D&D 5E Tomb of Annihilation campaign recaps

Rabbitbait · May 18, 2019

And in this episode the group enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods. It feels quite scary - there's been a huge buildup to this. The group are just closing in the becoming eighth level so I hope they can handle it. I was surprised by how easily they worked out the puzzle cube key.

https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7461596/day-115-into-the-tomb-of-the-nine-gods

Nebulous · May 22, 2019

Rabbitbait said:
And in this episode the group enter the Tomb of the Nine Gods. It feels quite scary - there's been a huge buildup to this. The group are just closing in the becoming eighth level so I hope they can handle it. I was surprised by how easily they worked out the puzzle cube key.

https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7461596/day-115-into-the-tomb-of-the-nine-gods

I've not even read that part of the adventure yet. I'm still getting a feel for the Fane of the Night Serpent and deciding how that might play out. But yes, that was a creepy session. Long ago in 3rd edition I ran Return to the Tomb of Horrors, which was a 2e boxed set, but it was pretty amazing. The central Tomb was the original Tomb of Horrors, with a big mini-campaign set around it.

How long are your sessions typically?

Nebulous · May 22, 2019

Session #28 - The Puzzle Shrine of Kubazan

https://app.box.com/s/6ak8919cgaf9y6ut8zuu5e7gg5rprtto

Rabbitbait · May 22, 2019

Nebulous said:
I've not even read that part of the adventure yet. I'm still getting a feel for the Fane of the Night Serpent and deciding how that might play out. But yes, that was a creepy session. Long ago in 3rd edition I ran Return to the Tomb of Horrors, which was a 2e boxed set, but it was pretty amazing. The central Tomb was the original Tomb of Horrors, with a big mini-campaign set around it.

How long are your sessions typically?

I ran the 4e tomb of horrors, but placed it in Eberron and mixed it with a plot of Acererak to release Bel-Shalor so that he could use his soul and ascend to godhood. It had been his first attempt to free Bel-Shalor that had created the Mournland. In stopping Acererak they made sure that Bel-Shalor escaped at full power and then raised all the dead in the land. Then the game become a real points of light/The Walking Dead campaign as the group struggled to find the components to reseal the prison as the dead overwhelmed town after town until only some of the larger cities remained.

This was followed by a new campaign 30 years later as Khorvaire rebuilt which was centered with Princes of the Apocalypse.

But I digress - We start at 7:30pm every Thursday night and usually finish at 10pm. We play on Roll20 as we are scattered across New Zealand (and sometimes Japan). I find that Roll20 is brilliant as it really minimizes the setup time and allows us to play without having to physically be in the same room (which we only manage once a year or so).

Rabbitbait · May 23, 2019

Nebulous said:
Session #28 - The Puzzle Shrine of Kubazan

https://app.box.com/s/6ak8919cgaf9y6ut8zuu5e7gg5rprtto

Nice. Those two shrines were the most deadly in my opinion. I lost one PC to the froghemoth and almost another to the golems. All of the rest were much easier.

Nebulous · May 23, 2019

Rabbitbait said:
Nice. Those two shrines were the most deadly in my opinion. I lost one PC to the froghemoth and almost another to the golems. All of the rest were much easier.

I brought the froghemoth back later for a surprise river attack. It was absolutely and totally annihilated and didn't even swallow anyone. #disappointedDM

Nebulous · May 23, 2019

Rabbitbait said:
But I digress - We start at 7:30pm every Thursday night and usually finish at 10pm. We play on Roll20 as we are scattered across New Zealand (and sometimes Japan). I find that Roll20 is brilliant as it really minimizes the setup time and allows us to play without having to physically be in the same room (which we only manage once a year or so).

My friends play on roll20, D&D and Trail of Cthulhu, and seem to like it. I am addicted to face to face gaming, it would be hard for me to switch and the slow down learning curve to adjust. However, I am considering the upgraded Fantasy Grounds whenever that comes out.

Edit: Also, for the purposes of taking pictures and making it look "good" the tabletop really helps.

Edit: We play for 2 hours. Years ago in 4th and 3e, we did 4 hour blocks.

Rabbitbait · May 25, 2019

Here is the latest journal for my game: https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/7479312/day-115-backstage

In this episode the heroes find themselves in a place where they are not meant to be and have an interesting conversation with the designer of the traps in the tomb.

Rabbitbait · May 25, 2019

Nebulous said:
My friends play on roll20, D&D and Trail of Cthulhu, and seem to like it. I am addicted to face to face gaming, it would be hard for me to switch and the slow down learning curve to adjust. However, I am considering the upgraded Fantasy Grounds whenever that comes out.

I really enjoy Roll20 - I even use it for when I do face to face gaming with my kids, its so much clearer and more evocative to have the actual maps, and the dynamic lighting showing just what they can see is great. I've considered Fantasy Grounds, but it seems so much more expensive for effectively the same thing (not that I've actually tried it, but I can't see that it offers anything different and I don't want to spend money on two platforms).

Nebulous · May 25, 2019

Rabbitbait said:
I really enjoy Roll20 - I even use it for when I do face to face gaming with my kids, its so much clearer and more evocative to have the actual maps, and the dynamic lighting showing just what they can see is great. I've considered Fantasy Grounds, but it seems so much more expensive for effectively the same thing (not that I've actually tried it, but I can't see that it offers anything different and I don't want to spend money on two platforms).

I was taping maps together since 4e, and for Tomb I had access to a free color plot printer, so Omo is one giant piece of paper (which just looks fantastic). But, I've lost access to that printer and I don't wanna think about returning to cut and tape, it's such a pain.

Ideally I want a game room and put an LCD down and move minis around on top of that. And I could attach Roll20 for the maps and fog of war. For actual online play, I doubt either Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds is better than the other, it's probably personal preference. But I'm not sure, I know little about either one.