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Killer Modules
- Thread starter MerricB
- Start date
I'll second Labrynth of Madness. One of my players showed it to me as an example of the kinds of things he put up with in his previous group. Being the very nice DM that I am I said I wouldn't run it on my group. Of course I said nothing about not using individual traps from the adventure if I feel the need to off certain characters.
Next on my list would be Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Wow. Same said friend, actually asked me to run that one, never having gotten the chance to play it in his previous group. After reading through it (and reading a certain story hour) I decided to save it for PC's who aren't good friends of mine.
On the other hand, while challenging I found the Desert of Desolation series quite intriguing, and will probably find a way to incorporate it into my campaign.
Next on my list would be Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Wow. Same said friend, actually asked me to run that one, never having gotten the chance to play it in his previous group. After reading through it (and reading a certain story hour) I decided to save it for PC's who aren't good friends of mine.
On the other hand, while challenging I found the Desert of Desolation series quite intriguing, and will probably find a way to incorporate it into my campaign.
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Desert of Desolation claimed about 5 PCs when I ran it earlier this year...
... the most classic was the dwarf who refused to admit that a wall of lightning moving towards him wasn't an illusion. Extra crispy dwarf. Yum, yum.
Hmm, two choices of Monte Cook (RttToEE, Labyrinth of Madness), three for Bruce Cordell (Sunless Citadel, RttToH, Nightfang Spire), three choices of Gary Gygax (GDQ, Tomb of Horrors, Necropolis)...
Cheers!
... the most classic was the dwarf who refused to admit that a wall of lightning moving towards him wasn't an illusion. Extra crispy dwarf. Yum, yum.
Hmm, two choices of Monte Cook (RttToEE, Labyrinth of Madness), three for Bruce Cordell (Sunless Citadel, RttToH, Nightfang Spire), three choices of Gary Gygax (GDQ, Tomb of Horrors, Necropolis)...
Cheers!
johnsemlak
First Post
MerricB said:
Don't forget the Peterson/Webb combo
I second Rappan Athuk. In fact, a lot of their modules have potential TPKs, like Tomb of Abythsor.
Really, I think it also has to do with how modules are played. A lax DM (I usually am a bit if necessary) can ajdust a module's 'killer rating'
That said, a small handful of modules were designed specifically to be killer modules. Tomb of Horrors, in particular. EGG wanted to teach his players a lesson...
Re
RttToEE is a killer module IMO.
Labyrinth of Madness rates pretty high as a killer module just from reading it.
(Both of these by Monte Cooke. He seems like the type of DM that just doesn't feel right unless he killed a few characters.)
Tomb of Horrors is one of the earliest killer modules I can remember.
Rappan Athuk was very harsh as well. They had some tough encounters in that module.
RttToEE is a killer module IMO.
Labyrinth of Madness rates pretty high as a killer module just from reading it.
(Both of these by Monte Cooke. He seems like the type of DM that just doesn't feel right unless he killed a few characters.)
Tomb of Horrors is one of the earliest killer modules I can remember.
Rappan Athuk was very harsh as well. They had some tough encounters in that module.
Oh yes....definatly Labyrith of Madness.
I DMed this one, and I let my players make specially prepared characters for it (putting the regular characters through would be the end of a very low magic campaign).
As all the players knew this was a killer dungeon, and the characters didn't mean all that much, it became a no-holds-barred thing.
Bodycount was about 16 level 15 characters. I got every player about three times.
Of course bodycount could have been reduced with raise deads, but part of the fun was trying as much high level characters as possible.
I DMed this one, and I let my players make specially prepared characters for it (putting the regular characters through would be the end of a very low magic campaign).
As all the players knew this was a killer dungeon, and the characters didn't mean all that much, it became a no-holds-barred thing.
Bodycount was about 16 level 15 characters. I got every player about three times.
Of course bodycount could have been reduced with raise deads, but part of the fun was trying as much high level characters as possible.
Barendd Nobeard
Explorer
My group played Tomb of Horrors earlier this year--just a one-shot, "let's play 1st ed. AD&D" night.
I held the record, with (I think) 4 PC deaths in one night. (Although one was a fellow party member whose interpretation of alignment change to evil was 'kill everyone else.')
We never even got close to the important parts of the tomb.
Our DM wants to run us through Necropolis later. After reading this thread, I'm getting worried!
I held the record, with (I think) 4 PC deaths in one night. (Although one was a fellow party member whose interpretation of alignment change to evil was 'kill everyone else.')
We never even got close to the important parts of the tomb.
Our DM wants to run us through Necropolis later. After reading this thread, I'm getting worried!
My group just got done with Tomb of Abysthor about two weeks ago and now we are moving to Necropolis...we didn't have any TPK's in the Tomb, in fact i think we only had two deaths. The cleric (who was raised) and myself (not ressed). After hearing that Necropolis is a feared module I guess i shouldn't get to attached to my new character. Ah well.
Sanackranib
First Post
death modules
I heard that when they play tested this module the rogue died in room 2 and the only player to survive was the priest
I to this day don't know ANY players who will go through this module if they know that is what the DM is running. I am interested to see if I could play a rogue through it succesfully since I havn't gone through it before.
maddman75 said:
I heard that when they play tested this module the rogue died in room 2 and the only player to survive was the priest
I to this day don't know ANY players who will go through this module if they know that is what the DM is running. I am interested to see if I could play a rogue through it succesfully since I havn't gone through it before.
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