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Tomb of Horrors RPGA DM Reward
- Thread starter Kurtomatic
- Start date
fanboy2000
Adventurer
IIRC, the module was originally published in 1978, so hack and slash may not have settled in as the phrase of choice yet.
Kurtomatic
First Post
I blame it on the 70s, man! Plus, the vernacular was still gestating at the time.
Edit: /ninja'd by fb2k
While this Tomb of Horrors is for level 9, I saw another Tomb of Horrors on Amazon.com that comes out on 20 July. It is described as "This D&D adventure is designed for characters of 10th–22nd level and includes a full-color, double-sided battle map designed for use with D&D Miniatures. Hardcover: 160 pages."
So, are they related? Is the freebie a lead-in to the other?
So, are they related? Is the freebie a lead-in to the other?
sfgray
Explorer
The RPGA Tomb of Horrors update/remix can be thought of as taking place "before" the Tomb of Horrors super-adventure. However, it was wholly inspired by the super-adventure; not the other way round. It's not a necessary preamble in any way to the super-adventure, but there is some continuity between the two for DMs who want to make use of it.
The backstory of Bruce Cordell's extraordinary 2e box-set adventure Return to the Tomb of Horrors is part of 4e canon courtesy of Open Grave, which talks about Acererak in the context of the plots and mad schemes that drove RToH. That canon was further expanded for 4e in Rob Schwalb's "Legacy of Acererak" in Dragon 371, which talks about Skull City and the Tomb in a kind of current-to-your-campaign context. All that backstory is the starting point for the super-adventure, which blows that backstory wide open. Neither Ari Marmell nor i are that interested in giving up any details of the super-adventure (though you can probably expect some previews on DDI). However, suffice it to say that Acererak's plots are going way beyond anything that's come before.
Knowing that the super-adventure was going to mark a turning point in the legend of Acererak, i thought it would be cool to revisit the original Tomb for 4e, setting it up as a kind of adjunct to Rob's excellent Dragon piece, and with some consistency to the amazing story that Ari crafted for the super-adventure. What this means in campaign terms is that the RPGA Tomb update represents the Tomb as it is "now" in your campaign world — at the point just before the events of the Tomb super-adventure shake the legend of Acererak to its foundations.
One other big, big difference between the two projects. The RPGA update was done mostly just for the sake of doing it, and to show how one old-schooler (me) would take on the task of updating one of the most legendary AD&D dungeon crawls for 4e. I think people will enjoy it (both those who know the original adventure and those for whom this might be their first real experience of the Tomb), but in the end, it's kind of a one-off bit of fun.
The Tomb of Horrors super-adventure, on the other hand, will seriously blow your mind.
The backstory of Bruce Cordell's extraordinary 2e box-set adventure Return to the Tomb of Horrors is part of 4e canon courtesy of Open Grave, which talks about Acererak in the context of the plots and mad schemes that drove RToH. That canon was further expanded for 4e in Rob Schwalb's "Legacy of Acererak" in Dragon 371, which talks about Skull City and the Tomb in a kind of current-to-your-campaign context. All that backstory is the starting point for the super-adventure, which blows that backstory wide open. Neither Ari Marmell nor i are that interested in giving up any details of the super-adventure (though you can probably expect some previews on DDI). However, suffice it to say that Acererak's plots are going way beyond anything that's come before.
Knowing that the super-adventure was going to mark a turning point in the legend of Acererak, i thought it would be cool to revisit the original Tomb for 4e, setting it up as a kind of adjunct to Rob's excellent Dragon piece, and with some consistency to the amazing story that Ari crafted for the super-adventure. What this means in campaign terms is that the RPGA Tomb update represents the Tomb as it is "now" in your campaign world — at the point just before the events of the Tomb super-adventure shake the legend of Acererak to its foundations.
One other big, big difference between the two projects. The RPGA update was done mostly just for the sake of doing it, and to show how one old-schooler (me) would take on the task of updating one of the most legendary AD&D dungeon crawls for 4e. I think people will enjoy it (both those who know the original adventure and those for whom this might be their first real experience of the Tomb), but in the end, it's kind of a one-off bit of fun.
The Tomb of Horrors super-adventure, on the other hand, will seriously blow your mind.
Also an excellent model for how to update a trap-based adventure and put some real teeth in the traps. I did a room by room compare with the original the other night, and as far as I can tell you got every trap excepting the extra entrances, which were abridged due to the revamp of the backstory. So yeah, excellent job there. I'm pretty sure the traps are nasty enough to seriously trouble a party, too.
hvg3akaek
First Post
Anyone played through it yet? I had a read through, andhad two big questions.
** SPOILERS **
First, where's the second half of the First Key? The first half is in one of the vats, but I cannot find the second half!
Second, what is the go with the final room? There's a keyhole in the centre of 31 (on the floor) for the Second Key, which when activated, causes the room below to rise and possibly crush folk...but, the room that rises is 32? In a different area? How does that crush anyone?
** SPOILERS **
First, where's the second half of the First Key? The first half is in one of the vats, but I cannot find the second half!
Second, what is the go with the final room? There's a keyhole in the centre of 31 (on the floor) for the Second Key, which when activated, causes the room below to rise and possibly crush folk...but, the room that rises is 32? In a different area? How does that crush anyone?
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