Close
Close
Advanced Search

Tomb of the Serpent Kings - Deluxe Print EditionClick to magnify
Quick Preview
/gs_flipbook/flip.php?xml=/demo_xml/252934.xml&w=500&h=353
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.drivethrurpg.com/pdf_previews/252934-sample.pdf

Tomb of the Serpent Kings - Deluxe Print Edition

ADD TO WISHLIST >
Selected Option:

People keep asking for "beginner" dungeons. Everyone can name "classic" dungeons - Tomb of Horrors, Barrier Peaks, The Temple of Elemental Evil, etc. - but in order for those adventures to make sense, there needs to be some sort of introduction.

It's like all the adventures we have are Bach concertos. People keep writing amazing works of staggering genius, but someone needs to write a book on how to play the piano.

I had the same questions, and since I couldn't find anything satisfactory, I decided to write the kind of dungeon I would have loved to find. I wanted to write the best basic old-school dungeon for new players that I could, and I also wanted to show the design process. And since people keep refereng to it, I figured I'd put up a fancy print version.

Tomb of the Serpent Kings is designed to be easy to adapt to your system of choice to create an old-school dungeon-crawling tomb-robbing experience.

The PDF is free and licensed under Creative Commons NC-BY-SA. Hack it, share it, translate it (there are French, German and Spanish translations available on my blog). 

If you want a fancy print version, buy the print-on-demand copy. It's sold at cost - I don't make a cent off it. If you'd like to support me, consider adding Magical Murder Mansion, Kidnap the Archpriest or Epochrypha: a Book of Speculative Ages to your order.

pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (18)
Discussions (6)
Customer avatar
Ben S January 25, 2023 4:18 am UTC
PURCHASER
For some reason I can't review things on this site so I'm writing this comment.

I think this a great module. It has some good ideas and is simple and too the point which I feel fits the less is more philosophy of old school modules. The only thing I would say is that you will probably have to do a little conversion to a module of your choice, which shouldn't be too hard. If your an OSR DM/referee then you can figure it out and oyf you can't then you should consider another hobby.

I see in some of the reviews some two complaints that stuck out at me.

"It's not a good tutorial" I disagree I see the reason for this being that it is too harsh and I think that is the best part. It acts a lesson about Old School in general difficulty is part of it you either adapt, improvise and overcome or you die...welcome to old school git gud! When did gamers decide we need to be coddled or coddled others? Gaming is about facing a challenge and overcoming or trying to improve until...See more
Customer avatar
Tori B July 24, 2022 2:09 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm enjoying running my husband through the module as we try out a system we're new to. It's well thought out and easy to follow as the dungeon master, and very intuitive on the player side.

An odd quirk of the print edition I received - it's so deluxe, it's printed twice! Two full printings of the book together in one cover. I suppose I'll keep the front book nice and clean, and mark up the back book with notes.
Customer avatar
Giuseppe R April 10, 2022 7:35 am UTC
PURCHASER
I took the time to write full BX/Old-School Essentials conversion notes, and they are available on my blog: https://axianspice.blogspot.com/2022/04/tomb-of-serpent-kings-my-adaptation.html
Reply
Customer avatar
Ben S January 25, 2023 3:53 am UTC
PURCHASER
I was thinking this does need some changes to work in BX/OSE and I thought of some I would do. I decided to check the comments of this product and noticed your post and check out your conversion and you pretty much said everything I thought so I think your spot on. I might make the treasure even more valuable I still think 10gp for a gold amulet is too low but thats just me. Anyway great comment and info for other players.
Reply
Customer avatar
Giuseppe R January 25, 2023 8:30 am UTC
PURCHASER
Hey thanks a lot!
Yes, I agree that treasure is low for OSE. Making it x10 is probably the MINIMUM to make it work... x20 might actually be more accurate!
Customer avatar
Alexandr G January 16, 2021 1:52 am UTC
PURCHASER
What is size of a squares on the map, is it 5 by 5 ft?
Reply
Customer avatar
Skerples (CoinsandScrolls) . February 12, 2021 12:59 am UTC
PUBLISHER
You can use 5'x5' or 10'x10' and nothing significant will change.
Customer avatar
Sean C November 25, 2020 4:22 pm UTC
Cool! Would love to see a conversion of this to Savage Worlds Adventure Edition!
Customer avatar
Dan L May 03, 2020 4:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The 5e conversion of this module includes a “Background” blurb which helped me wrap my head around the entire concept before reading each room detail. I’ll leave that paragraph here in case it’s helpful. And maybe the author of this module would provide any critique or corrections.

> The **Tomb of the Serpent Kings** was an underground lair of snake-men a long time ago. They used it to bury their heroes and rulers and to worship their gods. Almost a millennia ago, one of the snake-men, a great wizard called **Xiximanter** moved into the tomb to advance his magical research into immortality. He still exists in the tomb as a lich (see **room 43**). Centuries ago, the Empire of the snake-men had disintegrated, and the snake-men abandoned the tomb. They left behind some odds and ends, a little bit of treasure, some functioning traps, and even a bound demon (see **room 32**). The tombs main inhabitants are in the **fungus goblins**. They are an unexpected result of one of Xiximanter’s foul...See more
Reply
Customer avatar
RICHARD C January 07, 2023 3:31 am UTC
PURCHASER
That was a helpful synopsis. Thanks.
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Platinum seller
Artist(s)
Pages
25
File Size:
5.14 MB
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Information
Watermarked PDF Click for more information
Watermarked PDF

These PDF files are digitally watermarked to signify that you are the owner. A small message is added to the bottom of each page of the PDF containing your name and the order number of your purchase.

Warning: If any files bearing your information are found being distributed illegally, then your account will be suspended and legal action may be taken against you.

Here is a sample of a page from a watermarked title:

File Last Updated:
October 28, 2018
This title was added to our catalog on October 30, 2018.