Cyclopean Deeps Volume II by Matt Finch is a role playing game supplement published by Frog God Games for use with Swords & Wizardry. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is the second volume of the Cyclopean Deeps sandbox adventure and is also available in a Pathfinder version.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 233-page PDF for $17.99 and in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a discounted price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Table of Contents and one the Open Game License.
Chapter 7: Narrows of Breath incorporates a much briefer introduction than the first book, explains that the Deeps are located under Rappan Athuk, gives the recommended character levels for the adventure and explains that it is dangerous – with it being essentially a sandbox, characters could end up overpowered for some encounters but can also end up greatly underpowered for others, and that placing it in a campaign is easy enough, given how deep below the surface it is. Once again, there is mention, albeit not by name, of linking the setting with a classic series of modules, namely D1-3 from GDQ 1-7 Queen of the Spiders. This part also has overviews of what the passages are like, wandering monster tables and caravans. Some of this is naturally duplicated from Volume I.
Chapter 7 covers hexes 20C, 22J, 24G, 30C and 28H. Most of these are fairly small encounter areas, although there is an interesting sidebar on what happens to a character in a form suitable for a very long tunnel wide enough for an ant when they encounter a dead magic area (basically, death). 28H is the largest encounter area, a former mortuary where the priests got a little carried away with embalming their masters, eventually breeding them so they could be immediately killed and embalmed. The mortuary has passed through several hands since, with one still ongoing.
Chapter 8: Flagon of the Death God has several minor hexes, 29O, 32M, 35P and 37N, the latter of which has advice if the PCs decide to try to use some of the monsters as a fountain of XP. The main hex is 35S, a lake that is the home of a minor god of death, which the PCs could accidentally or deliberately summon (entering the lake is described as being no more dangerous than swimming in any other subterranean lake occupied by demons and a resident demigod of death). PCs could also gain a new magic item by doing something that could be considered to be stupidly dangerous. The final area in the Flagon is the lair of a powerful magic-user.
Chapter 9: Hidden Worlds of Jupiter Kwan explains that the archmage Jupiter Kwan has, unlike most other powerful individuals in the region, little interest in conquest, being far too interested in magic. This doesn’t mean that other factions don’t consider him an enemy, nor does it mean he is a nice person or that he isn’t dangerous. There are several minor hexes, 22T, 24Q, 26U, 28W, which have a few small, but sometimes deadly, encounters, before moving on to 29U and the Hidden Worlds. The Hidden Worlds themselves are not in the Deeps but are a system made from bits and pieces of dimensions that floats in the Void and operates under its own set of laws. There are effects caused by moving around and between the parts of the domain, encounters and minor locations. The entry hex, 29U, to the Hidden Worlds is covered, then the Hidden Worlds themselves.
Chapter 10: Orchard of Yiquooloome has three minor hexes, 17U, 19U and 20X, one of which is a pit of primordial chaos that has mutational effects stated to be similar to those found around the City of Tsien in The Lost Lands: Sword of Air. The primary hex is 20Z, home to Yiquooloome itself, a creature formed from chaos that farms degenerate serpentfolk and creates servitors with a, described as probably intentional, similar appearance to Cthulhu. Yiquooloome is a strange being formed of separate brain pools with motivations that are odd (and include “die in the strange eons”, a reference to a couplet from H. P. Lovecraft).
Chapter 11: Mines of the Duergar has three minor hexes, 33AA, a gate, 40AB, a mine, and 35U, a lock on the canal. A sidebar again erroneously refers to Zuuljj being described in Chapter 4‘s Elder Things and Middle-Divinities which is actually in Volume I‘s Appendix II: Monsters. The main hex, 37Y, is Graumhalla, the home of the duergar king. The duergar kingdom is on the verge of civil war, thanks to machinations going on, and there are various clans that characters could interact with. These clans have different potential goals and some adventure hooks; characters could well cause the potential civil war to kick off.
Chapter 12: Font of Darkness, has one minor hex, 39U, which is inhabited by a giant slug. The primary hex is 42X and is the home to the Font of Darkness and the Cult of Isclaadra. The cult is not the most powerful military force in the region, but their political machinations are affecting many other factions and there are a number of missions that characters could do for the cult – if working for a cult of demon-worshippers is their thing. This is a potentially dangerous area and what the characters do could affect the political landscape of the entire Deeps.
Appendix I: Glossary lists the meanings of various terms, many of them proper names.
Appendix II: Monsters is divided into two sections. New Monsters is the ones that are introduced in Cyclopean Deeps and Existing Monsters reproduces those from Tome of Horrors Complete and Monstrosities that are used.
Appendix III: New Spells has two new spells.
Appendix IV: Magic Items has the new magic items introduced.
Finally, Appendix V: Maps, has all the maps from the supplement reproduced from the text in one place. These come in labelled and unlabelled, player-friendly, versions.
Cyclopean Deeps Volume II in Review
The PDF is extensively bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents only covers the chapters and appendices. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and appeared to be nearly free of errors although, oddly, the read aloud text has a different background and setup to how it has in Volume I. There are a variety of black and white illustrations, many of which appear to be custom, including for many of the monsters. Presentation is good. Appendices I-IV have some overlap with those from the first volume.
It would theoretically be possible to run this without Cyclopean Deeps Volume I but, as with that volume, doing so would be difficult, given the number of references to NPCs and locations from that volume, especially as there are tasks linked to locations and NPCs in Volume I. All the primary NPCs, and the duergar clans, have lists of goals and aims, allies and enemies and some potential tasks they want doing.
This is a continuation of an old school style sandbox with an old school system in a realm that has never been portrayed as safe, with this being a more dangerous part of such. Character death is therefore a high probability, especially when combined with the lethality of old school poisons and the ability to blunder into areas that they are distinctly underpowered for. Even though all the factions are essentially Chaotic in nature, and could therefore be considered to be viable enemies, depending on brute force is a fast way for characters to get killed. Diplomacy is therefore going to be rather more important. Cyclopean Deeps Volume II is, like the first volume, unsuited to modern-style play nor is it especially suited for novices, and it can be found by clicking here.
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