Lost Caverns of Tsojanth...

[Treebore]

I'm running this for the first time in about 15 years, and the party got down to the "Greater Caverns" last night, and I have to say this module is one of the deadliest I have ever ran, including Tomb of Horrors. The number of "save or dies" has been rather high. What is even more surprising is how many party members are still alive, but my "Luck" house rules have definitely helped with that. Like last night I would have had 3 PC deaths instead of only one.

Bottom line is, I'll be running Tomb of Horrors once again later in this "campaign", but right now I am pretty sure this module is going to be deadlier than Tomb will be. I'll be sure once my memory is "refreshed" by running the "tomb" again, assuming they even live until then. Meaning, continue to be willing to have their PC's die. Fortunately they were smart enough to bargain for some scrolls of raise dead, and since he died heroically trying to save another party member, and is playing a Knight, as " Chief God" of my campaigns I deemed him honorable and worthy enough to not suffer a level/HD loss. Still, this module has been brutal.

 

[Celebrim]

I'm running this for the first time in about 15 years, and the party got down to the "Greater Caverns" last night, and I have to say this module is one of the deadliest I have ever ran, including Tomb of Horrors.

I consider it deadlier than ToH.

Bottom line is, I'll be running Tomb of Horrors once again later in this "campaign", but right now I am pretty sure this module is going to be deadlier than Tomb will be.

Very likely. ToH is low on combat and fairly low on save or die (ToH is of course bigger on 'die no save', but most of those are readily avoidable). In LCoT, there are many cases of deaths where the PC's really couldn't have done anything to avoid it and is the victim of plain bad luck. LCoT is a much harder test of _character_ ability than ToH. Equipment matters a lot. Potent spellcasters with every experienced players make a very big difference because to succeed you have to find someway to control the meat grinder.

 

[Wycen]

Despite being grognardy enough, I've never played The Lost Caverns so it is interesting to hear that it might be considered deadlier than the Tomb, which I have played.

 

[Treebore]

Despite being grognardy enough, I've never played The Lost Caverns so it is interesting to hear that it might be considered deadlier than the Tomb, which I have played.

I've played through, and survived/won, Tomb before, as well as then ran it later, but both were over 20 years ago. For its level, how many saves have come up, etc... if this isn't deadlier than ToH, it is a close second.

 

[MerricB]

Lost Caverns is a strange adventure: as much as anything it's Gygax going "I've invented all these weird monsters; let's stick them all in the same place". Rhyme or reason doesn't much apply here: it's all "can we survive the new deadly monster?"

My pet favourite new monster for getting PCs killed is the bodak. It killed both my brother's fighter and my magic-user, although a lot of that was DM fiat rather than bad play, as he wanted the third player - a newbie to D&D - to shine. Not surprisingly, he didn't. I have fond memories of that campaign, but not that bit. (Later on, in 3E, I had a player, after seeing the rest of the party drop around him to Bodak death gazes, say "I don't close my eyes! I need a 3 to save!" and promptly rolled a 2.)

Thankfully, the Lost Caverns are brought together by the final encounter and treasure: there's a reason for the PCs to be here (rather than: there might be loot here... oh, look we're getting killed... why are we continuing?)

Cheers!

 

[Treebore]

They ran into the Hermit, they know there is great loot to be found. How can there not be, considering who the caves belonged to, who her minions were, etc... A great loot it is too! I think the only one that may be richer is the super secret loot in Sabre River.

 

[MerricB]

In our campaign, we were actually hired to find the loot.

We played Sabre River in that campaign as well, where DM Fiat really reared its head. (An elf DM PC jumps into a lake and single-handedly kills a Dragon Turtle. Huh?)

Lost Caverns really gives me the feeling of the paranoid, claustrophobic dungeon crawl, although part of that might be due to the conversion of it for Unearthed Adventures (the Gold Box computer game builder) I played a few years back.

Cheers!

 

[Virel]

Lost Caverns of Tsojanth... played it 25 years ago...remember the bodak and not much else. As others said test of character equipment. Our group survived but it wasn't one on the modules we returned to afterward to run another group of PC's thru like Keep on the Border Lands etc.

Tomb of Horrors... have played and DM'd it several times. It's a fair test of player skill for the most part. I'd rather face the ToH than LCoT for the most part as a player.

 

[Lancelot]

[SPOILERS]

S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is one of my favorite AD&D modules, especially when paired with WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. For anyone who is unaware, these two old classics are a "loose" series. They are set in the same basic geographical area, and the "friendly NPCs / patrons" (a gnome clan) are the same in each.

I've run a 4e version of both modules for 10-12th level PCs, which was very successful. And, yes, deadly.

• Wandering monster trolls in the wilderness section surrounded an elven bard and tore him apart. He was quite unlucky that all three attacked at once. He was hit four times (extra shot due to being bloodied). Not quite killed outright, but he bled out before his friends could stabilize him.
• The clay golem in the upper levels. That's a rough encounter even in the original AD&D rules (the golem's damage can't be cured by normal means, and it's hard to kill). In the 4e version, the fight simply got away from the party and they had to pull out. Unfortunately, the halfling rogue had been backed into a corner by the golem and couldn't easily escape (the golem's aura of misjudgement prevented his shifts, and he had the "can't regain hp" effect on him). An opportunity attack would have knocked him unconscious, so he used the halfling racial power to force a reroll... which was a crit. With the rest of the party bugging out, the golem did a tapdance on the halfling's body until he was a thin red stain.
• The behir. Oh dear lord, the behir. That was nearly a TPK. As it turned out, just the dwarven cleric got swallowed and digested... but I don't think any other PC got out of that encounter with more than single digit hp.

There are so many encounters to love in Lost Caverns, though. The bodak is a classic. The cave of teleportation. The giant and his pet beetle. And, for my money, the final confrontation features some of the best artwork ever seen in 1e, a phenomenal opponent (if DM'ed well), an inventive combat environment, and a truly fabulous treasure. It's rare that you saw such a combination in earlier editions.

 

[Salamandyr]

From the header I assume this mod was done in C&C. Would it possibly have been less deadly in 1e? Saving throws in Castles & Crusades tends to be pretty brutal.