Session 1: Tomb of the Serpent Kings

 My group and I played through the first section of 'Tomb of the Serpent Kings' by Skerples this evening. My players and I are typically used to playing 5e and this is our attempt of moving away from that and trying something different. We had a session zero last week where we discussed what we want to do, what books I have that I can run and what I think would be good to start with.

As it's billed as a dungeon for beginners to the OSR style of play we opted for Tomb of the Serpent Kings. The 3 players, Fighter, Magic-User and Thief respectively took a very cautious trek through the upper section of the tomb.

We had our first (and so far only) death in one of the very first rooms! A lack of caution when breaking a clay statue, from the Thief caused the poor PC to die from asphyxiation as he choked to death on poison gas. (northerly room 2)

As we are still getting to grips with this style of play, and dungeon. I allowed the player to either stick Jr. at the end of the name of the character and play the offspring of their fallen character or simply roll a new one up. For times sake the player decided to just go with playing junior. I also asked if they wanted me to have a look at death saving systems and made mention of the modularity of basic D&D, they were happy to just play as intended and decided to just be more cautious going forwards. The rest of the rooms in the first half of the upper section were looted without any issue, as they would open the coffins and break the statues safely from a distance, and fishing the loot out after.

When it came to the big barred door at the end of the hallway I described how they could see the pegs holding the bar in place were also rising as they lift the bar and they can also hear a mechanical ticking. This immediately caused them to cease lifting the bar and explore further. The Thief decided to take a better look at the pegs holding the bar and described how he was looking at the pegs and looking around the area up and down. I made the party aware at this point that the Thief spots a giant hammer posed above ready to strike them and the door when triggered. To beat the trap the party described how they cut 10ft of rope off the 50ft length and used this along with 2 spikes (which I've always described as having rope loops). Proud of their accomplishment I discussed how careful and clever planning will always trump dice rolls, an important lesson that I am glad I was able to share.

The False King's Tomb was tackled in very much the same way as the coffins in the earlier rooms, the largest coffin being pried open first but this time the method different. Now the party had decided to wedge the crowbar in the opening and conclude the remainder of the leverage with a 10ft pole at distance. I was thrilled with the ingenuity and allowed them to succeed with no further action required. After the dust settled the skeleton snake (false)king emerged, the party though were ready with the Thief firing his bow, the Fighter charging in after with his Mace, and the Magic-User asking if he could use the 10ft Pole as a weapon to go for the knee of the foe, I totally allowed it and resulted in a funny way for the enemy to perish.
For the remaining two coffins a plan was enacted, open the coffins, retreat to the hammer trap, wait for the enemies to be in the kill-zone, set off the trap! A fine plan! But with one problem, the party only has one crowbar. The plan slightly adjusted with the Fighter opening his coffin, throwing the crowbar to the Thief and then quickly holding down the coffin lid while the Thief opened his coffin and then retreating back to the hammer together. The plan went off smoothly, I asked the fighter to roll a d20 for holding the lid down, I wanted a result lower than his Strength "Oh no a 4..." he grumbled. Which was soon turned into joy when I explained what the success was based upon, a lesson for this GM to remember in the future. They both retreated back to the doorway, trap was sprung just upon arrival of foe, smashing the hammer through the skeletons leaving behind bones broken into shards.

Some confusion did come from the party as I announced the secret passage in the room to the south, I re-explained that the passage way at some point was secret but not longer is due to water damage and time, I also used this as an opportunity to explain that there might be a connection between statues and secret doors.

Wary of the next room, a large hallway lined with snake men statues either side, with the closest statue on the left to the party rotated out of alignment with the rest. They investigated the statue, I made mention of scratch marks on the floor showing it can be rotated. The Magic-User asked if he could push the statue using a 10ft pole, I allowed it and said that the statue when rotated to match the others clicks into place and a secret door behind the statue is revealed. The party promptly looted a gold statue and a pair of hooked polearms from the mostly empty room and ventured forth into the Tomb.

The last room of the evening was a large octagonal room surrounded by many doors with a pool of black water situated in the centre of the room. A surprise attack leaped out at the Fighter as he got close to the pool to investigate, a pair of mummified hands. This calamity almost ended with the Fighter landing backwards into the pool as the Magic-User pried the mummified hand away from the Fighters throat, both falling backwards, the fighter catching himself and the Magic-User not being so lucky and landing on his back whilst also flinging the hand across the room. Once dealt with the party investigated the pool of water. Firstly with a 10ft pole which they learned the depth (10ft) and I described how they can feel objects along the bottom of the pool. Using the newly obtained hooked polearms I allowed them to fish all the treasure out, included one crazed mummified head! 

I had an absolute blast running this adventure, one criticism I have is there are little details on the reference map that are not included in the room description, I would have preferred if the room descriptions had these as well. Other than that minor nit pick I think the dungeon so far has been brilliant for teaching the OSR style to my players and I look forward to the party exploring the rest of the dungeon!