Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tomb of Annihilation
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Stormdale" data-source="post: 7225318" data-attributes="member: 3555"><p><strong>5 out of 5 rating for Tomb of Annihilation</strong></p><p></p><p>I’m not usually one for reviews of adventures but thought in this case I would right a rather short one of the latest WoTC adventure for 5E, the Tomb of Annihilation.</p><p></p><p> To date with most of the WoTC adventures for 5E I’ve found parts I like and parts and I don’t really care for. I'm not actually a fan of the big “adventure path” style format but found parts of each I can drop into our games so I tend to mine the adventures for locations and use bits and pieces of each and weave them into our stories based on player action in a fairly freeform sandbox style game.</p><p></p><p>With that being said I am planning to now run a large part of this one. Before I go any further I just have to say that my first ever game of D&D back in 1982 was the adventure Dwellers of the Forbidden City and it is still one of my favourite site based adventures. I recall the first time I got to DM during the summer school holidays for 1982/83 I DMed "Dwellers" for my brother and best friend and we had many, many hours of fun back in the day exploring the forbidden city and have used the adventure numerous times over the years since then. Like most early adventures it was a bit bare bones but makes for a great site based adventure that a DM can really put a stamp on and make their own. </p><p></p><p>Tomb of Horrors is another classic module but one I never ran back in the day, only ran it in the early 2000s as a one off and we never finished it. Tomb of Annihilation kind of joins the two together and adds a whole heap more to boot. The forbidden city map in this one seems to similar to the original city but has been reimagined and improved and chock full of interesting places to adventure. My only issue with ToA is transporting an iconic Greyhawk NPC in Acerarak to the Forgotten Realms, but that is only a minor quibble and in my game I’m placing it firmly back in the Amedio jungle area of Greyhawk.</p><p></p><p>The adventure from what I’ve read so far in the D&D Beyond version, is one hell of a sandbox, it is just dripping with flavour and has a lost worlds/Indiana Jones/ undead apocalypse, hell even an Apocalypse Now vibe can be got out of it with very little effort! There are some truly great adventure locations and the whole thing seems to be really, really well put together.</p><p></p><p>I’m not a fan of reading a module and critiquing it. Several of the Prince of Apocalypse adventure locations seemed a bit lame to me but when I dropped them into the game then they came alive and really created some memorable nights and weeks of gaming for my group in some truly unexpected ways and played far better than I thought they would have done on first read, but that is D&D. It’ usually what happens around the table that makes or breaks an adventure.</p><p></p><p>Still, I can’t wait to run this one, in fact have already started! Our regular adventure came to an end last week so put together a little one week filler adventure for last night based on what the players had suggested they were planning to do next but instead kicked off ToA. I can see the "hook" of raised characters losing hps as being an issue fort some people/groups but it got my guys attention far more than any start I've seen in quite a while. I was itching to run this one and I started this week. I started the adventure I’d planned but intended to have the pcs who'd previously been raised from the dead start losing hps to foreshadow the start a bit. However, this worked far better than I expected. The two players whose characters were affected decided to stop their current adventure and high tail it back to town to speak to the local clergy and so took the bait, hook line and sinker. They learned that people that had been raised from the dead seemed to be afflicted with the same malady and it appeared to be afflicting people throughout the Flanaess. Next, they went and spoke to a local sage (Syndra) and learned more. So not too long after they found themselves teleported to the city of Nyanzaru. The rest of the session was really about setting the scene and introducing them to the tropics and city. The city of Nyanzaru itself is a great starting point for the adventure with lots of colourful characters and events, including dinosaur races! This certainly isn't your standard medievelesque D&D setting, from the very first glimpse of the city the adventure really starts to set the scene and they definitely knew they were in a jungle setting. </p><p></p><p>I am really looking forward to running this and seeing the stories that develop out of it. My party range from 4th- 9th level (2 replacement characters joined this week so they started at 4th level) so we will probably skip over some of the adventures in Nyranzaru and head straight into the jungle after locating some guides (and who the party choose to guide them will have an impact on how the adventure plays out- one of the many cool things about this adventure). </p><p></p><p>There are suggestions for how to run the adventure for beginning level pcs, 5th level and 9th level pcs to help guide things.</p><p></p><p>It really has an old school vibe to me and the writers really seemed to have made the effort to reimagine the style of adventuring that I grew up with in the early 80 but at the same time update it. It is a really sandboxy adventure, an old school hex crawl in the model of Island of Dread. I really like sandbox style games but if a hex crawl isn't your thing simply make a flow chart and allow the party to make it to the city of Omu via however many of the sites that you want to run. That is how I intend to run it. We have limited time so will probably use the guides to direct the game and ensure we hit 3-4 encounter areas I really, really want to run and lead the party pretty quickly to the Forbidden City. I am envisioning a canoe trip up one of the rivers into the interior and an Apocalypse Now style journey through enemy territory. There are a couple of forts in the jungle and intend one of them to change the leader to be inspired by Marlon Brando’s crazed Colonel Kurtz.</p><p></p><p> It seems to me that WoTC have taken on board feedback from the various adventures they’ve written for 5E and then stepped it up two gears. This one just leaps out to me as something that has been very well put together, paying homage to what has gone before but also taking 5E into a new and exciting direction. I know my players are going to love the adventure though when they get to the tomb well then I can see this one really ramping up a gear or two and can't wait till they realise they may be in a bit over their heads but have no choice but to continue. </p><p></p><p>So what do I love about this one? </p><p>Undead...check</p><p>Dinosaurs...check</p><p>Pulpy/lost worlds vibe... check</p><p>sandboxy adventure.... check</p><p>awesome forbidden city...check</p><p>Nasty trap filled dungeons...check </p><p>Interesting npcs.... check</p><p>Interesting and unique adventure sites/locations...check </p><p></p><p>So, I really recommend this one, go out and get it...now! I don't think you'll regret it. In fact I think it is the best adventure produced by Wizard's for 5e so far and will make for a really memorable campaign. </p><p></p><p>Stormdale</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stormdale, post: 7225318, member: 3555"] [b]5 out of 5 rating for Tomb of Annihilation[/b] I’m not usually one for reviews of adventures but thought in this case I would right a rather short one of the latest WoTC adventure for 5E, the Tomb of Annihilation. To date with most of the WoTC adventures for 5E I’ve found parts I like and parts and I don’t really care for. I'm not actually a fan of the big “adventure path” style format but found parts of each I can drop into our games so I tend to mine the adventures for locations and use bits and pieces of each and weave them into our stories based on player action in a fairly freeform sandbox style game. With that being said I am planning to now run a large part of this one. Before I go any further I just have to say that my first ever game of D&D back in 1982 was the adventure Dwellers of the Forbidden City and it is still one of my favourite site based adventures. I recall the first time I got to DM during the summer school holidays for 1982/83 I DMed "Dwellers" for my brother and best friend and we had many, many hours of fun back in the day exploring the forbidden city and have used the adventure numerous times over the years since then. Like most early adventures it was a bit bare bones but makes for a great site based adventure that a DM can really put a stamp on and make their own. Tomb of Horrors is another classic module but one I never ran back in the day, only ran it in the early 2000s as a one off and we never finished it. Tomb of Annihilation kind of joins the two together and adds a whole heap more to boot. The forbidden city map in this one seems to similar to the original city but has been reimagined and improved and chock full of interesting places to adventure. My only issue with ToA is transporting an iconic Greyhawk NPC in Acerarak to the Forgotten Realms, but that is only a minor quibble and in my game I’m placing it firmly back in the Amedio jungle area of Greyhawk. The adventure from what I’ve read so far in the D&D Beyond version, is one hell of a sandbox, it is just dripping with flavour and has a lost worlds/Indiana Jones/ undead apocalypse, hell even an Apocalypse Now vibe can be got out of it with very little effort! There are some truly great adventure locations and the whole thing seems to be really, really well put together. I’m not a fan of reading a module and critiquing it. Several of the Prince of Apocalypse adventure locations seemed a bit lame to me but when I dropped them into the game then they came alive and really created some memorable nights and weeks of gaming for my group in some truly unexpected ways and played far better than I thought they would have done on first read, but that is D&D. It’ usually what happens around the table that makes or breaks an adventure. Still, I can’t wait to run this one, in fact have already started! Our regular adventure came to an end last week so put together a little one week filler adventure for last night based on what the players had suggested they were planning to do next but instead kicked off ToA. I can see the "hook" of raised characters losing hps as being an issue fort some people/groups but it got my guys attention far more than any start I've seen in quite a while. I was itching to run this one and I started this week. I started the adventure I’d planned but intended to have the pcs who'd previously been raised from the dead start losing hps to foreshadow the start a bit. However, this worked far better than I expected. The two players whose characters were affected decided to stop their current adventure and high tail it back to town to speak to the local clergy and so took the bait, hook line and sinker. They learned that people that had been raised from the dead seemed to be afflicted with the same malady and it appeared to be afflicting people throughout the Flanaess. Next, they went and spoke to a local sage (Syndra) and learned more. So not too long after they found themselves teleported to the city of Nyanzaru. The rest of the session was really about setting the scene and introducing them to the tropics and city. The city of Nyanzaru itself is a great starting point for the adventure with lots of colourful characters and events, including dinosaur races! This certainly isn't your standard medievelesque D&D setting, from the very first glimpse of the city the adventure really starts to set the scene and they definitely knew they were in a jungle setting. I am really looking forward to running this and seeing the stories that develop out of it. My party range from 4th- 9th level (2 replacement characters joined this week so they started at 4th level) so we will probably skip over some of the adventures in Nyranzaru and head straight into the jungle after locating some guides (and who the party choose to guide them will have an impact on how the adventure plays out- one of the many cool things about this adventure). There are suggestions for how to run the adventure for beginning level pcs, 5th level and 9th level pcs to help guide things. It really has an old school vibe to me and the writers really seemed to have made the effort to reimagine the style of adventuring that I grew up with in the early 80 but at the same time update it. It is a really sandboxy adventure, an old school hex crawl in the model of Island of Dread. I really like sandbox style games but if a hex crawl isn't your thing simply make a flow chart and allow the party to make it to the city of Omu via however many of the sites that you want to run. That is how I intend to run it. We have limited time so will probably use the guides to direct the game and ensure we hit 3-4 encounter areas I really, really want to run and lead the party pretty quickly to the Forbidden City. I am envisioning a canoe trip up one of the rivers into the interior and an Apocalypse Now style journey through enemy territory. There are a couple of forts in the jungle and intend one of them to change the leader to be inspired by Marlon Brando’s crazed Colonel Kurtz. It seems to me that WoTC have taken on board feedback from the various adventures they’ve written for 5E and then stepped it up two gears. This one just leaps out to me as something that has been very well put together, paying homage to what has gone before but also taking 5E into a new and exciting direction. I know my players are going to love the adventure though when they get to the tomb well then I can see this one really ramping up a gear or two and can't wait till they realise they may be in a bit over their heads but have no choice but to continue. So what do I love about this one? Undead...check Dinosaurs...check Pulpy/lost worlds vibe... check sandboxy adventure.... check awesome forbidden city...check Nasty trap filled dungeons...check Interesting npcs.... check Interesting and unique adventure sites/locations...check So, I really recommend this one, go out and get it...now! I don't think you'll regret it. In fact I think it is the best adventure produced by Wizard's for 5e so far and will make for a really memorable campaign. Stormdale [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tomb of Annihilation
Top