I am putting the finishing touches on The Sinister Stone of Sakkara, a two-level dungeon designed by the forum’s very own Tywyll with maps by uber-cartographer Chris Hagerty. I hope that Autarch will be able to publish this in the fall.
Here is the introductory text I wrote to introduce Tywyll’s dungeon. (JUDGES ONLY - spoilers!)
INTRODUCTION
AX1: The Sinister Stone of Sakkara is a ready-to-play adventure scenario presented for use with the Adventurer Conqueror King System™ (ACKS). It is compatible with other fantasy role-playing games built on the same core mechanics, but plays best in conjunction with the features and mechanics of ACKS.
The scenario is designed to serve as an introductory adventure for a campaign starting in the Auran Empire, the implied setting of ACKS™. It can be easily adapted to other campaign settings simply by simply subsisting new character and place names where appropriate. As an introductory adventure, it is intended for four to eight characters of 1st to 3rd level, with a combined total of 8-12 levels of experience in the party.
If you have already played or run adventurers using the Adventurer Conqueror King System, feel free to skip ahead to the adventure itself. If this is your first experience with ACKS, it’s worth reviewing some unique aspects of the game that have guided the design of this introductory adventure scenario.
ACKS was designed for campaigns in which the player characters (PCs) strive to advance from lowly adventurers to rulers of their own realms. Unlike other games, where the adventurers’ rise to worldly power must be improvised by the Judge or handled narratively, ACKS supports these aspirations with game mechanics embedded at every level of play. For this reason, the starting location of this adventure, Türos Tem, is presented as the stronghold of a realm controlled by a high-level NPC, with its population, revenues, costs, and morale score all detailed and provided. The stronghold can serve as an example of what a moderately successful adventurer in your campaign might aspire to rule by mid-levels; and if your adventurers do end up in command of Türos Tem (or a domain like it), you will have everything you need to adjudicate their exploits.
The default setting of ACKS, the Auran Empire, was also designed to support the player characters’ advancement from adventurer to king. The Auran Empire setting was inspired by the collapsing empires of earth’s Late Antiquity (250 – 750 AD), a turbulent era in which ancient glories were drowned in a torrent of violence. However, in the Auran Empire setting, the horror of civilization’s imminent collapse is worsened by the existence of nightmarish evils lurking in the world’s dark places, threatening to strike mankind at its weakest moment. The established leadership is too preoccupied by the empire’s political and military downfall to take these shadowy threats seriously, leaving them to be handled by adventurers, fortune-hunters, and would-be heroes. The adventurers’ success in dealing with such threats is, however, what garners them the fame, wealth, and strength they need to take power and restore order. Of course, the adventurers are not certain to win; indeed, the odds are stacked against them.
These premises of ACKS’ setting are evident throughout The Sinister Stone of Sakkara, most notably in its backstory. The adventure begins with local hamlets and villages suffering from beastman raids because the troops that ought to be protecting them have been sent to stem an invasion at another border. With the local military barely able to garrison its strongholds, it falls to the adventurers to deal with the monstrous threat. If they do not, no one else will, until it is too late. The setting premises are also evident in the design of the dungeon itself. The upper level of the dungeon was inspired by real-world ancient architecture, and the brigands and beastly barbarians that populate it would not be unfamiliar to any Late Roman centurion (albeit the barbarians who menaced Rome were only figuratively beastly). Conversely, the lower level of the dungeon is a warren of weird horror wherein lurks an insidious evil that is far more threatening than mere beastmen. The dungeon thus represents the Auran Empire setting in microcosm – visibly endangered by mundane threats, appallingly imperiled by hidden horrors.
We hope that this overview improves your understanding of this adventure, and that you and your players find The Sinister Stone of Sakkara an exciting, challenging, and rewarding experience.
