Tomb of Annihilation Is Here - What Do You Think?

Today's the day - WotC's latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure, Tomb of Annihilation, is out! Head on down to your friendly (or unfriendly) local (or not so local) gaming (or comic) store and pick up your copy. Alternatively, if you use a virtual table top, it's available for Fantasy Grounds and Roll20.

 

[Inchoroi]

Huh. I might actually have to buy this one. To Amazon!

 

[AriochQ]

...
My only gripe (and it's minor) ..... I really wish they'd stop moving Greyhawk stuff out of Greyhawk. So far we've had Elemental Evil moved to the Realms, Mordenkainen trapped in Ravenloft, and now Acererak is in the Realms. If all this stuff is cool, (and it is) give us a Greyhawk book.

This!

It is almost as if they are attempting to coop all the quality GH material in the hopes that GH fans will somehow fall in love with FR. GH has a certain feel and FR has a different feel, they do both a disservice by mashing them together.

 

[CapnZapp]

This!

It is almost as if they are attempting to coop all the quality GH material in the hopes that GH fans will somehow fall in love with FR. GH has a certain feel and FR has a different feel, they do both a disservice by mashing them together.

Not sure that's the correct conclusion.

I mean, they're doing it alright, but probably there are several reasons more pressing than "make people fall in love with the realms"

Likely, the simple answer is they want people to just associate ONE world with "D&D"

Having multiple worlds is likely considered a significant disadvantage when you try to build up brand awareness in the movie and toy figure businesses.

The people at that level aren't showing favoritism when they choose the Realms. They just want to create a single unified experience. Like Westeros. Or the universe hosting Iron Man and Captain America.

They would have chosen Mystara if the data had indicated that as the most used world.

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[Remathilis]

The people at that level aren't showing favoritism when they choose the Realms. They just want to create a single unified experience. Like Westeros. Or the universe hosting Iron Man and Captain America.

Aww, we almost made it 9 pages before someone complained about FR. I guess that's progress.

That said, I agree with the above quote; it's not any grand conspiracy as much as economic sense. Let's say WotC wanted to do a proper GH ToH sequel in 5e. They'd either have to release a GH book to introduce the names, concepts, Gods, etc or waste a significant amount of space in the module to introduce these concepts. Then you'd have to coordinate with the AL to figure out how that season would work (no small task to either start a new living world or port PC's from FR to GH). Further, it would limit options such as removing SCAG options from play. All that for one module.

The closest analogy is Ravenloft, and there is a very good reason why they went back to "weekend in hell" rather than "campaign setting" Ravenloft. I'd wager a planar/Planescape module will follow a similar path. The release schedule doesn't really have a way to support multiple settings at this time.

 

[Mercule]

I believe that particular boat has sailed.

To me it's clear they've concluded the game doesn't need multiple worlds, or it risks confusing future movie and toy customers, which is where the real money is.

I'm afraid you're correct, which makes me sad. I, personally, feel that the semi-generic nature of D&D is one of its best traits and is probably the biggest reason why I still come back to it despite flirtations with other systems. It's always been the game system that best balanced both the complexity vs. ease of learning axis as well as my desire to create my own world while supporting me with default lore to fall back on and multiple example settings to mine. Coalescing around any given setting is a huge, huge negative, in my mind and will probably drive me away from D&D, in the end.

The fact that it's the Realms, which I love in D&D with the same passion as Clinton loves Trump in the White House, is just the icing on the cake.

I fully understand the financial incentive for WotC to morph the "D&D RPG" into the "Forgotten Realms RPG". I just don't like it. They probably have about six months to announce actual, formal support for another setting before I give up and find another system for my next campaign. I could ignore all the Realms stuff in 5E -- it's a mighty fine system -- but I want to be active in the community for whatever game I'm playing. If the conversation is always around the Realms and everyone is playing in the Realms, it just isn't any fun. I'm encouraged by the most recent UA poll, but we'll see.

 

[Jester David]

My only gripe (and it's minor) ..... I really wish they'd stop moving Greyhawk stuff out of Greyhawk. So far we've had Elemental Evil moved to the Realms, Mordenkainen trapped in Ravenloft, and now Acererak is in the Realms. If all this stuff is cool, (and it is) give us a Greyhawk book.

Acererak was only loosely in Greyhawk.
His Tomb was always meant to be modular and fit in any world, and the references to Greyhawk in that module were weird as it predated the first Greyhawk product (the Folio) by two years.

I'm more annoyed he's a lich and not a demilich...

 

[Mercule]

That said, I agree with the above quote; it's not any grand conspiracy as much as economic sense. Let's say WotC wanted to do a proper GH ToH sequel in 5e. They'd either have to release a GH book to introduce the names, concepts, Gods, etc or waste a significant amount of space in the module to introduce these concepts. Then you'd have to coordinate with the AL to figure out how that season would work (no small task to either start a new living world or port PC's from FR to GH). Further, it would limit options such as removing SCAG options from play. All that for one module.

I'm cognizant of these concerns, but not really sympathetic. One of the design goals of D&D should be to promote diversity of settings. That doesn't mean we have to go back to the 2E money pit of a bazillion published settings. It does mean that, assuming WotC does have a goal of "a single unified experience", they have goals directly at odds with what I see as something that's inherent in the core of D&D.

I also don't think it's nearly as hard as you make it out. The Greyhawk gods are already in the back of the PHB. The original ToEE and AtG didn't need a deep dive into Greyhawk -- they had the maps they needed. All the pre-SCAG adventures worked just fine in the Realms w/o having a separate source book for the setting. I don't actually have SCAG, but my understanding is that many of the options aren't actually Realms-specific and that those that are (Purple Dragon Knight) actually have conversion options for other settings.

Of course, I'm also very strongly of the opinion that each published setting should have a few things that actually are unique to it and distinguish it from the other settings: Warforged and Dragonmarks for Eberron, Muls and Defilers for Dark Sun, etc. Other than a couple of sub-classes, Greyhawk and the Realms are probably the exception. So, implicitly invalidating a very small amount of the SCAG is more a feature than a bug, IMO.

I'm not an AL participant, so I'll totally grant that I don't understand the implications of switching worlds. I also don't have any idea of how much business the AL drives to WotC. Again, I'm not overly sympathetic. If AL is that big of a money machine that it warrants the lion's share of the attention, so be it. Just start putting an "AL" logo on all the Realms stuff so that it's clear that's a subset of D&D. And, then, produce some non-AL content for the rest of us. Also, stop borrowing names from the Realms for books that aren't for the Realms -- especially stupid ones like "Xanathar". At the least, borrow names from multiple settings, if the direction is to use proper names for the books.

The closest analogy is Ravenloft, and there is a very good reason why they went back to "weekend in hell" rather than "campaign setting" Ravenloft. I'd wager a planar/Planescape module will follow a similar path. The release schedule doesn't really have a way to support multiple settings at this time.

Planescape is actually the one setting that could work as the default backdrop for the game. I've never particularly cared for a lot of the Planescape-isms, but they've worked their way into the game and it's supposed to be what unifies everything. If you want your AL group to follow the various published adventures, then just be aware they're passing through Sigil on their way between seasons. It also helps to permit the Purple Dragon Knight and the House Cannith Artificer in the same group (even though Eberron doesn't work particularly well with the Great Wheel).

 

[Mercule]

Acererak was only loosely in Greyhawk.
His Tomb was always meant to be modular and fit in any world, and the references to Greyhawk in that module were weird as it predated the first Greyhawk product (the Folio) by two years.

Yup. This one actually doesn't bother me being set in the Realms other than just general Realms fatigue. There's a non-zero chance that I'll buy it and run it, as-is -- unless it really is easy to port to Xen'drik.

 

[CapnZapp]

Is there anything in the module that prevents you from simply lifting out "lich" and dropping in "demilich" in its place?

I mean, I can understand the annoyance if he's described doing something a demilich can't do.

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[SkidAce]

Acererak was only loosely in Greyhawk.
His Tomb was always meant to be modular and fit in any world, and the references to Greyhawk in that module were weird as it predated the first Greyhawk product (the Folio) by two years.

I'm more annoyed he's a lich and not a demilich...

He decided to come back from wandering the planes as a spirit and implement this plan. Hence back to lich. IMO.