1920 Pulp Dinosaurs?

[Bilharzia]

Runequest: Monster Island - an Overview

I'm still working through my physical copy of Book of Quests (don't have it in PDF) but I also have Monster Island in PDF format thanks ...

realmsofchirak.blogspot.com

Includes:
(list taken from Realms of Chirak above)
Adaro (shark men, samebito)
Ahuizotl
Alan (moon bats)
Alicanto
Allosaurus
Ankylosaurus
Giant Ant Lion
Carnivorous Ape
Arumco (hellfrog)
Assassin Conch (terrifying sea snails)
Aswang (yes! I love Aswang as monstrous foes)
Bakunawa (a very neat and freaky shadow eel)
Bone Wraith
Bultingin (werehyenas!)
Bunyip
Byangoma (wise, fortune-telling magic birds)
Cannibal Spirit (wendigo)
Giant Centipede (welcome to Interzone, biatch)
Giant Clam
Cob Hobbler (probably one of the neatest new monsters in the book....a parasitic infestation that turns the victim into a spider-monster)
Giant Cockroach
Deathdrip Flowers
Deinonychus
Dudreyas (a carnivorous plant with a siren like twist)
Dune Haunter (a sand ghoul!)
Dziwozoana (succubus-like swamp demons)
Giant Eagle
Giant Eel
Lightning Eel
Ettin (treated as a template applied to other humanoid creatures that would like more than one head; did not include a sample...i.e. an ogre-ettin or something, unfortunately, but the template is easy enough to apply)
Febrilis (winged snakes)
Flocks, Hoards, Packs and Shoals (a mess of tiny monstrosities and how to manage the swarms of such, includign bats, leeches, pirahna and more)
Flying Worms (oh yeah, they went there...purely awesome here)
Gibberer (a template for one possessed by a dark spirit)
Heterodontosaurus
Hitotsume-Kozo (a jump to Japanese legend, cyclopean Japanese boys....and we all know that Japanese children are terrifying)
Huakaipoor (warrior ghosts)
Ophidian Hydra (OMG a hydra at last statted out in Runequest. The world may end soon)
Isnashi (skunk ape meets King Kong)
Ivory Impaler (another deadly plant....Monster Island is a tough place....)
Succubus Ivy (...)
Giant Jellyfish
Jempulex (okay, I love this one...a hand-sized wasp that stings you to turn you into its zombie servant)
Kanaima (a werecreature formed from people bonded with/possessed by shape-shifting spirits)
Pachycephalosaurus
Saltasaurus
Therizinosaurus
Triceratops
Vorompatra

 

[Sithlord]

Antarctica. Some remote island. A huge plateau deep in unexplored places.

With a hot springs that allow vegetation growth and allow a forest or jungle to prosper.

 

[Eltab]

Captain Cook's exploration voyages notwithstanding, there were a few substantial islands in the non-tropical South Pacific that were missed. Recently discovered when an aircraft carrier went out to search for Lindbergh / Amelia Earhardt / whoever that tried a transoceanic flight and disappeared en route. Clearly the islands need to be explored promptly, and maybe if you could find some sign of the missing plane / aviator ...?

 

[Tonguez]

Go with 19th century beliefs about inland seas in Central Australia. Even in the 1920s that region was pretty remote and cut off from everywhere else.

The more interesting thing of course is that Australias Inland Sea is real but most of it is dry and/or underground, although climate change could result in it filling up again. Even today parts of the Eromanga basin remain unexplored

 

[Bilharzia]

In a world of dinosaurs, don't forget the giant insects ... [Warning: extreme insect horror]

 

[John Desmarais]

There seems to be a lot of debate about whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded, warm-blooded, neither, or both. But I wouldn't have thought a pulp game would care about scientific realism.

Player expectations. In this type of game players will usually expect dinos in conjunction with steamy jungles.

 

[aramis erak]

In a 1920 pulp campaign, where on Earth would you put an unexplored area that still has living dinosaurs?

The classics are heart of Africa, and in hidden worlds under the surface. Or under the surface of the moon. All were used by pulp authors/scriptwriters (film and radio) into the 1940's...

The deep wilds of Australian Outback and the vast northern wastes of Siberia, Alaska, Nunavat, NWT, even YT, would be a good spot for feathered dinos, but the 1920's didn't have that concept, so it's utility is dependent upon whether you're willing to do "1920's Pulp with 2020's understanding of Dinos" or not.

Another option would be the vast depths of the ocean, in a leftover city of the Silurians, whose tech/magic holds a city in a breathable bubble near the mid-ocean ridges...

To give some words for context to Mr. Kuntz's link - the Sleestak are a species from the 70s TV series Land of the Lost. There was also a revival series in 1991, and a movie in 2009 that didn't follow the previously established cannon much.

It is pretty cheesy, and very 70s, but might be worth your while as a reference.

The original was fun.
Not so much the others.