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
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Meta - Forums About Forums
Archive-threads
WIR S1 Tomb of Horrors [SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!]
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="Beginning of the End" data-source="post: 5593810" data-attributes="member: 55271"><p>Nope, although it seems to be a common inference (since I've seen several groups try it). And once you've decided to start hitting them in a sequence, there's a limited number of sequences to try. The archway clears of mist when you hit the right combination, so it's clear when you've done it right.</p><p></p><p>In addition, it doesn't matter. Going through without figuring out the combination isn't ideal, but it still allows you to progress deeper into the tomb.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The text just says "pressed", so I would say you can press them however you like.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I've run it three ways:</p><p></p><p>(1) I ignore that text and just have the non-misty arch send them to area 11.</p><p></p><p>(2) If they don't specify they're stepping through on the path, I randomly determine whether they've done it accidentally or not.</p><p></p><p>(3) Using a battlemap, I simply ask them to show me exactly how they walk through on the map. (This does make them paranoid. But I simply make a habit of asking them to do this in the Tomb whether it's actually important or not.)</p><p></p><p>With #2, what usually happens is that some people end up in area 11 and some end up back at the entrance. And then people start trying to figure out what each of them did differently. With #3 the same thing happens, but people tend to figure it out quicker.</p><p></p><p>In one case, realizing that being on the path was important led people to go back and examine/follow the path in detail, resulting in them finding the poem. On balance, I think #2 is probably the most effective method.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I highly recommend using a battlemap for the entirety of <em>Tomb of Horrors</em> for exactly this reason: There's way too many points where precise location becomes important.</p><p></p><p>More generally, a useful mechanic for this is the old-school method of rolling to see if a trap is triggered. So rather than "the pit always opens", the might only open 1 time in 4.</p><p></p><p>The reasons why a trap doesn't trigger can be many, but I've often imagined it being "you missed the trigger". (Think about the beginning of <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark</em> -- the floor isn't one big pressure plate; it's a bunch of little triggers.) In the case of pit traps like these, it could also be "you unwittingly walked down the safe portion of the hallway".</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I disagree with characterizing it as a strawman, but I do think it's a largely irrelevant distinction. We can argue about the exact percentage of treasure which one is expected to find, but since the vast majority of XP is coming from the treasure it has little impact on the amount of treasure someone has at any given level. </p><p></p><p>This is particularly true once you realize that Bullgrit is also assuming that PCs will fight all of the monsters in a module; and that's also non-typical.</p><p></p><p>Bullgrit's numbers, for example, show that roughly 75% of the XP available in a published adventures was from treasure. If we set recovery rates at 60% treasure XP and 80% monster XP, the result is that 70% of the XP is coming from treasure. This means that PCs won't advance quite as quickly as they assumed, but the amount of treasure a character has at any given level isn't going to be significantly different than what they're indicating.</p><p></p><p>(The ratio of AD&D<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" />&D3 advancement is also only marginally affected by this.)</p><p></p><p>I would tend to agree with you that parties which succeed in the Tomb are likely to retrieve a higher percentage of the total available treasure than in other adventures. But, on the other hand, what percentage of parties succeed in reaching that Vault?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Beginning of the End, post: 5593810, member: 55271"] Nope, although it seems to be a common inference (since I've seen several groups try it). And once you've decided to start hitting them in a sequence, there's a limited number of sequences to try. The archway clears of mist when you hit the right combination, so it's clear when you've done it right. In addition, it doesn't matter. Going through without figuring out the combination isn't ideal, but it still allows you to progress deeper into the tomb. The text just says "pressed", so I would say you can press them however you like. I've run it three ways: (1) I ignore that text and just have the non-misty arch send them to area 11. (2) If they don't specify they're stepping through on the path, I randomly determine whether they've done it accidentally or not. (3) Using a battlemap, I simply ask them to show me exactly how they walk through on the map. (This does make them paranoid. But I simply make a habit of asking them to do this in the Tomb whether it's actually important or not.) With #2, what usually happens is that some people end up in area 11 and some end up back at the entrance. And then people start trying to figure out what each of them did differently. With #3 the same thing happens, but people tend to figure it out quicker. In one case, realizing that being on the path was important led people to go back and examine/follow the path in detail, resulting in them finding the poem. On balance, I think #2 is probably the most effective method. I highly recommend using a battlemap for the entirety of [i]Tomb of Horrors[/i] for exactly this reason: There's way too many points where precise location becomes important. More generally, a useful mechanic for this is the old-school method of rolling to see if a trap is triggered. So rather than "the pit always opens", the might only open 1 time in 4. The reasons why a trap doesn't trigger can be many, but I've often imagined it being "you missed the trigger". (Think about the beginning of [i]Raiders of the Lost Ark[/i] -- the floor isn't one big pressure plate; it's a bunch of little triggers.) In the case of pit traps like these, it could also be "you unwittingly walked down the safe portion of the hallway". I disagree with characterizing it as a strawman, but I do think it's a largely irrelevant distinction. We can argue about the exact percentage of treasure which one is expected to find, but since the vast majority of XP is coming from the treasure it has little impact on the amount of treasure someone has at any given level. This is particularly true once you realize that Bullgrit is also assuming that PCs will fight all of the monsters in a module; and that's also non-typical. Bullgrit's numbers, for example, show that roughly 75% of the XP available in a published adventures was from treasure. If we set recovery rates at 60% treasure XP and 80% monster XP, the result is that 70% of the XP is coming from treasure. This means that PCs won't advance quite as quickly as they assumed, but the amount of treasure a character has at any given level isn't going to be significantly different than what they're indicating. (The ratio of AD&D:D&D3 advancement is also only marginally affected by this.) I would tend to agree with you that parties which succeed in the Tomb are likely to retrieve a higher percentage of the total available treasure than in other adventures. But, on the other hand, what percentage of parties succeed in reaching that Vault? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Meta - Forums About Forums
Archive-threads
WIR S1 Tomb of Horrors [SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!]
Top