The Riddles of the Sphinx by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with OSRIC. 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 50 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover, two are blank, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.
Background Information explains that a sphinx statue was recently unearthed in a desert and it’s believed to mark the tomb of a vizier who usurped power in an empire, where a powerful relic is stored.
Game Master Notes explains that this is an adventure for 11-15th level characters and is intended to be dangerous even for them, with two false entrances to the tomb being intentional death traps. The tomb itself is mostly occupied by undead; the adventure includes monsters from The Tome of Horrors converted for OSRIC and from Monsters of Myth. It’s also said this is modelled after a classic adventure from one of the original designers. It’s not stated which adventure, but it definitely feels like The Tomb of Horrors.
The Opening Act has the characters in the desert where they can find the sphinx.
Random Encounters in the Desert has a d12 list of encounters, from monsters to hazards to other travellers, some hostile, some not.
The Riddles of the Sphinx details the tomb itself, with a random encounter table, general details of the tomb and three levels of it.
Game Master Notes explains that if either of the primary villains survives, they will probably want revenge.
New Monsters has some new monsters.
New Magic Items has some new magic items.
The final three pages of content have maps of the tomb.
The Riddles of the Sphinx in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and some minor errors were noticed. There are a variety of stock colour and black and white illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This is a dangerous adventure and intentionally so. There are also some puzzles that can be solved to gain treasure and others that need to be solved or suffer the consequences. There is quite a bit of treasure in the adventure, but gaining it will not be easy given how intentionally deadly it is. The Riddles of the Sphinx is an adventure that is no pushover for even high-level characters and it can be found by clicking here.
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