Tomb of the Serpent Kings: My Adaptation Notes for OSE - Part 1

 Tomb of the Serpent Kings by Skerples, with art by Scrap Princess, is an awesome dungeon adventure which you should immediately grab if you haven't already.

It's a very good dungeon per se, and is also famous for being a "learning" module both for players and GMs who want to familiarize with the OSR style of play.

It is available as a free pdf, but I've grabbed the A4 Print-on-Demand version and I'm very happy with it. I'm preparing to run it for a group of total newbies, and see how good it is at its intended job!

And since I'm going to use Old-School Essentials, I've prepared a few adaptation notes, so why not share them?

Here's also my very quick map (made with the awesome Worldographer) to have a bit of a backdrop "world" to just start playing.

The tomb is the dolmen icon just southeast of the starting town of Fortana, and the Brandonia town in the woods northwest is a renaming for Brandonsford, which I hope to play next!

So, here are the notes for the False Tomb and Upper Tomb sections.

The lower tomb will be covered in the next post! is available here!

Tomb of the Serpent Kings - False Tomb & Upper Tomb

notes for Old-School Essentials

Treasure: All values should be multiplied x10!

Rooms 2 to 4: The poison gas. Save vs poison or 1d6 damage.

Room 5: Trap: save vs death or 2d6 damage.

Room 6: Skeletons as per monster entry in OSE.

Room 11: Mummy Claws.

Armour Class   7 [12]

Hit Dice           1* (4hp)

Attacks            1 × strangle (1d6)

THAC0            19 [0]

Movement 30’ (10’)

Saving Throws    D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1)

Morale         12

Alignment Chaotic

XP                 13

Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).

Disease: Anyone hit contracts a horrible rotting disease. Magical healing is ineffective; natural healing is ten times slower. The disease can only be removed by magic.

Room 13: Sparamuntar, the snake-man Skeleton

Armour Class    7 [12]

Hit Dice            3 (13hp)

Attacks            1 × battle axe (1d8, Slow, Two-handed)

THAC0            17 [+2]

Movement 60’ (20’)

Saving Throws    D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 (1)

Morale         12

Alignment Chaotic

XP             35

Undead: Make no noise, until they attack. Immune to effects that affect living creatures (e.g. poison). Immune to mind-affecting or mind-reading spells (e.g. charm, hold, sleep).

Room 14: Franbinzar as a minor black pudding:

Armour Class    6 [13]

Hit Dice            5 (22hp)

Attacks            1 × touch (2d8)

THAC0            15 [+4]

Movement 60’ (20’)

Saving Throws    D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (5)

Morale         12

Alignment Neutral

XP                 300

Immunity: Only harmed by fire-based attacks.

Division: Non-fire attacks (including spells) cause the pudding to divide. Each hit creates a 1HD pudding that does 1d6 damage.

Erode wood and metal: Can dissolve wood or metal in one turn.

Cling: Can move across walls and ceilings.

Seep: Can squeeze through small holes and cracks.

Room 15:  Not relative to the rules... In order to make it easier for the players, I'll describe one of the scrolls as the drawing of the succubus, with her name written below.

Room 18: Stairs trap. 1d8 damage, save vs death halves.

Room 19: Stone Cobra Guardian. This is supposed to be very strong, so I had originally decided to give 1d8+3 melee damage, but after some feedback on Reddit I've decided 2d6 is more in line with similar instances in BX.

Armour Class    3 [16]

Hit Dice            4+1 (19hp)

Attacks            1 × dented sword (2d6)

THAC0            15 [+4]

Movement 60’ (20’)

Saving Throws     D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4)

Morale          12

Alignment Neutral

XP                 125

Shield draw: d6 damage, save vs death negates.

Leap and slam: d4 damage, save vs death negates.  

Room 20: Running or leaping along the chasm: save vs death (+5) to avoid falling into the chasm (death).

Room 21: Dungeon barnacles. Save vs paralysis or be paralyzed for 1d4 hours. Paralyzed victims are devoured in 1d4 hours if left in place.

The second half of the Serpent Kings dungeon is HERE!

Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

About Puzzle Dungeon: The Seers Sanctum

Puzzle Dungeon: The Seers Sanctum is a definitely interesting OSR dungeon adventure. It was originally launched during ZineQuest3, and is currently available at DriveThruRPG.

Some basic information. PD:TSS is a 22 pages PDF, offering a10 room dungeon adventure for characters level 1-4, with statistics that allow to use it with pretty much any odnd/BX/BECMI type of ruleset.

The dungeon is the underground temple of the long lost cult of the Seers, and sight is the theme of the whole place.

What's so great about the module? A lot:

• Original theme. Being original is not a strict requirement for me, but having a dungeon which is not just yet another crypt filled with undead, or cave with a bunch of orcs, is definitely good.
• Interactive environment. Each and everyone of the 10 rooms offers a "puzzle". These are not actual puzzles as much as environments that the players can examine and interact with in a series of meaningful ways, and this is definitely good. There's a hand mirror that allows to see how the place was in the past, allowing for a lot of investigation. And the general theme of sight is carried on consistently through the place, meaning that players should reasonably figure out how to circumvent traps and reveal secret passages and hidden things.
• Non-necessary fights. The whole dungeon only host 4 rooms with a single creature encounter and one room with 2d4 creatures. The cool thing is none of them, except perhaps the grey ooze in the first room, is a necessary fight. The 2d4 floating eyeballs don't attack by default, and can be tricked in several ways. There's a medusa whose objective is to leave the dungeon, and a gelatinous cube that first appears trapped inside a pool, and so on.
• Great formatting. The text organization and layout are excellent and make preparation and running the adventure very easy.

Things I'm not completely happy with.

• Some unclear points. The text and formatting is, in general, excellent, but I've found a few odd bits. The iron doors in room 2 are described as "no handles, no hinges, locked" and that's it. Perhaps a paragraph is missing? Anyway, before running the scenario the GM must decide how to handle those doors. Personally, I would just treat them like the similar door found in room 1.
• Treasure. There is a very cool magic item (a stick that can be used like a periscope), but the treasure in the treasure room is barely described ("coins, gems, golden monkeys") and the GM must decide the actual value. Being the only monetary treasure, I would go for something like 1d3 x 1,000gp worth of coins, and two more rolls for the gems and the monkey statues.
• Treasure, again. The deepest room has a medusa trapped inside. She only wants to be free again, so unless the players mess with her, The problem I see is that getting to her room requires some effort and clever thinking, so I would rather put some treasure here: jewels, jars with precious oils, something like that, for another 1d3 x 1,000gp at least.
• Room 8 has the "final puzzle", a planar travel device which the group might figure out how to use (finding it is one of the possible reasons to enter the dungeon, as per the provided hooks). It IS cool, of course, but I would keep it as it is only if I'm ready to have the player characters hop into other planes. Should I run this dungeon (which I definitely would like to), I think I'll change the device in someway, if I play it as part of a larger campaign.

[Please note my observation is based on the PDF version I bought and printed at home last week. Later versions (especially the PDF) might have these little things fixed]

 For those using VTTs, redditor StevenZivon has made a very cool map of the whole dungeon.

Into OSR? Check my other OSR posts and reviews!

Dragon Treasure Alternate Tables

Currently working on finishing the Deadly Dragons Dire and Daunting zine which will be part of the Axian Library book.

It is a LARGE set of tables and tools, and today I want to share this group, which tackles the dragon's treasure hoard.

It is designed to be compatible with Old-School Essentials and so, as usual, it is compatible with BX D&D and similar editions and retroclones.

Treasure Table 1: Value

Alternate Tables: All dragons in Old-School Essentials have treasure type H, with average value 60,000gp. This and the following tables aim at generating a dragon’s hoard more quickly, while maintaining randomness, and also at making it interesting.

Roll 2d6 to establish the overall value of the dragon’s hoard. Apply modifiers resulting from the dragon’s age, if any.

2	Nothing! The dragon’s hoard has been stolen and it is obviously mad about it.
3	5,000gp
4	10,000gp
5	25,000gp
6	40,000gp
7	60,000gp
8	70,000gp
9	80,000gp
10	90,000gp
11	100,000gp
12	110,000gp

Treasure Table 2: Composition

Roll 1d20 to establish the general composition of the dragon’s hoard.

1	Mostly silver and copper coins
2-3	Mostly silver and electrum coins
4-7	Mostly electrum and gold coins
8-11	Mostly gold and platinum coins
12	About half the value in coins (roll a d10 on this table to determine type of coins), and half in gems with an average value of 500gp
13	Mostly gems, with an average value of 500gp
14	Mostly jewels, with an average value of 1,000gp
15	About half the value in coins (roll a d10 on this table to determine type of coins), and half in unusual precious items: fine porcelain or glassware (easily broken); rare spice (ruined by water); cloth, tapestry, paintings, ancient books and scrolls of great artistic or historical value (all highly flammable). Each item is worth 1,000gp.
16	About half the value in coins (roll a d10 on this table to determine type of coins), and half in jewels with an average value of 1,000gp
17	About half the value in gems with an average value of 500gp, and half in jewels with an average value of 1,000gp
18	The value is divided in roughly equal parts between coins (roll a d10 on this table to determine type of coins), gems with an average value of 500gp, and jewels with an average value of 1,000gp
19	About 25% of the value of the treasure is in a single exceptional gem. Roll 1d12 on this table to establish the composition of the other 75%. Examples of exceptional gems: star crystal, moon pearl, ethereal diamond, astral amethyst, blood ruby, nether diamond.
20	About 50% of the value of the treasure is in a single exceptional jewel. Roll 1d12 on this table to establish the composition of the other 50%. Exceptional jewels may be made of platinum or even rarer, more precious metals, and may be studded with dozens of gems, or even exceptional gems (see above). They may also be dragon-sized!

Treasure Table 3: Magic Items

Alternate Table: All dragons in Old-School Essentials have treasure type H, which has a 15% chance to include 1d4 magic items plus 1 potion and 1 scroll.

This table determines in a single roll both if any magic item is present in the hoard, and the item type, making treasure generation easier and faster. The results are also more varied, and tied to the dragon’s HD.

Roll 1d20 and add the dragon’s HD.

1-10	no magic items
11	1 magic item
12	1 scroll
13	1 potion
14	1 potion, plus 1 scroll
15	1 magic item, plus 1 scroll
16	1 magic item, plus 1 potion
17	1 magic item, plus 1 potion, plus 1 scroll
18	2 magic items, plus 1 scroll
19	2 magic items, plus 1 potion
20	2 magic items, plus 1 potion, plus 1 scroll
21	3 magic items, plus 1 scroll
22	3 magic items, plus 1 potion
23	3 magic items, plus 1 potion, plus 1 scroll
24	4 magic items, plus 1 scroll
25	4 magic items, plus 1 potion
26	4 magic items, plus 1 potion, plus 1 scroll
27	5 magic items, plus 1 potion, plus 1 scroll
28	5 magic items, plus 2 potion, plus 1 scroll
29	5 magic items, plus 1 potion, plus 2 scroll
30	5 magic items, plus 2 potion, plus 2 scroll
31	6 magic items, plus 2 potion, plus 2 scroll
32	6 magic items, plus 3 potion, plus 2 scroll
33	6 magic items, plus 2 potion, plus 3 scroll
34	6 magic items, plus 3 potion, plus 3 scroll
35	7 magic items, plus 3 potion, plus 3 scroll

Treasure Table 4: Origin

Roll 1d20 to determine whence the dragon’s hoard came from.

1	It was an ancient dwarf king’s treasure. Add 2d6 gems with an average value of 500gp.
2	It was an elven queen’s treasure. Add 2d6 jewels with an average value of 1,000gp.
3	It was a giant king’s treasure. Add 1 giant-sized jewel worth 5,000 gp.
4	It is a collection of several princes’ and princesses’ ransoms. Add 1,000pp to the treasure.
5-6	It is the accumulation of tolls extorted to travelers crossing the area around the dragon’s lair.
7-8	It is the accumulation of tributes of enslaved or defeated humanoid tribes. Roll an additional humanoid tribe on the Allies table.
9	It is the accumulation of donations from several cities that paid to be spared. Add 20.000gp to the treasure.
10	It is the treasure of a long lost civilization.
11	It is the heirloom of the dragon’s ancestry.
12	It was the hoard of another, now dead dragon. Add a dragon skull!
13-14	It is the accumulation of riches taken from assaulted merchant caravans or ships. Add 2d6 items as listed in entry n. 15 of the Treasure Composition table.
15-16	It is the accumulation of donations and gifts from the dragon’s allies. Add 2d6 items as listed in entry n. 15 of the Treasure Composition table.
17-18	It is the accumulation of spoils of dead would-be dragonslayers. Add two more rolls on Treasure Table 3: Magic Items.
19-20	Roll twice!

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