Tomb of Horrors - Bugger

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If you don't have a TPK in the Tomb of Horrors, you're not playing it right.

I still can't get the PCs IMC to check out that big mound with the rocks on top in the shape of a grinning skull, for some reason, even after there were told it was the tomb of an extremely rich Netherese witch-king. Darn metagamers.

 

[Megatron]

I let a party of 3 level 20 characters do the Tomb of Horrors today. 2 TPK's before they got past the first Misty Arch/Leering Green Devil.


They want to start over tomorrow.

 

[wedgeski]

so....all PCs lost? Time to roll up new ones?

We're debating it now. Personally I'd like to mount a rescue mission; several powerful NPC's (including the one who sent us there) know where we went and are in a position to hire other PC's of ours, so we'll see what happens.

 

[wedgeski]

I let a party of 3 level 20 characters do the Tomb of Horrors today. 2 TPK's before they got past the first Misty Arch/Leering Green Devil.

They want to start over tomorrow.

LOL! Awesome.

I can totally understand how ToH isn't everyone's style of game: you need to be very meticulous, well prepared, well-equipped, and most of all enjoy a good slice of luck to get through it. We had all of those advantages until the very end, when the d20 just abandoned us, one after the other. It was tragic really.

At the end my own cleric was the only PC left alive, and our DM asked me to roll a d% while he would roll for the only remaining summoned elemental, which I had figured would at least give me a 50/50 chance of avoiding the Big Suck. Highest roll needs to make the save. I roll first.

00.

I roll a d20 to make the save.

1.

At that point you just have to figure that it wasn't meant to be. Those dice still lie in their original positions on my gaming table, in memorium. I'll leave them there as long as I can.

 

[BlackMoria]

I love hearing stories of people's experiences with the Tomb.

Our group did the original module and the party survived. At the time, I had no notions of how lethal it was because, outside of a few missteps (none fatal), our party came up aces on our decisions and dice rolls. A tough module, we thought, but we didn't think it extraordinarily tough at the time. Little did we know how lucky or fortunate we were....

Only years later do I appreciate the magnitude of our accomplishment. Every story I heard from other players talk about TPKs and mounds of slaughter characters. Every one. Thinking back on our experience, I don't recall what we did that was out of the ordinary that our party survived except that we were extremely cautious (the DM foreshadowed the lethality of the dungeon with rumors and legends), did considerable discussion and planning when confronted with some devilish conumdrum of the Tomb, rolled well on the critical die rolls and by incredible luck, actually had the optimum character class and equipment mix. And all the players played well... no questionable decisions and great teamwork.

Over the years, I have heard story after story of decimated parties and it is fun to listen to how characters faired (and failed) in the Tomb.

We all have heard the stories of the doomed. I would like to know if anyone else went through the original Tomb or the revised Tomb and came out of it unscathed? Surely, my group couldn't have been the only one to put the demi-lich's skull in their trophy case?

 

[wedgeski]

I could barely stifle a chortle when 4 of the 6 PC's walked, hand-in-hand, through the second gate that sent them naked back to the beginning of the dungeon.

This is reminiscent of our own experience. Early in the dungeon the fighter went through one of the archways, alone, only to get pulverised IN ONE ROUND by a gargoyle on the other side. Our carefully laid 'wait one round and the rest of you come through' plan having let us down so badly, we re-engineered it into a 'everyone goes through the portals together' plan.

Guess what we all walked through next.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Welcome to the Company of the Few, the Brave, and the Proud. (well, ok, the Many, the Brave, and the Proud.)
Welcome to the Company of all those who have died in the Tomb of Horrors.

If I were DMing, here's what I'd allow:

The Demilich is feasting on the souls, but they are not dead yet.
A high level NPC is going to attempt the Tomb. The players can bring new characters with him to help him.
If the party gains the crypt, the high level NPC will attempt to kill the demilich (but a player must run him in that battle.) If the demilich is killed, resurrection is possible for the original party. The high level NPC knew the original party.
On the other hand, if the demilich wins, chalk up another mass casualty to the most infamous of all the killer dungeons.

If you are a really, really kind DM, Acererak decides to release the souls, and he creates new bodies for them to inhabit.
But it comes at a price. Acererak keeps all of their items, and each character suffers a permanent Curse (one stat drops to 3, or 50/50 fail any saves, or 50/50 a hit on an opponent is a miss,, or 50/50 your spell hits someone in the party.)
Acererak has decided to let you live, as an example to everyone else. This is what happens to those who dare trespass upon his tomb.
Or perhaps Acererak is - being proud and cruel - merely having a good laugh at the party, hoping they will return for vengeance ... and then he WILL devour their souls.

EDIT:

My cleric, Edena (after whom I named this SN) was the lone survivor out of his whole party who entered the Tomb of Horrors. Edena survived because he was the weakest character in the party, so Acererak decided to kill him last. By the time Edena's turn to die was up, Acererak was so weakened Edena's attack dispelled him. Edena failed to take the prerequisite steps to permanently dispel him, though, so Acererak came back a week later, as strong as ever ...

I know of another party where the Cleric of Aphrodite was the only survivor out of a very large party.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

If you thought the old Tomb of Horrors was bad, consider the 3rd edition demilich.
It doesn't have to stay locked up in it's tomb. It can go where it pleases.
If you bother it, and survive the experience, the annoyed demilich can chase you down.

1st/2nd Edition:

Party: Whew. We lost Frank, but that teleport saved the rest of us from Acererak. How nice it is to be safely back in the inn in Greyhawk City.
DM: (nods sagely) Aye, your adventure is finished.

3rd Edition:

Party: Whew. We lost Frank, but that teleport saved the rest of us from Acererak. How nice it is to be safely back in the inn in Greyhawk City.
DM: (chuckles) Acererak appears in the common room, via his own teleport. His skull faces the lot of you squarely. Acererak says: Going somewhere, guys? Oh, I see: you think you can trespass into my tomb, steal my treasures, try to kill me, and I won't take offense about the matter. Remember that last line in the Tomb? And now your soul will die ...