D&D 5E Save Your Campaign with the Tomb of Horror

[Guest 6801328]

Yeah, anyway, getting back to the theme of this thread.

I think you can use the Groundhog Day idea and still have genuine consequences. Maybe there can be hints that the number of attempts matters for some reason, e.g. each attempt starts at sunrise the next day, and each day that passes the final boss (at whom they will get one try) gets stronger, or the treasure less, or another villager eaten, or whatever.

Or just that if they can't crack it in one play session they will wake up in their beds at the start of the next session, and any chance at the loot will be gone forever.

I wouldn't use this stunt to save a campaign from TPK, and I wouldn't run every session this way, but an intentionally designed Groundhog Day dungeon (not Tomb of Horrors, most likely) could be refreshingly novel for veteran gamers.

(For those of you played WoW, weekly ZA "Bear Runs" with my guild during TBC was one of my favorite activities ever in that game. Kind of reminds me of this.)

 

[jayoungr]

The only possible downside, is that because the adventure is pretty long, repeating the parts you've already done successfully in previous run can become tedious, so some fast-forward mechanisms can be employed.

The OP said this: "Because they're caught in a time loop they start again right where they left off." I assumed that meant they would always come back in the same room where they died, or at the nearest safe spot. If that wasn't what was meant, it is a possible solution: either PCs always return at the nearest safe point, or the DM could designate some "spawn points" within the dungeon, and once the party reaches one, that's where they reappear for the next part of the run.

Well...the author is a game designer with enough credits for his own Wikipedia entry:

He's also a notorious D&D hater, which may color his memories a tinge.

 

[zaratan]

yep, looks like everyone expect 5e ToH will be more like Kirby's Epic Yarn than Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Wouldn't be a great surprise if we're all wrong?

If we're right, see you guys here to enhance 5e ToH to what it should be.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[iserith]

yep, looks like everyone expect 5e ToH will be more like Kirby's Epic Yarn than Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Wouldn't be a great surprise if we're all wrong?

I don't get the analogy. Can someone explain?

 

[zaratan]

Idea the first- Bring back the save or die mechanic.

I was readding the Dungeon #213 now, with the ToH for D&D Next, we will need to bring that back, because they'll not.

I don't get the analogy. Can someone explain?

2 videogames, one I never finished and don't even want to try anymore. Other was the first videogame my niece concluded.

 

[iserith]

2 videogames, one I never finished and don't even want to try anymore. Other was the first videogame my niece concluded.

I figured they were video games, just not sure what their reference meant in terms of the discussion on ToH.

 

[JeffB]

Sounds like

"Tomb of Horrors: Special Snowflake Edition"


The Tomb is not about being fair. It is a test of Player Skill. Which seems to be lost on most people these days.

 

[zaratan]

I figured they were video games, just not sure what their reference meant in terms of the discussion on ToH.

Ghosts ‘n Goblins = one of hardest games ever, 80's game.
Kirby's Epic Yarn = 7 years old finish, new stuff.

 

[iserith]

Ghosts ‘n Goblins = one of hardest games ever, 80's game.
Kirby's Epic Yarn = 7 years old finish, new stuff.

That's what I figured, but wasn't exactly sure since I wasn't familiar with those specific games.

The thing with the old ToH as I see it is that it wasn't actually difficult - it was just unfair due to the usual gotcha screwjobs of its time. Gotchas are effectively "fake difficulty" because player skill doesn't really play into their resolution or it relies heavily on uninformed choices or randomness.

What an update to ToH needs, in my view, is to make it very difficult, but not unfair. Where the players' informed choices can still lead to bad outcomes if their choices are ill considered given knowledge of the facts.

You can read up on fake difficulty here and in other sources (google it). Claiming that some folks want the game to be easy is probably not true in most cases. Some just want it to be fair. Designing it to be more fair does not necessarily make it easier.