Temple of the Ancients by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with Cepheus Engine. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 26 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that a planet in the Sonora sector – the adventure is set in the Frontiers of Space, though this isn’t stated – is a jungle world with few visitors though there are rumours of an ancient civilisation there. This has apparently been confirmed with a trader receiving a high-tech alien artefact found in something called the Temple of the Ancients, where the natives send their young on a bravery test which many don’t survive. The characters are hired to see if there are more artefacts of this nature.
Patron gives details on the person doing the hiring.
The Native gives details on the person who provided the artefact.
Complications are potential problems caused by a number of reasons.
The Landing Site is where the characters can land near the native’s village.
The Village gives brief details on the place.
A Bribe is how to get cooperation from the native.
The Jungle gives details on this and some encounters.
Other Interested Parties has details on a competitor.
The Temple of Judgement details the complex known as the Temple of the Ancients, a court and police complex with jail cells that is still maintained by bots.
Robots Still Active Within the Complex are the still-functioning robots.
Roster of Cannibals or Other Natives lists stats for various natives.
Mission Completion Objectives are what’s needed to succeed.
The final page of content is a map of the complex.
Temple of the Ancients in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the map and covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.
This is a pretty straightforward albeit potentially dangerous adventure; the dangerous robots in the Temple aren’t a pushover, and there are other hazards as well. There is a puzzling thing about the Temple’s existence: why did non-local aliens come to the planet to build a police and judgement complex? There doesn’t seem to be a reference to anything else of the aliens on the planet; the complex is just built in the middle of nowhere. Temple of the Ancients can be found by clicking here.
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