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WIR S1 Tomb of Horrors [SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!]
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<blockquote data-quote="Bullgrit" data-source="post: 5761385" data-attributes="member: 31216"><p>Good points, [MENTION=6847]shmoo2[/MENTION].In the late 70s and early 80s <em>Tomb of Horrors</em> was just another D&D module, with no hype or reputation. I bought it off the shelf at my local book store about the same time I got <em>Against the Giants</em>, <em>Secret of Saltmarsh</em>, <em>Dwellers of the Forbidden City</em>, and <em>Slavepits of the Undercity</em>, and other classic modules.</p><p></p><p>ToH was different than the standard D&D adventure, but it wasn’t <strong>different!</strong> <em>Expedition to Barrier Peaks</em> was different, too. So was <em>Assassin’s Knot</em>, and <em>Land Beyond the Magic Mirror</em>, and <em>Beyond the Crystal Cave</em>, and others – each an AD&D module from the classic era. Being a trap-filled linear dungeon made ToH outside the ordinary standard for D&D adventures of the time, so it’s rather ironic that in these later years it has been held up as sort of the ultimate example of “old school” D&D. It was an outlier, by intention and self admittance; it is not a standard example of classic D&D play. (The standard is more like those examples given in the previous paragraph.)</p><p></p><p>I think ToH started getting its hype and reputation as a backlash against what some consider the “new school” style of play. Some consider deep immersive role playing, thespianism, and storytelling to be a terrible bastardization of what D&D should be. Some hold up the <em>Dragonlance</em> series as the epitome* of this “new school” play style. So if that direction is ultimate bad, the exact and extreme opposite direction must be ultimate good, right? What’s the extreme opposite direction? <em>Tomb of Horrors</em>.</p><p></p><p>* I also believe <em>Dragonlance</em> has gained a reputation as ultimate new school that it doesn’t really live up to when you actually read the original modules.</p><p></p><p>So, even though most D&D players in the classic era didn’t actually play D&D regularly in the play style of ToH, the Tomb started getting this attention and hype as the ultimate example of the golden age and old school of D&D. With that hype came exaggerations and wishes for it to be the grand thing. It came to represent classic D&D to some people, even though it was not a standard example of classic D&D even in its original days. And if something is the ultimate representation for an era, it can’t have flaws or else it reflects badly on its era. It must <strong>GLOW!</strong></p><p></p><p>And since most people haven’t read ToH, personally, the hype was believed. I have read it, a few times even before this thread, so I was very knowledgeable of what’s actually in the ToH. And every time I read some of the hype about it, it stunned me. “Where are they getting these claims?” I thought.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, as a side effect of the hype making ToH = old school D&D : old school D&D = ToH, some folks think that saying ToH isn’t the ultimate greatness means that classic D&D wasn’t ultimate greatness. But that connection is mythical. Standard, regular, common classic D&D was not like ToH. ToH was by intention and design outside the norm for classic D&D. It wasn't designed to represent its era; it didn't have to glow.</p><p></p><p>Now, whether someone <em>likes</em> ToH or not has more to do with their personal play style preferences than what standard classic D&D was like. In the big picture of classic D&D, <em>Tomb of Horrors</em> is just another example of the varied styles of classic D&D. The hype around ToH does a disservice to it specifically and to classic D&D in general.</p><p></p><p>Bullgrit</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bullgrit, post: 5761385, member: 31216"] Good points, [MENTION=6847]shmoo2[/MENTION].In the late 70s and early 80s [i]Tomb of Horrors[/i] was just another D&D module, with no hype or reputation. I bought it off the shelf at my local book store about the same time I got [i]Against the Giants[/i], [i]Secret of Saltmarsh[/i], [i]Dwellers of the Forbidden City[/i], and [i]Slavepits of the Undercity[/i], and other classic modules. ToH was different than the standard D&D adventure, but it wasn’t [b]different![/b] [i]Expedition to Barrier Peaks[/i] was different, too. So was [i]Assassin’s Knot[/i], and [i]Land Beyond the Magic Mirror[/i], and [i]Beyond the Crystal Cave[/i], and others – each an AD&D module from the classic era. Being a trap-filled linear dungeon made ToH outside the ordinary standard for D&D adventures of the time, so it’s rather ironic that in these later years it has been held up as sort of the ultimate example of “old school” D&D. It was an outlier, by intention and self admittance; it is not a standard example of classic D&D play. (The standard is more like those examples given in the previous paragraph.) I think ToH started getting its hype and reputation as a backlash against what some consider the “new school” style of play. Some consider deep immersive role playing, thespianism, and storytelling to be a terrible bastardization of what D&D should be. Some hold up the [i]Dragonlance[/i] series as the epitome* of this “new school” play style. So if that direction is ultimate bad, the exact and extreme opposite direction must be ultimate good, right? What’s the extreme opposite direction? [i]Tomb of Horrors[/i]. * I also believe [i]Dragonlance[/i] has gained a reputation as ultimate new school that it doesn’t really live up to when you actually read the original modules. So, even though most D&D players in the classic era didn’t actually play D&D regularly in the play style of ToH, the Tomb started getting this attention and hype as the ultimate example of the golden age and old school of D&D. With that hype came exaggerations and wishes for it to be the grand thing. It came to represent classic D&D to some people, even though it was not a standard example of classic D&D even in its original days. And if something is the ultimate representation for an era, it can’t have flaws or else it reflects badly on its era. It must [b]GLOW![/b] And since most people haven’t read ToH, personally, the hype was believed. I have read it, a few times even before this thread, so I was very knowledgeable of what’s actually in the ToH. And every time I read some of the hype about it, it stunned me. “Where are they getting these claims?” I thought. Unfortunately, as a side effect of the hype making ToH = old school D&D : old school D&D = ToH, some folks think that saying ToH isn’t the ultimate greatness means that classic D&D wasn’t ultimate greatness. But that connection is mythical. Standard, regular, common classic D&D was not like ToH. ToH was by intention and design outside the norm for classic D&D. It wasn't designed to represent its era; it didn't have to glow. Now, whether someone [i]likes[/i] ToH or not has more to do with their personal play style preferences than what standard classic D&D was like. In the big picture of classic D&D, [i]Tomb of Horrors[/i] is just another example of the varied styles of classic D&D. The hype around ToH does a disservice to it specifically and to classic D&D in general. Bullgrit [/QUOTE]
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WIR S1 Tomb of Horrors [SPOILERS!! SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!!]
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