The Gaming Den

Having recently read through a couple of mega-dungeons, and having said some not-very-nice things about Gary Gygax's Lejendary Adventures, I thought maybe I would look at a Gygaxian mega-dungeon. While Castle Zygag might be the obvious choice, I've decided instead to look at Necropolis.

The only thing above that alarms me is the






I'm aware that Gygax really liked Egyptian mythology and leaned on it heavily for some of the adventure inspirations. He also wrote at least a couple of novels set in a not-Egypt featuring his version of Poirot - Magister Setne Inhetep - an investigator, wizard, and worshipper of the ibis-headed god of knowledge.





And while not great novels, they're worth a read. Really.



Okay, so Necropolis has a 2002 Copyright as released by Necromance Games under the Sword and Sorcery line. The preface indicates that:

This adventure has been revised and expanded in order to make it clear and playable in Third Edition terms, consistent with the d20 System. Nonetheless, we have taken great pains to maintain the original content and context as formulated by Mr. Gygax when he first published this material over a decade ago.

I'm curious about the original publication but I expect that the 3rd edition version is going to be easier to read and comprehend, so we'll set the original version aside for now and may or may not compare it against this version later.

While Gary Gygax has his name on the cover and is credited as the original author, Bill Webb, Scott Greene and Clark Peterson are credited with additional material. Bill and Clark are also developers and Clark is a producer and gets an additional d20 Material Credit along with Scott Greene and Lance Hawvermale. Any writer can benefit from a good editor, and I believe that having someone handle the mechanics of converting to 3rd edition is necessary - as the inventor of the game it doesn't seem that Gygax feels strongly bound to use an updated ruleset that doesn't represent his natural inclinations.

We also have thirteen credited playtesters and only two of them have the same last name (and none of them are credited as writers or designers).

Bill Web and Clark Peterson's Preface wrote: Necropolis is, in our opinion, one of the finest adventures ever written. It is our distinct pleasure to bring this classic to you!

Within this great tome you will find a complete sourcebook of the lands of Khemit along with a central adventure of epic proportions, with vast amounts of original material scribed by the hand of the master himself, Gary Gygax.

Players who investigate the mysteries of Khemit must use their wits constantly. This is perhaps the most difficult scenario ever produced, and it will bring out the best and brightest ideas from those who participate, else they will surely find themselves withering away as corpses under the blistering desert sun.

Necropolis is best suited for four to eight characters of 10th to 18th level of experience. Obviously, the source material and initial adventures can be used with lower level PCs as well, but no one under 10th level should attempt to enter Rahotep’s tomb. Played as an extended campaign, the material contained herein could easily provide enough experience to propel the players from 10th to 18th level over a year or two of play. Side adventures and other distractions can be added in to provide the necessary advancement as the DM sees fit.

This adventure has been revised and expanded in order to make it clear and playable in Third Edition terms, consistent with the d20 System. Nonetheless, we have taken great pains to maintain the original content and context as formulated by Mr. Gygax when he first published this material over a decade ago.

Therefore - dare we say it - gentle reader, read on, learn the mysteries and challenges of the lands of Khemit, and enjoy the hundreds of hours of play you will glean from
this material. Remember, Orcus watches Rahotep’s efforts with glee!

The only thing in the above that gives me pause is the expected pace of advancement - with 1st edition XP requirements essentially doubling between levels, advancing 8 levels over 2 years of play is probably reasonable. With 13.33 encounters equating to a level in 3.x, I would expect that advancement could be as fast as a level every session or two.

Personally I'm not a fan of XP for killing things (it drives a particular style of play and I don't need MORE incentives to kill things) and I'm not a fan of the expected pace of advancement, but if Necropolis was published for a different system and converted I'm not going to hold it responsible for the decisions of the system it was converted to. World's Largest Dungeon explicitly says giving full XP for all encounters will have the PCs advance beyond the ability to be challenged very quickly - we'll note that something like that appears to be expected but we'll address it when and if it comes out explicitly.

I'm working from the PDF that has 286 pages including covers. The Title Page lists 11 chapters, of which 7 appear to be sites, 3 of them appear to be adventure summaries, and the first is Gygax's Introduction. The book also includes five appendices and a page of legal requirements.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The introduction is 2 pages and appears to be directly written by Gygax with minimal editing. Khemit is described as a fantasy-world inside a fantasy-world and he mentions a lot of tropes of Orientalism - making non-European lands seem exotic and mysterious.

The Intro also provides a very oblique view of the adventure mentioning that PCs should move from the Village of Hommlet Aartuat, confront a brotherhood that keeps interlopers away, and then investigate the Necropolis.



My soul is prepared to die. Is yours?

The intro outlines where we'll find information and indicates that NPCs have a 'mission statement' - an explanation of their goals so we can use them more easily. This Not-Egypt is also a very old land with very old archives, so records of the ancient awakening evil can and do exist, so there's avenues of investigation.



Rahotep's Tomb. My Precious.

The final section of the Introduction outlines the 'organization of evil'. On the one hand it suggests that evil is not monolithic (good) but also that if the PCs 'triumph' there will be no lessening of evil in the world. "What will have occurred is merely the severing of one of the heads of the malign hydra of wickedness. Even though two others might not spring forth in its place, those that remain will be as deadly and potent, as determined as before".

If the goal is to have a location that you can keep revisiting for new adventures, that's good advice. Solving the world's problems doesn't leave much room for super heroes.





You can work yourself out of a job
Next up we'll either move to Chapter 2, or maybe we'll detour through the appendices.

Chapter 2: Beginning the Saga

Since this is overview information, going through this makes sense. The basic plot is that Iuz the Evil The Vile Rahotep, is a powerful undead that already qualifies as a 'quasi-deity' but would really like to get promoted to a 'demi-god'. If he becomes a demi-god, he'll also raise an army of evil and claim the title of Pharaoh. To me it sounds like a bit of a demotion - it's like leading a hostile takeover of a publicly traded company so they'll hire you as a janitor - sure you could do that, but don't you have better things to do? I really can't complain too much because in most D&D worlds the gods are completely ineffectual and are perfectly balanced by their opposite counterparts, so being a deity that doesn't have a celestial/infernal realm and lives on the prime might actually get shit done.

So some number of centuries have passed since Rahotep became undead so you might wonder why he's sitting in his tomb and passively waiting for PCs to disturb him.




Besides tradition


To the book's credit, we do have an explanation. In order to attain godhood, Rahotep needs the life force of powerful individuals. With the lure of wealth and power adventurers serve themselves up to him so he can harvest their Thetans midichlorians life-energy and attain a higher spiritual level. There are also 9 McGuffins that must be given over to him willingly. He has one; four are in his tomb, four are nearby. Seems like that's a pretty easily overcome barrier if he has even one friend, or even a hired cleaner, but I guess despite centuries to work on this it remains an obstacle.

After explaining who Rahotep is (one section) and what he wants (a different section) there's a long aside about how running a published adventure is actually more difficult to do right than one a GM devises themselves. GMs are encouraged to adapt the scenario to their campaigns and possibly cater to PC wishes by modifying the adventure. "Thus, if a PC is seeking a secret area, perhaps one does exist there or nearby. A feared trap is likewise present or soon to be sprung. Perhaps a desperately needed thing will be found, too. It is all part of this scenario, even though we didn’t happen to anticipate such appearances until after some player suggested it".

I'm going to admit, that doesn't really sound Gygaxian to me.

There are two hooks provided: PCs should either go on the adventure because the power of good compels them or they want money. There's nothing like 'Rahotep has enslaved my mother and I'm going to join a group of avenging Jedis and free her'. Each chapter is roughly intended as an opportunity to level the characters so they're strong enough for later chapters and also let players become familiar with the setting and its conceits. Chapter 8 (Rahotep's Tomb) is the 'real adventure' and it covers 60 pages or 1/3 of the adventure; another 1/3 is the appendices with monsters and game materials; the other 1/3 is split among all the other adventure chapters and each of those is ~10 pages.

The adventure outlines three stages for the adventure - home base (the village and friendly temple), one the road, and in the necropolis. Once there, the general idea is to gather the nine objects that Rahotep needs and destroy them, thus destroying him. But if they fail, uh-oh, the bad guy has everything he needs. If he really needs them just destroying ONE object seems like it should be pretty good, and since it's been centuries and nothing has happened yet taking these objects and scattering them throughout the multiverse really ought to buy a LOT of additional time, but apparently your PCs are going to be cocky enough to believe that they're the ones who should permanently solve this threat in the absolutely most irresponsible and dangerous way possible.



Guilty as charged

In talking about getting your PCs started it has a 'casual mission' and a 'direct mission'. For the casual mission it literally demands that you read an ENTIRE FUCKING PAGE of read-aloud text with only one pause to hand them a map. It is too much to be believed without seeing. So see below:

The Casual Approach wrote: As far as the rest of the world is concerned, there is no forgotten tomb in the Necropolis within the area known as the Gorge of Osris. In fact, it’s likely that most Khemitians haven’t even heard of that place! To the world, the site is lost forever, but you and your associates know otherwise, and you even have a map that shows the general location of the place.

The map's acquisition and translation of ancient hieroglyphs and its arcane code have cost you dearly, but now you are certain that your party will strike what can only be likened to the mother lode of treasures, an untouched tomb sealed up a thousand years ago after it was filled with riches and magical devices suitable to the internment of a great Archpriest of all Khemit.

The one buried, Rahotep, was possibly a pretender to the throne, a virtual Pharaoh for a brief period in any event. That you are sure of. Thus his burial place will reflect his power and position when he lived and was the first ecclesiastic in the mighty kingdom of Khemit. No question, the effort, time, and money expended was a worthwhile investment....you hope

Pause to give them a map as you read on.

The Casual Approach (continued) wrote: Thus having already spent a huge sum of treasure, more has had to be paid over to get your group all the way to Thebes, a city not too distant from the location of the gorge and its lost tomb. Arriving in the Triple Kingdom, and in the guise of noble and wealthy folk bent on seeing the wonders of this land, you have managed to progress inland all the way up the Great River to the metropolis of Thebes, the capitol city of the Middle Kingdom, seat of many of the temples of the deities of Khemit, and the "Palace of Phraoh," the place from which all the empire is ruled.

In keeping with your roles you have stayed in the finest inns, eaten in the most expensive restaurants, entertained lavishly, visited the famous places, and seen all the sights including the four great pyramids and twin sphinxes. Hunting, fishing, luxurious accommodations, entertainment, the grand barge, and more have brought your purses to low condition by the time you reached Thebes.

Such news there! A recent proclamation by Pharoah Tuthmosis IX announced that anyone caught desecrating an ancient grave (let alone despoiling a noble's tomb) is subject to summary execution on the spot, without a trial! What coincidence triggered this decree you can't guess, and you dare not query any native on the subject. So knowing that there is official concern over old burial sites, speculative that there will be watchfulness, and certain that if you are caught robbing such a place your end will be death, things no longer seem quite as rosy as they did. Tough and capable as you are, the repute of the Priests, Wizards, and Warriors of Khemit makes it unlikely that force will prevail in case your true purpose for being here is discovered.

Knowing that once alerted the minions of Pharaoh will be able to carry out their duty, you determined to be even more cautious and circumspect as you proceeded. Thebes is, as noted, not to far from the location you ultimately seek. Getting to the town of Farnoc and on to the village of Aartuat is not likely to be a challenge. Penetrating the Gorge of Osiris without alerting any of the local population might be more difficult. The village is only some five miles distant from the Necropolis. Furthermore, there is a temple, a place of Osiris, in the Gorge. It might still be tenanted by clerics of that deity.

The greater difficulty is at the other end, so to speak, that time when you've finished and are loaded down with wealth. You could not be seen carrying such spoils from the desert Necropolis back through Khemit. Some route of exit other than retracing of your journey to the place needs to be found. Then you had an inspiration.

Nomad raiders manage to get through the western barrens all the time. Your party could do the same. However, that requires someone to guide you through the wastes there, and who better than the raiders, the nomads of the deserts of the west? None, of course. By careful, seemingly casual inquiries, you managed to get in touch with certain tribesmen. For a price, these men put you in contact with other nomads, the Tuareg Warriors. Again for a few now and a larger one later, they agree to assist your party.

There are ways through the Harkh-Attura, the range of old mountains, hills, and badlands on whose eastern verge is located the Gorge of Osiris known to the Tuareg. In one month's time, htey promise, they will be waiting for you near where the hidden track to the Dakhla-Amun oasis meets the main route. They will wait for "two hands of moon-rises, no more," for otherwise "Pharaoh's Soliders will come in 20 times our number and attack us and even Warriors so great as Tuaregs can't defeat that many enemies." They will have extra horses, water, food, and everything needed for an escape all the way across the desert to the lands around the sea. Of course, you will have to give them a quarter share of your loot then, but that is a small prce to pay. Merchants, while thieves, will pay you handsomely for ancient goods, antique items, old coins, and jewelry. Millions, millions each, are the prospect there!!!

The 50 desert fighters promised should likewise serve as sufficient deterrent to other brigands too, whether Blemmyish, Bedouis, or Tuareg. Yet the matter is one that requires precise timing. You have sufficient time to manage it all, but not much to spare. Become familiar with the locale, get in solidly with the natives, and make them think you are mere explorers and tourists, not tomb-robbers. Then find the lost burial place, break in, gather up the wealth, and follow the track whose location is shown on your map to the rendezvou.

At last, all that accomplished, you returned to the matter of traveling to the caravanserai in Aartuat. Buying a place in a train of camels, mules, and horses carrying goods westwards to the deserts was not difficult. Your route will carry you about 200 miles from the river to the outpost town of Farnoc, and again almost straight on an equal distance to the village and its way station. There you will leave the caravan, remaining to "see the land, hunt, and learn about the ways of the Khemitian barrens."

So I have a lot of problems with the read-aloud-text, but let's mention Teleport

So it's likely the PCs are going to see the cover or the DM is going to mention that he's using a new book for the campaign. And if you have PCs that are going to be 18th level, you're probably not worried about being outnumbered 20-1 or more by the Pharoah's guards. There are all kinds of good reasons NOT TO MURDER EVERYONE that have nothing to do with BEING ABLE TO. I'm fine with there being other powerful people that the PCs might not want to piss off, but the 'there's always someone stronger' doesn't really apply if you just killed a quasi-god and nobody else could.

The adventure wants the PCs to be from 'European style fantasy worlds' - that's fine. The whole 'and don't steal or we'll kill you' is a problem. Some PCs are going to say 'fine, if the legal authorities don't want their priceless historical artifacts looted and transported to the British National Museum I can live with that' and the adventure ends.

So even though I haven't read the adventure yet, let's FIX IT.

#1 - What's Changed
We have a lich or something that's been buried in his tomb for a thousand years. If the PCs do nothing, he's going to be waiting another thousand years. If the PCs do nothing, the PCs win. It's only if the PCs go to the tomb and do badly that evil wins. That's some BS as far as adventures go. So they make a point about this being a lost tomb, falling out of memory, yada yada, but it's still in archives and such. So somebody ELSE found about him and WANTS to help him achieve his goal. Based on what else we learn in the adventure we can develop this character, but somebody who's a worshipper of Set, the grand ecclesiast in the realm, and the Pharoah's right-hand-man makes sense. We can still do the 'instant death' thing, but it's clear that it's to keep the good guys from winning.






#2 - How to Involve the PCs
PCs live in fantasy not-Europe, and they're supposed to go to fantasy not-Egypt. Instead of finding a deal on a Nile Cruise and deciding to go loot pyramids, there should be a compelling reason to go. So our Not-Jafar wants to help resurrect the undead lich and help him achieve god-hood, and there are nine objects that are needed. So an ancient brotherhood that was keeping these items safe and secret is now being hunted by the Pharoah's agents (as commanded by his vizier). They've sent 9 delegations to far away lands to try to keep them safe. The Vizier's henchmen show up in the far away land and start taking them back. The PCs are witnesses. Heck, maybe an NPC that they know shows up asking them to take possession of this item because someone is hunting for it and they need strong people to protect it. You think getting attacked and told that people are going to keep jumping them unless they go kill a lich isn't a call to action?

#3 - Doing Nothing
If the PCs don't get involved, eventually the Vizier gathers all the pieces, gives them to Rahotep, and the plan goes into effect. If the PCs show up, they're the only ones who the Vizier's agents DIDN'T get the item from. So as the adventure continues, they pick up the other 8 items either in the tomb OR from agents as they get closer to the tomb. Suddenly we have a 'time-pressure' - if the PCs take too long all the agents on missions elsewhere will get back, so defeating the lich when half his allies are still gone becomes compelling. Depending on what we need those nine items for we can play with where they are and who these forces are.

#4 - Confusion Among Allies
Since nobody walks around with a 'team Evil' hat on their head, we have a situation where good guards might stop the PCs - keeping people away from the Necropolis might be a GOOD thing (except the Vizier is using them to allow his own nefarious agents to access the Necropolis without harassment). Killing all the guards isn't nice. Likewise telling people that you're trying to go to the tomb might imply that you're one of the Vizier's agents. Good people might try to kill you and take your McGuffin because they think you're the bad guys.

Chapter 10: The Belmmyish Tribeman's Account (2 pages)
This is a solid 1 1/2 pages of text with a half-page map that players are supposed to receive as a handout. This having been originally written in the early 90s if you can't get it photocopied, you're once again supposed to read the whole damn thing. It's more background material and is totally integral to the 'casual approach' quoted above, which is insane. There are two other 'post adventure chapters' but glad to knock that one out early.

Rather than start the adventure with Chapter 3, I'm going to take a look at the appendices. They've got one for NPCs, Monsters, the Lands, The Gods, and Classes/Items/Spells. I'll probably look at the last one first since it is info that players' might reasonably be expected to have access to before play commences.

When I'm away from my computer/book, I often read other people's reviews of a gaming product in part to check myself on whether I'm being fair and potentially to become aware of things that I should be looking out for and providing my take on.

I found several reviews on RPGnet (and a few unrelated reviews that have Necropolis in the title).

Ryan Henry Review
Negative - The problem my group and I have with this module is that it is not enjoyable for our playing style. The traps are placed illogically; they are random and deadly. The encounter style is overly heavy-handed and railroads the party into dire circumstances. So much of the scenario is written to amuse the DM and belittle the players. I could see this scenario angering my playing group and cause many people to walk out.

....

D&D is a game of heroes, and heroes are made by using their strength and wits, which the DM takes control of in this module. Any success the heroes have is by virtue of dumb luck. This is not the way it's supposed to be. This is not the game I love. This is not D&D.

Bradford C. Walker Review
Positive - If you're looking for either a well-written and playable fantasy Egypt sourcebook or an old-school Gygax adventure module, this is what you want. Otherwise you can skip it safely.

You can find a third review but it seeks to avoid spoilers and is even more enthusiastic than the last one without any indications of why they like borderline abusive DMs. So I'm definitely less optimistic about this adventure now than I was before. That said, there are references to advice to make things challenging (but not too challenging) so I'm left with the impression that Gygax is constantly adjusting on the fly and all the admonitions to being able to produce notes to indicate that everything was run as written from the past (possibly necessary for tournament modules) doesn't seem to be repeated here.

It's also pretty clear that Gygax could have used a competent editor. Some people have a soft-spot for Gygaxian prose but this is a game tool and that should be the focus. There are plenty of ways to give DMs a good dose of that in other ways but the players will never see it, so it's wasted to a fair degree. More than editing for length and clarity, bouncing ideas off of other people a few times would have improved the product. Based on some of the spoilers provided in other reviews I'm confident that my suggested introduction would make other things better, too - more opportunity for conflict without one side being entirely right or wrong, and better reasons to avoid a drag-out fight with the Sultan's Pharoah's Guards.




Gotta keep one jump ahead of the slowpokes,
one skip ahead of my doom


Appendix E: Classes, Spells, and Items of Khemit

Based on those other reviews, it's clear that you can think of this book as an adventure OR a sourcebook. It might be fun to compare this to the Green Ronin Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra one day, but for today we'll focus on what Gary gave us.

Races
Khemit is almost entirely human, but there are desert dwarves, river-halflings, foreign-born half-orc laborers and nomadic elves - all in small numbers. The book presents a new race (in the Monsters section) but mentions it's playable in the setting so we'll talk about it here.

Menynoka have artwork - they appear to be a squat humanoid with lizard-like clawed hands and feet and no-neck at all. They're described as medium sized creatures, so maybe they're reptile dwarves but NOTHING about them says 'serpent'. Serpents aren't egg-shaped. Serpents don't have arms. Serpents don't have legs. In so far as a serpent person MIGHT have arms and legs, they really must have a long neck.



Note the long neck which is why this turtle is called a 'serpent neck turtle'



They don't. Otherwise they're a 2HD medium humanoid with a natural bite attack. AHA I can hear
you thinking - surely they have a venomous bite like an Asp.









No, no venom. Just a d4 bite. AHA, you're surely thinking, it must refer to their forked tongue and ability to flatter and deceive others.






No, no persuasive abilities. Instead they get a +4 Appraise and a +4 to Profession (Merchant) checks. So they're like a 'snake in the grass' - something that will hurt you when you're not careful? No, not that either. In fact they never cheat a customer and they never cheat each other.

They have an instinctive hatred for the Inphidians who have a similar snake-like head but have actual snakes for arms. Why aren't Inphidians called 'serpent people'? Maybe because they're aberrations and not humanoids?

So you might wonder if there is any reason you might want to play a Menynoka, and there is. I mentioned that they're a 2-HD race and they don't have a listed LA. It specifically says that a Menynoka character is ECL 2. With those 2 levels of humanoid you also get +4 Int and +2 Con. If you can find a way to get those Humanoid levels to count as Wizard levels for casting purposes, well, that's pretty sweet.

Okay, that was a lot of review space for what amounts to 1 paragraph in the section I'm in so we're moving on.

Character Classes in Khemit
All the PC classes exist. Most don't wear heavy armor. All cleric hierarchies in Khemit roll up to the Pharoah. That seems weird - if you had a good guy maybe he'd ban the worship of Set? But apparently not. Monks are hinted at having special moves, but it doesn't say up front. Paladins notably include a Chaotic Good option and some Smite Chaos instead of Evil. Paladins can reflect the specific deity and several have Paladins. Just strange nothing is actually laid out.

Rangers, though, do get an alternate class. It looks like they get Favored Terrain and Favored Enemy, but none of the fighting styles. Oh, or an animal companion. They get access to 1st level divine spells at 2nd level if they have a high ability score (or 4th level if they don't), which is faster than a standard ranger, but you'll no doubt be aware that there are no combat spells. If the Ranger doesn't have a fighting style and doesn't have an animal companion, they're a crappy fighter that doesn't even get feats.

Prestige Classes

I wanted to title this 'Prestige Class' but there are two so the plural is appropriate. I suspect that there are two only so they could say 'classes'. The first is a 10-level Demon-summoning Prestige class with full spell casting (+10 levels of your existing spell casting class over 10 levels of this class). So if you're a Conjuration Wizard what would you get for giving up a couple of free metamagic feats? With your first level (as a 6th level character) you can call an outsider of 10 HD with Lesser Planar Binding instead of 6. You also get bonuses to Caster Level when casting Evil spells, increases to the DC when binding outsiders, a scaling bonus against spells and spell-like abilities cast by demons, dimensional anchor. At 10th level you can sacrifice someone to summon and bind a 39-HD outsider.

The other class is intended for Druids and it focuses on the nature spirits of the Desert. Since it's intended for PCs it's sucky. You get 6 levels of increased spellcasting over 10 levels so you're definitely better off binding demons than communing with spirits. For giving up those levels of spellcasting you can, at 5th level in this class (8th character level) ethereal jaunt for 5 rounds. There's some other things about resisting possession and having a spirit animal friend. At 10th level you can try to possess people which is at least UNUSUAL.

Next we'll look at Domains and Spells.

Domains

Domains are one of the mechanical bits of 3rd edition that are very easy to write. Most of them just use spells that already exist, packaged in new ways. That said, some domains are more thematically connected to the setting, and these probably fit that definition.

There's a Bounty Domain (tied to the provision of nutrients by river flooding) and a Death Domain that's [Good] - and really death gets a bad rap in traditional D&D. Even heroes die. The Death [Good] domain gets Deathwatch, Consecrate, Speak with Dead, Death Ward, Raise Dead, Heal, Resurrection, Clone and True Resurrection... Plus gentle repose as a domain power.

There's also a 'good serpent' domain (and an evil serpent domain'. They get the same spells at 4th, 8th and 9th (Sticks to Snakes, Animal Shape [serpent only], and Shapechange [Serpent only]). Probably proving that the only way to stop a bad guy with a snake is with a good guy with a snake.



Or a steel chair to the back of the head

There is an alternate Protection Domain and a Vermin Domain (keeping in mind that this is 2002 so this is probably one of the earlier versions).

Following the domains we have 18 new spells. This includes things like cloak of serpents and wall of serpents. A cloak that attacks people that get close to you and provides a Deflection bonus is pretty cool. I don't think it's a cool spell at level 5. Let's just say that they didn't understand balancing spells yet.

The first spell, Annoying Itch allows a Will to negate; if you fail you can choose to forgo your action for 1 round per level OR you can take your actions normally with a -2 on all rolls. That isn't all d20 rolls - at least not as written. And since it's a circumstance penalty it stacks with EVERYTHING. So that's a bit of a gem of a spell right there. Except they also get a new save every round... Even at -2 probably not long enough to capitalize on it...

In any case, the spells are very much a product of their time - I won't say any more unless people ask me to.

New Magic Items

Like feats, magic items are pretty easy to write. There are 15 items, and several are just alternate item slots; you can Sandals of Dexterity instead of Gloves. You can have a Ring of Intelligence instead of a Headband. These don't include the non-affiliated body-slot penalties.

That's it for Appendix E. I think we'll go back to the adventure module rather than look at the other appendices. Gods of the realm can wait.

Okay we've covered the Preface and the Introduction. We looked at Chapter 2: Beginning the Saga then we took a brief detour and hit Chapter 10: The play handout that adds more information that wasn't already in the long-ass read-aloud text block to the players, then hit the last section of the book, Appendix E: Things that Players Might Want.

We also took a look at a couple of other reviews that agree that the upcoming adventure is completely unfair to players and only disagree on whether that's a good thing or not. While I'm firmly in the camp of 'being completely unfair to players is bad' I am willing to see for myself how true it is and to make you all watch with me.




You, gentle reader


From this point, the module appears to expect a rather linear approach - you start at the village, you take the road, you explore the Necropolis, you enter the tomb, rocks fall, everyone dies. Or something. In any case, the adventure proper starts in Aartuat where the GM was supposed to narrate getting you to without apparently any kind of interesting descriptions or dressing. It is in part because of published adventures that say 'nothing interesting happens' that DMs have stopped using wandering monsters and other things - if the published adventure is a linear march with only encounters that relate directly to the story, that's the example that DMs will draw from when building their own adventures. So to all the OSR folks, you really ought to have some short 'side-treks' as part of the adventure. If you have a pair of wyverns as a random encounter, you should have a wyvern lair map and treasure ready. If you do, I can turn that encounter into possibly hours of game play - but if you don't I have to make up everything as I go and I bought a module so clearly that's not what I wanted to be doing.

Anyways, going from Point A to Point B has some limitations but this chapter is focusing on what's AT Point A.

There is a map (page 277).




If the PCs were instructed to go to the village (ie, they accepted a commission to solve problems) they're supposed to meet up with a guy named Khonsu-kaibat. If the PCs aren't told to meet him and have no idea who he is, they should ALSO meet up with him. It's a small town so it's plausible, sure. Anyway, we skip over to Appendix A and determine that NPCs are organized by the chapter they appear in but otherwise does not appear to be organized in any rational fashion.

We start with entries for Soldiers, then Veteran Soldiers, and Cavalry Soldiers so you might think maybe they put the 'basic' people, but then there are some officers. So you might think that the military is one section and after that it will be organized alphabetically, but it's not. Hunitper follows Tefu-Tep because she's his wife, but they're followed by Afu-abstem, and he's followed by someone with an S who's followed by someone who starts with a G.

Basically what I'm saying is that finding Khonsu-Khaibet in the book is at least as hard as finding him in the adventure. Anyways, he's a Ranger 9/Cleric 4. You might expect him to be a Khemit Ranger, but it doesn't appear that he is. I mean he doesn't have any Fighting Styles and he doesn't have any Animal Companion but he also doesn't have any Favored Terrains listed.

This is an unforgiveable offense in my opinion. This game book introduced the Khemit Ranger. If ANYONE is going to present it correctly, it should be this book. Anyway, there's also a bad guy in town. His name is Shenau and he's a Sorcerer 10/Demon Prestige Class that only exists in this Book 2. That's good enough to get him 6th level spells. He could have taken Planar Binding which allows for up to 16-HD demons. He does have Lesser Planar Binding and he can bind 10-HD monsters with that spell (normally it's limited to 8), so it's really crazy he doesn't have that. He could also have Summon Monster VI to bring in a Huge Fiending Viper or 1d3 Fiending Giant Constrictor Snakes.

Though while that would probably make much more sense than acid fog and let him do all kinds of potentially subtle attacks on the PCs, he doesn't need it because he has a Demoncroc. The Demoncroc is a 12-HD Outsider, so by the rules there's no way he can have one. He can bind a 10-HD outsider. Again, this is an unforgiveable sin. This is the book that gives us the class - it should use it correctly. I mean, they can 'break' the rules and just say 'the gods gifted it to him for his faithful service'. They could, but they don't. So he apparently summoned a creature that he can't summon and he certainly can't do it again if this one is killed...

Anyways, we know what we know because we read area 13 (Sheanu) and 17 (Khonsu-Kaibet) but the chapter isn't organized in any kind of 'here's what you need to know in a logical format'. Instead you read about places like the Tavern (4) and the Brickmaker (6). Sure, you get the information you need EVENTUALLY, but they sure could make it easier.

I don't know how disorganized it was before, but they seemed pretty proud of how they organized it, so I'm guessing very, very disorganized and bad as this is, it's still better than it was.

Okay, but besides finding someone who can help you and the 'chief of all evil outside of the valley' who's trying to stop you, what ELSE are you supposed to do in the village.

We'll look at that next time when Chapter 3: Talk to the Villagers continues.

So chapter 3 does have more of an overview of the town then I gave credit. It's wordy but it exists. The PCs are expected to respect an overly bureaucratic local authority and tolerate 'minor theft' from the locals, at least until they have faced and defeated the demoncroc, after which they are respected and appreciated. If they do cause trouble then 500 cavalry with priest-mages will show up to keep order. It just seems so very heavy-handed - there's an ever-present reminder that the PCs can be put down if they see every NPC as a potential murder-victim.

Oh, and everyone who is 'dedicated to chaotic evil' (and they are numerous) has an item that shields them from detect evil. Which is why everyone should only cast detect good. If someone is good and they detect as good, you can be confident that they're good. If you cast detect evil and you don't get a reading, you don't know if they're good. They could be good, or neutral, or protected. If you cast detect good and they don't register, they're either evil or neutral - either way, not to be trusted. But then this item realized that, so if you cast 'detect evil' they 'detect as good' - which means they shouldn't detect at all, but I guess if you do detect good, they ping.

While I can't blame this module, D&D has a long history of giving people abilities and then saying 'too bad, they don't work'. Which is basically the same or worse than not giving abilities. And since this module is written by the guy who gave us D&D, I'll bring it up here. If spotting the evil people in town prevents anyone from having a mystery in D&D, maybe spotting people who are evil is itself the problem. This is one of the reasons we ditched alignment completely in our home games - and we don't miss it. We don't have to worry about how explaining why 'innocent townspeople' who are 'pilfering from the much wealthier PCs' are 'good' but the 'orc raiders' who are 'raiding the much wealthier townspeople' are 'evil'. Anyways, once the PCs learn that there's an item that every evil person is wearing on their neck that prevents anyone from registering as evil, they'll know who the bad guys are ANYWAY.




This is actually a major plot point in Star Trek The Next Generation when Data solves a mystery by knowing all the spoilers


Oh, and when he gives them poison wine (DC 18) that isn't going to cause the ENTIRE PARTY TO FAIL so it's a very stupid strategy. Once the PCs realize that the merchant is a bad guy and has a secret shrine to Sebek and they kill him and his evil household (except for 1 son who tries to warn the PCs), they're expected to give all the treasure to a 12-year-old because 'it's rightfully his'.

There's all kinds of gold floating around in this adventure. But nothing to spend it on. So I suppose you might as well give it to the boy.

We'll be talking about traps, later, but the prices for traps are CRAZY. There's a 5,000 gp statue and it has TWO CR 4 poison needle traps on it. A CR 4 poison dart trap costs 12k gold, so the traps are probably worth 24k gold. Even if you decided it was more similar to the CR 2 Poison Needle Trap, that's worth 4k (so for two of them it's 8k). Who spends MORE on the trap than they do on the item? If you did want to Greyhawk this module, stealing just the traps is the way to do it.

While you're in town you're supposed to buy god statues. There are like 100 Egyptian gods including the likes of Pakhut (leopard-headed woman) and Tuart (white hippopotamus) or Mafret (woman with 20 clawed fingers). Later in the adventure rooms include a description of what the figurines do to help the PCs. Here's an example of the text:

If any of the PCs has an amulet, charm, talisman, etc., of the right sort-an object that would give warning, or a statuette of any Khemitian deity of non-chaotic or neutral evil - the thing will grow icy at the suggestion of entering covertly

So after having given out one statuette per PC, now I have to determine which of them might be one of the seven alignments that helps. In any case, the cold is supposed to warn you that sneaking in is a bad idea. You see, even though it is a temple of evil it APPEARS to be a temple of good. But even if the PCs have reason to suspect it is EVIL, sneaking in is BAD. And you can't do it anyway - the bad guys KNOW the PCs are approaching NO MATTER WHAT. If the PCs sneak in, the DM is supposed to demolish the PCs fairly but remorselessly. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. You're supposed to get the statues so that the DM can 'subtly warn' players about 'correct play' apparently.

So there are bad guys, there's a good guy, the PCs buy statues, and eventually they kill the demon crocodile.







They buy some goodwill with the locals, so the oppressive threat of police action against them lessens. You cut open the stomach of the crocodile and find more statues. Based on all the things you do you get XP awards: -400 for killing innocent PCs, +300 for buying figurines, and +200 for various friends. Otherwise they're supposed to go to the Pool of Hapy (Chapter 4) where they kill the Demoncroc if they didn't do it before (since it runs from them, this is actually the more likely place.

The real reason to come here is the cleric of the pool has magical weapons that he will award people who are taking on the evil. These weapons are secured with an unbreakable magical cable because of course they are - there's a right way and a wrong way to play and you will NOT be allowed to play the wrong way.

Chapter 5: The Road to the Gorge

This chapter describes itself as the shortest and most direct, but it gets just as many pages as the others in part because there are a lot of stat blocks. Stat blocks are also at the end of the book, and many characters have an abbreviated stat block in the text. I think consistency is good and repeating is bad. They choose repeating.






There are three things that are supposed to happen. First, the PCs are supposed to ride directly to the Necropolis, falling into an ambush. The ambush has three characters of 12-13th level, and 20 low-level warriors. It’s at least an EL 16 for characters that are probably not even 10th level. The enemy leader is a 13th level cleric with blasphemy, so if the PCs get close they’ll get dazed and weakened. If they were below 8th level it would be paralysis, but it’s definitely a tough fight if the enemies are played well.

Following that, the PCs can find the bandit lair and fight a guardian there.

The other thing they’re supposed to do is find a crazed wizard-priest who thinks he’s Annubis. The PCs aren’t really supposed to fight him, but he’s aligned with a bunch of were-creatures that they are supposed to fight. What they’re supposed to do is delay ‘Annubis’ long enough for the werecreatures to start something in violation of the rules of hospitality so Annubis will fight against his ‘allies’. There are suggested story awards for ‘converting Annubis to good’ but nothing I see about how one might do that. It’s pretty vague in general about the goals for the encounter and the non-combat options.

The thing is, putting combat encounters together is relatively easy – picking a few monsters from the manual (or the rather extensive list of monsters in this book) can keep the players busy. Carefully designed encounters that include complicated stat blocks and tactics are also helpful because building those kinds of characters is time-consuming. But creating ‘plots’ can’t be ignored. Creating a ‘crazy wizard that thinks he is the god of the dead’ is a start, but it’s not ENOUGH by itself.

Anyways, the text has a lot of things about ‘veteran players’ who are ‘highly skilled’. If there is a lot of fighting and the PCs survive, there are suggestions for ‘pushing’ them to return to town and rest up before they tackle the next chapter.


Chapter 6: The Temple of Osiris

The deal with this is that the temple isn’t really dedicated to Osiris. Like the false temple in the village, this is a subterfuge, and eventually the PCs will fight everyone, but not before walking into the trap.

Speaking of traps, they have one where an illusion brings columns to the semblance of life. Then when the illusion touches a PC they get the illusion of ‘dying’. It’s a DC 23 Fortitude save or become unconscious. How? No idea. And the illusion is only effective if the PLAYER has concern about taking damage from the attack. Later there is a trap where if you approach a silver sphere your non-organic material (armor, weapons) are transported to one place and you’re transported to a cell. There’s no save. There’s no indication that you shouldn’t approach the spheres.

These kinds of things fall into the category of ‘how good are you at reading your GMs mind’ and don’t reflect player skill or character ability. In that vein there are 12 secret doors where you have to guess which hand to use (like left fingers and right hand, or 10 digits) to make the secret door work.

There are also lots of ‘story awards’ that insist that PCs solve things ‘the right way’. If you ‘fight your way out, rather than using clues to escape/avoid combat: only one-half experience is awarded for defeating each monster’.

Following this, the PCs are EXPECTED to return to town before they tackle the Gorge of Osiris.




All aboard!


All of the emphasis on PLAYER SKILL is really an indictment of the adventure's ability to indicate what is likely to come next. A choice of left or right with no indication of what lies in each direction is just luck. Choosing to press on or return to a safe place to heal can have an equally right or wrong answer - retreating can allow your enemies to organize; pressing on can leave you down resources. The GM choosing which one is right in each situation becomes a measure of the players' ability to read the GM.

Whenever the module has a choice to reveal information to allow players to make an informed decision or face trade-offs, it instead aims to keep everything as a surprise and demand the players make a choice with no information at all, then punish them if they choose wrong.

The players see an Annubis headed creature surrounded by other animal-headed creatures who seek to cause harm. There's nothing that indicates Annubis is insane, or could be cured, or that he doesn't intend them harm. The last encounter they had was with the bandits that were waiting in ambush and couldn't be negotiated with. If you took the wrong lesson from the last encounter you're punished.

More than the possibility of extreme punishment (like annihilation), being asked to make a decision without any information on the stakes or any insight on how one could investigate is what makes something Gygaxian. From his perspective, players will learn about all the ways they can be punished over the course of dozens of characters, and then every room involves investigating with a 10' pole, every pool of darkness is poked with a torch. In short, players become paranoid. The game becomes a series of questions to lock down what details the GM is withholding to the point that players specify 'In addition to looking left and right, I also look up before stepping into the room'.

That's a game style that some people enjoy, but it's clear that it's out of vogue and generally unpopular.



Am I the asshole?


I understand that Gygax was well-respected as the creator of the world's most popular Role-Playing Game. That's a pretty significant achievement, and acknowledging that is good. It seems that at every turn when confronted with a possibility of IMPROVEMENT, Gygax dismissed it as inconsistent with his vision. I'm of the opinion that most things can be improved with a few revisions. But Gygax and Shadzar (and maybe only those two) felt so strongly that the first version was perfect so any attempt to improve it or make it more accessible to a wider audience qualifies as a BETRAYAL.

Does the ambush have listed tactics which aren't very good? Because my intuition is nagging me to remember some times when I dmed non-Tome games and had a TPK or nearly one... With a level gap that big it should be the players doing the ambushing
I wonder how many parties got through it and were fine. Actually it'd be interesting to have that sort of data for a lot of ttrpg things...

Excellent question! I will answer it in detail first by saying what there is and then more about what there is not.

First off, there is a regional map of The General Area of the Gorge of Osiris. And we can find the map online.


While it is hard to see anything on that picture, the cluster of black dots (bottom center) is the town of Aartuat. The track leading North is where the PCs are supposed to go. Along the track to the left and right are some white dots - they all say '5A' but you can't read them at this level of zoom. Those are all POTENTIAL ambush sites. The point being 'it doesn't matter which way your PCs go, the bandits will be expecting them'. And if the PCs go EVERYWHERE there's nothing to indicate that the potential ambush sites might have hosted an army.

The scale on that map is 1 inch = 1 mile, so this is a 9x11 mile area.

The first half page explains that the folk in Aartuat might join in the fight if they're not dead. It is long in part because of Gygaxian prose. For example:

Shenau (see Chapter 3, Area 13, above) has assembled this band of outlaw Khemitians and servants of Set under their chief, Turpur, stiffened them with wild tribesmen of the desert who care for no Khemitian deity whatsoever, and prepared them to keep everyone not a part of the dark plot out of the gorge area.

The next half a page talks about relative state of the attackers vis-a-vis the PCs. This is determined by a Spot check. If the PCs get a 38 or higher, they see the ambush before it happens. In that case While you might get a few missiles off from where you are, that will give the majority of them the opportunity to mount up, ready their own bows, and shoot back while they ride into you at a gallop. That's read-aloud text by the way. If all of the PCs that made a check (up to 3) hit DC 28 they spot it before it happens but both sides basically go at the same time; if any of the PCs miss the check the bandits are mounted and ready to strike. If everyone fails, the ambush happens with the PCs surprised. In that case they each get hit by an arrow and combat starts with the PCs surprised.

Even in this case, armor and ability should give the PCs a far better than equal chance to defeat their attackers, killing most and sending hte survivors off in flight. The spellcasters in the bandit party will use a single spell only before likewise falling on the strangers. They seriously underestimate the power of their enemy, of course. The undisciplined attackers will disregard missiles to fight with lance and sword. One or two will leap from their horse to fall upon a prone foe, seeking to loot him then and there.

Stats for the bandits are detailed below for convenience. Spells likely to be employed by the priest and Shenau the magician are listed, but the DM can manage these matters in any way he sees fit.

So after 1/2 a page about why there's an army lurking in the desert and a half a page about spot checks determining how prepared the enemy is, we get the paragraph above and we dive into a page an da half of stat blocks (10 Warrior1, 8 Warrior3, 4 Rogue2, 1 Rogue13, 1 Cleric 13 and possibly 1 Sorcerer12). If Shenau (below) is not encountered and defeated earlier in the adventure, he will be here as well; his statistical information is repeated for convenience.

Up to this point there's nothing about how to handle the bandits while mounted or running the fight. They don't have feats that allow or encourage mounted combat.

What follows is three paragraphs about ending the combat, all of which assume the PCs win. The first paragraph talks about the bandits retreating to their lair (and if the PCs follow they must fight a Sand Devil CR 10). The second paragraph explains that if the leader of the bandits is captured, he'll offer information that the Temple of Osiris is a front. Of course, if you use that information to sneak in, that's 'bad/wrong' so you get punished. The third paragraph explains that the Temple of Osiris will 'hear news' of the fight and be prepared. There's nothing about HOW they hear or HOW FAST they hear.

All of which seems to imply that this would be better resolved with Daggerheart style 'roll 2d12' against a TN equal to the EL and just narrate the result. Succeed with 'hope' and 'the bandits are routed, with a very few escaping toward their lair' or Succeed with 'fear' and 'the bandits are routed but they disperse in different directions making pursuit impossible'.

Even within the 3.x system, if the goal is to ensure the PCs win why bother with a high level spellcaster? From my perspective there doesn't seem to be good ADVICE on running the encounter. DMs are going to roll a whole bunch of attacks that probably need Nat 20s to do anything and it's going to be a slog.

So going back to the temple for a moment, the big-bad is a 16th level cleric. In the room where he is most likely to be faced are 12 pillars. Each pillar can summon a CR 16 demon. That is listed as an EL 16+. Just going to say that the plus sign is doing a lot of heavy lifting. This isn't even the end of the adventure yet, so PCs are lucky to be 10th level.

I've learned some things as a DM over the years. For example, in the event that you make an encounter too difficult, it's good if the opposition has something they want besides the death of the PCs. This guy's goal is to sacrifice the PCs so there's not really an option for any result other than 'kill or be killed'. Now, as a DM you probably don't want the PCs to die. So you might start playing your opposition with less skill. Literally, you can LET the PCs win. The problem is that if PCs are being allowed to win when they shouldn't, PC actions and decisions don't matter as much. The 'plot' proceeds, but it's clear that they're puppets on the GMs strings. That's not what you want for your PCs.

In addition to the temple itself, there's a basement that appears as the underworld. There's a chance the PCs get dumped there to count as a sacrifice. Among the many interesting ways to die is to touch an Egyptian game board. You get sucked in Jumanji-style.



The game is a rather simple chase game where PCs must move along a predetermined path while enemies try to land on their square. It's not too dissimilar to wizard chess except you get to fight as yourself.


The Story Awards serve as a clear gauge of expectations:

Discovering the temple is dedicated to Set: 500 XP
Marching up the Avenue of Sphinxes: 500 XP
Destroy shrine of Sebk, restore shrine of Osiris: 1000 XP
Using the amulet to control the reed boat: 200 XP
Recovery of each 'evil object (2): 500 XP each
Win the boardgame: 250 XP
Defeating Sphinx Parodies and entering shrine of Set: 250 XP
Destroying Ruby figurine in shrine of Set: 1000 XP
Leaving the 'Underworld' using the safe path (avoiding combat): 1000 XP
Restoring a statue of Osiris: 10,000 XP
Defeating a summoned demon as the result of a trap: 1/2 XP for each monster (instead of full)
Harming or taking non-evil things from the temple: -200 XP
Sneaking up the Avenue of Sphinxes: -200 XP
Trusting the Evil Priest and being tricked into the 'underworld': -500 XP
Pledging your dedication to the Evil god Set: -500 XP
Selling the Ruby figure of Set: -1,000 XP
Leaving the Underworld via the dangerous path: 1/2 XP for each monster (instead of full)

Now I, personally, am not a fan of awarding XP for each monster slain. This adventure is a great example of how XP can become a 'perverse incentive'. That is, it ENCOURAGES players to do something that the ADVENTURE doesn't want to encourage. In this case, the goal should be to escape the Temple with as little combat as possible which makes sense - you can't defeat the legions of hell so fighting two or three or thirty demons doesn't shift any cosmic scales, but it can be time-consuming and repetitive - a GRIND.

The thing is, if you are a 10th level party and you kill a CR 16 monster, you earn 24,000 XP. Divided 4 ways, each character gets 6,000 XP. And even if we penalize the XP each player gets 3,000 XP. Per monster.

So if you offer a story award of 1,000 XP for not fighting monsters, but you offer XP of 3,000 for fighting monsters, it's pretty clear which one is actually rewarded.

More importantly, if you're throwing CR 16 monsters at a tenth level party, they have some pretty strong incentive to level-up. Those are the kinds of players that start looking for a few orcs to kill on the way so they can level up faster. It's not the modules fault that XP is awarded that way, but if you want to ENCOURAGE play the players should know how they will be rewarded. Otherwise, it appears that rules are being modified flippantly in a manner designed to punish players who know what the 'real rules are'. That's also, perhaps, Gygaxian.

Chapter 7: The Bulge Gorge of Osiris

After clearing out the temple, the PCs are supposed to go back to town. Eventually they'll be told that they should go 'root out the evil', but that due to concern for the desecration of the dead there's a time limit before the authorities are convinced that their activities are problematic.

I can't find a map online, but the map looks like a mine map. The central shaft is open to the air, but multiple branching tunnels break off from the 'gorge'. Most of the branching tunnels are behind a shrine dedicated to a specific deity. There are some maps of 'sample tombs'

The players explore areas like 'tombs along ravine' and 'tombs near exit' and 'dry tombs' and they find mostly nothing, sometimes traps, and sometimes wandering monsters. Very rarely do they find treasure that wasn't already looted by ancient thieves.

There is a group of active thieves that will try to lure the PCs into opening a tomb and contracting mummy rot but for the most part the challenges here are extremely low-level compared to the PCs. Four CR 6 ghouls or any number of CR 1/2 asps shouldn't really pose a threat. In fact, some of them are not worth XP at all.

There's nothing about Story XP or other activities. So we'll be looking at Chapter 8: Rahotep's Tomb next.

This last adventure section is a classic dungeon setting. It
is a place that should prove to be a true joy for the DM and a
test of ability for all players and their PCs. Those who stand
up and succeed will also find it to be one of their more
memorable and enjoyable adventures, I predict.
Before we get on with the action, please tolerate a few more
necessary notes that should enable you to handle this whole
affair as if you personally created it.

The Tomb is organized into 3 sections. The general idea is that the PCs get through Section 1, think that they're done, and then find out otherwise. There are 37 numbered rooms (ending with a CR 29+) BBEG.


Somehow not this
I'll be reading every room in detail, but we'll try to summarize and cover the tomb itself in 3 posts, each covering one section.

Quick aside - Ra-hotep's tomb and the Tomb of Horrors apparently share more DNA than I originally realized.

Paul's Gameblog indicates that the earliest printing of the Tomb of Horrors credited Alan Lucien for the original idea. It appears the Tomb of Horror was an expanded version of Alan's dungeon the Tomb of Ra-Hotep.

This may indicate that Gary revisited that source of inspiration and instead of deriving it into the Tomb of Horrors, used it to cleave closer to how it was originally suggested, meaning that Necropolis is derived from the same seed as Tomb of Horrors making them Fraternal Twins, perhaps.

If anyone has the ability to do a deep-dive and provide the historical information I would be interested. It sounds like Art & Arcana includes information on the original dungeon that may have inspired both modules... So if someone already has it or wants to throw $60 at buying it new.....

The Tomb Itself

The party starts outside the tomb with a slab of rock marking where they want to go. They can just dig through the rocky door, but they're supposed to tap a button that corresponds to their Class, and when everyone does so, the slab opens. This also reveals their class/level to Ra-Hotep.

If you try to keep the slab from closing, you'll be prevented, but I'm confused on the method here.

It is worth noting that at the bottom portions of these pillars
are places for the identification of ghouls (et al,), demons,
fiends, and a whole assortment of monstrous creatures and
beings. This should alert characters to the fact that anything
they leave behind to bloc the inevitable closure of the slab is
likely subject to removal (and will, in fact, be removed in 2d3
hours).

Once you're in the next room all spells and abilities that allow seeing or moving through solids don't work because fuck you. This includes any type of ethereal travel, teleport, dimension door, true sight, etc.

The next room is huge and has four obvious doors (2 real, 2 fake) and 1 hidden door (the real door) and 2 alcoves.

Both of the alcoves are magical portals. If you touch one it shows a den of evil creatures (like ghouls). If you keep touching it, you get transported there and the monsters will definitely kill you though cruel DMs could play out the encounter with nearly 100 of the depicted creatures attacking the doomed PC. If you stop touching the portal, a handful of the enemies may instead be transported to you. Obviously whatever teleportation blocking magic is in effect to screw the PCs doesn't affect this.

The first fake door leads to a kid's menu maze. If you reach the end of it you're transported back to the room you started in. There is a warning puzzle as you enter the room the first time and Gygax is pleased that his warning poem is coming true.

This is, of course, in fulfillment of part of Rahotep’s pledge- “Turn and
twist back and forth, and the end is the same as afore ”

Another door leads to a hallway with a crushing ceiling trap akin to Temple of Doom.



As the ceiling drops down there becomes a gap that PCs are supposed to escape through. The description is pretty vague; I can't see how the ceiling dropping lower makes escape possible, but here's the quote.

Note that the lower the spikes and ceiling, the wider the
opening above the blocking cube, beyond which the corridor
can be seen leading south, back to point 2F. If the descent can
be halted, and the spikes (otherwise barring egress) nearest to
the cube broken or removed, an escape might be possible

The next false door has a carving where you can put your hands and face.





Which you are not supposed to do. If you succeed on a DC 30 Fortitude save something bad but not crippling happens. If you put your face in and fail the check, you're aged 1000 years and die. If you put your hand in it is aged 1000 years and withers to dust. If you're an elf? It doesn't say.



before they set an elf's maximum age at 750 years

The last fake door has a well with iron rungs. If you start climbing down a vat of acid concealed in the ceiling pours down (minutes later) dissolving the rungs making leaving the well impossible (assuming you survive drowning and many, many rounds of acid damage). Though sticking around for several minutes is probably not going to happen. Very specifically there is nothing to indicate that a trap has been triggered. Oh, and it destroys all metal items like armor and weapons. The spiked ceiling trap above had a DC for Search and Disable. This one doesn't.

The real door is plastered over and hidden behind a painting. It's thin enough to walk right through. Which releases a poison gas.

This leads to a room with a massive double door that appears to lead to a throne room. Inside the room are six sarcophagi. There are also 2 secret doors.

Deceiving the Players wrote: Here are instructions on how this place should be run so as to deceive the players into thinking it is the climax of their mission. Remember! You must play up the secret areas carefully, as well as that which lies beyond the double doors at Area 6 (Black Burial Chamber) to make the players think that these are the repositories of the main treasure and the remains of Rahotep.

At the conclusion of activity in Area 6, relax and act in every way as if that is the extent of the tomb complex. Mention that if the PCs can transport all the stuff they have found, and can find enough rich collectors of antiques, the total treasure will easily bring millions of gold pieces! Getting it out should be nearly impossible, though....

Take care, however, not to act too eager to end the affair; astute players will become suspicious. Strike just the right attitude, assuming your normal end-of-story behavioral mode.

Assuming you are successful in your deception and that the characters leave and try to find other adventuring areas that obviously must comprise the rest of this product (for you have not turned to the end of the book), encourage them to explore the rest of the Gorge of Osiris. In the days required to do so, evils befall the local populace, caused by the escaped spirit (khu) of Rahotep. Somebody might have to come and complain to them about the horrors being seen, terrible mischief, etc. The team will realize eventually that some error has been made, and will return.

Now back to our story!

The sarcophagi have Iron Mummies (constructs, not undead). When the double doors are opened they activate, though could potentially be destroyed before that happens. Before anyone opens the door an illusion of Rahotep will appear and try to bribe the PCs to do various things like kiss his boot or receive from him his power. Doing so is always bad. When the door is touched, the mummies animate and the spirt of Rahotep leaves the tomb.

This is important but inevitable; nonetheless you might wish to make it a dark and foreboding occurrence

The two secret chambers hold treasure. A couple of +2 weapons, 50,000 in gems, and bronze coins worth 2,000 gp or 40,000 if sold to collectors.

Beyond the double door is a CR 16 Lightning Quick Mummy that can spit Scarab Beetles.

After winning there's a whole page asking us to evaluate the PCs. Were things too easy? Too hard? Should you give the PCs something to power them up even though the victory would be sweeter if they did it without extra power ups?

After a pause the PCs should eventually return to the tomb, convinced that there is something left undone.

Part II: The Nine Curses

Before detailing more of the tomb there's a lesson on Egyptian religion explaining the parts of the body and how they were understood like the heart as the seat of wisdom. Each of them is associated with a curse that will be applied to the party. Each curse will strike at the closest PC, but if they save against it, it will strike at another PC unless all of them make the same (Will 25). You're supposed to be carrying around statues of the 'good gods' and the statues might provide some protection. If you made the mistake of thinking that carrying around a statue of Set would protect you from all of the Set magic, you are wrong and should be punished. If a curse kills someone they come back as a mummy. But what are the nine curses? It really looks like they forgot to say. More on that in a moment.

The religious lesson discussing parts of the body are also related to Rahotep's current existence. His shadow and his soul are wandering the premises separate from his corporeal form, giving him some of the powers he has. Any damage given to the pieces are applied to Rahotep himself, and since he has Fast Healing 10 and the spirit form has bullshit immunities, the PCs basically can't do anything to prevent him from spying on them. I think that in earlier versions Fast Healing wasn't an option, because it talks about tracking damage and ensuring that the final boss version is reduced by the amount of damage taken. But with fast healing, that's not actually going to be any.

So why do I say the curses don't do anything?

The First Curse: Rahotep laid this casting upon the party himself, by means of his khaibet. And, yes, he can be in nine places at once! (His problem is that he wants the nine to be in one place again all together!) The curse mentioned is really the first of the Nine Curses of Rahotep, discusses in detail above. It is delivered against the PC in the lead, or if the party is two abreast on the stair, the character with the higher Wisdom score of those in the front rank. If the PC in the party for whom the curse is intended has the Cleaver ofSet, the curse fails to activate, but Rahotep is aware of this fact and knows who possesses the Evil Object he longs for! In other cases, the victim can make a saving throw (Will DC 25) to avoid the curse as described above.

As an incidental effect, the First Curse also masks the existence of the pit trap ahead, unless the character has the Evil Object or statuette noted or the victim's Avoidance attempt succeeds (see 7A, hereafter).

The incidental effect is clear enough (can't notice the trap that you're about to fall into), but what's the PRIMARY effect? I think that we just mark which character has which curse and they'll activate later in the adventure to rob a player of agency. I would like a sidebar that lists the 9 curses, where they occur, how they activate, and what they do, but it doesn't look like I get one.

Unless the entire effect of the curse is handled with a 40' pit trap. Which is possible. Because the curse overrides any protective spells like feather fall or flight. When you fall down the pit (or bypass it) you get hit with the Second Curse.

So far you've been walking in from the the false tomb. Before you have any other options you come to a 4-way intersection which is also a pit trap and the pit trap hides the 3rd curse and a secret exit to the third (and final) part of the module. The door opens normally if you have all nine curses, but the 4th curse is behind the door, so it is supposed to drop and crush someone in the pit.

Couple passage ways with a couple of minor traps, and then you're in full Gygaxian territory. There's a room with statues of the 'gods of good'. Except they're not actually statues. They're really demons disguised as gods. One player gets a note telling him what his character will do. If you get some riddles right a door opens and you move on. If you get them wrong demons appear and ask your name. If you give them your name they can command you without any saving throw.


There are a few more rooms, basically standard fare (like a room that is safe unless you say Rahotep or touch anything), and then a room that creates the illusion of an endless dungeon. Trying to convince my players that each new room is actually a new room rather than minor dressing changes based on the illusion sounds incredibly frustrating for everyone. This really seems abusive - and I get that some people like the challenge of an adversarial GM, but it's a far cry from the greatest adventure of all time.

The final battle is once again a DM trick. The DM is supposed to make a show of rolling DC 30 Will Saves for the players (behind a screen).

Now make a show of having everyone make Will saves (at DC 30!). Ask about figurines carried, any protections, and so forth. Then roll dice secretly twice for each PC, shaking your head, exclaiming and muttering. Somebody fails with a score just over that needed but no, you forgot his statuette of. . . . You get the whole dramatic ploy now. Somehow the whole party makes it!

Yes, it really is Aldinach. The great demon being is magically compelled to make an appearance and carry out a sham battle, doing its utmost to make the combat seem real. He utters fearsome noises and threats, howls, and generally carries on as should a properly enraged and terrible demonic lording of great sort.

There's nothing about what is 'sham' about this battle. The demon destroys all the treasure in the room, inflicting minimal damage while doing so, but apparently the PCs are supposed to kill him? There's nothing about retreating or disappearing, or about PCs fleeing.

Depending on the condition of the PCs, they can potentially move right into the 3rd phase.

As we enter the third arc of the tomb, we have almost 20 rooms to go.

From the shaft at the entryway there's a secret tunnel that leads to the rest of the complex. The first room leads players to the North to explore Rooms 19-22; there is a secret door that leads to areas 23-31; area 31 is a secret room that leads to the true end of the complex - Rooms 32-37. So we'll take this in 3 sections.

Rooms 19-22

Utat-nebbu is Rahoset's chief lieutenant, a 16th level Sorcerer Vampire (CR 20). He's covered with an illusion that makes him appear to be a devil and he pretends to be Dispater.






His game is that he offers vast rewards to the PCs, but in order to claim the rewards they have to give their names. If any idiot takes this offer, I'm at a loss to explain how that character survived to this point, says Gary. Well, Gary, sometimes you're supposed to boldly approach your enemy rather than 'as a thief in the night', so you might think that telling them who you are is the appropriate action. The bad guys keep saying their names often enough. But in this case if the PCs reveal their name this being now has power over them, with no saves possible against his powers.

That's a big steaming pile of random-ass made-up rules. Look, Gary wrote the rules so he didn't have to give players powers he didn't think they should have. We're a couple of editions later, but the spells that he's modifying are the ones that were there originally, too. And in the first edition, a bunch of spells had 'secret rules' for the DM (located in a completely different book) so players couldn't confidently know how things were supposed to work. Whether DMs remembered that these secret rules existed and then applied them was...inconsistent. But for the guy who created the rules it annoys me that he's got a new 'True Name' system that works for the bad guys but nobody else. There's a lot of bullshit modification of rules for no apparent reason up to this point, but this one really needs to be called out. There's no warning (except skilled players will have learned) but there's equal reason to suggest the other.





So I clearly must tell you my name, but you would have counted on that, so I clearly cannot tell you my name.

You can kill him or let him escort you to a magical portal 'exit'. The magical portals will transfer you to his lair and strip you of all your gear. There is a way to avoid it, but probably not easy to figure out initially. If he's dead with time it can be worked out.


The Second Section of Rooms: 23-31

This requires finding a secret passage and you get the 5th curse as you enter and it does something basically immediately. The character that is affected (if anyone, and considering a TN 25 save that each character has to make, probably means SOMEONE is affected) makes a TN 20 Will Save when the trap triggers. If you make your save you dive into the trap and take minor damage. If you fail the save you take no action and a block of stone falls on your head killing you instantly. If the DM decides not to kill you, you're permanently removed from the adventure.

They continue on to be attacked by construct skeletons then step into a room with an illusionary acid rain. If they move to the edges of the room to avoid the acid they get attacked by mummies. There are four passages away from the main room, each filled with more monsters. If they stay in the main room they fight a CR 18 Scorpion-Snake. Like the serpent-man in the MM, a snake with scorpion legs doesn't really look like a snake.

The PCs eventually find the secret entrance to the 'end game' and pick up the last two curses. A couple more rooms and they're in the Hall of Nine Columns (CR 29+). The real key to defeating him is destroying the nine evil items that they PCs were supposed to gather. Then, like all movie villains, the whole complex and all the treasure is destroyed. Some PCs may be compelled to help free him, but pretty much you avoid the big fight if you play it right.

And that's the module. There's an epilogue with suggestions for expanding the campaign (they can be nobles and defend the Pharoah) and a 19-room bonus dungeon (Temple of Set) that they could have teleported to from the Necropolis. The only things left are the gazetteer type information on monsters, gods and geography.

I'll pull my final thoughts together in another post.

Final Thoughts

In the real world, Ancient Egypt has a cultural pull that isn't really matched by anything else. It constantly blows my mind that Cleopatra, the last Pharoah, is closer in time to us today than she was to the pyramid builders. The Great Pyramid originally stood almost 500 feet tall. It stood as the tallest building in the world for more than 4,000 years. With a weight of 5.5 metric tons, it's heavier than the heaviest building in the world (The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest at 4.1 metric tons). It's a feat of engineering that inspires awe and 14 million visitors annually.

For RPG players, the idea of ancient tombs laden with treasure protected by monstrous guardians and powerful magical curses more or less directly enters our shared imaginations from Egyptology. As a potent source for so many of the trappings of the game, there's a real appeal to visit a 'real' Egyptian tomb, even if the country is called Khemit and it's as PCs in a fantasy game. Having a fantasy Egypt and setting an adventure there where their magic and cosmology is real is a pretty easy fit for just about anyone who plays D&D.

As far as the adventure goes, there are always two pulls - one toward meeting expectations and one toward subverting expectations. Popular thinking is that players want to be surprised. There's some research to the contrary - knowing what to expect and having that happen is also rewarding - it makes players feel smart and that they can figure out the world. In principle, mixing them is fine. This adventure did some good things with subverting expectations. Copper Skeletons are thematically appropriate, and having a non-undead menace in the tomb helps make sure that a variety of tools need to be used. Demons and were-beasts make interesting monsters and pulling them directly from the Egyptian mythos (or reflavoring them to match).



Mr. Furious: "What? Guns? That's your power, you shoot guns?".
The Blue Raja: "There's no theme at all here".
A Disco Boy holds up a heavy chain.
Mr. Furious: "See, you've got a chain, I would at least make it a gold chain. That's just off the top of my head".

Theme is important!

I also think that traps are an important part of this type of tomb exploration. In some ways it makes more sense for traps to exist when there aren't undead creatures wandering the halls, but in the imaginary space Egypt occupies, there's room for both. Mechanical traps that can dissuade would-be tomb-robbers by being both devious and deadly are completely appropriate.





All that is to say, the ELEMENTS that this adventure pulls together are all fine. It's the specific implementation that's lacking.

I think that there were too many attempts to add a 'twist'. Anubis is not actually Anubis, he's a crazy man who's got his head stuck in a mask. Dispater is actually a vampire Sorcerer Utat-nebbu. Players can't see through their PCs eyes, so they rely on the GM to narrate the important aspects of a scene. Characters may have abilities that allow them to pick up on important aspects of a scene. If disguises are going to be used, they should use the rules and PCs who invested in abilities that negate them shouldn't be punished for that. If PCs THINK they know the rules but they're changing that creates an unfair situation for 'expert players'. There are plenty of counters to True Seeing like anti-magic field. But just declaring 'these spells don't work here' is beyond unfair - it erodes the basis on which the game is played.

There are lots of ways that DMs can make a situation hard on the characters - they have a vast toolbox. Each time they reach for a 'this isn't supported by the rules, but I think it would be cool' it's probably worth asking if the rules support the game you want to play. If True-names allow you to command others, it should work both ways, or, if it doesn't, there should be an explanation. It's okay if Rahotep has levels in 'True Namer' and it's a PrC that the author made up and it's broken. I mean, it's not GOOD, but at least it explains how these things should work.

At the end of the day, players should feel like their decisions and abilities led to success. If you flip a coin 4 times and get heads 4 times in a row, you might be lucky but if that's how you 'win' you can't be proud of the success or bothered by the failure. Making things too random or capricious is bad, and there's a fair bit of that. Why is walking boldly between the Sphinxes a good thing?



There are reasons to think it might not be in popular culture

Why is putting your hand and/or face in what looks like a portal a bad thing? It's okay that these things are good or bad - the world needs some definitive shape for the players - but randomly guessing with no clue or basis doesn't prove that you're a superior player.

At the end of the day, I think that, like most modules, there's something here that could be salvaged. I'd rework a bunch of things about Rahotep's minions (making them more active in the world) and their relationship with the Pharoah (making it possible but challenging to get his blessing and legally enter the Necropolis). There are a number of low-level challenges that are appropriate in an adventure like this (snakes, scorpions, desert bandits) which are never going to directly threaten the players, but that doesn't mean they need to. If an encounter has a goal besides 'wipe out the other side' a few low-level warriors stealing horses and camels and trying to ride off into the desert actually can be a meaningful encounter even if they're no match in a toe-to-toe fight.

The rough outlines of the adventure might be salvageable. I don't think any of the encounters really are. Significantly higher level opponents encountered individually are very swingy; the PCs might deal 109 points of damage in the first round if they win initiative; but several of them may be out of the fight if they roll low on initiative.

If the goal of the adventure is to earn bragging rights, I think it fails. There are too many ways a DM can put their hand on the scale to thwart players or allow them to succeed. An adventure like this is like a 10-year-old telling you he defeated Kas - a testament to the generosity of the GM and not at all a reflection on difficulty of achievement. I do think it's possible to 'win' at this scenario, but I don't think it's possible to win and have fun at the same time. Since I think having fun should be the primary goal, I just don't think this adventure works. I'm sure there are some people who like 'Gygaxian Dungeons' and might be amused by this, but even for those players I think a 'tough but fair' dungeon is better. Everything can be trying to kill you, but those things should play by the rules.

deaddmwalking wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 16, 2025 4:13 pm

The DM is supposed to make a show of rolling DC 30 Will Saves for the players (behind a screen).

Make a show indeed, this is an interestingly bizarre part of the adventure... I'd never considered the possibility that the act of forgetting circumstance bonuses until after your roll and then retroactively adding them in could be an intentional gameplay experience and not just an awkward side effect of having too much stuff going on in the game for normal people to keep track of. Ya know, maybe we've been judging Gygax all wrong, perhaps he was actually trying, in his own bizarre way, to do these unreasonable things to encourage an enjoyable experience. Like maybe the bizarre traps and abilities that kill you if you touch them or don't or tell them your name or refuse to are there to guarantee that players will make a mistake because it's impossible not to make a mistake when nothing makes any sense; that way the players get more of an opportunity to roleplay their horrific and untimely deaths?

Although, this idea is a bit hard to square with his whole "YOU CAN NOT HAVE A MEANINGFUL CAMPAIGN IF STRICT TIME RECORDS ARE NOT KEPT" thing, which implies that making sense and planning ahead should be involved in the game... I wonder if he changed his mind at some point

I think, but I cannot claim to know, that Gygax felt that the GMs job was to challenge the players, so he didn't mind adjusting combats on the fly or introducing new mechanics to do that. Overall, it made things tough but survivable, but not always. With that type of play, if a player 'insists on making a mistake' I think he felt that humbling them was necessary. So things weren't as deadly as they seemed because he was clucking and giving clues or asking 'are you sure that's what you want to do?' before a particularly bad choice (as he sees it).

That still qualifies as reading the GM rather than the game world, so it's not what I want. But done well players will constantly feel like they survived the impossible - and therefore get a rush of endorphins and keep coming back. Some of this is baked into every edition of D&D - every fight should feel like the PCs could lose, but if there was really a 5% chance they'd lose a fight before finishing 2nd level. So the game wants players to assess the threat level as higher than it actually is. My preference is to offload that piece directly onto the game mechanics and not rely on a GM to futz with everything to constantly throttle the tension up or down without regard to consistency.

I found a review I wrote for an Egyptian Boxed Set published by Green Ronin.

Necropolis has information on gods and a pretty good bestiary included. But for a campaign setting it seems pretty incomplete. The Boxed Set doesn't really have any adventures - just seeds, but it seemed relevant.

Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra
Green Ronin Publishing GRR1407 MSRP $39.95 US
ISBN 1-932442033-2

Ancient Lands of Mystery!
Towering pyramids rise from the sands, speaking of the glory of kings long gone. Three mighty pharaohs, kings and gods, rule over a land divided – over nations hovering on the brink of war. Priests of mighty deities guide the lives of peasants and nobles alike, as all struggle to make the most of the fertile lands lining the mighty river Yor. All around, the desert grows, encroaching nearer each day to the last remaining refuge of a once mighty civilization. Welcome to Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra…

In August of 2008 I found myself at GENCON. It turned out to be a good time to make my first expedition. With the release of 4th edition I found exceedingly good bargains. Visiting the Green Ronin booth I picked up Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra for $5. After reading [i[The Samarkand Solution[/i] and The Annubis Murders by Gary Gygax, I was thinking of possibly running something set in an Egyptian-themed setting. At that price, I figured I could afford to be disappointed.

Opening the boxed set I found three books and a fold-out map. I immediately unfolded the map to see what I would find. I was somewhat disappointed – the map is real world Egypt. At least, it looked like it to me. The names were different – the Mediterranean is called the Uatch-ur and the Red Sea is the Gulf of Tefnut. While I didn’t recognize the names, I did recognize the geography. The map was labeled ‘Khemti’, but I could recognize the ‘Your River’ (referred to as Yor River in the accompanying text) as the Nile with its three cataracts. The cities, ruins and oases marked on the map, however, I wasn’t sure if exist, or even if they ever existed. The map itself was quite beautiful. The desert textures and raised relief showing elevations look like they may have come from a satellite image. The map is clear and easy to read. Unfortunately, terms used in the book are not marked on the map. Some terms not explained in the first book will be useful to the reader; ‘the black’ refers to the area along the banks of the Yor (where periodic flooding deposit fertile silt) and the ‘red’ are the deserts beyond the river banks. The guide also talks about Lower Khemti (the northern area) as ‘Ta-Mehtu’ and Upper Khemti (the southern region) as ‘Shematu’. Once those facts have been gleaned from the text, the map is easily used to understand what area is being described. The map also includes an inset showing the city of Hamunaptra.

The three included books are Book One: The Book of Days, Book Two: The Book of Gates and Book Three: The Book of Law. Each book has a different area of focus, but the structure is not entirely logical. Terms used in the first book are not explained until the second. However, nothing was so obscure that I couldn’t piece it together prior to finishing the other books. Looking at each book in more detail:

Book One: The Book of Days
The Book of Days (95 pages) begins with an explanation of the history of Khemti, including the last twenty ruling dynasties. The creation mythology is actually well thought out and makes sense (each race is favored of one god, except humans who were created by all the gods and are favored by all of them). This bit of explanation is masterful for all that comes later – it is used when explaining the relationships between the various races. Each race differs from the standard races in the Player’s Handbook in small and subtle ways. Most changes reflect the culture of Khemti, but there are a few mechanical revisions as well; such as Dwarves lose Darkvision but gain a +2 Strength and -2 Dexterity along with their existing +2 Constitution and -2 Charisma. Beyond the standard races with some minor modifications the book provides one new ‘standard’ race. The chosen of Annubis, or Anpur, are jackal headed humanoids similar to gnolls. Racial HD have been removed, allowing a player to begin as a ‘gnoll’ at level one. This is a big deal for me, since I have one player that adores gnolls – this may be the answer for letting him play one from the beginning of a campaign. For the most part, I think the racial revisions provide sufficient ‘food for thought’ to justify my $5 investment.

The standard classes in the Player’s Handbook are again present, with new names more appropriate to the setting. Most of the changes to the class are minor enough that using the standard classes with the new name would be sufficient for the setting, but the changes are appropriate, and if you have the boxed set, it can’t hurt to make the adjustments. For example, Sorcerers gain Eschew Materials and Summon Familiar as bonus feats at 1st level, and throughout their career they get a minor boost to Metamagic and learn a couple of innate spells (supernatural ability) at higher levels that make them a little more interesting but don’t affect the overall power setting of the campaign material. Other classes, such as wizard, remain exactly as their PHB counterpart (though they are called Kheri-Heb). For the Priest class (cleric) they lose the ability to spontaneously cast heal or inflict spells, but they gain the ability to channel prepared spells to cast their domain spell. For example, a 1st level cleric with the protection domain may lose a prepared spell to cast ‘sanctuary’ more than once per day. As someone who has frequently played clerics and has specifically chosen domains for access to particular spells, this is a great change and helps eliminate the trope that all clerics have as their main purpose to heal their companions.

The book continues with a couple of new skills (and new uses for old skills) and 32 new feats. As far as feats go, they are very appropriate to a ‘core only’ game. In a game using multiple supplements, the feats may not work as intended. For example, Desert Creature allows you to make a Fortitude save once per day in desert conditions rather than each hour. Sandstorm (published by Wizards of the Coast) offers a feat called ‘Heat Endurance’ that works completely differently mechanically, but achieves a similar effect. Beyond the differences between similar feats, there is also the question of how they stack. For the most part, the feats in this book are ones that I found interesting and appropriate to the setting. I have no concerns about them changing the power level of the game, and would certainly allow them in a ‘core only’ game, even if it were not for an Egyptian-style setting.

The book features an abbreviated list of weapons and armor appropriate to the setting, along with a couple of new weapons, though most are unremarkable. Mechanically, they offer a benefit to possessing a helm without increasing armor class. A helm does not make you harder to hit, but an attacker takes a -2 penalty on confirmation rolls for critical hits if you are wearing one.

Following the description of spells and feats, we have a section on Khemti magic. There are a few new spells, but everything in the Player’s Handbook remains fair game. Again, the book provides a way to change the flavor of standard magic without changing much mechanically. Essentially, they remove material components for many spells and use foci instead. For example, to cast a spell from the Evocation spell, you normally need a wand or a staff as a focus. As an example for how you can ‘tweak’ the core rules to transform them into a completely distinct flavor, this book was an excellent example. For DMs that are ‘world-builders’, this may be worthwhile simply as an example of how to differentiate regions in the world without using completely different rules.

Book Two: The Book of Gates
If the first book provides for character creation, the second book (56 pages) provides the campaign setting details. The first chapter covers cultural practices and the like of the ‘civilized’ people of the black lands, and a brief overview of the people of the desert. Castes and social classes are briefly examined, a system of weights and measures is provided, and information on political divisions is covered.

The second chapter is a description of 27 Egyptian deities with associated domains and other good stuff. It provides information on more deities than does Deities and Demigods, but less overall information. Since the gods are not active in the world of Khemti (at least, not anymore), there are no stat blocks for the gods. There is information on how they are depicted in art, the appropriate dress for their priests, and information on portfolios and domains. It may be enough to provide some ‘campaign dressing’, but doesn’t provide enough information to really explain the beliefs of the various worshippers, or how different deities with the same domains interact in anything but a superficial level.

The third chapter provides an overview of the major cities, and was the most disheartening for me. There are no maps given for cities, except Hamunaptra, and that only has four marked locations – the Colossi outside the gates to the city, the Citadel (Pharonic Palace), the Temple of Osiris, and the Great Gallery (an arena). The city has an abbreviated stat block (as do the others described in the book) providing the total population, the racial breakdown and a handful of important figures. For Hamunaptra we are provided with the name, race and class levels of five major NPCs (the pharaoh, his Vizier, a high priest, the military leader, and the pharoah’s bodyguard). As far as any city based adventures, the DM is going to have a lot of work to do. The final chapter on topography is similarly unenlightening.

Book Three: The Book of Law
The final book is something of a hodge-podge. Included are chapters on adventure themes and seeds, secret societies, prestige classes, magical treasure, and monsters. The adventure themes are well-thought out and include good advice on how to make an adventure/campaign interesting and progress. Some of the advice is rather generic, as are the list of 100 Khemtian Adventures. ‘The undead form of an ancient warrior can only be slain with the sword hidden in his tomb’ and ‘Two children of rival noble houses run away together’ may make good adventures, but not without a lot of fleshing out, and there isn’t anything particularly ‘Egyptian about them.

The information on secret societies does include some actual stat blocks (some even more than one). I always appreciate a few more NPCs to have on hand, and the societies presented I found to be interesting. For those who have read Green Ronin’s Cults of Freeport, this chapter is like a much abbreviated version (providing information on six organizations).

Prestige classes seem to be a necessary evil in 3.5 expansion products, and this supplement is no exception. The prestige classes presented in the DMG are available in Khemti, as are nine new prestige classes. Some of them were both interesting and appear to be basically balanced. I enjoyed the Deathblade (a 10 level martial prestige class that allows you to animate the corpses for a short time) very much. The Dunewalker and the Lector Priest would not be permitted in my game – they are full caster progression prestige classes with additional extra abilities… For example, the Lector Priest has full Priest (cleric) spellcasting, has good Fort and Will saves, a d8 HD, and gains three additional domain powers (and three extra domain spells per level each day), all for the ‘cost’ of a poor base attack progression. Considering that is only a difference of +2 BAB over ten levels, it’s a deal just too good to pass up.

There are some interesting weapons and other magical items. I like the ‘Lash of the Cobra’ – a whip with a few other special properties including delivering poisonous bite on a critical hit. While other items are similarly useful and appropriate, three pages of magical items hardly warrants its own chapter.

The final chapter, covering creatures of silt and sand, offers fifteen new templates/creatures. These range from CR ¼ symbiotic vermin that draws on magical energy of the host and provides sustenance in return to a CR 40 sphinx. In fact, the book leans toward the high side with two other sphinxes with a CR at 37. The most useful creature in my mind was the Desert Khaibit, an undead that takes the form of malevolent shifting sands. Essentially, the monster is much like ‘Sandman’ from Spiderman 3.

While my criticisms of the product may seem harsh, overall I am extremely impressed. This product would be great for anyone planning on building a campaign world that features an Egyptian-inspired setting. To run a campaign in this setting there is plenty of material to inspire, but the work of building adventures and locales will fall squarely on the shoulders of the DM. Finally, any DMs that are interested in changing the ‘standard flavor’ of a D&D campaign without completely rewriting the rules would find this product worth reviewing personally.

Rating: 14