Tomb of Horrors RPGA DM Reward

Kurtomatic · Jun 22, 2010

Hey, I didn't see another thread on this, so mods feel free to merge this if I missed it...

I got home late last night (from playing D&D! ..on a Monday night!), and looky what the postman dropped off:

Tomb of Horrors
A HEROIC TIER ADVENTURE
AN ADVENTURE FOR FIVE 9TH LEVEL CHARACTERS
Gary Gygax - Scott Fitzgerald Gray

RPGA DM Rewards adventure with a nice letter from Chris Tulach. Usual booklet with loose cardstock cover, 34 pages B&W, dungeon map on insider cover plus a poster map with the complete dungeon layout (not to miniature scale!). Haven't read a word of it yet (work, work, work...). In the screen shots or it didn't happen vein, I took a crappy photo with my phone.

Cheers!

fba827 · Jun 22, 2010

Hmm. nice!

Last year's DM rewards was the ship tiles. And the 'general' reward (for just updating contact info) was the village of homlet adventure (though I did not personally get direct use out of the adventure, it did offer an idea I later used, and of course I used the fold-out map for something else).

If this year's DM reward is an adventure, I wonder what the general reward will be!

speaking of the general (contact update) reward, the first batch is supposed to be mailed between april and june too, right? or am i misremembering?

Kurtomatic · Jun 22, 2010

This is basically the same as the Hommlet module; they're sending this out just for keeping your contact info with the RPGA up to date every year.

Edit: sorry for the confusion! To clarify, the letter refers to the DM Rewards program, but specifically says this is a reward for maintaining contact info in that program. It also mentions the semi-annual (6-months) reward cycle for running games, but doesn't say what the next ones will be.

Festivus · Jun 22, 2010

For some reason, I thought the contact update was in June and the DM Reward in August. It said it was a DM Reward on the letter?

fba827 · Jun 22, 2010

Festivus said:
For some reason, I thought the contact update was in June and the DM Reward in August.

That is my understanding as well.

I too updated my contact info this year (in January to be specific) so I expect one sometime this year if they're doing it like last year. Their announcement from last year says reward for contact update is april-june mailing (for first batch).
(source: from last year Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Event (DM Rewards) )

I just took a peek at my dci login. In "My rewards" section it doesn't list my "contact reward" as having been mailed yet (though I can still see last year's contact reward listed there, so I know i'm looking in the right place).

Anyway, june isn't over. or i may just not be in batch one for some reason. or something may be different about the program this year. so all just theory at this point...

Kurtomatic · Jun 22, 2010

Festivus said:
For some reason, I thought the contact update was in June and the DM Reward in August. It said it was a DM Reward on the letter?

Yes. The letter makes it clear there are two types of awards for the DM Reward program; the annual contact update, and the semi-annual DMing awards. Both kinds of awards are apparently included in the "DM Rewards" program.

fba827 · Jun 22, 2010

Kurtomatic said:
Edit: sorry for the confusion! To clarify, the letter refers to the DM Rewards program, but specifically says this is a reward for maintaining contact info in that program. It also mentions the semi-annual (6-months) reward cycle for running games, but doesn't say what the next ones will be.

That does clarify a little -- good to know

Thanks.

Kurtomatic · Jun 22, 2010

fba827 said:
Anyway, june isn't over. or i may just not be in batch one for some reason. or something may be different about the program this year. so all just theory at this point...

Last year I received Hommlet the same day it was first posted about here on ENW. I seem to be in the very first distro batch. I haven't heard anything about this, and was quite surprised to see the nature of this module when I pulled it from the envelope. How or if this ties into the new hardback is a good question (still haven't had time to really look at it).

Kurtomatic · Jun 22, 2010

Okay, one conference call from hell later...

The module opens with Gary's original introduction ("Somewhere under a lost and lonely hill..."), proceeds to discuss the history of the module, and then talks about placement of the tomb in various editions of the game, closing with:

Tomb of Horrors 4E (RPGA) said:
Place the Tomb of Horrors wherever you like in your campaign world. This adventure follows Schwalb's lead by placing the tomb at the center of the City of Skulls and granting the Bleak Academy control of access to the tomb; this adventure also sets the backstory of the new 4th Edition Tomb of Horrors super-adventure, scheduled to release in July 2010.

Festivus · Jun 23, 2010

Came home and it was sitting in my mailbox. I am not quite sure what to do with the really slick poster map that is at 1/4 in scale and has all the secret doors, traps, and whatnot revealed, but I'll stew on that for a bit.

Much of the interior art work came from the original mod, which is fun to look at again, the poem is there, and the few traps I have looked at seem fun, but notably less deadly. There are some clever uses of skill challenges for some of the traps that seem like they will play out fun.

I'll have a chance to read it in detail on the commute tomorrow, but so far it looks fun.