The New D&D Adventure Is - Tomb of Annihilation!

Tomb of Annihilation is in the Forgotten Realms set in the Lost Continent of Chult - Away from the Sword Coast (the hosts of the live stream are very interested with undead dinosaurs). Acererak is, as many predicted, the source of this plotline as the Archlich is more or less "eating" resurrection magic from the rest of the Forgotten Realms and causing a zombie apocalypse. Pendleton Ward from Adventure Time is a creative consultant on this adventure.

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More updates will be coming through the Dungeons & Dragons marathon live stream live on Twitch throughout the weekend.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

This adventure sounds really cool. That's the first WotC adventure for quite some time that has made think that.

Nothing against any of the previous WotC 5E adventures (and I've bought most of them still), but this one hooks me more off the bat compared to the others.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Isn't he from Greyhawk world? When I saw that image, I remember a cover by Dragon Magazine.

Spoiler (the face is a trap from Tomb of Horror).

 

[Ketser]

Which is why I'm hesitant about Acererak suddenly becoming a lich. And not lich a lich, but supposedly the most powerful lich. (Ummm... Vecna?) But Acererak isn't a lich. He's the iconic demilich. So I'm understandably worried he might have suddenly changed into a lich for no reason and that the adventure won't even try to explain it.

In 5e demiliches are considered as degraded liches, who have lost both a lot of their power, most of their physical form and often their sanity. Something to note is that 5e demiliches can become liches again, if they manage to "feed" their phylactery.

Acererak is of course listed as a sort of exception in the MM, existing as a disembodied consciousness, travelling the planes and using his skull more as a trap to feed his phylactery, rather than than actually inhabiting it. So we can theorize that Acererak can return to "lich form" when he might need it and probably the adventure makes note that Acererak needing to have his full form for whatever reason. In any case it can be explained in the current lore.

 

[Omega9999]

Good. Very Good. They managed to steal Acererak and his Tomb from Greyhawk too.

 

[Ath-kethin]

While an 80% sourcebook would be nice, I doubt even the most hard-core Realms lore fanatic could come up with 200 (useful and meaningful) pages on Chult.

I assume it will follow in the footsteps of OotA and SKT and go:

1. Introductory adventure
2. Large "sandbox" section describing the geography of the region the adventure takes place (we may get some extra background historical info since Chult wasn't covered in SCAG like the areas in the other two APs)
3. Modular chapters that can be ran as an ongoing adventure or be taken out individually for shorter adventures or homebrew use.
4. Finale.

So I imagine we'll be seeing say 30 - 50 pages of sourcebook-type material in this, if past history is anything to go by...

I don't disagree with you. I did call it "pipe dreaming."

Another alternative that I would like to see is a collection of diverse smaller adventures in the book. Kind of like Yawning Portal, but all set in Chult.

I don't need a goofy giant adventure, is the takeaway here. I know it's what we will get because it's the business model that seems to be working, but I can hope, can't I?

 

[Hussar]

Considering that pretty much all of the iconic elements of Forgotten Realms got their start in Greyhawk, why are people shocked that this is continuing? I mean, Drow, Undermountain, Waterdeep, etc - all adapted from Greyhawk. What's the big deal.

Although, I would appreciate it if people would stop complaining about taking Isle of Dread out of Greyhawk. Sorry, that wasn't part of Greyhawk. Paizo yoinked that from Basic/Expert Mystara.

Oh, wait... isn't that a bad thing... Cross pollination from different settings is a bad thing right? I'll have to remember that.

 

[gyor]

I don't disagree with you. I did call it "pipe dreaming."

Another alternative that I would like to see is a collection of diverse smaller adventures in the book. Kind of like Yawning Portal, but all set in Chult.

I don't need a goofy giant adventure, is the takeaway here. I know it's what we will get because it's the business model that seems to be working, but I can hope, can't I?

As I understand it Chult is intended to be Sandboxy.

 

[gyor]

I don't really mind Forgotten Realms, but it is factually incorrect to say it is the default setting, since the WotC employees have consistently stated that the multiverse, not the Forgotten Realms, is the default setting.

Sure, it is the adventure and transmedia product focus, but that isn't the same thing as a default setting.

In practice by multiverse, they mean the Swordcoast ;p

 

[murquhart72]

I don't really mind Forgotten Realms, but it is factually incorrect to say it is the default setting, since the WotC employees have consistently stated that the multiverse, not the Forgotten Realms, is the default setting.

Sure, it is the adventure and transmedia product focus, but that isn't the same thing as a default setting.

Saying the Earth is flat doesn't make it any less round. By definition (a preselected option adopted by a computer program or other mechanism when no alternative is specified by the user or programmer) it is factually the default setting, regardless how WotC spins it.

 

[murquhart72]

I saw the DMG and, after reading the cover description, spent far too long looking for a jeweled skull in the picture. Now it appears there are TWO Acereraks: a sneaky, devious demi lich in Greyhawk and a wet behind the ears uber lich in Faerun.
I also have characters in different worlds that share the same name