Tomb of Annihilation

Here's my campaign log: https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/forum/3041203

And @Nebulous has a great thread of his campaign: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?587369-Tomb-of-Annihilation-campaign-recaps

I've really enjoyed the old school feel of this adventure so far with the hex-crawling and random encounters.

I foreshadowed how dangerous and randomly fatal the jungle is and how easy to get lost and using the 'player actions' while exploring, rolling weather tables and keeping everything random has really made it feel hard and dangerous. The players know that I am rolling things randomly and that there is a less than zero change they will die. It adds a good tension to the game. At one point the group got totally lost and an entire session was two weeks of wandering around in the jungle while getting attacked by stuff. It was a fun session, even though one of the characters died.

Remember that not every encounter has to be a fight. Generally characters will get some level of warning (through their tracker or scout, through noise coming towards them or through other means) that danger is coming their way. They can often avoid fights. Also, encounters with intelligent creatures is likely to be a chance for roleplay and foreshadowing rather than combat.

In the last few sessions I have started handwaving some of the creature encounters as they are now high enough level that most of the random encounters are not much of a threat. I also changed the story a little so that locations are more likely to lead to other locations.

We've just started in Omu now, and that has a completely different feel to it. There isn't a chance of getting lost, but there is a lot more resource management needed. In Chult you might get one encounter a day (two if you are really unlucky), in Omu it could be a set-piece, a few random encounters and a temple filled with traps before lunchtime.

My only issue is with the death-curse. I feel that it is both too powerful (it kills it's victims too quickly) and not powerful enough (it only affects those that have been ressurected). In my game the players have been warned that as the soulmonger gains power it will start to pull the souls from all living things. They didn't find this out till well down the track though (In Orulunga I think).

I also have most of the intelligent creatures and humans only speaking Chultan - unless they are merchants or scholars. It feels a bit more real if one of the characters has to translate all the time.

Artus Cimber and Dragonbait are brilliant, but don't let them become part of the party - they are just too powerful.

Rabbitbait said:

Artus Cimber and Dragonbait are brilliant, but don't let them become part of the party - they are just too powerful.

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Yeah. They were there for a while, but they are unbalanced, mostly just the Ring of Winter, but I found a really cool way to resolve that problem. It will be in a later recap.

I am in the process of running ToA for two different groups. One group is about half the way to the Forbidden City while the first group is on level 4 of the Tomb.

Both groups have the same complaint. Due to the nature of the Death Curse, they felt rushed through the colorful, vibrant, exciting city of Port Nyanzaru and they weren't allowed to explore the lush continent of Chult. I would encourage you to bring the Death Curse into the campaign later and find other reasons for the party to explore the continent. Maybe they are explorers, treasure hunters, etc. Then later they can be hired to find the source of the Death Curse - because you're really missing what I think is the best part of the adventure.

When you get to the Tomb, be prepared to alter the rules. It's a deathtrap dungeon that breaks a lot of the rules of the game. I would allow saving throws where they're normally not allowed and take out the instant-death traps, for example.

One of the scenes I am excited for is Camp Vengeance. I am changing the commander's personality to make him torn between fatigue, the futility of the mission, his dedication to his men and duty. I am inspired by the scene in the Movie the Good Bad and the Ugly where Blondie and Tuco talk with the Union Army officer and convince him to blow up the bridge so there is no reason to fight anymore.

I am going to give the soldiers of Camp Vengence naphtha and create an opportunity if the characters chase the hook, to convince the commander to destroy the fort so there is nothing left to defend and go back to Port Nyanzaru. They can use the Naphtha to blow up the fort as a major offensive of undead men and dinosaurs attack. Leaving the fire as a barrier between them and the undead, the Order of the Gauntlet load the wounded in the boats and the rest follow the river out of there.

I have been running ToA since January 2018, 3-4 hour sessions twice a month, and the PCs are currently in the 1st level of the Tomb of the Nine Gods. We started at 1st level and used the standard Sindra Silvane plotline. For what it's worth, I have run this using Adventurers League rules, with a steady cast of 3-4 PCs and a much wider cast of characters who have played a session or two here or there.

Digital M@ said:

1. What is something you would change in how you ran it

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As others mentioned, I would have introduced Yuan-Ti and Red Wizards much earlier in the campaign. Like as early as Port Nyanzaru. I don't really do that great of a job with the foreshadowing on these groups...and they play a pretty big role once you get to Omu.

2. Any planning you would have done differently?

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As above, probably spent more time working Red Wizards and Ras Nsi into the story earlier.

3. Overland travel - there is a ton of it - Did it bog the game down after awhile - Why did it work or why didn't it work?

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I hand-waved the bookkeeping/survival part of the overland journey and just used it as a series of mini-adventures to get the characters to 5th level before they reached Omu. I didn't find it that tedious, but I also strung them along and gave them the info they needed to find Omu.

4. What was your favorite part?

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The race for puzzle cubes was pretty cool, but honestly, the whole adventure has been fun.

5. What was your least favorite part?

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Having to have a good handle on all the different traps, factions, etc. prior to the session, to ensure the game runs smoothly.

6. anything else you would like to share about your experience

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ToA is my favorite published adventure, all time, and has been quite enjoyable. I am just fearful it will end up in a TPK now that they have entered the Tomb of the Nine Gods. But if it does, it will be a spectacular flame out, for sure

I'm about to start this adventure. I will DM and have a small group of 2 players. I was planning on fleshing out a guide to help round out the group. Any pointers on running this with a small group?

MockingBird said:

I'm about to start this adventure. I will DM and have a small group of 2 players. I was planning on fleshing out a guide to help round out the group. Any pointers on running this with a small group?

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Yeah, I'd suggest starting them at 3rd level.

For the guide(s), I'd suggest tailoring the guide(s) based on whatever party roles your 2 players don't cover. Say they decide to play a ranger and a sorcerer, and neither has healing magic or thieves' tools proficiency. I'd steer them towards guides who might have those sorts of skills. For example, Eku is known as an accomplished healer, and River Mist & Flask of Wine are likely to have shady reputations (i.e. you might give them thieves' tools proficiency and Thieves Cant).

You might also check out the recent Unearthed Arcana - Sidekicks which has a system for leveling NPCs along with the player characters.

The hex crawl part through the jungle was too monotonous. Every day the same checks. I'd make the whole experience more abstract (in terms of resources) and varied.

Some folks are saying that the death curse is too imminent, that they want to see more of the jungle. But honestly, the large majority of locations in the jungle pale in comparison to Omu and the Tomb of the Nine Gods. Getting the party to Omu fast is a good thing.

Thanks for the tips! Been binge watching Force Grey. I like how Mercer ran the jungle trek pretty much structured all the way to the lost city. I'll definitely dial the death curse back so my players can explore. Theres a lot of cool locations I dont want them to miss.

My players are 5th level and about to find Omu in the next session or two. I found that getting lost and suffering any detrimental effects from thirst and disease were practically negligible at even low level. There were multiple characters with Survival skills and rolling advantage was common. Create Food and Water and Lesser restoration cures practically anything, so that was never a real threat. The party made sure to keep a full supply of bug repelling gel at all times, and were able to resupply before it ever ran out.

My point is that the jungle itself never felt as threatening as I wanted it to, but I think that is more a product of the magic in D&D and the prevalence of how important rolling a d20 is over the actual skill of a character. Roll high and can suck at anything and still succeed.

Regardless, I LOVE this adventure. The feel is different than any other, and the constant threat of random encounters beyond the PC level to overcome keeps them on their toes.

I did introduce Artus Cimber and dragonbait fairly early on, but I would recommend not using the Ring of Winter unless you have a solid exit plan for Artus. It is overbalancing and too powerful. If you DO use it, I would have the frost giants hot on his trail, or other powerful agents.