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.

 

[dave2008]

Observation #8: I don't see any way that the trial of the octagon (room #76) is not a TPK for my group. There is no way they figure out the correct sequence to not trigger the trap (and I don't see how they can survive the trap). Did I miss something? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this room?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Observation #8: I don't see any way that the trial of the octagon (room #76) is not a TPK for my group. There is no way they figure out the correct sequence to not trigger the trap (and I don't see how they can survive the trap). Did I miss something? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this room?

Not sure about your gang, but suggest you'll have more than a year to figure it out! I can't believe the amount of stuff in the adventure, unless your group is jumping right to the end. The are DEX saves, and the bodies of one or more of the PC's can clog the trap so it doesn't work...

 

[dave2008]

Not sure about your gang, but suggest you'll have more than a year to figure it out! I can't believe the amount of stuff in the adventure, unless your group is jumping right to the end.

Well, I am not personally likely to run it, so I was just speculating

The are DEX saves, and the bodies of one or more of the PC's can clog the trap so it doesn't work...

Dex save is only for those on near the lectern, and, though the trap doesn't say to, I would require and athletics check to hold on as well. The body clog is just a nasty idea - thank you for sharing

 

[Nebulous]

I just noticed that on Mike Schley's website that the maps for Tomb won't be on sale until December. This isn't necessarily a bad a thing, the campaign is a year long at least, but anyone know why the sales for the maps don't coincide with the release of the adventure?

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

Chapter 2 is stuffed with ideas, hooks, encounters, some with a real quirky vibe that I think is fantastic (Orolunga, Wreck of the Star Goddess, and Yellyark are my favorites so far). Some great NPC's as well!

Yes, the amount of flavour and detail in this book is astounding. Incredibly inspiring and is making me really want to run it.

I just noticed that on Mike Schley's website that the maps for Tomb won't be on sale until December. This isn't necessarily a bad a thing, the campaign is a year long at least, but anyone know why the sales for the maps don't coincide with the release of the adventure?

From Mike:

P.S. Mark your calendar and remember the date December 8th when I will be releasing my entire collection of hi-res bundled maps from Tomb of Anihillation. I'd love to offer them today but alas I must wait. The gods of gaming are fickle.

My guess is that he wasn't allowed due to some sort of licensing arrangement with the various digital platforms.

Whatever the case, it's unfortunate because Mike's maps are higher resolution, higher DPI and quality so even if you have a lesser version, they're still worth getting.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So, finally got it yesterday, and I'm really enjoying reading through this adventure. I love that they took a unique setting (quite distinct from your normal Sword Coast-esque typical fantasy location) and just went all out in embracing its quirks and differences. Most, if not all, of the locations and NPCs are really well fleshed out and interesting, and should make for a lot of good adventuring and role playing. I really hope this sets the stage for using more atypical settings for adventures in the future...

My group is going to love the tie-in to SKT, having fought Jarl Storvald and knowing what his goal was. When they get surprised by a group of frost giants, of all things, crashing through the jungle, or meet up with Artus Cimber, they'll certainly enjoy the connection to the previous adventure.

But man, that final dungeon, even after only having quickly scanned it - that's going to be a real meat grinder in the mode of the original Tomb of Horrors, isn't it? They weren't kidding about this being tougher adventure than usual!

I can't wait to finish reading it, and then running it. My group have all agreed to wait until November and the release of XGtE before starting this since we don't want people wanting to switch to a new character type when the latter book comes out while in the middle of this. I already have a player planning on creating a kobold Indiana Jones using the archeologist background in the adventure...

 

[CapnZapp]

My guess is that he wasn't allowed due to some sort of licensing arrangement with the various digital platforms.

This is my guess too.

ToA really is the first module where digital platforms have come into prominence, and part of the offering is the same maps he sells. So it seems plausible they widened the window where his maps remain unavailable and you need to subscribe to Beyond et al to get them digitally.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

This is my guess too.

...and you need to subscribe to Beyond et al to get them digitally.

Just a nit picky correction: you don't need to subscribe to DDB to get the maps, rather you need to make a onetime purchase to get them in DDB. The distinction is important, especially since some folks didn't pick up on it and were surprised that a subscription didn't grant them access to the "books". (This despite clear explanations from DDB)


Sent from my iPad using EN World mobile app

 

[dave2008]

But man, that final dungeon, even after only having quickly scanned it - that's going to be a real meat grinder in the mode of the original Tomb of Horrors, isn't it? They weren't kidding about this being tougher adventure than usual!

Yes, the traps are killer. I have only skimmed through the Tomb of the Nine Gods, but since I rarely use traps in my adventures I am confident it would be a TPK for my group if they tried to finish it.

 

[Nebulous]

I won't have my copy until next week. I had wanted to start character creation soon, (as well as starting with a wholly new group of players ), but I would also like to have the initial maps, and as someone else mentioned, incorporating Xanathar in November is also important, but i'd rather not wait that long. I guess it wouldn't be too difficult to let players redesign character concepts.