Friday Fantasy: The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet

Only scholars and adventurers care about the past. One for the knowledge they can gather and the other for the treasure they can find. The civilisation of the ancient Azinir people, lying in the Great Desert south of The Known Lands fell a thousand years ago after thousands of sacrifices were made in both blood and labour to build a great temple for their king. It was dedicated to his demonic patron Atum-Isfet, Lord of Entropy and patron of un-death and upon its completion, the King of the Azinir people sealed himself, his concubines, and his attendants inside the temple-pyramid, taking with him some claim, the royal treasury. The King of the Azinir was never seen again and the kingdom collapsed, the king’s disappearance passed into legend, and then even that was all but forgotten. Except recently, a nomad stumbled into the city of Dumatat, half mad after surviving a terrible journey across the desert, and told stories of how he had survived in shadow of a great structure, but had not dared enter the dark and foreboding entrance high up on its surface. As these spread, the people of Dumatat suddenly recalled the legends of the King of the Azinir and wondered if the nomad had found the mad king’s final resting place. So too did the flood of treasure hunters and adventurers which flooded into the city, hoping to find the temple and plunder the by now famed lost treasury of the recently remembered kingdom.

This is the set-up for The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet published by Death Guaranteed Games. It is designed for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game from Goodman Games and is a ‘Character Funnel’. This is a feature of Dungeon Crawl Classics, a scenario specifically designed for Zero Level Player Characters in which initially, a player is expected to roll up three or four Zero Level characters and have them play through a nasty, deadly adventure, which surviving will prove a challenge. Those that do survive receive enough Experience Points to advance to First Level and gain all of the advantages of their Class. The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet requires between sixteen and twenty-four Zero Level Player Characters, so between four and six players. In terms of the set-up for The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet, what this means is that the Player Characters are not the adventurers and treasure hunters come to plunder the kingdom of Azinir’s treasury—though unusually for a ‘Character Funnel’, there is potential scope for them to do so within the scenario itself. They are instead the members of the poor and the down at heel of the Dumatat, lucky enough to be employed by these adventurers and treasure hunters as servants and hirelings, muleskinners and hunters, and so on, all for the princely sum of ten gold apiece.

Unfortunately for their employers and potentially, fortunately for the Player Characters, events do not turn out quite how they expect. The Player Characters are ordered to stay outside in the base camp whilst their employers climb to the entrance to the pyramid high on its side. This lasts only so long when the camp is attacked by an enormous Roc and the only cover is that entrance, now lit by torches. Inside, the Player Characters make a grisly discovery, a corpse freshly stripped down to the bone lying on the floor, its boots recognisable as belonging to one of the six treasure hunters that employed them! What the players and their characters find inside the pyramid is a classic Ancient Egyptian tomb whose design designed by both classic pulp horror and pulp action. There are swarms of flesh-eating scarab beetles, there are vengeful spirits, there are traps, and more. The scenario is influenced by both The Mummy and Raiders of the Lost Ark and every encounter is nasty and deadly, not just for Zero Level Player Characters, but also First Level Player Characters—as the NPCs employing the Player Characters discover. As with any Character Funnel, the Player Characters will need to rely on their wits and their luck and whatever they find in order to survive The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. There is a distinct possibility of a TPK, or ‘Total Party Kill’, especially if the Player Characters are too inquisitive.

However, the seven detailed locations of the Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet make up only the second part of The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. This middle section of the scenario can be begun with the Player Characters at the base camp and run in a single session, perhaps as a one-shot or a convention scenario. To run as a longer scenario, the Judge can use the first and third sections of The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet. The first takes the expedition from the city of Dumatat to the site to the pyramid, mostly physical in nature, crossing rivers and climbing mountain passes, but also a chance to gain the benefit of a fortune being told. The third section continues the scenario and takes the Player Characters further below the pyramid. It is recommended that the Player Characters have a chance to rise to First Level and so have all the benefits of a Class. This third part of the scenario feels more random in nature and less thematic than the second part, so not as coherent.

To support the scenario, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet includes details of Atum-Isfet as a Patron and write-ups of three spells—Entropic Hand, Swarm Walker (which enables the caster to transform into a swarm of scarabs at the moment of being attacked to avoid injury), and Dire Supplication. Should a Player Character end up worshipping Atum-Isfet as a Cleric, these spells are a lot of fun to use and are even better if he can find the intelligent dagger, the ceremonial blade of Atum-Isfet! Lastly, there are a couple of handouts which should give the players and their characters a clue or two that might aid their survival. Oddly, none of the NPCs use these spells, which is a pity.

Physically, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is decently presented. It is decently written, whilst the maps and artwork are serviceable, and of course, not quite as polished as the scenarios from Goodman Games. The handouts are good though.

The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is an entertaining and suitably nasty and challenging Zero Level Character Funnel for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. For the Judge wanting an Egyptian-themed, pulp-horror-fantasy scenario that is surprisingly flexible in its set-up, The Great Pyramid of Atum-Isfet is a decent choice.