Tomb of Horrors (RPGA reward) layout

[MerricB]

My copy of the RPGA Reward version of "Tomb of Horrors" arrived today, and I was struck by the layout of the adventure: It isn't in delve format.

Well, it is and it isn't. Rather than the look between booklets form of the H/P/E modules, or the "flip from beginning to end" format of Revenge of the Giants and the late 3.5e "Return to" modules, it just goes "encounter, encounter, encounter" with two or three occasionally appearing on the same page. Big encounters do start on a new page, but the layout seems a lot more friendly and good to read.

I just wanted to express my appreciation for this design.

There are a couple of unfortunate page flips - encounter 14 and 29 are the only one that break over a page turn - but mostly it works really, really well.

There are no statblocks that carry over a page turn, which is something that I detest - and something that Paizo have become masters of, alas!

I don't know if this layout will ever be used again, but I hope it is in future Wizards adventures for D&D.

Cheers!

 

[Riley]

Sounds nice! I hope one of these appears on my doorstep one of these days, so I can see how it turned out.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I noticed that too. I'm ambivalent about the layout (I didn't mind the delve format), but if it makes people happy not to have to flip pages, then good.

Actually, there is at least one encounter that will require page flipping... but maybe I've said too much already.

 

[Jhaelen]

I think it works well for this module because none of the encounters are the kind of elaborate set-pieces that are typical for 4e.
Most encounters involve a single solo (trap or monster) in a smallish, mostly featureless room. The majority of the space is required to explain some of the more tricky traps.

I like the encounter format, as long as the room descriptions preceding the encounter descriptions are sufficiently detailed and complete.