Tomb of the Serpent Kings: OSR DnD Dungeon Review

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[misomiso]

This is one of the best products ever for the OSR imo.

It's so informative, and as it breaks down dungeon design so simply it makes you totally re evalute how you design your own dungeons.

My only hope is that he maybe designed two more:- One a 'mid' level dungeon comples that introduces some new ideas and compositions, and maybe eventually one advanced one, that takes a 'Caverns of Thracia' Approach.

Then we will have a Trilogy!

[entheo]

Running this for my first game using Old School Essentials. There will only be one player character with a few retainers with different classes. If the PC dies, they can just continue with one of the retainers. They are very new to RPGs so I’m excited to use this as an introduction.

[TheLordUrban]

The design and layout on this is fantastic! I wish all modules were this straight forward and clearly written.

[thedeomon]

I just started this dungeon since it's my first time running OSE and some of my players are 5e players. Really liking it so far and I think my players are starting to get the swing of it.

[franciscoalejandro]

I just ran the first 2 levels of this using the MazeRats system, we had a blast! The players triggered traps a lot, and one of the characters died, but it was a learning experience.

[matthewpahnke]

You suggest this as a good beginning dungeon for beginning players, but not necessarily beginning GMs. Any recommendations on that front?

[TheAurgelmir]

Oh nice. I'm just about to stat my first OSR campaign, and this actually fits into my setting as well too.

[CelestianGC]

This sounds perfect for an introductory adventure. Gonna try this out. Thanks for the review!

[chromarush]

This was perfect timing, I was just about to try this one out for a new group. Great to hear your input.

[walkingthepath]

Ben likes spending my money :) Another great product review. Thanks Ben.

[ianglotfelty]

I’m currently running a game for all new players, I’m definitely gonna run this for them

[rjbarnett]

Just saw this dungeon 4 years later. Playing through it with shadow dark rules. The first gas trap dropped a PC. They were able to stabilize him. Later, a wizard with one hp put on the cursed ring… poor guy is going to die in the morning. Let’s at least hope he gets to use the poison dagger ability.

[imreadydoctor]

Quite possibly the best OSR adventure.

[realadamgood]

Hey Ben, thanks so much for all of your videos! I'm new to OSR and was thinking about running this game using Knave. As I was reading this dungeon, I had some questions about how you handle some of the traps, in terms of a) allowing characters to respond before dealing damage and b) telegraphing potential danger. For example, in the first room with the hollow statues, if a player triggers the trap and releases the poison gas, do you allow some kind of save or roll to attempt to avoid it, or do they just get the damage (1d6)? Or if a lightning bolt is triggered upon room entry and "deals 4d6 damage (Save for half) and only activates once." ... does the PC roll against Dex to avoid the bolt entirely, and if they fail, THEN they get the damage? Just trying to get a sense of the flow of responses to traps, thanks!!

[hahahalevy]

How do you deal with character deaths at the first session with 5th graders? Do you tell them to expect PC deaths before the game? Do you have a general conversation about your expectations from the players and vice versa?

[Joshbehe]

Is this designed to be run with a specific edition of d&d?

[powderpuffarpeggio]

I started my current campaign with this module! I do have a lot gripes with it though. I felt that a lot of my players really didn’t learn much from it, but after they read the module themselves (big taboo I know, but I wanted them to understand what it was about) they seemed to get the idea. Mostly I think some of the traps are really lame, and it’s true that they could be telegraphed but even then they are tricky to bypass (the beginning trap in particular).

[franciscoalejandro]

Would this work for Maze Rats? I know it's not designed for any specific system, but I'm wondering how much conversion one would need (if any) to run it as a maze rats game (mostly for monster health, damage dice and such).

[usapatriot]

Which OSR rules would you use to play this dungeon?

[BX-advocate]

I agree this is awesome and definitely an "auto buy". I know this is weird to say but I think the price should be higher for this, I think it is a great module even if not used as a tutorial. Well I guess I'll just have to get some of his other products.