Review & Commentary On The S'rulyan Vault From Kort'thalis Publishing For Your Old School Campaigns

So last night I received my copy of  The S'rulyan Vault  From Kort'thalis Publishing from the pen of Venger Satanis. It reminds me of some of the Eighties products that I've seen over the years. This is a third tier OSR product and it hearkens back to some of the dungeon adventure  kits that have come out over the years with better production values, designs, and more. If you've got two or three hours before your players arrive to create your brad new old school dungeon that you've been promising all week, but work, real life, and more have gotten in the way but you want to run a bad ass dungeon then the The S'rulyan Vault is for you. This product works with just about any old school edition so using it with an old D&D edition or retroclone system of your choice would be a snap.

 GRAB IT HERE


Here's the Kickstarter that kicked off and completed the original product.


So besides two old school style maps what exactly does  The S'rulyan Vault have to offer? Well, essentially its a dungeon kit built around the maps and offers an adventure setting that highlights the background, history, and D&D elements with a Lovecraftian twist in the  Kort'thalis Publishing style. But is it worth your time for the seven dollar price tag? I think so because of the fact that lots of folks are using tablets and other mobile tech to enhance their old school table top rpg experience. The S'rulyan Vault plugs into that and brings to the experience a bunch of interesting options for the dungeon master to pull from for their own unique take on the adventure. The tables, elements, bits and pieces within the Vault all pull from the adventure's history;"

For as long as anyone living can remember, the world was full of men and the darker, stranger forms of life remained at the farthest edges of it. But the scrolls contained within the many temples of Tyr’Urden tell us that this was not always so.   
Demonic things came in the night to feed upon mortal souls, ripping and tearing at humanity’s soft, exposed belly. Our people lived in fear. Like children, man was afraid of the dark and what lay beyond the walls of his cities.
Then, one day, a champion came. He slayed many of the evil ones, the creatures who looked like walking serpents. Eventually, his mighty deeds became so numerous that thousands followed him into battle against the forces of evil. Man had both the numbers and the will to push back against these malevolent beings until his cities and forests were relatively free of hell-spawn.
Snake-men were the most powerful humanoid creatures, as they knew the secrets of blackest sorcery, having made a pact with the Demon Lord known as S’rul. Under his satanic tutelage, the snake-men became powerful enough to slaughter the armies of mankind. Before long, the entire race of snake-men were known as the Sect of S’rulyan… (S’rulyan meaning the great and terrible wisdom of S’rul).
At the height of their serpentine reign, a subterranean domain was constructed on the outskirts of the human realm. It became an outpost from where the snake-men continually raided – taking weapons, gold, slaves, and sorcerous objects from man’s cities. This vault was the crowning glory of S’rul and his loathsome worshipers.
Just as the Sect of S’rulyan could see the extermination of man in sight, a large band of adventurers retrieved a lost relic - the Helm of Power, an artifact that siphons the magical energy from everything surrounding it… and gives that magic to the wearer. The Helm of Power protected the adventurers as they waded into the darkness of S’rul’s foul dungeon.
Only three heroes emerged from the S’rulyan Vault, victorious over the evil ones with their spiked armor covered in gore and shreds of serpent flesh. Alas, the Helm of Power was destroyed in the final battle against S’rul. Yet, the Demon Lord was also destroyed, and so the people rejoiced!
The three surviving heroes, Artello, Urden, and D’meskus, established themselves as Kings of the central territories. For decades they ruled and now their children’s children are crowned Kings and Queens of Razira.
One such present-day ruler is Queen Zinnia, an alluring but jealous and ill-advised woman. She reigns over the smallest realm with the greatest ambition for power. Queen Zinnia forced her royal wizard to search deep within the magical abyss where hideous horrors frolic and feed. Upon her instructions, the wizard awakened an entity strong enough to shatter her siblings’ kingdoms – the Demon Lord S’rul.
S’rul’s first order of business was to revive his slumbering legion of snake-men far below the S’rulyan Vault. Brought back to life, the walking serpents felt their sorcery invigorated as never before and concocted a spell that would mean sickness and death for thousands of men, women, and children.
Almost three-quarters of a century after S’rul’s original defeat, nary a snake-man has been seen upon the surface of Razira. Today is the 74th anniversary of the assault upon the S’rulyan Vault. The entire realm celebrates the snake-men’s defeat with feasting, dancing, and merriment. Unfortunately, such revelry was not to last.
At mid-day, the celebration ended with black skies, a broken blood-red moon, and some mysterious plague that immediately killed off a fifth of those living in Tyr’Urden, the largest kingdom and closest to the S’rulyan Vault.

King Urdenson’s seers know that S’rul and his snake-men slumber no more. The King decreed this a time of war, and those who return from the S’rulyan Vault with the Demon Lord’s severed head in hand shall share in the reward: one million pieces of gold… a King’s ransom, to be sure!"
The art and cartography by Glynn Seal, James V West, and Bojan Sucevic really does make The S'rulyan Vault as both a resource and a solid entrance onto the rpg market. This is a both a kid friendly and nasty adventure at the same time that will give players a run for their money.


The overall fun of this adventure makes me want to run it and delve into it. The nice part is the fact that you can essentially drop this product whole cloth right into the background of your campaign world and then back hinge it into place for a complete adventure location within your own world making it your own. So the DYI Dungeons and Dragons aspect of The S'rulyan Vault is both intact and magnified. This extends to the twenty four page pdf of tables and more. What's in the booklet? Well according to the drivethrurpg blurb;"
The PDF contains a short history of the region and dungeon, original artwork by Bojan Sucevic, and several random tables for making this dungeoncrawl easier to run and more interesting.  For instance, there's a d100 table describing things found when searching a room.  There's also a multi-table system for generating fortunes.  
Lastly, there's a custom, old school fantasy character sheet created by James V West."


All in all I do think its worth the download and your time to take a look into the The S'rulyan Vault  From Kort'thalis Publishing for both yourself and your players. I think that you will all have a great time and a unique experience with this homage to the old days of gaming. We can only hope that Venger Satanis and Kort'thalis Publishing continue down this path of old school fun and weirdness. Five out of five because for me it has everything I'm looking for in an old school product.

Mere Hours Remain For The S'rulyan Vault by Venger Satanis Kickstarter

Have you ever wanted a huge dungeon map that you can plunk down on the table top to bring your friends into your world's epic adventure? A place where the dungeons are deep, the dragons are Lovecraftian, and the dangers a wait around every corner? Well the The S'rulyan Vault awaits you! Mere hours are ticking down now to the end of a fantastic Kickstarter by Venger Satanis

Bojan Sucevic wanted to do some color artwork for the S'rulyan Vault and I think that the PDF cover looks fantastic.
 GO SUPPORT IT HERE

Here's the pitch;"

I don't know about you, but I love those old school "blue maps" from the inside of late 70's and early 80's RPG modules, the outside illustrated with dragons, dungeons, elves, demons, warriors, giants, wizards, and undead.  

Last month, I decided I wanted my own map - one that I helped design with Glynn Seal (from MonkeyBlood Design) - nearly as big as the table I game on... a visual aid that not only helps move the adventure along but also makes us feel like we're 15 years old again, playing AD&D for the first time.  Incidentally, the main picture above is from a previous blue map of his.  

This one is going to be in the "middle ground" between standard dungeon and mega-dungeon.  Not too busy, but lots going on... and huge!  Each quadrant of this map will be created by Glynn so they can be printed out as one big map or used separately as 4 smaller maps (individual dropbox links will be provided for everything), arranged as you like.  And if this goes well, it's possible we'll immediately have bonus quadrants or giant maps available to us."
But this isn't an ordinary dungeon there's a whole back story here;"
For as long as anyone living can remember, the world was full of men and the darker, stranger forms of life remained at the farthest edges of it. But the scrolls contained within the many temples of Tyr’Urden tell us that this was not always so.    Demonic things came in the night to feed upon mortal souls, ripping and tearing at humanity’s soft, exposed belly. Our people lived in fear. Like children, man was afraid of the dark and what lay beyond the walls of his cities. Then, one day, a champion came. He slayed many of the evil ones, the creatures who looked like walking serpents. Eventually, his mighty deeds became so numerous that thousands followed him into battle against the forces of evil. Man had both the numbers and the will to push back against these malevolent beings until his cities and forests were relatively free of hell-spawn. Snake-men were the most powerful humanoid creatures, as they knew the secrets of blackest sorcery, having made a pact with the Demon Lord known as S’rul. Under his satanic tutelage, the snake-men became powerful enough to slaughter the armies of mankind. Before long, the entire race of snake-men were known as the Sect of S’rulyan… (S’rulyan meaning the great and terrible wisdom of S’rul). At the height of their serpentine reign, a subterranean domain was constructed on the outskirts of the human realm. It became an outpost from where the snake-men continually raided – taking weapons, gold, slaves, and sorcerous objects from man’s cities. This vault was the crowning glory of S’rul and his loathsome worshipers. Just as the Sect of S’rulyan could see the extermination of man in sight, a large band of adventurers retrieved a lost relic - the Helm of Power, an artifact that siphons the magical energy from everything surrounding it… and gives that magic to the wearer. The Helm of Power protected the adventurers as they waded into the darkness of S’rul’s foul dungeon. Only three heroes emerged from the S’rulyan Vault, victorious over the evil ones with their spiked armor covered in gore and shreds of serpent flesh. Alas, the Helm of Power was destroyed in the final battle against S’rul. Yet, the Demon Lord was also destroyed, and so the people rejoiced! The three surviving heroes, Artello, Urden, and D’meskus, established themselves as Kings of the central territories. For decades they ruled and now their children’s children are crowned Kings and Queens of Razira. One such present-day ruler is Queen Zinnia, an alluring but jealous and ill-advised woman. She reigns over the smallest realm with the greatest ambition for power. Queen Zinnia forced her royal wizard to search deep within the magical abyss where hideous horrors frolic and feed. Upon her instructions, the wizard awakened an entity strong enough to shatter her siblings’ kingdoms – the Demon Lord S’rul. S’rul’s first order of business was to revive his slumbering legion of snake-men far below the S’rulyan Vault. Brought back to life, the walking serpents felt their sorcery invigorated as never before and concocted a spell that would mean sickness and death for thousands of men, women, and children. Almost three-quarters of a century after S’rul’s original defeat, nary a snake-man has been seen upon the surface of Razira. Today is the 74th anniversary of the assault upon the S’rulyan Vault. The entire realm celebrates the snake-men’s defeat with feasting, dancing, and merriment. Unfortunately, such revelry was not to last. At mid-day, the celebration ended with black skies, a broken blood-red moon, and some mysterious plague that immediately killed off a fifth of those living in Tyr’Urden, the largest kingdom and closest to the S’rulyan Vault. King Urdenson’s seers know that S’rul and his snake-men slumber no more. The King decreed this a time of war, and those who return from the S’rulyan Vault with the Demon Lord’s severed head in hand shall share in the reward: one million pieces of gold… a King’s ransom, to be sure!"
The mythology and history of the place echoes the awesome ideas and artwork that centers around this style of dungeon. This is the kind of place that could really bring a campaign setting together for a group of players and the DM.



As a dungeon master I began to think what would I personally put into The S'rulyan Vault ? My thoughts are that there would be some very dangerous and deadly minor  Lovecraftian magic items. So here's what I came up with
1d6 Random  Minor Lovecraftian Magic Items Table 

1. The Orb of O'mas - This orb is the black heart and soul of a minor elder demon, this orb allows the owner to surround themselves with a protective aura once per day that will block minor black magic spells. 
2. The altar stone of K 'ar'a - This stone drips with the venom of the serpent gods but it allows a wizard to cure light wounds once per day but the regions healed are mutated and weirdly whirled affairs. 
3. The dagger of the serpent warrior - This is a serpent man warrior's horridly wicked +2 dagger that drips with the ichor of ages. The merest nick and the target will begin to age 1d10 years as the dark purple magicks consume the target. The thing is sheathed in a great half serpent's ancient skin. 
4. Howard's bracers - These bracers were created from the tanned leather and weirdly worked bones of Sir Howard a knight of exceptional skill and grace whose sacrifice allowed his friends to escape the wrath of the great purple wizard of Krolish a demon god of ill aspect. The bracers grant the owner a burst of strength once per day as a hill giant and will fill the owner with horrid rage but they consume any magick from those around them. 
5. The Box of Forbidden Mysteries - This box allows 1d6 minor spells to be cast from it once per week but the owner must place 1d6 drops of blood into it as payment. There is a 20% chance of a minor imp or other demonic creature attempting to use the box as a doorway into our realm. 
6. Eddy's Right Eye OF Trouble - This glass eye belonged to the dread pirate and thief Eddy The Vengeful or Eddy the Crazy. The eye allows one to gaze past the illusion of reality once per day and summon forth a minor creature of the damned. The eye also grants darkvision but the owner must sacrifice one of their eyes in order to use the powers of this device. 

Commentary On The S'rulyan Vault Kickstarter by Venger Satanis For Your Old School Campaigns

 So we've gotten a great map from Monkey Blood Design for the The S'rulyan Vault map, pdf, and more. Little by little from the dim echoes of the mysterious history of the vaults we see more is being revealed.



 GO SUPPORT IT HERE

So over the past week or so I've been playing catch up with work, repairs, and some of the Kickstarter goals and what not of Venger Satanis's The S'rulyan Vault. What are the Vaults? The The S'rulyan Vault are an O5R "blue map" dungeon from the early days of fantasy roleplaying games; high-rez files for 34" x 44" printing. But this isn't an ordinary dungeon there's a whole back story here;"
For as long as anyone living can remember, the world was full of men and the darker, stranger forms of life remained at the farthest edges of it. But the scrolls contained within the many temples of Tyr’Urden tell us that this was not always so.   
Demonic things came in the night to feed upon mortal souls, ripping and tearing at humanity’s soft, exposed belly. Our people lived in fear. Like children, man was afraid of the dark and what lay beyond the walls of his cities.
Then, one day, a champion came. He slayed many of the evil ones, the creatures who looked like walking serpents. Eventually, his mighty deeds became so numerous that thousands followed him into battle against the forces of evil. Man had both the numbers and the will to push back against these malevolent beings until his cities and forests were relatively free of hell-spawn.
Snake-men were the most powerful humanoid creatures, as they knew the secrets of blackest sorcery, having made a pact with the Demon Lord known as S’rul. Under his satanic tutelage, the snake-men became powerful enough to slaughter the armies of mankind. Before long, the entire race of snake-men were known as the Sect of S’rulyan… (S’rulyan meaning the great and terrible wisdom of S’rul).
At the height of their serpentine reign, a subterranean domain was constructed on the outskirts of the human realm. It became an outpost from where the snake-men continually raided – taking weapons, gold, slaves, and sorcerous objects from man’s cities. This vault was the crowning glory of S’rul and his loathsome worshipers.
Just as the Sect of S’rulyan could see the extermination of man in sight, a large band of adventurers retrieved a lost relic - the Helm of Power, an artifact that siphons the magical energy from everything surrounding it… and gives that magic to the wearer. The Helm of Power protected the adventurers as they waded into the darkness of S’rul’s foul dungeon.
Only three heroes emerged from the S’rulyan Vault, victorious over the evil ones with their spiked armor covered in gore and shreds of serpent flesh. Alas, the Helm of Power was destroyed in the final battle against S’rul. Yet, the Demon Lord was also destroyed, and so the people rejoiced!
The three surviving heroes, Artello, Urden, and D’meskus, established themselves as Kings of the central territories. For decades they ruled and now their children’s children are crowned Kings and Queens of Razira.
One such present-day ruler is Queen Zinnia, an alluring but jealous and ill-advised woman. She reigns over the smallest realm with the greatest ambition for power. Queen Zinnia forced her royal wizard to search deep within the magical abyss where hideous horrors frolic and feed. Upon her instructions, the wizard awakened an entity strong enough to shatter her siblings’ kingdoms – the Demon Lord S’rul.
S’rul’s first order of business was to revive his slumbering legion of snake-men far below the S’rulyan Vault. Brought back to life, the walking serpents felt their sorcery invigorated as never before and concocted a spell that would mean sickness and death for thousands of men, women, and children.
Almost three-quarters of a century after S’rul’s original defeat, nary a snake-man has been seen upon the surface of Razira. Today is the 74th anniversary of the assault upon the S’rulyan Vault. The entire realm celebrates the snake-men’s defeat with feasting, dancing, and merriment. Unfortunately, such revelry was not to last.
At mid-day, the celebration ended with black skies, a broken blood-red moon, and some mysterious plague that immediately killed off a fifth of those living in Tyr’Urden, the largest kingdom and closest to the S’rulyan Vault.
King Urdenson’s seers know that S’rul and his snake-men slumber no more. The King decreed this a time of war, and those who return from the S’rulyan Vault with the Demon Lord’s severed head in hand shall share in the reward: one million pieces of gold… a King’s ransom, to be sure!"
 So the vaults have a background, history, and a reasonably legendary connection with Venger's variation of the Cthulhu Mythos. Alright that works for me because of the tie in with the treasure of the place. What really kinda got me thinking was this little bit here about the humanoids of the vaults when Venger did this update today;"Today I came up with a d20 table for what a group of humanoids might be doing when encountered.  Personally, I think it gives humanoid encounters an extra dimension.  Because room after room of dudes just waiting for the party to barge in and start brawling seems less than believable. "
What would I add into the The S'rulyan Vault if I was adding it into a campaign as an adventure location? What sorts of tables would add a bit more of a dimension to the table top? One of the things that you want to back tie into an adventure location and weave it into your own home campaign. One of the easy ways of doing this is a simple random table and in the case of an adventure location such as The S'rulyan Vault, this is a place with secrets. Dark and dangerous secrets that you as the DM can tie back into your version of the Vault. Here then are 1d20 dark and dangerous random secrets of the The S'rulyan Vault to taunt your adventurers with.

1d20 Random Dark
& Dangerous Secrets Table of The The S'rulyan Vault

1. The lowest points of the vault might still contain he eggs of the serpent kings waiting for the right alignments of the damn stars to unleash their foul taint upon the world once more.
2. There is a Lovecraftian demon bound into one of the statues of the place should it awaken it will spell doom for the world. 
3. A king's ransom was taken by the serpent men raiders back in the days of yore and it might still be in one of the hidden ante chambers of some secret and hidden room. 
4. Several human tribes were collaborators with the demonic serpent folk and they carry the ancient taint in their blood lines. These mages might be able to read some of the powerful magics that are still contained in the vault's treasure chambers. 
5. Human skulls with jeweled eyes are rumored to have been secreted in the vault, these objects of cosmic and damned power could read men's minds, alter the courses of mighty rivers, and change the nature of reality itself. They are also said to  contain the souls of ancient damned serpent kings. 
6. There are said to be ancient cults of humanoids who gather at certain times in the vaults to pay homage to dead kings, they bring with them ancient treasures and powerful magicks. 
7. There are several bound creatures of myth and legend who are tied by powerful black magicks to the vaults themselves . These things bring fortune and ruin in equal measure to those who find them in their hidden secret chambers. 
8. There are several ancient inhuman books of power hidden in the vaults bound in man flesh, writ with the black blood of the Earth and human souls. These things gibber with power and sheer horror. 
9. Warriors of ancient hate wander the halls damned never to rest and slay anyone they come across. This is the fate of ancient warriors and heroes who came to the vaults to slay the serpent priests. 
10. There is a cup of gold that has been bathed in the serpent flesh of the most ancient black mages and wizards. The cup grants a sort of eternal life or damnation, this cup is hidden in a special alter in the vaults but it has been lost to antiquity. 
11. Twelve priceless jewels show the alignments of the stars of the damned in one of the rooms in the vaults they have been bathed in the blood of countless sacrifices. These gems are worth a king's ransom. 
12. Thirteen ancient crones have been buried in this ancient ruin. They mark the passage of time by the rot that eats their flesh. These crones are quite mad but they are very prophetic and they whisper ancient hates and secrets to their admirers. Mages and wizards seek their chamber below the Earth.
13. There is a pool that shows your successes and greatest soul crushing defeat, it also shows you how to avoid the potential doom that awaits you. 
14. There are a series of candles made from the fingers of the damned that can show the true nature of all realities. This also makes getting and avoiding certain alternative futures very easy. 
15. Ancient weapons of power have been hidden in the vault, they will be found by their chosen champion. Could that be a member of your party. 
16. The vaults are the buffer zone between this reality and the gathering threat from the other dark Lovecraftian dimensions where things wait to burst into our home dimension. 
17. There is a key to the world engine hidden within the vaults and the serpent men lost it. The thing might be unto another dimension having been cast their in the womb by an ancient hero. 
18. Five thousand gold piece  reward has been hidden inside the body of a zombie that wanders the halls and rooms but no one has seen it in years. 
19. A champion of horror and chaos wanders the halls slaying anyone it runs across. There is a hidden room where all of its trophies have been kept. The slaying continues. 
20. The spawn of an ancient demon dragon cult is said to have been trapped down in the vaults doomed to slay anyone it comes across.

Commentary On The S'rulyan Vault By Venger Satanis Kickstarter For Your Old School Campaigns

So I see a ton of snarky comments on various Kickstarters and other projects on G+.  Those are with some damn good reasons I might add. But let's talk about Venger Satanis & the various books that he's done for a moment and come through on those Kickstarter projects. Well, he's back with another fifth edition old school module Kickstarter along with Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood design. So colour me excited about his latest bid for our cash. No, seriously I think he's got a winner here.Watch and then you'll understand what I mean.
GO HERE TO FUND
& GET IN ON THE ACTION!

So who cares about a huge map? Well yes its a huge map with a lot going on that you can customize into your own adventure location for your PC's to explore and plunder; "The map will also come with a 5 - 7 page PDF.  This document will contain a brief history of the dungeon, as well as, various random tables for helping the GM spontaneously come up with content, description, rumors, factions, and encounters (including traps, monsters, NPCs, weird stuff, etc.) so that each adventure into the S'rulyan Vault can be unique."
This is one of the things that makes it interesting and unique in some respects. Sure there have been other projects going on with Kickstarter by Venger but this is one of the first times he's getting into a fully customization old school style adventure setting set up for this style of play. There are a couple of things that are going on here that have caught my interest:

• This is a very large setting with plenty of room for the DM to do their own set up and take on the dungeon itself. The fact is with a map this big its going to be quite easy to cut some cardboard or white board and block off the sections that you don't want players to see. This means that the DM can cruise into the adventure as they want to. They can also add or subtract dungeon adventure elements as they like. 
• Knowing Venger's style of writing and design as I do this project will get bigger then it is now. What that will mean in terms of page count and contents is your going to get more for your money without a doubt. 
• These Kickstarters deliver just look at Alpha Blue, Girls Gone Rogue and his earlier projects. 
• This is going to have the usual Venger Satanis twist to it without a doubt. That also means that this is going to be another project that a DM can re purpose to their own campaigns. 
• Monkey Blood Designs always does great cartography and artwork Again knowing Venger's style and gravitas as I do your going to see something different, unique, perhaps controversial, and highly entertaining. 
• There are already backers for this project and we're only a few hours into it. So its a good sign that we'll be seeing some fun stuff. 

Bottom line, I personally think that this is a fun Kickstarter, and Venger as well as his crew have a few surprises up their sleeves for this. So go fund this one and let's see where this is going to go!  

Update we've now got more to go on about the  The S'rulyan Vault Adventure location map  from Venger and Glynn over at Monkey Blood Design " I just posted an update on the KS page.  Glynn provided me with a sketch.  Still early days, but at least now people have something to go on." If you have questions contact Venger through the Kickstarter page. He'll be happy to answer any questions about the kickstarter or the adventure.