-espionage agency, detecting
and eliminating attempts by supernatural evil to
infiltrate the ranks of the faithful. It was at this time
that the Order reverted to the variant spelling of
“Rachael” in order to avoid confusion with Rachel
the Matriarch.
With the rise of age of scientific rationality, the
Order slowly found itself becoming increasingly
irrelevant, and it wasn’t until the Victorian
era that things began to change. The spread of
Spiritualism and other false doctrines brought with
it an attendant rise in cults and magicians. Most
of them were harmless (to others, at least, if not
their immortal souls), but a few were genuinely
dangerous. These were, of course, the most discreet
and difficult to locate, and the Church once again
found itself looking towards the Order for help in
locating and identifying the most dangerous threats.
The Order’s English, French and German cells
were especially busy during this era, although the
infamous and brutal case of Martin Litzinger, a
vicious serial killer and Satanist in Vienna, was
perhaps the most difficult to resolve. Litzinger
had a perverse ability to stay one step ahead of
his pursuers, taunting them all the while (much
like his contemporary, Jack the Ripper). He was
finally captured on June 20, 1888 and slain by the
Austrian authorities (and then discreetly stolen
from the Vienna morgue and properly destroyed
by the Order, which ironically lead to stories
about Litzinger being a vampire). The horrors that
Litzinger unleashed weren’t limited to his brutal
murders, despicable as they were. Each of the
nine murders was part of a sinister pattern, and
Litzinger was only captured after it had already
been completed. Litzinger’s ultimate goal remains
unknown, even to this day, but a few half-burnt
pages from the Necronomicon were discovered in
his apartment (which had already been stripped
almost bare by an unknown party before Austrian
authorities arrived at the scene).
Today the Order does what it always has done, it
stays on the trail of the strange and supernatural.
Operatives are recruited from – and remain – within
the priesthood and are usually trained exorcists.
Most – though not all – are trained in a variety of
techniques that allow them to see at least partly
into the spirit world or possess some kind of
supernaturally enhanced senses. Agents of the Order
are often found working with the Citadel, though
they find the Citadel’s methods more than a little
distasteful.
The Order firmly believes that the soul of man is
constantly under siege by the powers of evil, and
that only through constant vigilance can we return
to a state of spiritual grace. While a lot of this stares
130
the modern man in the face, the Order feels that
its job is to put a stop to it all so the true faith can
remain strong.
THE TONG OF
THE BLACK
SCORPION
The first recorded mention of the Tong of the
Black Scorpion – then simply the Black Scorpion
Society – is in 14th Century China, as an anti-
Manchu resistance movement during the Qing
Dynasty, while mythology places their origin after
the burning of the southern Shaolin Temple by
one of the five survivors of the battle. Most likely
a schismatic offshoot of the White Lotus Society,
the Tong of the Black Scorpion was originally a
political and philosophical society who espoused a
form of nihilism and found solace in the worship of
the “Eternal Mother of Shadows”; a faceless female
deity who gathered her children to her beyond
death. The Society became a symbol of Chinese
resistance to the rule of the Mongolian Yuan
Dynasty. Outlawed, the Society went underground,
funding its resistance activities through petty crime,
extortion and terror.
Over the years, the acts of resistance became less
and less important to the Society, who instead
began to relish the rewards of crime. As the Society
transformed into a fully criminal organization so the
religious aspect turned darker, twisting in on itself
until it became something debased and cruel. In the
intervening centuries, the Black Scorpion Society
became the Tong of the Black Scorpion, a by-word
for ruthlessness and terror.
The Tong emerged from the shadows again in
the 1890’s in London, England, where they were
implicated in the kidnapping and murder of several
young women. When that branch of the Tong was
broken up by the actions of an unconventional
Scotland Yard detective, the survivors relocated to
the USA, where they built up the Tong again by
hiring themselves out as muscle to masterminds.
The Tong of the Black Scorpion is governed by a
strict code of secrecy and obedience, maintained
through terror tactics and ruthless enforcement.
Betraying the organization normally results in
execution by the monstrous “Death of a Thousand
Cuts” or banishment to one of the Tongs “hell
chambers” - subterranean cells where miscreants are
slowly and horribly tortured to death in a variety of
diabolically creative ways.
The Tong of the Black Scorpion is generally feared
by other Triads and Tongs, as their members are
considered savages with no fear of death or injury.
The traditional sign of warning from the Tong – a
dead scorpion pinned to one’s door with a slim
dagger – is considered by most to be tantamount to
a death sentence, as the Tong has a reputation for
being able to eliminate its enemies no matter how
well protected they may be.
Tong members can usually be identified by a tattoo
of a scorpion somewhere on their body – most
often on the sole of the foot. While they prefer to
use bladed weapons, Tong assassins are proficient
in the use of firearms, bows, thrown weapons and
even explosives. While most criminal Tongs and
Triads are business organizations that prefer to use
intimidation and bribery, the Tong of the Black
Scorpion seems to enjoy violence and bloodshed for
its own sake. Most recently, the Tong of the Black
Scorpion seems to have fallen under the leadership
of the dreaded Siwang Lung – the so-called “Death
Dragon” – and his daughter, the lovely but deadly
Du Kai Hua or “Poison Blossom”.
NOTE: A “Tong” in Chinese can mean group,
organization, association, club, etc. Most Tongs are
perfectly legitimate business organizations, rather
like the Freemasons or the Rotary Club. Assuming
that every Tong they come across is a criminal gang
or evil cult could land the heroes in a lot of hot
water.
THE TSANG-
CHAN
The Tsang-Chan are a diminutive tribe of nomadic
hunters from the dense jungles of mountainous
Central Asia. Shunned and loathed by their
neighbors, this secretive people are almost unheard
of beyond the immediate area, but since their
introduction to Western explorers in the mid-19th
Century they have established small communities in
almost every corner of the globe.
131
Physically, the Tsang-Chan appear to be of East-
Asian/Mongol stock, with physiques and culture
remarkably similar to the head-hunter tribes of the
Amazonian basin. In their native lands they are
ferocious warriors and stealthy hunters, who use
body modification (ritual scarring and piercing) as
symbols of rank and social position. Tsang-Chan
society is apparently male-dominated, with their
women very rarely seen and out-numbered by the
men by nearly ten to one.
The Tsang-Chan, despite being despised by other
local tribes and attacked at every opportunity, seem
to have thrived during the early years of the 20th
Century, spreading to Europe and North America
and forming tightly-knit communities. It was their
secretiveness and reluctance to talk to strangers that
caused the Providence-based pulp author Howard
Philips Lovecraft to base his fictional Tcho-Tcho
on them. Like their fictional counterparts, the
Tsang-Chan have been accused of cannibalism and
of the worship of dark gods, though there is little
evidence to support this. One particularly outlandish
myth accuses them of being creatures only partly
human, who must partake of human flesh to retain
their human form. Another infers that they are the
servants of things beyond time, led by inhuman
magician-priests who come from a future dominated
by a savage empire in which humans are bred like
cattle for food.
What is known is that the Tsang-Chan, with their
short stature, high agility and traditional hunting
skills, make excellent assassins. As such they are
frequently found in the employ of villains and
criminal organizations as enforcers and torturers. By
the time World War II breaks out, many Tsang-Chan
can be found working for the notorious Japanese
biological warfare organization, Unit 731.
THE MAFIA
The Mafia is a name given to the many and various
culturally-based organized criminal societies, the
most well-known of which is the Sicilian Mafia
or “Cosa Nostra” (“Our Thing”). Mafias typically
use the threat of violence to practice a variety
of crimes, including; extortion, counterfeiting,
fencing, murder, robbery, protection racketeering,
fraud, loan-sharking, prostitution and illegal
gambling. Mafia crime families are normally bound • Underboss: Sometimes referred to as the
together by a code of silence (Omertà) to protect “capo bastone”, this is the boss’s second-in-
the organization from outside interference and command. He oversees the activities of the
infiltration. soldiers and ensures that the profits from the
family’s criminal activities flow to the boss. In
The American Mafia, also known simply as the the event of the boss’s death or incarceration,
Mob or the Syndicate, is primarily an Italian- the underboss may take control of the family
American crime society. With roots in the Sicilian until a new boss is appointed.
Mafia, the organization emerged amongst Italian
immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York • Consigliere: The consigliere is a combination
and other major port cities on the East Coast of the of advisor, counselor and “right-hand man”
US during the late 19th and early 20th Century. to the boss of a crime family. Though ranked
During the early 1920’s, after Benito Mussolini third in the crime family, the consigliere has no
and his National Fascist Party took control of Italy, capos or soldiers working for him.
waves of fleeing Italian immigrants arrived in the
United States, including members of the Sicilian • Capo: Also known as a caporegime, captain,
Mafia fleeing Mussolini’s crackdown on organized skipper or “crew chief,” the capo usually
crime. Their arrival coincided with Prohibition; oversees a crew or borgata of ten soldiers,
the enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment to though in recent years he may oversee as many
the US Constitution, which made the manufacture, soldiers as he can efficiently control. Each
transport or sale of alcohol illegal. Designed capo reports directly to the underboss, who
to promote public health and morals, in truth gives him his authority. The capo is normally
Prohibition ushered in a golden age for organized responsible for carrying out murders on
crime as the chief purveyors of bootleg alcohol. The behalf of the family and runs the day-to-day
Mafia profited, with the enormous financial boost operations of his crew.
transforming small crime families into vast criminal
• Soldato: The soldier,
empires based on the often-violent black market in
“button man,” “made
alcohol.
man”, “wiseguy” or
The Mafia is divided into regional “families”, with “goodfella” is the
each family dominated by a Don, or mob boss. most frequently
The Don will attempt to insulate himself from encountered
his soldato (soldiers) and any criminal activity by level of
passing orders through an underboss, consigliere or gangster. Each
capo. Initiation into the family is controlled by the soldato must
boss, underboss or consigliere, while the boss can have taken
promote or demote family members at will. an oath of
silence (and
Mafia crime families usually have the following usually
structure; have killed
someone) in
• Capo di tutti capi: The “Boss of All Bosses” order to be
or “Godfather”, this is the title given to the considered
top Mafia boss, the head of the most powerful “made.”
crime family. In later years this role will be
replaced by the “Commission”. • Picciotto:
A low-level
• Boss: Also known as the capofamiglia, capo soldier,
crimini, representante or Don, this is the title this is little
given to the leader of a crime family. more than a
disposable
thug used for

132
 the day-to-day work of threats, beatings and
intimidation.
• Associate: Sometimes known as a “giovane
d’onore” or man of honor. An associate is an
employee of a crime family that is not actually
a member.
Arbeiterpartei in a bid to quell political unrest.
While attending meetings he was attracted to their
anti-Semitic, nationalist, anti-Marxist ideals and
ended up joining the party for real.
In 1920, the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei changed
its name to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers

THE NAZIS Party) or Nazi Party and adopted the symbol of

a black swastika – formerly a symbol of good
in Indian religions – on a white circle against a
In the years following the Great War, Germany was
red background, as designed by Hitler himself.
a democratic Republic, suffering terrible political
Propelled by his skills as an orator, Hitler was
and economic instability. The reparations demanded
appointed Fuhrer (leader) of the Party in 1921.
by the victorious allies against Germany crippled
Under Hitler’s leadership the party membership
the country, leading to mass unemployment and
swelled, and they recruited their own group of
a vast number of angry, disaffected veterans. One
thugs, the Sturmabteilung or Brownshirts as
such veteran was Adolf Hitler.
protection from rival parties.
Much of the political instability was caused by
In 1923 Hitler and his Brownshirts, along with other
the infighting of groups of political extremists,
militant reactionaries attempted to seize power
one of which was the relatively minor Deutsche
from the Republic but were unsuccessful. In 1923
Arbeiterpartei, the German Worker’s Party. The
Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison but was
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was little more than
released after only nine months. While imprisoned
the political arm of the Thule Society (Thule-
Hitler drafted the initial chapters of what would
Gesellschaft), a right-wing occult secret society
become his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle),
with a focus on racial purity, Aryan mythology and
laying down the basic framework of what the Nazi
anti-Semitism. Despite having a band of willing
Party would become.
thugs to use in battles against other extremists, the
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei was sliding into obscurity By proposing a society built on the principles of
by 1919 for the lack of effective leadership. racial purity and strength, governed by an elite
ruled by Hitler himself, the Nazis created a political
Born in Austria in 1899, Adolf Hitler was the fourth
platform that appealed to deep-seated elements
of six children who became fixated on warfare
within the national psyche. However, they still
after finding a picture book about the Franco-
failed to make political headway, with poor election
Prussian War among his father’s belongings. He
results keeping them in a minority in the Reichstag.
began to develop German nationalist ideal at a
In times of economic prosperity, it was hard for
very early age, and after losing most of his siblings
the people to take the Nazis seriously. Despite this,
and his father in childhood, he drifted and tried
party membership grew steadily, and the party
unsuccessfully to become an artist. Forced into a
gained funding from industrialists who hoped to
life of menial labor, Hitler left Austria and moved to
use the Nazis against socialists and communists.
Munich, where he was living at the outbreak of the
Strengthening his hold on the party, Hitler formed a
Great War.
personal body-guard, the Schutzstaffel, also known
During the war Hitler served as a dispatch runner as the SS or Blackshirts.
and was decorated for bravery, receiving the Iron
The Wall Street crash of 1929 gave the Nazis their
Cross in 1914 and 1918. He was wounded at the
opportunity, when desperate American investors
Somme and in 1918 was temporarily blinded in a
recalled their loans from Germany, crippling an
Mustard Gas attack. While recovering in hospital,
economy that depended on them. Banks collapsed,
he learned of Germany’s defeat. Embittered and
manufacturing and exports dried up, and within
believing the Germany had been defeated from
three years over a quarter of the German population
within by Marxists, civilian leaders and subversives.
was out of work. Losing faith in their government,
Wanting to stay in the army for as long as possible,
Hitler volunteered to infiltrate the Deutsche

133
the people turned to the extremist parties. By
1930 the Nazis had become the second largest
political party in the Reichstag, and by 1932 they
had a majority, despite the Communists making
tremendous gains.
Alarmed at the prospect of a Communist revolution,
business interests put their support in Hitler,
encouraged by his vocal condemnation of the
Communists. In 1933 Hitler was invited to become
Chancellor of Germany and, following the death of
President Von Hindenburg, managed to concentrate
full legislative power in his hands. The oath taken
by army officers was changed to swear allegiance
to Hitler personally, and Hitler himself took the title
of Führer und Reichskangler (Leader and Reich
Chancellor and Supreme Commander-in-Chief),
officially beginning the Third Reich.
With the Nazi Party in complete control of
Germany, the entire population was subject to Nazi
indoctrination. Citizens were encouraged to report
those who they felt were not adhering to the new
state directives. Those found to be insufficiently
“patriotic” in their outlook and behavior were
harassed, imprisoned or executed.
Everything in the country, from education to
manufacturing, was geared to a war footing.
Schools became centers for the promotion of Nazi
ideology. Membership of the Hitler Youth became
mandatory. Libraries were purged of “non-Aryan
thought”, teachers and lecturers were required by
law to wear the swastika and swear allegiance to
Hitler.
During the 1930’s, the Nazis began a program of
German re-armament, in violation of the Treaty
of Versailles that had ended the Great War, in
preparation for their conquest of Europe. Hitler
planned to annex all German-speaking countries
first and ally with other Fascist states, such as
Italy under Benito Mussolini. German industry
was subverted to produce aircraft and armor
under a cloak of secrecy, and in 1936 the German
Army marched into the demilitarized Rhineland,
shredding the Treaty of Versailles when Britain and
France did nothing to stop them. In 1938 Germany
annexed Austria with the popular support of the
Austrian people. France and Britain protested, but
did little else other than begin re-arming their own
forces. By the end of the decade, the Nazis had
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invaded Czechoslovakia and were beginning the
invasion of Poland, the act which finally began
World War II and ended the Pup Era.
As seen in countless movies, books and games,
virtually no other group in history is better suited
for the role of villain in a Pulp Fantastic campaign.
They are perhaps the greatest example of human
evil in the last hundred years, and thanks to their
uniforms and philosophy, the most distinctive.
Suitable for almost any kind of adventure, from
straight-up action to espionage or bizarre super-
science and occult horror, the Nazis can be found
anywhere on the globe from the 1930’s onward.
Even before that, groups of “proto-Nazis”, perhaps
under the control of the secretive Thule-Gesellschaft
can be encountered, a terrible omen of the
calamitous conflict that is to come.
THE GESTAPO
From 1933 onwards, within Nazi Germany dissent
was dealt with by agents of the state secret police,
the Geheime Staatspolizei or Gestapo, under
the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, leader of
the SS. The Gestapo began a steady program of
sending Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and anyone
else they found politically, religiously or racially
“undesirable” to concentration camps under the
control of the SS, where they were subject to
medical experimentation, starvation and execution.
The Gestapo was considered to be above the law.
According to the principles of the Reich, if they did
the will of the Fuhrer, anything that they did – up
to and including murder and torture – was perfectly
legal.
The Gestapo maintains a network of spies and
informers to ensure compliance with the Nazi
regime. School children are encouraged to inform
on their parents and neighbors, and almost every
German citizen lives in terror of being denounced to
the Gestapo and being made to “disappear”.
The Gestapo is responsible for overseeing internal
security and counterintelligence, and are the
organization most involved with the detection and
arrest of foreign spies and other agents. Up until the
start of World War II, the Gestapo is a plain clothes
force, able to walk unnoticed amongst the people.
THE SS
The Schutzstaffel (Protection Squadron) is a major
paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and
the Nazi Party, originally formed in 1920 as a guard
unit known as the “Saal-Schutz” (Hall-Protection)
for the purpose providing security for Nazi Party
meetings in Munich. Later in 1925, under the
leadership of Heinrich Himmler, it grew from a
small paramilitary group into one of the largest and
most powerful organizations in the Third Reich,
responsible for many of the Nazis crimes against
humanity. During World War II the SS fielded more
than a million men and wielded almost as much
political and military power as the Wehrmacht.
Under Himmler, the SS carefully select its members
according to Nazi ideology and racial “science”,
with the intention of creating an elite order of
superior men as a model for the Nazi vision of the
master race. By the final stages of World War II,
the SS come to dominate the Wehrmacht in order to
eliminate potential threats to Adolf Hitler’s power.
As the part of the Nazi seizure of political power in
Germany, functions such as law enforcement were
taken over by the SS, and many SS organizations
replaced government agencies. The SS established
and ran the SD (Security service) and took over
the administration of the Gestapo, the Kripo (the
criminal investigative police), and the Orpo (the
regular uniformed police). Legal oversight of the
SS and its membership was given to courts run by
the SS itself, effectively putting the SS beyond the
reach of the law.
A special division of the SS, the SS-
Totenkopfverbände (Death’s Head Units) was made
responsible for the running and administration of
Germany’s concentration camps, and was tasked
with implementing Hitler’s Final Solution, leading
to the eventual extermination of nearly 21 million
people, including 12 million Slavs, 6 million Jews,
3 million Soviet prisoners of war and over 2 million
ethnic poles.
In the years leading to World War II, the SS were
tasked by Hitler with the control and monitoring
of the Third Reich’s scientific program and can be
found running any number of classified projects,
including human experimentation, nuclear research
and advanced weapons technology.
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THE AHNENERBE
Founded in 1935 by Heinrich Himmler, the
Ahnenerbe is a Nazi research institute whose official
remit is to research the archaeological and cultural
roots of the Aryan race, and later to experiment and
mount expeditions to gather evidence supporting
the Nazi theory that prehistoric and mythological
Nordic populations had once ruled the world.
The name is derived from the society’s original
designation, the German Ancestral Heritage
Study Society for Primordial Intellectual History
(Deutsches Ahnenerbe—Studiengesellschaft für
Geistesurgeschichte).
While the Ahnenerbe has sections for the study and
recording of Germanic folksongs and mythology,
it’s secret primary focus is the acquisition and
study of occult knowledge and artifacts for the
Reich. Over the years it has mounted expeditions
with the intent of securing the Holy Grail, the Ark
of the Covenant, the Spear of Longinius, and the
Yaktavian Bell of Agharta among others. Esoteric
scholars also suspect the Ahnenerbe of acquiring,
either by trade or coercion, a great deal of magical
and occult knowledge from a variety of sources,
possibly including the mysterious subterranean
Vril-ya people, the Tsang-Chan and the faceless
inhabitants of the Forbidden Lamasery in Tibet. The
organization has mounted expeditions to sites of
occult importance across the world and seeks relics
of vanished cultures and civilizations, all suspected
by the Nazis of harboring traces of the “true Aryan
history of the world”.
Curiously, the Ahnenerbe have been heavily
involved with the renovation and reinforcement of
Wewelsburg Castle, creating a center of occult study
and gathering together one of the largest arcane
libraries in the history of the world. Some highly
speculative reports even go as far as suggesting
that the Ahnenerbe is seeking the ability to field
Hexensoldat (witch-soldiers) and supernatural
beings in the coming war. Some operatives are
already rumored to have supernatural powers and
weird technology, and are researching ways to
combine the two for the greater glory of the Reich.
 prompting a citizen uprising in May of that year.
THE THULE-GESELLSCHAFT
Despite the loss of much of their leadership, the
Originally the Studiengruppe für germanisches
Thule Society continued to grow in power. In
Altertum (Study Group for Germanic Antiquity),The
1918 they purchased a newspaper, which went
Thule Society was formed by Walter Nauhaus in
on to become the main Nazi newspaper under
Munich in 1917 as a cover for the Germanenorden
the title of the Völkischer Beobachter (Völkisch
(Order of Teutons), a mystical neo-pagan secret
Observer). The Far-Right leader Anton Drexler
society with a focus on the concepts of Aryan
used his connections through the Society to form
“racial purity” and antisemitism. The Thule Society
a network of extremist workers rights groups,
went on to become a major occult power in Nazi
which he eventually forged together to create the
Germany, with many of Hitler’s most trusted
Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Worker’s Party).
advisors being members.
In 1920 the Worker’s Party would become the
Founded by German occultists in 1912, the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
Germanenorden was part of the völkisch movement, (National Socialist German Workers Party) or Nazi
which espoused German racial superiority and Party, signaling their occult roots by adopting the
created a politicized, romantic view of German swastika formerly used by the Germanenorden.
folklore. This secret society was the first to use the
Though Hitler himself is not a member of the Thule
swastika as their symbol and had a hierarchy similar
Gesellschaft, many prominent Nazis are, including
to that of the Freemasons, consisting of lodges and
Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess, Hermann Göring,
circles of initiation into which were inducted the
Gottfried Feder, Karl Haushofer, Hans Frank, and
elite of German politics and society. During the
Alfred Rosenberg. Dietrich Eckart, one of the
Great War, a splinter group – the Germanenorden
founders of the Nazi Party, is also a member, and
Walvater of the Holy Grail – was formed, and when
is a particular friend of Hitler’s, having shared his
the Munich branch of this offshoot was formed in
uncanny skill at public oratory.
1918, it was given the name of Thule Gesellschaft
as a cover. By the time Hitler comes to power, the Thule
Society has apparently faded into the background,
Though the group was originally led by Walter
officially disbanded due to Hitler’s professed dislike
Nauhaus, a veteran wounded in the Great War,
of mysticism. In truth it has merely consolidated its
he was soon joined by Rudolf von Sebottendorf,
grip on power, exerting a subtly malign influence
an occultist and writer, and together they began
on the Führer through his circle of friends and
to expand the groups membership. Sebottendorf
confidants.
(whose birth name was Adam Alfred Rudolf Glauer)
was the son of a locomotive engineer from Silesia, The Inner Circle of the Thule Society consists of
but had been adopted in Turkey by the expatriate the elite of German society and industry, secret
Baron Heinrich von Sebottendorff shortly thereafter. adherents to the belief that the German peoples are
Sebottendorf had become fascinated by Eastern direct descendants of a mysterious Aryan people
mysticism while living in Turkey, and has travelled who came from a hidden island in the Arctic circle,
extensively in Egypt, studying alchemy, astrology, who were themselves the superhuman survivors of
meditation and numerology. His esoteric knowledge lost Atlantis. The Inner Circle is led by the occultist
impressed Nauhaus, and they began to incorporate and clairvoyant Karl-Maria Wiligut, known to the
it into the rites and rituals of the Thule Society. Inner Circle as Klingsor after the dark magician in
the legend of Parsifal. Wiligut is said to channel the
Thanks in part to Sebottendorf’s personal charisma,
dark spirits of the King-Priests of ancient Atlantis,
the Thule Society soon became greater than the
bringing forth terrible secrets of occult power and
organization for which it had been intended to
inhuman technology. While possessed by these
cover. By 1918, it had become such a threat to the
monstrous spirits, Wiligut designed many of the
communist government of Bavaria that its offices
occult symbols used by Himmler’s SS, including the
were raided and seven of its leaders – including
Sonnenrad (Sun Wheel) symbol inlaid on the floor
Nauhaus, Countess Heila von Westarp and Prince
of Wewelsburg Castle’s north tower and intended
Gustav of Thurn and Taxis – were executed,

136
to make the castle the magical axis of the world,
the Totenkopfring (Death’s Head Ring) awarded to
senior officers of the SS, and laid down many of the
occult rituals of the SS.
By 1937, Wiligut has lost both his powers and
mind, and has been confined to an insane asylum.
The Thule Society has been completely absorbed by
Himmler’s Ahnenerbe and is located in Wewelsburg
Castle, guarding and researching Himmler’s vast
occult llibrary. Under the code-name Schwarze
Sonne (Black Sun), they are tasked with recovering
and utilizing Atlantean arcane super-science
and technology in the mistaken belief that this
is their birthright. So far, they have experienced
limited success. While they have created several
prototype flying discs and weapons based on
Atlantean designs, their attempts to teach soldiers
how to channel Vril have only created immortal
monstrosities. But they are learning all the time,
and their research bunkers can be found all over
Germany.
THE MARA
BROTHERHOOD
Where there is light, shadows fall. This universal
truth is never more clearly demonstrated that with
the Shadow Monks of the Mara Brotherhood.
From their headquarters in the dreaded Forbidden
Lamasery of Agharta, the Shadow Monks subtly
spread the cause and worship of Evil across the
world in the name of Enlightenment.
The history of the Mara Brotherhood is obscure and
shrouded in secrecy. To this day, most Buddhists
deny there is any such thing, though whether this is
from shame or ignorance is unknown.
What little is known of the Mara Brotherhood
suggests that their beliefs parallel some of the
early Gnostic Christian sects, cults that rejected the
physical world as the imperfect creation of a false
god or “demiurge” and encouraged the indulgence
of their fleshly appetites. In a similar way the Mara
Brotherhood reject the teachings of Buddha as
the path to Enlightenment, and instead embrace
the Mara or Buddhist principle of evil as the true
light of divinity. This curious twisting of belief has
combined with certain elements of the pre-Buddhist
Bon religion of Tibet, creating a hybrid faith that
137
has little to do with either parent religion.
Adherents of the Mara Brotherhood reject the
illusion of the world not by attempting to transcend
it, as Buddhists do, but by attempting to destroy it.
They believe that once the facade of reality is torn
down, all of humanity will liberate itself from the
prison of flesh and ascend to a state of oneness with
a godhead that exists above and beyond Nirvana.
Paradoxically, the Mara Texts encourage followers
to fully indulge their physical urges and appetites in
the belief that only by completely understanding the
false world around them can adepts fully grasp its
unreality. To one of the Mara Brotherhood, any act,
no matter how vile, is in some way holy. Evil in this
world, as far as they are concerned, does not exist.
The murder of innocents simply frees them from
the flesh that much faster and gives them another
chance at life, in which they will surely see the
truth; that the world around them is a lie.
Members of the Mara Brotherhood practice many
“magic mantras”, cyclic humming chants that are
said to help re-shape the false world to match their
desires – more proof, say the Shadow Monks, of
the unreality of the world – and this practice is said
to turn the tongues of the chanters black or blue.
Many practice forms of self-mutilation and ritual
scarification, harrowing the flesh to purify the spirit
within.
Though the Mara Brotherhood retains many of
the trappings of Buddhism, it is essentially a
shamanistic religion, with novices going on a vision
quest while apparently possessed by elemental
spirits and ancestral shamans, and experiencing an
ordeal in the wilderness during which they envision
their repeated destruction at the hands of spirits and
daemons.
Members of the Mara Brotherhood (which consists
of both male and female acolytes) are characterized
by their complete lack of fear of death, their
obvious enjoyment of the pleasures of the flesh,
and their contempt for the “unenlightened”. Though
they indulge their appetites, they are frequently
expert martial artists, honing their bodies as a way
of increasing the depth of their understanding of the
illusory world they inhabit. Further, many of the
senior monks and abbots of the order have mastered
a wide variety of psychic powers, and some still
practice what can only be described as Tibetan
black magic.
More disturbing is the Brotherhoods practice of using the bodies of its enemies to create the entities they
call Kundalini Warriors. These creatures – whether they exist or not – are reputed to be captured enemies
whose internal Pranic energy flow is radically restructured through an aggressive and unholy form of
acupuncture. This horribly painful, irreversible procedure is said to turn the victims into mindless slaves,
overflowing with barely-contained Pranic energy, effectively creating walking psychic weapons of immense
and terrifying power.

Like the Hindus and more orthodox Buddhist sects, the Mara Brotherhood revere the swastika, though
like the Nazis they have inverted it, turning a symbol of life and renewal into one of death and decay. It is
perhaps this shared symbolism that has led the Nazis and the Mara Brotherhood to exchange information
– by the 1930’s the Fuhrer has authorized several expeditions to the Forbidden Lamasery of the Mara
Brotherhood.

138
 PULP VILLAINS
The measure of a hero can be found in the quality
of his enemies. While the Pulp Era was a time of
great heroes, they were opposed by equally great
villains. While many pulp magazines were filled
with quite mundane menaces – gangsters and the
like – occasionally a villain appeared that raised the
bar, elevating themselves from a mere enemy to an
arch-nemesis. These villains were a match for their
enemies; twisted shadows of their opponents in
every way as memorable and unique as the heroes
they fought.
Professor James Moriarty is the classic arch-
nemesis, in every way the equal of Sherlock
Holmes; a fun-house mirror reflection of the man
he could have been. Every great hero has his or her
nemesis; John Sunlight, The Master, Shiwan Kahn,
Fu Manchu – all great personalities, each with
distinct motivations, goals and methods.
BUILDING A
BETTER VILLAIN
Playing the villain is one of the great delights of
running a Pulp-style role-playing game. Free of the
limits of polite society, common sense, decency or
empathy, the Pulp villain is a larger than life foil to
larger than life heroes.
MOTIVE
Even during the era of the Pulps, very few villains
are evil simply for the sake of it. Those that are, are
driven to it by their very nature. Perhaps they are
actual monsters; a resurrected mummy or ancient
reincarnated sorcerer-king. Perhaps they’re a bitter
golem of stitched-together flesh or a homicidal robot.
Or perhaps they’re simply criminally insane, driven
mad by the trauma of war, a great loss or simply the
memory of being laughed out of the academy. The
best villains are those with clear and understandable
139
(if extreme) motives for what they do. Very few Pulp
villains really believed they were evil.
THE PATRIOT
Though the Pulp Era was one defined by an ever-
expanding horizon and the desire to see beyond,
xenophobia and racism were endemic. The strange
and the exotic was fascinating, and paradoxically
scary, to the average pulp reader. While many pulp
villains were base caricatures of racist stereotypes,
there were those who were portrayed as patriots;
honorable men driven to extremes by the desire
to protect their lands and their people from the
perceived predations of Western civilization. Many
were more than mere ideologues, having suffered
terrible personal losses at the hands of Westerners,
and determined to either revenge themselves or
ensure that no other should suffer as they should.
Perhaps the most notable patriotic arch-villain is Fu
Manchu, a man who saw the cultural collision of
East and West as a war that threatened to destroy his
land and heritage unless he saw to it that his people
dominated. In many ways, the patriotic villain is the
mirror image of the patriotic hero, made his enemy
only by an accident of birth and geography.
THE THRILL-SEEKER
The need to overcome boredom and ennui is the
reason many pulp villains take up arms against
the forces of justice. These men and women have
exhausted the opportunities for diversion offered
by the mundane world, and now they quicken their
pulses and bring meaning to their otherwise empty
existence by risking life, limb and liberty gambling
for the highest stakes of all. Very often their
tremendous natural gifts of intelligence or riches
make this the only challenge remaining. These
villains are often extremely dangerous, due to their
unpredictability and their willingness to risk it all
on a single, wild chance. Many have been known
to initiate dangerous schemes, only to go down in
flames laughing at the spectacle as they burn.
THE QUESTER
Some villains do bad things for the sake of
knowledge; because they seek forbidden truths,
dangerous science and Things That Man Was Not
Meant To Know.
In a time when broadcast media and print were
bringing the wonders of science to the masses, it
seemed that there was no limit to what mankind
might achieve, and many pulp writers explored
the dark consequences of that possibility. They
presented scientists driven by the need to conquer
death, to defy God and create life, to dabble with
the forces of creation and build weapons capable
of unmaking the world. These men and women
refused to be bound by the strictures of society, law
and morality (and occasionally the laws of physics
as well), becoming renegades in their pursuit of the
power to know the unknowable.
Questers weren’t limited to dangerous science. The
pulps are full of driven mystics, drawn to the dark
side by the lure of black and ancient mysteries, by
the possibilities hinted at in forbidden and blood-
soaked manuscripts of unholy provenance.
Questers often start off as noble characters, before
becoming corrupted by the dark secrets they
uncover and the things they must do to obtain that
knowledge, proving the adage about the road to
Hell being paved with good intentions. Perhaps the
best example is H.P. Lovecraft’s character Herbert
West, who begins as a doctor seeking to extend life
and save humanity from the specter of death, and
ends a murderer and a ghoul destroyed by his own
resentful creations.
THE EMPIRE-BUILDER
These villains are victims of their own vaunting
ambition; the king-makers and empire-builders.
Like the patriotic villain, they often take
responsibility for their fellows, but the empire-
builder tends to see them more as property than
those who need to be protected.
Empire-builders range from the petty to the truly
ambitious. They can be gang leaders seeking to
expand or hold their turf, to corrupt politicians
140
trying to gain control of City Hall, from generals
with an eye on control of their country or madmen
who want to hold the globe in the palm of their
gloved hand.
This kind of villain tends to be well-organized,
well-funded and ostentatious. Power is no fun
unless you can use it, and it’s no fun using it unless
people know about it. Ego is a driving force behind
empire-builders, and they can often be extremely
cruel, deriving great enjoyment from crushing their
opponents through overwhelming force.
THE GLORY HUNTER
Some villains aren’t necessarily bad; they just
love a good fight. For them, the prize at the end of
a battle isn’t really what motivates them, it’s the
battle itself. Glory Hunters need to test themselves
physically against the worthiest opponents –
usually, the heroes. These villains are often defined
by a sense of sportsmanship and respect for their
enemies. Not for them the inescapable death-trap,
the waves of ninjas or the carefully concealed car-
bomb. Such things are unworthy, and just a little
cowardly. No, it’s not enough for the Glory Hunter
to simply defeat the heroes; he must face them on
an equal footing, to risk defeat and be seen to win.
These villains are in many ways the most
reasonable, as they will often concede defeat and
step away from a battle when it becomes clear
they’re losing, only to return another day with a
new and more elaborate game to play.
JUST PLAIN BAD
For all our explorations of villain motivations, some
are just plain bad. Whether they’re driven by a head
full of bad wiring, a corrupt ideology, greed, lust,
sadism or just a perverse desire to watch the world
burn, these are the villains that player characters
will end up hating. There is no depth to which they
will not sink and no act too vile. Those who are just
plain bad may be charming, urbane and educated or
brutish, stupid and crude, but they are all vicious,
unprincipled, spiteful and malicious.
Since these villains have almost no motivation other
than being evil and / or insane, they are usually
defined by their methodology. They deal death
in obscure and horrible ways, and often have a
signature weapon or modus operandi.
 Bait & Switch
Game Masters should be aware
that the archetypes in this chapter
are purely there for inspiration.
One technique you may find useful
is the “Bait and Switch”, whereby
the players believe that their latest
opponent is one kind of villain,
only to find he’s another kind
entirely. For instance, they may
be investigating an evil cult that
murders those who stand in their
way with magic, only to find that
they’re run by a Mad Scientist who
is using his Weird Technology to do
the killings. Another technique is the
“Mix and Match”, where the Game
Master confronts the heroes with a
team of villains, carefully crafted to
complement each other’s strengths
and counter their weaknesses. Pulp
villains rarely work alone, so it
makes sense to select one villain
as the main leader and feature the
others as trusted lieutenants.
Perhaps the best example of this is Dr Jack Quartz,
who opposed detective Nick Carter for over thirty
years. Quartz, a genteel, charming and intelligent
man, was utterly without morality or conscience and
had a passion for vivisecting human beings in cruel
and grotesque ways. And once said “I like beautiful
girls. I like to cut them up. It is my passion.”
Villains of the just plain bad variety are the most
likely to return from “certain death”, as they are
often so horrible that players won’t rest until
they’ve seen the villain dead.
141
VILLAIN
ARCHETYPES
THE FOREIGN
MASTERMIND
One of the most popular and enduring Pulp
archetypes, the Foreign Mastermind or Sinister
Oriental is the personification of our fear of the
strange and the unknown. He represents both
our fascination with, and our fear of, the exotic.
Traditionally he is a superior Chinese crime lord; a
master manipulator and arch conspirator who uses
his genius, ruthless cunning and array of fanatical
minions to pursue his goals, whatever they might be.
The stereotype of the eerie criminal genius, with
his strange ways and alien outlook, pre-dates the
Pulp era by nearly half a century, arising from the
xenophobic view of the East by the West. Chinese
immigrants were viewed as racially and socially
impure, an insidious threat seeking to overrun the
West. Often, they were regarded as fanatics and
portrayed as drug-using sexual deviants who lusted
after white women, while positive portrayals were
restricted to humble, simple-hearted peasants.
Perhaps the most famous Foreign Mastermind is
the brilliant and ruthless Dr Fu Manchu, a gifted
chemist with a genius for natural toxins and
horrible biological weapons, motivated not by
greed or power but by a desire to thwart Western
Imperialism. Other notable masterminds included
Pao Tcheou, the “Master of the Invisible”; Kiang
Ho, the Submarine Pirate; Dr Yen How, “The
Yellow Danger”; Quong Lung, the ruler of San
Francisco’s Chinatown; Shiwan Kahn; Mr King,
the “Yellow Claw”; Dr Chu Lung; Li Shoon; Ssu
Hsi Tze, the “Ruler of Vermin”; Dr Yen Sin and his
doppelganger the mysterious Wu-Fang; and Ming
the Merciless.
The Foreign Mastermind prefers to act through
his minions and maybe a trusted lieutenant, rarely
getting his hands dirty himself, though he is
often quite physically capable. Where he excels,
however, is in the creation of terrible tortures,
vile deathtraps and horrific means of murder. Fu
Manchu himself commanded the dread assassins
of the Celestial Order of the Si-Fan and had a
formidable knowledge of rare venomous creatures,
poisonous plants, virulent bacilli and deadly fungi,
all imported from the “mysterious East”.
Note that the Foreign Mastermind need not
necessarily be Oriental. While the most notable
examples are Chinese, Western incarnations
included Doctor Nikola (European) and Dr
Jack Quartz (American). A quirk of the Foreign
Mastermind is that most of them are men of their
word and have a certain sense of honor. He also has
an uncanny knack for escaping certain death.
NOTE: Game Masters planning to use the Foreign
Mastermind – an embodiment of racist fears and
attitudes – need to be careful to avoid offending
their more sensitive modern players.
SIWANG LUNG – THE
DEATH DRAGON
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Little is known of the true history of the master
criminal and terrorist known to the world’s
governments as Siwang Lung – the infamous
“Death Dragon”. Few know anything of the man
himself, and even fewer speak of him. Those who
do so unwisely rarely live long enough to repeat the
error.
One legend persists, however, and it is given
some level of credence by those who have fought
the Death Dragon and lived, though if true the
implications are far-reaching indeed. Indeed, given
the events of 1901, the story appears to have more
than a passing basis in truth...
The legend tells of an unnamed Chinese alchemist
who lived near the city of Kaifeng many centuries
past. This alchemist was skilled in the healing arts,
but not wise in the ways of man. In visiting the
home of the local lord, he was unwise enough to
meet and fall in love with the lord’s beautiful young
wife. In their stolen moments together, she told the
alchemist of her husband’s dreadful treatment of
her, of his cruelty and frequent beatings. Outraged,
the alchemist gave the young wife a potion to
administer to her husband, that would ensure for
him a swift death. In the morning the lord was dead,
and the alchemist believed that he and his lover
would soon be wed. This was not to be however, and
the lord’s men came for the alchemist soon after.
142
At the lord’s palace, the alchemist was accused of
murder by none other than the lord’s widow, and the
alchemist slowly realized that he had been used.
While awaiting execution the young alchemist used
his skills to drug his jailers and escape. He fled to
the nearby mountains, where he lived as a hermit,
hunting in the wilderness and bartering his healing
skills to the peasants for food when he could. It was
while he was hunting in the mountains that he came
across the sky craft. Details vary between different
telling of the legend, but the common elements tell
of the discovery of a ship from the stars, half-buried
in the side of the mountain and surrounded by
the distorted bodies of the crew, tentacled beasts
similar to the devil-fish encountered in the South
China Sea. Tracks in the snow led the alchemist to a
cave, where he encountered the last survivor of the
crash, injured and dying due to some respiratory
infection. Recognizing the creature’s intelligence,
the alchemist nursed it back to health using his
knowledge of the healing arts and the blood of
stolen sheep and goats. Through strange dreams
he absorbed the secret of communicating with the
strange creature, and soon learned that it was like
him, a scientist, sent to earth to assess the planet’s
suitability for colonization. The alchemist learned
much through his dreams as the creature filled him
with the science and skills necessary to keep it alive
in a hostile environment. Together they salvaged
much of the sky craft’s technology, and built a
home above the snow line, where the cold kept the
creature protected from most of the ailments that
could prove fatal to it.
In order to allow him to aid it more efficiently, the
creature taught the alchemist the principles of its
alien science and the operating procedures of its
equipment. It taught him much of the science of its
home world, including how to alter the fabric of
life and bend it to his will, to create or cure disease
organisms and to improve and adapt the flesh of
living things. The alchemist used these techniques
on the only experimental subject he had available
– himself – to improve his health, strength and
durability, enhancing his mind and extending his
life-span.
Returning to their stronghold after a hunting
expedition, the alchemist came across his
companion in the midst of a hunter’s encampment.
The hunters had strayed too close to the cave,
and the creature had slaughtered them all. What
horrified the alchemist was the fact that the creature hair, and piercing green eyes. He is physically fit,
was drinking them, gorging itself on their life-blood. apparently in his late thirties and impressively
In its ecstasy, the creature’s thoughts were revealed adept in the martial arts. Well-educated and highly
to the alchemist in all their alien horror. In its mind cultured, he wields a formidable intellect and has
were visions of conquest, of humanity bred as cattle a grasp of the sciences decades beyond the current
for the consumption by their alien masters. Aghast, era, with a focus on biology, pharmacology and
the alchemist slew the creature before retreating to eugenics.
his mountain fastness to ponder what he had seen.
For at least fifty years, and perhaps much, much
No longer a simple alchemist, the young man longer, Siwang Lung has been a threat to the
knew that the creature’s companions would West, believing civilization, democracy
eventually turn their hungry eyes towards and modernization to be weakening
Earth once more, and when that humanity, robbing it of the skills
happened mankind would have and fortitude to survive a harsh
to be united in their response future. In opposing this, he has
or fall beneath the might of employed horrible diseases,
a superior force. Hardened plagues of insects,
by his experiences in the venomous lizards,
mountains, the young natural toxins and a
man reasoned that host of other, even
humanity itself could stranger biological
be toughened and weapons. He
molded into a considers
weapon with himself a
which to whetstone,
protect the against
planet against which the
the alien blade of
invaders. mankind will
To succeed, be sharpened
mankind for the war
would to come.
need to be Curiously,
tended, with when the
weaknesses Martians
pruned invaded
away as if in 1901,
by a careful China was
gardener. apparently
Morality, well-prepared
compassion and suffered
and infirmity were all things humanity would not be comparatively few casualties.
able to afford in a future under threat by conquerors
from the stars. In that moment, the young alchemist Around the start of the 20th Century, Siwang
was no more, and in his stead rose Siwang Lung, Lung seized control of the remnants of the Tong
the Death Dragon. of the Black Scorpion after the demise of their
previous leader in the sewers of London. Under his
How much of the legend is true is unknown, but it leadership, the Tong has become an international
does explain much about Siwang Lung’s methods, force for evil, an army of religious fanatics ready to
resources and abilities. kill and be killed at his merest whim.

Today Siwang Lung appears to be a tall, athletically Siwang Lung operates globally, with strongholds
built man of Chinese extraction, with long black in almost every nation on earth. He is always

143
accompanied by Omar, a hulking Turkish body
guard fanatically devoted to his master and by
Saber, a massive grey wolf with which he appears
to have some strange form of rapport. At times he is
also seen with his daughter, the beautiful and deadly
“Poison Blossom”, Du Kai Hua.
Note: The Death Dragon is a Legendary opponent
and should not be used lightly. He rarely takes a
hand in the action himself, so create some trusted
lieutenants and named henchmen for him for the
players to test their strength against before letting
them take a crack at the man himself.
Quote: “The decadent West must fall so that
mankind can survive!”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d8, Common
Knowledge d10, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Intimi-
dation d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Piloting d8,
Repair d8, Research d8, Science d10, Shooting d8,
Stealth d8, Survival d8, Taunt d6, Weird Science d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Driven (Minor), Ruthless (Minor),
Wanted (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), Age-
less, Older Than I Look, Followers, Filthy Rich,
Harder to Kill, Linguist, Martial Warrior, Command,
Natural Leader, Beast Bond, New Powers, Power
Points
Powers: +4 Powers
Power Points: 20
THE DIABOLIST
Diabolists are those men and women who have
bought their power from the things that exist within
the vasty deep. The price paid for it varies from
case to case, but while it is no doubt a heavy one,
the diabolist either considers it fair, or has a plan
to wriggle out of it. Diabolists use their uncanny
knowledge to contact, serve, bargain with or coerce
infernal entities for their own ends. Many diabolists
are corrupt, sadistic monsters, while others are
cringing victims of the darkest powers.
Not all diabolists are thoroughly evil. Some are
simply dabblers in magic who have got in too deep,
and now find themselves either addicted to power
or at the mercy of the equivalent of an infernal loan-
shark.
144
Almost all diabolists, deliberately evil or not, suffer
from a towering case of hubris, and it is only a
matter of time before their bill must be paid, in full.
Dr Edwin Dexter
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Known in occult circles as “The Sinister Dexter”
and notorious in the British press as “the man
Crowley refused to meet”, Dr Edwin Samuel
Dexter is a well-known American occult author,
archaeologist and fixture of the society pages. Like
his rival, Aleister Crowley, Dexter moves easily
in high society, but unlike Crowley he apparently
does little to encourage the aura of scandal and
wickedness that surrounds him. Those who know
Dexter socially refer to him as a “good sport” and a
desirable guest at the best sort of parties, where his
wit and charisma usually make him the center of
attention.
Though unmarried, the young and handsome Dr
Dexter is rarely without female company and is
often photographed with a bevy of famous and
wealthy beauties. Indeed, it is rumored – though
never within his hearing – that many of the wealthy
women that he courts provide him with financial
support, as surely no mere academic writer could
possibly live the lavish lifestyle he seems to enjoy
without help.
Edwin Dexter is a young man, perhaps only in his
early thirties, though records of his birth and early
life are hard to find. Elegantly slim, his blonde
boyish good looks are enhanced by his immaculate
dress-sense and perfect manners, and many – both
men and women – seem to find him irresistible.
Soft-spoken, unassuming, good-humored and
erudite, time spent in conversation with Dexter is
always rewarding, in more ways than one.
Publicly, Dexter is an authority on primitive
superstitions and obscure religious practices. The
author of several populist books on the subject,
he writes columns in the popular press in which
he points out the similarity between our modern,
“enlightened” world and the practices of darker
eras. The columns have earned him a reputation as
a satirist of sorts and have been known to annoy the
conservative establishment as much as they outrage
the liberal left.
The truth about Dr Edwin Dexter is that he is
neither a doctor, nor is he a “good sport”. He is a
monster, though an altogether human one. Edwin
Dexter is utterly corrupt, a powerful diabolist and
cult leader. His early history has been very carefully
obscured through a combination of hypnosis and
intimidation. Diligent investigation might uncover
some overlooked records of the young orphan
suspected of burning his foster family to death one
night, and the evidence of a long-established satanic
cult found among the ashes. In a small university
in Europe they still whisper of the young man
who arrived as a student, within weeks seemed
to dominate the place, and vanished shortly after
several unexplained and horrible deaths among the
faculty. And many in London still find it curious
that the so-called “wickedest man in the world”
fled to Scotland shortly before the young Dr Dexter
arrived in England to consult what was left of the
library of the late Julian Karswell.
Dexter, like Karswell before him, worships the
powers of darkness. A master diabolist, he is
adept at summoning and commanding infernal
beings to do his will. Unlike Karswell, Dexter is
exceptionally careful, and very rarely puts himself
at risk either from conventional law enforcement
or from the dark powers he traffics with. Dexter
uses his vast personal charisma (as well as threats,
extortion and the muscle provided by his willing
followers) to get others to do his dirty work for him,
both magical and mundane. While Dexter may be
behind a satanic coven or devilish curse, only rarely
will he be found conducting the ritual or performing
the sacrifice. Dexter knows the risks of dealing with
the dukes of Hell and prefers to put others in harm’s
way while he reaps the benefits in terms of wealth
and power. This is not to say that Dexter is not
personally dangerous. Skilled and ruthless, Dexter
knows a wide array of offensive and defensive
magic, ensuring that he is well-protected from both
conventional and supernatural attack.
While Dexter is ostensibly a worshipper of the
infernal, he is not particularly devout or loyal, and
the only cause that really interests him is his own.
His actions are motivated by a desire for power, and
a need to escape the eternal damnation that surely
awaits him. Aware of the price he must pay for the
powers he has invoked; he seeks ever greater power
in the hopes of one day being able to cheat the very
Devil himself…
145
Dexter leads a small cult, known to its members
as the Order of the Morning Star. The order has
members from all walks of life but is mostly drawn
from among the mentally and morally weak in
society. Members are loyal, but easily dominated,
and are primarily used by Dexter as a source of
psychic energy and material funds. Dexter trusts
almost no-one enough to have a lieutenant, but
is often seen in the company of Cassandra, a
mysterious mute girl who acts as his medium and
high priestess. Cassandra is a gentle soul, deeply
troubled by the uses to which Dexter is putting her
powers and may be induced to help a handsome
hero or stalwart heroine.
Quote: “Evil? Don’t be so pedestrian. Good and
evil are entirely subjective. What is evil to the lamb
is good for the wolf. Which would you rather be?
Predator or prey?”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d4, Common
Knowledge d8, Driving d6, Fighting d4, Intimida-
tion d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d10, Research d8,
Science d6, Spellcasting d8, Stealth d4, Taunt d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Attractive,
Charismatic, Connections, Followers, New Powers,
Power Points, Scholar, Strong Willed, Wizard
Powers: Fear, Summon Ally, Protection, +2 Powers
Power Points: 15
THE MAD SCIENTIST
Perhaps the most recognizable Pulp archetype, the
Mad Scientist is the personification of our fear that
science and technology will outstrip our ability
to control it. The Mad Scientist is utterly devoted
to his field of study, to the exclusion of all else.
For him the pursuit of scientific truth overrides
everything, including decency, morality and the
sanctity of human life. Sometimes he has convinced
himself that the benefits to mankind brought by
his discoveries are worth the cost of a few paltry
lives. Other times he simply no longer cares, driven
by rage at his humiliation by his peers, or by the
knowledge that he is an intellectual giant amongst
pygmies.
Though Mad Scientists could probably make a
fortune from the fruits of their genius, they seem
to prefer raising funds through elaborate robberies
and other criminal enterprises, or by work for hire
for other villains. Most of the time they care very
little for the consequences or cost of these crimes
– they’re a means to an end, and where the Mad
Scientist is concerned, the end always justifies the
means.
What those ends are varies from Mad Scientist to
Mad Scientist. Some seek the forbidden secrets of
life and death, others desire to penetrate between
dimensions. Some build robots or monsters, others
build rays or planet-cracking devices. Some are
obsessed with advancing human evolution, while
others are convinced mankind is a dead-end and
plan to replace us with something...better. None
care much for the consequences of their actions,
and almost all consider themselves engaged in a
personal conflict with a universe that hoards its
secrets jealously.
In the Pulps, Mad Scientists often have beautiful
daughters. Sometimes these are innocents, ready
to fall head over heels for a handsome hero, while
others can be more villainous. On rare occasions
they are more gifted than their parents, and just as
insane. Mad Scientists tend to be old, male, cackle
gleefully and have wild hair, though the Game
Master might enjoy subverting those expectations
with one who is young, female, sober, well-
groomed and lucid...right up until she happily
explains why it’s necessary to drill holes in a hero’s
head.
Mad Scientists tend to be masters of wild
technology, but they don’t all have to be inventors.
Variants can be Mad Biologists or Monster Makers,
Mad Chemists (or Alchemists), Mad Psychologist,
even Mad Sociologists.
Examples of the Mad Scientist include such
worthies as; Herbert West, the notorious Re-
Animator; Victor Frankenstein; Crawford
Tillinghast in From Beyond; Dr Impossible and
Baron Ether from Soon I Will Be Invincible; Dr.
Henri Moreau; Doctor. Hawley Griffin (the Invisible
Man) and Doctor Henry Jekyll. Other villains,
such as Fu Manchu and Professor James Moriarty
combine elements of the Mad Scientist with the
purpose and willpower of a crime lord.
146
Doktor Todeskopf
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Even among Mad Scientists, the arch-villain known
as Doktor Todeskopf is considered extraordinary.
Born in Switzerland in the year 1876, Maximilian
Weisskopf was the only son of an unremarkable
watchmaker. A sickly child who was not expected
to live beyond infancy, the boy made up for what he
lacked in physical health with his indomitable will
and prodigious intelligence. Records of his early
life are scarce, but it appears that Maximilian’s
intellect developed at remarkable speed. Through
the patronage of a local priest, the boy was allowed
access to scholarly libraries, which he devoured
at an astounding rate. Recognizing that the boy’s
mind was unique and would rebel at normal
schooling, the priest took young Maximilian to
the University of Zurich, where their study of his
apparently unique mind would in turn enable him
to study whatever he wanted. Maximilian grew up
surrounded by academics and scientists, absorbing
everything he could learn from them, occasionally
turning other fields of research on their heads as he
synthesized new theories.
When Maximilian was ten his parents both died of
influenza, and he became a ward of the University.
Apparently uninterested in making friends of
his own age, he continued to associate with the
staff, aware that they were studying him as much
as he was studying everything and anything
that interested him. He became particularly
fascinated by mathematics, chemistry, physics and
engineering, though he also studied music and the
growing fields of what would come to be known as
psychology and sociology.
At the age of twelve, Maximilian Weisskopf
obtained his first degree. By fifteen he had obtained
three more. By eighteen, he was awarded a
doctorate in mathematics. Curiously few records of
his time at University have survived, but letters and
journals from the time describe him as a thin, wiry
young man with a shock of dark hair and intense,
almost feverish eyes. One professor describes him
as “a young man being consumed from within by
the power of a mind trapped in a body almost too
weak to contain it”.
It was at the age of twenty-five that Weisskopf’s
behavior seems to have changed. Having spent
several months apparently attempting to develop a
suite of equations with which human behavior could
be modelled and even predicted, young Weisskopf
seemed to suffer some sort of emotional breakdown.
Becoming melancholy and withdrawn, Weisskopf
locked himself away in his rooms at the University
for a period of several weeks, before emerging,
packing his bags, claiming his inheritance – his
parents had managed to save a small sum of money
for him that he’d previously shown no interest
in – and travelling to England. It was discovered
afterwards that Weisskopf had burned every piece
of paper in his rooms.
In England the young man spent weeks travelling
the length and breadth of the land, talking with
scientists, philosophers and statesmen, though
the nature of these conversations has never been
revealed. Whatever it was that Weisskopf was trying
so feverishly to do, other events soon overtook
him when, in 1901, the Martian invasion began.
Weisskopf was in London when the first cylinders
fell, and witness accounts place him at some of the
worst incidents of Martian aggression. Indeed, it
seems highly coincidental that wherever he was
seen, the Martian tripods seemed to appear soon
after, as if they were actively pursuing him.
In the months following the end of the Martian
invasion, many horrible discoveries were made
in the alien installations and encampments. The
public already know about the Martian habit of
feeding on human blood, and there has been some
speculation in scientific circles about the purpose
of the experiments conducted on human prisoners
in the Martian slave-camps. What was kept from
the public was the awful truth about the research
installation the Martians buried beneath Wimbledon
Common. Within, horrified investigators discovered
a charnel pit filled to the brim with corpses, each
with the top of its skull neatly sliced away and the
brain removed. One of these was identified as the
mortal remains of Maximilian Weisskopf. Worse
were the strange glass tubes, each filled with thick,
green liquid and containing a single, pulsing human
brain.
Over a period of months, the tubes and their
apparently living contents were carefully shipped to
the Royal Institute for Special Scientific Inquiry at
Lemuel House in Kent, a thinly-veiled front for the
147
War Office. There the tubes and their life-support
equipment, the Martian fighting machines and
other remnants of their technology, all underwent a
rigorous program of study to uncover the principles
of their operation and perhaps even reverse engineer
them.
Though breakthroughs were made, progress was
slow, and the years passed and turned into decades.
As time went on, the brains all slowly failed and
died. All except one. One brain seemed to thrive
while the others withered, almost as if the lack of a
physical form had somehow freed it to reach its full
potential.
With the outbreak of the Great War, the study and
observation of the apparently undying brain was
put aside in favor of unlocking the secret of the
Martian Heat Ray and the dreaded Black Smoke.
When this failed, the Institutes resources were
allocated elsewhere, and the research wing was
sealed up. Locked in a store room, the brain was all
but forgotten.
In the face of massive casualties on the front lines,
Lemuel House was re-tasked as a hospice for shell-
shocked and hopelessly maimed officers, its former
use apparently forgotten. By the end of the War,
the building housed almost three hundred patients,
almost all of them severely traumatized by shell-
shock or rendered nearly catatonic by the horrors
they witnessed in the trenches.
In 1919, doctors at the hospice started to note a rise
in the number of nocturnal disturbances amongst
the patients, with several of them being found
wandering around the grounds, apparently in a
somnambulistic trance. By 1920 it was revealed
that several patients had gone entirely missing,
while one – a young infantryman from Leeds – was
heard speaking what was later identified as German,
a language he had previously been completely
unfamiliar with.
In June 1920, a riot erupted amongst the previously
docile patients. In the aftermath, it was discovered
that fifty patients had vanished during the melee.
Further, someone had used the riot to cover the
fact that they had broken into the sealed research
wing of the building and made off with the
surviving brain and its support equipment, as
well as a substantial amount of recovered Martian
technology.
Over the next few months, a series of bizarre thefts
occurred, thefts that targeted medical, scientific and
THE ARCANE
chemical apparatus. Thefts conducted by a band of EXPERIMENTER
well-trained, highly coordinated and utterly silent
Like the Occult Investigator, the Arcane
men. Not long after that, the Radium Men were
Experimenter is primarily motivated by the desire
sighted for the first time, armored robotic warriors
to push back the boundaries of knowledge and
controlled by sophisticated, adaptable programming.
uncover the secrets of the universe. Unlike the
At the same time, the silken but strangely hollow
Occult Investigator, the Arcane Experimenter
tones of the being that called himself Doktor
believes that there is nothing humanity is not meant
Todeskopf filled the airwaves. Todeskopf’s
to know, no force he is not meant to master, and no
broadcasts consisted of rambling discourses on the
price too high to pay for knowledge. He either does
cancer of war and the perfectibility of mankind
not understand that some forces object strongly to
through science into beings eternal, incorruptible
attempts to quantify or understand them or knows
and indestructible. The true meaning – and horror
and does not care.
– of this manifesto was only revealed when one of
the Radium Men was successfully captured and Arcane Experimenters are prone to trying the most
dismantled, revealing a lobotomized human brain horrible and blasphemous of magical rites just
within. to see what happens, and tend to see the laws of
morality, nature, man and the gods as things to be
The creature that now calls itself Doktor Todeskopf
tested, mapped and eventually overcome. They can
is the mad, disembodied brain of the genius prodigy
often be found surrounded by the twisted survivors
Maximilian Weisskopf, freed from his sickly body
of previous experiments, and often bear the marks
and augmented with stolen Martian technology.
of failure themselves, in the form of eldritch
Intended to become part of the Martians systems,
mutations or deformities.
Todeskopf has surpassed and usurped them,
becoming something close to immortal but driving Most often, Arcane Experimenters are encountered
himself utterly insane in the process. Worse, he either attempting to conduct blasphemous
believes that humanity must join him if it is to investigations or trying to deal with the aftermath.
survive the wars and future terrors that his equations
have predicted, whether they like it or not...
Dr Aina Tolulore
Quote: “Forgive me for not shaking hands. As you (Wild Card, Legendary)
can see, I am somewhat...indisposed.”
Born in Nigeria and educated at Oxford and
Attributes: Agility -, Smarts d12, Spirit d12, Strength
Harvard, Dr Aina Tolulore enjoys upsetting the
-, Vigor d10
primarily white male educational establishment
Skills: Academics d10, Common Knowledge d10,
of the United States with her accomplishments.
Intimidation d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Psionics
Known for her scathing wit and impatience with the
d10, Repair d10, Research d12, Science d10, Stealth
foolish, she is a brilliant academic with degrees in
d4, Weird Science d12
anthropology, psychology and ancient languages.
Pace: 6; Parry: 2; Toughness: 7
She has authored several books on the cultural and
Hindrances: Delusional (Major), Driven (Major)
religious traditions of the Yoruba people, as well
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), Arcane Back-
as analyses of points of similarity between folk
ground (Weird Science), Charismatic, Gadgeteer,
magic beliefs across the globe. A gifted speaker, she
McGyver, Scholar, Followers
lectures on anthropology at Harvard and is generally
Powers: Bolt, Puppet, Protection, Summon Ally,
popular among her students.
Telekinesis.
Power Points: 25 Dr Tolulore is also an arcane experimenter of
considerable experience and power. Born the
daughter of a Yoruba wise woman, Aina Tolulore
was educated in the ways of folk magic from a
very early age, though she placed little value on the
experience. Always ambitious, she disdained the

148
life that had been planned for her, instead focusing
her efforts on obtaining an education and putting
Nigeria behind her. With the sponsorship of Western
missionaries, she obtained scholarships first to
Oxford University, then to Harvard, impressing all
who met her with her fierce intelligence and drive.
Her uncompromising nature and sharp tongue have
made her several enemies among the academic
community, though this seems to bother her very
little.
It was while she was studying at Harvard that
she met, and was briefly courted by, Edwin
Dexter. Though their personalities were too
incompatible and abrasive to form a
lasting union, he opened her eyes to the
possibilities of occult knowledge, and it
was this – coupled with the memories
of her early magical education – that
gave her a unique insight into the
way reality really works.
Shortly after gaining her PhD,
Dr Tolulore returned to Africa
for the first and last time. There
she stole the skull of her mother
from her grave, binding her
mother’s spirit to it with dark
magics, before returning to the
United States permanently.
Now she lives a double life.
In one, she is a respected –
though slightly scandalous
– professor of anthropology
at a prestigious university.
In the other, she is an
arcane experimenter, fusing
Western and African magic
in new and unique ways.
Dr Tolulore’s motivation
appears to be simply a
quest for knowledge. She
is unmoved by moral or
ethical concerns and is
in many ways a pure
scientist… if scientists
liked to play with
the raw fabric of the
universe and carried
wands made from the
149
bones of their enemies. She guards her reputation
jealously, is quick to anger, and dislikes fools or
those she considers weak. Like many in 1930’s
America, she believes that Adolf Hitler and his
Nazi party have some good ideas; and supports
the concepts of eugenics and submission to the
state. However, she abhors unnecessary violence,
brutality and waste.
Dr Tolulore maintains a large magical laboratory
under her home in Massachusetts, guarded by
zombies. Within she keeps the only thing she seems
emotionally attached to; the skull of her mother,
which she uses as an advisor and medium.
Dr Tolulore and Edwin Dexter maintain a
strong, if slightly awkward, relationship.
While not exactly friends, each does care
somewhat about the other, and they will
occasionally work together on large
occult projects.
Quote: “Oh, stop crying! Yes, it’s
crude and it makes a mess, but you
can’t deny that there’s power in
blood.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts
d10, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor
d8
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics
d8, Common Knowledge d8,
Driving d6, Fighting d6, Intimi-
dation d8, Notice d8, Persuasion
d8, Research d10, Science d6,
Shooting d6, Spellcasting d10,
Stealth d8, Survival d8, Taunt
d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Vengeful (Minor),
Ruthless (Minor), Secret
(Major)
Edges: Arcane Background
(Magic), Followers, Lin-
guist, New Powers, Power
Points, Retort, Scholar,
Wizard
Powers: Havoc, Invisibil-
ity, Mind Wipe, Summon
Ally, Zombie
Power Points: 15

THE DEMAGOGUE
The Demagogue is that most dangerous of creatures,
the self-styled political “man of the people” who
uses oratory, flattery and invective to whip up the
passions of the masses, appealing to their hearts
rather than their minds. He promises everything to
everyone, while evading the specifics of how these
things will be achieved. He uses racial, religious
and class prejudice to divide his opposition,
normally targeting a specific group as “other” in
order to make them to source of all the masses
woes. Often, he refers to the current political order
as corrupt, incompetent or criminal, and promises
to overturn the establishment in favor of something
that will empower his followers. He creates fanatics
by laying the blame for their struggles at the feet of
others, and promises solutions to all their ills, then
uses his followers to shut down rational discussion
and deliberation. He will often call those who
oppose him “traitors” and “enemies of democracy”.
Demagogues usually call for swift, decisive action
to deal with a national crisis, and if one doesn’t
currently exist, they will often create one.
Demagogues have been around since the days of
ancient Greece, exploiting the masses to feed their
lust for power, but it is only in the 20th Century,
with its broadcast media, that they have really come
into their own. Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
are the best-known examples during the Pulp
Era, but there were many others in US politics;
James K. Vardaman, William Hale Thompson,
Huey “Kingfish” Long and Father Charles Edward
Coughlin, to name just a few. All use the principles
of free speech to exploit a fundamental weakness
of democracy; that it is possible for the people to
legally elect someone utterly untrustworthy who
appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Demagogues are masters of the long game, using
the following tactics to exploit the masses and gain
power;
• Fearmongering: The Demagogue creates an
atmosphere of fear in order to persuade the
masses to give up their freedoms and submit to
greater authority.
• Lying: The Demagogue has no compunction
in lying to the masses in order to gain their
support, with very little regard to what is
150
true. Once they have gained enough support,
they often feel comfortable making claims
demonstrably in opposition to the truth, trusting
that their followers have “bought in” to them
to the point that their word can no longer be
questioned. If caught in a lie, the Demagogue
exhibits no shame and will smoothly move on
to the next lie.
• Scapegoating: Blaming the problems of the
group they wish to appeal to on a group of a
different ethnicity, religion or social class. The
rhetoric against this group gradually escalates,
until they are being referred to as vermin,
sub-humans, perverts and monsters. Taken to
an extreme, this can lead to pogroms and even
genocide.
• Rabble Rousing: Demagogues use the power
of public speaking and personal charisma to
manipulate the masses, using rhetoric and
impassioned oratory as a sort of performance
that allows them to bypass the rational part
of the audiences’ minds and appeal directly
to their emotions. During the Pulp Era, many
demagogues have embraced the power of
the radio to broadcast their persuasive voices
directly into homes across the country.
• Accusations of disloyalty: Demagogues
espouse immediate, forceful action, and often
argue that those who oppose them are weak,
disloyal, or actively working with the enemies
of the nation.
• Impossible Promises: Demagogues care very
little for the truth, and often make impossible
promises to the people in order to garner their
support and loyalty. Such promises might be
vague, such as “a return to prosperity and
old-fashioned values”, or specific, such as a
reduction in immigration and more jobs for
the unemployed. Whenever questions arise
about how these things will be achieved,
the demagogue will answer only in the most
general terms, before launching an attack on
the questioner and attempting to discredit him
or her.
• Violence and Intimidation: Demagogues
often speak in violent terms, and will encourage
their followers to physical action, often in
subtle ways that allow them to disavow such
 action if it becomes known. Demagogues will
also threaten other nations, as well as their
political opponents, regardless of whether they
have the power to make such things happen.
• Insults and Ridicule: Demagogues tend to
shut down their opponents by ridiculing or
insulting them, often by repeatedly referring to
them with an insulting or unflattering nick-
name, using easy laughs to distract from serious
political points.
• Vulgarity: Demagogues often behave
outrageously in order to demonstrate that they
stand outside the normal political structure, and
to gain media attention which they can then
exploit.
• Man of the People: Most demagogues claim
to be a “man of the people”, even if they were
born to wealth and privilege. They tend to
speak in colloquialisms, using a simplified
vocabulary, in order to project a relatable
image.
• Reductionism: Demagogues promise
quick solutions to complex situations by
grossly oversimplifying them, often feigning
amazement that the “establishment” can’t see
the obvious solution, sometimes implying that
they must have some sinister reason for not
doing so.
• Discrediting the Media: While modern
demagogues rely on the news media to spread
their word, they are also vulnerable to being
exposed, and so normally conduct a relentless
campaign to control their media image. This
usually takes the form of branding those news
outlets broadcasting an unflattering image as
dishonest and unreliable, while deliberately
promoting those outlets whose portrayal is
more favorable. Over time, this allows the
demagogue to create a news bubble around
their followers, where they only hear and read
what the demagogue wants them to believe.
151
Senator Roscoe Devlin
(Wild Card, Legendary)
A savvy political animal, Senator Roscoe Devlin
is one of the youngest and most dynamic men on
Capitol Hill. The son of a Baptist preacher, Devlin
learned the value of oratory early on, watching his
father conjure fire and brimstone in the imagination
of his flock. Devlin was expected to follow in his
father’s footsteps, but instead he became a lawyer,
putting the lessons he’d learned from his father
to use in the courtroom, frequently moving judge
and jury alike to tears with his stirring speeches.
Devlin was a good lawyer, but learned early on in
his career that very few nice people had money, and
so he began to court the Mafia for work, proving his
worth by winning several high-profile cases against
the public prosecutor.
Devlin’s skill at public speaking, and his talent
for exploiting legal loopholes, soon made him an
invaluable asset to the mob as well as a certain
degree of notoriety in the press. Devlin wasn’t slow
to exploit this exposure, using it to rail against the
foolish public officials who were wasting the public
purse by pursuing legitimate businessmen while the
real criminals went unpunished up on Capitol Hill.
Even Devlin didn’t expect to get far with this line –
he was just doing it to remain in the public eye – but
something about his barnstorming manner caught
on, and he was soon being courted as a political
candidate by the major parties. Devlin had no real
belief in either party – he felt that real politics was
done in rooms far away from the public gaze – but
threw his hat in with the one that he felt would offer
him the most rewards. Thus supported, he began his
campaign for election.
From the start, Devlin’s campaign rallies were
success. Devlin himself seemed to carry the crowd
in the palm of his hand, making each attendee
feel that he was speaking to them alone. He railed
against the power of the political elites, claiming
that they were all too invested in maintaining a
corrupt system. He vowed to clear out Washington
of “toothless old men”, frequently referring to
his main opponent as “gramps” – a nick name
that caught on in the popular press. He promised
lower taxes, more spending on the military to
keep America from being drawn in to more
“adventurism” in Europe. He made dark allusions
to the “hidden price” of immigration that America
would soon have to pay, painting a picture of a
nation overrun by foreigners eager to strip the
nation of the riches that her people hard earned by
right of birth and blood. Devlin soon discovered
that the more extreme and outlandish his promises,
the more the public seemed to like them.
Now, at the age of 32, Devlin is a powerful man; a
United States senator, with a deep campaign chest,
devoted staffers, and his eyes on the greatest prize
of all – the White House.
Roscoe Devlin is a tall, handsome, athletic man
with broad shoulders, a gleaming smile, and
the eyes of a killer. He hasn’t murdered anyone
personally – he has people for that – but there are
times when he’d clearly like to. He’s decided that
he’s going to be the President one day, and he’s not
about to let anyone stand in his way. Unfortunately
for Devlin, there are a few people around who
remember his work for the mob and know how
he suppressed evidence and bribed juries in the
early days. While they haven’t come forward yet,
he doesn’t want to risk this explosive evidence
surfacing when he starts his run for the Oval office.
One by one, his enemies are having “accidents”,
and learning that having leverage over the senator
can be injurious to their health.
Devlin’s current campaign stand is distinctly
authoritarian, loudly proclaiming the need to
stern action to be taken to stem the rising tide of
lawlessness that’s arisen in response to the Volstead
Act. Much of his campaign finance comes from the
Mafia, as payment for his information on several
high-profile investigations that have mysteriously
come to naught. Devlin is always accompanied by
his personal bodyguards; four large, armed men
who will kill on his command without a second
thought.
Quote: “Let us build an America whose people can
stand proud, free and strong, for the sake of all our
children! Thank you, I’m sure I can count on your
vote.”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d12, Spirit d10,
Strength d6, Vigor d4
Skills: Academics d8, Athletics d6, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d10, Notice d8,
Performance d12, Persuasion d12, Science d4,
Stealth d6, Taunt d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Hindrances: Secret (Major), Ruthless (Major)
152
Edges: Charismatic, Command, Connections, Fol-
lowers, Humiliate, Provoke, Rabble-Rouser, Retort,
Work the Crowd
THE CULT LEADER
It’s a wicked, sinful world, and it’s only going to get
worse. God has turned his back on mankind, and
the End Times can’t be very far away. The world
is changing faster and faster every day, and many
people find change very scary indeed. Into this mix
strides the Cult Leader, a charismatic figure holding
secret knowledge, promising salvation for those
who follow his word.
The Cult Leader may be a charlatan or possess
genuine arcane knowledge, but his true power
comes from those who follow him, devoting
themselves to his cause and fanatically willing to
follow his every command. They bring him wealth,
power and status, and make him a dangerous and
unpredictable opponent.
Cult Leaders are extremely flexible villains, able
to fill almost any niche the Game Master wants.
The Cult Leader could be the high priest of some
blasphemous religion, worshipping the Devil or
some monstrous ancient god (who may or may
not actually exist). He may be a clever con-man
or illusionist, or possess genuine occult power.
His personality, motives and methods will vary
according to the nature of the cult and the truth
behind it. Cultists who worship an Eldritch
Abomination and wish to free their deity to feast
upon the world are very different from those who
worship a devil (or the Devil) and wish to increase
their personal power and wealth.
In the Pulps, cults tend to fall into one of the
following categories;
• Apocalypse Cult: The End of Days is upon us,
and these cults see it as their duty to help their
god or gods bring an end to us all and make the
world anew. Apocalypse Cults often have some
insane plan for mass murder, triggered by a
supposedly supernatural omen, like a comet or
supernova.
• Revival: This cult is based on an old –
presumably extinct – religion and may even
make claims to be a direct continuation or
secret survival. Sometimes these cults seek
 to take revenge on those responsible for the
extinction of their faith in earlier times.
• Space Gods: These cults tend to be based
on supernatural interpretations of dubious
archaeological data, using them as evidence
that mankind was visited in the past (and may
even have been engineered by) vastly powerful
visitors from another world. Often cults of this
kind have apocalyptic leanings, promising that
the faithful will be taken up to live forever in
their alien paradise – frequently after a mass
suicide.
• Adventists: This cult is usually a radical
splinter group of an existing religion, based
around the return to Earth or rebirth of a
messianic religious figure such as Jesus Christ
(most often in the form of the Cult Leader
himself, but frequently in the form of an easily
controllable dupe).
• Dark Cult: This cult worships or believes
something truly evil. This could be Satan, an
Anti-God, or an Eldritch Abomination. Cults
of this kind are the most dangerous – with their
twisted beliefs and inverted morality, Dark
Cultists have little or no self-restraint and have
a sadistic love of murder and mayhem.
The Black Lama
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Just as Buddhism has its Tulkus, reincarnated
enlightened beings (Bodhisattvas) who postpone the
achievement of Nirvana in order to help enlighten
others, so darker faiths have darker tulkus; malign
spirits filled with evil knowledge, who return again
and again from death to spread corruption and
wickedness in the world.
Such is – so legend says – the Black Lama, the
dread leader of the Mara Brotherhood. Whenever
the current Black Lama dies, the Brotherhood
spreads out across the globe, searching for the one
who is the Lama reborn, looking for the spiritual
darkness that signals the return of a monstrous evil.
The current Black Lama is a young Tibetan man in
his early twenties, with delicate features, a slight
build and shaven head. His manner is always gentle
and polite, though his eyes are entirely black,
153
revealing the spiritual corruption within. Gifted with
psychic powers beyond comprehension, always
accompanied by fanatical shadow monks who
would lay down their lives to defend him, the Black
Lama is a skilled martial artist, having inherited the
fighting skills of a thousand lifetimes. The Black
Lama rarely needs to leave his stronghold in the
Forbidden Lamasery of Agharta, preferring to work
at a distance through the adherents of the Mara
Brotherhood, the Kundalini Warriors or his own
psychic abilities.
Quote: “Why should the only saints belong to your
pale god? The only miracles? Hell has it’s holy men
too, evil it’s miracles.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d12,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d8, Athletics d8, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d6, Psionics d12, Research d10, Science
d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 8; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Vengeful (Major), Ruthless (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), Followers,
Linguist, Martial Warrior, Mentalist, New Powers,
Power Points, Rapid Recharge
Powers: Blast, Illusion, Mind Reading, Mind Wipe,
Puppet
Power Points: 15
THE ANTI-VILLAIN
Perhaps one of the most perplexing villain-types
presented in the Pulps, the Anti-Villain is a bad guy
with heroic ideals, motivations and virtues. What
they want is ultimately good, but they go about it
in the wrong way, resulting in collateral damage
and misery. “You can’t make an omelet without
breaking a few eggs,” is the motto of most Anti-
Villains. Alternatively, the Anti-Villain could well
have evil aims, but goes about achieving them in a
reasonably ethical and honorable way, seeking to
minimize casualties - direct and indirect – as much
as possible.
Of all the villain types, the Anti-Villain is the
one most likely to be persuaded into a temporary
alliance with the heroes when things risk getting
out of control. While they may be “better” than
normal villains and often appear to be reaching for
redemption, they almost never completely defect to
the side of the angels, often believing that their sins
can never be forgiven and prefer “to rule in Hell
rather than serve in Heaven”.
Despite this vein of decency and honor, Anti-
Villains are no less dangerous than any other
villain and may in fact be more so due to their
unpredictability. Most heroes don’t quite know
what to do when their opponents don’t provide easy
reasons for their extermination. Anti-Villains are
often quite respectful of the heroes, regarding them
as “worthy opponents” and expressing regret for
their inevitable doom.
the pulps, very few Nazi arch-villains appeared in
fiction.
Though Pulp-style Nazi villains tend to be over-
blown and gimmicky, unless they’re being played
for comic effect, they remain competent and
ruthless enemies, well-equipped and driven by a
quietly fanatical faith in the manifest destiny of the
Third Reich. Unlike many other villains, Pulp Nazis
are usually capable combatants; though they have
minions to do their dirty work, they often relish
the chance to prove their “Aryan superiority” by
engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the heroes.

Some Anti-Villains are a law unto themselves, Pulp Nazis tend to come in several varieties, which
aware that the world may view their actions as evil can be mixed and matched according to taste;
but believing themselves to have evolved beyond
the limits of conventional morality. • The Sadistic Interrogator: Most often a member
of the Gestapo or the SS, this villain is usually
We present no example of the Anti-Villain here, slender and softly spoken, with cold blue eyes
simply because they are a dark reflection of the glittering behind his wire-framed spectacles.
heroes and should match them in ability. The wise Dressed in a dark grey suit and a black leather
Game Master will wait until her players have overcoat he rarely takes his black leather gloves
created their characters, then weave her Anti-Villain off, unless it is to strike a helpless victim with
into a hero’s backstory. them. He loves his work, licking his thin lips
with anticipation of the unspeakable torments
THE PULP NAZI
Nazis make great villains. They represent
something utterly vile; a repugnant philosophy
with no redeeming features, a nearly faceless
horde of endless thugs who can be killed off in
waves without the heroes having to trouble their
consciences over-much.

Though they’re now seen as the quintessential Pulp

villain, the Nazis featured in surprisingly few pulps
of the time, coming in toward the end of the Pulp
Era, when World War II paper shortages killed off
most of the magazines. Where they did appear, they
were limited to military action pulps, spy thrillers
and the aviation magazines. For the most part, Pulp
publishers preferred to avoid real-world politics
wherever possible, preferring to import thinly-
veiled fascist counterparts from imaginary Balkan
countries (like Berezkia, p35).

Nazi villains are for the most part a modern

invention, created for Pulp pastiches like The
Rocketeer and the Indiana Jones movies. In reality,
since many real Nazis – including Adolf Hitler
– appeared every bit as bizarre as the villains of

154

A Question of Taste
Given Hitler and Himmler’s interest
in the occult, many GMs might be
tempted to place arcane science or
magic at the heart of the Holocaust,
with the awful death and suffering
of millions perhaps being used as
part of a horrific ritual or monstrous
summoning. Many authors and
artists have done this with varying
degrees of taste and success. This is
a matter of personal choice and a
question that each GM must answer
for themselves. Should the GM
choose to do this however, they must
be prepared for the possibility that
their players may be offended by the
idea that they are trivializing a truly
terrible event.
There are no easy answers to
this. Often fiction allows us to
explore ideas that we might find
too difficult to address otherwise.
While it is important to have fun
within the context of the game, it
is also important to understand
that the Holocaust was a very real
and monstrous thing – the nadir of
human morality – that must never
be allowed to happen again. The
author prefers to address this by
having purely human stupidity,
greed and evil be the cause of the
Holocaust, limiting any arcane
element to merely an opportunistic
exploitation of the horror.
GMs may also come across players
who refuse to believe that the
Holocaust happened, and some that
may think the Nazis had the right
idea. These people are idiots, and
at the risk of causing offence, the
author humbly suggests you show
them the door; you don’t need that
kind of toxic stupidity in your life.
For more information on the Nazis
and their rise to power, see page 133.
155
he will soon inflict upon the heroes, and
occasionally giggling inappropriately. For some
reason the Sadistic Interrogator often speaks as
though slightly short of breath. He never loses
his temper or raises his voice, and even the
most hideous threats are made in a chillingly
veiled manner.
• The Reluctant Nazi: If the heroes are in the
habit of dismissing all Nazis as cannon fodder,
the Reluctant Nazi can be an interesting
change of pace. The Reluctant Nazi is a decent
man who became a member of the party for
political reasons but does not ascribe to the
Nazi philosophy. Nevertheless, he is a patriot
and will do his duty, but unlike the other Nazi
variants he takes no pleasure in it.
• The Brute: The Brute is a thug, who doesn’t
really believe in the ideology of the Third
Reich but became a Nazi in order to feed
their need to feel powerful. Being part of
the Nazi war machine gives them the power
they’ve always craved, and they like to abuse
that power at every opportunity. Brute Nazis
are scum; arrogant bullies who enjoy the
humiliation and degradation of their prisoners.
They may be using the uniform to conceal a
deep-seated inferiority complex, or they may
just be nasty pieces of work. Brutes tend to
be selfish, greedy and under all their bluster,
cowards. However, they are often also superior
combatants, and their treacherous nature and
innate viciousness translates into a host of dirty
tactics.
• The Bruiser: The bruiser is a big, solid lump of
muscle with fists like hams and a penchant for
bare-knuckle fighting. He enjoys a fight, and he
enjoys showing off his impressive physique just
before he beats the hero unconscious with it.
He rarely speaks anything other than German
and tends to serve either as back-up muscle for
a superior office, or as an unexpected stumbling
block for the unlucky hero.
• The Intellectual Aryan: Smarter than the
average Nazi, this villain is cultured, educated,
intelligent and very astute. His perception and
quick wits make him a formidable enemy,
and his ability to anticipate the moves of
 his opponents make him a hard man to out-
maneuver. While he can be as violent, sadistic
and brutal as other Nazis, the Intellectual Aryan
prefers to solve his problems in a more cerebral
manner, and he is often using the resources of
the Reich to further his own ambitions. Most
senior Nazis fall into this category.
• The Nazi Scientist: Lacking the individual
spark of divine inspiration, Nazi doctors,
scientists and researchers working in teams
are still capable of some incredible (and
horrifying) achievements. Some care little
for Nazi doctrine or the philosophy or Aryan
superiority, instead seeing the Third Reich as
a means to an end; the funding and resourcing
of their research. Others are fanatical, seeking
to use their perverted science to prove the
outlandish theories of Eternal Ice and Aryan
eugenics. Neither type cares for the pain they
inflict on their fellow human beings while they
conduct their foul experiments, seeing their
prisoners as simply an expendable stock of
“subhuman” test subjects. Nazi Scientists tend
to be utterly cold, exhibiting little personality
and no conscience whatsoever, though they
seem to take no pleasure in what they do either.
Players may also derive some historical horror
from the fact that many of these scientists will
be given new homes and new jobs in the USA
and other Allied countries at the end of the
war, made Government assets under covert
operations like Paperclip. When it comes to
their projects, Game Masters can feel free to
let their imaginations run wild, but should be
warned if they decide to research the issue that
there’s almost nothing so vile or horrific that
real Nazi scientists didn’t do it at some point –
often on an industrial scale.
• The Nazi Occultist: Often found working
hand in hand with the Nazi Scientist, the Nazi
Occultist is usually assigned to the Ahnenerbe
(p.135) or one of Hitler’s other arcane research
organizations. The Nazi Occultist is usually a
career soldier who has seen the power of the
supernatural for himself and wishes to harness
it as a weapon of war, a scholar of mysticism
availing himself of the resources the Reich has
to offer, or a disciple of darkness who is using
the Reich as much as they are using him. Nazi
Occultists often have access to arcane artifacts
and possess psychic or mesmeric powers.
156
They may also possess Weird Technology that
combines dark magic with high technology.
Nazi Occultists can often be found advising, or
even leading, retrieval missions to holy sites
and mysterious lands.
THE CURSED
In the heroic pulps, many arcane villains suffer
from, and are motivated by, a curse of some sort.
For many it is the curse of eternal life, for others it
is undeath, while others still are compelled through
the most twisted and powerful magic to endure the
most unnatural torments. Some individuals – like
vampires – have learned to exist in cooperation
with their curse and may even regard it as a “dark
blessing” to be shared with the chosen. Others, like
the tormented werewolf, lament their horrible fate
and would do anything to free themselves from its
grasp.
Cursed villains can, depending on the nature of the
curse and their attitude towards it, range from the
tragic and pitiful to the monstrous and diabolical.
They may seek to embrace their fate, transfer it to
another, or struggle to free themselves from it no
matter what the cost to the world. Cursed villains
are often bitter, twisted and vindictive. They may
see themselves as victims, unfairly oppressed
and punished disproportionately, or they may see
themselves as heroic underdogs. Rarely do they see
themselves as they truly are, until the end.
Dr Hieronymus Grim
(Wild Card, Legendary)
To the mundane world, Dr Hieronymus Grim is a
criminal mastermind and vivisectionist, a perverse
madman with a penchant for bizarre physical
experimentation, horrendous cruelty and macabre
humor. Wanted on every continent for murder and
crimes so horrible they defy description, his name
brings a cold sweat to the brow of law enforcement
officers across the world, and terror to the hearts of
criminals. How much more they would tremble if
they knew the truth. To magicians across the globe
Dr Grim is far more than a vicious criminal genius.
He is an abomination, a walking crime against life
and the natural order itself.
Created in Florence in 1672, the creature that calls
itself Dr Grim is a homunculus, distilled in a bottle
of fermented body fluids and dung in the laboratory
of an unknown alchemist. Few such creatures last
more than a few weeks, but due to some minor kink
in the process, the stunted horror survived long
enough to develop a personality all its own, and in
so doing it became ambitious. Driven by a hunger
for knowledge and a desire to perpetuate its own
existence, the homunculus carefully and secretly
studied its creator’s occult library and then, when it
had learned all it could, it slew him.
When the alchemist’s servants finally broke into his
laboratory, they found him dead, carefully dissected,
with a blood-spattered anatomical text book open
next to what was left of his corpse. On the last page
of the book, written in the blood of the alchemist,
were the words “But where is the soul?”
Over the years, the homunculus moved from place
to place, learning how to pose as human despite
its dwarfish proportions, and still it hungered for
knowledge. It understood that it should have died
a long time ago and knew that when that fate
eventually caught up with it, as a soulless being it
would face oblivion. This was something it could
not allow.
In the hundreds of years that followed, the
homunculus has sought two things; firstly, to satisfy
its consuming curiosity about life and the way
it works, and secondly to obtain a soul. Neither
objective has yet been satisfied, though Dr Grim
continues to try. Today, Dr Grim spends most of his
time in the shadows, preferring to be the spider at
the heart of the web. He rarely interacts with friend
or foe in person, and when he does, it is a sure sign
that someone is about to die a most horrible death.
Hieronymus Grim resembles a morbidly obese
dwarf of indeterminate ethnicity. Though just less
than four feet tall, Grim weighs over two-hundred
pounds and is abnormally strong, fast and resilient.
Though apparently male, the creature is in fact
utterly sexless and even a cursory examination will
reveal that it is not in any way human. Grim has no
fingerprints, no hair (though he sometimes wears
a wig), a bifurcated tongue and several rows of
razor-sharp teeth resembling those of a shark. Grim
is unnaturally resilient and flexible, and sometimes
appears not to possess a bony skeleton at all. Grim
157
is remarkably hard to injure, bleeding a thin, clear
liquid when his skin is broken, but heals with great
rapidity.
Grim is a classic sadist and psychopath. While he
can be both civil and charming when he wants to
be, he has no sense of morality, and no empathy for
anything living. Furthermore, he enjoys establishing
his superiority over natural life, either by killing
it, enslaving it, dissecting it, or humiliating it.
That which he cannot destroy in one way, he will
destroy in another. Grim is known for targeting the
friends and loved ones of his enemies, and greatly
enjoys using vile surgery and alchemical mutation
to transform an abducted associate into a biological
weapon.
Grim has few friends, and the only colleagues he
trusts are those he has made himself. Most of his
lieutenants are constructs of one kind or another;
reanimated corpses, surgically modified slaves,
experimental homunculi, even a few subverted
Radium Men.
Most of Grim’s plots are motivated by his fear of
death and annihilation; he understands that as a
creature without a soul, only nothingness awaits
him on the other side. While hard to hurt, he will
retreat in the face of overwhelming odds, and can be
cowed by the prospect of immediate destruction. He
is cunning, however, and will instantly turn on his
captors if he spies a way out. Like a starving rat, he
is most dangerous when cornered.
Dr Hieronymus Grim is a classic villain, one who
despises natural life and revels in its destruction and
degradation. Player characters are more than likely
going to encounter him as an enemy, masterminding
some horrible scheme to gain a soul, acquire some
unique or unusual skill, creature or disease, though
he may also be encountered as a resource, albeit
a treacherous one. Grim is a true master villain;
should he gain sufficient magical knowledge
some believe his ambitions go far beyond merely
acquiring a soul, and have hinted that he believes
that it is the destiny of the created to usurp and cast
down the creator, though whether that means man
or God is unknown.
Quote: “You really are a fascinating creature,
aren’t you? I’m looking forward to finding out how
you work. Let’s explore together. Scalpel, please.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6,
Strength d6, Vigor d12
Skills: Academics d8, Athletics d8, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d6, Research d10, Science d12, Spell-
casting d10, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty (Major), Wanted (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Fast Healer,
Harder to Kill, New Powers, Power Points, Wizard
Powers: Blast, Blind, Entangle, Wall Walker, Zombie
Power Points: 15
THE CORRUPT CORPORATE
The Corrupt Corporate is a uniquely American
villain. He is evil in a nice suit, an unscrupulous
businessman or tycoon who represents our fear of
manipulation and exploitation by the rich; bankers,
industrialists, financiers and politicians. Born of
the loss of public trust caused by the Wall Street
Crash and the Great Depression, Corrupt Corporates
became useful villains for Pulp authors. Once hailed
as the industrial backbone of the country
The Corrupt Corporate is motivated most often by
greed and the desire to maintain their share price.
He knows that wealth buys power and influence
and that everyone has their price. The only things
that matter are the things that can be bought; to
the Corrupt Corporate, everything else – including
morality and human life - is irrelevant.
The Corrupt Corporate may appear urbane and
cultured, but he has a lot to lose and will fight like
a tiger to keep it. His plots tend to involve vast
swindles and confidence schemes, the discrediting
or ruination of his competitors, the theft of large
sums of money, the annexation of valuable
resources, complicated real estate scams or the
establishment and maintenance of vast monopolies.
Usually the victims of these plots are the “little
people”, the faceless masses of ordinary people who
invest in the Corporates companies.
Corrupt Corporates want more of what they already
have, and have the resources to achieve this. They
have money, minions, social connections and
political influence. Very often they also have social
prominence, making them hard to fight openly
and giving them the protection of society and
the law. Though Corrupt Corporates are usually
industrialists, they can be just as effective in other
158
lines of work. A Corrupt Producer could use the
machinery of Hollywood to smear his opponents,
while a Corrupt Banker might ruin his enemies and
finance his allies.
The classic Corrupt Corporate has no fighting
skills to speak of, though this has been subverted
in modern times with idea of rich businessmen
who combine big business with a taste for extreme
sports and martial arts. Normally though, Corrupt
Corporates leave the fighting to their minions, led
by a trusted lieutenant. Lex Luthor, particularly in
his modern incarnations, is a classic example of the
Corrupt Corporate, combined with aspects of the
Mad Scientist.
Rex Monday
(Wild Card, Veteran)
Born to the privileged life of the scion of an old
and noble house, Rex Monday grew up pampered,
indulged and spoiled. Every day he was told that the
world would be his, and that he could do anything
he wanted. Unlike most children, he believed it.
Even more unusually, he still believes it now.
Rex Monday is a tall, handsome man in his early
thirties, with movie-idol good-looks, impeccable
taste and perfect manners. He is also an extremely
dangerous man, what in later years will be termed
a sociopath. Rex has little concept of real emotion
or of right and wrong. What interests him and
motivates him is what is good solely for him.
He is intelligent and observant, skilled at faking
his emotional connection to other people, but
eventually those closest to him see through the
mask and realize that there isn’t much human about
Rex Monday.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be
a problem. Rex would undoubtedly have ended
up confined in either prison or mental institution,
where he could do no harm. Alas, he is one of the
richest young men in the United States, gifted with
soaring ambition and the means to make most of his
problems disappear.
Taking his inspiration from the Latin phrase that
echoes his name, Rex Monday aims to be nothing
less than the king of the world. Patient and cunning,
he is a master of the long game, using his money
and influence to move people like pawns on a chess
board, instigating subtle schemes that advance
his cause while removing his opponents, often
without them even suspecting his involvement.
To the public, Rex is a wealthy industrialist and
philanthropist, a man who supports unionization
and encourages the education of his workforce.
A tireless charity fund-raiser and campaigner
for human rights, Rex’s reputation is almost
bulletproof. To his criminal associates, Rex is a
stone killer, a man without pity, with the will to do
anything in order to achieve his goals. Those who
know his secret are terrified of him and would die
rather than betray him. Those foolish enough to
talk carelessly have found to their cost that Rex’s
millions buy him a long reach, and he does not
forgive.
Quote: “Of course, poor people aren’t like you and
I. They’re barely people at all.”
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Academics d8, Athletics d4, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d10,
Persuasion d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Secret (Major), Ruthless (Major)
Edges: Aristocrat, Attractive, Charismatic, Connec-
tions, Filthy Rich
THE DRAGON LADY
The Dragon Lady is the female counterpart to
the Foreign Mastermind. Beautiful, seductive,
mysterious and sexually aggressive, the Dragon
Lady is generally portrayed as less honorable than
her male opposite number, prone to violent rages
(and occasionally falling in love with a hero). The
Dragon Lady is more hands-on than the Foreign
Mastermind, and while she prefers to let her
minions do her bidding, she is often a skilled hand-
to-hand fighter, taking advantage of the fact that
Pulp heroes are rarely comfortable hitting a woman.
Du Kai Hua – Poison Blossom
(Wild Card, Legendary)
The beautiful and exotic young woman who now
takes the name Du Kai Hua (Poison Blossom) is the
adopted daughter of the infamous Death Dragon,
Siwang Lung. Rescued from the streets as a child,
Siwang Lung raised the girl as his successor,
educating her in the ways of science, crime and
subtle cruelty. Unlike her father, Du Kai Hua cares
159
little for the fate of mankind, and instead enjoys
the exercise of power for its own sake. Sadistic,
spoiled and devious, Du Kai Hua has attempted to
overthrow her father on numerous occasions but has
always managed to be forgiven. In her own twisted
way, she cares for her father deeply, but she is also
more than a little crazy and would kill him without
a second thought if he got in her way.
Thus far, Siwang Lung has yet to reveal to Du Kai
Hua the secret of his prolonged life and unnatural
durability, which is perhaps the only reason his
daughter has yet to finally betray him.
Quote: “You will tell me what I wish to know,
or I can promise you that your agony will be...
exquisite.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d8, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d10,
Persuasion d8, Science d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d8,
Weird Science d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Arcane background (Weird Science), Very
Attractive, Filthy Rich, Martial Artist
Powers: +2 Powers
Power Points: 15
THE NECROMANCER
Perhaps the most loathed of the arcane villains,
the necromancer rebels against the natural order
in a fundamental way, by disturbing the sleep of
the dead and enslaving them, either physically
or spiritually. Necromancers can often be found
commanding hordes of walking corpses or
ensorcelled spirits and are the most likely to have
grandiose plans for world domination. Necessarily
solitary creatures, necromancers often form
relationships with the dead in order to fulfil their
basic human need for companionship and are
frequently baffled and frustrated by the living.
Note that not all necromancers are evil or perverted.
Some are merely callous or indifferent, while a very
few consider themselves altruists who use their
powers to bring comfort to both the living and the
dead.
Marie Gautier – Queen of the
Dead
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Marie Gautier is a brilliant, beautiful and wealthy
business woman with interests in a string of
successful enterprises from hotels to airlines, who
has an interesting side-line in raising the dead.
Gautier is young and beautiful, with exotic looks
from a wide mix of ethnic backgrounds. Apparently
in her mid-twenties, she bears herself with poise,
grace and elegance. Among her confidantes, it is
rumored that she is descended from Marie Laveau,
the notorious “voodoo queen” of New Orleans
(some even go as far as to claim that she is Laveau
herself). Gautier rarely speaks of her past, but she
has alluded to growing up an orphan on the streets
of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Gautier is a ruthless and competent business-woman
who exploits the tendency of businessmen to
underestimate her because of her looks and gender,
adding to this advantage a razor-sharp intelligence.
Those few who have investigated her past and lived
believe her rise to power in the business world to
have been accomplished before she rose to occult
mastery.
Publicly, Gautier works hard and plays harder. She
has been linked with a succession of handsome
bachelors and playboys, leaving a string of broken
hearts across the globe. No suitor seems to have
captured her interest long enough to become
a serious attachment, and she seems intent on
enjoying the single life as much as possible. Gautier
is known to support a wide variety of charitable
causes, including several orphanages in Haiti.
Privately, Marie Gautier is a powerful necromancer
and medium. Capable of conversing with the spirits
of the dead and raising their physical bodies into a
semblance of life, she maintains a position of power
in two worlds. All her personal staff and servants
are Enslaved Dead, an intelligent form of zombie
who serve her faithfully and loyally. Gautier’s
main occupation is that of an information broker,
extracting the secrets of the dead and selling them
on to the highest bidder, regardless of nationality.
Marie Gautier is a morally complex individual.
While she raises the dead and dominates them for
her own purposes, those purposes remain veiled in
mystery. She does not seem to want or need wealth
160
or power – she already has those. Some occult
observers have suggested that Gautier is gathering
a web of contacts and favors, preparing for an
eventuality only she foresees. As such, Gautier can
be used as both an ally and an enemy for the Player
Characters, depending on the needs of the plot.
Quote: “Life? Life is an aberration, a temporary
condition. Death is forever, and the one who
embraces death embraces eternity.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d6, Common
Knowledge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice
d8, Persuasion d10, Research d8, Science d6, Shoot-
ing d8, Spellcasting d10, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Minor), Secret (Major),
Vengeful (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Charismatic,
Connections, Very Attractive, Filthy Rich, New
Powers, Power Points, Wizard
Powers: Zombie, +4 Powers
Power Points: 15
THE BARONESS
A beautiful woman with a heart of ice, the
Baroness has more than a hint of the dominatrix
about her. Strict, intelligent and chilly, she often
exhibits a sadistic nature and a fervent belief in
the ideals of whichever cause she follows. Most
often of German or Russian extraction, she is
always immaculately dressed, either in the highest
fashion or a perfectly cut uniform. In the Pulps
the Baroness was often portrayed as a closet (or
even overt) lesbian and man-hater, something
considered at the time to be quite perverse.
Regardless of her sexuality, she is often attracted
to power and dominant personalities, but may not
be open to seduction.
The Baroness is often found as an icily beautiful
Nazi or Communist temptress, or as the aide to a
Corrupt Corporate. She may even be found leading
a team of Nazi scientists, or standing at the side of
a Cult Leader. The Baroness may have a mannish
female bruiser as back-up, who may or may not
also be her lover. Some Baronesses can be found
acting as the trusted lieutenant of the main villain.
Like the Dragon Lady, while she prefers to leave
the fighting to her minions, the Baroness is usually
quite a dangerous
combatant, often
using a whip to
deadly effect.
A variant of the
Baroness is the
Battleaxe. She
is usually an
older woman,
sometimes
beautiful, often
not. She is likely
to be the main
villain rather than
simply his aide.
Regardless of her
sexuality, her greater experience tends to make her
immune to seduction attempts. She more openly
enjoys her work and is quite happy to get her hands
dirty.
Baroness Veronique Devereaux
(Wild Card, Legendary)
The woman now known as Baroness Veronique
Devereaux has done much to obscure her origins
and history, and in so doing has conjured a mystique
that both fascinates and intrigues. Judging from the
number of “unfortunate accidents” and “mysterious
illnesses” that befall those around her, it appears
that being too curious about the Baroness’ past is
not a healthy occupation. It is whispered (though
never where she might hear of it) that she started
life as an urchin, abandoned on the streets of
Morocco, where she learned to survive through
theft and other, less reputable arts. From there she
parlayed her extraordinary beauty and ruthless
intelligence into a place in a nobleman’s house,
first as a maid, then as mistress, and finally wife
after his first wife suffered an unexplained “wasting
illness”. Not long after, the nobleman himself died,
some say of over-exertion, while others mutter
darkly of poison. The newly-widowed Baroness
Devereaux moved her household back to Paris,
where she became the darling of the social scene,
entrancing a string of near-fanatical lovers and
admirers and inveigling herself into the highest
circles of power. She counts ministers, bishops and
kings as her friends and confidantes, and seems to
possess an inexhaustible fund of favors upon which
she can call at any time. While having the whiff
161
of scandal about her, the Baroness has never been
directly implicated in wrongdoing of any kind, and
her honor is staunchly defended by all those who
consider her a friend.
In truth, the Baroness Devereaux is one of Europe’s
most successful blackmailers, poisoners, spies and
thieves. Selfish, utterly amoral, fiendishly cunning,
ruthless and cruel, the ambition of the Baroness has
no limit. She will do anything to advance her social
standing and personal wealth, up to and including
murder on a grand scale. She is completely without
mercy and is capable of almost demonic fury when
thwarted. An expert in toxins and subtle murder,
the Baroness is never without a variety of tainted
weapons and secreted potions, but without a doubt
her uncanny beauty and her ruthless intellect are
her deadliest weapons, ones that she wields with a
master’s touch.
The Baroness Devereaux is uncommonly beautiful;
in her late twenties or early thirties. Tall and
athletic, with long fair hair and ice-blue eyes, she
moves with a natural elegance and grace and speaks
with a low, slightly husky voice that is almost
hypnotically seductive.
Quote: “No, I didn’t think you’d hit a lady. Now,
come sit next to me and let us discuss this like old
friends. Drink?”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d6, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d10, Research d8, Science d6, Shooting
d8, Stealth d8, Taunt d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Secret (Major)
Edges: Charismatic, Connections, Very Attractive,
Filthy Rich
THE OCCULT ROGUE
The Occult Rogue is an individual gifted with
arcane power who seeks to use it purely to their
own advantage. Unlike the arcane experimenter,
they are not motivated by the quest for knowledge,
nor are they as prone to empire-building or long-
term projects as the occult mastermind. Occult
rogues are unafraid to get their hands dirty and tend
not to use proxies or underlings in their dealings
with the heroes. Some rogues have a distinctive
modus operandi, a signature theme through which
their handiwork can be identified, while others are
practical and seek to avoid unnecessary scrutiny.
All rogues should be considered highly dangerous,
as their lack of an organization or ties makes them
extremely flexible in their approach. Some rogues
will form short-lived alliances in pursuit of their
goals, but their independent natures make these
collaborations inherently unstable.
The Red-Handed Man
(Wild Card, Legendary)
If anyone ever knew the true nature of the being
occultists call the Red-Handed Man, they’re either
long dead or smart enough to keep their mouth
shut. The Red-Handed Man is quite simply a killer,
perhaps the deadliest killer ever to exist. It is said
that once he has set his sights on a target – no matter
who they are or how well protected they believe
themselves to be – nothing in heaven or earth will
save them. The Red-Handed Man has been called
the Angel of Death, the Patron Saint of Murderers,
and the Spirit of Slaughter. Some believe him to
be the Biblical Cain or Judas Iscariot, while others
whisper that he is a living weapon, crafted by
Lucifer himself to murder God. Perhaps all these
legends hold elements of the truth.
The Red-Handed Man is an immortal. Though he
can be wounded and even killed, this is a temporary
condition, one which rarely lasts more than a day.
History records him as having been burned to ashes,
dismembered, and once even fed to the lions to
please the crowds of the gladiatorial arena. It didn’t
work.
The Red-Handed Man is tall and powerfully built,
with a mane of dark red hair and bright green eyes.
His facial features and ethnicity seem to shift subtly
throughout the ages, giving him the ability to blend
in to whichever culture he chooses as home, though
his height and build still make him stand out. One
feature that has remained constant throughout the
centuries is the peculiar marking of his right hand,
which appears to be stained a deep red, as though
dipped in blood to the forearm.
The Red-Handed Man is proficient with virtually
every weapon known to man. It is said that there
162
isn’t anything he cannot kill, given time. Among
those who dare to speak of him, stories circulate of
him killing ghosts, gods, mages and monsters, and
it is thought that he maintains a hidden trophy room
full of enough grotesque relics to drive any normal
man mad.
The Red-Handed Man is a dour individual, with a
bleak outlook and a sense of dark humor. He is an
implacable foe but is prepared to bargain should
he believe it to be to his advantage. He is deeply
pragmatic and will use the most expedient means
that are open to him at any time. Highly intelligent,
he uses technology as well as magic to achieve his
goals, whatever they may be.
Quote: “Killing is what I was made for. I’m very
good at it. Remember that.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d10, Vigor d12
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d6, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d12, Intimidation d10, Notice d8,
Persuasion d6, Science d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 8; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Undying: The Red-Handed Man can’t be killed like
normal people, returning from apparent death time
and again. He may still be killed, but the means are
rare, complex, difficult, or all the above. Prevent-
ing his resurrection should involve procedures as
complex as complete incineration and scattering
the ashes, dissolving the body in acid, firing them
into the sun, or tipping the remains into an active
volcano.
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Death Wish (Minor),
Enemy (Minor)
Edges: Ageless, Killer Instinct, Linguist, Older Than
I Look, Portable Armory, Weapons Encyclopedia
THE MASKED TERROR
The Masked Terror is the dark reflection of the
Masked Avenger, a crime lord with a secret identity,
a flamboyant disguise and often a theatrical modus
operandi when going about his extra-curricular
activities. Unlike the Masked Avenger, the Masked
Terror has eschewed the cause of justice for
something altogether more personally satisfying.
Exactly what that might be varies from villain to
villain.
Some Masked Terrors are vigilantes, taking a
stand against what they see to be the rampant tide
of lawlessness and corruption that threatens to
drown their city. The only difference between this
incarnation of the Masked Terror is their willingness
to kill, often in cruel and unusual ways. In this form,
the Masked Terror has assumed the role of judge,
jury and executioner, and the sentence is death!
These villains can be used to present the masked
Avenger with a dark mirror, showing them what
they have the potential to become if they ever lose
sight of the importance of tempering justice with
mercy and compassion.
Other types of Masked Terror could be seeking to
redress a perceived injustice, seeking vengeance
for a wrong (real or imagined) done to themselves
or someone near and dear in the past. Others might
simply be very clever criminals, motivated by a
desire for power and riches.
Regardless of motivation the Masked Terror is
nearly always, like the Masked Avenger, a respected
citizen in his or her day to day life. Often Masked
Terrors and Avengers move in similar circles and
may even be friends.
Though the Masked Terror and the Masked Avenger
are extremely similar, the Masked Terror is usually
far less hands on, using his or her minions to
maintain some distance from any illegal activity.
That said, when cornered the Masked Terror will
often abandon any semblance of propriety and fight
like a cornered tiger.
The Crimson Claw
(Wild Card, Heroic)
For the last thirty years, the enigmatic crime boss
known as the Crimson Claw has been an ever-
growing threat to the forces of law and order across
the United States. Despite this, almost nothing is
known about this masked terror, and what is known
is often entirely contradictory, leading some leading
authorities to suspect that there may be more
than one Crimson Claw. Often, those who have
encountered the fiend can’t even agree as to the
gender of their opponent!
163
What is known of the Crimson Claw is that he (if it
is a man) is ruthless, utterly amoral and a brilliant
tactician. Descriptions of him vary considerably
from witness to witness, but he is usually described
as being immaculately dressed beneath a deep red
cape and concealing hood with eye holes through
which a pair of blazing eyes can be glimpsed. The
Claw gets his name from a curious accoutrement;
a gleaming red antique metallic gauntlet with razor
sharp talons worn on the left hand. Far more than a
mere affectation, the gauntlet is the Claw’s favorite
method of dispensing vengeance, from horrific
facial scars to disembowelment. In truth, it can
be said that the Crimson Claw literally rules his
organization with a fist of iron.
The Crimson Claw is an expansionist crime lord,
working to either eliminate his criminal rivals or
absorb their operations into his own. He responds
swiftly to threats and perceived slights, but rarely
reacts rashly. Indeed, he often seems to be working
to a long-term plan, often setting into motion events
that won’t pay off for him for some time. His most
favored tactic is to stir up gang wars that cause
his rivals to eliminate each other, allowing him to
sweep in a fill the power vacuum once the dust has
settled.
The Crimson Claw is highly intelligent, patient,
cunning, fearless and utterly ruthless. Completely
without morals of any kind, he seems purely
motivated by the desire for power and the obedience
of his subordinates. He has a talent for prolonged
and inexorable revenge, and it is an unfortunate
character who finds himself on the Claw’s death list.
Curiously, the Claw has been recorded as dead by
the law enforcement agencies of several states,
though the body was not recovered in any case.
Strangely, a prominent member of the community
suspected of being the Claw has always turned
up dead at the same time, only for the Claw
to resurface in another city a short time later,
apparently none the worse for wear...
The Claw’s organization consists mostly of the most
effective and ruthless mobsters, mooks and thugs
in any given city. He seems to have no favored
lieutenants, and rarely co-operates with other arch-
villains.
Quote: “Fools! To believe you can stand against...
the Crimson Claw!”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d12
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d6, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d10, Occult d8,
Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Science d6, Shooting d8,
Stealth d8
Special Abilities:
• Undying: The Crimson Claw can’t be killed like
normal people, returning from apparent death
time and again. He or she can still be killed, but
the means are rare, complex, difficult, or all of the
above. Preventing their resurrection should involve
procedures as complex as complete incineration and
scattering the ashes, dissolving the body in acid,
firing them into the sun, or tipping the remains into
an active volcano.
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: Vengeful (Major), Ruthless (Major)
Edges: Filthy Rich
THE MASTER SPY
Another staple of the Pulp Era, the Master Spy is
an operative of a foreign power or the Comintern,
here to steal the secrets of the Government, the
military, big business and research establishments.
In times of war and the build-up to war, he
may be a saboteur, sent to destroy stockpiles of
weapons, shipyards and other military resources
or make off with new technological and scientific
breakthroughs.
The Master Spy blends in the society in which he
operates extremely well. He may even be a citizen,
betraying his country for the highest bidder. The
Master Spy often operates in high society, using his
position to gain trust and exploit confidences. He
usually has a network of spies and thugs working
for him, and maybe a trusted lieutenant or two.
The Master Spy tends to plan for every contingency,
and nearly always has multiple escape routes ready
for an immediate withdrawal. Like the Masked
Terror, the Master Spy prefers to keep some
distance between himself and any illegal activity,
and when cornered will fight viciously for his
freedom.
Master Spies make especially good enemies for
G-Men, Air Aces, Operators, Gumshoes, Law
164
Enforcers, Masked Avengers, Mystery Men, Rocket
Men and Scientist heroes.
Otto Gruening
(Wild Card, Heroic)
To the intelligence agencies of the West, Otto
Gruening is little more than a file of suspected
activities, and a long list of the dead. Ruthless,
clever, dedicated and bold, Gruening has made a
career as a freelance espionage agent since the end
of the Great War and has been so successful that no-
one knows what he looks like or even if Gruening is
his real name. They don’t even know for sure if he’s
a man or a woman. At least one counter-intelligence
officer believes that Gruening may be a cover name
for an entire network of freelance spies, while many
more consider him to be nothing more than a myth,
a story spies tell each other to explain why things go
wrong.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d6, Notice d8, Performance d12,
Persuasion d8, Research d8, Shooting d6, Stealth
d10, Taunt d6, Thievery d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Secret (Major)
Edges: Assassin, Charismatic, Connections, Master
of Disguise, Thief, Very Attractive
Gear: Varies, but usually a concealed derringer
(5/10/20, 2d6+1, Shots 2, AP1) or knife (Str+1)
THE GREAT DICTATOR
The Great Dictator is unusual in that he already has
wealth, power and resources. In fact, he has control
of an entire country, possibly several. The classic
example of the Great Dictator is, of course, Adolf
Hitler. However, there were several real-world
examples at the time, including Benito Mussolini,
General Francisco Franco and Josef Stalin. Since
Pulp magazines were all about escapism, the
magazines tended to steer clear of plots that veered
too closely to real-world politics. However, authors
would often invent fictional dictators and war-
lords from imaginary countries, who shared similar
characteristics with Hitler and his allies.
Great Dictators make great recurring villains, as
they possess enough resources and power that they
can almost never be completely defeated, short of a
full-scale war. Worse, they may be beloved by their
own people, effectively surrounding them with a
vast shield of innocent dupes willing to die for their
leader.
Great Dictators have a tendency to rant and rave
when thwarted, maintaining their iron-fisted rule
through a startlingly well-informed secret police,
an army of jackbooted thugs and an elite guard of
intelligent, sadistic henchmen. They usually have an
effective overseas intelligence network, operating
spy cells in every country of the globe. They also
seem to have a certain sense of style, employing
visually impressive iconography to promote and
unify their cause.
Some Great Dictators combine aspects of the Mad
Scientist or the Foreign Mastermind, and most have
a firm grasp of the power of advanced technology,
either using their own inventive genius or
employing the services of scientists and engineers
(often kidnapped) to develop advanced weaponry.
While Great Dictators tend to rule totalitarian fascist
states, this is not always the case. Some may rule
monarchies, theocracies, or any other state structure
that places ultimate power in the hands of a single
individual. While Pulp examples tend to be Eastern
European, there is no reason why a Great Dictator
can’t be the master of an obscure Asiatic country,
or of an African or Middle-Eastern nation, or of an
Atlantic or Pacific island.
General Vladic Kazan, Premier
of Berezkia
(Wild Card, Legendary)
General Vladic Kazan is the autocratic dictator
of Berezkia, a small Balkan nation that has risen
swiftly in the last few years with the discovery of a
large deposit of ores rich in the mysterious Element
X somewhere within the Berezkan mountains.
A former chief of the Royal Secret Police, Kazan
entered politics after the Great War, rising to power
by exploiting the poverty, chaos and unrest endemic
in the years following the defeat of Germany,
Berezkia’s main ally and trading partner. Using
images of racial strength and purity, and invoking
the mythology of the Norse gods, Kazan created a
165
powerful cabal of loyal extremists to back his move
to seize total power within the small country. While
initially the Western powers were unconcerned
with Kazan, the situation changed when it became
apparent that Kazan’s forces, in investigating the
legends of the gods of Asgard, had uncovered
something remarkable. What that something was
only came to light when Berezkia – formerly a
struggling agricultural country – suddenly began to
produce advanced technology vehicles, equipment
and weaponry, much of it powered by Element X.
Under Kazan, the economy of Berezkia has
flourished, though civil liberties have almost
completely vanished. Kazan himself is rarely seen,
though his secret police – known as the Hammer –
are everywhere. Worse, Kazan seems to instantly
know when dissent is plotted, leading the peasant
folk to mutter darkly about him giving up an eye for
omniscience, as Odin did. The people of Berezkia
are well-paid, well-fed and healthy, but they know
they are not free. Most simply try to turn a blind eye
to their oppression, by pretending that they have
chosen to live the way they do, and by ignoring the
disappearances and the occasional scream in the
night.
Kazan’s armed forces – the Fist – are well-trained,
well-equipped and motivated. To a man they appear
to be intelligent, capable and fanatically loyal to
their leader, almost unnaturally so. Again, odd
rumors have emerged from Berezkia about the
large number of men who enter the military training
academies and emerge weeks later, somehow
changed.
Kazan himself is a tall, muscular man in his late
forties, though in excellent physical condition. He
wears immaculately cut, austere uniforms in black,
red and grey, and wears his long dark hair swept
back from his forehead. While shrewd, intelligent
and urbane, he is also a racist, sexist bigot with a
powerful distrust of intellectuals.
Quote: “It is the fate of the common to be ruled by
the uncommon. To be ordinary is to be weak. Free
will is the lot of the strong alone. It is the lot of the
weak to obey.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d8, Vigor d12
Skills: Academics d6, Athletics d6, Battle d8,
Common Knowledge d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation
 d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6, Shooting d8, Stealth
d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Suspicious (Minor),
Vengeful (Minor)
Edges: Brawler, Charismatic, Command, Connec-
tions, Filthy Rich, Master Tactician
THE ARCANE MASTERMIND
Like the Foreign Mastermind (p141), the Arcane
Mastermind is a criminal genius who prefers
to deal with the heroes through dastardly plots,
fiendish traps and a variety of underlings. Unlike
the Foreign Mastermind, the Arcane Mastermind’s
grasp extends into the realms of the strange, either
the occult and supernatural, weird science or the
psychic domain.
Arcane Masterminds tend to be pragmatic
individuals, going with whatever methodology
works best for them. If it serves them best to use
an assassin with a knife to dispatch a victim, so be
it. If, however, a murderous elemental could do
the job better and with less risk, they will happily
choose that option. Arcane Masterminds tend not
to be ideologically married to their particular brand
of weirdness, instead treating it as just another
resource or technology, no better or worse than any
other.
Like the Foreign Mastermind, Arcane Masterminds
can be terrible foes, hard to predict and outwit due
to the breadth of their resources.
Doctor Dread – Master of Terror
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Doctor Dread is a masked criminal genius with
a special interest in supernatural fear. Wanted in
more than a dozen countries for murder, extortion
and racketeering, Doctor Dread is feared almost as
much by the underworld as by law enforcement.
What only a few of his enemies know, however,
is that he is no ordinary criminal, for his genius
extends far beyond the realms of normal science,
extending into the world of shades beyond death
itself.
No one living knows the identity of Doctor Dread,
and his face is always kept concealed behind a
silver skull mask that peers malignantly from the
166
cowl of his inky black robes. A master of disguise
and the quick change, Doctor Dread has perfected
the art of appearing from a crowd and vanishing
into it once his nefarious work is done. He speaks
in a cultured yet sibilant whisper, and can even be
charming, despite the grotesquery of his costume.
Unlike most criminal masterminds, Doctor Dread
is not above making a personal appearance at
the scene of a crime and has been reported slain
several times in the two decades he has been active.
However, in every case the body disappeared before
it could be unmasked, and the Master of Terror has
reappeared with a new scheme of evil before long.
Doctor Dread appears to be a scientific and occult
genius, and most law-enforcement agencies believe
him to be a former scholar or scientist of note. He
displays a keen grasp of chemistry, physics, and
biology, as well as the arcane arts. His overriding
obsessions are the nature and effects of fear, and
terror appears to be his favorite weapon. When
bodies of those literally scared to death start turning
up, look for Doctor Dread…
While fear is Dread’s obsession, his main
motivation appears to be simple greed, both
for wealth and power. His schemes range from
extortion and blackmail to espionage and murder
for hire, and he will rarely pass up an opportunity to
add to either his fiscal or occult resources.
Aside from his considerable occult and scientific
powers, Doctor Dread appears to have a magnetic
personality, and is capable of inspiring tremendous
fear and loyalty in his accomplices to the point
where most would rather die than betray him. Many
seem to believe that he owns their souls and could
torture them beyond death for their disobedience.
Note: Doctor Dread is described here as a man
simply because of the chauvinism of the period
and his apparent masculinity but could easily be a
woman in disguise. Doctor Dread may even turn out
to be a manufactured identity shared by a coven of
malign sorcerers, which would explain his apparent
immortality.
Quote: “The herd think that God is love. FOOLS!
Tell that to the plague, the typhoon, and the
earthquake. God is fear. God is terror!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d6, Common
Knowledge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice
d8, Performance d12, Persuasion d6, Research d10,
Science d10, Shooting d8, Stealth d4, Weird Science
d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Greedy (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), Con-
nections, Filthy Rich, Master of Disguise, New
Powers, Power Points
Powers: Blind, Light/Darkness, Disguise, Fear.
Power Points: 20
THE MOB BOSS
Some might assume that the Mob Boss is merely
an ordinary criminal. They’d be wrong; the Mob
Boss is an extraordinary criminal. The head of an
organized crime family, the Mob Boss has clawed
his way up through the ranks the hard way, through
spilling the blood of his enemies. Now he’s at the
top and enjoying the fruits of his labors, he demands
respect and he’s got the muscle behind him to get it.
Though the Mob Boss may operate with some
distance between himself and the front line, part
of him misses rolling his sleeves up and breaking
heads. Like his henchmen, the Mob Boss is
more than capable of violence, often switching
from disarming urbanity to primal savagery in
a heartbeat. Unlike most of his henchmen, he’s
intelligent, if not educated. He’s gotten where he
is by out-thinking and out-maneuvering his rivals,
and he’s capable of almost anything to maintain his
position.
Many Mob Bosses are family men and have a
somewhat old-fashioned view of the way things
should be done. They rule their organization like
a feudal lord, valuing respect and tradition. Oddly,
despite their involvement in everything from
numbers rackets to white slavery, a lot of Mob
Bosses are patriots who will vehemently oppose any
truck with Nazis or other enemies of their country.
Bruno Sposato
(Wild Card, Veteran)
Bruno “Bullet” Sposato is one of the city’s top
crime bosses and considers himself a self-made man
167
in more ways than one.
Born the son of a grocer in the slums of the south
side, young Bruno was intelligent enough and
adaptable enough to realize that his best chance of
escaping the ghetto was to run with the local gangs.
Tough and smart, Bruno fought hard to control
his conscience and worked his way up through
the ranks, graduating from petty theft to numbers
running. His ingenuity and intelligence caught
the eye of a local mobster, and soon Bruno found
himself doing minor jobs for the mob. It was during
this time that Bruno gained his nickname “Bullet”,
for his habit of carrying a .45 caliber bullet with his
name carved on it in his pocket, apparently in the
belief that if he carried the bullet that had his name
on it, it could never be used to kill him.
After proving himself a reliable man to the mob,
he was soon inducted into its ranks, and killed
his first man at the age of 16. Bruno’s mob career
was unremarkable, and he was set to become just
another disposable asset until he was caught in a
three-way shoot-out between the Police Department,
his mob and agents of the Crimson Claw. Trapped
and out of ammunition, Sposato used the last bullet
he had, his good-luck piece. Bizarrely, the bullet
ricocheted off a police officer’s badge and hit
Sposato in the left eye, travelling straight through
his brain before exiting the back of his head.
Sposato survived the terrible injury and was sent
to prison for five years after leaving hospital.
However, he was a very different man. Those who
knew him before his injury often whisper that
perhaps he didn’t survive after all, and that the
Bruno Sposato that walks today is merely the body
of the mobster, a body filled with something other
than Bruno’s soul.
Though Bruno survived being shot in the head, he
did not survive unscathed. The damage to his brain
caused changes to his personality, eliminating his
compassion, conscience and most of his emotions.
Strangely, it also robbed him of his ability to see in
color and his ability to feel pain. The Bruno Sposato
that emerged from prison was brilliant, ruthless and
utterly deadly. Within a matter of a month, he had
risen to the rank of Consigliere, before staging a
bloody coup that put control of the mob firmly in
his hands.
Since that time Bruno “Bullet” Sposato has
consolidated his grasp on the reins of power, while
working to present the facade of a “legitimate
businessman” with an interest in property
investment. Sposato is a neat, aristocratic looking
Italian American man with prematurely silver hair,
handsome despite his craggy looks and eyepatch.
He rarely gets directly involved in anything
criminal these days but remains fit and is more than
capable of beating a man to death with his bare
hands should it prove necessary. Due to his brain
injury he is utterly unafraid of physical pain (he
can be damaged; he just won’t feel it) and cannot
be intimidated or made the subject of emotional
appeals.
Despite his criminal history, Bruno is a patriot,
though he finds this difficult to articulate or
understand. He loves his country and despises the
thought of foreign spies and collaborators, and as
such has proven quite an effective deterrent to the
agents of enemy powers unfortunate enough to
operate in his city.
Quote: “Don’t disrespect me, boy. It is not a
mistake you want to make.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d8, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d8, Persuasion d6,
Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), One Eye (Major)
Edges: Connections, Improved Nerves of Steel, Rich
THE FIEND
The Fiend is a monster, a devil in human form.
He or she has power and uses it to express their
contempt and loathing for humanity. The fiend
lives to torture, degrade and exploit the weak and
the powerless. They have no redeeming qualities,
and no fine cause to justify their actions. They are
the most dangerous of arcane villains, as no act is
beneath them and there is no outrage they would not
stoop to. Frequently insane, fiends are often literally
inhuman; undead monstrosities, creatures from
other planes, stranded aliens. Driven by hatred and
sadism, the fiend rules over their minions through
pain and terror. They inspire no loyalty, only dread,
loathing and hatred.
168
Thulian Koth – The Whispering
Skull
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Amongst the dregs of society, amidst the mad, the
lost and the broken of the world, power has a name;
Thulian Koth, the Whispering Skull. Few who
have opposed the Whispering Skull have lived long
enough to tell of it, but those who have cheated
death long enough have told a bizarre tale of ancient
magic, pre-historic civilizations, and the last scion
of the ancient gods.
In 1905, the Erskine-Wilder archaeological
expedition to Guatemala discovered a previously
unknown temple in the foothills of the Sierra
Madre Mountains, four miles from the Santa
Maria volcano. Dr Samuel Erskine’s expedition
log records his theory that the temple complex had
been unearthed by the volcanic eruption of 1902,
in which five thousand people died. Curiously,
he noted that the temple gave every indication of
being buried in the volcano’s original cone-building
eruptions, giving it an age of approximately thirty
thousand years and making it by far the oldest
architectural structure on the planet. Over the
next six months, Erskine and Wilder jealously
protected the secret of their find, employing a
hand-picked team of graduate students to excavate
and investigate the site. Maps, drawings and
photographs of the site reveal structures rivalling
the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia but built on
a much larger scale. On day 175 of the excavation,
Wilder uncovered a burial chamber, and within it a
sarcophagus carved from black basalt.
The details of what happened next are unknown.
Wilder apparently died after triggering some
sort of booby trap in the burial chamber, and the
rest of the team died shortly afterwards from a
variety of causes including native attacks, disease
and suicide. Samuel Erskine fled Guatemala and
returned to his home in New York, a broken man.
His journals reveal a rapid mental collapse, typified
by a persistent sense of persecution and horrible
dreams in which he found himself being tormented
by a “Whispering Skull”. Entries written on his trip
home repeatedly make mention of a “pursuer”, a
being that he feared would drink his soul.
Twelve days after arriving home, Dr Samuel
Erskine was found dead in his home, the victim
of a horrible murder. Something had liquefied the
flesh of his face, corroded a hole into his skull and
somehow extracted every scrap of brain tissue. The
last entry in Erskine’s diary were those of a man
driven almost insane with the fear that his imminent
death might not be the end of his suffering.
It is not long after this series of events that law
enforcement world-wide noticed a strange direction
to what had previously been deemed to be random
crimes, as if a hidden hand had seized control of
the mad, the vicious and the lost. Hushed voices
told nightmare stories of “The Whispering Skull”,
his coming empire and his Brotherhood of the
Fleshless Hand. Those who bore the mark of the
skeleton hand – burned into their flesh as if by
extreme cold – became untouchable by the law,
feared and revered by the criminal classes. Some
even appeared to gain unnatural powers, capable of
summoning hungry shadows to devour those who
displeased or betrayed them.
The link between these apparently unconnected
events was provided by the testimony of an
American sailor and former drug addict, Conrad
Stone. Stone was recruited to the Brotherhood of the
Fleshless Hand from the opium dens of Shanghai
and became, for a time, an assassin working directly
for the man they called the Whispering Skull.
Treated for his addiction and granted superhuman
strength by the potions of the Whispering Skull,
Stone was a merciless killer and devoted slave,
before being ordered to murder the daughter of an
Italian police inspector who was getting too close.
Stone, unused to moral dilemmas, found himself
unable to murder the girl, and instead defended
her from his former compatriots until he too was
murdered under circumstances few like to mention.
It is during this time that Stone told the inspector
and his superiors everything he knew about Thulian
Koth, the man the world knew as the Whispering
Skull.
The man – more accurately, the being, since it is not
certain that he is human at all – who calls himself
Thulian Koth claimed to have been born over forty
thousand years ago to a race of beings unknown
to modern science. A wizard-king of ancient
Atlantis, he was selectively bred to be a living
conduit between the sleeping gods and their human
slaves, ruling his land of magic and horrors with
an iron hand for over ten thousand years. Exactly
what happened to end that reign is unknown,
169
but Stone claimed that Koth had spoken bitterly
of a “betrayal”, that had ended with him being
imprisoned and entombed alive within the basalt
sarcophagus. Released into the modern world, Koth
found himself repelled by humanity’s achievements,
and vowed to return the world to its rightful state;
a savage land of magic, blood and darkness,
dominated by the sleeping gods and their regents,
the sorcerer-kings of Atlantis.
The Whispering Skull derives his name from his
skeletal appearance and hoarse, sibilant voice. Over
six feet tall, cadaverously thin, with ivory skin and
white, almost translucent hair, Thulian Koth is an
arresting sight. Bright green eyes shine maliciously
from his skull-like face, and his nose is so stunted
as to be virtually non-existent. Curiously, his fingers
are grotesquely elongated and have an extra joint,
making them horribly like the legs of a giant spider.
The Whispering Skull habitually dresses in flowing
black robes edged with delicate gold thread, and
carries a warped black staff tipped with a silver
skull.
The exact nature of the Whispering Skull’s powers
is a matter of speculation, though many occultists
believe him to be perhaps the greatest black magician
the world has ever seen. Stories abound of his
creation and use of supernatural monstrosities, the
employment of horrific curses, and transactions
with demons and eldritch abominations too terrible
to safely name. The Whispering Skull can use the
senses of any that bear his mark and can reach out to
end instantly the life of any initiate who would betray
him.
The ultimate purpose of Thulian Koth is a source of
some debate. Some believe that he intends to topple
civilization by eroding its foundations, others that
he desires to create his own nation-state in which he
can resurrect the culture and practices of his ancient
world. Some, however, believe his plans to be far
more ambitious, and suggest that his ultimate desire
is to literally turn back the clock upon the world,
to undo thousands of years of human progress and
summon once more to life the ancient and blood-
stained empire of Atlantis.
Note: As Legendary character, Thulian Koth
is designed to be a serious challenge. Only the
mightiest of heroes will stand a chance against him,
and as such he works best as the shadowy antagonist
and the final encounter of a long campaign.
Quote: “Your civilization, your science, your
technology – these are toys for children! I will show
you the world as it once was and will be again; a
world of blood, iron and magic!”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10,
Strength d8, Vigor d12
Skills: Academics d10, Athletics d6, Common
Knowledge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d10,
Notice d8, Occult d10, Persuasion d6, Research d8,
Science d10, Shooting d8, Spellcasting d12, Stealth
d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Ageless, Arcane Background (Magic), Con-
nections, Older Than I Look, Filthy Rich, New
Powers, Power Points, Sidekick (The Dark Com-
panion), Scholar (Occult), Wizard
Powers: Blast, Mind Link, Protection, Summon Ally,
Teleport
Power Points: 15
The Dark Companion –
Monstrous Familiar of the
Whispering Skull
The Whispering Skull has a constant companion, a
diminutive figure enshrouded in a garment vaguely
resembling a monk’s habit. This creature appears
to be part companion and part familiar. If it has a
name Thulian Koth has never been heard to utter it,
and the creature itself never makes a sound, other
than a horrible high-pitched screech when the thing
attacks. The true nature of this creature is unknown,
but some have speculated that it is a demon familiar,
brought back by Koth from a pilgrimage to the
Outer Darkness.
Quote: “Ssssssssssss.”
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength
d8, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d10, Intimidation d10, Notice d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Armor (+4): The Dark Companion’s body is
squishy and boneless.
• Fear (–4): Anyone seeing the creature’s form under
its robes must make a Spirit roll at –4.
• Fearless: Immune to Fear and Intimidation.
• Hardy: If Shaken, further Shaken results have no
effect.
170
• Improved Frenzy: The Dark Companion makes
two Fighting attacks against every opponent within
2” of it each round without incurring a multi action
penalty.
• Regeneration (Fast): The Dark Companion makes
a natural healing roll every round.
• Tentacles (4): Str+3. Each tentacle has a single
wound, but damaging a tentacle causes no harm
to the Dark Companion, which can sprout a new
tentacle to replace a damaged one as a free action.
THE MAN-MADE MONSTER
A horror icon since the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley,
the Man-Made Monster is the ultimate product
of Weird Science. If the Science Hero is nature
improved by science, the Man-Made Monster is
nature replaced and subverted by science. Whether
a clone, homunculus, robot, zombie or stitched-
together assemblage of reanimated flesh, the Man-
Made Monster is a created or otherwise engineered
being. Sometimes the Man-Made Monster is simply
muscle for his creator, other times he is a rebellious
child, driven by an Oedipal desire to steal his
“father’s” power (and occasionally his father’s love-
interest too). Man-Made Monsters are often tragic
figures, misunderstood and filled with self-loathing
at their own monstrous nature, but are just as often
hostile and aggressive, believing in their own
superiority over the “merely accidental” creations of
nature and evolution.
Man-Made Monsters vary wildly in appearance,
often reflecting their manner of creation in their
physical features. A being engineered from
disassembled cadavers may have a ghastly pallor
and be covered in crudely stitched scar-tissue, while
a creature grown in a tank of bubbling fluids may
lack a navel and have strangely colored skin, hair or
eyes.
Some Man-Made Monsters may have successfully
mastered the techniques that brought them to life
and have wrought their own minions out of the
same raw materials. Some may plot to replace or
dominate humanity, while others might wish to be
left in peace or simply be acknowledged by their
creators.
Exactly how the Man-Made Monster is created is
up to the individual Game Master. Perhaps the key
to his creation lie in the long-forgotten notes of
Victor Frankenstein or his contemporaries. Perhaps
he is the product of alchemical experimentation, or
a human being engineered in the womb. It could
be a thinking machine, a reanimated corpse, or an
animal brought to human levels of intelligence by
unthinkable surgery and hormone treatments.
Though the Frankenstein Monster is itself
the product of the previous century, its most
recognizable incarnation was born at the height
of the Pulp era in James Whale’s famous 1931
movie adaptation. Another notable Pulp Man-Made
Monster is the decapitated Major Sir Eric Moreland
Clapham-Lee – reanimated by Herbert West – who
went on to use his knowledge of West’s techniques
to create and control his own band of undead
servants, combining the Man-Made Monster with
the Mad Scientist. Other period examples include
the artificial people from Carel Kapek’s 1921 play
R.U.R., the computer brain in Edmund Hamilton’s
story The Metal Giants, the alien automaton Gnut in
the short story Farewell to the Master (Gort in the
film adaptation The Day the Earth Stood Still), and
of course Futura the robot woman from Fritz Lang’s
Metropolis.
Die Schreck
(Wild Card, Legendary)
Many terrible stories are told of the Great War and
the horrors good men experienced in the trenches,
but some stories are far darker than others. One
such is the story of what the advancing German
forces discovered in the bombed-out ruins of a field
hospital in St. Eloi, Flanders, in the April of 1915.
Soldiers securing the site, recently vacated by
a retreating Canadian regiment, uncovered the
remains of a strange hidden laboratory, filled with
patchwork monstrosities and mindless undead
creatures. At the heart of the ruined laboratory was
a sundered vat of luminous serum, the contents of
which had drained away into the earth when the
hospital was destroyed.
In the months that followed troops on both sides of
the trenches reported strange visitations, sightings
of fallen comrades resurrected as eerie revenants,
with mortal wounds that dripped a glowing green
ichor. When one such creature was captured and
returned to the German High Command, doctors
soon determined two facts. The first was that the
171
creature was biologically dead, and the second was
that its curious un-life was due to contamination by
reptilian cell matter infused with a strange luminous
chemical fluid.
Faced with terrible losses, the German scientists
attempted to analyze and reproduce the reanimating
serum, in the hope of creating soldiers that could
not be killed. The first such soldier was codenamed
Die Schreck – The Terror. Stitched together from
the corpses of fallen infantrymen, its veins filled
with cultured reptile cells and the reanimating fluid,
the horrible creature shrieked its way into the world
in the winter of 1916. Escaping containment, the
undead thing destroyed the laboratory that birthed
it, killed the scientists who created it and vanished
into no-man’s land, there to become just another
battlefield horror story. But it did not remain there
for long.
In the confusion that followed the armistice, tales
began to emerge from the ruined French countryside
of graves defiled, of entire cemeteries being emptied
by an eerie band of silent, disfigured men under the
leadership of a scarred officer....
Physically, Die Schreck is tall – almost seven feet
tall – and athletically built. He dresses in black,
close, fitting clothing and a black officers greatcoat.
His face is handsome, save for a disfiguring scar
that winds down from his right temple, across his
eye and down to the right corner of his mouth. His
skin is pale, and his dark eyes glow with a strange
greenish light. When he speaks his voice is cultured,
with a slight German accent and a curiously hollow
quality.
Die Schreck – he goes by no other name and
does not seem to recall any previous life – is a
true monster. His body seems to have become an
eternally regenerating reservoir of reanimating
ichor, and he has demonstrated repeatedly the
ability to raise and control the dead by injecting
them with his own blood. Those that Die Schreck
raises from the dead are, for the most part, mindless
zombies except when under his direct mental
control. He has, however, succeeded in creating
lieutenants – thinking undead creatures like
himself – by carefully refrigerating corpses before
reanimation to preserve the delicate tissues of the
brain. So far, however, none have demonstrated the
same power to raise the dead.
The ultimate aims of Die Schreck are unknown,
but he has spoken of breaking down the barrier
between death and life, of “freeing humanity from
the tyranny of life” and of “emancipating the
truly silent majority.” Despite being German, Die
Schreck seems to have no political or nationalist
allegiance, seeing himself as the leader of the nation
of the dead
Quote: “What you call life, I call slavery. You are
slaves to your emotions, to your need for warmth,
air, food and water. Truly, death is freedom from all
these things. Join me and be free...”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d8,
Strength d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Academics d8, Athletics d6, Common Knowl-
edge d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d10, Repair d8, Research d8, Science d6,
Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Weird Science d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Infravision: Die Schreck can see the heat emitted
by the living, and halves penalties for bad lighting
when attacking living prey.
• Undead: Die Schreck is an undead construct. He
adds +2 to recover from being Shaken, ignores one
level of Wound modifiers, doesn’t breathe, and is
immune to disease and poison. Wounds must be
mended via magical Healing or the Repair skill.
Each attempt takes one hour per current Wound
level and ignores the “Golden Hour”.
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Driven (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), Arcane
Resistance, Bruiser, Followers, Harder to Kill,
Improved Arcane Resistance, Iron Jaw, Menacing
Powers: Darksight, Zombie
Power Points: 15
THE MANGLER
The Mangler is a character that shows up in various
guises throughout the Pulps. He is a hulking
homicidal man-mountain used as muscle by other
villains. He frequently has a bizarre obsession
with beauty, and is fixated on the Mad Scientists
beautiful daughter, the mob bosses Moll, the
Baroness or the Dragon Lady, whoever is the most
inaccessible.
The Mangler is characterized by his great size,
172
physical strength and durability. He is a figure of
terror with a reputation for dealing horrible death,
usually with his bare hands. He almost always has a
signature method of dealing with his foes, by which
his murders can easily be identified. Perhaps he
breaks backs, crushes skulls, snaps necks or twists
his victims into pretzels. Whatever his method of
killing, the mere thought of him is enough to fill
those who know of him with dread.
Though the Mangler is usually a reliable weapon,
he can sometimes be turned against his master (or
mistress), by playing upon his tendency to obsess.
The Hoxton Creeper
(Wild Card, Legendary)
The brutal killer known as “the Hoxton Creeper”
in Britain, and later simply “The Creeper” in the
United States, is a deformed giant of a man whose
monstrous appearance strikes terror in his victims
shortly before he murders them by crushing their
spines with his bare hands.
The origins of the Creeper and the source of both
his great strength and his uncanny ability to cheat
death are unknown. A medical report made while
he was presumed dead having been shot several
times by Sherlock Holmes, suggests that the cause
of his facial deformity and great size may be a form
of acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland.
However, this does not explain the Creepers near-
total silence, his apparent fearlessness, his cold-
blooded ruthlessness or his great physical strength.
Nor does it explain his peculiar resistance to injury.
Though records on the Creeper are sparse at best, he
is said to have been shot several times, hung twice,
electrocuted, burned, drowned, poisoned and blown
up with gelignite. None of these took.
The Creeper first appeared in London during the
later 1880s, working as hired muscle for several
different criminal masterminds. It is here that he
first gained his reputation as an unstoppable force,
becoming a symbol of terror and ruthlessness for
whoever bought his loyalty. Though his appearance
was terrifying, he developed a tendency to become
obsessed with one attractive young woman after
another, silently stalking them in order to present
them with small tokens of his affection (and
incidentally break the backs of any potential rivals).
At some point however, each of these women would
disappoint him, and they would shortly be found
somewhere with their spines crushed.
The Creepers first reign of terror was ended when
he was ambushed by armed officers of Scotland
Yard. In the resulting melee it is estimated he was
shot between ten and twenty times without apparent
effect, before he fell into the Thames and vanished
without trace.
The Creeper re-appeared in London nearly ten
years later, working for the notorious art thief
Giles Conover. Conover made an attempt to steal
the notorious black pearl of the Borgias and ran
afoul of Sherlock Holmes. During this adventure,
the Creeper appears to have forged a strange bond
with the black pearl, as his life ever after seems
closely linked with the blood-stained treasure.
Holmes successfully managed to turn the Creeper
against Conover by invoking the name of the
Creeper’s latest obsession, and later apparently
shot the Creeper dead. The Creeper revived during
his autopsy, broke the back of the examining
pathologist, and again disappeared.
Five years later, the Borgia Pearl was sold at auction
to an anonymous American millionaire, and the
Creeper resurfaced once again. Displaying uncanny
stealth for a man previously considered to be rather
stupid, the Creeper followed the jewel to New York,
where he murdered the courier, a docking agent and
three deck-hands.
Since then he has worked as mob muscle and a
killer for hire, always following the Black Pearl as
it passes from owner to owner, always murdering
those foolish enough to keep it in their possession
long enough for him to find them. It has been
suggested that the Creeper can sense the jewel
somehow, as he has traced it several times when
every precaution had been taken to conceal its true
location.
In the mid-1940’s a character loosely based on the
Creeper will be featured in several movies, played
by the actor Rondo Hatton.
Note that although the Creeper rarely speaks, he is
not mute.
Quote: “...”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength
d10, Vigor d12
173
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d12, Notice d8, Persuasion d4,
Shooting d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10
Special Abilities:
• Undying: The Creeper is too mean and stubborn to
die, returning from apparent death time and again.
To prevent his return, extreme measure must be
taken; the body must be incinerated until nothing
but ash remains.
Hindrances: Driven (Major), Ugly (Major)
Edges: Bruiser, Brute, Fast Healer, Harder to Kill,
Iron Jaw, Menacing
MOOKS &
MINIONS
Radium Man
(Novice)
“ELIMINATE. ELIMINATE. ELIMINATE!” These
sturdy mechanized minions of Doktor Todeskopf
were thought to be robots until someone found a
living brain inside!
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d12, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Shooting d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 7
Special Abilities:
• Armor +2: Reinforced body.
• Construct: +2 to recover from being Shaken;
Immune to poison, disease, and suffocation; No
additional damage from Called Shots; Piercing
weapons cause half damage.
• Doesn’t Breathe: Radium Men do not breathe.
They aren’t affected by inhaled toxins, can’t drown,
and don’t suffocate in a vacuum. (They may still
freeze, however.)
• Fearless: Radium Men are immune to Fear and
Intimidation.
• Hardy: A second Shaken result does not cause a
wound.
Hindrances: By the Book (Minor), Slow (Minor)
Gear:
• Tesla Cannon (Range: 50/100/200, 3d10 damage,
RoF: 1, Shots: 10)
Gangster
(Novice)
Armed with smart suits, Tommy guns and
wisecracks, gangsters could work for the Mafia
or an independent outfit. Occasionally they’re
unknowingly recruited as muscle for international
spy rings and tend to get quite mad when they find
out – they may be criminal, but they’re patriots!
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6, Notice d6,
Persuasion d4, Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Mean
Edges: Rock and Roll!
Gear:
• Tommy Gun (12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 3, Shots: 50,
AP1, Auto)
Legbreaker
(Heroic)
This henchman doesn’t have much in the way of
brains, but his muscle more than makes up for it.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d10, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d10, Intimidation d10, Notice d6, Persuasion
d4, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 9; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: Arrogant, Overconfident
Edges: Ambidextrous, Brawny, Brawler, Combat
Reflexes, First Strike, Improved Block, Improved
Frenzy, Iron Jaw, Sweep, Two-Fisted
Special Abilities:
• Hands of Iron: The Legbreaker can inflict lethal
damage with his fists, if he chooses.
Thug
(Novice)
Thugs aren’t good for much more than acting tough
and petty crime. More experienced thugs may have
the Combat Reflexes and Frenzy Edges, as well as
one or more extra dice in Strength, Fighting and
Intimidation.
174
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6,
Notice d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Mean
Gear:
• Knife (Str+1) or Club (Str+1)
Nazi Soldier
(Novice)
The average infantry soldier of the Third Reich.
Found guarding Nazi installations as well as on the
front line, they are often considered expendable
assets by Nazi High Command,
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driving
d6, Fighting d6, Notice d4, Persuasion d4, Shooting
d6, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Gear:
• Helmet (+3)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
• Grenades x 4 (Range: 5/10/20, 3d6-2 damage,
MBT)
Nazi Thug
(Seasoned)
Built like a brick outhouse, this hulking Nazi thug
enjoys using his muscles and fists to beat people
into submission. They’re usually low-ranking
infantry soldiers, not very bright and too fond of
fighting to progress in the ranks.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d12, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d10, Intimidation d8, Notice d6,
Persuasion d4, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: Loyal
Edges: Brawny, Combat Reflexes, First Strike
Special Abilities:
• Hardy: Hulking soldiers do not suffer a Wound
from being Shaken twice.
Gear:
• Helmet (+3)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
• Grenades x 4 (Range: 5/10/20, 3d6-2 damage,
MBT)
• Sturdy Wrench (Str+2)
Nazi, SS Soldier
(Seasoned)
Hardline Nazi loyalists, the soldiers of the
Schutzstaffel (SS) are better trained and more
fanatical than the average Nazi soldier. The
SS is divided into three main subdivisions; the
Allgemeine SS (General SS), responsible for
general policing and enforcing the racial policies
of Nazi Germany; the Waffen-SS (Armed SS),
elite combat units within the military; and the
SS-Totenkopfverbande (Death’s Head Units),
responsible for running the concentration and
extermination camps. Other subdivisions were
the Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst (Security
Service), tasked with detecting and neutralizing
current or potential threats to the Reich, and with
foreign and domestic intelligence.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d4, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace:6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty (Major), Loyal (Major)
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Rock and Roll!
Gear:
• Helmet (+3)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
• Grenades x 4 (Range: 5/10/20, 3d6-2 damage,
MBT)
• Knife (Str+d4)
Nazi Officer
(Seasoned)
The command ranks of the Nazi war machine.
Intelligent, cruel and arrogant, these are often found
as mid-level villains, often serving as lieutenants for
more deadly opponents.
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Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Battle d6, Common Knowledge
d4, Driving d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice
d6, Persuasion d4, Shooting d8, Stealth d6, Taunt d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Ruthless (Major)
Edges: Command, Hold the Line!, Strong Willed
Gear:
• Luger P08 (Range: 12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 1,
Shots: 8)
Nazi, Gestapo Officer
(Novice)
Tasked with identifying and eliminating threats to
the Nazi state, extracting information and enforcing
Nazi policy among the people, the Gestapo officer
wields great power, and he knows it. Hitler’s
legislation literally puts the Gestapo above the law,
and the Gestapo officer enjoys the fear this puts
into the hearts of those around him. He likes to
pretend that he is a civilized man, but he doesn’t try
that hard. After all, he’s a petty sadist and a bully
who can make people disappear with a snap of his
fingers.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6,
Research d8, Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Taunt d6
Pace:6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Ruthless (Major), Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Menacing
Gear:
• Luger P08 (Range: 12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 1,
Shots: 8)
• Brass Knuckles (Str+2)
• Creepy Leather Gloves (+1 Intimidation)
Nazi Spy
(Novice)
An agent of a Fifth Column, the Nazi spy is tasked
by the Reich with conducting sabotage, espionage
and assassination in the name of the Fuhrer. He
rarely works alone, sometimes working with
local traitors (or dupes) to destabilize the enemy,
sometimes in league with a master spy or arch
villain. Nazi spies dig up dirt on supporters of the
war effort, blackmail generals, steal blueprints, and
kidnap the beautiful daughters of scientists in order
to force them to give up their secret formulas.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Notice d6, Persuasion d6, Research d8,
Shooting d6, Stealth d6, Thievery d6
Pace:6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 7
Hindrances: Secret (Major), Loyal (Minor), Obli-
gation (Minor)
Edges: Charismatic, Streetwise
Gear:
• Luger P08 (Range: 12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 1,
Shots: 8)
Nazi Scientist
(Wild Card, Heroic)
The Nazi scientist isn’t quite in the league of
the Mad Scientist, but he’s getting there. He has
virtually unlimited funds, access to unwilling test
subjects, a staggering amount of belief in some
incredibly shaky “science”, and the SS waiting in
the wings if he doesn’t get results. He’s more than
willing to push the boundaries of science further
than they’re supposed to go, and has no concept of
research ethics. In short, he’s incredibly dangerous,
and the heroes must stop him before he succeeds
in whatever crack-brained scheme the Nazis have
cooked up this time!
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d12, Spirit d8,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d4, Healing d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d4, Repair d10, Science d8, Shooting
d4, Stealth d4, Weird Science d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major), Delusional (Major)
176
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), Gad-
geteer, Mr. Fix It, McGyver, New Powers, Power
Points, Rapid Recharge.
Powers: + 4 Powers.
Power Points: 20
Gear:
• Luger P08 (Range: 12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 1,
Shots: 8)
Nazi Sorcerer
(Wild Card, Heroic)
An officer of the Ahnenerbe, the Nazi sorcerer is
part of Hitler’s search for victory over the Allies at
any cost. Using occult rituals and artifacts looted
from sites all over the world, the Nazi sorcerer
seeks supernatural power and alliances for the
further glory of the Third Reich. Like Hitler, he
believes in a thousand-year empire of fire and ice,
populated by a “pure” Aryan race who have become
like the gods through the exercise of will, sacrifice
and the shedding of blood. Like Hitler, he’s also
more than a little mad, but that makes him even
more dangerous.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d12, Spirit d12,
Strength d8, Vigor d6.
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Healing d6, Occult d12, Persuasion d4,
Intimidation d4, Notice d6, Research d10, Spell-
casting d10, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Vengeful (Major), Overconfident
(Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Command,
Fervor, Level Headed, New Powers, Power Points,
Wizard
Powers: Bolt, Deflection, Entangle, Protection,
Puppet.
Power Points: 15
Gear:
• Luger P08 (Range: 12/24/48, 2d6+1, RoF: 1,
Shots: 8)
• Knife (Str+d4)
Nazi Hexensoldat
(Wild Card, Veteran)
The Hexensoldat (witch-soldiers) are products of
secret Ahnenerbe training programs, where Nazi
sorcerers instruct SS troops in the use of magic on
the battlefield. These soldiers know only the most
basic spells, but enough of them could turn the tide
of the coming war.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d8,
Persuasion d4, Shooting d8, Spellcasting d6, Stealth
d6
Pace:6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty (Major), Loyal (Minor),
Vow (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Magic), Combat
Reflexes, Dodge, Rock and Roll!
Powers: + 3 Powers. Power Points: 10
Gear:
• Helmet (+3)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
• Grenades x 4 (Range: 5/10/20, 3d6-2 damage,
MBT)
• Knife (Str+d4)
Nazi Raketensoldat
(Novice)
Wearing the latest product of Nazi super-science (or
possibly something stolen from a Weird Scientist),
the Nazi Raketensoldat (Rocket Soldiers) are the
Reich’s answer to the heroic Rocket Man; human
missiles capable of out-flying Allied fighter planes.
If they can be mass-produced, it’ll be a bad day for
world freedom!
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d6,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Piloting
d10, Shooting d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8 (2)
Hindrances: Overconfident
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Level Headed
Gear:
• Armored flying suit (+2)
• Rocket Pack (Flight Pace 50, Handling +1)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
Nazi Übersoldat
(Wild Card, Legendary)
The secret labs of Nazi scientists have produced
many horrors, only one of which is the Übersoldat
(Super Soldier). Mutated by infusions of Element
X and augmented using the finest Nazi weird
177
science, these hulking brutes pack the power of a
squad of heavily armed troops into the frame of a
single massive soldier. Though difficult to control
and even harder to make, the Fuhrer believes these
monstrous creatures may be the future of warfare.
Worse, there are rumors that the Nazis are working
on a new generation of these creatures with even
greater abilities. Heaven help us all if they are true.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength
d12, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d12, Notice d8, Persuasion d4,
Shooting d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10
Special Abilities:
• Armor (+4): The Übersoldat has tough, leathery
skin.
• Fearless: The Übersoldat is immune to Fear and
Intimidation.
• Hardy: If Shaken, further Shaken results have no
effect.
• Immunity: The Übersoldat is immune to poison
gasses and blister agents like mustard gas.
• Low-Light Vision: The Übersoldat can see in
almost total darkness.
• Regeneration (Fast): The Übersoldat makes a nat-
ural healing roll every round.
• Weakness: The Übersoldat has a specific weakness,
the nature of which should be chosen by the GM.
Hindrances: Driven (Major), Ugly (Major)
Edges: Berserk, Bruiser, Brute, Fast Healer, Frenzy,
Harder to Kill, Iron Jaw, Menacing
Gear:
• Helmet (+3)
• MP34 Submachine Gun (Range: 65/130/260,
2d6+1 damage, RoF: 3, Shots: 20/32)
• Grenades x 4 (Range: 5/10/20, 3d6-2 damage,
MBT)
• Knife (Str+d4)
Ninja
(Novice)
Often found working for Foreign Masterminds,
these black-clad killers excel at infiltration and
assassination. These stats can also be used for
assassins working for the Mara Brotherhood,
the Tong of the Black Scorpion, or any other
group specializing in a quick and silent death;
just substitute the weapons for something more
appropriate.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6,
Lockpicking d8, Notice d8, Shooting d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Hindrances: —
Edges: Acrobat, Quick Draw, Thief
Gear:
• Ninjato sword (Str+2)
• Shuriken (3/6/12, Str+1, RoF 3)
• Smoke pellets (2/4/8, Small Burst Template, –6 to
see or attack through template, lasts 3 rounds)
Adherent of the Mara
Brotherhood
(Novice)
Adherents of the Mara Brotherhood form the rank
and file of the Black Lama’s followers. They are
fanatics, with no regard for their own life or the
lives of others.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty (Major), Vow (Major)
Gear:
• Dagger (Str+d4)
Kundalini Warrior
(Novice)
The elite fighters of the Mara Brotherhood, the
Kundalini Warriors undergo a form of psychic
surgery that turns them into walking psionic
weapons. The process is excruciatingly painful,
and eliminates their ability to feel fear, as well
as dramatically shortening their life-span and
eliminating much of their free will.
178
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d4, Psionics d8,
Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Special Abilities:
• Fear (-2): The eyes of a Kundalini Warrior glow
with a dim red light that burns brighter as they use
their powers, causing anyone who sees them to
make a fear check at -2.
• Fearless: Kundalini Warriors have had their brains
psychically re-wired, making them immune to Fear
and Intimidation.
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty (Major), Death Wish
(Minor), Delusional (Minor)
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), New Powers,
Power Points, Rapid Recharge
Powers: + 4 Powers (Suggested Power sets; Blast,
Damage Field, Protection, Teleport OR Flight,
Intangibility, Invisibility, Telekinesis)
Power Points: 15
Gear:
• Dagger (Str+d4)
Tsang-Chan Warrior
Though small, the Tsang-Chan are deadly and
persistent.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d6,
Notice d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d8, Survival d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Special Abilities:
• Low Light Vision: All Tsang-Chan can see in
poor lighting and suffer no penalties except in total
darkness.
• Paralysis (+0): The Tsang-Chan dip their blowgun
darts into paralyzing poison. Anyone Shaken or
wounded by a paralysis dart must make a Vigor roll
or be paralyzed for 2d6 rounds.
• Poison (+0): Some poison darts are coated with
curare or other such deadly poisons. Anyone Shaken
or wounded by a poison dart must make a Vigor
roll or suffer an automatic wound. Deadlier poisons,
which give a penalty to the Vigor roll, are some-
times used.
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Bloodthirsty, Small
Edges: Woodsman
Gear:
• Spear (Str+2, +1 Parry)
• Blowgun (2/4/8, 1d6+1)
Tsang-Chan Shaman
The Tsang-Chan worship something old, dark
and steeped in blood. It may be an Eldritch
Abomination, the Devil, or something equally
powerful and horrible. Whatever it is, belief in
it drives them to perform awful rites of human
sacrifice and acts of self-mutilation. At the heart
of this terrible faith is the Shaman, interceding
between the Tsang-Chan and their gods. What
makes the Shaman dangerous is that sometimes the
Tsang-Chan’s gods answer…
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d10,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Faith
d8, Fighting d4, Intimidation d10, Notice d8, Per-
suasion d4, Stealth d6, Survival d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 6
179
Special Abilities:
• Low Light Vision: All Tsang-Chan can see in
poor lighting and suffer no penalties except in total
darkness.
• Paralysis (+0): The Tsang-Chan dip their blowgun
darts into paralyzing poison. Anyone Shaken or
wounded by a paralysis dart must make a Vigor roll
or be paralyzed for 2d6 rounds.
• Poison (+0): Some poison darts are coated with
curare or other such deadly poisons. Anyone Shaken
or wounded by a poison dart must make a Vigor
roll or suffer an automatic wound. Deadlier poisons,
which give a penalty to the Vigor roll, are some-
times used.
Hindrances: Small (Minor), Vengeful (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Miracles), New Powers,
Power Points
Gear:
• Spear (Str+2, +1 Parry)
• Pointing Bone (+2 Faith)
Powers: Bolt, Farsight, Fear, Protection, Summon
Ally.
Power Points: 15
 BESTIARY
E
ach entry includes a physical description
of the creature, a summary of its nature and
common tactics, and suggestions for how it might
integrate into Pulp society or, in the case of a
fantastic creature, burrow its way into the human
subconscious. Many creatures have a difficult time
fitting into Pulp society in a traditional way and
are often found at the social fringes of urban life.
Others are highly adaptive and can easily create
their own power bases within our world.
ANIMALS
An opponent does not need to have a gun – or even
be human – to be dangerous, as any big game hunter
will testify. Nature is red in tooth and claw, and
Pulp heroes often had to defend themselves against
hungry crocs, venomous insects and rampaging
beasts. See the Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
rulebook for an extensive bestiary of animals.
Bat
Nocturnal flying mammals, bats have long been
a symbol of supernatural evil, but are normally
quite harmless. Some, however, have been known
to harbor rabies and other diseases, and can be
encountered in swarms.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d4, Intimidation d4, Notice d8,
Stealth d12
Pace: 1; Parry: 4; Toughness: 2
Special Abilities:
• Echolocation: Bats can navigate perfectly even
in total darkness and suffer no penalties for poor
lighting.
• Flight: Pace 12, Climb 6.
180
• Nocturnal: Bats are disorientated by bright light
and suffer a -2 penalty to all checks made in daylight
or equivalent illumination.
• Size -4: Tiny.
• Slow: Bats crawl at Pace 1 and cannot run.
Boar (Wild Pig)
A wild boar’s hide is covered with short, woolly,
grey-black hair. Along the spine, hair mixes with
stiffer bristles to form a sort of mane. The average
adult boar stands 3 feet high at the shoulder and
measures roughly 4 feet long. Its formidable tusks
protrude from its lower jaw and can grow up to 12
inches long.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d8, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d6, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 7
Special Abilities:
• Berserk: When a boar is Shaken it goes berserk. It
gains +2 to all Fighting and Strength rolls and its
Toughness, but Parry is reduced by 2.
• Gore: If a boar charges at least 6” before attacking,
it adds +4 to damage.
• Hardy: A second Shaken result in combat does not
cause the boar a Wound.
• Tusks: Str+d4 damage.
Camel
Known as the ship of the desert, camels are likely
to be encountered by heroes hunting ancient tombs
in the desert sands. They’re uncomfortable to ride,
but far better at coping with the arid desert heat than
horses.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d12, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d6
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Camel: Camels do not start making Vigor rolls for
dehydration until the 8th day after
• water runs out.
• Bite & Kick: They spit too. Str damage.
• Ornery: Camels are contrary, stubborn creatures.
Characters riding camels must subtract 1
• from their Riding rolls.
• Sand Walker: Camels treat traveling across deserts
as normal terrain.
• Size +2: Camels are only slightly larger than riding
horses.
Chimpanzee
The statistics below represent a chimpanzee, but
they can also be used for any small ape or monkey
of similar size, such as a howler monkey. Most such
animals are omnivorous, although some can be
quite fierce and aggressive.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d10, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8,
Notice d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Special Abilities:
• Bite/Claw: Str+1.
• Climbing: Chimps can move at their full Pace in
trees or similar environments and don’t normally
need to make Athletics rolls.
• Hurl: Chimps can hurl rocks and heavy nuts from
the high branches of their homes. These cause Str+2
damage if they are above a victim, or Str if the
chimp does not have a significant altitude advan-
tage. Range is 3/6/12.
• Leaper: Chimps can jump twice as far as listed
under Movement. In addition, they add +4 to damage
when leaping as part of a Wild Attack instead of the
usual +2 (unless in a closed or confined space where
they cannot leap horizontally or vertically—GM’s
call).
• Size –1: Chimps are about 4’ tall.
Cobra
Cobras are distinctive venomous snakes that can
spit toxin and deliver a poisonous bite, usually
encountered throughout Africa and Asia. They’re
a favorite of Evil Masterminds, who like to lower
181
their victims into pits full of them or deliver them as
unpleasant gifts.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Notice d12, Shoot-
ing d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 2
Special Abilities:
• Poison: Snakes this size do little serious damage
with their bite but may inject deadly venom. A char-
acter bitten by a spitting cobra must succeed in a
Vigor roll at -2 and gain a level of Fatigue. With a
failure, the victim becomes Incapacitated and must
make a second Vigor roll or die in 2d6 minutes.
• Quick: Snakes are notoriously fast. They may dis-
card action cards of 5 or lower and draw another.
They must keep the replacement card, however.
• Size -2: Cobras are four to six feet in length, but
only a few inches thick.
• Small: Anyone attacking a snake must subtract 2
from his attack rolls.
• Spit: Cobras can spray blinding venom to a Range
of 1/2/4. A raise on the attack means the victim has
been struck in the face. He must make a Vigor roll
at –2 or be blinded for 2d6 hours. While blinded, he
suffers a –6 penalty to all physical trait rolls.
Elephant
Found in India and Africa, elephants are intelligent,
social animals, who are nonetheless hunted as
trophies and for their ivory tusks. Normally
gentle, elephants can be aggressive if wounded or
threatened, or if they believe their family group is
in danger. Some Jungle Lords may have elephant
friends or use them as mounts.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8(A), Spirit d8,
Strength d12+5, Vigor d8
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d6
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 13
Special Abilities:
• Armor +1: Leathery hide.
• Large: Attacks are +2 to all attack rolls when tar-
geting an elephant.
• Size +6: Elephants weigh over a ton.
• Trample: Elephants can trample creatures of Size
+3 or smaller. If the elephant runs, anyone in its path
must make an Agility roll or be run down. Victims
take damage equal to the elephant’s Str plus its Size
and are knocked prone.
• Tusks: Str+d6.
Gorilla
The largest of the apes, gorillas are primarily
herbivorous and live in the forests of central Africa.
The closest relative to man, Gorillas are intelligent,
social and territorial. While generally shy of man,
they can become aggressive if they feel their family
group or territory is being threatened.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8(A), Spirit d8,
Strength d12+2, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8,
Notice d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9
Special Abilities:
• Charge: If a gorilla charges at least 6” before
attacking, it adds +4 to damage.
• Frenzy: A gorilla can make two Fighting attacks
each round at –2 penalty.
• Size +1: Gorillas are much stockier and larger than
humans.
• Slam: Str.
Hippopotamus
Hippos are responsible for more deaths in Africa
than any other animal except the mosquito. Hippos
are large, extremely territorial, and have a habit of
capsizing boats that drift too close to them.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d8,
Strength d12+3, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8,
Notice d6, Stealth d8, Swimming d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 11 (1)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +1: Hippos have thick, Blubbery hides.
• Berserk: Hippos immediately go berserk if they
sense intruders in their territory. While Berserk, its
Parry is reduced by 2 but it adds +2 to all Fighting
and Strength rolls, and +2 to its Toughness. The
hippo gains the Hardy ability while berserk.
• Bite: Str+d6.
• Capsize: Hippos can capsize small boats. The hippo
makes a Strength roll and compares the total to the
boat’s Toughness (including Armor). If the hippo’s
total is higher, it has capsized the boat, dumping the
passengers into the river. Boats with Heavy Armor
cannot be capsized by a hippo.
• Dehydration: Hippos must immerse themselves in
water (salt or fresh) at least one hour out of every
24 or gain a Fatigue level each day until they are
Incapacitated. The day after that, they perish.
182
• Semi-Aquatic: Pace 8. Hippos can stay submerged
for about 5 minutes.
• Size +4: Hippos weigh up to four tons.
Rat (Swarm)
Wherever there is man, the rat is sure to follow.
Omnivorous, scavenging rodents, rats are
remarkable survivors, adapting to many ecological
niches. On their own, rats can be quite timid, but
in large groups they can be ferocious predators.
They rarely attack humans unless extremely hungry,
cornered, rabid or under the control of someone
else. Rats are usually small, though in the inner
cities some rats can be the size of small dogs. Rat
swarms can fill a Large, Medium or Small Blast
Template.
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d12,
Strength d8, Vigor d10
Skills: Notice d6
Pace: 10; Parry: 4; Toughness: 7
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Rat swarms deliver hundreds of tiny bites
every round to their victims, hitting automatically
and causing 2d4 damage to everyone in the template
not wearing a completely sealed protective suit.
• Infection: Rats frequently carry disease. If the target
of a rat swarm is Shaken or Wounded by the attack,
they must make succeed in a Vigor roll or become
Fatigued, increasing with successive bites until they
are Incapacitated. Fatigue levels are recovered at
one every 24 hours or following a successful healing
roll. Death by rat swarm is rare (unless they carry
rabies or are extremely hungry and eat the victim
alive).
• Split: Rat swarms will split into two smaller swarms
when Wounded (GM’s call), or in pursuit of prey.
Reduce the Blast Template one size after a Wound;
Small swarms are destroyed. Every time a Swarm
divides, it’s Toughness is reduced by -2. When
smaller Swarms merge, their Toughness is raised
by +2
• Swarm: Parry +2. Because the swarm is composed
of scores, hundreds, or thousands of rats, cutting and
piercing weapons do no real damage. Area effect
weapons work normally, and a character can stomp
to inflict his damage in Strength each round. Rat
swarms may be foiled by total immersion in water,
but rats can swim and may be waiting on the surface
for the hapless hero.
Rhinoceros
Short-sighted, armor-plated and bad-tempered,
rhinos can – and will – charge a moving vehicle if
the mood takes them. Getting on the wrong side of
one can put a sizable crimp in your hero’s African
safari.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d10,
Strength d12+5, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d10, Notice d4,
Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 13 (2)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +2: Thick hide.
• Fleet Footed: Rhinos have a d10 running die.
• Gore: A rhino uses the Charge maneuver to gore its
opponents with its horn. If it can charge at least 6”
before attacking, it adds +4 to its damage total.
• Horns: Str+d6.
• Large: Attacks are +2 to attack rolls against rhinos
because of their size.
• Size +5: Rhinos are large creatures.
Scorpion
These small, venomous arachnids inhabit the dry,
sandy deserts and hot, humid jungles. Scorpions exist
in a range of sizes, with the smaller specimens having
more deadly venom.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Stealth
d12
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 2
Special Abilities:
• Pincers/Sting: Str.
• Poison: The sting of a scorpion does little more than
a pinprick but may inject venom. A character stung
by a scorpion must succeed in a Vigor roll at -2, or
gain a level of Fatigue, or become Exhausted on a
Critical Failure.
• Size –2: Most species of scorpion are less than 6”
across.
• Small: Attacks suffer a –2 penalty to attack scorpi-
ons because of their size.
Tarantula
Large hairy spiders found in Central and South
America. While alarming, they present little actual
danger unless they happen to bite someone who is
allergic.
183
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d4, Vigor d4
Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Stealth
d12
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 2
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Str.
• Poison: A tarantula bite is unpleasant but does very
little damage. If bitten by a tarantula, a character
must succeed in a Vigor roll at -2, or gain a level of
Fatigue, or become Exhausted on a Critical Failure.
• Size –2: Most species of tarantula are less than 6”
across.
• Small: Attacks suffer a –2 penalty to attack tarantu-
las because of their size.
FANTASTIC
CREATURES &
CRYPTIDS
The dark and lonely places of the world are home
to many mysterious creatures, organisms whose
existence is not yet recognized by science, but
are nonetheless real. Many masterminds and
archvillains use these “cryptids” as guards and
weapons. Here are just a few of them.
Ape, Giant
Reputed to exist only on isolated and forbidding
islands in the South Pacific, these enormous
primates closely resemble African mountain
gorillas, but on an unprecedented scale. Thought
possibly to have descended from the giant pre-
historic Gigantopithecus of mainland Asia, these
rare creatures are rumored to be worshipped as gods
on some islands. Thought to be nearly 25 feet tall,
giant apes have long been regarded as simply the
subject of sailor’s yarns, though recent archaeological
evidence and the appearance of such a beast in New
York in 1932 suggests otherwise, and rumors of
sightings continue to circulate in dockside bars.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8(A), Spirit d8,
Strength d12+6, Vigor d8

Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d8, Intimidation d10,
Notice d8, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10
Special Abilities:
• Charge: If a giant ape charges at least 6” before
attacking, it adds +4 to damage.
• Frenzy: A giant ape can make two Fighting attacks
each round at –2 penalty.
• Hardy: A second Shaken result during combat does
not cause a wound.
• Large: Attacks against giant apes are made at +2.
• Size +6: Giant apes are nearly 25’ tall.
• Slam: Str.
• Stones (Str+6): Giant apes can hurl 50-pound
stones at their foes. They throw with a range of
5/10/20 and cause Str+6 damage. This counts as a
Heavy Weapon.
Ape Man
Sometimes referred to as a “Cave Man”, the
Ape Man is a form of primitive man, like the
184
Neanderthal. Ape Men are usually either mute or
limited to grunts and signing for communication.
Ape Men typically exist in extended family groups,
dominated by a physically powerful and cunning
male and his mate. They are usually nomadic unless
restricted by geography and subsist by hunting
rather than agriculture.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength
d10, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8,
Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Stealth d8, Survival d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8
Hindrances: All Thumbs, Mute
Edges: Brawny, Woodsman
Gear:
• Club (Str+d8 damage, Parry –1, two hands).
• Spear (Str+d6, Parry +1, Reach 1, requires 2 hands).
• Thrown rock (Range: 3/6/12, Damage: Str+1d4).
Ape, White
The highly territorial and savage creatures referred
to as White Apes are darkly rumored to be a horrible
hybrid of man and ape, not so much a missing link
but a blasphemous merging of two evolutionary lines
that should have remained separate. Unlike normal
gorillas, White Apes are highly aggressive and
carnivorous, with a taste for human flesh. Physically,
they resemble albino gorillas, with pale gray fur and
yellow eyes, though they have greatly deformed
skulls and a mass and height more closely resembling
humans. White Apes are naturally cunning and
intelligent, and some evidence exists to suggest that
they’re capable of strategic planning and tactical
coordination. They communicate with a primitive
language of grunts and howls, and have been
observed using tools such as clubs, spears and even
simple armor. White Apes are found only in the most
remote areas of the African continent, inhabiting the
ruined cities of lost civilizations, violently guarding
their territory against all intruders.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8 (A), Spirit d10,
Strength d12+1, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d10,
Notice d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Frenzy: An albino ape can make two Fighting
attacks each round at –2 penalty.
• Leaper: White Apes can jump twice as far as
normal. In addition, they add +4 to damage when
leaping as part of a Wild Attack instead of the usual
+2 (unless in a closed or confined space where they
cannot leap horizontally or vertically—GM’s call).
• Low-Light Vision: White Apes ignore penalties for
poor illumination (but not total darkness).
• Size +1: White Apes are large and powerfully built.
Gear:
• Club (Str+d8 damage, Parry –1, two hands).
• Spear (Str+d6, Parry +1, Reach 1, requires 2 hands).
• Thrown Rock (Range: 3/6/12, Damage: Str+1d4).
Bat, Giant Vampire
Unlike their smaller cousins, the Giant Vampire
Bats are predators with a wingspan of over ten feet.
In Madagascar it is known as Fangalabolo (“the
fear that flies by night”), while in Cameroon it is
called the Olitiau, and in Indonesia it goes by the
name of Orang-bati. Thought to be large enough
to carry off a child, the giant vampire bat preys on
cattle, primates and any humans foolish enough
to be out at night. In times of scarcity swarms of
the bats have been known to descend on villages
and ships at sea, leaving everyone white, dead and
drained of blood. Some have been known to carry a
virulent disease often mistaken for rabies, which the
Javanese call Mlaku Pati (“walking death”), which
turns victims into shambling cannibalistic undead
monsters.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d12, Stealth d10
Pace: 0; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Does Str damage.
• Echo Location: Giant Vampire Bats can navigate
perfectly even in total darkness and suffer no penal-
ties for poor lighting.
• Flying: Pace 8, Climb 4.
• Nocturnal: Giant Vampire Bats are disorientated
by bright light and suffer a -2 penalty to all checks
made in daylight or equivalent illumination.
Curupuri
Native to Maple White Land (and possibly other
lost lands) the Curupuri are a humanoid reptilian
species of unknown origin. Man-sized, they stand
erect like a human, with slender bodies and long
limbs. Their faces are flat, with large eyes and a tiny
nose above two slit nostrils. They do not possess
185
human-like sexual characteristics, but the males can
be distinguished from the females by their colorful
crests. Like most reptiles the Curupuri lay eggs,
normally in clutches of two to six, which they bury
in sandy areas with lots of sunlight to keep them
warm.
The Curupuri are an intelligent and highly secretive
people, quite prepared to kill to ensure their
secrecy. They use bone or obsidian knives, spears
and blowguns, often coated in natural neurotoxins.
While they can understand human language, they
do not communicate with humans. Their own
language consists of clicks, purrs, growls, buzzes
and whistles, soundly oddly bird-like but impossible
for humans to duplicate. For more details of the
Curupuri, see the section on Maple White Land,
page 207.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6, Notice d8, Shooting
d8, Stealth d10, Survival d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Edges: Brute, Woodsman
Special Abilities:
• Nocturnal: The Curupuri are primarily nocturnal,
are disorientated by bright light and suffer a -2
penalty to all checks made in daylight or equivalent
illumination.
Gear:
• Club (Str+d8 damage, Parry –1, two hands).
• Spear (Str+d6, Parry +1, Reach 1, requires 2 hands).
• Blowgun (2/4/8, 1d6+1).
Dero
The creatures known as the Dero are the mutated,
degenerate descendants of forgotten Lemuria,
driven underground by the fall of their civilization
in the same cataclysm that befell Atlantis, and now
horribly warped and insane from their millennia
in the dark. Twisted albino dwarves with swollen
heads and pupil-less eyes, the Dero are sadistic
psychic cannibals who delight in the degradation
and torture of surface life. The Dero are immortal,
as long as they avoid direct sunlight; solar radiation
causes them extreme discomfort and causes them
to age normally. They skulk in the caverns once
excavated by their distant ancestors, surrounded
by advanced technology they no longer remember
how to use, using their psychic talents to amplify
mankind’s basest urges.
Colonies of Dero can be found all over the globe,
preying on those humans who exist on the fringes
of society. They use their psionic abilities to appear
human while hunting on the surface, luring the
unwary to isolated places where they can be put to
sleep and carried below ground to await a fate truly
worse than death. When not feasting on human
flesh or tormenting human prisoners, the Dero band
together to use the collective power of their minds
to create natural disasters, accidents and wars,
delighting in the carnage they inflict on humanity.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8,
Notice d8, Psionics d8, Stealth d10, Survival d8
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Hindrances: Bloodthirsty, Ugly (Major)
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), New Powers
Powers: Bolt, Deflection, Disguise, Puppet, Slum-
ber Power Points: 10
Special Abilities:
• Low-Light Vision: Dero are accustomed to subter-
ranean life and suffer no penalties for poor lighting
(though they cannot see in total darkness).
• Nocturnal: Dero are cave dwellers and will only
come to the surface at night. They are disorientated
by bright light and suffer a -2 penalty to all checks
made in daylight or equivalent illumination
Eldritch Abomination
As alien and incomprehensible as the weather, the
Eldritch Abomination lies at the heart of the Cosmic
Horror pulp story, a monstrous weird menace from
the outer darkness, existing in opposition to the
physical laws of the known universe. It distorts
reality simply by existing, causing insanity, death
and... worse. In ages past it and its kind ruled the
world – they may have even made the world and
everything in it. Even us.
Their minds are beyond human understanding,
their motives utterly incomprehensible. Even their
bodies cannot be seen without twisting the minds
of the viewer, imparting horrific insights into the
true nature of the universe and the place of mankind
within it. Eldritch Abominations often don’t even
show up in the stories that mention them, but their
shadow touches everything. Often worshipped as
gods by primitive cultures and seekers of wisdom
driven insane by their delving into the forbidden,
they sometimes gift their supplicants with
knowledge of an alien science so bizarre and arcane
186
that it may have formed the mythological basis for
what we today call magic.
Obscure legends from before the age when man
walked upright hint that these elder horrors slithered
down from the stars before the dinosaurs arose.
They built mighty cities so alien that they warped
space and time around them, fought terrible wars
and made unholy alliances. How they lost their
grip on the world is unknown. Some legends hint
that God and His angels cast them out, while others
claim that there is no God and that they were
banished by things kinder but no less alien. Others
yet claim that they were overcome by the powers of
proto-human magician priests, or that they were the
victims of a cosmological shift – an event soon to
reverse itself and allow them purchase in the world
of man once more.
Many greater abominations lie trapped outside
normal space, hungering in the awful outer darkness
between universes, while other lesser creatures
slumber in alien tombs and monstrous cities lost
beneath the earth or at the bottom of the sea. Others
still lurk beyond gateways to distant worlds or
hibernate in the depths of deep space, waiting for
the call to awaken and feed on minds and souls once
more.
Physically, Eldritch Abominations come in a
variety of forms, from almost human to physically
impossible, from living gases and spatial distortions
to writhing masses of tentacles, eyes, tooth-filled
maws and wings. Many simply cannot be seen at
all, while others are so utterly alien that simply to
see and comprehend them means madness or death
for the viewer.
As terrible and horrific as these beings are, the
greatest threat comes not from them, but from
the madmen and fanatics that worship them as
gods. There is little evidence to suggest these
monstrosities even notice their supplicants, but this
does not stop demented cults and sects forming
around their legend and working towards hastening
the moment of their release into a shocked and
screaming world. Such cults are usually debased
and utterly beyond reason, practicing perverted and
depraved rites and ceremonies, stopping at nothing
to secure the freedom of their terrible gods. These
cults are often gifted with arcane powers and vile
mutations, gifted either deliberately by the Eldritch
Abominations or merely as a side-effect of getting
too close to something so unfathomably alien that
the universe itself protests at their presence.
Note: For the best examples of Eldritch
Abominations from the Pulps, we recommend
reading the works of H.P. Lovecraft and his
associates, which provided much of the inspiration
for this section. We recommend that they not form
the basis of the campaign though – if you want to
do that there are other games far better suited and
with a wealth of published supporting material.
Instead they should be used sparingly, as ultimate
threats, lurking in the thoughts of your players as
their characters explore subterranean temples or
investigate dark cults, limited to casting twisted
shadows on the walls of reality lest they overwhelm
your campaign.
We present no stats for the greater Eldritch
Abominations. They are creatures from the outer
darkness, defined by their disdain for the rules of
our reality. Put simply, they are gods – living plot
devices – and they ignore the rules that affect lesser
creatures. Meeting one face to gibbering maw is
something no sane character should ever want to
happen. The stats below can be applied to the lesser
Abominations; the creatures that slumber beneath
the earth and sea, occasionally roused by intrusion
into their forbidden temples and lost cities.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d12+2, Spirit d12+2,
Strength d12+16, Vigor d12+10
Skills: Fighting d10
Pace: 12; Parry: 7; Toughness: 30 (5)
Edges: Unkillable
Special Abilities:
• Armor +5: The obscene flesh of Eldritch Abomina-
tions is thick and rubbery.
• Bite: The gaping, grinding maw of an Eldritch
Abomination does Str+d8 damage.
• Environmental Resistance: As a dweller between
the stars, Eldritch Abominations take no damage
from heat, cold or vacuum.
• Fast Regeneration: Eldritch Abominations make a
Vigor roll each round to heal wounds. +2 to recover
from Shaken.
• Fear (-8): Characters who see an Eldritch Abomi-
nation must make a Fear check at -8.
• Fearless: Immune to Fear and Intimidation. It
doesn’t feel fear; it is fear.
• Gargantuan: All attacks by Eldritch Abominations
count as Heavy Weapons; they have Heavy Armor;
opponents gain +4 to ranged attack rolls to strike
187
them; they can crush opponents with their great size,
adding their Size modifier to Strength damage and
subtracting their target’s size.
• Hardy: If Shaken, further Shaken results have no
effect.
• Improved Arcane Resistance: +4 Armor versus
magic, and +4 to rolls made to resist magic effects.
• Size +12: Even Minor Eldritch Abominations are
vast, standing over 100’ tall and weighing nearly
100 tons.
• Tentacles (8): Str+12. Each tentacle suffers no
multi-action or off-hand penalty, and can take a
sustained action, such as grappling a victim.
• Unkillable: Eldritch Abominations cannot be killed,
only banished. Even if they are apparently killed and
their remains destroyed, they return to life in full
health less than 24 hours later.
Fish Man
These humanoid creatures can be found in
colonies in the abyssal deeps and are occasionally
encountered in lost lakes and jungle lagoons. They
have bulging eyes, gills, scaled skin, webbed hands
and feet with sharp claws. Their true origin is
unknown, though traces of them appear in the fossil
record. Ocean-dwelling fish men are often found
worshipping Eldritch Abominations.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength
d10, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d10,
Notice d8, Stealth d10
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 6
Special Abilities:
• Aquatic: Pace 10.
• Claws: Str+2.
• Dehydration: Fish men must immerse themselves
in water (salt or fresh) at least one hour out of every
24. Those who don’t are automatically Fatigued
each day until they are Incapacitated. The day after
that, they perish.
Kraken
Krakens are gigantic tentacular aquatic predators,
distantly related to the giant squid. Known in Japan
as the Akkorokamui, these creatures inhabit the
abyssal ocean deeps and only rarely travel to the
surface. Unlike most deep-sea organisms, Krakens
adapt quickly to pressure changes and seem to
experience no difficulty operating at different
depths. Krakens vary in size, with juveniles starting
at 100 ft long (about as large as a blue whale), with
no upper limit. Krakens appear to continue to grow
throughout their life-span, with mythology reporting
creatures so large that they have been mistaken for
islands.
Unlike the giant squid, krakens are covered with
dense armored scales. In adult krakens, these scales
carry large accretions of mollusks and other marine
life.
It is unknown what krakens hunt in their natural
habitat, but they have been reported attacking
whales, ships, submarines and occasionally even
coastal communities. Some krakens seem to be
able to produce bio-luminescent displays capable of
inducing a hypnotic state.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d12,
Strength d12+12, Vigor d12
Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d8
Pace: 10; Parry: 7; Toughness: 25
Edges: Improved Frenzy, Improved Sweep
Special Abilities:
• Aquatic: Krakens breathe water, and swim at Pace
10.
• Armor +5: Krakens have dense, muscular flesh.
• Bite: Str+3; must grab first (see below). The kraken
can bite as a free attack.
• Fear (-4): Characters who see a Kraken must make
a Fear check at -4.
• Fearless: Immune to Fear and Intimidation.
• Gargantuan: +12 Size/Toughness bonus. All
attacks by a kraken count as Heavy Weapons; it has
Heavy Armor; opponents gain +4 to ranged attack
rolls to strike it; it can crush opponents with its great
size, adding its Size modifier to Strength damage
and subtracting its target’s size.
• Puppet: Krakens can hypnotize their prey into
immobility through weaving complex patterns of
light with their bio-luminescence.
• Size +12: Krakens are vast, with adults often over
100’ long.
• Swallow Whole: Any grappled victim must suc-
ceed on a grappling roll the following round or be
shoved into the creature’s maw. Swallowed victims
that need to breath begin suffocating and must make
a successful Vigor roll each round or suffer a level
of Fatigue.
• Tentacles (12): d12+22 damage. Each tentacle
suffers no multi-action or off-hand penalty, and can
take a sustained action, such as grappling a victim.
Grappled victims may be swallowed whole (see
188
above). When attacking ships, krakens ignore their
Armor bonus.
Martian
The minds behind the 1901 invasion of Great
Britain, and the 1946 invasion of the United States,
the creatures popularly known as Martians are an
intelligent, technologically advanced and hostile
alien species. Essentially octopoid in structure, an
adult Martian is roughly the size of a bear, with
sixteen tentacles arranged in two bunches of eight
radiating from the underside of the body. Martians
have large dark eyes and a slavering, V-shaped
mouth. Apparently lacking vocal cords and any
form of normal speech, Martians communicate
solely through telepathy. They move sluggishly,
with labored breathing, due to the relatively high
gravity and atmospheric humidity of Earth.
The Martians appear to be an engineered species,
with an extremely simple and stripped-down
physiology supporting a vast brain. They lack a
conventional digestive system and feed on the blood
of living creatures, absorbing it directly into their
circulatory system through a hollow bone tube –
like the horn of a narwhal – which they can extend
from the mouth with enough force to pierce a
human skull. It has been theorized that the invasion
of 1901 was motivated not by a desire for territory,
but to capture and cultivate mankind as a food
supply.
As they are effectively giant brains, the Martians
have become adept at creating armored vehicles that
act as prosthetic bodies, such as their tripod fighting
machines or the smaller handling machines seen in
their landing sites and fortified areas.
While it is popularly known that the Martians are
fatally affected by Earthly germs and bacteria, this
is not strictly true. While their lungs are somewhat
vulnerable to respiratory fungal infections and
diseases such as the form of weaponized flu virus
that was used to eliminate the 1901 expeditionary
force (a biological weapon that is suspected of
having later mutated into the deadly Spanish Flu
that killed nearly 5% of the world’s population
between 1918 and 1920), they are in fact so alien
that very few terrestrial viruses or bacteria can
affect them. Those that do, however, are invariably
lethal to them.
Little is known of Martian culture, due mainly to
their unrelenting hostility and the difficulty inherent
in taking them alive. However, analysis of their
cadavers and the remains of their technology has led
to many scientists theorizing that they are not in fact
native to Mars but may have been using that planet
as a staging post for their invasion attempt. Further,
it is now thought that once they lost contact with the
Earth expeditionary force, they turned their gaze to
Venus, which many suspect they have successfully
conquered.
Attributes: Agility d4 (d8 on Mars), Smarts d12,
Spirit d10, Strength d10, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Driving d10, Fighting d4, Intim-
idation d10, Notice d6, Psionics d10, Repair d8,
Science d10, Shooting d8, Stealth d4, Weird Science
d12
Pace: 4; Parry: 4; Toughness: 6
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), Arcane
Background (Weird Science), Gadgeteer, McGyver,
Power Points, Rapid Recharge
Hindrances: Ugly (Major), Slow (Major)
Special Abilities:
• Feeding Tube: The Martian feeding tube does Str +
6 damage.
• Fear (-4): Characters who see a Martian must make
a Fear check at -4.
• Tentacles (6): Martians have two bunches of 8 ten-
tacles, 6 of which they can use in combat at any
one time. Each tentacle suffers no multi-action or
off-hand penalty, and can take a sustained action,
such as grappling a victim.
• Immunity: The cold, superior minds of the Mar-
tians are immune to Taunts and Intimidation.
• Size +1: Martians are about the size of a Grizzly
Bear.
• Weakness: Martians have limited defenses against
certain terrestrial bacteria and disease pathogens and
must take technological steps to protect themselves.
A Martian who is Shaken and either injured or
exposed to diseased humans must make a success-
ful Vigor check or become Fatigued. Fatigue levels
increase daily unless treated by a Martian Healer
and can end in death.
Psionic Powers: Confusion, Mind Link, Puppet.
Power Points: 15
Gizmos: + 2 Powers. Power Points: 10
Martian War Machine
The Martians’ distinctive tripod war machines are
their signature weapon. Though they are vehicles,
Martians use them as prosthetic bodies, so they are
189
presented here as if they are independent Wild Card
creatures. War Machines are 100 feet tall and weigh
nearly 500 tons. Martian War Machines have two
flexible weapon hardpoints on either side of the
main body, upon which are mounted a Heat Ray
and a Black Smoke Launcher. Some War Machines
carry an extra Heat Ray instead of a Black Smoke
Launcher, or a metal holding cage for captured
humans.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10,
Strength d12+10, Vigor d12
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d10, Shooting d10, Intim-
idation d12
Pace: 10; Parry: 6; Toughness: 12
Special Abilities:
• Armor +6
• Bellow: War Machines can emit a terrifying bat-
tle-cry of “UUUUULLAAAA”. As an action, the
War Machine can Intimidate anyone within hearing
range.
• Construct: Martian War Machines add +2 when
attempting to recover from being Shaken, ignore 1
point of Wound penalties, don’t breathe or eat and
are immune to disease and poison, don’t Bleed Out,
and Wounds are removed with Repair instead of
Healing with no “Golden Hour.”
• Fear (-4): Anyone seeing a Martian War Machine
must succeed in a Fear check at -4.
• Gargantuan: All attacks by War Machines count
as Heavy Weapons; they have Heavy Armor; oppo-
nents gain +4 to ranged attack rolls to strike them;
they can stomp opponents with their great size,
adding their Size modifier to Strength damage and
subtracting their target’s size
• Infravision: Martian War machines can switch to
infravision in low-light or dark conditions, suffer-
ing half the normal penalties for bad lighting when
attacking targets that radiate warmth (including
invisible foes).
• Sensors: Martian War Machines have a variety
of sensors that allow them to scan for objects and
potential threats. +4 Notice vs sound, motion, chem-
icals, radiation, and electrical fields up to 500 yards
distant.
• Size +12: (100 feet tall, +3 Wounds, Scale Modifier
+6, Weight: 500 tons)
• Tentacles (6): Six grasping metallic tentacles
dangle below the main body of the War Machine.
and can be brought to bear in combat. Each tentacle
can easily reach the ground and the immediate area
around the War Machine, suffers no multi-action
 nor off-hand penalty, and may take independent
sustained actions.
• Weakness: Martian War Machines cannot function
without a pilot.
Weapons:
• Martian Heat Ray (Range 500/1000/2000; 10d10
damage; AP: 4; RoF: 1; Shots: ∞)
• Black Smoke Launcher (Range: 150/300/600;
RoF: 1; Medium Blast Template; Shots: 6): Black
Smoke shells burst on impact and fill a Medium
Blast Template with heavy black vapor that pools
in low-lying ground and obscures all sight within
it. Anything that breathes the smoke must make a
Vigor check with a raise or take a Wound. Continued
exposure to the smoke requires further Vigor tests
as above for each round, until the character either
dies or escapes the area of effect. The smoke is not
soluble in water, and the Martian War Machines can
disperse the smoke with pressurized steam sprays.
Mongolian Death Worm
Also known as the Olgoi-khorkhoi (“large intestine
worm”) for its resemblance to human intestines, the
Mongolian Death Worm is a bizarre and horrible
creature that lurks in the arid wastes of the southern
Gobi Desert. Ranging from 6 to 16 ft long, the
Death Worm is the deep red of dried blood and is
coated with a thick acidic slime that causes intense
pain when touched. The creature has a highly
venomous bite and can spray its toxin at a distance,
an attack it uses to kill its prey before dragging it
underground. Death Worms reproduce by laying
eggs in the decaying remains of their prey, buried in
underground nests.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d6, Shooting
d8, Stealth d10
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Str+d6
• Burrow (6)
• Fearless: Immune to fear and Intimidation.
• Poison (6)
• Size +1: Increases Toughness by +1.
• Spray: The Death Worm can spray its poison using
its Shooting skill. Range 5/10/20
• Stun: Whenever the Death Worm touches a char-
acter not wearing thick protective gear, they must
make a Vigor roll minus any listed penalties or be
Stunned.
190
Moreau Hybrid
Created using the recovered notes of the notorious
vivisectionist Dr Charles Moreau, Moreau Hybrids
are the results of foul experimentation and surgical
intervention. Most hybrids are humanoid, but with
animal-like features; fur, fangs, claws, etc. Hybrids
start off as animals and are constantly on the verge
of reverting to their animal behaviors. Some can
speak, and most are in pain due to the surgery and
hormone injections used to transform them.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d10, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d6,
Notice d8, Persuasion d4, Survival d8, Stealth d6
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 7
Special Abilities:
• Bite/Claws: Str+1
Hybrid Types: A hybrid’s animal features modifies
its statistics as follows:
• Ape: Strength d12+2, Athletics d6
• Boar: Spirit d8, Vigor d12, Toughness 8, Berserk
(when Shaken)
• Cat: Agility d10, Athletics d6, Fighting d10, Parry
7. A cheetah hybrid also has Fleet Footed (d10
running die).
• Dog: Fleet Footed (d10 running die), Notice d10,
Survival d8.
• Elephant: Strength d12+4, Armor (+1), Brawny,
Trunk (can use to make a Str attack at Reach 1),
Tusks (Str+2), Toughness 9.
• Hyena: Bite (Str+3, AP 2), Fleet Footed (d10 run-
ning die), Taunt d8
• Piranha: Strength d8, Aquatic, Bite (Str+3),
Improved Frenzy.
• Rhino: Strength d12+3, Armor (+1), Brawny, Horn
(Str+2), Toughness 9.
Mummy
Mummies are a form of intelligent undead,
deliberately created with mystical funeral rites
and careful preparation. These rites were often
used by ancient civilizations to punish those who
trespassed against the gods, by ensuring that their
torment would not end when death claimed them,
but instead would extend beyond the grave and
into eternity. As a result, such undead creatures are
extremely dangerous, driven by an overwhelming
need for vengeance against the living.
Mummies are often thought of as being of
exclusively Egyptian origin, but this is not correct.
Virtually every civilization has practiced some form
of mummification at some point in the past. Western
examples include popes, saints and even national
leaders.
Resurrected mummies often display a wide range of
apparently supernatural abilities which vary greatly
from culture to culture, and so are not listed below.
Most possess the ability to create the illusion of
being a living creature.
Note: These stats can be used to represent anyone
who has successfully extended their own existence
beyond death, either by supernatural or super-
scientific means.
Attributes: Agility d4, Smarts d6, Spirit d10,
Strength d12+2, Vigor d12
Skills: Fighting d8, Intimidation d8
Pace: 4; Parry: 6; Toughness: 10
Special Abilities:
• Arcane Resistance: +2 Armor versus magic, and +2
to rolls made to resist magical effects.
• Fear: Anyone seeing a guardian mummy must make
a Spirit roll.
• Fearless: Mummies are immune to Fear and
Intimidation.
• Fist: Str+2.
• Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being
Shaken; Immune to poison and disease; No addi-
tional damage from called shots.
• Weakness (Means of Creation): Mummies can be
destroyed by the magics (or Weird Science) that cre-
ated and sustains them; for instance, by burning the
sacred scroll that records their curse, or by reading
a ritual of unbinding.
Octopus, Giant
The most intelligent and adaptable of the
invertebrates, the Octopus is an 8-limbed
cephalopod mollusk with a hard beak and no
internal skeleton. Octopuses are ambush predators
and have several defensive strategies, including the
ability to expel a cloud of ink, adaptive camouflage,
the ability to move swiftly using water jets and their
ability to hide. All octopuses have a venomous bite,
but few are toxic to humans. Most octopuses are
small and harmless, but this specimen is far larger
than it should be and can take on a ship! These stats
can also be used for giant squid.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d12+4, Vigor d8
191
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d8, Notice d6, Stealth
d6, Swimming d6
Pace: 4; Parry: 6; Toughness: 12
Special Abilities:
• Aquatic: Giant octopuses can breathe underwater
and swim at Pace 6”.
• Camouflage: Giant octopuses can hide in plain
sight by changing their color and the texture of their
skin to match the seabed. -4 on all Notice attempts
when trying to spot a giant octopus.
• Huge: Characters add +4 when attacking a giant
octopus due to their great size.
• Ink Cloud: A giant octopus can expel a cloud of
black ink once per day. The cloud blacks out a
sphere of water equal to a Large Burst Template,
within which all vision is obscured.
• Size +8: The body of a giant octopus is as big as a
small ship, with tentacles over 20 ft long.
• Tentacles (4): A giant octopus has eight tentacles,
four of which it can make attacks with each round.
On a raise, the creature has grappled the victim.
A grappled victim may only attempt an opposed
Strength roll each round to escape. Once grappled,
the octopus does its Strength damage automatically
by crushing with its arms and rending with its beak.
A victim killed by a giant octopus is usually crushed,
throttled or drowned.
Rat, Giant Sumatran
These dog-sized rats originated from a forgotten
island in the seas off Sumatra but have slowly
spread throughout the world and may be
encountered in the sewers of most large sea-ports.
They’re a favorite of Evil Masterminds.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8(A), Spirit d8,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8,
Notice d6, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Str+1.
• Infection: Anyone Shaken or wounded by a giant
Sumatran rat must make a Vigor roll or suffer a level
of Fatigue from an infected bite. Cumulative bites
can lead to Incapacitation, but never to Death. One
Fatigue level is recovered every 24 hours or with a
successful Healing roll.
• Size –1: Giants rats are the same size as dogs.
Scarab, Flesh-Eating
Found lurking in forgotten tombs, the flesh-eating
scarab looks very much like the harmless dung
scarab, but is far more dangerous, capable of eating
a victim alive from the inside.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4(A), Spirit d6,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Fighting d6, Notice d6, Stealth d12
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 4 (1)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +1: Carapace.
• Bite: Str+1.
• Burrow: If a flesh-eating scarab scores a raise on
its Fighting roll, it has burrowed under its victim’s
skin and begins heading for the brain. Victims are
treated as being Shaken and must make a Vigor roll
every round for three rounds or suffer 2d6 damage
(against which armor offers no protection). On the
fourth round, the scarab reaches the brain, instantly
killing the victim. Scarabs can be cut out using a
sharp object. Removing the Scarab requires either a
Fighting or Healing roll. On a success, the scarab is
removed but the victim takes a wound. With a raise,
the scarab is removed without harming the victim.
• Size –2: Beetles are only a few inches long.
• Small: Attackers suffer a –2 penalty to attack beetles
because of their size.
Stinging Bell Plant
The Stinging Bell Plant is a mobile, predatory
carnivorous plant first encountered by explorers
in the steaming jungles of South East Asia, but
has since been found in the Congo Basin, the
Amazonian rain-forest and other equatorial jungles
across the globe. The origin of the Stinging Bell
Plant is unknown, but the wide distribution has
led some authorities to propose the theory that
the plants may have come to Earth on cometary
debris. While many botanists refute this theory,
and still more deny the Bell Plant even exists, it is
true that the Stinging Bell Plant resembles no other
plant on Earth. Others believe it to be the product
of selective breeding, the deliberate creation of a
diseased mind.
The Stinging Bell Plant resembles the funnel of
a greatly enlarged pitcher plant, emerging from
a dense round bole of thickly gnarled roots. The
funnel contains a stamen-like stinger on a long-
fibrous filament that, when fully extended, can
192
measure nearly 13 ft in length. The Stinging
Bell Plant can launch the sting at high speed and
considerable accuracy. Contact with bare skin can
cause an agonizing chemical burn, while repeated
stings can be lethal.
Bell Plants are ambush predators, striking from a
distance (using their Shooting skill) to incapacitate
and kill their prey. Once a target has been stung to
death the Stinging Bell Plant uses its unique tri-
pedal root structure to drag itself over to the corpse,
where it digs feeder roots into the body and excretes
digestive enzymes.
Stinging Bell Plants reproduce by releasing drifting
white seeds, like dandelions, into the air.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d6, Vigor d8
Skills: Shooting d8
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Edges: Trademark Weapon (Sting)
Special Abilities:
• Sting: Str +d4, Poison, Reach 4.
• Fearless: Immune to fear and Intimidation.
• Mindless: Immune to mind-affecting effects.
• Plant: +2 to recover from Shaken, ignore wound
modifiers, poison, and extra damage from called
shots.
• Poison (6): The victim must make a successful
Vigor check at -6 or be Stunned, take a Wound (two
with a Critical Failure), and perish in 2d6 rounds
unless successfully treated.
Spider, Monstrous
Monstrous spiders are on average roughly the size
of a family car. These creatures, like the common
spider, enjoy an almost 360-degree field of vision
due to their multiple eyes and possess fangs capable
of punching through metal. Monstrous spiders
differ from common spiders in that they possess a
unique internal hydrostatic skeleton as well as an
external exoskeleton, which helps support their
internal organs and enables their lungs to function.
Monstrous spiders also seem to possess a form of
hyper-efficient oxygen carrier in their blood instead
of hemoglobin, increasing the effectiveness of their
respiration.
Due to their immense size and weight, monstrous
spiders are poor climbers and do not spin webs as
traps. Instead they stalk their prey and bring it down
with brute force. All monstrous spiders are highly
venomous, paralyzing their prey with fast-acting
neurotoxins before injecting them with digestive
enzymes and sucking out the resulting organic
slurry.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d12,
Strength d12+3, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d10, Notice d8
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Bite: Str+3.
• Venom: If the spider gets a raise on its Fighting roll,
it injects a painful (but non-fatal) venom. Make a
Vigor roll; if you fail, take two Fatigue levels. Take
one if you succeed, or none on a raise.
• Large: Opponents get a +2 to attack rolls.
• Size 4
Meh-Teh
The Meh-Teh are tall, heavily built humanoids with
short blue-tinted fur, powerful muscles, vaguely
simian facial features, yellow eyes and short,
protruding tusks on the lower jaw. Despite their
fearsome appearance, the Meh-Teh are peaceful,
intelligent creatures who dwell within the vast
subterranean kingdom of Agartha beneath the
mountains of Tibet. Though they are incapable
of normal speech, they use telepathy and a
sophisticated form of sign language to communicate
and trade knowledge and goods with the hidden
monks of Shambhala.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10,
Strength d12+3, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d6, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6, Persuasion d6,
Psionics d8, Science d8, Stealth d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9
Edges: Arcane Background (Psionics), Brawny, New
Powers, Power Points, Rapid Recharge
Special Abilities:
• Environmental Resistance: The Meh-Teh reduce
damage taken from the cold by 4 and add +4 to
resist cold-based Hazards or powers with a similar
Trapping.
• Low-Light Vision: The Meh-Teh are accustomed
to subterranean life and suffer no penalties for poor
lighting (though they cannot see in total darkness).
• Fear (–1): Anyone seeing a Meh-Teh for the first
time (without knowing their peaceful nature) must
make a Fear check at –1.
• Size +2: Meh-Teh stand over 9’ high.
193
Powers: Farsight, Healing, Illusion, Invisibility,
Mind Link.
Power Points: 15
Migoi
The Migoi are a more primitive off-shoot of the yeti
race, having degenerated back into bestial savagery.
Distinguished from their civilized brethren by a
shaggy coat of white fur, fangs and sharp talons
on both hands and feet, the Migoi live in small
family groups amidst the snowy, arid peaks of the
Himalayas. They are carnivores, normally living off
yaks, mountain goats and cattle, but occasionally
wandering into the lowlands and extending their
diet to human flesh in times of want. The Migoi
are often tamed and used as assassins and temple
guards by the priests of the Mara Brotherhood at the
Forbidden Monastery.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength
d12+3, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8,
Notice d6, Stealth d8, Survival d8
Pace: 8; Parry: 6; Toughness: 9
Edges: Brute
Special Abilities:
• Armor +1: Thick fur
• Bite/Claws: Str+2 damage.
• Camouflage: The Migoi get a +4 to Stealth roll in
snowy terrain because of their white fur.
• Fear ( – 2): Anyone seeing a Migoi must make a
Fear check at –2.
• Hardy: If a Migoi is Shaken, another Shaken result
doesn’t cause a Wound.
• Immunity: Migoi take no damage from the cold.
• Size +2: Migoi stand over 9’ high.
Gear:
• Leather Armor (+1, Temple Guards only)
• Great Axe (Str+4 damage, Parry -1)
Temple Guardian
Temple Guardians are monstrous creatures set
by the ancient gods to guard their temples and to
enforce their rule. Since the ancient times, they have
slumbered in the ruins and the dark places of the
world, waiting to stalk and slaughter the unwary
blasphemer who commits sacrilege or dares loot the
treasures of the gods. Many Temple Guardians take
the shape of the god they serve; in Egypt, Temple
Guardians of Anubis appear as jackal-headed
humanoids, cat-headed ones serve Bastet, etc.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d10,
Strength d12+2, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d8, Faith d10, Fighting d8, Intimida-
tion d10, Notice d6, Stealth d6
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 10
Hindrances: —
Edges: Arcane Background (Miracles), Block,
Combat Reflexes, Improved Frenzy, Level Headed,
New Powers x2, Power Points, Improved Rapid
Recharge, Quick, Sweep
Special Abilities:
• Bite/Claws: Str+2.
• Fear: Anyone seeing the creature must make a
Spirit roll.
• Size +2: Most Temple Guardians are massive crea-
tures, as befits their status as representatives of the
divine.
Powers: + 7 Powers.
Power Points: 15
Tentacled Horror
Children of the Eldritch Abominations, tentacled
horrors are often found guarding items of occult
power or being worshipped by fiendish cults with
grotesque acts of human sacrifice. They can take
a variety of forms, all of them horrible. They
normally appear as soft-bodied, toad-like things
with tentacles. With time and the appropriate
sacrifices, they may grow into lesser Eldritch
Abominations.
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d10,
Strength d12+2, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d10, Intimidation d10, Notice d6
Pace: 4; Parry: 7; Toughness: 12
Special Abilities:
• Fear –2: Anyone who sees a tentacled horror must
make a Fear check at –2.
• Flight: Tentacled horrors can exude wings and fly
at Pace 24 and may “run” for 2d6″ of additional
movement.
• No Vital Organs: Tentacled horrors have a gelat-
inous body, and Called Shots do no extra damage
against them.
• Size +5: Tentacled horrors can be as much as 20’
long.
• Tentacles: Tentacled horrors can attack every crea-
ture within 2” for Str damage.
Yeti
Sometimes referred to as the “Abominable
Snowman”, the yeti is a mysterious hominid
194
creature native to Tibet and the Himalayas, like the
North American Bigfoot or Sasquatch. Regarded
as a myth by the scientific community, the yeti is a
considered by many occultists and cryptozoologists
as a lost branch of humanity, the so-called “third
root race” of mankind. Yeti can be encountered in
two types; the civilized Meh-Teh or “High Yeti” and
the savage Migoi or “Wild Men”.
Zombie (Enslaved Dead)
I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts,
and leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Enslaved Dead are a form of zombie; corpses
reanimated as servants by a controlling intelligence.
This intelligence could be supernatural in origin,
such as the magic of a voodoo sorcerer or the dark
miracle of an Eldritch Abomination, or the power
of perverted Weird Science. Unlike movie zombies,
these creatures are driven by the commands of their
master, do not feed on living flesh or transmit their
condition by bites.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength
d8, Vigor d8
Skills: Athletics d4, Common Knowledge d4, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d6, Intimidation d8, Notice d4,
Persuasion d4, Piloting d6, Stealth d6
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 8
Special Abilities:
• Claws: Str+2.
• Fearless: Immune to Fear and Intimidation.
• Infravision: The Enslaved Dead can see the heat
emitted by the living and halve penalties for bad
lighting when attacking living prey.
• Undead: +2 Toughness; +2 to recover from being
Shaken; Called shots do no extra damage; half
damage from piercing weapons. Wounds must be
mended via arcane Healing. Each attempt takes
one hour per current Wound level and ignores the
“Golden Hour”.
 DINOSAURS
Dinosaurs first appeared during the Triassic period,
over 230 million years ago. They were the most
diverse and successful form of animal life the world
has ever seen, and dominated the planet for 135
million years. They were so wide-spread, diverse
and numerous that their dominance of earth was
only broken by an extinction event so massive that
it eradicated 75% of all plant and animal life. Their
descendants, in the form of birds, are all around
us. Is it any wonder then that, in the dark, isolated,
strange places of the globe, small populations of
dinosaurs may remain?
Today, dinosaurs are considered by all serious
scientists to be utterly extinct, existing only as fossil
remains. However, certain brave explorers and
visionary scientists know the truth; that dinosaurs
continue to live into the modern era, inhabiting
subterranean worlds, isolated plateaus, hidden
valleys and distant fog-shrouded Pacific islands.
Even in these remote locales though, the forces of
evolution have not stood still, and the dinosaur-like
creatures that may be encountered today are not
exactly like their distant ancestors.
Note: As there are far too many dinosaurs to present
a full catalogue of species in this book, the stats
below can be used to represent broad families
of animals that may be encountered. For a more
extensive bestiary of dinosaurs for Savage Worlds
Adventure Edition, we recommend The Dinosaur
Protocol, from Battlefield Press International.
Anurognathus (Swarm)
One of the smallest of the pterosaur family,
Anurognathus has a wingspan of 20 inches and a
body measuring 3.5 inches from nose to tail. It has
a short head with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth
and normally lives on a diet of insects. However,
when they scent blood, they become frenzied and
swarm their prey in a whirlwind of teeth and wings,
stripping most animals to the bones in minutes.
Anurognathus can be found on the Maple White
Land plateau and in the jungles of Skull Island,
as well as the forests of hidden valleys and
subterranean lost lands. Flocks number in the
hundreds, and they roost in vast rookeries amidst
the forest canopy. Some flocks develop a symbiotic
195
relationship with larger dinosaurs like sauropods,
roosting on their skin and feeding on their parasites.
Individual Anurognathus are shy and easily startled
creatures, fleeing from danger unless provoked by
the scent of blood, when they become rapacious
predators. Anurognathus swarms can fill a Large or
Medium Blast Template.
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d12,
Strength d8, Vigor d10
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d10, Notice d6
Pace: 10; Parry: 4; Toughness: 7
Edges: Frenzy
Special Abilities:
• Bite: When swarming, Anurognathus flocks inflict
hundreds of tiny bites every round to their victims,
hitting automatically and causing 2d4 damage to
everyone in the template. Damage is applied to the
least armored location (victims in completely rigid
armor suits are immune).
• Bleed: A victim who is Shaken or wounded starts
Bleeding Out. They must make a Vigor roll each
round, on a raise they stop bleeding, on a failure
they become Shaken (this can cause a Wound).
• Flight: Anurognathus flocks have a Flying Pace of
10”.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect blood by scent
(range 6”, halved for upwind and doubled for down-
wind, doubled again for very strong scents). Only
adjacent creatures can be pinpointed accurately, and
attacks made using scent are made at –2.
• Split: Anurognathus flocks split into two smaller
flocks when Wounded or when pursuing separate
targets (GM’s call). Reduce the Blast Template one
size after a Wound; Small swarms are destroyed.
Every time a Swarm divides, it’s Toughness is
reduced by -2. When smaller Swarms merge, their
Toughness is raised by +2.
• Swarm: Parry +2. Because the flock is composed of
hundreds, or even thousands of individual creatures,
cutting and piercing weapons do no real damage.
Area effect weapons work normally, and a charac-
ter can stomp to inflict his damage in Strength each
round. Anurognathus flocks may be foiled by total
immersion in water.
Ceratopsian
Ceratopsians (horned faces) are a family of beaked
herbivorous quadrupedal dinosaurs, characterized
by a large bone frill extending back from the
skull over the neck. Ceratopsian species include
Protoceratops, Triceratops, Machairoceratops,
Pentaceratops, Diabloceratops, Styracosaurus and accurately, and attacks made using scent are made
Einosaurus, most distinguished by the number of at –2.
facial and or brow horns they possess. • Size +7: Thirty feet long; Toughness +7.

Ceratopsians all share a stocky, sturdy build, with a

stout body, four strong limbs and a short tail. Adults
Pteranodon
Pteranodons are a family of pterosaurs (flying
average between 26 – 29.5 ft long, 8.2 – 9.8 ft high
reptiles rather than dinosaurs) encompassing several
and weigh between 6.5 and 13 tons. Though stocky
species. With an average wingspan of 25 ft and a
and powerfully built, ceratopsians can move with
body 6 ft long, they primarily feed on fish, squid
quickly when provoked, and will charge a foe at
and small reptiles, though they will supplement
speeds of up to 40 mph. The neck frill and horns
this diet with anything up to and including man.
of the ceratopsians protect them against predators,
Pteranodons have an elongated skull crest and a
and the frills can be flushed with blood in courtship
pointed beak. The crest is used to provide additional
displays.
stability during flight and is flushed with color for
Ceratopsians graze on shrubs and low-lying plants, mating displays, while their long beaks are used
occasionally rearing up to reach tasty morsels at to spear prey such as fish, insects and other small
higher levels. They are eating machines, devouring animals.
huge volumes of palms, ferns cycads and other
Pteranodons hunt in flocks and gather together in
vegetation. Ceratopsians prefer prairies, grasslands
large rookeries on cliff faces and mountainsides.
and savannahs, where they can scent the approach
They like to swoop on their prey, either spearing
of predators, but can also be found in light forests.
it with their beak or in the case of larger prey,
Ceratopsians are stupid, territorial and aggressive, grabbing it with their feet and dropping it from
especially during the mating season, and later a height to kill or stun it. Pteranodons prefer
when their young have hatched. While they will coastal areas where they can hunt for fish but can
tolerate intruders at a distance, approaching too be found anywhere that they can build their nests
close to a herd will usually prompt a threat display and rookeries. Inland they are most often found in
of bellowing and pawing the ground from the mountainous areas.
dominant male, followed by a charge.
Pteranodons are opportunistic predators and will
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6, attack anything smaller than them. Anything larger
Strength d12+3, Vigor d12 and more fast moving will prompt a swift retreat to
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d10, Notice d12+3, the air.
Survival d12+3
Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6,
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 18 (3)
Strength d8, Vigor d8
Edges: Trademark Weapon (Gore)
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d10
Special Abilities:
Pace: 4; Parry: 5; Toughness: 9 (1)
• Armor +3: Thick hide.
Special Abilities:
• Fast Runner: Roll d8 when running instead of d6.
• Armor +1: Scaly hide.
• Gore: +4 damage if move 6” or more in a straight
• Bite/Claw: Str+d6.
line before attacking.
• Flight: Pteranodons have a Flying Pace of 12”, with
• Hardy: A second Shaken result doesn’t become a
an Acceleration of 3”.
wound.
• Fly-By Attack: When the pteranodon is flying at
• Horns: Str+d8.
fully speed, it can do a fly-by attack, getting a +2 to
• Large: –2 to attack medium – sized foes, they
damage. If it gets a raise on its attack roll when per-
receive +2 to their attacks.
forming a fly-by against a human or smaller sized
• Low Light Vision: No penalties for dim or dark
opponent, it snatches them up and carries them off,
lighting.
most likely to its nest.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect creatures
• Size +2
by scent (range 6”, halved for upwind and dou-
• Slow: On the ground, they have Pace 4” and cannot
bled for downwind, doubled again for very strong
run.
scents). Only adjacent creatures can be pinpointed

196
Raptor
These relatively small dinosaurs are clever, fast-
moving pack predators, descended from dinosaurs
such as the smaller Velociraptor (“Swift Seizer”),
the Achillobator (“Achilles Hero”) and other
Dromaeosaurid Therapods. Perhaps the best-known
raptor is the Deinonychus (“Terrible Claw”), named
for the over-sized sickle-shaped claw on each foot,
which it uses to horrific effect for disemboweling
and clinging on to prey. Intelligent, aggressive and
virtually fearless, raptors prey on large herbivores,
leaping onto their prey and latching on with their
claws while delivering powerful, tearing bites.
All raptors use their long tails for balance while
running and leaping, and can use their claws to help
them climb trees or other obstacles. Their eyesight
is keen and highly sensitive to moving objects, and
their eyes are located high on their heads, enabling
them to spy on prey from cover without exposing
themselves. Raptors have an exceptional sense of
smell, allowing them to track prey even when it
isn’t visible.
Like wolves, these dinosaurs hunt in packs, but are
adaptable enough to feed on carrion if live prey is
not available. Like most pack predators, they prefer
to pick off lone or otherwise vulnerable targets but
are intelligent enough to use ambushes and herding
tactics when required. They can communicate in a
rudimentary fashion with each other through clicks
and hisses and possess fore-claws dexterous enough
to hold and examine objects, and even operate
door handles. Raptors usually exhibit intelligence
and curiosity, and learn quickly, something
which has led to an unpleasant end to any foolish
enough to underestimate them. Some may even
be on the verge of using tools and developing true
intelligence...
Note: Raptors are closely related to birds, and
many subspecies were either partially or completely
feathered.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d8, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d8, Fighting d6, Notice d12, Stealth
d12, Survival d12
Pace: 12; Parry: 5; Toughness: 9 (1)
Edges: Alertness, Frenzy, Level Headed, Trademark
Weapon (Claw)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +1: Thick hide.
197
• Bite: Str+d6.
• Fast Runner: Roll d8 when running instead of d6.
• Low Light Vision: No penalties for dim or dark
lighting.
• Pounce: +4 attack/damage and –2 Parry after leap-
ing d6” in a straight line towards non–adjacent foe.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect creatures by
scent (range 6”, halved for upwind and doubled for
downwind, doubled again for very strong scents).
Only adjacent creatures can be pinpointed accu-
rately, and attacks made using scent are made at –2.
• Talons: Str+d6.
Sauropod
The sauropod (lizard foot) family encompasses
the largest animals ever to exist on land, including
Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus and
Brontosaurus. These gigantic creatures are typified
by long necks, long tails, massive bodies and four
sturdy legs. Herbivores, they feed on high-growth
plant matter, stripping tree-tops to fuel their bulk.
Some can even rear up on their hind legs to reach
higher growth despite weighing more than a blue
whale, shaking the earth when they drop back to all
fours. Adult sauropods can reach 60 ft high, 190 f)
long and weigh as much as 73 tons.
Sauropods vary very little in basic structure and
only naturalists bother to distinguish the various
species. Despite being herbivores, sauropods fear
very little, being massive enough to crush most
predators flat. When provoked, sauropods can crack
their enormously long tails like a whip, with the tip
travelling faster than a bullet.
Sauropods communicate over vast distances using
subsonic song, generated inside the massive body
and transmitted through the ground via the leg
bones. Sauropods communicate with others in their
herd using an audible version of the same sound,
highly reminiscent of whale song. They are social
animals, gathering in large herds. Within the herd
the animals are segregated by age, with the smaller
juveniles forming smaller sub-herds away from
the adults, possibly to avoid crushing accidents.
Sauropod herds frequent lightly forested plains and
grasslands, feeding from the canopy on the forest
edge, as well as wetlands and coastal areas.
Unlike most herbivores, sauropods are curious and
not easily startled. Their massive size and power
mean that they have few natural predators, and even
carnosaurs like tyrannosaurus rex will hesitate at
taking on a 56-ton brachiosaurus. When presented
with something novel, most sauropods will simply
stare at it for a while before returning to their
grazing.
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d12+6, Vigor d12+1
Skills: Athletics d10, Fighting d10, Notice d12+4,
Survival d12+4
Pace: 6; Parry: 7; Toughness: 21 (3)
Edges: Sweep, Improved Sweep, Strong Willed,
Trademark Weapon (tail)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +3: Thick hide.
• Hardy: A second Shaken result doesn’t become a
wound.
• Huge: –4 to attack medium–sized foes; they receive
+4 to their attacks.
• Low Light Vision: No penalties for dim or dark
lighting.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect creatures by
scent (range 6”, halved for upwind and doubled for
downwind, doubled again for very strong scents).
Only adjacent creatures can be pinpointed accu-
rately, and attacks made using scent are made at –2.
• Size +10: Eighty feet long; Toughness +10.
• Stomp: Str+d8.
• Tail: Str+d8.
Stegosaurus
These large, heavily-built quadrupedal herbivorous
dinosaurs are easily recognized by their arched
back, spiked tails and the rows of plates
(osteoderms) and spikes following the spine. The
distinctive back plates provide protection and can be
flushed with blood for threat and mating displays.
They also help the animal with thermoregulation by
providing additional cooling surface. Adults average
30 ft in length and 13 ft tall, and weigh about 4.5
tons.
Stegosaurs are low-level grazers, though they
will occasionally rear up on their hind legs to
reach higher growth. Stegosaurs are ruminants,
with broad, flat teeth designed to grind and chew
vegetation behind a horny beak (rhamphotheca)
designed to strip leaves from branches. Stegosaurs
are about as intelligent as a cow, and are generally
placid beasts, though wary of possible threats,
especially during calving season. They are
notoriously shortsighted and can easily be spooked
by rapid movement in their peripheral visual field.
198
They are generally found grazing on upland
plains, away from the coast and forest areas where
predators might lurk. Naturally wary, stegosaurs
become highly alert to possible threats during the
mating season and when their calves are young
and vulnerable. They are quite shortsighted and
generally react to rapid movement but have a well-
developed sense of smell. If approached slowly and
carefully they will tolerate humans up to a point, but
they are very stupid and can easily kill by accident.
Rapid movement in their peripheral vision can
startle them into delivering a crushing blow with
their spiked tail.
If startled, stegosaurs will flush their dorsal plates
bright red with blood, paw the ground and bellow
as a threat display. When threatened by a large
predator, stegosaurs hunker down and turn their
back, relying on the bone-breaking power of their
heavily muscled spiked tail to drive off any attacker.
When travelling with calves, adult stegosaurs form
a protective circle around their young and thrash
their tails.
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit d6,
Strength d12+3, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d8, Notice d12, Survival d12
Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 17 (3)
Edges: Level Headed, Sweep, Trademark Weapon
(tail)
Special Abilities:
• Armor +3: Thick hide.
• Hardy: A second Shaken result doesn’t become a
wound.
• Knockback: Opponent knocked back d8” on
a raise; if they hit a solid object, they suffer +d6
damage.
• Large: –2 to attack medium – sized foes; they
receive +2 to their attacks.
• Low Light Vision: No penalties for dim or dark
lighting.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect creatures by
scent (range 6”, halved for upwind and doubled for
downwind, doubled again for very strong scents).
Only adjacent creatures can be pinpointed accu-
rately, and attacks made using scent are made at –2.
• Size +7: Thirty feet long; Toughness +7.
• Tail: Str+d8; Knockback.
Tyrannosaur
The best known and most feared of all dinosaurs
– the Tyrannosaurus Rex (“Tyrant Lizard King”) –
was a therapod carnivore; a bipedal apex predator
up to 42 ft in length with teeth like daggers. Other
similar dinosaurs include Gorgosaurus, Tarbosaurus
and Albertosaurus.
Tyrannosaurs are hunters, opportunistic carnivores
that run down and kill their prey, then gorge on
the flesh, often returning to the kill for days at a
time. Prey animals include everything from smaller
herbivores to big sauropods.
simply follow the animal until it collapses due to
the infection.
Tyrannosaurs have an incredibly powerful bite
force, in excess of 23 tons – enough to bite through
a family car. This enables them to devour the entire
carcass of a kill, bones and all, though they will do
this over a period of days, sleeping off a meal before
returning to eat more.

The most successful and well-known family of Far from being the stupid, short-sighted creatures
therapod carnivores, the
tyrannosaurs (tyrant lizards)
dominate the dinosaur
landscape. Tyrannosaurs
come in a variety of sizes
and colors, depending on
environmental factors and
the amount of food available.
Some – like Tyrannosaurus
rex and Giganotosaurus –
are huge, up to 40 ft long,
12 ft high at the hips and
weighing a colossal 9.5 tons.
Tyrannosaurs continue to
grow throughout their life,
and while few live beyond
thirty years due to the
violence of their lives, some
lost worlds and anomalous
regions are dominated by
truly monstrous ancient
beasts.

Tyrannosaurs have good

binocular vision and a
tremendously well-developed
sense of smell, making them
formidable hunters and
ambush predators. Their
powerful legs allow them to
run at 45 mph – as fast as an
Olympic sprinter – and they
can leap almost double their
own length given enough
space. Their teeth are roughly the size of modern portrayed in fiction, time, tyrannosaurs are highly
bananas and are designed for tearing off 500-600 lb. intelligent. As smart as a chimp, a tyrannosaur can
chunks of meat which are then swallowed whole. develop strategies for dealing with difficult prey
A tyrannosaur bite can kill even if not immediately and complex situations. They learn quickly, and
fatal; the teeth have tiny serrations in which while they are normally solitary hunters, they will
bacteria thrive, leading to the virulent infection of occasionally cooperate with others of their own kind
any wound inflicted. When faced with large prey, to bring down troublesome or well-protected prey.
a tyrannosaur can inflict a bite wound, and then

199
Their often-mocked small forearms are incredibly
strong, capable of lifting over 500 lbs. each.
These limbs are used in mating and to help secure
struggling prey while the powerful jaws tear off
chunks of flesh.
Adult tyrannosaurs are solitary creatures outside
of the mating and young rearing stages. In the
mating seasons they gather together in large groups,
where the males display and compete for mating
rights to the females. During this time, they are
particularly aggressive and dangerous, as males will
often seek prey to present to the females as gifts.
Many tyrannosaur males are wounded during fights
for dominance, though they are extremely robust
and can survive injuries that would be fatal to
almost any other animal, including traumatic brain
injuries. Once mating has been successful and the
egg clutches have been laid, the females and males
cover them with dung to keep them warm during
their incubation.
The males then hunt for food while the female
guards the nest from opportunistic egg thieves.
Once the young have hatched the females drive the
males away until the next mating cycle.
Young tyrannosaurs hunt in packs in the same way
as raptors but are eventually driven off or eaten by
the females once they reach maturity.
Tyrannosaurs can adapt to a variety of different
environments. They prefer forests and jungles,
however, where their coloration and ability to sprint
after prey at surprising speeds puts them at an
advantage.
Tyrannosaurs are aggressive, intelligent apex
predators, and very little can intimidate them.
Unless it has recently fed, a tyrannosaur’s response
to a threat is to chase it, catch it and eat it. If the
prey is lucky, the tyrannosaur will kill them before
it starts eating.
Note: These stats can be used for the descendants of
any number of large carnivorous therapods, such as
Afrovenatus and Allosaurus.
200
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8 (A), Spirit d8,
Strength d12+4, Vigor d12
Skills: Athletics d6, Fighting d10, Notice d12+7,
Survival d12+7
Pace: 8; Parry: 7; Toughness: 21 (3)
Edges: Hard to Kill, Level Headed, Strong Willed
Special Abilities:
• Armor +3: Thick hide.
• Bite: Str+d8; Grab.
• Fast Runner: Roll d8 when running instead of d6.
• Fear (-4): Characters encountering a Tyrannosaur
must make a fear check at -4.
• Grab: Pin your opponent if you hit with a raise;
they require a raise on an opposed Strength roll to
escape.
• Huge: –4 to attack medium–sized foes; they receive
+4 to their attacks.
• Low Light Vision: No penalties for dim or dark
lighting.
• Scent: Can navigate, track and detect creatures by
scent (range 6”, halved for upwind and doubled for
downwind, doubled again for very strong scents).
Only adjacent creatures can be pinpointed accu-
rately, and attacks made using scent are made at –2.
• Size +10: Forty feet long; Toughness +10.
• Swallow: After successfully pinning a victim with
a bite attack, this creature may make an opposed
Strength roll as a normal action. If successful the
victim has been swallowed, and automatically
suffers Str+d6 damage every round after that. A
swallowed victim can attempt to climb back up
to the creature’s mouth as a normal action with an
opposed Strength roll, although it remains pinned by
the bite. This ability only works on targets at least
one Size category smaller than the swallower.
 LOST LANDS
D
uring the pulp era, blank spots on the map were
vanishing through the effects of air travel and the
adventures of intrepid explorers, forcing writers to
create lost lands, inner earths and hidden plateaus
full of dangerous wildlife and even more dangerous
natives. Unhappily, with the rise of satellite
photography in the modern era, these stories have
largely died out. However, this is Pulp Fantastic,
and we can do what we like. For those who find
it hard to engage their suspension of disbelief, we
place our lost lands within anomalous regions, folds
in geographic space-time caused by the presence
of large deposits of Element X (see pages 36 and
37 for details), providing a reason they’re hard to
find and why exploring them would be a profitable
exercise.
BUILDING LOST
LANDS
GMs wishing to create their own unique lost land
need to answer several questions;
• Where is the lost land?
• How is it isolated?
• How do the heroes reach it?
• What’s there?
• How can the heroes escape?
WHERE IS THE LOST LAND?
The location of the lost land will drive the first part
of the plot as the heroes prepare for their expedition.
What precautions they take and what equipment
they bring will be informed by the conditions they
201
expect to find on the ground. An expedition to Skull
Island in the South Pacific will be very different to
one in search of fabled Ultima Thule, north of the
Arctic Circle.
HOW IS IT ISOLATED?
All lost lands are isolated from the modern world
in some way. Maple White Land and its dinosaurs
sit on a remote plateau. Skull Island lies wreathed
in permanent storms in a distant quarter of the
South Pacific. Lost Atlantis rests deep in the Hollow
Earth, hundreds of miles beneath our feet. Isolation
serves two purposes; it cuts the location off from the
world, making it mysterious and uncharted, and it
cuts the heroes off from their support network when
they get there.
While the most famous lost land – Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle’s Maple White Land – is an inland
location, it is surrounded by miles of hostile jungle,
making escape an adventure in itself. H.Rider
Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines are located in the
heart of Africa, at a time when that continent was
largely unexplored by Westerners. Most lost lands
are isolated by the ocean, preventing the heroes
from simply walking to civilization. Others, like
H.P. Lovecraft’s blue-litten K’n-yan, Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ Pellucidar, Lin Carter’s Zanthodon, and
the Lindenbrock Cavern of Jules Verne’s Journey
to the Centre of the Earth, are buried deep beneath
the ground and reachable only by boring, caving
or (occasionally) teleporting. A rare few, such as
Lovecraft’s Antarctic city of the Elder Things in
At The Mountains of Madness and James Hilton’s
Shangri-La in Lost Horizon, are isolated by
forbidding mountain ranges and severe weather.
No matter how the land is isolated, escaping it
should be difficult and dangerous. Here, after all, be
monsters.
HOW DO THE HEROES
REACH IT?
Getting to the lost land should be almost as
dangerous as escaping it. Severe weather, hostile
natives, dangerous wildlife, spies and saboteurs,
vehicle malfunctions, even occult visitations, all
should plague and harass the heroes as they strive
to reach their goal. There’s a reason these places
have remained hidden for so long, and it’s not just
the presence of large amounts of reality-warping
Element X.
The more difficult and obscure the means of
reaching the location, the easier it is to mess with
it later. If the heroes fly their zeppelin to the lost
plateau, have it spring a leak. If the heroes try to
re-inflate it, have them forced to use hydrogen. And
when they’re fleeing the hostile tribe of ape-men,
have them pursued by a hail of flaming arrows…
WHAT’S THERE?
Here’s where the fun really starts. Are there
dangerous predators and if so, is it something the
heroes have seen before or an entirely unknown
creature with mysterious abilities? Is there an
isolated eco-system, and how does it work? Doyle’s
Maple White Land for instance, is far too small as
written to maintain such a variety of dinosaurs and
other animal life (which is why we’ve cheated a bit
by having it extend far further north than it should,
thanks to the reality warping effects of Element
X). Are there ruins full of occult horrors? Buried
complexes full of arcane technology? Is the location
inhabited? Are the natives friendly or hostile?
Primitive or advanced? Human, or something else?
Are there factions, or are they a mono-culture?
Is there treasure, perhaps a rich vein of gold or
diamonds to tempt the shifty local guide or the
impoverished grad student? Is there a beautiful
princess, or prince? (the answer to this one is almost
always yes!)
A recommended recent entry in the lost land genre
is Warren Fahy’s novel Fragment, in which an
island isolated for millions of years has evolved
a flora and fauna so unrelentingly hostile that if it
escaped it would overwhelm and collapse the global
ecosystem, a delightfully inventive twist on an old
idea.
202
HOW CAN THE HEROES
ESCAPE?
In several examples of lost lands, such as
Burroughs’ Caspak/Caprona stories, the heroes
find that escape back to the world they knew is
impossible, and so resign themselves to carving a
new life from the land that has become their home.
Of course, this doesn’t really work for the kind of
globe-trotting high adventure that forms a good
Pulp Fantastic campaign, so the wise GM will
avoid painting the game into a corner by plotting
a plausible escape route in advance. Players are
endlessly inventive, however, so the GM should
be prepared for them to come up with an entirely
unforeseen exit strategy.
In almost every good lost land story from the pulp
era, the hero or heroes escape through their own
efforts. Almost none of them escape by lighting
a signal fire and waiting to be rescued, simply
because it’s not dramatically satisfying. A good
escape should be daring, fraught with danger, and
ripe with opportunities for things to go horribly
wrong.
ATLANTIS
“Now in this island of Atlantis there was a great
and wonderful empire which had rule over the
whole island and several others, and over parts
of the continent . . . But, there occurred violent
earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and
night of misfortune. . . the island of Atlantis . .
.disappeared in the depths of the sea.”
Plato, “Timaeus”
“Confound that infernal woman!” Challenger
bellowed as he roughly crumpled his copy of the
morning Times and tossed it to the floor. I had
seen such outbursts from my friend, the famed
zoologist, naturalist and biologist Professor G. E.
Challenger. Indeed we all had, many times, and it
barely got a notice out of his wife or his man Austin,
who continued to pour my tea as if it was the most
normal thing. The Professor stood and fumed.
My curiosity piqued, I collected the offending
newspaper and began to read. I had not found what
could have possibly set him off, though there were
many potential candidates, untill his wife pointed to
a small notice in the lower left third.
I read it aloud, “Mdme. Valerie Beaumont to
be honored by the Royal Historical Society”.
Challenger glared at his wife who pointedly ignored
him. I was puzzled. “Who is Valerie Beaumont?” I
asked.
“She is an infernal American charade! A hoaxer
of the first order. I would expect such shoddy
journalism” and he stressed the word as if it were
a foul thing for him to say, “from your rag Malone,
but not the Times!”
“Valerie Beaumont is” Mrs. Challenger continued
“and old acquaintance of George’s. That is til they
butt heads.” She shared a knowing smile with me.
Challenger butted heads with everyone. “He felt
her theories on geography were, how did you say it
dear, ‘utter garbage and the infantile ramblings of
a doe-eyed schoolgirl’. She was at the time I believe
your Professor.”
“Jessie. Don’t start.” He growled. She ignored him.
Challenger obviously chaffed under the memory.
I knew the man too well to assume that his grief
with the Mdme. Beaumont had anything to do with
her gender or the fact that she was an American,
although both were cause for the Professor to
dismiss her, his issues were entirely one of academic
issues
“She claimed to have discovered a lost land.” He
continued.
“Yes. I can see how that would be dismissed as
irrationality.” I replied back dryly. Challenger
glared first at me and then at his wife, who barely
concealed a small laugh. I remembered our first
meeting led to one of the greatest adventures of my
life and the discovery of the South American plateau
known as Maple White Land. In truth, our first
meeting ended with Challenger bodily throwing me
out to the street for assuming he was a fraud.
“We could go to this meeting tonight, see what the
old bird has to say” I suggested.
“No! No!” Challenger thundered.
“Mdme. Beaumont has banned poor George from
any public function where she might appear.” His
wife added. Challenger’s glare became almost
deadly in its intent. Mrs. Challenger simply rose and
203
nodded her good mornings to me and left the room.
“No. No my young friend. I have no desire to hear
the famed Miss Beaumont speak.” Challenger
said while crashing like a great bear back into
his reading chair. “But” he began more quietly,
“She has a first-rate mind, for an American you
understand. She may actually be on to something
this time. She certainly has the funds. But
Americans always solve their problems by throwing
more money at them. I would like to look over her
research notes. To correct them where there are
errors of course.”
I smiled. I had seen this introspection in him
before, usually before I am running for my life
in some desperate jungle somewhere. Though it
has to be said that if the distinguished Professor
George Edward Challenger is not welcome at
these proceedings, I am sure the less distinguished
Edward Malone of the Daily Gazette will not even
be noticed.
- From the notebook of Edward Malone
(1898)
A name recalled throughout antiquity, the great
continent of Atlantis once ruled the Atlantic
Ocean, with ports that reached Europe, Africa
and the Americas. She was the most powerful of
the antediluvian nations, rivalled only by demon-
haunted Mu and dark Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean,
and in one day it was gone. She sank below the
waves never to be seen again, only to exist in half
remembered tales and myth.
No less than a great scholar Plato himself spoke of
Atlantis. He described it in Timaeus and Critias,
where he discussed its destruction and prior to that
its perfect society in a city dedicated to Poseidon. In
fact, the Princes of Atlantis were said by some to be
the very offspring of Poseidon.
Perhaps the most well-known part of the legend
of Atlantis is her fall, though the details remain
obscured by time. Whether the fabled city-state
was brought low by war, natural disaster, meddling
with dark magic or even darker science, we will
never be sure. What few survivors there were fled
the destruction, either to mingle their divine blood
with the common races of man, or to form reclusive
colonies, hidden away from the world to await a
time when the rest of humanity can catch up to their
own scientific breakthroughs. It is said that after
10,000 years they are still waiting.
Still others remained on the continent as it
sank deep below the waves, their super-science
protecting them until they emerged on the other
side of the ocean, in the Hollow Earth. Here
these Atlanteans have continued the life their
predecessors began on the surface. There are very,
very few Atlanteans left.
Atlantis, waned from its former glories, is the
greatest power of the Hollow Earth. Located in what
is known as the Northern Sea, the island of Atlantis
is much smaller than the continent it used to inhabit.
The city of Atlantis though, more properly a city-
state, is much the same as described by Plato. The
few remaining Atlanteans live in the city, while
metal automatons – some appearing as humans,
others as great machines – work the fields and
mines. Within the city itself one can find Atlanteans,
Themiscyrans and other humans. Human slavery is
illegal in Atlantis, though not in Themiscyra.
Themiscyrans will often bring their slaves with
them when visiting. Other races, such as various
Beast Men, Neanderthals and even the occasional
Lemurian though are not considered sentient under
the laws of Atlantis and therefore can be owned as
slaves. Sometimes even an outsider human can be
considered to be non-human if they fail certain tests,
such as Atlantean history or philosophy.
THE PEOPLE OF ATLANTIS
Most of the Atlanteans were killed on the day their
homeland sank beneath the waves. A few though
have survived. Most of the survivors remained on
the surface world – some using their occult powers
and super-science to take on the roles of gods as
the Aesir or the Olympians – while a precious
few ended up in the Hollow Earth. A few set up
colonies elsewhere in the world, like the arctic
island of Ultima Thule, and used technology to
cloak themselves from the eyes of the world. When
referring to Atlanteans one can mean the surface
dwelling Atlanteans or the Hollow Earth dwelling
ones.
The Atlanteans of the Hollow Earth resemble their
forefathers to a large degree. The typical Atlantean
is tall, taller than human average, with males at
an average of 6’6” and females at nearly 6’0”
204
themselves. They are almost always physically
perfect; well proportioned, muscular and athletic
looking, with skin tones ranging from albino white
to jet black. These traits are obviously due to their
breeding and physical makeup rather than exercise.
Their clothing is reminiscent of ancient Greece
or even Egypt in cases. Their clothing is light but
woven of no cloth of nature. Everywhere one
can find the use of their own metal, Orichalcum
(“ορείχαλκος”). This metal, often called “red
gold” or “mountain copper”, is one of the very
few metals worked in the Hollow Earth, and bears
some similarity to Element X. Trace elements of
Orichalcum can be found in the crops and drinking
water in Atlantis, giving them a curious golden
glow, and may have some relation to the Atlanteans
unearthly powers.
The people of Atlantis speak Aklo, the Atlantean
“root” language from which all other languages are
derived. Typically, an Atlantean only needs to hear
a few words of any given language to be capable
of speaking with a person in their native tongue.
Atlantean can be learned by non-speakers rather
quickly as well, but this does not convey the gift
of understanding all other languages as it does to
Atlanteans.
The people of Atlantis are also all, to some degree
or another, practitioners of magic, and almost all
possess psionic powers. Most know the lowliest
of spells and enchantments (Novice) and there
are many learned masters. The occult libraries of
Atlantis are extremely extensive and forbidden to
all but the most learned of the Atlantean Elders.
The Atlantis of today is a shade of its former glory.
Where politics and philosophy were the topics of
even the most banal discussions and medicine,
astronomy and art were considered intellectual
pursuits worthy of all, present day Atlanteans spend
most of their time in long periods of catatonic
stupors and brief intervals of drug induced semi-
wakefulness. What was assuredly a survival
technique for the populace has turned into a sort of
living death for most Atlanteans. However, there
are those who are fully awake, and they plot to
return to the surface world. Some wish to resume
their rightful place in the world, others to assume
dominance over the surface races. A handful
want to destroy all the surface races and reclaim
sole mastery of the globe. The camps fight both
themselves and the lethargy that curses the race.
Most Atlanteans believe that the surface world has
not much advanced much since the early Roman
Empire and would be greatly concerned to realize
that this is no longer the case.
Atlanteans are all extremely long lived, though
whether this is natural or due to their science is
unknown. How long an Atlantean can live is also
unknown. Since they do not measure time by the
passage of the sun or reckon the years as surface
men do, it is difficult to know how old any given
Atlantean is. Atlanteans age slower than normal
humans, reaching sexual maturity at 20, and their
majority at by their mid-thirties, at which point their
aging process simply stops. While a few may show
signs of age here and there – the odd wrinkle or
silvery hair – these are extremely rare. It is possible
that Atlanteans may live for upward of a thousand
years, until they choose to die, at which point they
begin to age like normal humans until they pass on.
FEATURES OF ATLANTIS
The ruins of Atlantis in the Hollow Earth are a
far cry from their antediluvian glory. A number of
buildings though remain intact.
THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON
Atlanteans still honor their old gods in the old ways.
This large temple resembles a Greek temple with
Egyptian influences. In truth these civilizations took
their cues from Atlantean architects.
ATLANTEAN TECHNOLOGY
Orichalcum is often considered to be the greatest
technological advance. The red-gold metal is
light-weight and easily molded into any fashion to
those that know its secrets. It is most often worn
as jewelry, but of a simple sort. It is rumored to be
spun into thread to make their clothing and even
their flying conveyances.
It is also the only metal that will allow a compass
to work in the Hollow Earth. A compass treated
with this metal will always point towards Atlantis
since it is the largest deposit of orichalcum in the
world. Of course, many adventurers speculate that
there are other sources in the Hollow Earth as well
and one must be far away from Atlantis in order to
discover them.
205
Atlanteans as
Player Characters
Atlanteans are a playable race and
some may choose to take up the
adventuring career. Atlanteans
have increased strength and health.
Their physiques are nearly perfect
and each Atlantean is beautiful
to behold, their personalities are
arrogant, abrasive, demanding and
difficult to get along with. They
see themselves as being superior
to humans in every respect and
they treat others as inferior beings.
Atlanteans learn languages very
quickly and can start with a
number of languages equal to their
Smarts die, plus one. They are
knowledgeable of ancient history,
though often their facts are modern
day superstitions or have been
forgotten. Knowledge of Atlantean
tech also has no modern day equal.
Racial Traits
• Strong and Healthy: Atlanteans
have a starting Strength and Vigor
at d6
• Advanced Civilization: Atlanteans
have a starting Smarts at d6
• Outsider: Atlanteans see
themselves as superior to all other
races, and therefore receive a -2 to
all Persuasion skill checks when
dealing with other species.
• Athletic: Due to their enhanced
strength, Atlanteans gain a +2 to all
Athletic skill tests
• Mystically Minded: Atlanteans
gain a +2 to all Occult skill checks.
The technology of ancient Atlantis was said to
be far beyond that of anything in their time, and
this remains true today. Atlanteans guard their
technology as closely as they guard their magic.
Indeed, the two may be one and the same. What has
been reported in both the writings on the Hollow
Earth and dealings with Atlanteans on the surface
is they can heal nearly any wound by means of a
glowing light. They wield rays that can disable or
kill. They can fly through the air and underwater
in saucer-shaped craft called vimanās and can
communicate with others of their kind by merely
speaking into the air.
Atlantean vimanā craft are made of orichalcum,
and are smooth, metallic and shaped like a disc.
No reliable reports of the craft can be uncovered,
but one account describes it as a “wheel within
a wheel”, resembling the description of an angel
found in Ezekiel 1:16. These craft are powered by a
Green Atlantean Etheric crystal.
Crafting with
Orichalcum
Orichalcum has a similar weight,
texture and color to gold, but that
is where the resemblance ends.
Orichalcum is much harder, with
a much higher melting point.
Working orichalcum first requires a
character to make a Weird Science
check with a raise at least. Of
course, the only ones that can teach
characters how to do this properly
are the Orichalcum Masters of
Atlantis, and they prefer to keep
their secrets to themselves.
LEARNING ATLANTEAN
TECHNOLOGY
Atlantean technology was old when other races of
men were first grasping the basics of agriculture.
It continued up to the time of the sinking and has
progressed a little more since. Learning Atlantean
tech is much more difficult than learning other
technological devices. Even those with familiarity
206
with Weird Science have a difficult time (-4
modifier) learning how to use any given device.
ATLANTEAN ENERGY
CRYSTALS
The greatest and highest of the Atlantean
technological sciences is that of Atlantean
crystallography. These strange crystals come in
a variety of shapes and colors, each with its own
special powers. All of these crystals resemble quartz
to a degree, or even emeralds, rubies or diamonds,
though these appearances are false. The crystals
are grown in special vats and actually have more in
common with salt (sodium chloride) than anything
else. Save for their clarity and hardness one might
think they were more related to diamonds.
All these crystals are very rare (unless noted) and
all require special “tuning” in order to work. The
crystals all are activated by certain frequencies of
light and sound, and channel forms of energy such
as Etheric, Odic, Psychic or even Vril to achieve
their desired purpose.
Etheric energy is the most common and is
transmitted across the ethereal or “spirit” plane.
It is the base energy of all Atlantean technology,
and its overuse in certain areas can produce bizarre
spiritual disturbances, such as poltergeists and
hauntings. Some Atlanteans believe that it was an
over-reliance on etheric energy that doomed Atlantis
many thousands of years ago.
Odic is life energy and is generated naturally by
living beings. It is considered one of the safer
energies to use since it is a byproduct of life, though
capturing it can be difficult. Odic energies can be
used to heal, repair bones and tissues, even give
sustenance for a brief period of time. Odic energy
is often collected in Green crystals for use in
technology or Blue crystals for personal use. Once
used, odic energy passes into the etheric plane.
Psychic energies are produced by sapient minds.
While all humans (and Atlanteans) can produce this
energy, few can harness it. Blue crystals can convert
psychic energy into healing energy and Red crystals
convert it into a deadly weapon.
Vril is the most misunderstood of the energies, but
potentially the most powerful. Sometimes called
geomantic force, it occurs in the natural world and
is described as flowing in the earth like water. Vril
was the first form of esoteric energy harnessed by
the Atlanteans and the one used most often by their
descendants. It is believed that Vril energy is the
power found in “Ley Lines”, but this has never been
confirmed.
The following crystals are known. Others are
assumed to exist.
Green: The most common, this crystal takes Vril
(naturally occurring) and Odic (life energy) and
converts it to either Etheric energy to be used by
other crystals great distances away or to power their
technology.
Blue: These crystals harness Odic, Vril and Psychic
energies for various uses including healing and
medical uses to protection from psychic intrusion.
White: These crystals use all the energies and
amplify them, making them more powerful.
Red: These crystals take Vril and Psychic energies
and focus them into weapons. A mental blast from
a red psychic crystal is roughly equal to that of a
lightning bolt. These can also be used to defend in
the shape of shield of pure Vril energy.
Violet: These crystals take Etheric and Psychic
energies and use them to communicate over vast
distances.
Crystals and energies can be combined for extra
effects. While Atlanteans can communicate with
nearly every human-based society they had
difficulty with the non-humans of their ancient
enemy Lemuria. A simple broach of violet, blue and
white crystals made for a device that could translate
any language heard or spoken into understandable
speech. There are rumors of a black crystal that uses
Odic and Etheric energies and can enable the user to
speak to the dead.
MULTIPLE ATLANTISES
In dealing with an Atlantean for any length of
time one begins to hear talk of a fascinating idea.
That there is more than one “Atlantis”. When the
continent was destroyed and sank below the waves
different sections had different fates. It is known
among Atlantean scholars that there were some
refugees that made it as far as the Americas; not
just people, but sections of land. The Atlantean
207
stronghold in the Hollow Earth is but one such
large group. There is a group of Atlanteans, if the
tales are to be believed, living in an equally large
colony under the ocean waves. These Atlanteans
are protected by some great science or magic from
the crushing pressures, freezing cold and the more
pragmatic lack of oxygen. Another group, smaller,
is believed to be living on an island in the middle
of the Atlantic ocean. Due to the failure of their
protection crystals their island remains invisible and
any ships approaching are destroyed.
Millennia ago communication was frequent between
all three using the communication crystals, but they
have since gone silent and no one knows the fates of
these other outposts.
MAPLE WHITE
LAND
There are heroisms all around us! The era of
romantic adventure and derring-do is not yet ended,
my friends. There are still blank places on the map
to fill in and the Zoological Institute of London
seeks worthy candidates to do just that!
You may have heard tale of the strange claims of the
impossible Professor George Edward Challenger
that there is a realm of fanciful creatures isolated
for eons against the encroachment of the rightful
mastery of mankind. A committee is being formed
to put these outlandish stories to the test and prove
them either outlandish hoax or glorious truth.
Regardless of the veracity of the infamous
Challenger’s claims, the committee can expect to
face dangers, disease and discovery in that vastly
unexplored land. As such, any who bear amongst
themselves the character of the stalwart within
their hearts must feel at the very least a trickle of
the urge to set against these unknowns the powers
granted them by God and the British Empire, that
great pinnacle of Western civilization.
Seek out the dignified Professor Summerlee or the
redoubtable Lord John Roxton to set your place
amongst these brave souls striking out into the
Devil’s heart of black ignorance.
To reach Maple White Land, you must first travel
up a tributary of the Amazon River leading out
from the city of Manaos. It is advisable to do this
during the dry season, as the raining season makes
much of the region “too marshy for foot travel and
too shallow for boating.” One might be able to hire
a steamer to take you most of the way, but, upon
reaching an Indian village deep in the jungle, it is
suggested to acquire light-weight canoes as there
will be rapids and shallows that you will have to
carry the boats around.
Some days travel out of the Indian village, another
river reputedly splits off. This river is difficult to
note as “there is no break in the trees” and the key
point of finding the concealed river is to look for
where there are “light green rushes instead of dark
green undergrowth” between “two great cotton
woods.” In the process of finding this hidden
waterway, the explorer will hear the near constant
thumping of war drums in the region all around
them.
After roughly three or four days of travel on this
hidden waterway, the water shallows and eventually
disappears. The explorer will have to set aside their
canoes and begin a march upwards deeper into the
Amazon. The animals in this region are not used to
man and are thus not afraid of his scent or approach.
This can be dangerous with some of the more
predatory creatures.
This last stage of the trip to the outskirts progresses
ever upwards. About two days after reaching the
end of the river, the tropical plants start to fade. On
the third day is the beginning of a “rock-studded
slope” which will take just about two days to travel
up. Nine days travel from the end of the river, is
a tremendous growth of bamboo making almost
a wall “as definite as if it marked the course of a
river” that will take the better part of day to slice
through.
The stalwart explorers will now have reached
a valley showing a wide plain studded with the
occasional tree. At this point, it is possible for a
party to encounter pterodactyls that have flown far
afield of their normal haunts to seek food. Such
sightings will usually still be rare and far off and
more common dangers should be more considered.
The base of the plateau is at about three thousand
feet above sea level and trees from temperate
zones, such as beeches, start being found. The
cliffs themselves rise in some places as high as
one thousand feet and are sheer and just about
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unscalable in almost all places. Those of scientific
bent will be amongst the first to note that the entire
structure appears to be volcanic in nature.
The longer one remains in this region, the more
definite an encounter with a pterodactyl is likely to
occur, but these will still be far flying individuals
instead of whole flocks. Most likely these will be
the outcasts of the flocks, or the smaller, possibly
younger males. Those that need to fly farther off in
order to gather enough food.
The place nearest the approach is one of the lower
regions features a pinnacle of rock that reaches
up about six hundred feet and lies across from a
similarly low point in the cliff wall surrounding the
plateau. This rock feature is comparatively easier to
ascend, though any amateur rock climbers will need
a fair amount of help getting to the top.
A single beech tree growing to a height of around
sixty feet, grows out of the top of the pinnacle. The
pinnacle top itself is easily wide enough for six men
to maneuver about in comfort. However, the top
of the pinnacle and the top of cliff in that place are
separated by a distance of about forty feet, so some
clever thinking will be necessary to finding a way to
the plateau from there.
To the west of the place the Approach meets the
Basalt Cliffs, there is a wide swamp that is infested
with the Jaracaca snake. The Jaracaca is a highly
venomous and highly aggressive snake which
will not fail to attack any man it sees. They attack
with speed and surprise, so that keeping a weapon
such as a shotgun on hand is the preferred advice.
In addition, these reptiles lair in depressions of
the earth in nests of dozens or even hundreds of
individual creatures. A single Jaracaca is dangerous,
but a swarm of them is something to be escaped at
all speed.
Further past this is a grove of sharp topped bamboo,
which is so thick that it is impossible for the
explorer to get entirely through it without ever
stumbling on the traces of human remains within
the growth. Most of these will be old skeletons,
but it is quite possible that one will find the recent
remains of small, red-skinned Indians impaled upon
the rocks after a fall from the heights of the plateau.
There is a cave further west past the bamboo
impalers which appears to have been worn by
water and exits out onto the plateau above, but an
earthquake in the last four years has collapsed the
ceiling closing that avenue of ascent. Maple White
has left a number of signs drawn in chalk to lead
future explorers to this cave, unaware that it would
be closed soon after he used it the last time.
Another similar cave on the opposite side of the
plateau has a tunnel that lets out one hundred feet
above the ground. The area, however, suffers from
earthquakes and such a tunnel bears the risk of
caving in.
Maple White Land proper is a plateau roughly thirty
miles long and twenty miles wide, if measured
from the ground. However, when on the plateau it
somehow seems far larger, and supports a much
greater eco-system than would appear possible. It
was formed by volcanic action at some point in the
distant and prehistoric past and now stands separate
from the rest of the world.
Once on the plateau, the ground in general begins
to slope more or less gently downward as one gets
closer to the center. Five or six miles in from the
edge, there is a large lake called Lake Gladys where
the rains have moved downward to pool in the
center of what is basically a massive crater formed
by the forces that had raised the plateau. The lake
has a circumference of roughly ten miles and is
used as a watering hole and dwelling for a large
number of creatures. It is shallow in many places,
with a great many sandbars, but deep enough for
large creatures like freshwater plesiosaur and
ichthyosaurs to dwell. There are also mentions of
giant, purple snakes stretching to a length of more
than fifty feet.
For the most part, the terrain is thickly forested
with occasional glades and clearings as well as
small brooks and pools. There are a large variety
of fruit bearing trees as well as European bees in
heavy population. It is possible to tell the difference
between the safe and poisonous fruits by seeing
which kinds are regularly fed on by the local birds.
There are a number of animals both large and small
in the Plateau’s woods, including dinosaurs such
as the rarely seen stegosaurs and monstrously large
iguanodons.
There are also large mammals including deer and
elk which are larger than any other such animal in
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the world. Large enough that a moose or elk of the
outside world barely reach their shoulders. There
are also large armadillo like creatures with long,
red tongues like ribbons. These creatures so far
mentioned are largely not dangerous and eat plants
despite their great bulk.
Besides the pterodactyl presence and the great
herbivores, there are roving carnivorous dinosaurs
called “Stoa” by the natives, which appear to be a
nocturnal relation to the allosaurus. These are also
joined by a carnivorous, running bird far larger
than an ostrich, and called a phororachus. These
are the primary dangers, aside from those presented
by the ape-men and native Indians, which face
explorers on the plateau. Unlike the pterodactyls,
these animals seem to have no set lair or gathering
area and seem to spend their waking time roving the
Plateau in constant search of food as if they were
some great, land-bound sharks.
Thick bushes in Maple White Land will need to
be checked for a large variety of blood tick which
attaches painlessly and can swell to the size of a
purplish grape. These ticks are not an immediate
danger and do not swarm but camping in their
vicinity will leave one open to being drained of
blood by an unknown number of pests on a regular
occurrence. Besides the fatigue this is likely to
cause over time, there is the threat of disease to
consider.
If you can assume the pinnacle of rock mentioned in
the previous section is at the center of the southern
side of the plateau, then there is a large swamp
north and east of the pinnacle. This swamp has soil
of a sort of bluish clay and is populated by hundreds
of pterodactyls, not less than a thousand of the
creatures. The males of these flying reptiles keep
a near constant watch and have very keen senses.
On sensing an invader, all the males will fly up to
ascertain the location of the threat and then attack it
en masse.
On the edge of the Plateau, situated directly above
the impaling bamboo grove at the base of the basalt
cliffs is a clearing where a number of “huts built
of foliage piled one above the other among the
branches” in a semi-circle of trees. These sort of
nest huts represent the houses of a race of ape-men
that are decidedly hostile to human beings.
North of the Ape-Town is a swampy region where
a white phosphorescent creature “larger than a cow
and [with] the strangest musky odor” can often
be seen. However, the vile and marshy nature of
the region makes getting even a good look at this
creature a dangerous task and local humans and
ape-men are fearful of the place. Further north from
that is a wide rocky region largely unexplored. It
is uninhabited by both ape-men and humans of the
plateau. Moving into this area brings to mind talk of
Curupuri, a sort of Indian bogey-man or threat that
is supposed to dwell somewhere in these unexplored
regions of the Amazon.
On the northwest corner of the plateau, another high
cliff-face, like those that isolate the entire Plateau,
can be seen. There are a large number of caves in
these cliffs and they are thus used as shelter and
storage by the humans who base their settlement
around this place. There are a number of caves
and at least eighteen of the higher ones are used as
storage barns by the natives. One of these caves
extends to a deeper tunnel that eventually lets out
a hundred feet over the surrounding plain from
the second of the caves mentioned in the previous
section.
The Indians make a practice of digging large pit
traps for the purposes of catching or killing wild
animals such as the dangerous stoa. These pit traps
can be found, though are uncommon, in the forest
and clearings in places where the humans hold
sway. They are designed for larger prey, so a human
is likely to see one before they stumble into it unless
traveling without light, distracted by other concerns
or both. These pits often contain the rotting remains
of previous catches after the best parts of the meat
were cut away. As such, while the impaling stakes
are set widely apart enough that a person is unlikely
to be speared upon one in a fall, the clutter can still
cause damage. In addition, smaller scavengers can
likely be found in congregating around some of
these pits, presenting their own danger.
Just south some miles is Challenger’s Geyser,
which is an example of current volcanic activity as
it bursts in spectacular manner fairly regularly. The
area is filled with sulfurous gasses, however, so few
if any animals or people venture there. This is where
the asphalt the humans use to mark ownership of
the dinosaurs is harvested.
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The Plateau is riddled with tunnels in the form
of ancient lava tubes and those worn away by
the continual action of water over the course of
hundreds of thousands of years. There is little to no
telling what is in these tunnels, though explorers
may come across dense veins of Element X only a
short distance from the entrance. However, as said
before the area is prone to occasional earthquakes
and still possesses hints of volcanic activity.
It is highly possible, therefore, that the deep caves,
caverns and tunnels are generally uninhabitable
by most animal life. In this case, the threat of cave
ins, sudden eruptions of scalding steam or bursts of
poisonous gases are all dangers that explorers would
have to face in spelunking these depths. If, on the
other hand, they are habitable, then fresh horrors
might dwell within these tunnels. Perhaps that
strange white creature seen in the swamps on the
east-side is not a single creature but the occasional
beast of the cavernous depths that has lost its way in
the tunnels and stumbled onto the outside world.
CULTURES
Accala Indians: At some point in the distant past,
driven by warfare or famine or other powers, a
breed of human beings pushed its way up on to the
plateau and they have ever since made it their home
and struggled against the various dangers of the
place.
They are a small red-skinned people, but of
considerable bravery and character. Their language
seems to be more than half hand and body signs
which seem easy for an outsider to lay a handle on.
Their culture is patriarchal and seems to be centered
around a lineage-based leadership: a chieftain
whose position is inherited. These nobles seem to
shave the front half of their head.
The Accala dwell along the north of the Plateau
in caves cut into the sides of another basalt cliff-
face there. The lowest of their caves are eighty
feet above the ground and too small for the Stoa
to get into. These caves are hollowed out of a soft
rock that lies between the hard granite of the base
of the cliffs and the volcanic basalt that lies above
them. The walls of these caves are decorated with
numerous pictures and cave drawings which are
quite accurate representations of the animals and
plants of the area.
These Indians have mastered the domestication of
the great iguanodons, using them as a source of
meat. Ownership of individual animals is marked
by the placement of an asphalt mark on the animal
that is particular to each individual. The animals
themselves quite docilely allow themselves to
be led to slaughter which is counter to the awful
struggle such beasts put up when they are attacked
by the stoa.
They arm themselves with spears for the most part,
or else poisoned arrows, and have reached a point of
development where they can produce glass beads as
jewelry. They build canoes similar to those used by
the Amazonian Indians everywhere and use those
to traverse the Central Lake and fish for food, or to
travel quickly from one end of the lake to the other
without having to go around.
They will be friendly and very helpful to outsiders
who help them, to a point. If the Accala see the
exploring party as a benefit, then they will not
help the party in finding a way to leave the Plateau
if the party does not already have one. They
will do everything they can to make the stalwart
adventurers happy up until questions regarding
getting off the Plateau are brought up. At which
point, the Accala will give an impression of
stupidity and pretend that they do not understand
the meaning of the question, no matter how clear
communication is in other regards. They will go
so far as to offer wives to men in order to convince
them to stay. If there are women in the exploring
party, then it is likely they will be seen as property
somehow of the men folk.
Doda Ape-Men: The Doda, as they are called by
the Accala, are descendants of some otherwise
extinct Amazonian ape and seem to represent a
sort of missing link between human and ape. They
have reddish fur and short bandy legs which appear
to have prehensile feet. Their faces are long and
whitish with flattened noses, projecting lower jaws
and coarse bristly beards. They have curved, sharp
canine teeth and at least some individuals suffer
from extreme acne, indicating a greasy sort of
skin. Their eyes are “bestial and ferocious” and lie
underneath thick and heavy brows.
The Doda are extremely strong and use heavy
clubs as weapons which are noted to do monstrous
damage. They have the advantage in areas of
heavy tree-cover as their prehensile feet give them
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the edge in climbing and moving from branch to
branch. However, over open spaces, they are slow
and clumsy and the advantage falls to humans.
They are incredibly subtle and stealthy, capable
of keeping a continuous eye on individuals or
attacking from ambush with little sign of their
presence.
The ape-men live in a clearing on the southeast side
of the plateau and make strange little huts by taking
heavy amounts of foliage and piling them over the
thicker and heavier branches of the trees. These
make sort of upside-down birds’ nests scattered
throughout the semi-circle of tall trees that form
their town.
These primitive savages possess a vocal language
and are extremely skilled with knots and rope work,
but don’t seem to have many other advances of
technology or culture. They have, however, made
a cruel sport of execution. They prefer to take their
targets alive when possible in order to indulge in
this sport. Their method of execution is to either
force a captive to jump or else to hurl them bodily
over the edge of the Plateau and watch them fall to
the sharp, deadly bamboo grove below. The Doda
watch to see whether the victim is merely dashed on
the rocks or else speared on the bamboo, making “a
proper ceremony” about it releasing a “mad yell of
delight…howling in exultation” when an execution
is particularly entertaining.
The ape-men have had a long-standing war with
the Accala and it is unknown whether or not their
hateful and murderous nature already existed
or came about because of their conflict with the
Accala. However, the matter is moot at the current
moment as they have a hateful and murderous
dislike of all humans now.
Curupuri: The Curupuri are a myth of the Indians
of the Amazon Jungle for many hundreds of miles
around the Plateau. The entire region is avoided for
fear of this forest spirit and monstrous demon. What
isn’t known is that the Curupuri are species that
has evolved over eons and existed in the jungle for
thousands of years.
They stand tall and erect and have slender builds
with long, dexterous limbs. Their faces are flat
and expressive equal to that of a human, but are
very clearly reptilian. Their noses are not highly
prominent, seeming almost to consist of a pair of
nostrils and a very slight rising of the face. They
possess a viper’s heat pits just under the inside of
their round eyes. Females can be told apart from
the males by the colorful crests of the males as
compared to the subdued appearance of the females.
They are nocturnal, which adds to the ease with
which they have so far avoided extensive human
contact. Since they are rarely active at the same
time as humans or Doda, they are able to maintain
their secrecy and existence much easier than would
have been the case if they were day-time creatures.
If any creature of the plateau knows all the ways
to and from the plateau, it is the Curupuri, whose
legend is spread far and wide in bedtime whispers
across the Amazon. However, they are a very
private and isolationist people who prefer to have
their presence mostly unmarked, rumors and myths
notwithstanding.
The Curupuri predominately dwell in the rocky
northwestern region of Maple White Land which is
also the least explored of the regions. Both the Doda
and the Accala prefer to avoid those areas and have
an intense dread of them. The Curupuri encourage
this with quiet reprisals of any perceived invasion.
The lizard people have remained more or less
neutral to the Doda-Accala war, preferring neither
side in the conflict, and visiting retribution on either
side should their own territory be invaded.
The lizard people dwell in caves in the rocky,
unexplored regions of the Plateau and have carved
out vast vaults and individual cells in that region
for their settlements. They are more developed
and technologically advanced than most of the
other natives, making intricate tools, jewelry and
even armor by carving and shaping bone. They
also domesticate animals, keeping small dog-sized
dinosaurs similar to a raptor in build. These are used
as guard or hunting animals.
Most of the Curupuri use spears as the Accala do,
but their spears are of higher quality. Given their
preference for being unseen and secretive in order
to enhance the myths surrounding them, they
use blowguns with highly toxic poisons. Bone or
obsidian knives are common, subtle weapons, but
they also have axes and heavy war clubs for when
they want to leave a more disturbing message not to
invade their territory.
212
It is apparent that the Curupuri are aware of the
languages of most humans in their area and also
understand the superstitions surrounding them.
They make deliberate, psychological use of these
beliefs as part of a weapon against those who are
curious and push close to their home. In addition,
it is probably the Curupuri who arrange accidents
to discourage those that would investigate the area.
Failing to discourage individuals, they will likely
try to eliminate them.
Drumming Indians: In the first stretch of the
approach, after leaving the friendly Indian village
up tributary from Manaos, the sounds of war drums
can be frequently heard telegraphing messages back
and forth between each other. Some learned men
have guessed that these are Miranha or Amajuaca
cannibals, but no encounter has confirmed this.
Half-Breed Slavers: A number of individuals of
half European and half native blood have taken up
the occupation of pressing their fellows into slavery
and profiting off of such misery they inflict. These
are, in general, a cruel people who are prone to
holding long grudges and willing to go to devious
lengths in order to avenge a blood-debt.
Indian Village: The Indian village that serves as the
stepping off point into the unknown of the Approach
to Maple White Land is typical of such villages that
maintain friendly contact with Europeans. They are
mostly hunter gatherers following a chief. These
chiefs have patriarchal powers and when they make
a decision regarding the worth of a bargain, that
decision is upheld regardless of the thoughts of the
individual tribesman.
CAMPAIGN OPTIONS
There are several overall themes to a campaign in
Maple White Land. Isolation, survival, discovery
and conflict of varying evolutionary branches.
Isolation comes in the remote nature of the Plateau.
The characters are far from civilization and the
conveniences of modern life. They are separate
from other humans save the occasional native
villager. The isolation can push a party to depend
more upon each other and trust each other, or it can
cause people to descend into paranoia.
Survival is connected to the isolation. There are a
lot of dangerous animals and situations in Maple
White Land and many of the conflicts a party will
have will involve a dangerous environment rather
than deliberate enemies, though those are hardly in
short supply either.
Discovery comes from the fact that almost all of
the campaigns assume a motivation of someone
deciding to learn what there is to learn. Scientists
and explorers are going to form the core of the
group. These are people possessed of curiosity and
intellect and characters who would not be drawn to
the unknown are going to have a hard time fitting in
here.
There are multiple branches of the evolutionary
tree presented and mixed together into one place.
On the one hand you have the Accala Indians, who
are quite a bit like what the explorers are used
to, though even they are likely to be considered
a separate evolution from the Europeans. On the
other hand, you have the Doda ape men who
present a savage and murderous possibility. The war
between these two races is characterized as a war of
evolutionary need: one or the other species will not
be happy until such time as the other is subjugated
or eliminated. Throw in the Curupuri and you
213
have a third (or fourth if, again, you consider the
Europeans or other outsiders as a separate group)
side to the conflict.
The Zoological Committee: This is the campaign
as it appears in the book. The characters would be
equipped for climbing and have plenty of food and
weaponry. They will find things pretty much as they
are in the description above.
The first task will be to actually get onto the plateau
since Maple White’s passage has already collapsed
due to earthquake. One option is to climb to the top
of the pinnacle of rock at the south of the plateau
and then jury rig a bridge of some sort to get
across the forty feet to the cliff on the other side.
Otherwise, the players might end going all the way
around the base of the cliffs and somehow finding
the cave that leads up to the Accala’s store-rooms
and finding a way to climb the hundred feet to
where it comes out.
Arriving on the Plateau by the pinnacle of rock and
a jury rigged bridge puts the explorers closest to
the Doda Ape-Town, and thus means that they will
almost immediately come under those creatures’
murderous attention. Though it
will be a day or two before the
apes decide to attack.
The second option, finding the
cave that leads to the Accala
brings them up in the middle of
the Accala settlement. While not
as dangerous as the ape men, and
more likely to accept a human
face, coming up in the middle
of the Accala is not likely to
make them well disposed to the
players.
Eventually, something should
occur which causes the party
to be stuck on the Plateau and
unable to escape it immediately.
This will force them to explore
the plateau at least partially, with
an eye toward eventual escape.
In this case, the scientific minds
brought along on the party will
likely push to continue studying
the Plateau rather than merely
escape and seek home.
Challenger’s First Expedition: In this case, the
party is in the area and stumbles on to the existence
of Maple White Land when they arrive too late to
help the dying man but are left with his sketchbook
and other such clues to indicate that there is
something there.
If you use this option, then the players are in a
time constraint as the rainy season is coming
close and that will make travel in the regions
nearly impossible. They will also lack climbing
gear and other resources necessary to an extended
expedition. Should they get onto the Plateau and
find themselves stuck there, then they would likely
face a much more dire circumstances than with the
normal trip.
Assuming the explorers find the plateau but fail to
make a way up on to its top, then the quest becomes
how to get back to civilization with proof of the
discovery. The opponents here are nature and
possibly the Curupuri acting quietly to make things
seem accidental.
Maple White’s Expedition: If desired, the party
can explore this land in the time before Challenger
hears tell of its existence, travelling with the
American poet and artist Maple White himself. In
this case, the party is likely following hints of the
Curupuri in an effort to see what hides behind the
story. At this time, the collapsed cave mentioned in
the Geography section is still capable of being used.
It should come up somewhere in the swampy area
haunted by the unidentified phosphorescent thing.
The explorers will likely be armed in order to deal
with the natural dangers of the region, but they
will probably not be as heavily armored as they
would be if they thought they were going to face
large animals. There probably won’t be extensive
climbing gear, making the cave the only real way of
getting up to the plateau.
Lord Roxton’s War: In this case, you are playing
in the region of the Plateau before even Maple
White stumbled upon it. It is the middle of John
Roxton’s war against the slave drivers. In this case,
many of the conflicts will be between the slavers
and the party. Maple White Land in this case will be
something the players might not even be aware of
and something they merely stumble on in the course
of their war with the half-breed slavers.
214
In such a case, it is probable that two separate
groups of outsiders might intrude upon the privacy
of the plateau, the war between Roxton and the
slavers spilling over into this place. Someone might
even consider the plateau a great place to serve
as a hidden base of operations and start trying to
establish a permanent presence in the area.
This is prior to Maple White, so the cave that gives
easy access to the Plateau will still be clear.
The White Beast: What is that phosphorescent
creature in the swamp north of Ape Town? Maybe it
is time for your characters to find out.
THE HOLLOW
EARTH
The Earth is not a solid mass as so many learned,
but fallible, scientists assume, but rather is a hollow
sphere, with an entire ecosystem inside. No less
than such an austere man of science than Edmond
Halley, of the eponymous comet, has stated in
a publication from 1692 his own belief that the
Earth is indeed hollow and is one of the reasons we
have varying magnetic poles and the cause for the
Aurora Borealis. To date no other scientist has been
able to proffer any other suggestions for these two
phenomena.
This should not be a surprise to even the most basic
student of philosophy or religion. Long have the
great philosophers speculated this. The Greeks
spoke of Hades, the Jews of Sheol, the Christians
and Muslims of Hell, even pagan religions speak
of Svartalfheim or Tír na nóg and of Shambhala.
Many scholars believe that these stories are based
on fragments of observation and evidence. The terra
firma we stand on is not so firm after all.
In more recent years the late Captain John C.
Symmes, Jr lectured extensively on the nature of
the Hollow Earth. Such was Captain Symmes’
credibility that no less than the then-sitting U.S.
President John Quincy Adams stated that there
would be funding for such an expedition. After
Captain Symmes’ death, another proponent,
Jeremiah Reynolds also took to the lecture circuit. It
was on account of his insistence that the Great U.S.
Exploring Expedition was launched in 1838 and
lasted till 1842. Though that expedition went south,
rather than the north as hoped for by Reynolds.
Closer to home Sir John Leslie published Elements
of Natural Philosophy in 1829, wherein he proposed
a Hollow Earth.
While the theories have differed over the years,
Edmond Halley and Captain Symmes favoring the
Concentric Spheres hypothesis, or worlds within
worlds. Others have adopted the most simplistic and
more likely Convex Earth theories like that of Sir
John Leslie, proposing that the inside shell of the
Earth is as habitable as the outside that we presently
occupy. Most theories claim that not only is the
interior habitable, but inhabited as well!
GETTING IN
There are a few known ways to enter the Hollow
Earth. The most often described option, but
ironically the least used, is the openings at the
Poles. These polar holes have been described as
being anywhere from 100 miles to 1400 miles
in diameter, with the most common reckoning
at 800 miles. The issue is not lack of interest, as
the American expedition shows, but the hostile
environment one must traverse in order to reach
the poles. The harsh climes and remoteness of
the areas prevent a direct expedition. Even then,
explorers and scientists both differ on the exact
location of these holes. Even a hole 1400 miles in
diameter would be difficult to find in such extreme
temperatures and conditions.
There are reports in occult texts of explorers that
have successfully breached the Hollow Earth,
either by accident or design. In one case a group
of sailors were pursuing a whale far beyond the
shores of Greenland. These men saw the lights of
the Borealis and were swept away in a current to
the source of the lights. They had gone beyond what
their compasses had told them was north, even as
they traveled the compass continued to indicate
due north. They emerged in a warm sea where they
could see the sun over head as if it were noon. Their
captain, terrified and fearful for his men adjusted
course and returned the vessel home.
More common though are the various volcanic
tubes that will often snake down into the
inner world. This Earth is a dynamic one and
the knowledge of primordial volcanoes is
commonplace. Some of these tubes, once their fury
is spent, cool and form direct passageways to the
215
very center of the Earth. Indeed, this is how most
journeys to the Hollow Earth are accomplished.
However, while these tubes may be more accessible
than their polar counterparts – if one considers a
descent of more than 800 miles through the bowels
of a hopefully extinct volcano to be accessible –
they are less obvious and far harder to find.
There are long held beliefs that there are such
tubes to be found in Iceland and Greenland, though
their exact locations are unknown. The few that
have been discovered and reported back to men of
science are often scoffed at and are never found
again, leading some to propose a link between the
legends of the Hollow Earth and the mysterious
timeless “summer land” of the Icelandic huldufólk
(hidden people, or elves).
A Matter of Gravity
While in the Hollow Earth
characters will gain an advantage
to rolls involving strength-related
skill checks, these effects are
only temporary. For the first few
days (1d6, rolled separately for
each character) in the Hollow
Earth, heroes gain a +4 bonus to
all Strength-based checks before
their muscles acclimate. Upon
their return to the outer world the
characters will experience a -2 to
Strength and Vigor-based checks
for twice the number of days it
took them to acclimate to the lower
gravity of the Hollow Earth.
Others report more “occult” means of gaining
access to the Hollow Earth. The mythologies of
several peoples describe peoples living under the
ground; be they spirits, demons, faeries or other
malevolent entities often kidnap or otherwise
waylay travelers. One such species, more active in
recent years, are the Dero (see page 185). These
diminutive, twisted creatures have been reported
extensively, not in the journals of science, but the
grimoires of occult texts. Travelers and adventurers
are cautioned against such materials due to their
unreliability, even the great philosopher Kant has
pointed out that some so called “occult knowledge”
may at some future date become “science”.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND
LAWS OF THE HOLLOW
EARTH
This is what is known about the physical make-up
of the Hollow Earth.
To begin the laws of the universe as observed on the
surface of the Earth are mostly the same as those in
the surface of the Earth. Mostly.
The most prominent concern is of course that of
gravity.
The crust of the Earth is a shell, some 800 to 1500
miles thick in places. The center of gravity is a line
the runs in the center of this fold of land. Gravity
has long been speculated to be some form of
magnetic energy, this would seem to be the case.
As one descends into the Hollow Earth via volcanic
tube, gravity lessens until it equalizes roughly
400 miles below the surface of the Earth, where
it is possible to remain suspended in a state of
equilibrium. Continuing onward, gravity once again
increases until one surfaces in the Hollow World,
where gravity is slightly weaker than in the outer
world.
Explorers who come to the Hollow Earth by sea
via the polar holes will experience rough seas and
curious fogs during the transition, but otherwise will
not notice the shift in gravity.
Inside the Hollow Earth the upward curve of the
horizon is so subtle that, much like in the outer
world, it appears flat, and is almost impossible to
detect with instruments. Indeed, many visitors to
the Hollow Earth simply believe they are in an
unfamiliar area of the outer world and make their
way out none the wiser.
The interior of the Earth has similar features to the
outer surface. There are land masses, great oceans,
mountains, rivers, lush forests, plains and even
people. While most scholarly texts indicate that the
shell of the Earth is a land mass, there is ample occult
evidence that the oceans of the Earth above and the
great ocean of the Hollow Earth are one and the
same, suggesting that the oceans are far deeper than
any have speculated, hiding depths and secrets that
only the Leviathan knows. What is known that lost
civilizations and land masses that have sunk beneath
the waves have found refuge in the Hollow Earth.
216
Of the possible hazards one can run into in the
Hollow Earth is the lack true magnetic North and
South. While the poles work on the surface of the
Earth, in the interior compasses are nearly useless.
Unless a compass is treated with the red gold of
Atlantis, orichalcum, it will spin wildly while in the
Hollow Earth, or worse, constantly point to either
north or south.
THE INTERIOR SUN
One predominant feature of the Hollow Earth is the
Interior Sun. Hypothesized to be some 600 miles
across this burning orb appears to the inhabitants
inside the Earth much as our sun appears to us.
Indeed, it gives of about the same amount of heat
and light. However, as the Hollow Earth rotates
around the Interior Sun, this mysterious land never
experiences a true night. This, and the relative
closeness of the Interior Sun to the surface, gives
the Hollow Earth a tropical climate. Vast areas of
land are covered in lush vegetation, tropical forests
and primordial fens and swamps. Due to the oceans
and other sources of water there are areas of mist
and even cloud cover to provide respite from the
constant sunlight. Indeed, there are weather patterns
like those of the surface world. Clouds, mists and
even rain can be experienced here as on the surface
world, but never snow unless one is close to the
polar openings.
The atmosphere of the Hollow Earth appears to
be charged with energy and is faintly luminous,
providing more light than might otherwise be
expected by the Interior Sun. This charged
atmosphere often leads to gigantism among
the plant and animal species of the Hollow
Earth, causing them to grow to truly monstrous
proportions. Accounts of giant mushrooms, titanic
trees and vast beasts are very common. This then, is
the primordial, antediluvian Earth.
THE EXPEDITIONS TO THE
HOLLOW EARTH
Scholars work primarily from old books on the
subject, but there have been known attempts
to investigate the interior of our globe. No one
expedition has managed to map the entire interior
and the vast majority of the journeys have only
mapped the areas around the poles or other points
of entry. Other accounts are from people that have
lived in the Hollow Earth or have visited it by other
means; telepathic connections, astral projections.
Here are the major expeditions into the Hollow
Earth.
THE DANISH EXPEDITION,
1610
This is one of the first, first-person accounts
of a planned trip into the Hollow Earth. Lars
Skaarsgaard and his crew of 50 men, including
scientists, geologists, naturalists and professional
explorers along with navies and a small militia,
proceeded on a well-funded trip into the Hollow
Earth by accessing an opening recently discovered
in the Luossavaara Mountains of Sweden. This
expedition which cost the lives of all but dozen of
the men, took 7 years to complete. Much of the
interior and what we know today of the Atlanteans,
Colonies of Mu, Tribes of the Moon and the
Themiscryans come from this expedition. The notes,
as painstakingly detailed by Skaarsgaard’s own son,
would have been a boon to a university’s collection
had it not been for the war that broke out between
Sweden and Denmark in 1611. After that the diaries
were trivialized as “pseudo-scientific” or worse as
“propaganda” to embarrass one side or the other.
Today, little remains of notes of the Skaarsgaard
Expedition diaries. A few copies are known to exist
in private collections and at least one copy was
housed in the Library of Edinburgh in Scotland.
This copy is what prompted the later Beaumont
Expedition of 1854.
THE RUSSIAN SEA CAP-
TAIN, 1752
Of the more mundane accounts was one of a Russian
sea captain whaling in the Arctic Circle during the
Summer of 1752. The Captain, not at all familiar
with the tales of the Hollow Earth ran his ship into
one of the polar holes during his expedition. His
account’s level of detail is what draws the modern
scholar to his work. He detailed the shift in gravity,
the change in stars and most peculiar his description
of seeing the internal sun for the first time. The
account, which is generally believed by adherents
to be a true story, appeared in some pamphlets and
newspapers at the time. For the most part this story
was believed to be at best a fantastic story or at
worst the tale of a drunken sailor.
217
Much of what scholars know about the polar
regions of the Hollow Earth comes from this
account. Thin, though it is. Scholars point to the fact
that this sailor could not have known of the tales
of Galileo and there was no way that Symmes in
America would have heard the tales of the Russian
sailor. These two stories then they conclude are the
same because they are true.
THE BEAUMONT EXPEDI-
TION, 1854
Nominally American and English, this group of
explorers consisted of a few scientists, explorers
and a former Bavarian Army officer. This expedition
is unique because it was led by noted occult expert
and woman Mdme. Valerie Beaumont. In her fine,
intelligent script this expedition first entered the
Hollow Earth via the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland.
From here the small band lead by Mdme. Beaumont
and her bodyguard, Deiter “David” Braunschwieg,
explored the remains of Atlantis, Themiscyra
and even ancient Mu and her colonies. Here they
learned of the Tribes of the Moon and Lemuria,
though they did not explore these lands. Beaumont
also detailed how they spent many weeks with the
Ascended Masters of Argatha. For eight years this
small group explored and lived in this land till they
emerged in the mountains in Northern Mexico.
Delayed on their return to England due to the
American Civil War, they finally returned home in
1865. Beaumont produced her notes and a fantastic
crystal skull. While her notes were copious, her
details precise, and narrative clear, she was met
with critics on all sides. The scientific community
dismissed her as a woman and as an American. The
occult scholars of the day respected Beaumont, but
her accounts were criticized by an up and coming
occult figure, a young Madame Helena Blavatsky.
This was the first of what would become a war
of the premier occult figures, both women, which
would last for nearly a quarter of a century. As
time went on Blavatsky and later her Theosophical
Society would work to discredit Beaumont and her
expedition while using Beaumont’s dairies as her
own findings.
THE LINDENBROCK
EXPEDITION, 1863 Provisions for
Quite possibly the most famous expedition is the
the Lindenbrock
Lindebrock Expedition of the Summer of 1863. Expedition
The journey, taken on by the laudable Professor 1. A centigrade thermometer
Lindenbrock of Hamburg, his nephew Axel, and an of Eigel, counting up to 150
Icelandic guide, may in fact be one of the smallest degrees.
companies to ever investigate the Hollow Earth. 2. A manometer worked by
Lindebrock with his nephew painstakingly kept compressed air, an instrument
notes of all of their adventures. Their journey used to ascertain the upper
began in Iceland at the volcanic crater of Mount atmospheric pressure on the
Snæfellsjökull on the island’s far west side. They level of the ocean. Perhaps
followed the notes and clues left behind of the a common barometer would
famous Icelandic alchemist, Arne Saknussemm. not have done as well, the
atmospheric pressure being
Among the amazing findings of the Lindenbrock likely to increase in proportion
company were the giant mushrooms and luminous as we descended below the
fungi reported by many others before. But the most surface of the earth.
exciting would have to be the battle between the 3. A first-class chronometer made
giants of the prehistoric age, a giant Ichthyosaurus by Boissonnas, of Geneva, set at
battled an equally titanic Plesiosaurus in one of the meridian of Hamburg, from
the interior oceans. Their journey was however cut which Germans calculate, as
short when they stumbled upon an active magma the English do from Greenwich,
flow. A combination of water and steam thrust them and the French from Paris.
out of the center of the Earth and out of a volcano 4. Two compasses, one for
in Stromboli, Italy. Lindebrock and Axel returned horizontal guidance, the other
to Hamburg as heroes. Many scientists praise their to ascertain the dip.
work as the premier work on natural history of the 5. A night glass.
Earth’s interior. Other claim Lindenbrock’s journals 6. Two Ruhmkorff coils, which,
are nothing more than the ravings of a mad man and by means of a current of
a charlatan. Still others feel that the complete text is electricity, would ensure us a
nothing more than a clever bit of fiction. very excellent, easily carried,
and certain means of obtaining
SKULL ISLAND light.
7. A voltaic battery on the newest
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean, between Malaysia principle.
and Madagascar, there is a strange patch of sea 8. Two rifles and two revolver
that sailors avoid. It is forever wreathed in swirling pistols. Ammunition for both
clouds and stormy seas, where compasses spin types of arms.
wildly and where the distinction between sea and 9. Tools. Consisting of two
sky blurs. Ships that brave the thunder and lightning pickaxes, two crowbars, a silken
and stay the course through the rough seas and the ladder, three iron-shod Alpine
lashing rain, sometimes find themselves emerging poles, a hatchet, a hammer, a
from a wall of clouds to spy an island, seemingly dozen wedges, some pointed
eternally caught in the calm eye at the heart of the pieces of iron, and a quantity of
storm. At the center of the island, rising from the strong rope.
steaming jungle, is an extinct volcano, one side of
which resembles by accident or design a human
skull.

Surrounded by a vicious reef, whispered about in

218
dive bars all over the world, this is Skull Island.
Few have landed there, and of those few, a bare
handful have made it back, bringing with them tales
of monsters, a nightmare jungle, and a god with the
body of an ape.
Skull Island sits within a geomagnetic anomaly,
shielded from sight by a permanent storm. Ships
claim to have sailed through the location without
sighting it at all, as if the island simply isn’t there
all the time. The dimensions of the island appear
to change from time to time, depending on who is
reporting them.
Regardless of the fluctuating size of the island,
several features remain constant. The southern tip
of the island is dominated by a vast stone wall,
built to isolate the pitiful human population from
the horrors lurking in the jungle. The human
tribe, degenerate, inbred and savage, are a unique
people, racially distinct from any other people on
the globe. Cowering behind the wall, they worship
the monstrous creatures of the jungle, while living
among ruins that point to their possible descent
from a powerful and advanced civilization theorized
by some to be the last remnant of dark Lemuria,
rival to Atlantis.
Beyond the wall is the jungle, a dense, fetid,
steaming canopy of trees through which little
light penetrates. The jungle is alive with a wildly
vicious ecosystem of flora and fauna, with stinging
bells plants and other carnivorous plants, savage
dinosaurs, monstrous insects and horrors hard to
classify and even harder to describe. Gigantism
afflicts almost every species on the island, breeding
creatures larger and more savage than almost
anything found on Earth.
Between the wall and the volcano lies the chasm,
a deep crevasse that runs almost the entire width
of the island. The chasm is home to colonies of
vast arachnids, centipedes, termites and man-sized
leeches, all feasting on the creatures that fall to their
doom.
To the east of the volcano is a large lake, home to
enormous crocodilians, which drains into a large
swamp to the north, where at least one tentacled
horror lurks and swarms of bird-sized mosquitos
breed in vast numbers. The northern slopes of the
volcano extend into a large rolling plain, where
roam herds of sauropods and ceratopsians. The
219
crags of the volcano itself host great rookeries
of giant vampire bats, who feast on the blood of
anyone foolish enough to spend the night north of
the wall.
West of the volcano is dense jungle that extends
right up to the high cliffs that make the western
coastline unassailable. Buried deep within this
jungle are strange ruins that speak of an age of great
advancement, now lost forever. Some ruins extend
deep underground, and who knows what wonders
they may contain, or what horrors may call them
home. Some ruins connect with a network of lava
tubes that honeycomb the island and can be used
to avoid the horrors of the jungle, though they are
often home to blood-sucking monstrous spiders,
colonies of giant Sumatran rats and worse. Some
lava tubes descend deep beneath the island and
eventually lead to the Hollow Earth.
Despite its size, the island hosts a surprisingly
large population of therapod dinosaur predators,
descended from the tyrannosaurs, and several clans
of creatures that have evolved from raptors. Some
have suggested that the island’s vast array of animal
and plant life may have its origin in the Hollow
Earth, carried up through the lava tubes by unknown
means, These creatures, freed from the moderating
influence of the island’s vast ape-god when it was
stolen away to America in 1932, have run riot, and
are in danger of exhausting their food supply. It is
possible that more of the gigantic apes may exist on
the island, but so far no one has managed to survive
long enough to find out.
Explorers willing to brave the vicious wildlife may
find that the cold heart of the volcano leads to vast
deposits of Element X, as well as smaller caches
of apparently naturally occurring arcane elements,
including Atlantean crystals and small amounts
of orichalcum. The ruins may yet hold answers to
the question of the identity of the mysterious wall
builders, and the reason for their fall from grace.
 ADVENTURE: THE
NEMO DIARY
THE BLACK-TIE
AFFAIR
The characters are attending the London Literary
Library Association’s premier charity event, a
black-tie affair being attended by the social elite,
high ranking government officials, a bevy of press
associates, and a few lucky attendees that were
the “and guest” part of an invite. The LLLA is an
organization that provides library services to the
underprivileged. To help offset the costs of their
current project, building five new libraries across
London, Geoffrey George Lilliamont has opened his
private collection of valuable literary pieces for the
evening and put them on display for London’s elite
to view.
The most hotly discussed items from the Liiliamont
collection are two pages from the Nemo Diaries.
There are a few ardent fans of Jules Verne that
believe that Nemo was not a purely fictional
figment of the master story-teller’s imagination,
but instead a real person whose genius allowed him
to create the Nautilus and escape from the surface
world and live under the oceans in a world where
he found and knew peace. These few believers
have hypothesized that Nemo, in constructing the
Nautilus, had collected an exorbitant amount of
hard currency, and that these funds came from the
sale of numerous inventions that the notorious
Nemo had created in his mind, and later put on
paper. Of the handful of experts that have studied
the supposed Nemo schematics, to a man they have
stated that his genius either rivaled that of Leonardo
or his madness that of Hyde.
The characters are met at the door by a gracious
butler, Harry Perkins, who takes hats, coats, canes
and announces the characters. Characters of some
renown will be greeted with cheers and claps,
and other less known characters will be politely
220
The Nemo Pages
Powerful, connected, monied people
want these pages. They’ll lie, cheat,
steal, and murder to get their hands
on them. Some want them purely
for their monetary value, others
desire to see the machinery of Nemo
put to use, and the Invisible College
may want to keep the world from
seeing the pages. This scenario
allows the GM to choose which
antagonist they wish to use in their
game: crime bosses, mad scientists,
book collectors, or even the
Invisible College itself may act as
the antagonists of this scenario. The
story is designed in a manner that
no matter which the GM chooses the
action and plot will run smoothly.
ignored. All the servants are dressed as literary
characters (Robin Hood and his men, Don Quixote,
the Three Musketeers, and any other characters
that the GM may wish to use). The party will
quickly become crowded as more and more guests
are announced, characters can meet, mingle, and
make new acquaintances (a GM may use this scene
to introduce background characters that may be
of use in future adventures if they are planning a
campaign). Everyone seems quite pleasant, the
party is going well, many cheques are being written
and stuffed into a large box near the glass enclosed
case showcasing the Nemo Pages.
 ROBIN AND HIS
UNMERRY MEN
Eventually Geoffrey George Lilliamont will tap
his glass repeatedly until the crowd quiets down
and begin to give a speech. His wife, Lady Lillian
Lilliamont, has been mingling with the guests
engaging in small talk. This stunning woman of
rare beauty should stop to speak with a character or
group of characters just before the speech begins.
“I would very much like to take this opportunity
to...”
Layout of the Hall
The hall is two-tiered, with an
upper balcony, where the guests are
introduced, and a double staircase,
leading down to a checkerboard-
floored ballroom, 100 x 50 feet,
with dazzling chandeliers and
mirrors that make the ballroom
look as if it stretches off into infinity.
Immediately opposite the balcony
are a set of long windows, with
two pairs of French doors leading
out to the grounds. Underneath
the balcony is the entrance to the
kitchen and servants’ rooms.
His words are cut off as an arrow pierces his side;
blood begins to pour forth through the white tux
as he crumples to the floor. Several women in the
crowd scream and faint. Others begin to panic and
push towards the exits as a booming voice from
the wide staircase leading up to the second store
interrupts the chaos.
“GOOD DAY LADIES AND CADS, I, ROBIN
OF LONDON, with my Merry Men...” he makes
a flourish that quickly shows that there are several
associates in the audience “are in attendance to
lighten not your wallets, but instead your host’s
collection of stolen works of the master Nemo.”
The henchmen quickly backhand, kick, or punch
a few party-goers as they attempt to block the
exits. The exact number of henchmen is left up
to the GM, but at least one henchman for each
character is advised. There may be even more if
221
a more challenging opening is desired. The extra
henchmen, if the fight gets to be too much for
the characters, can eventually be pummeled by
party-goers, whose courage returns as they see the
characters battling the party crashers or attempt to
trample the henchmen in a panic for the exits.
Merry Men
Quote: “Give us yer money!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Intimidation d8, Persuasion d4, Notice d4,
Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Edges: Menacing
Hindrances: Ugly (Minor)
Gear:
• Sap (Str+2 damage)
• Rapier (Str+d4 damage, Parry +1)
Robin Hood
Quote: “Your money...or your life!”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Strength
d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d8, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d6, Intimidation d8, Persuasion d6, Notice d6,
Shooting d8, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
Edges: Marksman, Steady Hands, Trademark
Weapon (Bow)
Hindrances: Arrogant (Major)
Gear:
• Bow (2d6 damage, Range: 12/24/48, RoF: 1)
• Rapier (Str+d4 damage, Parry +1)
During the opening of the fight (beginning of the
second round), the skylight overhead shatters as two
massive ropes with oversized suction cups attached
to the ends come crashing through. Glass rains
down on the party goers, and the crowd quickly
becomes an uncontrolled herd trying to avoid the
falling glass that continues to sprinkle down from
the ceiling. It also quickly becomes clear that Lady
Lilliamont is one of the foci of the attacks as three
henchmen descend on her and attempt to murder
her.
“Robin Hood” quickly dispatches any NPC that
attempts to stop him as he connects the two massive
suction cups to the glass case that the Nemo papers
are displayed in. If unchecked, he will leap on top
of the glass container, wrap one arm around the
ropes, and give a deep bow with his sword in hand.
“Please, continue your revelry in my absence.” As
he finishes his bow, the glass case begins to quickly
rise into the air and out through the wreckage of the
skylight.
A Notice check at -2 allows the player to notice a
strange zeppelin, large enough for only one person.
This mini zeppelin has been camouflaged so that it
is quite hard to see in the foggy London night.
If characters wish to attempt to shoot the cables,
hitting them requires a Called Shot at -6 (being
quite thin), and they take 10 points of damage to
snap (they are steel, after all).
AFTERMATH
The constabulary arrive a few minutes later, but
in that time most of the henchmen are captured
by either the characters or the other party goers.
The police will expect the characters to submit
to all their questions, and anyone that is not
forthcoming or is uncooperative will be dressed
down and possibly arrested on the spot. Cooperative
characters, after an hour or so, will be allowed to
leave the premises. The police will not be far along
into their investigation when a doctor arrives to
check on Mister Lilliamont. After a few seconds
the doctor will motion for the senior police officer
and will quickly explain that Lilliamont must be
removed to a hospital at once if he has any chance
of survival.
A Notice check at -2 allows the players to make
out what the doctor is saying. Characters that are
helping the doctor need not make the roll at all.
Successful characters will hear the name of the
hospital that Lilliamont is being taken to: Tandry
Hospital.
Questioning the henchmen will be of no help to the
characters or the police. All of “Robin’s” henchmen
are upstanding staff members of Lilliamonts’ or the
library. As they are questioned, they look blank-
eyed and unresponsive.
A Healing check will allow a player to notice that
the staff appears to be mesmerized or possibly
hypnotized. A further successful Healing check
at -2 will allow the character can speed up the
staff’s recovery, while a raise will allow the staff to
222
remember that they heard a strange buzzing sound,
and a voice coming from their outfits that made
them believe they were Robin Hood’s men, and that
the party goers were plotting against Mr. Lilliamont.
To protect their master, they needed to go along
with the charade, and when it appeared that Mr.
Lilliamont was injured the servants were to attack
the conspirators.
A successful Notice check at -2 will allow the
characters to realize that each of the servants’
costumes has a cloisonné pin in the shape of an
eye. Each pin appears to have a strange miniature
speaker behind it. A raise allows the character to
discover a flaky substance adhering to the pin.
GMs may want to use this design later to draw the
characters into a greater conspiracy. As it stands
now, they are merely to identify the “Merry Men.”
Merely touching the powder with exposed flesh is
enough to force a Vigor check at -2; unsuccessful
characters suffer a vivid hallucination of some
horrible event in the characters life. This lasts for
one minute for each point the character failed the
roll by. Successful characters are unaffected.
With a successful Healing or Science check, the
character is able to discern that the substance is a
combination of morphine and opium in a powdered
form. It is a powerful hallucinogen, which would
explain why the servants were overcome by the
suggestion to attack the party goers.
If the characters are unable to awaken the staff,
they will eventually snap out of their apparent daze,
but no one remembers anything after they arrived
at work and were handed their costumes for the
evening. They have no recollection of the fight that
just occurred, and those that are injured are even
more confused as they demand to know what has
happened.
Lady Lilliamont
Quote: “I thank you for your courage, but I have
one more thing to ask of you.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d10,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d8, Fight-
ing d4, Persuasion d8, Notice d6, Shooting d8,
Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Edges: Attractive, Command, Connections, Marks-
man, Filthy Rich
Hindrances: Obligation (Minor)
Gear:
• Derringer (2d4 damage, Range: 3/6/12, RoF: 1,
Shots: 2. −2 to be Noticed if hidden. A gift from an
eccentric aunt)
As the characters are finally excused and allowed to
leave the party, they will be met at the door by the
Lilliamont’s butler, Harry Perkins. The characters
will have noticed that Perkins has been helping the
injured, answering police questions, and looking
over Lady Lilliamont, who has been allowed to
retire to a private chamber of the library while the
police continue their investigation. Perkins explains
that “My lady wishes your presence before you
depart.”
The study is a simple private reading room, and the
Lady sits with a tray for tea set up nearby. She rises
when the players enter and offers them tea, while
apologizing profusely for the disturbance. It takes
no Awareness roll to realize that the lady is irate
over the attack on her husband, and she’s hiding her
feelings as best she can.
A Notice or Persuasion check reveals that Lady
Lilliamont is tired, scared, angry, and fearing for her
husband’s life. For her to call this meeting instead
of rushing to her husband’s hospital bedside clearly
shows how important she feels this meeting is.
She expresses her thanks for anyone that came to
her aid and will fuss over anyone that was injured
while protecting her. After a few moments she
explains that this affront upon her husband cannot
go unanswered. The proper authorities will do what
they must, but she is calling upon this group to do
more. She will offer them money, access to her
husband’s private library (an interest to members of
the Invisible College who may be wishing to learn
223
if Lilliamont has any other books or papers that
they may need to research later), or the favor of her
family’s name. Unfortunately, she has no clues as
to who may have perpetuated this atrocity. There
were no threats, there were no strange occurrences,
no strange people in their lives, and her husband’s
behavior has not changed in recent history.
Lady Lilliamont is not without any leads. She can
give the players, under an oath of secrecy, the name
of a gentleman her husband had done business with
in the past: Mr. Haberdrant of 22 Arcadia Avenue,
an unsavory fellow of low stock and questionable
means. But his ability to track down hard to acquire
antiquities was never questioned. It was this
gentleman that helped Mr. Lilliamont acquire the
two Nemo pages.
MR.
HABERDRANT
OF 22 ARCADIA
AVENUE
Day or night, the lowly-looking hovel in an
unsavory part of London’s East End appears to be
a hotbed of activity. Cutthroats, purse snatchers,
beggars, and on occasion, the strange sight of
a gentleman can be seen entering the doors and
leaving a short time later hurrying away. If the
characters simply try to enter the establishment the
mammoth form of an obese, toad-like man standing
nearly seven feet tall meets them as they enter,
and he demands they leave unless they have an
appointment. Mr. Haberdrant doesn’t bother with
bodyguards or servants. His towering, blubbering
form is intimidating enough to scare any of the local
toughs away, and his reputation for violence keeps
the better-trained bone breakers at bay.
Nothing short of a raise on a Persuasion or
Intimidation check at -2 will allow the characters
to cow Mr. Haberdrant, who makes his living
intimidating others.
A simple bribe of a handful of pounds (three pounds
per person who enters his establishment) will find
the characters greeted with affection, offered a dirty,
uncomfortable chair, tea from a chipped cup, and
thrice-used tea leaves.
Mr. Haberdrant is unfamiliar with the villains
behind the attack on Mr. Lilliamont, who Mr.
Haberdrant expresses his best wishes towards his
recovery (he seems earnest in his sentiments), but
he wishes that the thugs be apprehended and dealt
with harshly.
A Notice check will reveal that Mr. Haberdrant
seems more upset about the method that the robber
used than in the robbery itself. If confronted on
his demeanor, he will state simply that the flashy
theatrics debase the fine art of robbery and turn
it into a circus act that brings about far too much
attention.
After just a few questions, intimidating tactics,
acts of aggression, or attempts to reason with this
criminal mastermind he’ll abruptly begin laughing
loudly. “Enough, the address will cost you the
same as it has cost everyone else this morning 25
pounds, hard money, no letters of credit please.” If
the characters pay, he’ll hand them a large envelope
which weighs about eight ounces and feels as if
it contains a hand mirror. “It’s a black-tie affair.
Tonight. 11PM sharp. The password is: HETZEL.
Mr. Haberdrant
Quote: “Sit down. Let us do business like civilized
people.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d10, Spirit d10,
Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d6, Driv-
ing d6, Fighting d8, Intimidation d8, Persuasion d8,
Notice d6, Shooting d8, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Edges: Connections
Hindrances: Obese (Minor), Ugly (Minor)
Gear:
• Browning High Power Revolver (Range:
12/24/48, 2d6 damage, RoF: 1, Shots: 7
Inside the envelope, the characters discover a slip
of paper with an address: 1870 Nedland Way.
Characters with a criminal or law-enforcement
backgrounds will be familiar with this area of
docks. It’s an area of illicit trade, black marketing,
drug dens, and a hotbed of criminal activity. The
object is an auction paddle with the number 20 on
it. If the players should acquire further paddles from
Haberdrant, the numbers will all be unique.
224
The characters can spend the day preparing for that
night’s auction, or they can attempt to learn further
information from informants. With a successful
Persuasion or Intimidation check, characters
with the right Connections Edge learn that the
underworld community is very quiet, but excited
about the upcoming auction. One raise allows the
character to learn that every power broker in the
underworld has been sent a personal invitation
to the underground auction. Two raises allow the
character to learn that an unknown gang is making
a power play, and tonight will be the showdown
between the established purveyors of crime in
London and this new upstart group.
UNDERGROUND
AUCTION
As the characters arrive near 1870 Nedland
Way, they will view a lot of activity as horse and
carriages are being maintained by well-dressed
servants, the lowest street cretins obviously acting
as lookouts (no roll necessary to notice), and a few
hard-looking bully boys standing in front of the
warehouse doors to the auction site. The characters
will not be allowed into the warehouse until they
have shown their paddle, in which case the biggest
of the door thugs gives a crooked smile showing his
many broken and blackened teeth. Characters who
try to enter the warehouse without an auction paddle
will be stopped at the door and denied entrance with
a promise of physical violence if they do not leave
immediately.
A successful Intimidation check will allow the
character to browbeat the door thugs into allowing
them entrance or allow characters with criminal
or law-enforcement backgrounds to use enough
names associated with illicit activities to convince
the thugs to allow them entrance. A successful
Persuasion check at -2 will allow the character
entrance as (s)he hoodwinks the doorman.
Thug
Quote: “If yer name’s not on the list, yer not
getting’ in.”
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, Strength
d8, Vigor d6
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d4, Fight-
ing d8, Intimidation d8, Persuasion d4, Notice d4,
Shooting d6, Stealth d4
Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6
Edges: Brawny, Brawler, Menacing
Hindrances: Ugly (Minor)
Gear:
• Browning High Power Revolver (Range:
12/24/48, 2d6 damage, RoF: 1, Shots: 7)
• Sap (Str+2 damage)
Once inside the warehouse, the characters will see
a brightly lit, palatial interior. The finest rugs of the
Orient cover the floors, each chair in the audience
is a plush, low-backed affair of immense comfort,
and high, glass chandeliers cover the entire room
in an elegant glow that flutters as drafts from the
door opening and closing caress the candles’ flames.
A stage has been erected in front of the audiences’
chairs, and a podium and gavel stand empty upon
it. There are several professional-looking thugs
in attendance, dressed smartly in tuxes, and all
carrying truncheons; a few near the stage have
firearms in hand. Each of these men wears the
same cloisonné pin in the shape of an eye that the
servants at the library attack wore. There are no
windows, the walls are all slightly rounded, and
overall gives the impression of a ship’s interior.
A Notice check will allow a successful character
to realize that the interior of the warehouse has the
look, feel, and dimensions of an immense room
aboard a ship.
The crowd is a melting pot of the criminal elements
of London and much further afield. Sadistic-looking
men whose preferred form of communication
appears to be sneers and grunts drink wine
alongside fine gentlemen of good breeding.
Characters with a law-enforcement or criminal
background can use Notice to spot several key
members of the underworld, while more refined
characters can use the same check to character to
pick out several influential members of high society.
A raise will allow the characters to realize that a
225
woman whose visage is completely covered by a
veil is none other than Lady Lilliamont in disguise.
A finely dressed man takes the podium, and blows
shrilly into a Bosun’s whistle, calling the party-
goers to order.
“Good day...ahem...ladies and gentlemen...” he says,
with a wink at several of the most uncouth-looking
creatures.
With a successful Smarts roll, the characters realize
that the voice of this gentleman is that of “Robin
Hood.”
The man continues his introduction by explaining
the rules of the auction: all items will be paid for
on completion of the auction. All items are paid for
in cash, no exceptions. Anyone caught engaging
in “the trade” while attending the auction will be
treated as a deadbeat bidder. Anyone who fails
to immediately pay for an item they have will be
considered a deadbeat bidder and will be dealt with
in a manner that will leave them as a truly dead
bidder. Then he brings forward the man responsible
for the evening’s auction. A male figure dressed
sharply in a fine, flowing robe and a full mask that
covers everything but his eyes comes forward from
behind a partition set up behind the stage. The
entire mask is covered in a copy of the eye symbol
that has been seen on the cloisonné pins of the
henchmen. The masked man welcomes his guests
to this unique auction. He introduces himself as the
“All-Seeing Eye” and expresses hope that everyone
will enjoy the auction. As he begins to turn to leave,
the disguised Lady Lilliamont will stand up and
point her parasol at the masked man and exclaim
“For the honor of my husband I shall see you dead,
sir.” Her parasol lets out a crack as the built-in
derringer unloads its single bullet. Even if the
players have come to her side this should come as a
shock. If the players stop her from firing the bullet,
she claws furiously at them before having a minor
breakdown until her stiff British upbringing brings
her back under control.
Regardless of Lady Lilliamont’s outburst, as soon
as the masked figure bangs the gavel announcing
the opening of the auction, two of the thugs begin
to bring out an astounding-looking cannon-like
weapon, which the masked man describes as one
of Nemo’s greatest inventions, the Light Lance,
and gets no further into his description as the
doors of the warehouse burst open and several
police constables begin piling in with truncheons
swinging.
The auction turns into a mad house as everyone
begins scrambling to get out; the bobbies are
pushed back outside as a wave of London’s criminal
element surges forward. A few bobbies manage
to keep to their feet and begin attempting to bring
order to the madness when the henchmen (use the
Merry Men template from above) carrying the Light
Lance turn it on the bobbies.
LIGHT LANCE
So heavy it must be carried by two men, this
immense weapon is a primitive (but reproducible)
terrestrial version of the dreaded Martian Heat
Ray. It has a spherical chamber pierced with what
appear to be several ventilation holes, with in a
short, squat barrel protruding from it. It produces
an ominous hum as its inner mechanisms charge.
The exquisitely beautiful, 4” wide shaft of light that
emerges from the barrel is nonetheless quite deadly,
causing terrible, searing wounds.
The All-Seeing Eye runs behind the partition behind
the stage, lets out a hideous cackling laugh, and the
entire warehouse begins to rumble, shake, and jolt...
upward. Several people are knocked off their feet.
It will require a reflexive Athletics check for
characters stay on their feet. Unsuccessful
characters are knocked to the floor for several
rounds equal to how much they failed this roll by
(for example, failing by 3 = 3 rounds attempting to
get to their feet).
The stage shifts, the partition behind the stage
falls over, crashing into the podium revealing a
large wheel like that of a nautical ship, as well
Light Lance
Type Range Damage
Light Lance Notes: 50/100/200 3d6+4
Snapfire, Three Round
Burst, Two Hands
226
as a massive window that looks out upon the
warehouse’s walls, but not for long as the massive
zeppelin that has been disguised as a part of the
warehouse begins to ascend into London’s night
sky.
While the ship is rising into the air, the characters
have to deal with the Light Lance-wielding
henchmen, as well as the other henchmen that
have been left to deal with the bobbies (one and a
half henchmen for each character rounded down
should be sufficient for a formidable fight). Lady
Lilliamont will engage the thugs as best she can
while aiding the characters. The characters should
be able to overpower the thugs in a few rounds, but
as they begin to get their bearings they will see that
the All-Seeing Eye has set his disguised zeppelin on
a crash course for the Big Ben clock tower.
The characters must wrest the controls of the
Zeppelin from the desperate madman bent on
destroying all of those aboard. He’ll curse the
characters for their interference and promises that
they will pay for their meddling. As the characters
begin to overpower the All-Seeing Eye, he’ll smash
a blinking green button on the console, which
triggers a series of small explosions.
“The controls are now worthless, the explosives
in the chandelier will set off the hydrogen in the
zeppelin, between the explosion and the wreckage
everyone aboard and below will perish, and of
course that clockwork eyesore will no longer plague
the skyline of London further. Let me go, and I will
stop this destruction.”
A Notice check allows a character to know the All-
Seeing Eye is lying.
As the characters attempt to regain control of the
ship:
A successful Driving check at -2 allows a successful
character to regain some control of the zeppelin. A
raise allows the character to narrowly miss the clock
AP RoF Shots Min Weight
STR
4 1 10-20 d12 200
tower. Regardless, the characters have an enemy in the
All-Seeing Eye, if he managed to escape, or the
If the characters can manage to reach the chandelier, second in command of this mysterious new criminal
they will find an extensive array of wires that appear element in London.
to be hooked to multiple explosives arranged all
around the ship. Characters should receive an Advance if they
successfully foil the All-Seeing Eye.
A Repair check at -2 will allow the character to
defuse the explosives.
The All-Seeing Eye
During the scuffle, the attempt to right the zeppelin, Quote: “None are hidden from the searing gaze of
fighting off any other henchmen the GM may wish the All-Seeing Eye!”
to throw at the characters, and the attempt to defuse
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d8, Spirit d10,
the explosives, the All-Seeing Eye will attempt to
Strength d6, Vigor d6
get away by jumping out of a window or a hatch
Skills: Athletics d6, Common Knowledge d8, Fight-
(escaping to plague the characters at a later time if
ing d6, Persuasion d10, Notice d6, Shooting d8,
the GM wishes). However, as he attempts to flee,
Science d8, Stealth d4, Weird Science d8
a character may grab the mask (if the All-Seeing
Pace: 6; Parry: 4; Toughness: 5
Eye hasn’t already been unmasked) otherwise the
Edges: Arcane Background (Weird Science), Com-
mask catches on a piece of wreckage and his face is
mand, Connections, Marksman, Filthy Rich
revealed: Geoffrey George Lilliamont. The GM may
Hindrances: Secret (Major)
wish to substitute another NPC as the All-Seeing
Gear:
Eye that better fits their campaign.
• Small Revolver: 2d6 damage, Range: 10/20/40,
RoF: 1, Shots: 6.
AFTERMATH
The surviving characters are thanked by Lady
Lilliamont, if she survived, who is in shock that her
own husband was the culprit that tried to have her
killed. The Lady can become a benefactor, ally, or
contact to the characters.

The police will want an explanation and may

even arrest the characters believing that they
had something to do with this whole thing. Lady
Lilliamont may come to their aid and manage their
release. A GM who wants to lead directly into the
next adventure may have Mr. Haberdrant arrange
their release, but only if they investigate a certain
matter for him.

227
 ADVENTURE
GENERATOR
INTRODUCTION
Format (2D6)
2 Quest/Voyage
Even the most creative Game Masters occasionally
need help. With that in mind, we present a series of 3 Horror
tables for use either as inspiration, or to randomly 4 Mystery
generate the bones of an adventure. Using the tables
and tools presented below, the busy GM can create a 5 Chase/Hunt
plot, threat, plot twists, action scenes and locations.
Exactly what those elements are is up to the GM to 6 Heist/Infiltration
flesh out, but each table comes with suggestions and
examples to help you on your way. 7 Protection

THE FORMAT
First off, let’s determine exactly what kind of
adventure we’re creating. Adventures in Pulp
Fantastic can come in several flavors, each of which
shapes the plot. Each format presents the characters
with different challenges, obstacles and goals. In
some adventures, the heroes must battle hordes of
thugs before facing their master, while in others
stealth, cunning or detective work might provide the
key to victory.
QUEST/VOYAGE
The heroes must travel to find their goal,
overcoming multiple obstacles and opponents
along the way. A quest can be anything from a
scavenger hunt set by a mad bomber to a trip
across pre-war Europe in search of the clues to a
high-placed enemy spy, to an expedition into the
jungle in search of lost cities and fabled treasures.
Regardless, a quest should incorporate a variety of
locations, encounters, obstacles and enemies, giving
every character in the party a chance to shine.
8 Romance/Passion
9 Intrigue
10 Drama
11 War/Conflict
12 Disaster!
HORROR
There are terrible things in the dark places of the
Earth, and sometimes those things come briefly
into the light. When they do, the heroes are all that
stand between them and a world that would be
driven mad simply by knowing they exist. Eldritch
Abominations and their insane cultists, alien
monstrosities, intrusions from beyond the grave, the
products of twisted science or dark magic, or a truly
twisted criminal mind are all suitable opponents for
a horror scenario. Encounters with horror should
create feelings of fear, uncertainty and helplessness
in the hearts of even the most stalwart of heroes,
and work best in environments which isolate the
characters or separate them from their normal
surroundings, friends and support networks.

228

MYSTERY
These scenarios are essentially puzzles for the
heroes to solve. A theft has taken place, a murder or
some other monstrous crime has been committed,
and the heroes must find out how it was done,
why it was done, and who did it. The scenario
should present the heroes with a wide array of
suspects and facts from which they must sift the
truth, pinpointing those with the means, the motive
and the opportunity to commit the heinous deed.
The challenge of the scenario should be in the
interpretation of the gathered information (some of
which may be false), rather than in the gathering of
the information itself.
CHASE/HUNT
Unlikely the Mystery, the Chase/Hunt scenario is
not about identifying the target, but about tracking
her down and catching her. The target is on the
move and actively avoiding her pursuers. Perhaps
the target is a spy moving through war-torn Europe,
an escaped criminal or madman. Perhaps he is a
disease carrier, unknowingly spreading a virulent
plague, or simply an innocent abroad who must
be retrieved before enemies find him and exploit
him for their own advantage. Regardless, the chase
should involve lots of opportunity for high-speed
pursuit, thrills, and perhaps even some broad
comedy!
HEIST/INFILTRATION
Somewhere well-protected, there is a MacGuffin,
and the heroes need to get it, overcoming
formidable obstacles in order to do so. Perhaps they
are being blackmailed, perhaps they need to retrieve
something before the villain steals it, or perhaps
the MacGuffin is already in the hands of evil and
the heroes must find a way to get it back. These
scenarios are all about the gathering of intelligence,
the planning of the mission, creativity in the face
of adversity... and quick thinking when it all goes
horribly wrong.
PROTECTION
Something, somewhere, requires protection, and
it’s the job of the heroes to provide it. Whether
it’s being bodyguards to an obnoxious visiting
dignitary, guarding a hidden temple against
229
cultists, protecting a vital witness against mob
assassins, transporting a ultra-rare crystal to a secret
laboratory or chaperoning a spoilt teenage heiress
in a foreign land; the heroes have it, and the villains
want it.
ROMANCE/PASSION
A romance doesn’t necessarily mean a love story
– in its classical sense the word means “the feeling
of excitement or mystery that you have from a
particular experience or event”. In this case the
scenario is driven by emotion – good or bad – and
may not involve the heroes’ hearts directly. Perhaps
the heroes have to smooth the path of true love, or
mitigate the fall-out between feuding parties when
two lovers abscond. Perhaps the driving emotion is
hatred or vengeance, and the heroes have to prevent
a wronged innocent from becoming a murderer in
her quest for revenge.
INTRIGUE
Intrigue scenarios tangle the characters in a web
of deceit, half-truths, betrayal and manipulation.
The heroes should never be sure who they can
trust in their search for the truth, what that truth
is, or even why it is important. Like the Mystery,
the characters must sift out the truth from the lies,
in an environment where everyone has their own
agenda. Intrigues cloak everyone’s motives – could
the brutish thug be protecting someone from a sense
of duty or love, or is it just money? Once the true
villain is uncovered, the heroes must find a way to
prove it or face the prospect that their opponent may
not just escape justice, but win!
DRAMA
Like the Romance, Drama is driven by motive, but
focuses more on moral choices and values than
emotion. Dramas involve putting good people in
bad situations, where the decisions they make may
not always be the best and where there may not
even be a “right” answer. Faced with supporting
the rightful king of a foreign land against fascist
spies, what will the heroes do when they discover
that their allies still own slaves? Will they aid the
spirited freedom fighters, or the regime that has
promised sanctuary in the coming war? When faced
with a dire enemy in desperate need, will the heroes
offer the hand of friendship, or take revenge for
past crimes? The choices they make will make the Why – What’s the Villain’s motive?
difference between triumph…and tragedy.
Where – Where does the action take place?
WAR/CONFLICT Let’s start with the Villain...
In the lull since the Great War, the world has been
largely at peace, but those with their eye on the WHO?
future know this cannot last. Armed conflict is part
Almost every Pulp Fantastic adventure needs a
of human nature, and in Europe and other parts of
villain. Roll below to find yours, and refer to the
the globe, the storm clouds of war are gathering
chapter on Villains, page 139.
once again. In a War scenario, the heroes are
dragged into an armed struggle on a large or small The Villain (3D8)
scale. Perhaps they’re trapped in the no-man’s land
between nations, or in the midst of a prolonged 3 The Foreign Mastermind
fight between rival gangs, corporations or families.
4 The Mad Scientist
A War scenario could pit the heroes against armed
thugs trying to drive innocent farmers off their land, 5 Arcane Experimenter
or against tanks and war machines rumbling through
city streets. Blood has been spilled, and now the 6 The Cult Leader
heroes must fight for what’s right.
7 The Demagogue
DISASTER! 8 The Anti-Villain
In a normal high stakes scenario, the heroes
must fight to prevent disaster, usually caused 9 Nazis/Communists
by the villain, from claiming lives and causing
10 The Cursed
property damage. In a Disaster scenario, the
damage has already been done, and now the 11 The Corrupt Corporate
heroes must do what they can to stop the situation
from getting worse, by aiding those affected and 12 The Dragon Lady
preventing others from taking advantage of it.
In these scenarios, the environment itself is the 13 The Necromancer
enemy, having turned against mankind in some
14 The Baroness
way. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis,
tornadoes and meteor strikes; all can turn the world 15 The Occult Rogue
of the heroes upside down. In an environment
where the basic structures that maintain life have 16 The Masked Terror
been swept away, even finding food and cleaning
drinking water can be a challenge. Can the heroes 17 The Master Spy
rise to the occasion and provide the stability and
support the survivors need? 18 The Great Dictator

19 The Mob Boss

THE BASICS 20 The Fiend
Now we know what kind of tale we’re weaving,
21 The Man-Made Monster
let’s build the basic elements; Who, What, How,
Why and Where? 22 The Mangler
Who – Who is the Villain? 23 Cryptid/Dinosaur
What – What is the Villains nefarious plan? 24 Fantastic Creature
How? – What is the Villain’s method?

230
WHAT? The Target (3D6)
3 A Building
Now we’ve identified the villain, we need to
understand what it is they’re trying to do. For this 4 A City
we present two tables; the first determining the
action the villain is perpetrating, and the second the 5 A Country
target of the action.
6 A Loved One
The Action (3D6)
7 A MacGuffin (A secret formula, Mystical
3 Blackmail/Extort
artifact, Weird invention)
4 Control/Manipulate 8 A Supernatural Power/Monster

5 Corrupt 9 A VIP/Someone Famous

6 Create/Discover 10 An Anomalous Region

7 Cripple/Scar 11 An Enemy/Rival

8 Expose/Reveal 12 Innocents/People

9 Hunt 13 Money

10 Infiltrate/Spy On 14 The Establishment

11 Kidnap/Hijack 15 The Hero/Heroes

12 Kill/Destroy 16 The World

13 Ransom 17 Treasure/Jewels/Art/Drugs

14 Sell 18 Roll twice and combine

15 Smuggle
To determine the Nefarious Plot, simply roll for
16 Steal/Acquire
the Action and the Target. When the rolls provide a
17 Terrorize result that either doesn’t make sense (even for the
Pulps!) or fails to provide some inspiration, simply
18 Roll twice and combine roll again.

For example: A roll of 14 for the Action and 17 for

the Target gives us “Sell” and “Treasure/Jewels/
Art/Drugs”. Clearly the villain has gotten his hands
on something precious and has decided to auction it
off to the highest bidder. A roll of 11 for the Action
and 12 for the Target gives us “Kidnap/Hijack” and
“Innocents/People”. The villain has decided that
her plan requires hostages, and plans to kidnap a
large number of ordinary civilians. A roll of 12 for
the Action and 16 for the Target gives us that old
standard “Destroy the World”...

231
HOW? Weird Science
Once you have determined what it is the villain is The villain employs or seeks new and barely
trying to do, let’s get an idea of how they are trying understood marvels of science in this plot.
to do it. Advanced weapons, exotic toxins, engineered
diseases and bizarre inventions may all play a part.
The Method (1D6)
1 Crime
WHY?
Even though the Pulps often had simple plots, most
2 Deceit/Trickery
villains had motives beyond simply being evil. Very
3 Force few villains ever see themselves as anything other
than the heroes of their own story. Roll on the table
4 Subversion below to find out what’s driving your villain.

5 The Occult
The Motive (3D6)
6 Weird Science
3 Curiosity/Knowledge

4 Envy/Greed
Crime
5 Fame/Status
The villain intends to accomplish his or her goals
by the tried and tested methods of blackmail, theft, 6 Hedonism/Experience
coercion, or some other purely criminal enterprise.
7 A Mistake
Deceit
8 Justice
The villains’ plan involves a con, grand lie or some
kind of elaborate ruse. 9 Love/Faith

10 Madness/Fear
Force
11 Power/Ambition
This plan involves the use of brute force to
overwhelm the villains’ opponents. 12 Pragmatism/Necessity

Subversion 13 Pride/Patriotism

Treachery, subversion and destroying the enemy 14 Revenge/Hatred

from within are the hallmarks of this type of plan.
15 Social/Scientific Advancement
The Occult 16 Force/Trickery
This plan involves dark rites, pacts with the forces 17 To Achieve/Escape Destiny
of evil, and perhaps even the aid of Eldritch
Abominations. If your campaign world doesn’t 18 Money/Payment
include the supernatural, this plan simply involves
the semblance of such things, as part of an elaborate
smokescreen.

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Curiosity/Knowledge
The villain is driven by the desire to know; either
scientific zeal or sheer curiosity. Is the villain an
amnesiac, searching for answers, or obsessed with
discovering the answer to a scientific or occult
riddle? What will the consequences of success be?
Envy/Greed
Two of the simplest motives to understand, greed
and envy can be easy to underestimate. What is the
villain envious of? What are they greedy for?
Fame/Status
The egomaniac villain is a cliché for a reason; you
have to be a certain kind of special to call yourself
“The Crimson Claw”, after all. Perhaps the villain
is simply an attention seeker, who wants his name
splashed across the headlines? Perhaps she wants
respect from her peers in the circle of villainy?
Hedonism/Experience
One of the most dangerous motivations is boredom,
or the search for thrills. Villains driven by this will
go to any lengths to get their kicks.
A Mistake
The villain has made an error, and the heroes have
to deal with the consequences. Perhaps the villain
has assumed the heroes are on to him, or has
mistaken an accident for deliberate interference?
Perhaps they’ve miscalculated in the construction
of a weapon and now need help to stop it before it
destroys the world?
Justice
Another dangerous motivation. The villain feels that
she, or someone she cares about, has been wronged,
and is out to balance the books. Villains motivated
by a desire for justice can often feel justified in
committing the most heinous acts.
Love/Faith
Even villains can have finer feelings, whether
romantic love, the love of family and friends, or
faith in a cause or higher power. How will the
heroes react when they learn that the villains’ deeds
were driven by the purest of emotions?
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Madness/Fear
With madness as a motivation, villains have no
choice but to do what they do. The way they see the
world is at odds – perhaps – with the way it really
is. They cannot be reasoned with or talked down,
because their actions make perfect sense to them in
the world inside their minds. Fear similarly warps
the villains’ world view, justifying their actions as
self-defence. And what if they’re actually right?
Power/Ambition
While the lust for power as an end to itself is a
cliché, perhaps the GM should define what it is
the villain actually wants to achieve? Power for
the sake of power is boring, but power in order to
complete a specific task or achieve a goal is more
interesting.
Pragmatism/Necessity
“You can’t make an omelette without breaking
some eggs” is the mantra of the pragmatic villain.
They see themselves as doing what is necessary,
no matter how unpleasant it may be. Siwang Lung
(the infamous “Death Dragon”) is a perfect example
of this; a man who has seen what is coming and
will do anything he can to protect the entire human
species, no matter the cost to individuals.
Pride/Patriotism
The proud or patriotic villain is motivated by love
of country, creed, culture, race or simply himself
and his achievements. Clever heroes can use this
pride against the villain.
Revenge/Hatred
The desire for revenge or sheer hatred are both
classic villain motivations. The GM needs to know
what is being avenged, and against whom this
vengeance is sought. Perhaps the vengeance would
be justified in the eyes of the heroes, if it weren’t for
the collateral damage strewn in the villains’ wake?
Hatred is less likely to be laudable, but the question
of what or who is hated and why should still be
considered. What if the object of the villains’ hatred
is a corrupt government or the perpetrators of a
long-buried crime?
Social/Scientific Advancement
Altruism is an unusual motive for a villain, but the
“ends justifies the means” outlook is what separates
them from the heroes. What if the villain is seeking
a cure for a crippling and horrific disease, but his
experiments require the use of unwilling subjects?
WHERE?
Now we need to determine where the adventure
is set. The Pulps were full of globe-trotting
adventurers, so don’t be afraid to yank your heroes
out of their comfort zone and send them halfway
across the world, or beyond!

Force/Trickery Location (1D6)

The villain is either acting against her will due 1 The Big City (see below)
to coercion or desperation, or has somehow been
tricked into her latest act of villainy. The interesting 2 The Sticks (see below)
factor here is what or who is doing the forcing or
3 On the Road (see below)
trickery, and what it is they hope to achieve? The
revelation of coercion can be used to illustrate the 4 Foreign Climes (see below)
villains’ secret weakness, or inner humanity.
5 Strange Horizons (see below)
To Achieve/Escape Destiny
6 Other
There is no doubt that villains and heroes are people
of destiny, whether they choose to embrace it or
deny it. Either way, their efforts to achieve or escape
their destiny can have wide-reaching effects. Heroes
are often the subjects of prophecy, but what if the
villains are too?

Money/Payment
If money isn’t always the root of all evil, it can
certainly water those roots. In this case the villain
is motivated by money or the desire for payment.
Perhaps they need funds to finance their latest plan,
or are simply acting as mercenaries for a wealthy
client? Can they be trusted to carry out their task, or
are they planning to double cross their employer (or
is the employer planning to welch on the deal once
the deed is done)?

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The Big City (5D6) The Sticks (3D6)
5 Uptown 3 Farming Heartland

6 Downtown / Business District 4 Deep Forest

7 The Docks / Warehouse District 5 Desert

8 City Park 6 Jungle

9 Theatre District 7 Mountains

10 University Campus 8 Rural Backwoods

11 Museum/Library/Art Gallery 9 One Horse Town

12 City Hall 10 River

13 Sewers/Subway Tunnels 11 Cabin in the Woods

14 Slums 12 Beach

15 Chinatown 13 Isolated Island

16 Rooftops 14 Natural Wonder

17 Construction Site 15 Ranch Land

18 Factory District 16 Swamp/Bayou

19 Airport 17 Canyons

20 City Zoo 18 The Lakes

21 Amusement Park

22 Church/Cathedral
On the Road (1D6)
23 Cemetery 1 On the High Seas
24 Shopping District 2 The Ocean Depths
25 Suburbs 3 Flying the Friendly Skies
26 Courthouse 4 The Orient Express
27 City Jail 5 Behind the Wheel
28 School/College 6 Sleeping beneath the Stars
29 Hospital

30 Sports Ground/Arena

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 Foreign Climes (2D6) The Hook (3D6)
2 The Mysterious East 3 Layover

3 Darkest Africa 4 Error

4 Continental Europe 5 Mission from God

5 South America 6 Favor/Obligation

6 Steaming Jungle 7 Rain of Frogs

7 The Cold Wastes 8 Shadow of the Past

8 Paradise Islands 9 Hearts Desire

9 Majestic Mountains 10 Too late!

10 The Empty Quarter 11 In Media Res

11 Ancient Ruins 12 Accused

12 Anomalous Region 13 Under Attack

14 Body in the Library

Strange Horizons (1D6) 15 Hired Hands

1 Another Plane/Dimension 16 Help Me!
2 Another Time 17 Extra! Extra!
3 Another World 18 Oh, the Humanity!
4 Outer Space

5 The Bottom of the Sea Layover

6 The Bowels of the Earth
THE HOOK
Now that you’ve defined who the villain is and the
details of their nefarious plot, let’s take a look at
the Hook, or exactly how you’re going to draw the
heroes into the adventure.
The heroes are travelling somewhere, and on their
way they accidentally arrive at the scene of the
action, which may or may not be related to the
reason they were travelling in the first place. Lay
over scenarios are good fillers to slip in as part of
a larger campaign or series of adventures, and can
be used as a palate cleanser or change of pace, or to
give the heroes the chance to test themselves on a
lesser opponent before meeting the real villain.
Regardless, having arrived, there is usually little
chance of escape. Perhaps the ocean liner the heroes
are travelling on is overrun by pirates, the hotel they
are spending the night in is the lair of a homicidal
maniac, the sultry woman at the bar is really a spy
who has slipped stolen microfilms into a hero’s
pocket. Perhaps the characters are becalmed, ship-
wrecked or simply trapped on a transatlantic flight
with an Eldritch Abomination. Whatever the source

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and location of the problem, it’s not what they were
prepared for, but it has to be dealt with before they
can move on.
Error
Through no fault of their own, the characters have
stumbled into something, and now they’re up to
their necks in it. Perhaps they saw something they
shouldn’t have, have been mistaken for somebody
else, walked through the wrong door in Chinatown,
helped the wrong person fend off an attacker.
Somebody, somewhere, made a mistake, and now
the heroes have to clean it up before someone cleans
them up!
Mission from God
The heroes have been enlisted by a higher power
(the President of the USA, J. Edgar Hoover, Santa
Claus, the Crown Prince of Ruritania, etc.) to
complete a task. While they can refuse, the higher
power could easily make life very difficult for the
heroes if displeased, and can bestow great favour if
properly cultivated.
Favour/Obligation
The heroes need something from someone, and in
return that someone wants something doing. Like
the Mission from God scenario, the heroes are given
a task to complete. Unlike the Mission from God,
they’re more invested in its completion. Perhaps
they need an antidote for a rare and exotic poison,
or a map showing the location of a lost temple.
Perhaps they need evidence proving the identity
of a spy, or a chunk of Element X to power a new
invention. Whatever it is that they need, the GM
must be careful to balance its value to the players
with the difficulty and risk of the task they are being
asked to perform. Of course, it’s always possible
that they won’t be told the complete truth about the
task and its risks.
The flip side of Favour is Obligation. This kind of
scenario is driven by the heroes’ sense of honour.
Sometime in the past, someone did them a favour.
They’ve got red in their ledger, and now it’s time to
balance the books. A face from the past has come
calling, and they need something, playing on the
memories of former glories to enlist the heroes’
help. Maybe they saved a hero’s life during the
Great War, or rescued a loved one. Maybe they
237
protected a hero’s secret identity, or tipped them
off to a villain’s plans. The hero owes them, and
they’ve come to collect.
Rain of Frogs
Something weird and apparently inexplicable has
happened that is related in some way to the villain’s
nefarious plot. Perhaps a lake has mysteriously
frozen over in high summer, as the result of testing
a new freeze ray, or an ultrasonic signalling device
has caused every bird in the city to drop dead. In the
case of supernatural or paranormal villains, it may
be something as bizarre as a literal rain of frogs!
Shadow of the Past
Everyone has a past, including the heroes, and this
kind of scenario involves the consequences of it
returning anew. This can be either an unaddressed
plot thread from an earlier adventure, fallout from a
previous scenario or something from a hero’s deep
background. Scenarios like this can give players
and GMs the opportunity to fill in the gaps in their
characters backgrounds.
Heart’s Desire
Everybody wants something. This scenario is driven
by desire; desire for a specific object, a person
or a state of being. Whatever it is, it overrules
everything else for the character, robbing him of
logic and rationality. Others may choose to use that
weakness to control him, either by offering to give
him his heart’s desire, take it from him, keep him
from it or destroy it. Perhaps the heroes are enlisted
to retrieve it, promised great rewards if they can
recover it. Perhaps the MacGuffin is the object of a
hero’s desire, setting her against her comrades.
Too late!
In this scenario, the heroes arrive on the scene too
late. The crime has been committed, the nefarious
plot successfully executed, the ritual completed
or the wonder weapon test-fired. The heroes
have failed, and now they must deal with the
consequences. Can they put things right, or stop a
bad situation from getting worse?
In Media Res
Scenarios of this kind start with the heroes already
in the thick of things. The bullets are flying, the
monsters are battering down the door, the dirigible
is about to blow…then pause the action and let the
players figure out exactly how this mess got started,
and how it’s going to end.
Accused
Somehow the heroes have ended up on the wrong
side of the law. Accused and beset on all sides
by former friends and allies, can they prove their
innocence and uncover the real perpetrator of the
crime. Worse, what if they really are guilty, but the
crime itself is not what it appears to be? Were they
discovered hammering a stake into the body of a
vampire, now indistinguishable from a mortal man?
Have they been framed as part of an arch-enemy’s
diabolical scheme? Worse, will the revelation of
their innocence betray a greater secret? Is their
reputation in tatters, or does the general public
believe in their story?
Under Attack
Someone, somewhere, is gunning for the heroes.
The forces of evil have decided to sweep them
from the board, perhaps in preparation for the
commencement of the villain’s master plot. Friends,
allies and loved ones are no longer safe as the bad
guys come looking for them. These scenarios are
often a good opportunity to flesh out (or trim!) the
supporting cast, and can often give a campaign a
much-needed shake-up.
Body in the Library
The heroes have stumbled across a corpse. Who is
it? What killed them, how did they die, and why?
Finding the solution to these questions leads the
heroes into the adventure proper.
Hired Hands
As hired hands, the heroes have been promised fair
payment for their services. What form this payment
comes in (and whether or not they can trust their
employer) is up to the heroes to decide. Just be
aware that anything described as “easy in, easy
out” rarely is! The problem with employers is that
they don’t always value the health and well-being
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of those who help them quite as highly as they
should…
Help Me!
Perhaps the simplest hook of all. The heroes have
received a plea for help from someone involved or
affected by the villains’ nefarious plot.
Extra! Extra!
The heroes are drawn into the adventure by an
item in the news; either in print or on the radio.
Something about the item draws their attention,
perhaps a bank robbery by a man thought long
dead, or a burglary using the modus operandi of a
thief currently lounging in jail. Perhaps someone
is behaving out of character, such as a brutal killer
rescuing a kitten, a respectable city official beating
a hobo, or a noted wit and socialite being distracted
and lost for words.
Oh, the Humanity!
A terrible disaster has occurred, either because
of, or related to, the villain’s nefarious plot. The
characters must investigate the disaster, and in so
doing, uncover the villain’s plans.
SUPPORTING CAST
Every adventure needs a cast of supporting
characters, from nameless extras to “special guest
stars”. Use the following tables to help create bit
players for your Pulp Fantastic adventure. Most
adventures will have between 1 and 6 supporting
characters, but you can use these tables to create
as many as you like. Roll once on each table
to determine their Personality, Description and
Occupation.
Personality (5D6) Description (5D6)
5 Active 5 Beautiful/Handsome

6 Aggressive 6 Big

7 Agreeable 7 Demonstrative

8 Argumentative 8 Elderly

9 Brave 9 Elegant

10 Cautious 10 Fat

11 Charming 11 Foreign

12 Cheerful 12 Fragrant

13 Cynical 13 Local

14 Clever 14 Nervous

15 Cowardly 15 Poor

16 Distracted 16 Quiet

17 Dominant 17 Relaxed

18 Eager 18 Robust/Healthy

19 Flippant 19 Scruffy

20 Focused 20 Sickly

21 Grouchy/Dour 21 Small

22 Impulsive 22 Smelly

23 Indolent 23 Stoic

24 Naive/Stupid 24 Strong

25 Passive 25 Thin

26 Selfish 26 Ugly

27 Selfless 27 Uptight

28 Serious 28 Weak

29 Shifty/Sleazy 29 Wealthy

30 Submissive 30 Young

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Occupation (5D6) For example: A roll of 19 for the Personality, 15 for
the Description and 18 for the Occupation gives us
5 Builder an “Eager, Poor Mechanic”, perhaps a guy or gal
who loves to tinker but doesn’t have much business
6 Bum/Hobo
sense. Rolls of 9, 21 and 16 gives us a “Brave,
7 Business Owner Small Loafer/Informant”, maybe a plucky little
street urchin with vital information.
8 Con Artist
Occasionally rolling on these tables will give you a
9 Doctor/Nurse result that doesn’t make sense no matter how hard
you think about it. When this happens, simply re-
10 Entertainer roll one or more of the elements.

11 Farmer ACTION!
12 G-Man/Operative Every Pulp Fantastic adventure needs some action.
To start the creation of your action sequence, roll on
13 Law Enforcement
the table below.
14 Lawyer
Sequence Type (1D6)
15 Librarian
1 Chase (Heroes Pursued)
16 Loafer/Informant
2 Chase (Heroes Pursuing)
17 Lunatic
3 Escape
18 Mechanic
4 Fight
19 Occultist
5 Infiltration
20 Pilot/Driver
6 Obstacle Course
21 Politician

22 Pretty Face (male or female) The Obstacle Course option represents action
sequences dominated by traps, snares and concealed
23 Scholar/Academic or unexpected environmental hazards. For example,
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade features a
24 Scientist
sequence where the hero must use brains, brawn
25 Servant and courage to navigate a series of traps to save
his father. The other sequence types are self-
26 Shop Worker explanatory.

27 Soldier/Sailor Once you’ve determined the type of action

sequence, roll on the tables below to determine the
28 The Idle Rich number of participants and what factors will affect
the sequence.
29 Thug/Lowlife

30 Working Stiff

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 Participants (1D6)
1 1-2 per Hero
2 3-4 per Hero
3 5-6 per Hero
4 6-10 per Hero
5 10-20 per Hero
6 Hordes!
Factors (1D6)
1 Dangerous Terrain
2 Fixed Route/Rails
3 Innocent Civilians/Bystanders
4 Misunderstandings
5 Need for Secrecy
6 Rough Terrain
Dangerous Terrain
From the sword fight on a tilting platform above
a river of molten lava, to the high-speed chase
through a mine-field, the Pulps are full of action
sequences where the environment, as well as the
villains, are capable of killing the heroes.
Fixed Route/Rails
Many action sequences can be complicated by
limiting the options available to both heroes and
villains. Chases can become exercises in tactical
awareness rather than speed when conducted along
the waterways of Venice, or through underground
passages with limited exits. Fights can become
brutally deadly when conducted in confined spaces.
Innocent Civilians/Bystanders
Collateral damage is the favourite phrase of some
villains, and often the heroes must fight to protect
the public as well as themselves against a desperate
and unscrupulous adversary. Civilians often turn
up at the worst possible moment. Why don’t those
glaziers ever park on the correct side of the street?
241
Misunderstandings
Action sequences can be complicated enough
without some well-meaning member of the public
or officer of the law mistaking your desperate battle
to recover the vial of plague bacillus for a simple
backstreet mugging.
Need for Secrecy
An interesting complication for an action sequence
is when it needs to take place without anyone else
knowing about it. Perhaps the desperate struggle
is taking place backstage at an important theatrical
performance, or the guard must be subdued without
alerting his comrades in the isolated mountain
fortress.
Rough Terrain
Unlike Dangerous Terrain, Rough Terrain merely
forces the participants to use their agility and
dexterity to remain upright. Chases or fights on
shifting sands, loose cobble-stones, rain or oil-
slicked streets, all counts as Rough Terrain.
PLOT TWIST!
No plan of action ever survives contact with the
enemy, and no scenario ever goes entirely as
written. Just when the heroes think they’ve got
things all figured out, shake things up with an
exciting plot twist.
Catastrophe!
The activities of the characters – heroes or villains –
cause something very bad to happen, or something
very bad happens in spite of the characters. An
earthquake or volcanic eruption rocks the area,
there’s a horrific industrial accident, the dam bursts,
disease strikes the area, famine or drought run
rampant. Perhaps there’s a supernatural or Weird
Science aspect to the disaster; a plague of flies or a
mysterious rain of mutagenic fluid. Now the heroes
have to fight not only the villains, but the effects
of this catastrophe as well. Will they pursue their
vendetta, or will they join forces with their foes
for the greater good? Will their enemies flee or try
to turn misfortune to their advantage, or will they
display a shred of human decency and help their
enemies?
 Plot Twist! (3D6) Format Shift
3 Catastrophe! This plot twist literally twists the plot into a whole
new shape, changing the nature of the adventure.
4 Betrayed!
Select or roll again on the Format table to discover
5 Reversal of Fortune just how the format shifts. Perhaps the Mystery
becomes a Chase, as the villain flees from justice,
6 Format Shift or Protection becomes Romance as the prince the
heroes are guarding falls in love with a hero. Maybe
7 Scene Shift the Heist becomes Horror as the heroes realise that
not all of the MacGuffin’s guards are human, or
8 Villain Shift even alive…
9 My Only Weakness!
Scene Shift
10 Surprise!
Probably the simplest plot twist occurs when the
11 Nothing is what it seems! action moves to an unexpected location. The spy
flees from New York to the Himalayas, the trail
12 Flashback! of the kidnappers’ leads from the glitzy high-rise
apartments of Uptown to the dank tunnels beneath
13 On the Horns of a Dilemma the city streets, the assassin flees through a mirror
into another dimension, or the plane crashes into
14 Oops!
an Anomalous Region full of White Apes and
15 Dramatic Consequences dinosaurs. The relocation allows the GM to bring
new characters and obstacles into the adventure
16 Smokescreen and gives different heroes a chance to shine. To
determine the new location, roll again on the tables
17 Fortean Event in the WHERE section.
18 Roll twice and combine
Villain Shift
Another classic plot twist, this one involves the
Betrayed! revelation that the villain is not who the characters
thought she was. Perhaps she is actually trying to
In this plot twist, someone switches sides in a stop the heroes from dying at the hands of someone
dramatic and (hopefully) unexpected fashion. Why else, or perhaps she has been posing as another
have they done this? Were they working for the villain in order to frame them, draw the heat away
other side all along, or have they had a crisis of or simply throw the heroes off-balance. A variant
conscience? Are they being coerced, and if so, how? on this is that the villain is who they seem, but
that there’s another force behind them; the deadly
Reversal of Fortune phantom warrior is being summoned to kill by a
powerful sorcerer, the death-dealing robot is doing
Lady Luck is a fickle creature, and she proves it
the bidding of a mad scientist, the murderous ape is
with this plot twist. Whoever luck has favoured so
under the control of a psychotic animal trainer, or
far, finds themselves abandoned for their enemies,
the horribly strong somnambulist is the hypnotized
and vice versa. Perhaps the authorities decide the
slave of an evil mesmerist.
heroes aren’t moving fast enough and withdraw
their cooperation, or a sudden storm traps them in
port as the villain makes her getaway.
My Only Weakness!
Everyone has a weakness, and somehow the villain
has found out – and worse, knows how to exploit
– that of the heroes. Perhaps the villain knows

242
the heroes’ secret identity, or knows who their
loved ones are. Perhaps the villain can deactivate
the heroes’ advanced weaponry, or possesses the
strange extra-terrestrial mineral that robs a hero of
his powers. Regardless of its nature, the villain can
somehow circumvent the heroes’ primary strength,
whether it be strange powers, wealth, status, Weird
Inventions or some other advantage. Now the
heroes must figure out how to triumph without
access to their most favored tactics…if they can.
Surprise!
During the adventure, the heroes discover
something that forces them to re-evaluate past
events, beliefs or relationships. Perhaps a murderous
vigilante turns out to be a heroic vampire slayer, or
an unassuming librarian and friend is revealed as a
former villain. Perhaps a hero is revealed to be the
lost heir of a forgotten kingdom, or a strange visitor
from another world. Clever GMs will plant the
subtle seeds for this kind of revelation in advance.
Nothing is what it seems!
Everyone makes mistakes, and in this scenario the
heroes realise that the assumption they have made
have been wrong all along. Allies may be revealed
to be enemies, enemies to have just causes or be
innocent victims. Now the heroes have to deal with
both the original problem and any damage they may
have caused along the way.
Flashback!
This plot twist can be tricky, but if run well is
immensely satisfying. The players get to play
through an earlier series of events, either as their
earlier selves, or as other characters entirely. The
flashback could be any time from a few hours
to several hundred years ago, depending on the
needs of the story. Perhaps the heroes uncover a
manuscript in the course of their investigations,
which relates the adventures of past heroes facing
the same threat in ancient times. Perhaps it’s as
simple as recounting the true events of a murder as
they characters rattle their way across Europe on the
Orient Express. Perhaps the events of the current
adventure will remind the heroes of notable or
similar events in their own past, giving the players a
chance to play their heroes as they were when they
were just starting out on the path of adventure and
heroism.
243
On the Horns of a Dilemma
The Pulp Era is known (only somewhat
inaccurately) for the simplicity of its morals,
but modern players are often more demanding.
Sometimes it’s dramatically satisfying to confront
the heroes with an ethical or moral dilemma, or just
a simple choice that will alter the direction of future
adventures. If an enemy has brought much-needed
stability to a blood-soaked area of the world and
helped its people attain health and prosperity at the
cost of only a few personal freedoms, should the
heroes still sail in guns blazing? With a murderer
escaping, is it better to stay and save the life of his
victim, or leave them to die knowing that should
the villain escape even more will fall to his blade?
When the heroes discover that a powerful senator is
a Nazi-sympathizer and evil mastermind, is it better
to make the facts public, or should he be dealt with
quietly, for the morale of the people?
Oops!
Somebody screwed up. Maybe it’s the heroes,
maybe it’s the villain. Whoever it is, their actions
have had unintended consequences, and now
everyone is running for cover. Perhaps the black
magician overestimated her ability to control the
Eldritch Abomination, and now it is ravening
through the cave complex, eating hero and villain
alike. Perhaps the powerful mechanical man has
developed a mind of its own and has declared war
on all flesh. Perhaps the Earthquake Gun has gone
off inside the secret volcano base, and now Blood
Island is shaking itself to pieces. The bigger and
weirder the adventure, the greater the possibility for
entertaining (and terrifying!) screw-ups.
Dramatic Consequences
Like On the Horns of a Dilemma, this plot twist
faces the heroes with the consequences of their
actions, except in this case they don’t have much
in the way of choices. Overthrowing the evil
dictator frees his people, but opens the field for his
opponents (who may turn out to be worse), and
causes political, economic and social chaos. Perhaps
the war machine bearing down on the city is full
of hostages hard-wired to the device, and time is
running out. Perhaps the mad scientist they’ve just
foiled was researching a cure for the disease that
is killing a hero’s loved one. Doing the right thing
(or the least wrong thing in some cases) can trash
a hero’s reputation. Do they make that sacrifice, or
step back and let things be?
Smokescreen
This plot twist reveals that what the heroes thought
was the plot is actually a con, a blind for the
villains’ real agenda. Having been duped thus far,
can the heroes recover and stop the true nefarious
plot? To determine the actual plot, re-roll on the
tables in the WHAT, HOW and WHY sections.
Fortean Event
Much like the Hook Rain of Frogs, something
bizarre happens, related in some way, to the
nefarious plot. GM’s can choose to use these
strange happenings to help ratchet up the tension,
perhaps using a crimson moon as an omen of an
approaching Eldritch Abomination, or a ground
tremor and the howling of dogs as a portent of the
completion of an Earthquake Machine.
THE CLIMAX
The heroes have overcome obstacles, solved puzzles
and triumphed against the odds. Now it’s time for
the finale. Using the following table as a guide, let’s
work on crafting a memorable conclusion to the
adventure.
Climax (2D6)
2 To Be Continued...
3 Showdown
4 Chase
5 Race against Time
6 Here comes the Cavalry!
7 Amazing Escape
8 Duel of Wits
9 Revelation
10 Extraction/Rescue
11 Pyrrhic Victory
12 Special Effects
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To Be Continued…
The adventure ends, but the heroes know that they
have unfinished business. Perhaps the villain is
defeated, only to reveal that another, more powerful
villain was the real power behind the throne, or his
loyal and fanatical henchman escapes to try and
free him another day. Perhaps the heroes recover a
mysterious artifact, Weird Invention or ancient map
which will lead to new adventures. The adventure
isn’t over quite yet, and there’s a sequel in the
offing.
Showdown
The adventure ends in a pitched battle between the
forces of good and evil. Whether in massed combat
against a horde of mooks, or a sword duel against
an evil mastermind atop a burning dirigible; when
the dust finally settles, all the heroes’ problems will
be resolved.
Chase
With defeat on the cards, the villain flees, with the
heroes in hot pursuit. Using cunning, guile and a
variety of vehicles and locales, the villain leads the
heroes on a merry chase through narrow, twisting
streets, down rough rapids or through dank tunnels
filled with pitfalls and traps. Can the heroes catch
him before he gets away or leads them into a trap,
and if they do, can they hold him?
Race against Time
This adventure ends with the heroes dramatically
challenged to perform a complex task in a given
time. Perhaps there’s an Element X bomb on a timer
hidden beneath the White House, or a horrific occult
ritual close to completion. Perhaps a homing beacon
needs to be shut off before the Martian war fleet
arrives, or the Seismic Disruptor deactivated before
it triggers a major fault line. Maybe a gang of
kidnappers will dispose of their hostage if a ransom
isn’t paid, or a blackmailer release the information
that could bring down a dynasty. Regardless, time is
of the essence, and the characters need to deal with
any complications quickly before the deadline hits.
Here comes the Cavalry!
When all is lost; the shadows seem blackest and
crowded with enemies, the villain has apparently
triumphed, the heroes succumb to thirst and sink
to the desert stands…the cavalry arrives! This
kind of ending can be tricky – few players enjoy
being rescued – but if run well can turn despair to
celebration. The GM should be careful to set up the
possibility of rescue in advance, so that the players
know if they can just hold out long enough, help
will arrive. In this way, the focus is not on having
someone else swoop in to save the day, but on the
endurance and determination of the heroes.
Amazing Escape
This climax involves the heroes in a daring escape
from danger. Very few players enjoy running away
from the bad guys, but in this case it is life or death.
Perhaps they have to flee a burning skyscraper, a
secret base about to self-destruct, an island in the
throes of a volcanic eruption, a flooding submarine
on its way to a watery grave, or a doomed city in
the path of an (apparent) meteor. Regardless of
the cause, the path to safety should be strewn with
obstacles for the heroes to overcome; panicking
civilians, vengeful henchmen, stampeding
animals, locked doors, impassive robot guards and
bottomless ravines.
Duel of Wits
Like the Showdown, the Duel of Wits is a contest
between hero and villain. Unlike the Showdown,
this is a battle of minds. Perhaps the villain wants
to convince the heroes of the righteousness of her
cause, perhaps she simply wants to recruit them.
Maybe he challenges the heroes to prove their
own righteousness through debate, in the hope that
he can reveal some hidden hypocrisy. Maybe she
is simply too powerful to defeat through normal
means, and must be fought with the subtler weapons
of the mind. Perhaps the heroes need to talk the
villain down and save his soul, to convince him that
violence isn’t the answer, or possibly they need to
trick him into incriminating himself.
Revelation
This climax involves the disclosure of secret
knowledge. Perhaps the heroes uncover some
sanity-blasting truth about the true nature of the
world, or discover proof of the villain’s secret
identity. Perhaps a previously unknown relationship
is brought to light (“I…am your father!”), or a
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dark secret from an ally’s past. Perhaps the secret
weakness of a major villain – or hero – is revealed.
GMs should take care to ensure that the knowledge
thus gained carries sufficient dramatic weight to
satisfy the players and reward their efforts.
Extraction/Rescue
The adventure ends with the retrieval, extraction
or rescue of someone or something. Perhaps the
heroes have recovered a stolen isotope or invention,
or freed the kidnapped child of a famous scientist.
Maybe they need to spring a wrongfully imprisoned
ally from captivity, liberate the victims of horrible
experimentation or steal a notebook from a heavily
guarded safe. In this scenario, careful planning and
intelligence gathering is essential, and the heroes
should be rewarded for completing the mission
and ensuring the safety of whatever it is they’re
rescuing.
Pyrrhic Victory
Victory often comes at a terrible price, and in this
climax it’s the heroes who must pay it. Perhaps
the ancient talisman that closes the portal can only
be activated by a human sacrifice, or the timer on
the bomb is destroyed, necessitating that someone
stay behind to detonate it. Maybe someone needs
to cover the retreat of the escaping heroes, fending
off the villainous hordes until freedom is attained.
Pyrrhic victories do not always have to involve
the death of a hero. Often they can revolve around
the sacrifice of her dreams, or her last chance at
redemption. Even in situations where death is
likely, the hero can survive, instead paying the price
through heavy injury, loss or madness.
Special Effects
Roll again for the climax, and give it an incredible,
Technicolor spin. Instead of a simple chase, have
the pursuit use magical artifacts or Weird Inventions
to use mirrors as portals. Instead of simply
unmasking a killer, have him accused by the spirit
of his victim. Perhaps when the villain prepares to
deploy his mystical gem, the heroes can use their
collected power to usurp control. Instead of a mere
duel between hero and villain, have it take place
on an eroding rock platform floating in a pool of
molten lava. Make the Duel of Wits a literal battle
of minds on the psychic plane, or the Amazing
Escape a flight through a collapsing dreamscape
or pocket dimension. On the surface these are
just cosmetic changes, but they can transform a
mundane ending into one the players will remember
for a very long time.
PUTTING IT ALL
TOGETHER
Now we have all the elements needed for your
adventure, let’s take a look at how best to put them
together.
THE FOUR ACT
STRUCTURE
Lester Dent, the prolific pulp writer and creator of
the legendary Doc Savage, created a “Master Plot”
for writing pulp adventures, in which he advocated
dividing the story into four parts – or “acts” – for
the purposes of building dramatic tension. That’s
what we’re going to do here. You can, of course,
choose your own structure depending on your needs
and those of your players.
First, roll on the tables for the Format and the
Basics (the Who, What, How, Why and Where).
ACT ONE
Following Lester Dent’s advice, we need to “swat
the hero with a fistful of trouble. Hint at a mystery,
a menace or a problem to be solved--something
the hero has to cope with.” Further, we need to
“introduce ALL the other characters as soon as
possible. Bring them on in action.” Towards the
end of the act, the “Hero’s endeavours land him in
an actual physical conflict” and there should be “a
complete surprise twist in the plot development.”
Roll for the Hook to see how we’re going to
involve the heroes in the adventure. Then we can
roll to create the Supporting Cast, paying particular
attention to any results that seem especially fitting
or “juicy”. Finally, we roll to create the first Action
Sequence, and roll for a Plot Twist to set the scene
for Act Two.
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Once we’ve assembled the elements above, let’s go
back to the advice of Lester Dent and check things
for consistency;
• Does it have SUSPENSE?
• Is there a MENACE to the heroes?
• Does everything happen logically?
ACT TWO
Dent advises that we “shovel more grief onto
the hero.” Roll for a second action sequence and
another plot twist to lead us into Act Three. Once
again, let’s check for consistency;
• Does the second part have SUSPENSE?
• Does the MENACE grow like a black cloud?
• Are the heroes getting it in the neck?
• Is the second part logical?
ACT THREE
Repeat the steps for Act Two. This time, the Action
Sequence should directly involve either the main
villain, or a senior lieutenant, and the plot twist at
the end should hit the heroes hard. When checking
for consistency, consider the following;
• Does it still have SUSPENSE?
• Is the MENACE getting blacker?
• Do the heroes find themselves in a hell of a fix?
• Does it all happen logically?
ACT FOUR
In the fourth and final act, all the pieces should be in
play. Lester Dent’s advice is;
Shovel the difficulties more thickly upon the
hero. Get the hero almost buried in his troubles.
(Figuratively, the villain has him prisoner and has
him framed for a murder rap; the girl is presumably
dead, everything is lost, and the Villain is about
to dispose of the suffering protagonist.) The hero
extricates himself using HIS OWN SKILL, training
or brawn. The mysteries remaining – one big one
held over to this point will help grip interest – are
cleared up in course of final conflict as hero takes
the situation in hand. Final twist, a big surprise,
(This can be the villain turning out to be the
unexpected person, having the “Treasure” be a dud,
etc.)
Roll for the Climax and another Plot Twist on
the tables above, but be prepared to ignore these
based on the actions of the players and the needs
of your plot so far. When reviewing the results for
consistency and plot holes, consider the following;
• Has the SUSPENSE held out to the last line?
• Has the MENACE held out to the last?
• Has everything been explained?
• Did it all happen logically?
• Is the ending enough to leave the players with
that WARM FEELING?
• Did God kill the villain? Or the heroes?
You now should have everything you need to create
your own exciting Pulp Fantastic adventure!
EXAMPLE
ADVENTURE
THE BASICS
• Format: 5 (Chase/Hunt)
• Who: 16 (The Mangler)
• What: 14 (Sell), 7 (A MacGuffin)
• How: 2 (Deceit/Trickery)
• Why: 8 (Justice)
• Where: 2 (The Sticks), 15 (Ranch Land)
So, this adventure takes place outside of the Big
City, on ranch land. The villain is a Mangler,
perhaps a hulking ranch-hand with the ability to
break a man’s back with his bare hands. He intends
to sell a MacGuffin – let’s say an ancient Native
American artifact – which he’s obtained through
trickery, because he feels wronged in some way. He
is himself Native American, and was expelled from
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his tribe for a crime he didn’t commit. By selling
their prized artifact, he feels that he is obtaining
justice in some way. The format is a chase or hunt,
so let’s say that the villain has the artifact and is
laying low before his buyer turns up, and the heroes
have to track him down.
ACT ONE
The Hook: 6 (Favor/Obligation)
Supporting Cast:
• 10 (Cautious), 19 (Scruffy), 16 (Loafer/
Informant)
• 17 (Eager), 19 (Scruffy), 18 (Mechanic)
• 12 (Cheerful), 17 (Relaxed), 9 (Doctor/Nurse)
• 15 (Distracted), 30 (Young), 7 (Business
Owner)
• Action Sequence: 2 (Chase – Heroes Pursuing),
1 (1-2 Participants per Hero), 1 (Dangerous
Terrain)
Plot Twist: 10 (Surprise!)
Act One begins with the heroes needing
something, in return for which they are tasked with
investigating the theft of the artifact. I’m going to
say that they need something related to the artifact
itself – perhaps it bears an inscription that carries
clues to the identity of a supernatural threat they
are facing. The supporting cast include a cautious,
scruffy loafer (a wary, poorly-dressed ranch hand
who doesn’t seem to do much actual work, but
knows more than he’s telling), an eager, scruffy
mechanic (she keeps the ranch’s trucks and tractors
running, and is always smeared with engine oil
and grime), a cheerful, relaxed doctor (the town
doctor, comfortable in his work and who doesn’t
take life too seriously) and a distracted young
business-owner (the owner of the ranch where the
villain works, fresh to the ranching business after
the original owner’s sudden death at the hands of
the villain, and greatly harassed by his or her new
responsibilities).
The action sequence is a chase, with the heroes
pursuing across dangerous terrain. Clearly they
get on the trail of the villain quickly and he sets
off through rough country (perhaps winding,
rocky canyons infested with rattlesnakes and other
hazards) to avoid them, with his accomplices.
The plot twist is the surprise revelation that the
villain really was innocent of the crime for which he
was cast out of the tribe. He was a love rival with
the original ranch owner, who framed him, and the
loss of his love has forever blackened his heart. Can
the heroes save his soul, or is he irredeemable?
ACT TWO
Action Sequence: 1 (Chase – Heroes Pursued), 1
(1-2 Participants per Hero), 3 (Innocent Civilians/
Bystanders)
Plot Twist: 14 (Oops!)
This is interesting. The action sequence for Act
Two has the heroes being pursued, with the same
number of participants and the added complication
of onlookers. Perhaps the heroes have managed to
retrieve the artifact and are now racing back to town
with the villain in hot pursuit!
The plot twist is that someone has made a big
mistake, with unfortunate consequences. I’m going
to say that there’s an accident during the chase
through town, which involves innocent civilians.
While the heroes try and help out, the villain
recovers the artifact and escapes.
The plot twist sends the adventure in a whole
new direction, turning it into a horror tale. The
aggression released during the fight triggers the
long-dormant Manitou of the artifact, which drives
the townsfolk to ever-greater acts of rage and
hatred.
ACT FOUR
Climax: 5 (Race against Time)
Plot Twist: 11 (Nothing is what it seems!)
Bloodied but unbowed after their battle with the
possessed townsfolk, the heroes must recover the
awakened artifact before it spreads its dark cloud
of rage across the state, and perhaps the continent.
Can they defeat the villain and destroy the artifact
in time?
The plot twist reveals that this whole thing has
happened due to the subtle manipulation of the
town’s doctor, who has secretly been under the
influence of the Manitou for years and wants
to release it to restore the land to the Native
Americans!

ACT THREE
Action Sequence: 4 (Fight), 4 (6-10 Participants
per Hero), 4 (Misunderstandings)

Plot Twist: 6 (Format Shift)

New Format: 3 (Horror)

Things are heating up nicely now. Act Three

contains an action sequence that involves a
fight, with a large number of participants and a
misunderstanding. As a result of the accident, the
town’s populace turns against the heroes (perhaps
with the help of the villain urging them on),
resulting in a mass brawl.

248
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES
As it was a time of growth for mass media,
especially printed matter, the 1920s and 1930s were
a time where much was written, and later, much
was written about. Almost any subject on the era
has a great variety of tomes and articles covering it.
Most anything a GM needs for running a game or
creating ambiance can be found in print – or on the
Net. These references are by no means exhaustive,
but they are both informative and fun, or simply
available.
MOVIES AND TV
Nothing will prepare you better for running and/or
playing a pulp game than watching a pulp film or
television show. Bear in mind that we didn’t select
this material based solely in its quality – some
of these movies and shows are BAD! Everything
will have some redeeming quality, however, being
atmosphere, plot, slang, sets, or production values.
Raiders of the Lost Ark. The definitive pulp hero
movie. This movie pits our hero against Nazis and
the search for the mystical Ark of the Covenant.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Prequel to
Raiders. Great villains and the Temple of Doom is a
truly hellish setting.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Jones seeks
the Holy Grail aided by his father. Evil Nazis and a
fanatical secret society oppose him.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal
Skull. Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry
“Indiana” Jones is called back into action when
he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover
the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as
the Crystal Skulls. This has been classified by the
fan base as a non-Indiana Jones movie, and it has
249
several flaws, but when dealing with the mystical
alternate history that is Pulp Fantastic, it has several
plot points that can be reused.
Doc Savage, The Man of Bronze. This first Doc
Savage movie was developed in 1975 by the veteran
producer George Pal, who is also responsible for
the War of the Worlds and The Time Machine
adaptations. It is not the best movie in the world,
but it does allow people who are not familiar to see
what The Man of Bronze is all about.
King Solomon’s Mines. There are several versions of
the classic H. Rider Haggard adventure novel. There
are DVD editions of the earlier versions (1937 and
1950). Please don’t watch the 1985 version with
Richard Chamberlain first – you won’t get the story
at all. There’s also a 2004 version.
Allan Quatermain and the City of Gold. Sequel to
King Solomon’s Mines and much more visible.
Quatermain searches for a lost city.
Firewalker. Lou Gosset, Jr. and Chuck Norris
are the adventurers in this 1980s adventure film,
following the dreams of a beautiful girl through an
imaginary South-American country.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. A failed start
for a series of films based on The Destroyer series
of novels.
Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth
Dimension. A cult classic from 1984, this movie
shows a hero and his companions in the style made
famous by Doc Savage: Buckaroo Banzai and his
Hong Kong Cavaliers, scientists and rock stars.
They battle monsters, aliens, a mad scientist and
criminals bent on conquering the world.
Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile.
Kathleen Turner at her most beautiful and Michael
Douglas as a reluctant (anti-)hero. Adventure and
exoticism galore.
Zone Troopers. WWII soldiers deal with an invasion
from space in the Italian theatre of operations. Hitler
himself appears in this B-movie.
The Shadow. This entertaining adaptation of the
radio incarnation of the classic pulp hero, which
does a nice job of presenting a war between two
rival psychics with mesmeric powers.
The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Big time
adventure, extreme fun, distilled pulpery in both
movies.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Laura Croft: Tomb
Raider The Cradle of Life. Angelina Jolie plays the
computer game heroine.
Relic Hunter. A TV show focusing a modern-day
treasure hunter.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Fabulous
imagery in this amazing recreation of a 1940s serial
in just one movie.
The Phantom. The comic strip hero brought to the
big screen starring Billy Zane.
Hellboy. Mike Mignola’s hero – another comic book
adaptation.
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Mike Mignola’s hero
returns for another story adaptation.
Hellboy (2019). Mike Mignola’s hero brought to the
big screen again in a reboot.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Heroes
from Victorian novels meet up to fight villains. It
is different from the comic of the same name, but it
can be quite enjoyable.
Sahara. Another modern day adventure movie,
Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz seek
out a disappeared Civil War ironclad. It doesn’t
resemble the novel except in basic plot and name,
but it is an enjoyable way to kill a couple of hours.
The Librarian: The Quest for the Spear. When the
Spear of Destiny is lifted from his library, a meek
librarian sets out to ensure its safe return. To do so,
however, he enlists the service of a woman with
exceptional martial arts skills - who becomes the
enforcer in the relationship.
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The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mine.
Librarian-turned-adventurer Flynn Carsen
endeavors to find King Solomon’s mines.
The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice.
After retrieving the Philosopher’s Stone at an
auction but losing his girlfriend, the librarian
Flynn Carsen has a breakdown. In this adventure
he travels to New Orleans, meets a Vampire and
recovers the most precious gift of all time, the cup
of Judas.
The Librarians. TV series that picks up where the
original trilogy leaves off. Flynn Carsen and a team
of new librarians help retrieve items worldwide.
Tomb Raider (2018). Alicia Vakander plays Laura
Croft in this reboot movie based on the video game
characters.
Hooten and the Lady. A British Lady and an
American adventurer travel the globe searching for
lost artifacts in this modern day setting.
Blood and Treasure. A former FBI agent, and
his ex-girlfriend master thief, are on the hunt for
the sarcophagus of Cleopatra. They investigate
a mysterious Nazi train and try to stop a terrorist
from weaponizing the remains. Would make a good
adventure containing the Thule Society, among
other organizations.
Warehouse 13: A TV series where a group of
individuals work for a secret (government)
organization. They spend their time protecting
humanity from those things that must not get out,
full of artifacts, Tesla guns, and magic. Even H.G.
Wells makes an appearance. While modern, it
like The Librarians is very pulpy in its scope and
execution.
COMICS
Terry and the Pirates, by Milton Caniff, was
one of the most popular comic strips of the 30s.
Adventures in China in their war against invading
Japan. The look is very realistic, and the strip
includes some of the more iconic characters in the
pulps: Pat Ryan, the hero adventurer; The Dragon
Lady, slinkiest of femme fatales; Terry Lee, boy
growing up into hero.
Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. A very long
lived comic strip, run for almost 50 years since its
inception in the 1920s. Cliffhangers galore, Annie
has some of the most accomplished pulp heroes as
allies.
Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond. The best of
science fiction comics (today it would be called
science fantasy), the landscapes, creatures and
starships in this strip would live in the imaginations
of several generations.
THE GENRE
The Hero Pulp Index, by Robert Weinberg and Lohr
McKinstry. A comprehensive index of the pulp
magazines. Difficult to find, since very few were
printed.
The Shudder Pulps, by Robert Kenneth Jones.
Horror and weird menace pulps in a global
overview.
Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, by Philip José
Farmer. A biography of the Man of Bronze, and
his sidekicks, nemesis and ancestry (which include
several fictional heroes).
THE PULP
MAGAZINES
Although many pulp stories have been reprinted
over the years, many thousands more weren’t.
Probably the only way to find some of the stories in
the magazines is to collect them, a hobby many find
enjoyable. Some magazines may be found for little
money, especially the later pulps of the late 40s and
the 50s, but count on paying a tidy sum for early
work of the most famous magazines. Still, many are
appearing on the internet or in CD collections from
prices ranging from nothing to very cheap.
Usually, the pulp publishers made use of house
names. Street & Smith, for example, used the house
name Kenneth Robeson for Doc Savage stories,
written by Lester Dent (who wrote the majority),
Norman Danberg, Alan Hathaway or William
Bogert, as well as for their Avenger series written by
Paul Ernst. It became so famous that the publisher
started a detective series for another magazine under
it, to be written by Lester Dent - According to the
251
advertising, they had persuaded the star author to
write another series.
Pseudonyms weren’t at all uncommon in the
business. Lester Dent himself wrote stories under
his own name in the same magazine. And it was
not unusual for authors to have several pen names.
Sometimes this was to differentiate works in
different styles. John W. Campbell wrote universe-
crashing, super-science space-opera under his own
name and poetic, visionary stories under the name
Don A. Stuart. Biographies, bibliographies and
other references may list authors under their real
name or one or more of their pseudonyms.
REPRINTS
These are usually paperback. Note that even most
reprints are out of print and are hard to find, so
be prepared for some leg work in secondhand
bookstores.
CRIMEFIGHTING/
SUPERHERO
The Avenger. Warner Books began reprinting the
Avenger series in paperback in June of 1972, and
all 24 original stories are now available. Beginning
with #25, the books are not reprints, but original
stories written in the mid-seventies. The reprints
are fairly scarce, but the new stories (which are
generally more far-fetched than the originals) are
not too difficult to find -- some used book stores
have several copies.
Doc Savage. Beginning in 1964, Bantam set out to
reprint the entire series of Doc Savage stories. They
began with #1, The Man of Bronze, but broke the
original order immediately, following it with The
Thousand-Headed Man (originally #17), Meteor
Menace (originally #13), and so on. They reprinted
nearly 100 of the stories before switching to two-in-
one novels (hard to find) and finally choosing to do
the Doc Savage Omnibus series, currently in print.
Hard to find.
The Shadow. There are several reprints of The
Shadow stories. However, beginning in September
1963 there were several new stories published by
Belmont Books using the same house name of
Maxwell Grant. This Shadow does not resemble
the original pulp character. In 1969 Bantam Books
(happy with the success of their Doc Savage
reprints) began to reprint the original Shadow
stories, which was short lived due to poor sales.
Pyramid Books reprinted some in the 1970s, and
HBJ/Jove reprinted several (with excellent Steranko
cover art) beginning in the late 70s. With over 300
original Shadow stories in the pulps and many
reprints out, it shouldn’t be too difficult to put
together a fair collection.
The Spider. In 1969, Berkley Books began to
reissue the Spider in its original order. The first
two (by R.T.M. Scott) were not written in the same
action-packed style as the rest of the Spider stories
(written by Norvell Page), and so the reprint series
was doomed to failure. It lasted through The Spider
Strikes, The Wheel of Death, Wings of the Black
Death, and City of Flaming Shadows. Hard to find.
AVIATION/WAR
G-8. In the late 1960s Berkley Books began to
reprint the G-8 series. Even with terrific cover art
by Jim Steranko, the series failed to make it past the
first three: The Bat Staffel, Purple Aces, and Aces of
the White Death. Hard to find.
Dusty Ayres. The reprints of these pulp aviation
stories (in which most of the world has been
conquered by the sinister Evil Eyes and his Black
Invaders) began in the 1960s by Corinth Books.
It only last through five books: Black Lightning,
Crimson Doom, Purple Tornado, The Tesla Raiders,
and Battle Birds versus the Black Invaders, a series
of short stories.
HORROR/WEIRD MENACE
Doctor Death. Reprints of a short-lived Horror/
Weird Menace/Crimefighting magazine with
a villainous central character, Jonathan Death
paperback series (Corinth) was equally short-
lived. The series includes Twelve Must Die, The
Grey Creatures, The Shrivelling Murderers, and
a collection of short stories, Stories from Doctor
Death.
Jules de Grandin. Several of the Jules de Grandin
stories (by Seabury Quinn) were reprinted by
Popular Library in the mid-seventies with a science
fiction classification. Although they are horror
stories, you might get some results if looking in the
science fiction department. The reprints contained
several stories (usually 5-7) and usually included
252
the name Jules de Grandin in the title (such as The
Adventures of Jules de Grandin, the first book).
Recently the entire Jules de Grandin canon was
reprinted in five hardback and e-book volumes from
Night Shade Books. Easy to find.
Lovecraft and Others. Perhaps the ultimate horror
writer of the age, H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous
stories revolve around Things Man Was Not Meant
To Know -- the Cthulhu Mythos stories. Lovecraft
penned over a dozen by himself, and collaborated
on many more. Many of his peers (August Derleth,
Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, Clark
Ashton Smith and Robert Bloch, just to name a few)
wrote stories set against the same backgrounds,
providing hundreds of Eldritch Horrors for a horror
campaign. The most famous Lovecraft stories
are The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror,
The Shadow Over Innsmouth, At the Mountains
of Madness (set in Antarctica), The Shadow Out
of Time and The Thing on the Doorstep. All are
available in anthologies. There is also an extensive
collection of Lovecraft’s letters, many of them to
other pulp writers; they are a good look into the
world of the pulps.
Robert E. Howard wrote extensively and in
many pulp genres. Because of the success of the
Conan stories, almost anything with Howard’s
name on it would sell; collections of his westerns,
boxing stories, weird menace adventures and
spicy stories (very mild by modern standards, but
considered near pornography in the 30s) have all
been published. Suggested is the new series from
Ballantine Books such as The Coming of Conan
and The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. The series
Millennium Fantasy Masterworks has all Conan
stories in two volumes.
SPY/ESPIONAGE
Operator #5. A series of reprints from Corinth
Books following the adventures of Operator #5.
There are eight books: Legions of the Death Master,
The Invisible Empire, The Army of the Dead,
Master of Broken Men, Hosts of the Flaming Death,
Blood Reign of the Dictator, March of the Flame
Marauders and Invasion of the Yellow Warlords. A
ninth book, Legions of Starvation, was announced,
but never printed.
Secret Agent X. Corinth also reprinted the exploits
of Secret Agent X, another master of disguise. The
series includes The Torture Trust, Servants of the
Skull, Curse of the Mandarin’s Fan, City of the
Living Dead, The Death Torch Terror, Octopus of
Crime, and The Sinister Scourge.
Fu Manchu. Pyramid Books has reprinted many of
the Fu Manchu stories beginning with The Insidious
Doctor Fu Manchu (originally The Mystery of Fu
Manchu) in 1963. They have gone through several
printings, most recently from Titan Books, so they
are fairly easy to find. Rohmer also wrote many
other books; most have been reprinted in paperback
and show up at the used-book stores.
The Saint. Leslie Charteris began the chronicles
of Simon Templar, the modern Robin Hood, in
the 20s, and continued them for decades. In the
30s, the Saint frequently visited America. The
Saint is a classic pulp hero in many ways: strong,
handsome, honorable, good with weapons. He is
also clever; he prefers to outwit rather than outgun
the opposition. The Val Kilmer movie of the 1990s,
while entertaining, was not an accurate portrayal of
Charteris’ Saint.
ADVENTURE/ good example of what Science Fiction was before
EXPLORATION
Pellucidar. This series of stories by Edgar Rice
Burroughs is set in the world of Pellucidar, a land
in the center of the earth. GMs can use it as is, or
exploit it for ideas for lost world adventures.
Professor Challenger. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The
Lost World and other Professor Challenger stories
also excellent sources of pulp ideas for exploration
campaigns centered around a hidden world or lost
civilization. Most were reprinted several years ago
and can still be found second-hand.
DETECTIVE STORIES
The Hard-Boiled Anthology, edited by Joseph T.
Shaw. Shaw was the editor of Black Mask from
1926 to 1936. He is the editor most associated with
the “hard-boiled” school of pulp detective fiction. In
1946 he put together one of the first and one of the
best anthologies of that style.
The Hard-Boiled Dicks, edited by Ron Goulart.
Edited by a science fiction writer who is also a pulp
historian, this anthology saves some of the more
obscure detective pulp writers from being forgotten.
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The Hard-Boiled Detective, edited by Herbert
Ruhm. Another excellent collection of pulp tales,
almost all reprinted for the first time in years.
Carrol John Daly may have invented the hard-boiled
detective; he was certainly one of the first to write
of them. He was the most popular writer in Black
Mask and contributed to several other magazines.
Raymond Chandler learned to write as a pulp
contributor; most of his stories have been reprinted.
Dashiell Hammett actually worked as a detective
before taking up writing about them. His
Continental Op is the very definition of the pulp
detective. He often mixed detective stories with
other pulp genres.
SCIENCE FICTION
Science Fiction of the 30s, edited by Damon
Knight, has not only a fine selection of stories but
reproduces the original illustrations and has brief
notes on the writers and history of the magazines.
Before the Golden Age, edited by Isaac Asimov. A
John W. Campbell, complete with Asimov’s own
notes about what it was like to write science fiction
for the pulps.
The Lensman and Skylark of Space books, all by
E.E. Smith, Ph.D. Classic space opera, with heroes
and villains much larger than life and superscience
galore.
GENERAL
The Pulps. This compilation of pulp stories from
various genres (edited by Tony Goodstone) also
contains color reproductions of several pulp covers.
The scarcity (and cost) of many of the old pulp
stories makes this valuable to GM and players alike.
There’s plenty of other stories reprinted, often in
anthologies, which are not that hard to track down.
Many libraries have collections. The University of
Texas at Austin, for instance, has a complete file
of Adventure pulps. The revival of critical interest
in American popular literature has produced some
good reprints, many with original illustrations; these
are also more likely to be found at a college library.
There are several mail-order bookstores that can
provide copies at a reasonable cost.
CONTEMPORARY
PULP
Congo, by Michael Crichton. A group of modern-
day scientists explore dark Africa in search of the
Lost City of Zinj. Excellent as a guide to modern
equipment available to adventurers in this era.
Weird Heroes, edited by Byron Priess. There are a
handful of volumes in this series of “modern pulp”
stories put out in the mid-seventies. It contains
excellent stories and artwork by many of the best
science fiction writers and artists of today. Great for
adventure and character ideas.
The Nemesis of Evil, by Lin Carter. Carter’s tribute
for Doc Savage and other pulp heroes.
Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday.
Splendid comic book series about a trio of
archeologists discovering the weird secret history
of their super-hero and pulpish world. The best
resource of all for campaigns in the contemporary
world and for a mix of the not-to-dissimilar worlds
of super heroes and pulp.
Hammett by Joe Gores. The most famous hard-
boiled detective writer stars in this book, as a
hardboiled detective.
THE ERA
This section refers to historical or contemporary
resources about the 1930s.
The New York Times Chronicle of American
Life: From the Crash to the Blitz, 1929-1939, by
Cabell Phillips. Almost 600 pages of stories and
photographs covering all aspects of American
life during the 30s. Easy reading since it is a
conglomeration of short articles on various topics.
This Fabulous Century; Volume 4, 1930-1940.
A great book for consulting information on
background including a Depression era shopping
list on p. 27 and an excellent section on gangsters
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and the FBI on pp. 100-113. there are other eras
available in this collection.
Old encyclopedias. Consulting encyclopedia sets
published in or about the 1930s will provide the
point of view of the contemporary person. The
Encyclopedia Britannica is particularly useful, and
editions up the middle 50s still used mostly material
from the 30s.
Newspapers. Many libraries have newspaper
collections. Old news, and perhaps even more,
old gossip, editorials and advertisements give the
past a reality that is hard to duplicate from formal
histories.
PLACES
Empires in the Dust and Lost Cities and Vanished
Civilizations, by Robert Silverberg. Well-
written histories of such ancient peoples as the
Babylonians, Egyptians and Aztecs.
Richard Halliburton’s Complete Book of Marvels
and other books by Richard Halliburton. Halliburton
was a best-selling travel writer of the 1930s. He
was a real-life adventurer and explorer, and visited
many of the areas described in Chapter 2. He dived
into the Well at Chichen Itza, climbed the Pyramids,
trekked through Tibet and tried to visit Mecca.
Halliburton disappeared at sea in 1939 while trying
to sail a Chinese junk from China to America.
There’s also a posthumous collection of his letters
giving a unique point of view of the times and
peoples he met.
National Geographic publications. Most libraries
keep National Geographic magazine; large ones
have files that extend well before the 30s. Used
magazines are frequently for sale at used book
stores and estate sales. They were printed on high-
quality paper and usually have survived in good
shape. Modern issues can be used for background
when running adventures in exotic locales; there
are frequent historical notes in the articles. National
Geographic books (such as Lost Empires, Living
Tribes detailing Central and South American
natives) are always great reading and with
extraordinary photographs.
Atlas of Ancient Archaeology, by Hawkes. An
excellent reference work for running Adventure/
Exploration campaigns. It locates and details spy and detective; the detail on 30s criminological
archaeological sites around the world. techniques is also authentic.

Roy Chapman Andrews explored in Asia from
before the Great War, and spent part of that war as
a U.S. Army Intelligence officer in China. He led
the first automobile expedition into Mongolia in
1920. He wrote several works of non-fiction, and
two “Young Adult” novels, Quest in the Desert and
Quest for the Snow Leopard, with excellent pictures
of expedition life in Asia.
John P. Marquand was a serious novelist who wrote
magazine stories to finance his more important
work. Only his Mr. Moto stories remain in print.
Moto is a Japanese intelligence officer who gets
involved in mysterious crimes. The backgrounds are
authentic and the attitudes of the era, without the
benefit of hindsight, give a feel for 30s characters.

John W. Thomason, Jr. was a Marine Corps officer

from WWI until his death in 1944. He was also an
excellent writer and illustrator. Several of his books,
especially “-- And a Few Marines” and Salt Winds
and Gobi Dust, give a picture of life at the last of
the colonial era -- a literal picture because the books
are illustrated with Thomason’s own drawings. He
served in China, Haiti and Nicaragua and set stories
in all three.

John Masters was an officer of the Indian Army

in the last days of the Empire. He served as a
lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, 4th (Prince of Wales
Own) Gurkha Rifles from the mid-30s until the
early part of WWII. His autobiography, Bugles and
a Tiger, is a superb picture of that vanished way of
life. His novel Man of War shows India, England
and Spain of the 30s from the point of view of a
professional soldier.

Hunter by John A. Hunter. Hunter was a

professional African hunter from before WWI
until the 50s. This book is an autobiography with a
background of the wild years of Africa.

African Rifles and Cartridges by John Taylor.

Taylor was another African professional; in his case
the profession was ivory poaching. The book is
intended as a treatise on the best guns for African
game, and it is a superb one. It is also a look at
a real adventurer of the pulp era, without any
polishing. It is full of the casual racism that is so
much a part of the pulp era, and so appalling today.

F. van Wyck Mason was a popular historical

novelist; he was also a pulp writer. His novels
about Hugh North, a U.S. Army intelligence officer,
started in the 30s and continued into the 60s. Mason
had traveled in Europe and Asia and the background
and detail of the novels is authentic. North is both

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