Jester David
Hero
Save Your Campaign with the Tomb of Horror
You look over your Dungeon Master's screen at the anxious and upset faces of your players. They know what's happening. You know what's happening. It's a wipe. A TPK. You just killed everyone and ended your campaign. But you had stories to tell. A world to save.
How do you recover?
Simple: the Tomb of Horrors.
Yes, *this* Tomb of Horrors.
The infamous Player Character meatgrinder. The unfair dungeon of deadly traps. The tournament module that just surviving - let alone winning - is a badge of honour.
Here's the hook: after the wipe, the players wake up - seemingly resurrected - only to discover it's morning of the same day… again. They're caught in a time loop, like in Groundhog Day or Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow. It's a pretty common TV Trope that most TV shows eventually employ. They have the opportunity to retry combats and encounters until they achieve the best result, much like Dark Souls.
In this case, the party is caught in a time loop being caused Acererak's shenanigans, and the only way to escape the loop and get on with their lives is to stop the demilich. Conveniently, the Tomb just happens to be an hour or two away.
They can search for the entrance of the Tomb. And die. Because they're caught in a time loop they start again right where they left off. They can experiment and jump into the leering devil's mouth. And then start again right where they left off. Poke and prod every surface. Get crushed, dropped into fire, be horrible killed by a monster, and still make it to the end.
Every time they get past a room, have them track their expended resources. That becomes the new default for when they reset. If they want to replay a combat or puzzle to get past a threat with fewer expended resources and possibly more hit points, they might have advantage on all rolls. Or their minimum might be what they rolled previously.
This has several advantages.
Firstly, once the party destroys Acererak, you can resume your campaign without the TPK. A quick reset.
Also, because the players are no longer worried about constant death, they can get experimental and actually enjoy the Tomb, rather than playing ridiculously safe and dragging play to a crawl.
They're also not just bringing in a string of flat expendable characters who somehow inexplicably know the beginning of the Tomb.
All the while you get to experience the masochistic joys of running the Tomb of Horrors without making your players hate you or having to tone it down.
Something to consider when Tales from the Yawning Portal comes out in a few weeks.
You look over your Dungeon Master's screen at the anxious and upset faces of your players. They know what's happening. You know what's happening. It's a wipe. A TPK. You just killed everyone and ended your campaign. But you had stories to tell. A world to save.
How do you recover?
Simple: the Tomb of Horrors.
Yes, *this* Tomb of Horrors.
The infamous Player Character meatgrinder. The unfair dungeon of deadly traps. The tournament module that just surviving - let alone winning - is a badge of honour.
Here's the hook: after the wipe, the players wake up - seemingly resurrected - only to discover it's morning of the same day… again. They're caught in a time loop, like in Groundhog Day or Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow. It's a pretty common TV Trope that most TV shows eventually employ. They have the opportunity to retry combats and encounters until they achieve the best result, much like Dark Souls.
In this case, the party is caught in a time loop being caused Acererak's shenanigans, and the only way to escape the loop and get on with their lives is to stop the demilich. Conveniently, the Tomb just happens to be an hour or two away.
They can search for the entrance of the Tomb. And die. Because they're caught in a time loop they start again right where they left off. They can experiment and jump into the leering devil's mouth. And then start again right where they left off. Poke and prod every surface. Get crushed, dropped into fire, be horrible killed by a monster, and still make it to the end.
Every time they get past a room, have them track their expended resources. That becomes the new default for when they reset. If they want to replay a combat or puzzle to get past a threat with fewer expended resources and possibly more hit points, they might have advantage on all rolls. Or their minimum might be what they rolled previously.
This has several advantages.
Firstly, once the party destroys Acererak, you can resume your campaign without the TPK. A quick reset.
Also, because the players are no longer worried about constant death, they can get experimental and actually enjoy the Tomb, rather than playing ridiculously safe and dragging play to a crawl.
They're also not just bringing in a string of flat expendable characters who somehow inexplicably know the beginning of the Tomb.
All the while you get to experience the masochistic joys of running the Tomb of Horrors without making your players hate you or having to tone it down.
Something to consider when Tales from the Yawning Portal comes out in a few weeks.
