Tomb of Horrors 3.5

In character thread for Scotley's Tomb of Horrors 3.5

Rogue's Gallery Thread RG

Out of Character Discussion Thread OOC

I'll probably regret this, but reading all the tributes to E. Gary Gygax has put me in a nostalgic mood. Are there enough players out there who don't know the details of the 1e module Tomb of Horrors (S1) to get up a game? The nature of this particular module makes it hard to adventure in more than once. I guess if you haven't been in it since the 80's that might be okay. Anyway, if there are enough players to get up a group of say 5 to 6 then I might be willing to run a one shot adventure. I would use the 3.5 update. If you've read it then you would, unfortunately, not be able to play.

I would run using just players handbook races and classes for the proper old school feel. Say 8th or 9th level. No prestige classes. No leadership feat. No book of Exalted Deeds. I would entertain spells, gear and maybe few feats from PH2, DMG2, Complete books, races of books and spell compendium. If anybody wants to play a Paladin then I'd entertain a mount-less version as this will be pretty much all dungeon crawl.

Anyway, posting frequency of say every other day and rolling on invisible castle. I'm picturing a fairly short term game, maybe really short given this adventure's reputation for tpk's. Any takers?

Okay, it looks like we have enough interest. Here are the character creation guidelines summarized from later posts:

Setting will be the world of Greyhawk. Races and Classes from the Players Handbook only. The one exception that proves the rule is a mount-less paladin variant from PH2. Up to 6 9th level characters. 33 point buy or if you'd like you may roll 3d6 6 times on invisible castle in a way that lets me know you only rolled once. If you don't like your rolls you can default back to the 33 point buy. 36,000 gp worth of gear. No price limit on items. You could spend the whole 36,000 on one item, though I suspect this would be unwise. You may select spells from PH, PH2 and Spell compendium. You may select gear from PH1 and 2, Magic Item compendium, DMG, and the various races and complete books as well as dungeonscape. I'd prefer that most of your feats come from PH1 or 2, but I'll allow them from other non-campaign specific books within reason. No book of Exalted Deeds. If we get more than 6 characters who meet the criteria then you can vote via email for the three you'd most like to adventure with and select the 6 highest vote getters. I suggest you generate a character who can play nice with others. I reserve the right to veto any characters that don't meet the criteria. You need not generate an elaborate background unless you just enjoy that sort of thing. I would like you to include some idea of the character's personality and physical description. Feel free to combine back stories if you wish. Everyone should be a past associate of a human named Ambrose Wythwindle. An Indiana Jones like scholar/adventurer now very very advanced in years.

Everyone starts with 36,000+d100 experience points, roll on invisible castle. You get max. hit points at first level and then roll on invisible castle d4 can reroll ones, d6 can reroll 1's and 2's, d8 and reroll 1's, 2's and 3's, d10 can reroll 1's, 2's, 3's, and 4's, finally d12's can reroll 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and 5's as needed or just set the minRoll appropriately on www.invisiblecastle.com.


Interested Players/Characters in no particular order:

J. Alexander--Robert MacArdy, Human Druid
Walking Dad--Garagos Stoneshield Dwarven Fighter (already working on Human Cleric of Trithereon backup)
renau1g--Fin Darkstalker Dwarven Rogue
?OnlytheStrong?--Tagret Artalen Human Monk--MIA?
Greybeard--Zorn Human Sorcerer
wandering 8i--Jason Fishmonger Human Paladin
Scott DeWar--Harrison Jakes Human Fighter
Mista CollinsLeif--Logan Lightbringer Human Cleric of Pelor

Hard to believe but I've never played or read that module. I've heard many great things about it but I do not know any details. Just that it was fun, creepy, and deadly.

PHB only races and classes I could do. The games I play in are usually those anyway except for the occasional Dragon Shaman or other PHB 2 class. I prefer the races from the PHB anyway.

Posting frequency is not a problem. I will be away for about 4 days in April but might have internet access (if I bring my laptop).

Cool, I expect that in their proper order deadly, creepy and fun is the way to say it. Of course in the 3.5 version they've pulled some of the fangs. A good Rogue should be able to avoid many of the traps that you just had to guess about in the old days.

I usually allow a broader range of races and classes, but for this one a list closer to first edition just makes more sense. I would use Greyhawk as the setting.

A rogue could be interesting. I haven't played one in awhile. I am nearly finished with the LEB game Lost Knowledge of Arcanix (lots of fun!). I usually play spellcasters but, depending on who else joins, would be willing to try nearly any class (I'm not good at playing Paladins. Tried one once but RP'ed it poorly).

I would love to play. I'm a relatively new gamer (about 2 years experience), but would love to play Tomb of Horrors. I'd love to play Tagret, the monk.

Rogues are interesting and one (or more) will be absolutely required for this adventure, but spellcasters will also be good choices. I can't say that I've ever played a paladin brilliantly myself. I guess Lawful Good just doesn't come naturally to me.

The living games are pretty cool. I've toyed with the idea of joining one on more than one occation, but just haven't gotten around to it. I'm not familiar with Lost Knowledge of Arcanix. Is that a published module or a homebrew? I generally roll my own, but I was feeling the urge to run a classic Gygax adventure. Perhaps a better tribute would have been to create and original adventure in the classic style, but I don't have the spare time to do it right just now.

OnlytheStrong said:

I would love to play. I'm a relatively new gamer (about 2 years experience), but would love to play Tomb of Horrors. I'd love to play Tagret, the monk.

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Hey, good to have a familiar player show interest. I would think a Monk's excellent saves will be an asset. If you'll forgive the cliche--I was playing this adventure before you were born. Have you been involved in a total party kill yet?

I'ld be game, I havent played the module and only read the little bit on wikipedia. I've been out of DnD since about when 3.5 came out though, so I only have the 3.5 PHB (everything else is 3.0). I would probably play a paladin, good natured but a bit dense with a touch of paranoia. I'm open to other classes though if you wind up needing to fill a role. I'll post the characters bio in the next day or two if you'd like. Would the setting be Greyhawk? Also how exactly does the mountless paladin varation work, and what are the character generation rules?

Scotley said:

Have you been involved in a total party kill yet?

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lol I'm not sure I should admit this, but yes, yes I have. In a tabletop game, we made a rather stupid decision regarding splitting up. Anyway to make a long story short, we met up and brought 2 attacking parties together to make one huge ass whoopin contest. We lost.


I did learn that splitting up usually means death. So..... there is some silver lining.

I've been involved in a few TPKs myself. Usually in the Paizo adventure paths like Savage Tide and recently, Pathfinder. Been gaming off and on since the early 80's. Played a little 2nd edition D&D but mostly 3.0 and 3.5 editions. I remember THACO well.