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Is TOMB OF HORRORS the Worst Adventure Of All Time?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7692820" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Criticism of ToH is not a new thing. Sometime in the past few years I found online a copy of an Alarums and Excursions play report from the original tournmanent (Mark Sawnson in Alarums & Excursions #4 September 1975) - maybe someone posted it on a thread here.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, some relevant extracts:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">The dungeon that Gary had brought along was being run in a tournament - all parties with identical characters (ranging from a MU 12 to a Fighter 4 - with strength of 18). . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">As I started to say- there were no wandering monsters (damn few monsters at all, in fact), plenty of traps (too many) and very few experienced players. It was run by Gary's son, who devoted no effort to keeping the characters in character. However, we did just as well as the other Friday night group . . .</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Another, later party, possibly aided by rumors or led by someone who understood pits, elf proof plaster [the GM did not let elves notice secret doors concealed behind plaster, which this player had not anticipated] and the unpopulated nature of Gygax's dungeon - got the whole treasure. Sigh.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">From this experience I deduce a couple of lessons. </p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">1) Don't run D&D as a tournament. 2) Always shatter plaster unless you are in the dungeon of nasty minded people such as I who might put poison gas behind it. 3) Play a Gygax game if you like pits, secret doors and Dungeon Roulette. Play a game such as in A&E if you prefer monsters, talking/arguing/fighting with chance met characters and a more exciting game. Of course, the game may not have been typical, but Gary can defend himself. I felt no real desire for a second, similar game.</p><p></p><p>I've never run or played ToH in D&D. I did restat it for Rolemaster once, and used it in a game, but once the players worked out that their PCs were in the Tomb of Horrors they pulled out.</p><p></p><p>I don't think it's the worst module that I own. It's certainly not the best. Just confining myself to Gygax modules I have got far, far more fun play out of the G-modules (especially G2) and D1-D2. (I don't think I've ever used D3, but at least on reading I would rate it well above S1 also.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7692820, member: 42582"] Criticism of ToH is not a new thing. Sometime in the past few years I found online a copy of an Alarums and Excursions play report from the original tournmanent (Mark Sawnson in Alarums & Excursions #4 September 1975) - maybe someone posted it on a thread here. Anyway, some relevant extracts: [indent]The dungeon that Gary had brought along was being run in a tournament - all parties with identical characters (ranging from a MU 12 to a Fighter 4 - with strength of 18). . . . As I started to say- there were no wandering monsters (damn few monsters at all, in fact), plenty of traps (too many) and very few experienced players. It was run by Gary's son, who devoted no effort to keeping the characters in character. However, we did just as well as the other Friday night group . . . Another, later party, possibly aided by rumors or led by someone who understood pits, elf proof plaster [the GM did not let elves notice secret doors concealed behind plaster, which this player had not anticipated] and the unpopulated nature of Gygax's dungeon - got the whole treasure. Sigh. From this experience I deduce a couple of lessons. 1) Don't run D&D as a tournament. 2) Always shatter plaster unless you are in the dungeon of nasty minded people such as I who might put poison gas behind it. 3) Play a Gygax game if you like pits, secret doors and Dungeon Roulette. Play a game such as in A&E if you prefer monsters, talking/arguing/fighting with chance met characters and a more exciting game. Of course, the game may not have been typical, but Gary can defend himself. I felt no real desire for a second, similar game.[/indent] I've never run or played ToH in D&D. I did restat it for Rolemaster once, and used it in a game, but once the players worked out that their PCs were in the Tomb of Horrors they pulled out. I don't think it's the worst module that I own. It's certainly not the best. Just confining myself to Gygax modules I have got far, far more fun play out of the G-modules (especially G2) and D1-D2. (I don't think I've ever used D3, but at least on reading I would rate it well above S1 also.) [/QUOTE]
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Is TOMB OF HORRORS the Worst Adventure Of All Time?
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