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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Winterthorn" data-source="post: 3839975" data-attributes="member: 1702">Tomb of Horrors: may be vintage - but it's horrible!I'm running my players through the 3rd Edition update of The Tomb of Horrors and I have to say this one is awful! There's no motive for players to wade into this mess (other than the pretense of exploration and hopes to earn XPs). Perhaps the original 1st Edition version ran better, but this 3rd Ed version doesn't work for me. In fact it is quite a chore for the DM. Not only are there constant repetitive traps and effects to tire the players -- and psyche them out no doubt -- but it tries my patience to run it!. I had to add a whole layer of more sensible rooms and traps and creatures than what this adventure had to offer. In comparision to ToH my own dungeons and catacombs have been much more of a pleasure for both myself and my players. The interesting thing for us is we are all grognards and some players vaguely recall the original they played in many years ago so they've guessed in metagame terms where they're adventuring. The odd consolation is the amusement I get from the players guessing what's next based upon their memories -- and of course some things are different than what they remember!   <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" />   The only reason I'm running ToH is because of it's history/legendary infamy amongst experienced D&D players -- I feel it is my duty as a DM to experience it with my players - at the least we can all say that both players and DM survived running it!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/laugh.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing    :lol:" data-shortname=":lol:" /> But really and truly, in terms of dungeon design, The Tomb of Horrors (Acererak's Tomb), is just party killer nonsense. I was hoping that something inside the dungeon would pull things together and offer some cohesive explanation -- even for a twisted wizard's mind behind it story-wise -- but no. ToH is a roll-playing dungeon, not a roleplaying dungeon. The PC party survived the mutant 4-armed gargoyle and a lich, and several weird traps. (I guess there is some old school charm to be found in all of it!) It's a good thing my players' PCs are 12th level or they'd have rolled up several new characters by now -- what is the fun in TPK again and again? Ick!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> I suppose there are worse dungeons than Tomb of Horrors, but this one has been the worst so far for my group and for me as a DM. Live and learn, right?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  So we'll soldier on to finish it (we're a stubborn bunch). If anything, the next step in the campaign after this dungeon romp will be something to look forward to again! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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