Quite massive in scope, this is not just an adventure for 7th-level characters but provides plenty of detail about sahuagin and their undersea life and culture and about the nearest 'land walker' settlement of White Moon Cove... and then of course there is the adventure itself, an epic exploration of an underwater feature that some say is natural and others are convinced was crafted by sentient hands.

A word of warning: when I say 'underwater' I mean it. Make sure that any characters are suitably equipped with magic, special abilities or equipment to enable them to survive underwater before you embark on this adventure. If it's a one-off, you can stipulate this, or have a dealer in suitable items show up. If you wish to run this as part of a campaign, make sure that characters have opportunity to acquire what they need - maybe things they find during earlier adventures will suddenly come into significance here. Or of course a vendor may come by... but that seems a bit of a fudge.

The adventure is set in Raging Swan's Lonely Coast campaign setting, but is designed so that it may be transplanted to a suitable outlying coastal area in your own campaign world if preferred, using either the White Moon Cove settlement as well or an equivalent township that already exists there. A range of 'hooks' are provided to help you sweep the party into the action, choose whichever suits them best. To promote the feeling of an alternate reality that exists beyond the need for someplace for your characters to adventure, there's a timeline of events in both White Moon Cove and the Sunken Pyramid itself... keep track as the days progress so that they take place as appropriate, depending on what the characters have done, of course.

A suggested opener is a saguagin raid on White Moon Cove, an exciting encounter in its own right and one which, through investigation, leads the characters towards the Sunken Pyramid itself - if they don't have their own boat there is a suitable one to hand (complete with a captain with her own compelling reasons to be helpful!).

And so, to the exploration of a massive multi-level complex... not quite a 'dungeon crawl' but more of a 'dungeon swim' I suppose. There's a lot to investigate (and fight, of course) and plenty challenges over and above mere survival underwater.

Everything is laid out clearly, with apposite descriptions, encounter details and stat blocks just where you'll need them and few if any errors (although bears are grizzly and fates are grisly...). Maps are clear and well-drawn so you should have no difficulty controlling the action. Various options for concluding the adventure and for further adventures are provided, of particular use to those running a campaign in which this will be but one adventure; and there is an Appendix of 'New Stuff' - monsters and items - and a second one giving the lowdown on running underwater adventures from the game mechanics point of view. Finally, there are some pre-generated characters for those who wish to run this as a stand-alone and cannot wait to get started.

Overall it is an adventure with the potential to prove a significant and memorable experience for any party of adventurers... and I've just had an e-mail that a local group I used to game with is reforming... :)

Return to The Sunken Pyramid page.

Reviewed: 26 June 2013