Are You Sunk? Tales of the Valiant: The Sunken Pyramid Reviewed

Title: Tales of the Valiant – The Sunken Pyramid

Publisher: Kobold Press

Author: Meagan Maricle

Artists: Josh Hass, Julian Hellwig, William O’Brien, Roberto Pitturru, Kiki Moch Rizki, Egil Thompson

Year: 2024

Genre: Fantasy adventure for the Tales of the Valiant fantasy roleplaying game

Pages: 52 pages

MSRP: $7.99 in PDF at DriveThruRPG

Players race against time in a desperate bid to save kidnapped townsfolk from an unspeakable fate in The Sunken Pyramid, an adventure for seventh level adventurers in Kobold Press’s Tales of the Valiant.

At its core, The Sunken Pyramid is an elaborate dungeon crawl with some plot as dressing to create stakes. While ostensibly a three act adventure, the first act clocks in at three pages and the second act at one page, while the third act, in which the players explore the titular pyramid, spans thirty-four pages. The book does offer some advice on trying to foster authentic connection with the soon-to-be-kidnapped townsfolk, but places the detailed description of the town and its denizens, along with a small roll table of potential happenings, in the appendix. This leads to things feeling odd and disjointed; there is real charm in the town and some fun opportunities for relationship building with NPCs, but it’s so far out of the way as to be entirely missed. As an alternative, developer Meagan Maricle also includes tips on starting the adventure from within an existing campaign.

The dungeon itself is will-designed and well-executed. Exploring truly feels like navigating a maze, adding to the tension. Combat feels appropriately tense; the advice on modulating encounter difficulty fits seamlessly in with the adventure text, and is so unobtrusive as to virtually escape player notice – even with a newer, less experience GM. The pyramid does contain more memorable NPCs who can help or hinder the party’s efforts, helping to provide both narrative structure and mechanical support.

Given the size of the dungeon, however, it would have been nice to see more opportunities for the players to sabotage the sahuagins’ upcoming sacrificial rite. The moments where players can make a real difference aren’t as plentiful as one might hope, but they do lead to some satisfying payoffs.

One of the book’s best choices is the decision to include the underwater combat rules in the appendix. It’s a key feature of what makes the adventure unique and challenging, but one that most players and GMs may not remember in detail. Keeping the information close at hand helps to keep the game moving and provides a virtually frictionless experience when questions arise. The inclusion of the loot roll table helps to add variety and ensures players feel there are always rewards just around the corner.

While it’s entirely possible to run The Sunken Pyramid as a distinct adventure as written, it’s just as easy to take the bulk of the book’s content and repurpose it as necessary for an existing campaign or for the motivated GM to craft his or her own story around it. It feels as if the point of The Sunken Pyramid isn’t really its narrative trappings, but rather, its very cool dungeoneering with a dash of heroism thrown in. For GMs looking for an adventure with a novel twist or a detailed dungeon for combat-hungry players, The Sunken Pyramid is a fun option; more narratively-driven tables will likely find a better fit elsewhere.