We're Going To Do Return to the Tomb of Horrors and One Player has Freaked Out!

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Everyone,

A little bit of disappointment from our group when one of the players freaked out last weekend.

There are 6 members in the party of levels 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15. We finished the previous adventure and low and behold the DM waggles Return to the Tomb of Horrors (2nd ed. AD&D) at us. There were several directions we could have gone in but this was the most obvious (and to most of the characters the "easiest" too).

However, one player freaked out not wanting to lose his 15th level Sorcerer (built up like most of the characters from 1st level). He then started trying to find every excuse possible to avoid the adventure - trying to co-erce other characters into going after the "red dragon" and threatening to take the character out using semi-plausible excuses. When confronted with it, he said that RttToH was a ridiculous PC killer that he wanted to have nothing to do with.

For the rest of us, we were cool with it because our characters would not know any different - and some of the players were really annoyed that he was making in campaign decisions on out of campaign knowledge and hearsay.

The question is, should our characters bully him into going through with it or should we just let him go?

Most of the players have heard how "difficult" the module is but we've all got the feeling that Paul the DM has been working up to this module for a while. He's crafted his own 3.5 ed. conversions for it and so has gone to a lot of work. None of us want to lose our characters but its kind of rude to just back out because everyone says its a killer. So are we stupid? Is this one guy brave by putting his foot down?
Have you ever had one player holding all the other characters to ransom?

General information is OK but please try not to provide any specific spoilers for the module.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

PS: This is the group involving Lucifus Cray so for those of you enjoying the Story Hour - look forward to the Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

 

[Anabstercorian]

It IS a ridiculous PC killer, far beyond anything in the original tomb of horrors - which, to be honest, is not that dreadful as long as you have the sense to be paranoid. Return to the Tomb of Horrors will flat out kill you, and make you feel guilty at the same time.

That said, that's how it is AS WRITTEN. If the DM spent effort converting it, you should be okay - most of the really cruel stuff (the stuff that says, "let's punish the players as much as possible for being sensible and careful") is self-evident and quite possible to remove.

 

[Samnell]

I'm working on a high level PBEM built loosely around the skeleton of the adventure now. Of course I'm going to level the party up a few times before they really go in. It is dangerous, yes. Most of it isn't hideously, sadistically, way out of the line cruel though. If your DM has been putting work into it, then I'm sure unless you have one of those guys who just likes to TPK all the time you'll be fine.

 

[Kesh]

You have six players. Five of them want to play. One does not (ostensibly because he doesn't want to lose his character.)

Give him the option: play this character, play another character, or don't play. I know that sounds harsh, but this is a situation where I don't think it's fair for one player to dictate terms to everyone else. He doesn't want to play the adventure, fine. He doesn't have to force everyone else out of it, though.

 

[A'koss]

Ho... Return to the Tomb of Horrors. It's a DM's dream and a player's nightmare.

I've run it twice myself and just butchered the PCs both times. I can certainly understand why a player might be... "somewhat hesitant" ... to run a treasured character through it. If you have 5 guys willing to go through it, what the hell - go for it. Maybe the odd player out can just play an NPC tag-along for this adventure instead of just sitting it out.

I really only have two things to say about RttToH:

If your DM has done the conversions and is generally a bit of a softie - you might be okay.
If he's the kind of DM to let the dice fall as they may and play the BGs to the hilt - you will die.

Cheers!

 

[Philip]

If the DM brought his Sorcerer from 1st to 15th level, the player should have a some faith that the DM won't kill him off on a whim.

Besides, the whole idea of the Tomb of Horrors is that player's are supposed to freak out! The freaking out and paranoia is 80% of the DM's fun.

 

[Alzrius]

Assuming you have a cleric in the party, said cleric would be tossing around (depending on which character level he had that you listed) either 7th or 8th level spells by this point, which means that he'd have magic to bring a dead character back. This guy really shouldn't be freaking out this badly.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

If he's the kind of DM to let the dice fall as they may and play the BGs to the hilt - you will die.

Cheers!

This is Paul the DM to a tee - in fact do you know him? That's the most succinct and truthful description of our DM that I have every seen.
Thus you have made me very nervous.
I don't want to have written over 40,000 words for nothing (my Story Hour involving Lucifus Cray). Still Lucifus Cray the Alienist does not have the wisdom to know any better.

Assuming you have a cleric in the party, said cleric would be tossing around (depending on which character level he had that you listed) either 7th or 8th level spells by this point, which means that he'd have magic to bring a dead character back. This guy really shouldn't be freaking out this badly.

True for some but not really for our party.

There is both a cleric (who has Raise Dead and Resurrection covered) and Lucifus Cray (who can knock out a Raise Dead through a Limited Wish). However, this is not the problem. The Cleric does not want to come back preferring the arms of his God when his time has come. The Rogue/Swashbuckler could not handle the failure and being brought back and reminded of it by the sorcerer - read the story hour and you'll understand. The sorcerer who is actually causing all the issues is quite happy to be brought back as is the Knight of the party (although only a True Resurrection will do there - back to his order to get that one fixed!). The Fighter in the group believes that when your time has come, your time has come, and Lucifus Cray is very much looking forward to being taken away by Aliens when his time is up, never to return again.

So, as you can see, this is not quite a video game - reset type of party. We are all playing characters we love and would hate to lose. Bringing characters back is not really an option for most of the party.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[blargney the second]

Take him aside, and tell him to have a sudden change of heart: his PC has been captured and replaced by a rakshasa who wants to tip the odds in the party's favor (of dying, of course!).

Gives him a chance to be there, at least for a little while. You will obviously have to strip his PC of all his items, but he doesn't have to know that until after you give him back the character sheet. *grin*
-blarg

 

[Plane Sailing]

Frankly, in that situation there is no way that a character of mine would be interested in entering a death-trap.

Play it as a one-off adventure possibly, with one-off characters, but overturn a whole campaigns worth of development? No thanks. I think the player is actually acting rationally.

Plus, after a few communes and legend lores about this tomb of horrors I'd think the rest of the party would agree with him!

Cheers