Tomb of the Serpent Kings

by Skerples

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Gaming

26 pages, Paperback

Reviews

[Matthew J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly simple and straight-forward dungeon that would be easy to drop into whatever generic Fantasy game you might be using. It's written and presented as a teaching document for GMs looking to design their own dungeons for various "old school" games. So, you'll have a room description that might include a monster, or a trap, or something interesting. And then there's a break-out box with an explanation of what the "lesson" of that room is.
I enjoyed this, and I'll definitely be plugging it into the sandbox I'm putting together for DCC or ShadowDark. That said, I find the tone on a lot of OSR writing to be a bit smug and condescending, and there's a little of that here, especially in the introduction. Maybe I've just become oversensitive to it, after so many encounters with smug condescension from OSR advocates.

[Gregory Dolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I think this is an okay dungeon, it feels very linear and doesn't really give a good sense of the style of play of the OSR. I think the lessons learned in this are okay for the most part and can definitely be taken apart for a better dungeon that includes the lessons or the layout could be changed

[Pádraic]

Excellent little dungeon that seems like it would be really good at its stated objective: teaching players how dungeons work, and teaching gamemasters how to run them. Bonus points for never being boring, and also for the fungus goblins, who are top-tier messed up little guys.

[Ethan Knierim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am running this game in the Torchbearer (2nd edition) system. It took quite a bit of conversion because there are many stat blocks which need to be re-built from scratch. (luckily, stat block creation in Torchbearer is a rather enjoyable process) That said, the treasure is well distributed, the monsters are interesting, and the routes of movement through the space are well designed. Unlike some modules I have read, this one is equally as fun to play as it is to read.