I want to present my rating system within the 5 star structure that is given here. I believe that it is impossible for any product to be perfect, so 5 stars is not perfection. I also believe that even the worst piece of drek has something that can be taken from it and used. So I'm glad no 0 score can exist. So here is my scaling system:

With that out of the way on to the review. The Sunken Pyramid is an adventure module designed for the Pathfinder RPG. It is set for 7th level characters and is an aquatic dungeon. I have seen a lot of underwater dungeons lately, so it will be interesting to see what Creighton Broadhurst and Marc Radle bring to the table.

SPOILER ALERT Please be aware that I will be making reference to parts of the plot and opponents within this review. If you are planning to play in this adventure, you should read no further or just read my final thoughts. You have been warned.

Right before the forward we get a quick summary of the monsters used in the adventure. It is sorted by CR and gives alignment plus a few other small details such as race and class level (if any) plus the page where they can be found. I like this feature: when running an adventure, I often have to flip through various pages to find the stats I'm looking for. Having a directory with names and basic info makes this task much easier.

Next is a section on how to read the stat blocks for the monsters. I assume this is standard for Raging Swan Press, but having never read through an adventure from them before now I can't say for certain. I can see this being of use to a beginner, but for me this is a loss of a page. The format is pretty similar to Paizo's standard, and that is fairly straight forward. For new GMs this could be useful as the stat blocks can be a bit ponderous in length.

The next page if far more interesting to me. It is a section on how to use the module. It gives a breakdown of their encounter format, reading trap blocks, and identifying treasure. This is a great reference, and now paints the previous page in a new light: a general reference for running any adventure with simple rules and guides all in the same place. I like that. So in the first pages we get a reference guide that is easily found that will help you right in the middle of play. That shows very good organization and thinking about how the adventure will be run and what the GM will need to do it. If this is standard for Raging Swan, they are already ahead of the game compared to other publishers.

Now we get an adventure overview. The Sunken Pyramid is an ancient underwater structure now inhabited by a vicious tribe of sahuagin. They are planning on sacrificing a large number of people to a monstrous aberrant devil shark living below the pyramid in a religious ceremony three days after the adventure begins. I like the three day limit; it forces the adventure to move along and will punish the PCs with some nasty consequences if they dally about. Sahuagin are a good choice. Not since the old days of Saltmarsh have the sea devils gotten much support, though lately with the various pirate and nautical campaigns coming out they seem to have been finally getting their due. A warning is provided to make sure the GM supplies the water breathing apparatus the party will need for this adventure and how to get it in without seeming to obvious.

Before we get into the actual adventure, we get alternate beginnings for GMs to tailor the entry point to suit his players and his campaign. A great point that is often overlooked by game designers is making an adventure usable in many different styles. Excellent suggestions here.

Next we get a two-page ecology-style article on the sahuagin. This is very well written with many interesting bits on sahuagin society and religion. This can help creative GMs add flavour to the encounters with the sea devils.

We also get the fishing village of White Moon Cove detailed out, including rumours, interesting NPCs, and events that can happen while the PCs are in town. I could play two or three whole sessions just on what is in this section alone! It has been set up to feel like a real village where things are happening off-stage. Some of the rumours have absolutely nothing to do with the adventure but with the local brothel. The map is old-school black and white but very nice and clear.

We have a timeline of the adventure, so now we have a setting plus an event schedule. As with the material just within the fishing village, we are given enough information that the PCs can choose to do just about anything other than leave and it will have an effect of what happens and what they encounter. If the party waits it can change the state they find the sahuagin in, but at a terrible cost. And the party won't know any of that before it happens. If they take too long, they can get new allies. But the death toll at that point would be heinous. I like that the PCs' actions and inaction can have tangible results.

Now that we get into the adventure itself. The whole is divided into five parts: An introductory battle in White Moon Cove leading through an event chain to get the party to the dungeon, three dungeon levels, and a sub-level. The entire pyramid is laid out in classic multi-level dungeon style that is entirely underwater. The events section lays out how to make sure the party has the underwater gear necessary for this adventure and covers a lot of eventualities and player choices.

Throughout the module we get scalable encounters. Every encounter comes with instructions to increase or decrease the EL of the encounter by 1. This means the characters can become seventh during the adventure, before the adventure begins, or after it is done and the challenges will still be balanced. The suggestions are simple and most are easy to do on the fly. This makes it very easy to introduce the adventure when it would fit the campaign organically and not when the numbers demand it. This increase the usability and modularity of the whole. Well done.

The second level of the pyramid has a table of Dungeon Dressing suggestions that add points of interest to the dungeon. I really like this as it gives a GM readymade tools to accent the adventure and mood. I'm a little saddened that these are only included for the middle layer, but I suppose the table can be used in other sections where appropriate. The three main levels contain some fairly straight up fights, but the tactics provided make the foes much more canny than a simple kick-in-the door-style game. If you want to play kick-in-the door, you can. You want to play with intelligent foes, you can do that to, and all with the scalable EL system. This section also has many different notes about sahuagin culture that both affect game play and introduce neat interest points for those who are curious. There are even individuals that the party can gain as allies; one is a sahuagin who is in disagreement with the rest of his band! Thus players who like to try and talk can be rewarded as well. I like that there has been such care towards a wide range of playing styles.

That said, the encounters are fairly simple matters. There is little variation or great ingenuity in the combat design. That is ok; not every adventure has to be played out as chess matches between the GM and his players over fiendishly wicked hazards and traps. And the monsters do respond to the party's actions, moving into different areas to help fight off the adventurer's attack. But one or two more encounters that relied on more than just the individual capabilities of the combatants would have been better. The first attack had elements of this driven by the plot with the sahuagin capturing victims as they fought. In the dungeon I would have liked to have seen a few truly unique encounters beyond defend the young or BBEG fighting hard. The end encounter has potential depending on how it is run, so there is that. A creative GM can add these elements easily enough, but they could have been there from the start.

The final sub-level is where the big final battle takes place against an evil, huge, aberrant shark-monster. There are also the prisoners, and how many there are left and how many survive depends entirely upon the capabilities and decisions the players have made so far. This encounter is also somewhat scalable, but with a few differences to account for the complex stat blocks involved. The aftermath has a great deal of role-playing potential with the rescued NPCs and their back stories. Finally we have some suggestions for lasting repercussions to the adventure, including a free download supplement encounter with sahuagin out for revenge. This makes the adventure truly a part of the campaign, and not just a throw away one-shot.

To wrap this up we are given three appendices. The first covers the new monsters and magic items presented in the module. The second is a nice two-page piece summarizing the rules for drowning, underwater movement, and combat. It is good to have them all in one place, and the module suggests printing these out for the players as guides. The third appendix has six pre-generated player characters for using this module outside of a campaign, with character images drawn from Larry Elmore's work.

Final Thoughts: One of these days, I'll get something from Raging Swan that doesn't get a four or five star rating from me. That is not today, however. This is a really good adventure with great supplemental material and overall design, easily placed into an ongoing campaign or acting as a standalone one-shot. The versatility of the encounters, the support for many different styles of play, and the depth of character on the many different NPCs is remarkable. The support material makes this a supplement worth having by any GM intending to use the sahuagin as opponents. If there is a flaw it is in the straight forward nature of most of the encounters. More diversity would have put this adventure over the top into classic territory. I am still rating it very high, somewhere between four and five stars. I'll round up because the supplement material is of such great use. The Sunken Pyramid is a truly fun and entertaining adventure with a lot of substance. Five out of Five Stars.

I want to present my rating system within the 5 star structure that is given here. I believe that it is impossible for any product to be perfect, so 5 stars is not perfection. I also believe that even the worst piece of drek has something that can be taken from it and used. So I'm glad no 0 score can exist. So here is my scaling system:

With that out of the way on to the review. The Sunken Pyramid is an adventure module designed for the Pathfinder RPG. It is set for 7th level characters and is an aquatic dungeon. I have seen a lot of underwater dungeons lately, so it will be interesting to see what Creighton Broadhurst and Marc Radle bring to the table.

SPOILER ALERT Please be aware that I will be making reference to parts of the plot and opponents within this review. If you are planning to play in this adventure, you should read no further or just read my final thoughts. You have been warned.

Right before the forward we get a quick summary of the monsters used in the adventure. It is sorted by CR and gives alignment plus a few other small details such as race and class level (if any) plus the page where they can be found. I like this feature: when running an adventure, I often have to flip through various pages to find the stats I'm looking for. Having a directory with names and basic info makes this task much easier.

Next is a section on how to read the stat blocks for the monsters. I assume this is standard for Raging Swan Press, but having never read through an adventure from them before now I can't say for certain. I can see this being of use to a beginner, but for me this is a loss of a page. The format is pretty similar to Paizo's standard, and that is fairly straight forward. For new GMs this could be useful as the stat blocks can be a bit ponderous in length.

The next page if far more interesting to me. It is a section on how to use the module. It gives a breakdown of their encounter format, reading trap blocks, and identifying treasure. This is a great reference, and now paints the previous page in a new light: a general reference for running any adventure with simple rules and guides all in the same place. I like that. So in the first pages we get a reference guide that is easily found that will help you right in the middle of play. That shows very good organization and thinking about how the adventure will be run and what the GM will need to do it. If this is standard for Raging Swan, they are already ahead of the game compared to other publishers.

Now we get an adventure overview. The Sunken Pyramid is an ancient underwater structure now inhabited by a vicious tribe of sahuagin. They are planning on sacrificing a large number of people to a monstrous aberrant devil shark living below the pyramid in a religious ceremony three days after the adventure begins. I like the three day limit; it forces the adventure to move along and will punish the PCs with some nasty consequences if they dally about. Sahuagin are a good choice. Not since the old days of Saltmarsh have the sea devils gotten much support, though lately with the various pirate and nautical campaigns coming out they seem to have been finally getting their due. A warning is provided to make sure the GM supplies the water breathing apparatus the party will need for this adventure and how to get it in without seeming to obvious.

Before we get into the actual adventure, we get alternate beginnings for GMs to tailor the entry point to suit his players and his campaign. A great point that is often overlooked by game designers is making an adventure usable in many different styles. Excellent suggestions here.

Next we get a two-page ecology-style article on the sahuagin. This is very well written with many interesting bits on sahuagin society and religion. This can help creative GMs add flavour to the encounters with the sea devils.

We also get the fishing village of White Moon Cove detailed out, including rumours, interesting NPCs, and events that can happen while the PCs are in town. I could play two or three whole sessions just on what is in this section alone! It has been set up to feel like a real village where things are happening off-stage. Some of the rumours have absolutely nothing to do with the adventure but with the local brothel. The map is old-school black and white but very nice and clear.

We have a timeline of the adventure, so now we have a setting plus an event schedule. As with the material just within the fishing village, we are given enough information that the PCs can choose to do just about anything other than leave and it will have an effect of what happens and what they encounter. If the party waits it can change the state they find the sahuagin in, but at a terrible cost. And the party won't know any of that before it happens. If they take too long, they can get new allies. But the death toll at that point would be heinous. I like that the PCs' actions and inaction can have tangible results.

Now that we get into the adventure itself. The whole is divided into five parts: An introductory battle in White Moon Cove leading through an event chain to get the party to the dungeon, three dungeon levels, and a sub-level. The entire pyramid is laid out in classic multi-level dungeon style that is entirely underwater. The events section lays out how to make sure the party has the underwater gear necessary for this adventure and covers a lot of eventualities and player choices.

Throughout the module we get scalable encounters. Every encounter comes with instructions to increase or decrease the EL of the encounter by 1. This means the characters can become seventh during the adventure, before the adventure begins, or after it is done and the challenges will still be balanced. The suggestions are simple and most are easy to do on the fly. This makes it very easy to introduce the adventure when it would fit the campaign organically and not when the numbers demand it. This increase the usability and modularity of the whole. Well done.

The second level of the pyramid has a table of Dungeon Dressing suggestions that add points of interest to the dungeon. I really like this as it gives a GM readymade tools to accent the adventure and mood. I'm a little saddened that these are only included for the middle layer, but I suppose the table can be used in other sections where appropriate. The three main levels contain some fairly straight up fights, but the tactics provided make the foes much more canny than a simple kick-in-the door-style game. If you want to play kick-in-the door, you can. You want to play with intelligent foes, you can do that to, and all with the scalable EL system. This section also has many different notes about sahuagin culture that both affect game play and introduce neat interest points for those who are curious. There are even individuals that the party can gain as allies; one is a sahuagin who is in disagreement with the rest of his band! Thus players who like to try and talk can be rewarded as well. I like that there has been such care towards a wide range of playing styles.

That said, the encounters are fairly simple matters. There is little variation or great ingenuity in the combat design. That is ok; not every adventure has to be played out as chess matches between the GM and his players over fiendishly wicked hazards and traps. And the monsters do respond to the party's actions, moving into different areas to help fight off the adventurer's attack. But one or two more encounters that relied on more than just the individual capabilities of the combatants would have been better. The first attack had elements of this driven by the plot with the sahuagin capturing victims as they fought. In the dungeon I would have liked to have seen a few truly unique encounters beyond defend the young or BBEG fighting hard. The end encounter has potential depending on how it is run, so there is that. A creative GM can add these elements easily enough, but they could have been there from the start.

The final sub-level is where the big final battle takes place against an evil, huge, aberrant shark-monster. There are also the prisoners, and how many there are left and how many survive depends entirely upon the capabilities and decisions the players have made so far. This encounter is also somewhat scalable, but with a few differences to account for the complex stat blocks involved. The aftermath has a great deal of role-playing potential with the rescued NPCs and their back stories. Finally we have some suggestions for lasting repercussions to the adventure, including a free download supplement encounter with sahuagin out for revenge. This makes the adventure truly a part of the campaign, and not just a throw away one-shot.

To wrap this up we are given three appendices. The first covers the new monsters and magic items presented in the module. The second is a nice two-page piece summarizing the rules for drowning, underwater movement, and combat. It is good to have them all in one place, and the module suggests printing these out for the players as guides. The third appendix has six pre-generated player characters for using this module outside of a campaign, with character images drawn from Larry Elmore's work.

Final Thoughts: One of these days, I'll get something from Raging Swan that doesn't get a four or five star rating from me. That is not today, however. This is a really good adventure with great supplemental material and overall design, easily placed into an ongoing campaign or acting as a standalone one-shot. The versatility of the encounters, the support for many different styles of play, and the depth of character on the many different NPCs is remarkable. The support material makes this a supplement worth having by any GM intending to use the sahuagin as opponents. If there is a flaw it is in the straight forward nature of most of the encounters. More diversity would have put this adventure over the top into classic territory. I am still rating it very high, somewhere between four and five stars. I'll round up because the supplement material is of such great use. The Sunken Pyramid is a truly fun and entertaining adventure with a lot of substance. Five out of Five Stars.