D&D 5E (2024) Tomb of Annihilation: likes and Dislikes

[TheSword]

So Foundry has released Tomb of Annihilation as a module for D&D a couple of weeks back and I am seriously considering running the campaign again online. I love Foundry and the tools it gives me as a DM.

I ran it Face to Face when it first came out and felt it was definitely a cracking campaign. I loved the sense of mystery and the wilderness of it. There’s something about jungle adventures/lost continents that taps into something very exciting. My partner’s grandad lives in Tobago and the jungle is four meters from the house. It’s vibrant, beautiful, and more than a bit scary. There’s more life there than you will ever see in England. It’s amazing how a couple of meters into the jungle you feel completely cut off from the civilization that is just past a few trees. The interior of Tobago is covered in pretty impenetrable mountainous jungle and communities cling to the coast in crescents around the bays. It’s pretty inspiring.

I also really liked many of the locations, they were interesting and evocative. Kir Sabai, Nagalore, Omu etc all felt well realized. So many interested NPCs and cultures integrated into the setting in a convincing way.

On the flip side, I found the hexploration, survival and rules behind that fairly tedious and soon skipped over that. I also felt I skipped some great parts of the adventure because the campaign is predicated on some pretty specific routes. I tried to delay this with some detours but there were only so many times I could do this.

I also found the tomb itself a bit of a drag, after how engaging the exterior areas were. it was the least engaging part of the campaign. Though there were definitely some cool bits in there. Nine trickster gods also seemed a bit of overkill. I get that some people run large parties but I found that became repetitive!

For those who have ran, played or just read ToA, what did you like or dislike about the campaign? Really interested in your experiences so I can make this next run a great experience.

 

[Retreater]

This is one of the few 5e adventures I ran from start to finish, and we had a pretty great time with it. (It was with a different group than my usual ones I complain about, FYI.)

Overall, I think it's a Top 3 adventure for the official WotC 5e era (I'd also include Lost Mine of Phandelver and Curse of Strahd). Here's what I would do to make it even better if I were to run it again.

1) Put the Death Curse in the background or delay its onset so the PCs have time to explore the port city and jungle.
2) The opening is weak. I'd honestly cut the Death Curse angle from the beginning and come up with a new opening, maybe putting the party as explorers in Port Nyanzaru - tasked to find some ruins/treasure/warlord. Have them uncover the Death Curse later.
3) The random encounters in the jungle dragged on. I'd decrease the frequency, but drop in more sites from the book (and other sources). I would approach this like Forbidden Lands, and drop in these small dungeons/sites wherever I want. (So much great content is missed.)
4) Forbidden Lands has excellent resource tracking and hexploration mechanics that could be laid over 5E. I would do that - because 5E isn't great at it. (Or else use the travel mechanics and supply rules from Level Up.)
5) Ras-Nsi is cool as hell, but a little underutilized in the adventure. I would play him up and the yuan-ti. He is a great mid-boss for the adventure. I'd consider having him viewed as an immortal demigod leading undead warbands throughout the region.
6) A cool idea I'd think about if I were to run it again - have the party form a jungle expedition. Let them make multiple PCs who can be swapped out in case one of the characters gets ill, cursed, killed, etc.

 

[TheSword]

This is one of the few 5e adventures I ran from start to finish, and we had a pretty great time with it. (It was with a different group than my usual ones I complain about, FYI.)

Overall, I think it's a Top 3 adventure for the official WotC 5e era (I'd also include Lost Mine of Phandelver and Curse of Strahd). Here's what I would do to make it even better if I were to run it again.

1) Put the Death Curse in the background or delay its onset so the PCs have time to explore the port city and jungle.
2) The opening is weak. I'd honestly cut the Death Curse angle from the beginning and come up with a new opening, maybe putting the party as explorers in Port Nyanzaru - tasked to find some ruins/treasure/warlord. Have them uncover the Death Curse later.
3) The random encounters in the jungle dragged on. I'd decrease the frequency, but drop in more sites from the book (and other sources). I would approach this like Forbidden Lands, and drop in these small dungeons/sites wherever I want. (So much great content is missed.)
4) Forbidden Lands has excellent resource tracking and hexploration mechanics that could be laid over 5E. I would do that - because 5E isn't great at it. (Or else use the travel mechanics and supply rules from Level Up.)
5) Ras-Nsi is cool as hell, but a little underutilized in the adventure. I would play him up and the yuan-ti. He is a great mid-boss for the adventure. I'd consider having him viewed as an immortal demigod leading undead warbands throughout the region.
6) A cool idea I'd think about if I were to run it again - have the party form a jungle expedition. Let them make multiple PCs who can be swapped out in case one of the characters gets ill, cursed, killed, etc.

So much good stuff here. Specifically on the death curse I couldn’t agree more. I figured it could be something afflicting the continent primarily - a good origin story for monsters, reason players can’t be resurrected normally and general malaise giving Chult a bit of a grimdark vibe. Then at an opportune moment several levels in 1hp gets removed from their character’s max hp as they feel the tug of the soulmonger. I’m not sure more than that is needed.

I’ve been reading the journey rules from Uncharted Journeys which seem really good. I’m thinking of using these to replicate travelling through the jungles.

 

[TheSword]

@Retreater did you use any of the guides and which locations did you find most interesting?

 

[Retreater]

@Retreater did you use any of the guides and which locations did you find most interesting?

Yes. We had a very entertaining session interviewing the guides. I printed pictures of them and they got to bring them in for job interviews. They ended up going with Salida, which was a very interesting choice for spoiler reasons.
As I mentioned, the group sped through much of the hexploration content because of the time limit on the Death Curse. The ones we got to use that were fun were Camp Righteous, Heart of Ubtao, and Wyrmheart Mine. I repurposed Hrakhamar and used it in another campaign as a one shot.

 

[TheSword]

Yes. We had a very entertaining session interviewing the guides. I printed pictures of them and they got to bring them in for job interviews. They ended up going with Salida, which was a very interesting choice for spoiler reasons.
As I mentioned, the group sped through much of the hexploration content because of the time limit on the Death Curse. The ones we got to use that were fun were Camp Righteous, Heart of Ubtao, and Wyrmheart Mine. I repurposed Hrakhamar and used it in another campaign as a one shot.

That’s really funny. My group went a completely different way and didn’t see any of those places!

 

[Retreater]

That’s really funny. My group went a completely different way and didn’t see any of those places!

There's a lot to see (and do) in the adventure. It's also easy to drop in other jungle-themed adventure sites, such as Planet X's Jungle Tomb of the Mummy Bride. I also enjoyed the capstone sites (Omu and the Tomb). It's really a great adventure - I think too many people write it off as a Tomb of Horrors update, which it's not.

 

[TheSword]

The Foundry module is pretty cool. It comes with an option on initialization to chose between 2014 or update to 2024 which I thought was pretty cool.

 

[Clint_L]

It's got a zombie t-rex. Anything after that is gravy.

 

[Distracted DM]

I ran it for less than a dozen sessions... I think one big thing I'd alter is either Valindra's presence, her motivation, and/or her reaction to the party finding her. I couldn't understand why she'd react the way she does, abandoning her cool base when the PCs find her. It's been years now, but it never made sense to me. I should give it a reread because that was one of the things that ended my groups playthrough of that adventure.