Review of Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent by Jeffrey P Talanian

Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent: An Adventure in Hyperborea by Jeffrey P. Talanian and North Wind Adventures is an adventure for characters level 4-7. Having appeared in Knockspell originally, the adventure in its stand alone incarnation is specifically aimed at the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea but is easily utilized with any old school D&D or derivative system. Weighing in at sixteen pages with the map on the inside covers and the OLG taking up part of page 15, this module packs a lot into a small package.

The B&W cover art is by Ian Baggley and is very well done in a painterly style depicting he sightless serpent as well as the other main antagonist, the necromancer Ivgah. Ian has a piece on the back cover depicting a skull half buried in earth with a centipede crawling out of the eye socket. My. Baggley’s work is first rate and he does have a few more pieces inside. They are all well done and convey the feel of the module very well. Well done sir! I feel I should also mention the cover stock itself. It is thick and a semi-gloss matte finish. I normally don’t mention such things, but I felt it was well done and added to the overall presentation.

The map inside the front cover depicts the enviorns of the crypt itself. It is no frills but its generic and sparse nature lends itself very well to being plopped in any campaign. The crypt map inside the back cover is computer generated, clean and effective.

The adventure opens with a portion of the tale of the sightless serpent and the Xavadar family. The Xavadar family sought to escape a plague by sealing themselves in a crypt with their necromancer Ivgah and the sightless serpent. The serpent weeps garnets and on very rare occasions, it weeps a white garnet that Ivgah needed in order to transform the Xavadar family members into liches under his control. This tale very reminscient in feel to something out of Edgar Allen Poe or some of the other nineteenth century horror writers and adequately serves to convey the feel of the rest of the module. The party starts in a tavern and a drunken and rather unsavory knave relates his encounter with the serpent and appeals to the adventurers to try and slay the monster and recover the gems (of course with his assistance as guide to the location and for a small fee).

There is action to be had for sure in this adventure, but the notable thing is the atmospheric nature of the setting. It is brief, nonintrusive, but definitely consistent and conveys a sort of dark gloom. I loved it. Well done. Some example encounters include a gelationous cube that roams the crypt (and which Ivgah utilizes as part of his necromantic magic, an assortment of undead such as skeletons and ghouls, and of course the sightless serpent itself (a basilisk with no eyes that weeps gems from its empty sockets). There are several traps as fitting for such a crypt type adventure to include a poison gas trap. Overall, there is a nice mix of encounters, traps, and exploration.

Unfortunately, I have not yet playtested this adventure so I cannot speak as to the length of time this adventure would take, but it is not overly long so I cannot imagine it would take more than two or three average sessions. This adventure is a prelude of sorts to the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea system. You can find out more at the North Wind Adventures site here: http://www.swordsmen-and-sorcerers.com/ and also order your copy. For only $5 USD you simply cannot beat the value here. I strongly recommend this to anyone and give it five stars out of five for fully capitalizing on production values, conveyance of mood, adaptability, succinctness, and overall dollar to adventure material value. I assuredly look forward to more from North Wind Adventures and the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea system!