Adventure Site Contest 3: Necropolis of the Forgotten Hero

Written by zs.gothpunk
For “old school” (uh-oh), levels 1-3
Secret Forgotten Mausoleum
A simple night in a simple inn in a simple town. After midnight, shouting and muffled screams wake up the adventurers. It is coming from below! As they try to find the source of the noise, they walk into a trap!      
   I believe, upon inspection, this is an OSE adventure. The shine has come off the system somewhat, but it’s still a perfectly cromulent B/X retroclone, there’s nothing disqualifying about entering an OSE adventure here. But unfortunately a vague “old-school” flags every single panic button we’ve got. This one’s cool, it’s got stats and intent and whatnot, but specificity is king.
   Our story is absolutely fine. The site is suggested to be in a cellar trap underneath an inn being used by the party, but a cult-infested tomb can really go anywhere. The pathetic aesthetic is strong with this one, the tomb is run by a “dark lord” who’s just a ghoul, his cultists are five desperate poor rubes…it’s all got a pleasingly Warhammer Fantasy feel, which is great for levels 1-3.  Who the titular forgotten hero was and how the ghoul got in here aren’t mentioned, but hey, undead and cultists, go fight ‘em.
   Now on to the map, which is simple but clean, technically vertical but without a lot of interconnection. It’s a hub-and-spoke linear design, fine for something with a 14-key scope. The nonlinear bit is hidden behind a couple secret doors, which is good design in a couple ways…hiding your “final room(s)” behind a single secret door leaves you a bit more at the mercy of those find hidden doors checks, this at least gives you a couple chances, plus in a dynamic site you have a chance (or explanation) for the classic “sneak around back” encounters.
   Sadly the random encounters don’t take advantage of this dynamic; you just get 1d4 giant rats in most of the dungeon or 1d4 zombies in the hidden section. Bummer, but at least we do have random encounters. Other encounters are cultists (weak but prone to being tricky), in-room rats or zombies, an animated statue (preventable by opening up something elsewhere in the tomb), and of course the ghoul at the end. None of the fights are complex or particularly threatening, but each of them is trying to do something. Plenty of interest, a decent sign of playtesting (and this adventure does credit playtesters).
   As we’re in what’s shaping up to be The Adventure Site Platonic Ideal, of course there’s some old classics in the trap department…the pit is obvious, but the empty chest with a magic ice-blast afterward is a nasty curveball. Janky pressure plate, nice. The king of low-level traps, the venerable greased stairwell, crops up on the way down to the final room. It’s both dangerous and comical, love it. For the last bit of environmental interaction there’s a puzzle with statues and items retrieved further in beneath the Dark Master, very solid.
   Treasure is pretty good for the level, and helpfully summed up in the front section. Just a hair under 5k in coins and jewels, a couple magic swords, and a couple utility potions. Perfect. A few bits and bobs are available just lying around but all the major hauls are behind tough fights (animated statue, ghoul+zombies) or the puzzle. Just solid design work, top to bottom.
   This site can be placed literally anywhere and it really should be. Some might call it vanilla, and they’d be right, but vanilla is a wonderful flavor and this is pure vanilla-y goodness right here. Just make sure its hit at a pretty low level, I suspect a pack of level 3’s would completely steamroll this.  

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