James McMurray, share your notes with me! :D (CYRDA PLAYERS, STAY OUT!)

[the Jester]

Just to reiterate: if you're in my game, get the heck outta here or I'll kill your character and relegate you to the low-level game only!!!

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15050

What level was the party you ran through it? The pcs imc are-

Fighter 6/Order of the Bow Initiate 9
Monk 5/Sorcerer 1/Dragon Disciple 10
Druid 6/Shifter 10
Elementalist (custom base class) 14/paraelementalist (custom prestige class) 2/warrior of chaos (custom prc) 4
Rogue 7/Illusionist 13/Ascendant 1 (custom prc)
Cleric 18? (might be 19 now)
Psychic warrior 14/cleric 4/templar (revised by me) 1
Fighter 8/psion 8/warrior of chaos 2

...plus the elementalist, illusionist, cleric, psychic warrior and fighter/psion all have Leadership, so there are a ton of powerful cohorts and such.

Any tips you have would be appreciated!

 

[Piratecat]

Jester, the most important advice I can give you when running this adventure (Return to the Tomb of Horrors) involves the quiet, abandoned city. Spoilers below:

Spoiler

This section of an otherwise superb module is an anchor weight that can drag all of the fun right out of your boat. I've seen it become an exercise in tedium, largely because:
(a) you have to explore every spire,
(b) there are virtually no NPCs to interact with,
(c) the big monster that is supposed to keep the group moving is unbeatable.

As a result, it can degenerate into bickering characters, the feeling of railroading, and a lot less fun. You might want to consider changing this section in order to keep the excitement and momentum going.

[end spoilers] And that's we managed to fit the Teletubbies into the adventure. Best design decision I ever made!

 

[the Jester]

Spoiler

Actually, that's where the phylactery the party is seeking is (they aren't involved with the Acererak stuff yet).

Thanks for the advice! Have you run this thing as a 3e module? How'd you do

Spoiler

Moilians? A template or just a new monster?

 

[Piratecat]

I haven't, but reports from several groups who have ended up reinforcing my first impressions of that section; in two cases, it's where the campaign sputtered and died. Adding additional excitement into this section seems key.

 

[Joshua Randall]

There are actually a few interesting NPCs in that section; it's just hard to find them.

Spoiler

I'm thinking of: the medical constructs, the female rogue in the mirror of life-trapping, the medusa. Others?

It might also be effective to have one of the wizards from the Black Academy be in Moil at the same time as the PCs, or follow them through.

Or, instead of abandoned quiet Moil, what about an enslaved Moil that is groaning under the yoke of a demon (or other evil bad-ass) overlord?

 

[Piratecat]

Spoiler

Or, instead of abandoned quiet Moil, what about an enslaved Moil that is groaning under the yoke of a demon (or other evil bad-ass) overlord?

That's a really cool idea. Someone slaving away for the upcoming ascension of you-know-who? I like it.

 

[the Jester]

I like those ideas! However, I'm twisting the plot to fit my campaign, and in the end, there will be significant differences.

Spoiler

Acererak may just end up as a lackey who's trying to take over the big spot...

I do think that the section you guys mentioned might do well with some more action, though- you make good points.

 

[the Jester]

Still hoping to hear from James...

As one James to another.

 

[the Jester]

One more try at a bump...

Spoiler

I'm especially interested in the Vestige and your take on Moilians...

 

[hong]

Hey, we just finished up RttToH not so long ago.

Spoiler

Mang, you haven't lived until you've had your butt kicked by a juggernaut TWICE. In two consecutive rounds. It went something like this:

Round 1, juggernaut: roll, roll.
Me: Sh*t, I'm dead!
Other player: No you're not, you just got a fortunate fate item!
Me: That's right, I'm NOT dead!
Round 2, juggernaut: roll, roll.

The encounter with the winterwight toad, Acererak's presumed familiar, ranks as the second most surreal fight we've ever had. It got a critical hit and did the wizard for ~150 points of damage in one hit. We started calling it the depleted uranium toad after that. Well, I did, anyway.

We just did the big floating city by the numbers. Literally. "Which tower do you go to next?" the DM would ask. "Oh, whichever one is next on the list," we'd reply. It's not like we had any basis for making a meaningful decision anyway. Also, our group is/was pretty heavy on the hack-n-slashers and dungeoneers, so the lack of people to talk to didn't faze us; we just treated the city as one big XP mine. Which is the mindset you have to be in to enjoy something like the Tomb of Horrors, I think.

Geoff Watson was our DM for that module, I'll see if I can get him to post here.