FoxWander
Adventurer
Well that explains much of the Player-vs-DM feel of the Tomb compared to other modules. Now I'm curious to look up the old tournament rules to figure out how that would have worked. Anybody got a link to something like that?
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WIR S1 Tomb of Horrors [SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!]
- Thread starter Stoat
- Start date
Area 20. Huge Pit Filled With 200 Spikes
Note: Once again, the relevant illustration is missing from the online gallery.
An open hallway leaves Area 19, runs east a little way, drops down a long flight of stairs and then turns back to the west. About twenty feet along the PC's hit Area 20.
Area 20 is an open pit twenty feet long, ten feet wide and ten feet deep. As it says on the tin, there are hundreds and hundreds of spikes at the bottom. Because the pit is so big, the module assumes the PC's will climb down inside it, walk across the bottom, and then climb up the other side.
[Nelson Munz] Ha, Ha! [/Nelson Munz]
Any "footstep" on the last three feet of the eastern part of the pit will cause a volley of spikes to shoot upwards. Anybody in the line of fire is hit by 1d4+1 spikes, and each spike causes 1d6 points of damage. The spikes in the pit are magically regenerated.
IMO: Blah. It's a big pit of spikes, and it does as much as 5d6 points of damage to PC's who get caught in it. Area 20 is not a deathtrap. AFAICT, it is not mentioned in Acererak's riddle and there are no evident clues or hints in the module related to it.
Area 20 is filler.
Note: Once again, the relevant illustration is missing from the online gallery.
An open hallway leaves Area 19, runs east a little way, drops down a long flight of stairs and then turns back to the west. About twenty feet along the PC's hit Area 20.
Area 20 is an open pit twenty feet long, ten feet wide and ten feet deep. As it says on the tin, there are hundreds and hundreds of spikes at the bottom. Because the pit is so big, the module assumes the PC's will climb down inside it, walk across the bottom, and then climb up the other side.
[Nelson Munz] Ha, Ha! [/Nelson Munz]
Any "footstep" on the last three feet of the eastern part of the pit will cause a volley of spikes to shoot upwards. Anybody in the line of fire is hit by 1d4+1 spikes, and each spike causes 1d6 points of damage. The spikes in the pit are magically regenerated.
IMO: Blah. It's a big pit of spikes, and it does as much as 5d6 points of damage to PC's who get caught in it. Area 20 is not a deathtrap. AFAICT, it is not mentioned in Acererak's riddle and there are no evident clues or hints in the module related to it.
Area 20 is filler.
FoxWander
Adventurer
Obvious trap is obvious! I don't know any party that just walked across this thing. Most seem to think either the floor will fall away, revealing the "spikes" to be spear-tips, or that the far landing is the trap (in case you try to jump). At any rate, they always construct some kind of rope-and-piton bridge to get everyone across.
I love Dungeon Dressing! I have had players get so freaked out and paranoid over a random piece of it. They are dead certain that somehow that little piece of detail is deadly and utterly significant.
I love it!
A
amerigoV
Guest
On room 19 - I like the room as it themeatically fits in with the Tomb - a place of preparation. I am not sure it fits exactly where its placed in the tomb itself -- it probably would be better to be before the fake lich encounter. Heck, that would be a good place to put the "mace of disruption"
Thinking about it, come to place A, which is the Temple (worship). Then B is to do final prep for "burial". If things go bad, here is something to fix things ("down Mummy!" Mace of Disruption). Then you come to Place C, which is the fake tomb. In between are death traps.
That holds together much better in my mind as the Temple and the Lab reinforce the first fake tomb. As written, I guess it can indicate that "hey, you are on the path to the REAL tomb."
Thinking about it, come to place A, which is the Temple (worship). Then B is to do final prep for "burial". If things go bad, here is something to fix things ("down Mummy!" Mace of Disruption). Then you come to Place C, which is the fake tomb. In between are death traps.
That holds together much better in my mind as the Temple and the Lab reinforce the first fake tomb. As written, I guess it can indicate that "hey, you are on the path to the REAL tomb."
Bullgrit
Adventurer
To be thorough, I guess I should comment on every numbered area, but really, this one isn't much to comment on.
This.FoxWander said:
Appropriate term, "filler." If the PCs use old-fashioned force to break the acid-filled vat, all the acid will flow out of the room, down the stairs, and into this pit.Stoat said:
Bullgrit
Squire James
First Post
Seeing this thread fall to the second page, I hope this thread actually makes it to the final room (unlike many of the adventurers in the Tomb itself)... and I dislike putting the word "bump" as the sole word of a post. Even if that would convey the main point.
FoxWander
Adventurer
Yeah, that would sell the fake lich room MUCH better. In fact, I'd put the lich-killing mace in the lab/mummy prep room next to some fake research notes about trying to destroy it- because, why else would any kind of intelligent undead have one of those things in his tomb. I'd also put it with some fake (probably cursed) treasure and a broken holy symbol as if the whole lot had come off a dead priest/paladin who had raided awhile ago.
It'd be interesting to do a separate thread about how to make a more realistic (ie- less random) "Tomb of Horrors" type dungeon. I've created a truly killer dungeon before (ie- one not intended to allow for player survival at all) but it's actually for a vampire NPC (former PC) of mine. It was created to protect his coffin in the unlikely event that he actually got reduced to gaseous form (he's ridiculously powerful- from my munchkinny days first playing D&D). It's a last line of defense kind of thing that's mainly supposed to delay or kill a party of ANY level long enough for him to reform. And then he can deal with the threat on his home turf (where he's even more powerful) and they party is likely very weakened by the dungeon. Actually I guess that's a whole other thread idea- why are dungeons survivable AT ALL since most of them should logically be literal death traps.
Area 21. The Agitated Chamber
Past Area 20, the hallway runs for 100 feet and dead ends. There's a secret door on the north wall of the hall about 60 feet along that leads to Area 21.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToH_Gallery/ToHGraphic21.jpg
Area 21 is a 30 foot square room full of junk. Rotted sofas, throne-like chairs, chipped vases, dented urns, small tables, braziers -- all jumbled up everywhere. There are 6 locked trunks and 24 locked coffers "amidst the general havoc." "Rather plain" tapestries hang on the east and west walls (in the illustration, they're decorated with little fishies). A door is visible in the northeast corner of the room.
First. The door to the northeast is a fake.
Second. All of the trunks are empty. The coffers mostly hold angry, poisonous snakes. (50% of the coffers hold asps. A third of the coffers hold 8d10 platinum pieces. One out of six coffers holds some low value gems.)
Third. The floor. When the PC's step on the floor, they "set a mechanism into motion." After that, there's a 50% chance each round that the floor of the room will "jump and buck up and down violently." Anybody standing on the agitated floor has a 1 in 3 chance of falling down and taking a point of damage.
Fourth. Those "rather plain tapestries" with the fishies on them are actually "specially anti-magic treated creations of green slime and brown mold." If the tapestries are torn, they turn into green slime and cover everybody within 10 feet of them. Being doused in green slime destroys you. You turn into slime yourself and can't come back. Luckily, fire kills green slime! Unluckily, burning the tapestries turns them into brown mold, which eats fire and radiates deadly cold. The mold will drain 4d8 hit points from anybody who gets within five feet of it. The module says "it gets worse from there," and I dimly remember that brown mold maybe does more and more damage as it grows, but neither the module nor the Monster Manual really says that.
The PC's can touch the tapestries without fear. But if somebody is holding a tapestry when the floor goes berserk, there's a 75% chance the tapestry will tear and unleash slimeaggedon.
Fifth. The way out is a secret door behind the tapestry on the west wall.
IMO: Not counting spiked pits, this is the first insta-kill deathtrap that the PC's must negotiate. It can't be bypassed or ignored.
So what clues or hints do we have to help get past the Agitated Chamber? AFAICT, somewhere between none and almost none. Acererak's riddle says "beware of trembling hands ." Is that a reference to Area 21? If so, it is a piss-poor clue. First, the riddle gives no clue to connect "trembling hands" with anything the PC's see when they get to Area 21. It makes no reference to tapestries or fishies or rotted sofas or anything else. Second, calling the threat in Area 21 "trembling hands" is a stretch. The problem isn't that the PC's hands will tremble. It's that the ground will go buck wild and make them accidentally tear the magic tapestries. It's more important here for the PC's to have steady footing than steady hands.
Nor do I see any warnings or clues in the room itself. It's full of junk just like Area 19, and there's nothing specifically ominous about the junk. I've been kidding about fishies, but the module specifically says that the tapestries depict "weed-grown rocks and green and gold tan scenes of undersea life," which isn't much of a warning that they might turn you to goo.
Further, the actual description of how the floor works is opaque. The module says that each round the PC's remain in the place, the DM should roll a d6. If an odd number comes up, "on the next turn the floor of the room will jump and buck up and down." "Turn" is a term of art in 1E that means 10 minutes, right? So does that mean the PC's have 10 minutes to explore before the place goes nuts? I don't think so, but I'm not 100% certain. And once the floor starts rocking, how long does it keep going? The module is silent.
Finally, determining whether or not a PC is holding onto the tapestry when the earthquake sets in is probably going to take a fair amount of DM discretion. "I inspect the tapestry." Am I touching it? Am I holding it? Let's fight about it!
Past Area 20, the hallway runs for 100 feet and dead ends. There's a secret door on the north wall of the hall about 60 feet along that leads to Area 21.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ToH_Gallery/ToHGraphic21.jpg
Area 21 is a 30 foot square room full of junk. Rotted sofas, throne-like chairs, chipped vases, dented urns, small tables, braziers -- all jumbled up everywhere. There are 6 locked trunks and 24 locked coffers "amidst the general havoc." "Rather plain" tapestries hang on the east and west walls (in the illustration, they're decorated with little fishies). A door is visible in the northeast corner of the room.
First. The door to the northeast is a fake.
Second. All of the trunks are empty. The coffers mostly hold angry, poisonous snakes. (50% of the coffers hold asps. A third of the coffers hold 8d10 platinum pieces. One out of six coffers holds some low value gems.)
Third. The floor. When the PC's step on the floor, they "set a mechanism into motion." After that, there's a 50% chance each round that the floor of the room will "jump and buck up and down violently." Anybody standing on the agitated floor has a 1 in 3 chance of falling down and taking a point of damage.
Fourth. Those "rather plain tapestries" with the fishies on them are actually "specially anti-magic treated creations of green slime and brown mold." If the tapestries are torn, they turn into green slime and cover everybody within 10 feet of them. Being doused in green slime destroys you. You turn into slime yourself and can't come back. Luckily, fire kills green slime! Unluckily, burning the tapestries turns them into brown mold, which eats fire and radiates deadly cold. The mold will drain 4d8 hit points from anybody who gets within five feet of it. The module says "it gets worse from there," and I dimly remember that brown mold maybe does more and more damage as it grows, but neither the module nor the Monster Manual really says that.
The PC's can touch the tapestries without fear. But if somebody is holding a tapestry when the floor goes berserk, there's a 75% chance the tapestry will tear and unleash slimeaggedon.
Fifth. The way out is a secret door behind the tapestry on the west wall.
IMO: Not counting spiked pits, this is the first insta-kill deathtrap that the PC's must negotiate. It can't be bypassed or ignored.
So what clues or hints do we have to help get past the Agitated Chamber? AFAICT, somewhere between none and almost none. Acererak's riddle says "beware of trembling hands ." Is that a reference to Area 21? If so, it is a piss-poor clue. First, the riddle gives no clue to connect "trembling hands" with anything the PC's see when they get to Area 21. It makes no reference to tapestries or fishies or rotted sofas or anything else. Second, calling the threat in Area 21 "trembling hands" is a stretch. The problem isn't that the PC's hands will tremble. It's that the ground will go buck wild and make them accidentally tear the magic tapestries. It's more important here for the PC's to have steady footing than steady hands.
Nor do I see any warnings or clues in the room itself. It's full of junk just like Area 19, and there's nothing specifically ominous about the junk. I've been kidding about fishies, but the module specifically says that the tapestries depict "weed-grown rocks and green and gold tan scenes of undersea life," which isn't much of a warning that they might turn you to goo.
Further, the actual description of how the floor works is opaque. The module says that each round the PC's remain in the place, the DM should roll a d6. If an odd number comes up, "on the next turn the floor of the room will jump and buck up and down." "Turn" is a term of art in 1E that means 10 minutes, right? So does that mean the PC's have 10 minutes to explore before the place goes nuts? I don't think so, but I'm not 100% certain. And once the floor starts rocking, how long does it keep going? The module is silent.
Finally, determining whether or not a PC is holding onto the tapestry when the earthquake sets in is probably going to take a fair amount of DM discretion. "I inspect the tapestry." Am I touching it? Am I holding it? Let's fight about it!
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