So I'm thinking of running Tomb of Horrors after RttTOEE

[Leopold]

One of my friends got ToH and was planning on running us through it. After he read it he just kept saying "There is no way to do it, just no way."

i don't understand. Was he saying there was no way to run it or no way to survive?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Well since 3/4 of the party has already died in the Temple o' Elemental Evil I think they understand the risks and dangers of my DM style. I don't try to kill them, but I can't help it if they die. I plan on running it with a real party with real fatalities. It's gonna be brutal. It may be a good way to end the campaign for a while as well. Later I'll find some way to raise them or something after we play GURPS for a while.

 

[discjacker]

OOh where did they died, my PC's died entering the Crater ridge mines, they made it in with great trickery and even found the re way throught he guard rooms to the empty old mine tunnels. But then decided to go back and check there backs they were killed by the Howler with ranger rider, and the ogre did'nt hurt either.

 

[James McMurray]

Speaking as one who is currently in the process of running Return to the Tomb of Horrors, I would definitely suggest going the full route.

MILD SPOILERS

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The adventure itself is full o' deadly goodness. However, the tomb is less deadly because the players go in forewarned by a journal they find.

As for conversion, most of it is fairly easy to do. Check out my story hour (link is in the sig ) for some ideas. In general, conversion involves replacing 2e stats with 3e, but for the most part, the creatures used are already covered in the MM, CC!, CC2, or Creature Collection. Some of the ones that aren't will probably have some incarnation in MM2.

The Tomb of Horrors has already been converted on this very site. However, you may want to peruse the thing first, because the person who did the conversion really lessened the deadliness of it. For instance, he replaced the save or die poison with 2d6 con poison or something like that. I ramped that up to 4d6 Con from Congealed Negative Planar Essence, and ruled that it isn't a poison per se, and thus is unaffected by many spells that would affect poisons. I also added an unhallow to the area, and tied a dispel magic to it to slowly strip away the buff spells a party constantly uses. The demi-lich I expect to eat one soul, or two if it gets a good initiative, mainly because the party has a Paladin and two fighters with +5 swords (from Greater Magic Weapon), and the demi-lich doesn't have a heck of a lot of hit points (only 52 on average).

Overall though, it has been a blast so far. I'll be following it up with the Bloodstone series. The party will become the lords of the Bloodstone area if they can stop the spread of undead in the area. That mens they'll get all the bonuses and hassles which come with the property, including Orcus himself.

 

[Grazzt]

I'm the one that converted the original "Tomb" and it can be found on my site (link is in my sig). I lessened the effects in a lot of places because all the instant kill stuff seems to be a "no-no" in 3e (though I don't entirely agree with it).

However, feel free to look at it and modify it as you see fit. Lemme know how it turns out though and what changes ya make so I can incorporate them into my conversion of the module.

 

[Geoff Watson]

How do most DM's run TOH? I have never run it but I do know the single greatest danger is the simple fact that there are so few ways to kill or even hurt a Demi-Lich.

So what does a DM do? Do you leave hints that there is a demi-lich in the lair so your players have reason to do some researching on how they can be killed? Otherwise you are pretty well guarunteed a total PK every time you run the module.

Originally, the Demi-Lich was a new, unique monster, and the PCs would have no way of finding out before hand. Since their inclusion in MM2 and computer games, everyone now knows how to beat them.

Geoff.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Try reading again what can kill a Demi-lich. There is a good chance that your party will not even HAVE any of those items or spells available. How many Wizards memorize Shatter or Forget? How many fighters actually carry around Vorpal Weapons. How many rogues actually have +5 slings.

Then on top of the REALLY short list of ways to even hurt the Demi-Lich you are going to add the difficulty of not even giving them a hint or an option to learn of these weaknesses?

That is not a challenging module, it is a jerk for a DM. That was my opinion the first time I read TOH and its still my opinion now when I read it.

1st hint for ToH is this: if your players are Hack and Slash types, they will hate it. EGG states that in the into!

2nd hint: Tell them nothing, period. Tell them only that a wizard has a tomb and here it is. beyond that leave it vague.

3rd hint: Do not let up, period. If the pc's die, and they will, do not relent. Just keep going, and prodding along.

Remember this is a thinking dungeon. There are maybe 3-5 fights including the final battle with the demi-lich (which is already converted for us, thank you CC) so this is a dungeon based on thinking your way through it not battling to the end, like RtToEE.


That's all the info you would need. Buy a riot shield to protect you when the pc's start dying.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Then a DM should know before he ever even runs the module whether or not the party can even hurt the Demi-Lich. Just look at their gear and spells and see if they have the right ones. The spell part is not as likely to work since the spells that will work are not ones a party is likely to memorize.

Originally, the Demi-Lich was a new, unique monster, and the PCs would have no way of finding out before hand. Since their inclusion in MM2 and computer games, everyone now knows how to beat them.

Geoff.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

The module will be run with the death traps at full effect, and maybe I'll have them encounter it on the way back to Hommlett. It will be killer and I expect casualities, but I'm sure we will have a blast running it.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

You know what is sad? The treasure in the dungeon nowhere comes close to paying for the incredibly lethal dungeon.

The module will be run with the death traps at full effect, and maybe I'll have them encounter it on the way back to Hommlett. It will be killer and I expect casualities, but I'm sure we will have a blast running it.