Tell me your tale about the Tomb of Horrors

[paradox42]

I have to agree with the posters who are saying it's only a PC-killer if you have players who don't take the time to think ahead. When I ran it, it was in a 3.5 game, and I used a sort of hybrid of the WotC conversion and the original (for example, I allowed skill checks to detect the pits but raised the DCs, and made other similar alterations designed to make it nastier). Of the six PCs who went in, only two survived, but three were killed in the final room itself (and only one of those was permanent- the other two got raised). So yes, five out of six made it to the final room, and the one who didn't was being deliberately reckless as a result of losing all of his equipment to one of the naked-teleport traps early on. That PC ended up crawling into the green devil's mouth after an Astral Construct created by the Psion PC failed to return at its expected time (according to the instructions he gave it when he created it).

The kicker for this was, the PCs went in expecting extreme nastiness. I worked it into an ongoing campaign by having the Tomb be a construct within the Dream plane, and specifically the Dreamscape linked to an NPC the party had tracked down because he had an artifact they needed to get for their patron. When they got him, they found out that he'd hidden the real item in this dreamscape via the Dream Travel spell, and that the specific place he'd hidden it was chosen for the fact that it had all of his fears manifested within it. So it was quite literally a Tomb of Horrors in this case. Since the party knew they were going into a place full of devilishly clever traps and ironic ways to cause one's own destruction, they entered with extreme caution.

Psions with Astral Construct at 9th level just suck for trap-filled dungeons. The party was popping off 1-PP critters left and right, testing every last little thing for traps. Of course, that happens to be the correct way to play the ToH; it's just a variant of the "send the hirelings/donkeys/monkeys/other" in to check for traps ahead of the party, it just so happens that in this case the critters didn't exist until they were needed. Even so, I had a great time running it and managed to give them several good "Ewww, I'm glad that wasn't me!" or "Good thing we didn't fall for that!" moments. And I'll gladly run it again if a proper opportunity presents itself.

EDIT: Oh, I caught them with the fake earthquake too. They used up a Plane Shift powerstone getting out of the Dreamscape, and boy were they ever sore when they found out they hadn't got the artifact and had to go back. Finding out that the earthquake hadn't collapsed anything in the dungeon was also a winner for dirty looks thrown in my direction, though it did teach them to go around with constant True Seeing after that (as soon as one of them learned it with a level-up).

 

[Drowbane]

My first PC through the ToH died to that damn Green Face. Being the thief, I decided to look ahead...

My next PC PC died by F'n around with a wand... I don't remember too clearly. I think it disintegrated me.

~~

In return to the ToH: my 3e cleric died twice. First I got coup'd'graced by one of the "Vampiric Trio"... I got rezzed after that fight. Then I snapped my own neck after a trap on the Demiplane stole my... face. No eyes, no mouth, no nose... no will to keep being tortured Eventually our party was reduced to one... and we called it a night.

 

[Felon]

very nice words, i agree in so many levels.

i read a couple of days ago, dont remember where, someone say something like:
"the problem with modern systems is that characters level up faster than players" <--almost this

Felon,

That was one of the best posts I've ever read wrt Tomb of Horrors (and D&D in general).

You sum up my views pretty much perfectly.

Yup, bravo Felon.

The first time I went through ToH incurred no PC deaths. We knew the module by reputation, of course, and treated it with the respect it deserved. Frankly, the experience left us all wondering what the fuss was about. Sure, the Sphere of Annihilation bit could be tricky, but when we stuck the 10' pole in the room and it disintegrated, we gathered that going in wasn't a good idea. We bypassed the orange portal, figuring it was an obvious trap. The 4-armed gargoyle went down on round three, the scimitar-armed skeleton went down on round one. The Demi-Lich scored no points due to the Magic-User's knowledge of monsters, habitually carrying an Oil of Etherealness and a scroll of Power Word Kill 'just in case'.

But yes, we approached it like the opening scenes of Indiana Jones. The thief checked everything for traps and we used the old 10' pole to check just in case. We went through alot of 10' poles. Once we secured an area, we moved our henchmen's 'basecamp' forward and we took our time with every section. That being said, we did have some foreknowledge, Acerack would have been impossible if we knew nothing about Demi-Liches at the time.

The other thing that people forget about ToH is that it's a tournament dungeon. Tournament dungeons aren't designed like regular dungeons, the point is separating the wheat from the chaff, then the lucky from the unlucky, so that a clear 'winner' can be determined. It's more like a test than entertainment, I've played worse tournament modules than ToH. I hate playing competitively, though, it tends to kill everything good about the game for me.

Years later in 2e I had the opportunity to do Return to the Tomb of Horrors, which was harder. We did incur casualties that time, though nothing that couldn't be fixed with a res. It was also alot more fun that time around mainly because we didn't take it as seriously as we did the first time.

Thanks, guys. It's been a while since I put a lot of thought into articulating a sentiment and received anything other than the obligatory contrarian responses.

Ipissimus, you make a good point about the tournament-orientation of ToH. I also think it's worth pointing out that perhaps Tomb of Horrors is aptly-named, as it is approached more like a Call of Cthulhu jaunt than a traditional D&D hack-n-slash power trip. The only catch is that the party isn't trying to escape, at least at first. They're not even trying to save anybody. They are just greedy sons of guns who want to crack a vault full of magical goodies.

 

[rossik]

I also think it's worth pointing out that perhaps Tomb of Horrors is aptly-named, as it is approached more like a Call of Cthulhu jaunt

i didnt understand that part..

 

[Felon]

i didnt understand that part..

In a horror RPG, you know you need to look before you leap. No matter how formidable your character is, you're not immune to sudden annihilation. The game is more about investigation and figuring out the trick to overcoming the opposition than it is a power trip.

 

[vonmolkew]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I'll post it anyway. SPOILER ALERT!!!


Imagine a gigantic room at GenCon, back at UW-Parkside. GenCon 15, I think. The beginning of the first round of the AD&D Open. There must have been 200-300 of us getting the explanation of the module & somehow The ToH came up. The person in charge relates very simply (paraphrasing & creating....it was a Long time ago ): ToH? Didn't end up killing everyone. One of my friends didn't seem fazed by it. Sure, they lost a couple characters. But the worst was at the end. They had previously figured out by luck that you needed to touch the Gold end of the Sceptre to the Crown to make the Throne sink. They pocket the Crown and Scepter and on they go. A couple hours later, they find themselves in the True Tomb. They check out the stuff after taking out the Ghost. They leave the Crystal Skull alone. After they have completed cataloging all the loot, they try to pick up the skull. As they touch it, it begins to float up. So my friend says: Put the Crown on top of it and touch the Silver End to the Crown........."
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. Then the loudest uproar occurred. Nearly everyone in the place was laughing, completely stunned that it was that simple. Still to this day I think it was the most ingenious stroke of Gaming I've ever heard.

 

[Jhaelen]

I used it as a campaign-ending device. I wanted to take a break from DMing, so I told the players we'd play that module as the conclusion of the campaign. They made three attempts but never got very far. Basically, after being stripped of all their equipment by the teleporter-trap they no longer had any real chance.

They didn't really enjoy playing the module and neither did I.

 

[rossik]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I'll post it anyway. SPOILER ALERT!!!


Imagine a gigantic room at GenCon, back at UW-Parkside. GenCon 15, I think. The beginning of the first round of the AD&D Open. There must have been 200-300 of us getting the explanation of the module & somehow The ToH came up. The person in charge relates very simply (paraphrasing & creating....it was a Long time ago ): ToH? Didn't end up killing everyone. One of my friends didn't seem fazed by it. Sure, they lost a couple characters. But the worst was at the end. They had previously figured out by luck that you needed to touch the Gold end of the Sceptre to the Crown to make the Throne sink. They pocket the Crown and Scepter and on they go. A couple hours later, they find themselves in the True Tomb. They check out the stuff after taking out the Ghost. They leave the Crystal Skull alone. After they have completed cataloging all the loot, they try to pick up the skull. As they touch it, it begins to float up. So my friend says: Put the Crown on top of it and touch the Silver End to the Crown........."
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. Then the loudest uproar occurred. Nearly everyone in the place was laughing, completely stunned that it was that simple. Still to this day I think it was the most ingenious stroke of Gaming I've ever heard.

great story!

i wonder how do you have a ad&d tornment. i know that books for this have points and stuff, but in the end, theres one winner?

i mean, just one?

 

[DM-Rocco]

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I'll post it anyway. SPOILER ALERT!!!


Imagine a gigantic room at GenCon, back at UW-Parkside. GenCon 15, I think. The beginning of the first round of the AD&D Open. There must have been 200-300 of us getting the explanation of the module & somehow The ToH came up. The person in charge relates very simply (paraphrasing & creating....it was a Long time ago ): ToH? Didn't end up killing everyone. One of my friends didn't seem fazed by it. Sure, they lost a couple characters. But the worst was at the end. They had previously figured out by luck that you needed to touch the Gold end of the Sceptre to the Crown to make the Throne sink. They pocket the Crown and Scepter and on they go. A couple hours later, they find themselves in the True Tomb. They check out the stuff after taking out the Ghost. They leave the Crystal Skull alone. After they have completed cataloging all the loot, they try to pick up the skull. As they touch it, it begins to float up. So my friend says: Put the Crown on top of it and touch the Silver End to the Crown........."
You could have heard a pin drop in the auditorium. Then the loudest uproar occurred. Nearly everyone in the place was laughing, completely stunned that it was that simple. Still to this day I think it was the most ingenious stroke of Gaming I've ever heard.

In the forward by Gary Gygax for the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, he talks of this senerio. Are you claiming to be that group of adventures.

 

[Kesh]

In the forward by Gary Gygax for the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, he talks of this senerio. Are you claiming to be that group of adventures.

Sounds like he's just relating a story overheard being told at a con.