Pulp Seeds IV

Authors: Eric Baranda, Scott Moore, Martin Ralya, and Christian Read
Editors: Joseph Browning and Suzi Yee
Seed Art by Ian Armstrong

Introduction The characters are instantaneously teleported to the planet Neptune,

Welcome to Seeds and to this 30th product in the line by where they are enlisted as “secret weapons” in a civil war against the
Expeditious Retreat Press. Seeds are story ideas, plot ideas, creature mad overlord who rules the planet with an iron fist. Only by agreeing
ideas, adventure hooks, anything that can grow into an to help these rebels defeat the overlord do they have any
enjoyable gaming experience. Each seed is small (only a hope of returning home safely. The Neptunian Crypto-
paragraph or two at most) and each Seed product will Teleranger is too advanced a technology for Earth
be small as well (only four to five pages), but just scientists to comprehend.
like their namesakes, they have great potential when
provided with the right environment.
We’re pleased to introduce Pulp Seeds IV to T he characters are returning home from some
our line of Seeds products and are happy to announce previous adventure aboard an ocean liner which
that we’re accepting submissions for additional pulp finds itself under torpedo attack by a German
seeds as well as seeds for other genres (post-apocalyptic, submarine. As the ship sinks, the passengers are
horror, sci-fi, and supers). Pulp IV is four and a half pages shocked to see a race of undersea humanoids destroy
packed with adventure ideas suitable for pulp gaming. We received the submarine and come to their aid. These sea people are a
this bunch of pulp seeds through inquiry of former Seeds authors, and race of creatures from fabled Lumuria, which sank ages ago, but still
we hope that you’ll be inclined to send us your seed ideas for perusal and thrives miles beneath the waves, unknown to the outside world. The
possible inclusion in future Seeds products. We’d love a continual series sea people can provide equipment for air breathers to allow them to
of Seeds created by the very people who enjoy reading them the most. journey to their realm where the leaders of the fabled city-state will
So drop by the Expeditious Retreat website, checkout our be anxious to learn of events in the outside world.
submission guidelines to find out more about the process, and then
send us your seeds. Hopefully you’ll soon be reading the latest Seed
containing your successful seeds. Whew! Enough with the alliteration Professional boxer Kirby Regan accidentally killed a man in his
already, on to the fun! last bout. Although these things have been known to happen on
occasion, what makes the situation even more mysterious is that
Joseph Browning & Suzi Yee Kirby disappeared immediately after the match. His opponent was
the nephew of a powerful local official and there have been whispers

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition Core Books, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
that he may have had Kirby done in. In actuality, Kirby is in hiding, as
he had been warned to throw the match for a local mob boss who had bet Seeking a cure for being a werewolf, the Human Wolf Lupus, has left
a ton of money against him. Kirby consented, but later had a change of the Order of Super-Endowed-Beings. Hearing of an ancient monastery
heart. He fought his best and, obviously, won the match. Now he needs within the secluded mountains of Nepal, he journeys there in hopes of
someone to act as a go-between with the law and to provide protection finding a way to control his primal urges. Little does he know that his
for him as he attempts to bring the mob boss to justice. By a strange enemies have actually taken over the monastery and seek to spring a
twist of fate, the person best suited to assist Kirby and put away the mob deadly trap on the Human Wolf Lupus.
boss is the local official some blame for Kirby’s disappearance; the man
whose nephew Kirby accidentally killed.
An ex-treasure-hunter has come out of retirement in hopes of finding
the treasure that has eluded him for nearly his entire life time: The
Jazz musicians have become increasingly popular especially in high Fountain of Youth. Near death, he seeks to find the Fountain and become
youthful once more. He hires the players, using them to find the Fountain.
society. One band, King Yellow and the Red Dots, traveled to the
Mystic East and discovered secret wisdoms. Using their jazz However, he does not tell the players the perils of journeying to
music as a powerful hypnotic agent, they persuade the rich the Fountain, such as supposedly extinct thunder lizards
and famous to part with their jewels and let the King lurking about and rivers of lava surrounding the area.
into their houses.

A powerful Nazi occultist, under orders from

A pirate group throws fear into the hearts of modern Himmler himself, has been hunting down the
political leaders. When he becomes aware of the PCs
shipping. The terrible “Firehair”, a once ruthless and
deadly pirate has seemingly escaped the grave after he’ll unleash his weapon, a poor German immigrant
three hundred years. Now holding up shipping, he cursed to become the Beast at full moon, against them.
has resurrected the tradition of pirate brotherhoods and The Beast cannot be hurt with mundane weapons, only
free ports, over which he rules like a king. Firehair is in fact silver bullets.
an impersonator but is receiving backing from a far more dangerous
source.
To the Manor Cursed
Jessica Worthington is from an upstanding family, who can trace
The maniacal Dr. Brain Freeze has discovered a way to enslave the their ancestors to the Norman Conquest. She’s a classic Good Girl,
helping with charity, having a slow and respectable courtship with a
common man by introducing a neuro-toxin into frozen drinks, which
causes the victim to be susceptable to bombardments of brain rays quiet Actuary and known to be a girl of singularly sweet and loving
emitted by Dr. Brain Freeze’s “Brain-O-Matic”. Upon digestion, the disposition. Unfortunately, when he grandfather dies, through a peculiar
neuro-toxin causes the synapses within the brain to short-circuit, with quirk of fate, she inherits his guns.
the side-effect of making the victim highly susceptible to suggestion. Her grandfather, Aloysius Worthington was the hooded terror known
Dr. Brain Freeze is the owner of the largest supplier of frozen beverages, as the Vermillion Claw. A white slaver, mad inventor and genuine
which he uses to fund his bizarre experiments. madman. Vermillion Claw’s guns have inherited his madness and when
she first touched them, somehow a part of his hatred has infected this
lovely young woman.
 The heroes were responsible for the Vermillion Claw’s downfall. fear for their dread Black Goddess. The Thugs can be stopped fairly
When some of his most heinous crimes are revisited, when policemen easily but what happens when labor leaders contact the heroes for help
who helped with the case are murdered, it becomes clear that either the negotiating their terms with the Mayor? After all, heroes of the people
Claw is still alive or someone knew his mind intimately. If the heroes are supposed to help the people.
track the crimes to Jessica, they learn that only a powerful witch doctor
can remove the curse. And it may kill her.
Guild of Mute Assassins
A man in gentleman’s clothes attacks the PCs at the Opera. A second
Action: Werewolf gentleman strikes another hero at his Club. Another gentleman finds a
A series of particularly horrid murders rocks the city. Powerful third hero at home. Someone has discovered the personal secrets of the
political leaders have been found torn apart, as if by wild animals. The heroes and is attacking them, using the ancient Guild of Mute Assassins.
victims have several things in common, but they have all been active The Guild are a very skilled group of murderers who should give each of
in the effort to bring the US into the war against the Nazis. A clue left the PCs a good fight. The Guild remove their tongues to better guard their
at the crime scene is that each of the houses have been marked secrets and will never stop until the target is dead.
with red paint in a special pattern. Research reveals this is However, the Guild has a very strange bylaw. They
the Mark of the Werewolf. will not kill the polite. If the PCs can discover the
Guild’s ancient ways, they will learn that by going
unarmed and with friendly intentions to the Guild’s
Beast from 50 000 fathoms motherhouse, the hit will be called off. When they get
Atomic scientists have created a monster. to the house, whoever set the Assassins on the PCs
Experiments on common lobsters and cuttlefish have in the first place is waiting them. This can be an old
created a monstrous creature. It has escaped into the enemy, a forsaken ally, a lost love. Whoever it is, they
wild and has continued to grow to such a size that it have no rule urging them to peace.
has become a threat to international shipping. The heroes
must find its lair and use explosives to kill the beast as it is too
large to destroy with regular weaponry. Unfortunately, when they get to Black Magic War
the lair, mad scientists are experimenting with mind control technology. Chinatown is torn apart by lethal gang battles. It seems the tongs
In the melee, the mind control device is destroyed. A frantic undersea and societies are at an all out war with each other. Investigating heroes
battle ensues, the great monster edging closer to madness and fury. learn an ancient prophecy has been unearthed foretelling the rise of
Tien Tu, the deathless chinaman. Tien was a dragon wizard from the
first dynasty, known to be ruthless and monstrous, summoning terrible
Strike! monsters to do his bidding. The gangs are warring over who will server
A huge, industry-wide labor strike has taken place over poor working Tu, making Chinatown a deathtrap for any foreigner. If the heroes find
conditions for various muscle industries like ice delivery, repairs, the prophecy, which scholars consider an elaborate fake, and translate
construction. For the past week, picketing has taken a serious economic it, they will discover Tu arose just a few nights before. Somewhere in
toll on the city. Food, medicine and other supplies are beginning to run chinatown, the deathless Tu waits and plans. Can the heroes forge a
low. While this is happening, the Thug Cult decides to spread terror and peace between the Tongs and discover the lair of the ancient, dangerous
magician?
Ghostasaurus The Brains behind the Operation
Several murders of staff at a local museum have stumped police. Having discovered that infants have tremendously active (if
Only feet and the occasional head are left, with no other clue. The unfocused) minds, an evil genius starts kidnapping babies as part of his
murders started at the same time as a new display of dinosaurs arrived. latest plot to take over the world. He plans to hook the babies’ brains
A great tyrannosaurus, a huge bull, haunts its own fossilized grave. up to a massive Babbage engine -- essentially a clockwork-driven
Emerging at night, it hunts the puny human prey that it can, which it computer --that will be able to crack any code, no matter how complex.
finds unsatisfying. Only destroying its bones will stop it. At first the Worse still, the constant brain activity required of the babies will drive
dinosaur appears real, but the heroes will soon discover that it passes them insane within weeks – and could kill them outright
through walls, making tactics a bit livelier than finding small places the
beast can’t enter. And if any other fossils than the T.Rex are destroyed,
more dinosaurs will arise. Infernus Ex Machina
Crawford Ghastilling is a renowned physicist and inventor.
Unveiling his new device, the Planeotron, before an audience of
Open the Seal scientists, the press and his patrons, he plans to show the
The nefarious Ezekiel Lobster is fresh out of prison world that there are other dimensions besides the Earth
on parole. Not a day goes by before he begins his plane.
terrifying new plan: he raises an army of the dead Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong
and seizes important parts of the city, the docks, the and the apartment building Crawford lives in is
mayor’s office, and the comptroller’s office. Ezekiel over run with imps and strange creatures from other
Lobster has never displayed the faintest interest in worlds. And worse beside are coming through—alien
this kind of mysticism before. He gained his powers creatures with strange psychic powers and malign
from a Fakir he was in the pokey with. Now the PCs purpose. If the heroes can’t defeat the aliens and the
must find the holy man, gain his trust and learn how to put other strange beasts, not only will the cream of science
the dead to rest. The Fakir wants freedom but the warden of and society be killed, invaders from other worlds will have a
the jail refuses to give up his prize. permanent foothold in the city. The machine must be shut down, but it
has acquired a strange sentience and refuses to go to oblivion.

Savage Island
Each one of the PCs wakes upon a sandy beach with no memory of Unhappy Medium
how they got there. Soon, they are attacked by tigers with the faces of During a séance, an unlucky medium was discovered by a malevolent
men, lizards as large as a rhinoceros, apes that speak a human tongue ghost—specifically, by the ghost of a recently-unearthed mummy. The
and savages armed with automatic machine rifles. Trapped on an island ghost was wronged in ancient times, and after taking possession of the
where a scientist’s experiments with time have gone bizarrely wrong, medium he goes on a murderous hunt for the descendants of those who
the PCs must turn off the Chrono-Nullifier, which is in the hands of the betrayed him.
Raptor-Prince, a lizard with the cunning and weaponry of a future-man.
Then, they must get off the island and back to their homes!
Temperance Pulp Friction
Sister Eugenia holds massive anti-alcoholic temperance rallies A crazed scientist has developed an aerosol that reduces friction
all across America. One hundred thousand people attending isn’t between any two surfaces almost to zero, and he has been skulking
uncommon. However, the sister uses the rallies as a cover. Her large about town spraying it on the streets at night. When the morning rush
band of thugs and thieves go on a crime spree of breaking and entering hour hits these streets, cars careen out of control and cause horrific pile-
and bank robbery. The PCs become aware of the plot but the idea that ups. To make matters worse, the military has learned about this null-
the beloved sister could be an arch-criminal is laughable. Gathering friction spray and plans to kidnap the scientist—and they’re willing to
evidence against the fiend, which must be done legally, is probably a quietly eliminate anyone who gets in their way.
new challenge to the heroes.

A Plague from the Future

Dust to Dust A time-traveler from an alternate future has “landed” just outside
For the past few nights, there have been several unexplained of a major city. Clearly unstable, he frightens a few locals before
disappearances throughout the city—men, women and running off into the hills. A few days later, people in that area
children, all of different races, occupations, etc. Shortly start dying of a horrible plague—and when they’re taken
before dawn this morning, however, several witnesses to the hospital, the doctors treating them realize that
saw a man walking down the street turn into dust and this plague is like nothing they’ve ever seen before.
blow away. They describe the look of shock and Can the time traveler be captured before his super-
horror on his face as he disintegrated before their germs from a future “plague Earth” can spread any
eyes. One witness swears she saw a flash of silver, further in the present?
high up in the sky, but she couldn’t tell what it was.
The perpetrator of this foul crime is a mad scientist who
has developed a disintegration ray—which is invisible, Baleful Fog
soundless, and has a range of just over one mile. He has The past few days have been very foggy, and people
mounted the ray on his zeppelin, and has been flying over the city have started talking about a “purple fog.” This purple fog seems to
at night, testing it on random passers-by. show up only in the North end of the city, and only between dusk and
dawn. Investigation of this rumor will prove it to be true—and reveal
that many people in that part of the city have started getting sick. The
Unhappy Medium source of this fog is a criminal mastermind’s experimentation with a
During a séance, an unlucky medium was discovered by a malevolent deadly gas weapon: he releases the gas from the smokestacks of a local
ghost—specifically, by the ghost of a recently-unearthed mummy. The factory, relying on the real fog to cover the source. On the next windy
ghost was wronged in ancient times, and after taking possession of the night—only a few days away—he’ll have perfected the formula, and
medium he goes on a murderous hunt for the descendants of those who will be able to spread the gas through the whole city.
betrayed him.
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a which specifically excludes the Open Game Game Content You are copying, modify- Content using the name of any Contributor
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