Temple of the Beggar-King

By Jesse Gerroir
Luminescent Lich Publishing
OSE
Level 9

One-thousand years ago the royal guard of Leon III, the King of Kings, set out into the desert to find and destroy the stronghold of the mad prophet of the eastern wastes, the Beggar-King. Into the desert the royal guard, the hand of Leon, marched. It is not known what they encountered, just that they, and the Temple of the Beggar-King, have been lost to time ever since.

This 52 page adventure uses about thirty pages to feature a three-ish level dungeon with about fifty locations. Vaguely based around concepts of meditation and enlightenment, it presents a variety of puzzles ,traps and challenges in a thematically consistent way. Only rarely falling over the line oy eye-rolling, it uses language and formatting to effectively communicate room vibes and make them easy to run. A pretty decent level nine.

So we got a cult. Unlike most cults, this one wants to be let alone. And they have been for a long, long time, hiding out in their desert temple. There they have their leader who they protect, The Ascended One, who is cycling back and reviewing each of his past lives. Eventually though he’s gonna hit the start, Creation, and who knows what happens then? In the meantime, the cult protects him and their complex. It’s been sealed off, deep in the desert, for a long LONG time, since the royal guard went to finish them off. And no one has heard anything from anyone since. Oh, hey, except, babies now being born, as a hook, can talk immediately and have full memories and are stark raving bad, trying to deal with the whole conception/gestation thing. ABOMINATION! Anyway, a decent hook. Very freaky in any event. 

We’ve got a great Mythic Underworld thing going on at the beginning, with a statue in the desert: “The statue is as tall as a palm tree and buried up to its waist. With blank eyes it looks to the horizon, its painted countenance long ago blasted away by the desert wind.” And underneath it in the shade is Omar the shepherd boy, rumored to know the way to the temple. We got some Ozymandius action!Noice! And then after a long journey you reach a slot canyon, with a passage only wide enough for a mule, opening up to a great facade. Ozymandius and now Petra! The passage inside is sealed by a great block (shade of the stone plugs from the Great Pyramids of Giza?) with an inscription in front of it “This message is a warning of danger. By the gods above let the danger no longer be present in your time, as it was in ours. This is an accursed place. You will die.” Well Howdy Do there. That’s pretty good. Accursed. You will die. A hope for the future. I’m digging the vibes and we’re not to the dungeon yet. Omar leads you a hole in the ground. A break in a domed ceiling evidently, with giant clay jars in the chamber below. Down you go. Oh, Omar? “ he will cut their rope when they are halfway down. Then, slitting his throat, he will exclaim, “At last I am free,” as his lifeless body falls below waking the UNDEAD MONKS.” Fucking a man! This is how you do a mythic underworld entrance! Plus, you know, tex text specifically addresses the lack of water, food, and presence of sandstorms for those level nines who, and rightly so, are bringing a great entourage with them. You with me so far? The hook, lead in, and logistics thing. It’s setting itself up well. Oh, also, it doesn’t really gimp spells. It adds from freaky effects to a half dozen or so, mostly with weird visions floating around and stuff. Well done. It only specifically gimps dimension door and teleport. Generally I’d bitch, but its consistent and the theming of the other spells fits in well. I do appreciate a good pretext.

Inside are a lot of tricks, traps and some encounters with creatures. What’s interesting here is that it does a pretty job of keeping on theme. Those undead monks? They are real live monks who sealed themselves in giant clay jars and starved themselves, living on pine nuts and needles, mummifying themselves while they are still alive. I think that’s a real thing? Anyway, these end up being ghasts. But that’s because ghasts make sense. It STARTED with the self-mummifying monks, as a concept, and then the ghasts were used as stats. That’s the fucking way you do it! Imagine first then dump in a creature. I will leave unsaid what happens when some 3 HD ghasts meet your level nine cleric. An easy first win, perhaps?

Descriptions are pretty decent. Here’s one of them: “The stale smell of dust and dried flowers fills the air. Darkness reigns amid four stone pillars and a large brass idol looms between them. Woven prayer mats sit before it in supplication. It rests with a serene look on its face, upturned palms on its knees. Two rubies, each as large as a fist gleam in its eyes, and long strips of paper prayer flags hang from the ceiling and flutter about its head.” So we’re getting a little purple in places with the whole Sit Before It In Supplication thing and Darkness Reigning. But, otherwise, it’s a decent picture of a room with a very real temptation for the party. Love it. Of course, this is a variation on a Grimtooth where the gems act as a plug for pressurized poison gas. You’re level nine. Figure it out.

Another example of a room encounter might be this one “An antechamber in the hallway leads up several steps. In the recess, three times the height of a man, lies a grand double door. It looks impenetrable. Thirty-three locks adorn its surface” Decent description. Good imagery. And, again, it leaves the party with this very real thing to explore: the 33 locks. Things are just a little non-standard here, enough to be recognizable but bringing life to them again. One room is a riddle room, but it’s koans. With instructions to the DM to ““The Referee is free to accept whatever answer the players come up with that they feel provides insight into the nature of reality and consciousness. “ Great way to fucking handle this! Fits in thematically and relies on the DM. I’m down! And the adventure hits like this, with a trick/puzzle/trap/encounter and description over and over and over again. 

We are looking at about 200k in treasure here, and some decent magic items, such as a Ringing Bowl. You know, run your wet finger around it and it makes a rining sound? Except his one captures all sound. And if you do it the other way it releases it. There’s current;y a fireball inside. OUCH! But, hey, it’s also yours after. The adventure has these magic items that fit in well with the theme.

Almost nothing here feels forced. It feels like everything fits in well. It’s challenging in places. You had better have brought your divination spells and your A game as level nines. We’re not talking Tomb of Horrors, but also I did invoke that name in relation to this adventure. It is quite amazing that tis coming from someone who is seemingly a first time adventure designer, at least for publication. The wordsmithing, the design, the consistent theming without forcing things. Top notch.

This is $4 at DriveThru. The preview is the entire thing. Nice. That’s someone who is proud of their work and not afraid to show it off.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/512473/temple-of-the-beggar-king?1892600