Tomb of Annihilation Is Here - What Do You Think?

Today's the day - WotC's latest Dungeons & Dragons adventure, Tomb of Annihilation, is out! Head on down to your friendly (or unfriendly) local (or not so local) gaming (or comic) store and pick up your copy. Alternatively, if you use a virtual table top, it's available for Fantasy Grounds and Roll20.

 

[Greg Benage]

I mean, if anyone can name an actual classic Forgotten Realms module and what that module's central story is about... maybe that could eventually become the story basis for another AP down the line. But god knows I can't think of any "classic Forgotten Realms module" for the life of me.

Ruins of Undermountain is the only one, AFAIC, but I'm still mostly convinced Wizards had it on the schedule ("Labyrinth") and whiffed, leading to hasty development and publication of the odd duck that is Tales from the Yawning Portal.

 

[guachi]

Were the old FR adventures just so bad that they aren't worth tapping for this? Or does this policy implicitly acknowledge that Realms-origin stories are even less interesting than the GH ones?

1. Mostly, yes.

2. Also, yes.

 

[EthanSental]

Already had the group pointed toward Chult, character death in the past. Heading south of Camp Vengence, old ruin in the jungle...all while using Syrinscape for jungle background

 

[woodja]

For those asking (quite a few pages back) about playable Grung - they are (sort of) available already. (info here)


The death curse is in effect within Chult. If you die, you cannot be resurrected. The only way to get your character back is to enlist a surrogate from the ones proved here on the WoTC website (don't know if this info is also in the book).
One of those surrogates is a Grung Rogue (available at Tier 1 and Tier 2)
Not sure how many will actually use it though as it has this mechanic:

WATER DEPENDENCY.
If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of
that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1
hour.

 

[fjw70]

I plan to take advantage of the multiverse for this adventure. My campaign started in the Nentir Vale and at level 3 I will run the TOA (starting tomorrow). I will just have the NPC tell them that the place they need to go is in a far away land that requires a sea voyage. At some point the ship will enter a fog and be transported to the Realms. The players may or may not know they are in a different world. It will be a far away exotic land with strange/unknown Gods.

 

[gyor]

No, I just don't think there are very many Realms-centric adventures out there to begin with. Most Realms stuff has all been mainly setting material and gazetteer stuff, with most adventures made specifically for the Realms falling in the 'Living Realms' type of thing. On top of that, Realms-cetric modules are all from like the mid '80s on... and all of these repurposed "classic" adventures that are being used for the 5E APs are the really old ones that came out before then back in the '70s and early '80s. I mean, it's not like WotC is repurposing 2E or 3E generic adventures either.

But let's also not forget that all of these classic modules that WotC is repurposing are NOT Greyhawk modules. They are generic modules used for tournaments and stuff and it was only after they released the World of Greyhawk box set that they assigned places on Oerth where you might find these modules. So people only started thinking they were actual Greyhawk modules after the fact. And even further... none of the APs released prior to this one with Acererak had anything in them that was actually from any other setting. Yes, the ideas for these APs were inspired by previous modules that people attribute to Greyhawk... but nothing within any of the adventures actually were Greyhawk related. So WotC never "stole" anything from that setting and gave it to the Realms to begin with.

I mean, if anyone can name an actual classic Forgotten Realms module and what that module's central story is about... maybe that could eventually become the story basis for another AP down the line. But god knows I can't think of any "classic Forgotten Realms module" for the life of me. I'd say maybe 'Under Illefarn'... but they already did repurpose that one for their D&D Next 'Scourge of the Sword Coast' adventure. Which means all we really have are our other "classics" to repurpose, all of which are our '70s and early '80s famous ones... all of which get thought of as Greyhawkian despite them not originally being that.

And besides... everyone who wants other campaign settings are going to get their wish next Autumn 2018. The last great "classic" module remaining for WotC to steal from is "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks"... so the plot line of the next big AP is going to be Faerunian adventurers finding a space ship in like the Graypeak Mountains, and once they explore it and get the ship running... this 'Spelljammer' ship will take them to Sigil and then out to a bunch of the other campaign worlds, like Oerth, Khorvaire, Athas, and Krynn.

Desert of Desolation is set in the Forgotten Realms, although admittedly when it was first published it was generic then added later, in the Raurin Desert as the ruins of an Imaskari Survivor state.

Then there is Undermountain, the Avatar Trilogy, and so on.

 

[gyor]

No, I just don't think there are very many Realms-centric adventures out there to begin with. Most Realms stuff has all been mainly setting material and gazetteer stuff, with most adventures made specifically for the Realms falling in the 'Living Realms' type of thing. On top of that, Realms-cetric modules are all from like the mid '80s on... and all of these repurposed "classic" adventures that are being used for the 5E APs are the really old ones that came out before then back in the '70s and early '80s. I mean, it's not like WotC is repurposing 2E or 3E generic adventures either.

But let's also not forget that all of these classic modules that WotC is repurposing are NOT Greyhawk modules. They are generic modules used for tournaments and stuff and it was only after they released the World of Greyhawk box set that they assigned places on Oerth where you might find these modules. So people only started thinking they were actual Greyhawk modules after the fact. And even further... none of the APs released prior to this one with Acererak had anything in them that was actually from any other setting. Yes, the ideas for these APs were inspired by previous modules that people attribute to Greyhawk... but nothing within any of the adventures actually were Greyhawk related. So WotC never "stole" anything from that setting and gave it to the Realms to begin with.

I mean, if anyone can name an actual classic Forgotten Realms module and what that module's central story is about... maybe that could eventually become the story basis for another AP down the line. But god knows I can't think of any "classic Forgotten Realms module" for the life of me. I'd say maybe 'Under Illefarn'... but they already did repurpose that one for their D&D Next 'Scourge of the Sword Coast' adventure. Which means all we really have are our other "classics" to repurpose, all of which are our '70s and early '80s famous ones... all of which get thought of as Greyhawkian despite them not originally being that.

And besides... everyone who wants other campaign settings are going to get their wish next Autumn 2018. The last great "classic" module remaining for WotC to steal from is "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks"... so the plot line of the next big AP is going to be Faerunian adventurers finding a space ship in like the Graypeak Mountains, and once they explore it and get the ship running... this 'Spelljammer' ship will take them to Sigil and then out to a bunch of the other campaign worlds, like Oerth, Khorvaire, Athas, and Krynn.

Desert of Desolation is set in the Forgotten Realms, although admittedly when it was first published it was generic then added later, in the Raurin Desert as the ruins of an Imaskari Survivor state.

Then there is Undermountain, the Avatar Trilogy, and so on.

 

[JesterOC]

Of the few forgotten Realms adventures I had what I recall most is that they had too much interference from high profile NPCs and those NPCs seemed to defy the rules.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

 

[Staffan]

I mean, if anyone can name an actual classic Forgotten Realms module and what that module's central story is about... maybe that could eventually become the story basis for another AP down the line.

3e had the trilogy Shadowdale, Cormyr, and Anauroch (I might be confusing the order somewhat), which I and my friends only started playing. It had something to do with the church of Shar and the Shades of Netheril - possibly the stuff that sets the events that end in the Spellplague in motion.

The Bloodstone modules (H1-4) were moved to the Realms during their production, being set in Vaasa. I'm not entirely sure what they were about other than it involving a lot of mass combat (hello Battlesystem(tm)!) and culminating in going to the Abyss to fight Orcus himself.

But other than that, FR is fairly sparse on adventures. Historically, FR has been about two things:

1. Set up locations and organizations that are filled with story ideas, and let the DM work out the details.

2. Have NPCs perform epic deeds in novels that drive the setting's metaplot (mainly in the 2e era).

 

[Stormdale]

Having just purchased it on D&D Beyond, and had a quick glance so far. It it looks interesting and am keen to incorporate it into my campaign asap. Plenty of stuff to mine for ideas in this one even if you don't run the whole thing.

Dwellers of the Forbidden City was my first, and still my favourite, module so will look at incorporating the original version into it and like the fact it is playing homage to the original.

My main beefs? As with most of the new adventures (they are too big to call modules) is the introduction of new races for the sake it of. Grungs? They'll be replaced with the original Bullywugs in my game, I like the flavour of the Batari but will instead use the original Tasloi instead... and swap Chult for the Amedio Jungle region in Greyhawk.

Stormdale