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Dungeon Crawl Classics #15: Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen
 
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #15: Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #15: Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Megan R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 06/26/2018 08:14:38

Now there's a dramatic start for an adventure! You visit a venerable sphinx prophet, but as soon as he claps eyes on you and your party he attacks! Apparently he decided that you were the heroes predicted of old, who would deal with an evil sphinx queen and destroy her crown. Just why the old sphinx chose to attack over this may become apparent...

Naturally, there's a detailed backstory that explains most of what is going on (but not why the sphinx prophet attacks the people he's been awaiting for a very long time!). There's also the usual scaling information, wandering monster list, and other bits and bobs to aid you in preparing to run this adventure.

What follows is a spectactular puzzle-oriented delve with many delightful features such as images of the party included in the murals - well, their eventual arrival had been prophesied millenia ago! There are undead to fight as well, and deadly traps to circumvent. Even though this complex was built by those who wanted to imprison the evil sphinx queen, whom they could not slay themselves, until the promised party arrived to do the job for them, they certainly did not make it easy.

The tomb consists of three levels, the last being accessible only if you can figure out a teleportation system. Descriptions are vivid and detailed, back-up information is comprehensive, and there are loads of handouts to produce at appropriate moments so that the players can see what is being explained to them.

This is a really tough and demanding delve that should challenge the party and - should they survive to the end - give them a real sense of achievement. It's excellent for parties who enjoy pitting their wits as well as their swordarms against whatever the dungeon holds. A true classic!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Dungeon Crawl Classics #15: Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Chris G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 05/08/2006 00:00:00

Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen

It feels good to run a module and get to review it. I rarely get to do that since I do not do special play tests of things. If I am to use a book it will be in my own campaign. And that can make things difficult especially with modules. I really enjoy the Dungeon Crawl Classics and would like to be able to use moir? of them. But I was very happy that I was able to fit in this one into my campaign. This review will cover aspects of the print and PDF version. The module has player handouts and the PDF version made printing those very easy. I ran the module almost straight as is with only two encounters were altered one for campaign reasons and the other because I was not trying to kill all my player characters. Though even with the changes there were many deaths. Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen is an adventure for fourteenth and fifteenth level characters by Goodman Games. It is a bit of a tough module and I will cover that more later although allow me to say Chris Doyle and Joe Crow can come up with some very creative encounters. The art is really good and especially on the players handouts and those are of course important. The module is well laid out and the book is black and white. It is forty eight pages long and it is a good example of the Dungeon Crawl Classic series. The maps are well drawn and easy to use and the over all production values are very nice. The adventure centers on the tomb of an ancient and evil Sphinx Queen. The background of the adventure deals with an ancient and seemingly short lived Sphinx Empire. It is a simple background but well thought out. It can easily just be used for the adventure or one can embrace it a little more like I did. Now in the history of my campaign world there is a failed Sphinx Empire. It is a tough adventure and we had deaths but it is D&D so death is not that severe just a spell and a level lost. The adventure has combat and riddles and a bit of a puzzle. The players will have to think some and plenty of things to kill though the Tomb is not that big with fewer rooms then a normal dungeon crawl. I liked the shortness and directness of the module. There are no wasted rooms and places that seem to be filled out with little reason. From here on out there are Spoilers. Please do not read these and ruin the adventure if you think you will be a player in this module. The module starts with the players going to a Sphinx Profit. This had my players fooled as they were expecting a bit of role playing and not for the Sphinx to just attack them. They failed to notice the Sphinx buffing itself up with spells and that made this battle a lot tougher then I thought it would be. We lost two of the five players and they had to retreat. They came back prepared but of course the Sphinx was fully healed again. They showed up and buffed themselves failing to notice the Sphinx doing the same and two other characters died but so did the Sphinx. Inside the players slowly pieced together the purpose of the tomb, the history of the Sphinx Empire and what happened to it, and why they got pulled into this whole thing. The encounters were a lot easier and some of them seemed maybe a bit too easy. There is a cool room that the players fight earth creatures that move through sand with sand falling on them but with the high level spells the players had they were able to easily make the sand stop falling. That made that room a bit easier. Another dealt with a reed ship sailing through a river. of acid but fly spells made that room easy as well. None of this was a walk in the park though Aside from the combat there are of course riddles. My players got two right and the other two forced combats. Well, they got three right but one player choose his own answer over what everyone else though t was the right answer. Also in here are some cool new and unique magical items. There is not a lot of treasure to be found but the treasure is interesting and really fits the adventure. I tire of generic sword+3 in treasure and these items with their history made for a great change of pace. One of the encounters deals with a labyrinth with teleporting traps. These did a great job of separating the party and while it was a little pain to DM what was up to three separate groups at once I liked it a lot. The beast at the center turned out to be a good battle but again high level spells were more then the deciding factor. The final battle deals with the Sphinx Queen herself. There are other creatures in there that I removed because I felt she was strong enough and she was. I like the use of symbols and the writers did a good job of presenting her combat strategies to the DM. They make good use of her abilities, spells, magical items and feats. In the end the module was a good challenge with a few tough encounters and nothing a cakewalk. I liked the story behind the module and the history presented. The module has players think and plenty of combat. The encounters are a lot more interested then the usual standar fair with creativity and thought behind them. This one was a lot of fun.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Crative and fun<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: some encounters were made easy with high level spells<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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