Snake people, serpent folk, Ophidians, Yuan-ti whatever you want to call them they have been a staple of fiction and D&D since ... well likely forever.
They were common enough in the pages in the Conan that even as a casual reader of the pulps I had heard about them. They have had a prominent focus in AD&D with the Yuan-ti; so much so that there are one of the very, very few monsters that are IP and Closed to the OGL.
So yeah, they come with some history.
I think it is also that snakes seem so loathsome to humans. There is just something "evil" about them in our collective subconscious. That makes them a great old-school threat.
Review: Serpentine - Oldskull Serpent Folk
Serpentine - Oldskull Serpent Folk from Oldskull, aka Kent David Kelly is a nice RPG for adding and using Serpent Folk, known as Serpentine here, in any old-school like game. The book is 41 pages with cover and OGL statement. Everything is 100% open minus the usual trade dress and some names. The book is full color, but mostly public domain black and white art.The purpose of this book is to bring together various mythos and stories together to present a cohesive whole narrative of a primordial race of serpent people. In this respect, it works rather well.
History and Pre-History of the Serpent Folk. Drawing on the works of Dunsany, Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith Kelley weaves a history (or Hisssstory!) that combines the Hyborian Mythos and the Cthulhu Mythos, with other myths of the world added for good measure. While overtly for the Oldskull world it can be added and modified as any game master needs. One of the reasons it works so well here is that Kelley draws on some primordial myths and legends. The same that influenced the authors of the stories being used. Quotes from those authors are found throughout this book.
Up next we get a Serpent Folk Truename Generator. A useful tool to help you name all those NPCs (or even PCs) you plan on using. This is followed by Description or what your serpent folk looks like. A section on Ability Minimums, Maximums and Modifiers is next. After that are sections on Behavior, XP modifiers, and views on Alignment.
There is a list of serpent folk deities from other myths. It is a good list, but I have a few issues with some of the gods on it; for example Brigid. But the vast majority I see why they are there. Mostly Serpent Folk are going to worship Yig and/or Tsathogga, though Set is a close runner up.
We get into a section now on Class Options for Serpent Folk. Most are going to fall into the various fighter classes and thief-related classes. Also presented here is the new Soul Slaver class, which combines Cleric, Shaman, and Necromancer all in one serpent-related class. It's a good class and it adds a lot of flavor to the Serpent Folk. I might tweak it to be less Necromancer and more Shaman myself, but that is only personal bias, not a shortcoming of the class. Basically, the class draws on the souls of the deceased to perform magical feats. There are spell lists, mostly from the classical B/X and Advanced sources. They advance as Magic-Users, but have their own spell progression and, in a nice old-school touch, level titles.
There is also a section on Racial Powers serpent folk get and what kinds of snakes they are likely to summon. This also included specail attacks and special limitations.
There is a nice section on how Serpent folk get along with Dragons (spoiler, they don't) that really sealed the deal for me. I have been using various serpent-like races (Yuan-ti, Naga) as the ancient ancestral enemies of the Dragonfolk (Dragonborn) for years.
We end with a recomended reading list.
So for just $3 and a little over 40 pages this book packs a lot in. There are so many cool ideas it is hard to figure out where I want to start with it. I think that since Kelley tapped into some primal myths here that all gamers have an idea of these creatures, he just put it down in writing for us.
PWWO: Serpentine in Other Old-School Games
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has been my obsession over the last few weeks. Given the background of both AS&SH and Serpentine, it should really be no surprise then that I see the two of them working quite well together. With the addition of Serpentine you can really "punch up" the stats for Sanke People in AS&SH. Already an interesting monster, now with this addition Snake People go from "just another monster" in the Bestiary section to potential Big Bad material. Growing cult activity? Serpent People. More dinosaur sightings? Serpent People. Increased slave trade? Yup. Serpent People. Plus AS&SH and Oldskull Serpentine draw from exactly the same sources. They just rearrange things in a different order. Both books feature Yig and owners of one book should find it to be of positive use when used with the other book.Serpentine features the often used Clark Ashton Smith god, Tsathoggua. Here he is considered to be a god of the Serpent People. AS&SH has the god Xathoqqua, which is the same god. There are some differences in how they are portrayed in each book, but gods are supposed to be mutable. Of course, the best source for Tsathogga (yet another spelling) is from the Frog Gods themselves in their Tome of Horror Complete. Here he is presented as a demon, but that is perfect for me really. The same book (and the Tome of Horrors 4) have the Inphidians, which are their versions of the Yuan-ti, save Open for the OGL. Speaking of the Frog Gods, in their Monstrosities book feature Ophidians, a name I have also used in the past, as snake men.
The OSR games Blueholme and Adventurer Conqueror King System both have rules within their systems to allow Serpentine player characters. All you need really is the Serpentine book.
Union of the Snake: The Second Campaign
The heroes of the Second Campaign, my D&D 5e nod to old-school gaming, have already had their first encounter with the Yuan-ti. They have encountered other snake-like creatures and reptiles worshiping snake gods, but everything is about to go into overdrive when they hit their desert-related adventures.While the campaign is 5e based there is a lot of old-school influences in it. I plan to take a bunch of the material above, put it in a blender then bury it in a desert for 3,000 years and see what comes up.
For me a lot of it is leading up to the ultimate confrontation with Demogorgon.
Borrowing from Advanced Labyrinth Lord I am using Demogorgon as the cult leader behind the snakes and snake men. This fits in with my use of the blood apes as one of the three factions the worship Demogorgon; with human cultists and Ophidians/Snake Men/Serpent Folk being the other two. The campaign will take a solid desert/Egyptian turn here soon. I just need to figure out the Set-Apep-Yig-Demogorgon connection.
Of course, there will be creepy ass snake-men and cultists. All part of the alchemy of my past. Yes. My influeces for this are an forgotten Dirk Benedict horror movie and Duran Duran. My game, my weird ass childhood.
