Terror in the Steam Tunnels (Monster Serials #2) by Cool Nerd Mark is a role playing game supplement published by Cool Nerd Adventures for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition.
The supplement is available as a nine page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. One Page is the front cover and one is Credits, Author’s Note and ads. There is also a jpg map of the caves.
Terrain: explains that the steam tunnels are beneath Karsovian National University in the capital of Leshmira.
Level: explains this is an adventure for four level 4 characters.
Where in Crescaria explains where it is in the city, with a map of the city. At the time of writing, more details on Crescaria are scheduled for release.
Getting Started: explains that the characters are contacted by the police after foreign nationals from Corvindor who are college students disappeared.
Background: explains the missing were obsessed with the game Papers and Paychecks (a fictional game that’s the opposite of D&D that dates back to the early days). They went into the tunnels and were attacked.
Entering the tunnels: explains there are multiple points of entry.
Searching the Steam Tunnels: explains these aren’t mapped, instead they should just be described, and there’s also a table of hazards to encounter.
The Caves of Terror has a copy of the jpg map and covers the small final location in the tunnels.
New Monsters has a couple of new creatures.
Terror in the Steam Tunnels (Monster Serials #2) in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. There are also some external hyperlinks to stat blocks. Navigation is good. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. As well as the maps, there is as single hand draw illustration. Presentation is okay.
It may be recognisable already, but the Author’s Note explains that the adventure is loosely inspired by the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, which helped fuel the anti-D&D panic in the 80s. The adventure itself is short, and though it’s set in the author’s world, given it’s essentially self-contained and underground, it could be dropped into other appropriate settings. Those which don’t have anything like steam tunnels might work better doing some slight conversions to make them sewers. Terror in the Steam Tunnels (Monster Serials #2) can be found by clicking here.
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