The Lions of Tell-Arn

By Nikoline
Self Published
OSR
"Low to Mid Levels"

West of Kurhan, south of Makkalet, the burial-mound of Tell-Arn rises like a mountain over the fells. For a thousand years the Hyrkossi interred their kings, chiefs, and hetmen in its depths. But for fifty winters none have dared; the Lion of Tell-Arn slays any brave enough to enter. Now it ranges wider, beyond the tell, and threatens the village of Lambsblood nested in its shadow. The chiefs know why; they know a reckoning has come.

This 44 page adventure uses about twentyish pages to describe a two level burial complex with about fifty rooms in it. There is no “ancient tomb” syndrome here; the place is alive with a riot of things going on and interactivity, while keeping the encounters focused on game play. It is deceptively complex and intricate, ala the best of the original era third party supplements. 

Yeah, that’s right. I said it. Thracia. This isn’t Thracia. But man, it may be one of the closest things I’ve seen that gives off a Thracia vibe. It feels intricate and subtle. A weirdly mixed degree of hazards and interactivity. That odd OD&D feeling of not quite ever knowing what is going on, as a player, and yet having a lot laid out in front of you. “Why is there a greek temple here behind this waterfall, in the middle of Laos?” 

We’ve got these towns and village sout on the steppe. Vaguely tribal, herdsmen. There’s a larger town/city to the north and south, a few days away, and Lambsblood, the little village you are in. Nearby by is Tell-Arn, a burial place for the kings of old. And, now, stalking about, is The Lion, killing freely. There is a little history section in this (isn’t there always?) but it does a decent job of laying down a framing in a length that is not too onerous. It sets the stage for a three or so dead (ish) warlords of varying ages in the Tell, as well as The Ancients (err, “Middlemen”) and so on. What this results in the faction play kind of thing where the party could use use the inhabitants various quirks to exploit others. Thus we get a little sheet for each level that says things like “? The Victors of Makkalet observe the living, attack the Black Host, ignore the ancient dead, flee wights.” or “Baboons eat centipedes, climb on the statues, flee the roc, lions, and the undead.” 

Ok, so, a kind of burial mound with a hole in the side. And, in the grand tradition of decent adventures, there’s something on top. In this case, two rocs. Uh huh. And, sometimes, on the wanderers table, they dive in to the dirt and rip huge chunks out as if they are trying to get inside, leaving new holes open to the sky (at least on the first level.) Man oh man! I love the entire top. Nest, eggs, barren tree, a silver mask hanging in it. Yeah, a silver mask. Vaguely avian. And it causes confusion in the rocs and they mostly leave you alone. Nd fear in the lions inside the complex, and so on. A vaguely “this is a roc” kind of a reaction without going full on overboard with it. It’s great! This kind of situation, with a giant mostly barren mesa top, two big threats on it. Some obvious treasure … this is all great. It tempts you. It dares you. Go ahead fuckwit, push your luck. It’s not an explicit set piece but yet it is expansive enough to BREATHE and allow the party to plot and scheme. 

And this place is FULL of high HD creatures. And low hit die creatures. Like, a pesudo-lich, and then also the cultural hero of he tribesmen that doesn’t really know they are dead, and a fucking hydra. And, I don’t know, half a dozen others? Do not go gently dear adventurers! Use that guile and wit and those feet to work around folks and even, perhaps, make alliances. 

The formatting is decent, bullets, bolding of “the most important thing in the room” and whitespace to help organize topics. This, combined with the number of elements to most rooms, puts us at four per page. It’s quite he dense work with very little padding, again noting the degree of interactivity that a lot of the rooms have. Multiple things per room. 

Looking at this random room, “A doorway of rough stone. Two massive iron skulls are placed in niches either side of the threshold. If wights or the Lion are near, they begin chattering.” Window dressing, but pretty good window dressing. Certainly sets a vibe! I’m not enamored with the if/then, but that’s just knee-jerking since its not really used like an if/then. Still, though … Anyway, continuing on the next room “An articulated skeletal warrior, sat astride a skeletal horse. Raised on a bier. Wields a gold-hooped spear (BITER); both figures are held together with gold wire (50c rider, 100c horse).” Decent little scene. Maybe a little light on the adjectives and mood, but it still does a nice job. Moving to the first bullet: “? If a light is shone within, the shadows of 6 unseen figures are cast on the walls. These are 6 ghosts of faithful companions to a chief killed at Makka.” That’s a pretty freaky effect! Shadows kind of used as shadows … without being the real shadows of something! Anyway, further bullets explain that if you can speak to them in their language  they announce they are the protectors of blah blah blah and it becomes a safe rest site that they defend, while another tells us that if you wear the GOLDEN MASK then they kneel to the wearer and can be commanded, in part of the complex anyway. Nifty! It all works together, it all makes sense. There are some logical consequences to the creatures being there. And this adventure does that over and over again. There are reasons for things and you can take advantage of that. It doesn’t drop in fucking backstory to explain why they are there and just say THEY ATTACK! It doesn’t drop in backstory and then let you win them over. No, it concentrates on the Win Them Over without droning on or engaging in padding. 

Speaking of, let me drop these here “… a dead tomb-robber lies slumped against it [ed: a wall with doorway], head caved in; its arm is crushed between the south wall” Head caved in! Yeah! Arms stuck under a wall?! Yeah! Or, how about “… a tomb-robber sits cradling his head, rocking back and forth; his stomach has been torn open and his fat-slick guts spill out onto his knees” Game over man! This is a wight about to pop up. Wonderful handling of the undead. Wonderful introduction of real life shit to bring home the situation. These have a visceral feel to them …. Imagine what would happen if the language were pumped up just a bit more? 

Lots going on here, secret doors to bust through, things to fuck with, things to talk to, situations to maneuver around and perhaps ake advantage of, secrets to discover and exploit. A nice variety. All supported by a pretty decent map with room for an adventure to breathe in.

So, there are some things wrong also. I mentioned the language could be a bit punchier. And some of the rooms can really drag on a bit. This is the hidden depth of some adventures, but when you take it too far it starts to drag. This, combined with the specifics of the formatting, can do a bit of a wall of text, but in bullet and indent form. I suspect it has something to do with the justification (as in typesetting), but I’m not sure. 

It gets a little cumbersome also in the more NPC things. They are described as having who they are, what they know, what they don’t know, what they want, what they dont want, and what they can do. This sounds good, but it works out to be a bit cumbersome as you dig through it. There has to be a better way, perhaps by bolding a few keywords in each section or something. The adventure also leaves out a few things. WHile I was happy to see the treasure for scraping off the bronze, in the above example, with values, there are other parts where things seem to be missed. The entrance to the complex is flanked by two crumbling statues. Which is the last we hear of the statues. It’s obvious the party will investigate them. A couple of more words would have solved that, either in the initial description or in a follow up. IE/: you don’t have to follow up with another section on some throw-away statues, but, also, the initial description should then e enough. “Herdsmen soldier statues” or some such. Just enough for theZDM to further riff on.

Nice consequences at the end. For some of the Middlemen artifacts/magic items: “and make no secret of it, they are sought after, envied, and cursed from Kurhan to the south. Merchant-houses and wizards seek to steal their prize, and wars are fought for a single blade of Middleman steel.” Yupperoo buckeroo! You get a ring of wishes then people gonna want it, even the mostly kind-hearted ones. 

I like this. Decent map for play. Good complex with a lot going on without it feeling unnatural. Varied opponent levels, including the Lion-monster, to put some pressures on imaginative and fast play. Great treasure and magic items, varied, that don’t feel like book items but fit in naturally. I really kind of like this and want to run it! All from a first time designer who got inspiration from that Skerples starter adventure. If you grow up with good examples you produce good examples? I don’t know man, but I’ll take this one, for sure.

This is Pay What You Want at DriveThru with a suggested price of $1. A fucking dollar? Absolutely. The preview is thirteen pages, more than enough to get a look at several of the keys. Good preview. I would encourage you check out at least the preview to get an idea of what is going on. 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/510134/the-lions-of-tell-arn-part-i?1892600