Let’s end this week on a two-fisted note with The Two-Headed Serpent (2017), the first campaign for Pulp Cthulhu. Holy wow, is this one explosive. Like, literally.

Pulp Cthulhu is the pulpier version of Call of Cthulhu, which gives characters larger than life properties that allow them to survive (a little bit) longer than conventional investigators. That allows the adventures to, well, be crazier.

In this case, we have the players joining an international organization dedicated to medical relief that fronts a secret organization that fights supernatural threats. In this case, a world wide conspiracy by serpent people to either A. destroy humanity, B. enslave humanity or C. create a new hybrid human/serpent race, with the end goal being the restoration of the ancient serpent people empire.

There are a number of factions working at cross purposes, and players need to punch them all into submission. Making matters worse, these are the same serpent people from the King Kull stories, so they can take on human appearances, injecting a hearty dose of paranoia into the campaign. There are also volcanoes, lost continents, weird science and dinosaurs. If you are looking for more from a pulp horror campaign, you’re just being greedy (though, honestly, there IS more, I just don’t want to spoil it for y’all).

The game plays out over nine chapters, all colorful in their own way. One thing I love is the inclusion of playtest notes. It is always nice to see that other parties of players are just as crazy and idiotic as my own (and it is helpful to see potential pathways the players may take in their hijinx before they do).

Funny thing, though: my favorite of the scenarios is probably the one that hews closest to classic Call of Cthulhu, an investigatory mission in the Dustbowl of Oklahoma that involves a snake-handling preacher. It’s got a damn good atmosphere.