Constest Entry: Musayyad's Tomb (by Michael Strauss)
Following the steps of disappeared hunter Markus Wegener leads you to an ancient tomb infested by termites and ancient evil! This small tomb reminds me a lot of the first part of Tomb of the Serpent Kings, and I will throughout this review contrast the two adventures to highlight the strenghts and weaknesses of this one (and the weaknesses of TotSK!). Like TotSK this bills itself as a low level adventure. Is it a good starting adventure or even a good introduction to the game as a whole?
Does it qualify?
Yes. The PDF is 2 pages, the text and map are well readable (though the termite holes in the wall could use a label for what they are) on a printed page, no heavy lifting is demanded by the dungeon master, there is hidden treasure, it is written for ACKS but is runnable in another system with small effort.
What is my judgement?
Since I'll be contrasting it with Tomb of the Serpent Kings I'll give a short explanation of that module. It was written as an OSR tutorial dungeon for both players and dungeon masters, the actual text of the adventure is interspersed with explanations of typical dungeon features and the tactics to deal with them. It has been lauded as the introductory OSR adventure in some spaces, but I kind of hate it.
Now to Musayyad's Tomb!
Does it respect my time, intelligence, and taste as a DM?
Comparing the first two pages of Musayyad's Tomb (henceforth MT) and TotSK, MT gives you on its first page the history of the dungeon, a small mystery, two potential allies (the village priest must be pursuaded, the hunter nursing a deadly wound must be healed), hints of the first challenge of the dungeon, the complete map, and a table of wandering encounters. The second page has the descriptions of the tomb's 7 rooms. TotSK gives you in its first 2 pages only the map and description of 8 rooms and 5 small text boxes of "lessons". MT assumes you can run a small hamlet off of 3 significant NPCs and a one sentence description, and you should. When it comes to taste, TotSK is has a simpel theme - a tomb of snakeman warriors. MT is more specific in its theming, the first room features The Idol of Kaleth, a horned lizard with six eyes. The sinister middle eastern tomb contrasts with the generic and clueless Germanic villagers suggesting a big changes in population or culture since the tomb was built. Compare "The Serpent Kings" with "Kaleth the Mad, the Dark Watcher and Giver of Forbidden Knowledge".
Does it offer a good challenge and proportional reward to the players?
The very first room holds the golden idol of Kaleth, touch it and you must save or die and have your flesh ripped from your bones and your skeleton animate and attack your friends. This is in no way unfair as the already present skeletons, a pile of rotting flesh at its base, possibly the story of Hans the Hunter if you can save him, are more than enough clues to be wary. The other main challenge is finding your way through secret doors before the wandering monsters drive you off. A small force of skeletons are your only standard enemies, the other encounters are termite swarms or haunts (1HD ghosts), both creatures that require special weapons or tactics to deal with, more likely to drive off than outright kill low level adventurers. In practice, my guess is this functions more like a time limit than as attrition. Michael mentioned his own playtest with 1st level characters the players managed to kill the termite colony. This raises a question I hadn't considered, are the termite tunnels obvious? From the map I had assumed the small dots where they meet the tomb represented insect holes in a thin wall (the dead hunter has comissioned a pickaxe, probably to break down the wall), but I had to ask the designer directly for confirmation as there is no mention of this. The reward for clearing the dungeon is about 2,600gp in valuables, a valuable scroll, a cloak of overlookability, and a very valuable magic staff (15,000gp). In short, this adventure is worth a full level for low level characters if they clear it completely, reasonable to a little on the high side depending on how difficult it would prove in practice. The magic staff would not unbalance the early game as it runs on charges, it can Bewitch (Charm) Humanoids and so opens the door to all sorts of plots and gambits should the players decide not to sell it.
The first 8 rooms in TotSK contains all of 2gp and a magic ring that sucks. Lesson: adventuring is for suckers.
Does it offer shortcuts and treasure for the brave and clever player?
To find the way out of the first room you either smash down the wall and brave the termite tunnels, or find a secret door. The dead hunter turned adventurer was wise enough to equip himself with a pair of silver weapons before being slain by the idol of Kaleth, these are useful in the adventure as they are able to wound the incorporeal haunts you might encounter. You can "destroy the timer" on the adventure by killing the termite queen nesting in the tunnels, removing termites as wandering monsters. By finding the canopic jars of Musayyad and destroying them you remove the haunts! A devious detail, the heart in the canopic jar is false, the true heart is plastered into the wall nearby!
Does it punish stupid or cowardly players with the loss of life, resources, or opportunity?
There are several nasty surprises in this dungeon, the most deadly is telegraphed well enough that the players only have themselves to blame should they perish, certain others (like the staff that turns into a snake, which killed one of the playtesters) comes without warning. Contrast the deadly idol in the first room which has 3 clues to its danger, this one has zero! Not even a standard roll like a thief's find traps is helpful. Like TotSK it relies on the players deducing that the real tomb (and treasure) is hidden by the lack of valuables in the false tomb, but both note that this find is nearly automatic. The first trap in TotSK is knockout gas (lesson: don't worry about traps, they pull their punches), then a ceiling hammer which is set up to kill 3 characters instantly (lesson: don't trust to the implied lessons, I am a capricious teacher). The hammer trap has the bonus of letting you fuck over another PC to get a bonus to your saving throw (lesson: betray your real life friends to let your imagined character survive).
In conclusion
A low level adventure that does not pull its punches. It opens very strongly, lacks clarity in the middle (map wise and trap wise), but presents an overarching challenge that requires genuine skill to solve. Going through the first 8 rooms of TotSK will see you find literally 2 coins, nerfed poison gas, a somewhat unfair death trap, and a false tomb with a hollow floor leading to the real one. MT in the same page and room count gives you a tension building mystery, an evil idol that rips the flesh from your bones, the sight of a well prepared but slain adventurer, supernatural and natural enemies that require more than standing in a phalanx to overcome, a somewhat unfair trap, and a false tomb with a hollow floor leading to the real one. I cannot recommend either as campaign starters, but I can definitely recommend this one as an adventure to tempt your low level players with, whether they clear it or flee it should leave an impression.
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