Orignially posted here: https://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2022/12/review-hyperborea-products.html

Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess

PDF. Color cover, black & white interior art.

This is an old-school adventure for 4 to 6 characters of 5th to 7th level.

Lemuria. Ancient cults. Dinosaurs and demon apes. This adventure has everything. I kinda wish it could have been done for lower levels because it is a great introduction to sorts of adventures that HYPERBOREA should be the best at. While I originally grabbed this as a supplement to some other related adventures (and still might use it as such) it really, really feels at home in Hyperborea the most.

On that note it can be easily used in whatever OSR/Old-School system feels the most as home to your groups.

Plus it has a Dimetrodon in it. So I am already sold on it.

There are times when you want to grab a group of players, some dice, and more then head right over to your favorite table and sit down for your favorite adventure. The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess From North Wind Adventures for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg system has everything you could want from a sword and sorcery OSR adventure. The thing reads like a Marvel Conan Seventies comicbook come to life to devour your OSR adventurers. This adventure is part quest, part dungeon crawl, and pulpy high end Hyperborean adventure set on a seldom trodden piece of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea world and beyond. I love everything about this dense sixty page Hyperborean tour de force; this adventure features everything that you could want out of an AS&SH adventure from the background of the setting of The Forgotten Fane to the brand new Hyperborean elements that this adventure adds to the world. This really isn't simply an another adventure but a full blown add on to the world of Hyperborea. I followed the AS&SH adventure three pack adventure Kickstarter for months. This produced three essential AS&SH adventures; seriously these are not simply adventures but sourcebooks that paint even more setting and background to the AS&SH gaming system. The plot reads like something straight out of the pages of Weird Tales; "More than a month ago, your party found itself in Port Zangerios, where you heard of an Esquimaux thief selling a treasure map. Low on wealth but high in courage, you sought him out. The man turned out to be a fearful ex-slave who had “acquired” the map from his Ixian master. The map is incomplete but shews the Isle of the Serpent in far-off Lemuria, where rests a fabulous treasure called the Feathered Crown of Nanasa (or so thought the Ixian). Pooling your money to purchase the unfinished map, you bought passage on an Amazonian trade ship. After passing through tempests and torrential rains that shimmered with auroral light, you have come to the great city of Jhaman Ket. Now you must seek out the location of the Isle of the Serpent." This is several crawls, an adventure, and a lost world world adventure mini campaign all in one. The adventure paces itself quite nicely someplace between placing the PC's deep into the Hyperborean underworld then switching gears into a weird science fantasy lost world mode that is both deadly and telling at the same time of the wonder of the world of Hyperborea. "Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess" written by Joe Salvador with maps by Monkeyblood Designs, and features all of the dinosaurs featured in the artwork and more. The world is partially Lovecraftian hi jinks, lots of adventurer sword and sorcery action and the whole thing could be deadly unless the PC's think and are very careful. This is an adventure meant for our to six characters of 5th through 7th level and the designers and writer mean it. Seriously straight out of the gate the PC's are going to be challenged and are going to be running for their lives. Much of the action is going to center on the PC's as one encounter after another is going to challenge them on every live. This isn't an adventure your players are going to get up from the table for to go to the bathroom. The encounters are quick and take place without rail roading the PC's into a corner or conclusion. here are reasons for the PC's to be dealing with hell and horrors of the Forgotten Fane at the same time dovetailing their motives deep into the back setting of Hyperborea and that's another place where this adventure shines. This is a mini sourcebook that in sixty pages manages to shove a lot of science fantasy and Lovecraftian goodness into back burner of it. There is at least several weeks worth of play here and in addition with a clever DM miles and miles of campaign adventure hooks to keep this adventure on the DM's nightstand for a long while to come. Because of the set up for The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess, DM's can add in any of the revers and freebooters of the AS&SH rules set with little problem. The PC's are in for a hell of a time trying to deal with all of the adventure elements. If a party isn't careful this might be their fate at the hands of several factions of serpent people and there is more. But is The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess actually playable? Yes in spades. This adventure adds in details, bits and pieces to the world of Hyperborea and adds other fragmentary colors to the weird work of art that is Hyperborea itself. Do I think that The Forgotten Fane of the Coiled Goddess is worth getting for the AS&SH system? Yes in spades, this is because the AS&SH three pack are perhaps some of the most essential and important adventures and sourcebooks to come out for the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers Of Hyperborea rpg system.