Return to the Tomb of Horrors - your experiences?

[Davelozzi]

I enjoy the set-up sections of this adventure, but have never had a chance to run/play it. The section on Moil I think is much too long, despite a couple of attempts to finish reading through this adventure, I always run out of steam before making it through all the towers.

In short, I have generally been pretty surprised by how well received this module seems to have been based on what I've seen on these boards.

 

[LiquidBlue]

I'm thinking PbP... any interest?

Psion, I would be interested in joining a PbP game.

 

[Joshua Randall]

'Return' is not a fair module, in that even if you play cautiously and well you still are going to have to go through the meat grinder. There is no avoiding it. And 'Return' even more so than the original, really punishes the party in arbitrary ways.

I find your statement puzzling. In what ways is the Return more arbitrary than the original dungeon? Aside from

Spoiler

the portal in Moil that randomly opens a vaccuum sucking the PCs to their likely deaths*

, I can't think of anything off-hand that a paranoid, veteran party wouldn't be able to avoid.

Also, I don't hink you can say that heavy combat is unfair. It's a particular style of adventure that may not appeal to some people, but it's not inherently unfair.

*

Spoiler

Note that the PCs can survive this, if their players think quickly and if the character have the right resources (spells or magic items) ready.

 

[Nebulous]

I started this box back in '98 with my high-level 2E group. We had already enjoyed the Eye Tyrant series, a lengthy Ravenloft sojourn, followed by The Rod of Seven Parts box.

.

Dude, you make we want to run this campaign all over again! That sounded like a blast.

 

[Ace32]

What sort of 3e/3.5e conversions are available? Otherwise, how easy would this module be to convert if it could be tracked down?

I'd love to run it as a fun steam blower with a party of gestalts.

 

[Psion]

What sort of 3e/3.5e conversions are available? Otherwise, how easy would this module be to convert if it could be tracked down?

There are a few conversions of creatures in the conversion forum. Search if you are a community supporter (otherwise, a carefully worded google search or friendly CS are your friends.)

There was an RTF that was in the old conversions library, but it's not publicly available anymore. Not sure why... I thought that whole thing was kosher.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Psion, still interested in running that PbP?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Psion]

Psion, still interested in running that PbP?

Possibly. I put together a campaign writeup for it, the only issue is if my schedule will accommodate. I'm also debating whether to run a RARE or Shades of Gray PbP. I'd have to convert more for RttToEE, but I think that its more investigative less continual combat mode would lend itself well to PbP format.

 

[Atavar]

I DM'ed this several years ago as the penultimate adventure for my high-level 2ed Planescape party (the ultimate being Die, Vecna, Die). Overall, we all had a lot of fun. Here are some of the highlights:

Find the Cheat...I mean, Path: The party used Find the Path to short-circuit the original tomb. I tried and failed to think of a good (in-game) reason to disallow it, so I ended up allowing it. They still had a tough time.

The City of Empty Rooms: My players' name for Moil--The City That Waits. This was more a fault of the DM than the module. I wanted the players to be tense and alert for every room, so I didn't speed things along properly for the vast empty areas of the city.

Hooded Axeman: I actually played my old PC (Atavar) as an NPC in the party for this adventure. He failed his saving throw against this nasty guy, and the party (read: players) sat back and watched him die before reacting. Super example of bad metagaming ("We didn't think anything bad would happen since he's your old PC, and even if something did, he's just an NPC now.") Argh!

Roulette Wheel of DOOM: One of the chaotic characters decided to go one spin of the wheel, and promptly had his soul sucked away. Another character accidentally mentioned the number "two" in casual conversation too close to the thing and started the magical wheel spinning again. Man, did he scramble to get off a greater dispel magic!

Deaths all Around: Of 8 characters, 5 died, 4 permanently.

For those who don't know, here is Acererak's "official" status in 3ed:

[sblock]He is now a vestige per the Tome of Magic book.[/sblock]

Take care,

Atavar

------

"Oh death, where is thy sting? Erk...there it is.................." - Atavar, Fortress of Conclusion

 

[Psion]

THOSE INTERESTED IN THE PbP

The recruiting thread is here:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=3235034