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Tomb of Annihilation: Leads and Clues (spoilers)
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<blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8410130" data-attributes="member: 12731"><p>Quick summary (as far as my memory serves):</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the counting clock idea <em>does not work</em> since the first half of the adventure is a hexcrawl, and you do not want players to avoid exploration with the rationale they don't have time for it. <u>Drop the idea to death curse the PCs at the start.</u> The correct moment to inflict it on the PCs is when the adventure switches from exploration to site-based, which is when they reach Omu.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">if the hex crawl is going to be meaningful, it simply has to be about resource attrition. You just can't have every individual encounter threaten the life of the heroes - that makes the jungle illogically lethal. But a party with Create Water and Cure Disease simply don't care about festering swamps. I personally hardlined this to say "you cannot recover hit points* except in hexes with fresh running water" to force the hexcrawl be about resource attrition. (Of course, if your players won't enjoy exploring the continent, feel free to beeline straight to Omu)</li> </ul><p>*) specifically "you can sleep for the night anywhere but it doesn't count as a long rest if you're in a corrupted jungle hex"</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">the expanded encounters at Omu is a wonderful resource. I cannot straight up remember the exact name but it should be in this thread. I even made an "expanded Omu map" with loads of more encounters (from that book) here on EN World.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">warning: this adventure continues the long tradition of spending effort on what my players never do: negotiating with obviously chaotic evil creatures; in this case the yuan-ti of Omu. So many words have been wasted on the intrigues of drow or other races... when you have players logically (and correctly) deduce that just killing them is the only way to deal with them, it all goes to waste. <em>Why can't D&D understand that you need more morally grey (or at least less morally black) counterparts to get intrigue and diplomacy going?!?</em> But I digress.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">if your players aren't fans of mega-dungeons do not run every encounter in the final Tomb dungeon. This dungeon is not logical. It is a posterboy of a wacky funhouse created solely to entertain players. Yes it's made by Acecerak. No, players who want logic and realism still won't enjoy it. Just skip half the levels, so the campaign doesn't end up spending half the run time in the dungeon-on-acid.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Acecerak probably needs better stats to provide a satisfying final boss. I am of the opinion that the final challenge should be capable of actually perma-killing a player character. There is no more adventure to miss out on, so even a TPK is acceptable. Therefore, the time to play softball has come to an end. I am pretty certain I have posted a replacement spell list and (much) better tactics for the old lich, but I am only 90% certain.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Think that's it. If you have a more specific q, maybe I remember enough to answer it <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CapnZapp, post: 8410130, member: 12731"] Quick summary (as far as my memory serves): [LIST] [*]the counting clock idea [I]does not work[/I] since the first half of the adventure is a hexcrawl, and you do not want players to avoid exploration with the rationale they don't have time for it. [U]Drop the idea to death curse the PCs at the start.[/U] The correct moment to inflict it on the PCs is when the adventure switches from exploration to site-based, which is when they reach Omu. [*]if the hex crawl is going to be meaningful, it simply has to be about resource attrition. You just can't have every individual encounter threaten the life of the heroes - that makes the jungle illogically lethal. But a party with Create Water and Cure Disease simply don't care about festering swamps. I personally hardlined this to say "you cannot recover hit points* except in hexes with fresh running water" to force the hexcrawl be about resource attrition. (Of course, if your players won't enjoy exploring the continent, feel free to beeline straight to Omu)[/LIST] *) specifically "you can sleep for the night anywhere but it doesn't count as a long rest if you're in a corrupted jungle hex" [LIST][*]the expanded encounters at Omu is a wonderful resource. I cannot straight up remember the exact name but it should be in this thread. I even made an "expanded Omu map" with loads of more encounters (from that book) here on EN World. [*]warning: this adventure continues the long tradition of spending effort on what my players never do: negotiating with obviously chaotic evil creatures; in this case the yuan-ti of Omu. So many words have been wasted on the intrigues of drow or other races... when you have players logically (and correctly) deduce that just killing them is the only way to deal with them, it all goes to waste. [I]Why can't D&D understand that you need more morally grey (or at least less morally black) counterparts to get intrigue and diplomacy going?!?[/I] But I digress. [*]if your players aren't fans of mega-dungeons do not run every encounter in the final Tomb dungeon. This dungeon is not logical. It is a posterboy of a wacky funhouse created solely to entertain players. Yes it's made by Acecerak. No, players who want logic and realism still won't enjoy it. Just skip half the levels, so the campaign doesn't end up spending half the run time in the dungeon-on-acid. [*]Acecerak probably needs better stats to provide a satisfying final boss. I am of the opinion that the final challenge should be capable of actually perma-killing a player character. There is no more adventure to miss out on, so even a TPK is acceptable. Therefore, the time to play softball has come to an end. I am pretty certain I have posted a replacement spell list and (much) better tactics for the old lich, but I am only 90% certain. [/LIST] Think that's it. If you have a more specific q, maybe I remember enough to answer it :) [/QUOTE]
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