Each time a campaign ends, I try to learn from it. This will be about my Tomb of Annihilation campaign. Unlike others in this series, I think this is a more positive experience, but that doesn't mean there aren't lessons to learn.
About the Group and Selection of the Campaign
This group of players were assembled from all around, pretty much brought together for the purpose of playing a specific D&D campaign. One was a friend of mine from community theater, just getting back into D&D through Critical Role after having not played since 2e. He has the perspective of “this is cool, let’s do it - and if you have a cool idea, I’m going to help you do it.” (This is one of my favorite player personality types). His wife is new to RPGs but likes board games and is more of a casual player. My ex-girlfriend (don’t worry, we’re totally cool with each other), her then-boyfriend (not that weird of a dynamic in practice), and one of my ex-gf’s best friends. Another guy I randomly offered a seat since he was new to town, and I bumped into him on a Facebook group - and he totally ended up being a cool guy and a good friend.
Everyone was on board to play whatever campaign I wanted, so I picked the “new hotness” of the day, which was Tomb of Annihilation.
Preparation
As this was a new adventure, there hadn’t been a lot of suggestions written about how to run it. I did read that the Death Curse was a little over-punishing and that “Cellar of Death” on the DMs Guild was a good intro. I did prepare “Cellar of Death” as an intro adventure, but otherwise we jumped in.
Slow Start
After the Cellar of Death intro and some good roleplaying and build-up in Port Nyanzaru, we really hit a speed bump with the jungle hexcrawl. The party knew only a rough direction of where to go to find the Lost City of Omu, and unknown to them, they hired a guide who was leading them into a trap. They kept getting lost in the wilderness. Entire sessions were lost going in circles. Deadly random encounters (some assassin vines come to mind) killed off numerous NPCs. But worst of all, conflicting work schedules meant we’d get to play only around once a month.
Speeding Up Play
We’d been hexcrawling in the jungle for months of real world time. It really felt like a survival story, but it would be if the campaign was going to survive. I had to make a tough decision to move the session to a regular weeknight - which let us get around child care issues, work schedules, etc. Unfortunately, that meant we had to move on without one of the players.
[By this time the party realized the impetus for the quest - their patron who had hired them to stop the Death Curse - would be long dead by this point. Even under perfect timing I don’t think it’s possible for any party to stop the Death Curse.]
I then did a cutscene to describe the rest of the jungle hexcrawl and deposited them at the temple of the yuan-ti, where their guide’s treachery paid off perfectly with a dangerous ambush.
Out of the Jungle
In the temple of the yuan-ti, the party had an intense stealth mission and nail-biting roleplaying. The combats definitely took a backseat here - and it felt like a classic Conan story, sneaking into a palace of terrible sorcery to get what they needed and get out.
In Omu the party enjoyed exploring the lost city, gathering the keystones, solving puzzles, trying to thwart the Red Wizards. It certainly felt like a Raiders of the Lost Ark session. I even played up one of the Red Wizards to feel like Belloq.
Dungeon
The Tomb itself felt like a classic dungeon-crawling experience but done in a way that could suit modern players. There were some traps that stretched believability and some gonzo scenes, but everything fit well. One issue I had was a gender-switching curse trap. I had a player who is transgender at the game, and I didn’t feel comfortable potentially targeting her character and doing a gender flopping magical effect for something that is intended to be played off for laughs. So I cut that.
The climactic battle was epic. The party fled before the huge bad was able to appear. An overall satisfying
Lessons Learned
Strict adherence to random encounters isn’t necessary if it bogs down the game. Be ready to go off script to deliver the experience the players want. Sometimes players you don’t expect end up being the best ones you’ve gamed with.
Specific to ToA. Don’t use the Death Curse as written. It’s too quick and the party has no chance to stop it. I would suggest different motivations to go to Chult, perhaps something that would encourage them to spend more time exploring some of the great sites in the jungle. Then bring about the Death Curse as a later stage complication, maybe after visiting the yuan-ti. Also, I’d play them up as more of a faction because they’re too cool to be limited to just the temple. Ras-Nsi in particular could be set-up as a primary antagonist for most of the first half of the adventure.
What Came Next?
After the campaign came to a close, we tried Savage Rifts for a change of pace. Then Warhammer Fantasy RPG. After that, we changed to Pathfinder 2e, but that eventually fell apart too. Still, ToA was a solid campaign and a good time.
About the Group and Selection of the Campaign
This group of players were assembled from all around, pretty much brought together for the purpose of playing a specific D&D campaign. One was a friend of mine from community theater, just getting back into D&D through Critical Role after having not played since 2e. He has the perspective of “this is cool, let’s do it - and if you have a cool idea, I’m going to help you do it.” (This is one of my favorite player personality types). His wife is new to RPGs but likes board games and is more of a casual player. My ex-girlfriend (don’t worry, we’re totally cool with each other), her then-boyfriend (not that weird of a dynamic in practice), and one of my ex-gf’s best friends. Another guy I randomly offered a seat since he was new to town, and I bumped into him on a Facebook group - and he totally ended up being a cool guy and a good friend.
Everyone was on board to play whatever campaign I wanted, so I picked the “new hotness” of the day, which was Tomb of Annihilation.
Preparation
As this was a new adventure, there hadn’t been a lot of suggestions written about how to run it. I did read that the Death Curse was a little over-punishing and that “Cellar of Death” on the DMs Guild was a good intro. I did prepare “Cellar of Death” as an intro adventure, but otherwise we jumped in.
Slow Start
After the Cellar of Death intro and some good roleplaying and build-up in Port Nyanzaru, we really hit a speed bump with the jungle hexcrawl. The party knew only a rough direction of where to go to find the Lost City of Omu, and unknown to them, they hired a guide who was leading them into a trap. They kept getting lost in the wilderness. Entire sessions were lost going in circles. Deadly random encounters (some assassin vines come to mind) killed off numerous NPCs. But worst of all, conflicting work schedules meant we’d get to play only around once a month.
Speeding Up Play
We’d been hexcrawling in the jungle for months of real world time. It really felt like a survival story, but it would be if the campaign was going to survive. I had to make a tough decision to move the session to a regular weeknight - which let us get around child care issues, work schedules, etc. Unfortunately, that meant we had to move on without one of the players.
[By this time the party realized the impetus for the quest - their patron who had hired them to stop the Death Curse - would be long dead by this point. Even under perfect timing I don’t think it’s possible for any party to stop the Death Curse.]
I then did a cutscene to describe the rest of the jungle hexcrawl and deposited them at the temple of the yuan-ti, where their guide’s treachery paid off perfectly with a dangerous ambush.
Out of the Jungle
In the temple of the yuan-ti, the party had an intense stealth mission and nail-biting roleplaying. The combats definitely took a backseat here - and it felt like a classic Conan story, sneaking into a palace of terrible sorcery to get what they needed and get out.
In Omu the party enjoyed exploring the lost city, gathering the keystones, solving puzzles, trying to thwart the Red Wizards. It certainly felt like a Raiders of the Lost Ark session. I even played up one of the Red Wizards to feel like Belloq.
Dungeon
The Tomb itself felt like a classic dungeon-crawling experience but done in a way that could suit modern players. There were some traps that stretched believability and some gonzo scenes, but everything fit well. One issue I had was a gender-switching curse trap. I had a player who is transgender at the game, and I didn’t feel comfortable potentially targeting her character and doing a gender flopping magical effect for something that is intended to be played off for laughs. So I cut that.
The climactic battle was epic. The party fled before the huge bad was able to appear. An overall satisfying
Lessons Learned
Strict adherence to random encounters isn’t necessary if it bogs down the game. Be ready to go off script to deliver the experience the players want. Sometimes players you don’t expect end up being the best ones you’ve gamed with.
Specific to ToA. Don’t use the Death Curse as written. It’s too quick and the party has no chance to stop it. I would suggest different motivations to go to Chult, perhaps something that would encourage them to spend more time exploring some of the great sites in the jungle. Then bring about the Death Curse as a later stage complication, maybe after visiting the yuan-ti. Also, I’d play them up as more of a faction because they’re too cool to be limited to just the temple. Ras-Nsi in particular could be set-up as a primary antagonist for most of the first half of the adventure.
What Came Next?
After the campaign came to a close, we tried Savage Rifts for a change of pace. Then Warhammer Fantasy RPG. After that, we changed to Pathfinder 2e, but that eventually fell apart too. Still, ToA was a solid campaign and a good time.
