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TroubleBrewing
2011-03-06, 06:56 PM
Gonna be running the module soon. Any advice/funny stories about it, in any of its versions? I'm personally looking forward to the shadowfell sequence. My players are going to FREAK OUT.

randomhero00
2011-03-06, 07:15 PM
The easy (or also know as the only way, assuming this version is just as deadly) is to hire a bunch of mercs/guards level 1. You won't have to pay them (cause they'll die before they can collect) so money isn't an object. Bring as many as you can feed to the dungeon, have them walk ahead and set off the traps, test things for you etc. To keep the others from running after they realize they're being used as fodder, either do some sort of mass charm or keep the rest hidden and use them 1 by 1.

TroubleBrewing
2011-03-06, 07:20 PM
I'm not intending on telling my players that they're going through the tomb. None of them have played D&D before, outside of an "Intro to 4e" game I ran about six months ago, and a 3.5 game that concludes tomorrow night. They don't know the lore, they don't know the exploitation tricks, and they scare easily. This is going to be the most fun I've had in years.

Dalek-K
2011-03-06, 07:28 PM
Oh my I wish I was playing in this :)... You sound evil!

But don't scare them to much.,.. If they get to pissed they might not play anymore :(

randomhero00
2011-03-06, 07:31 PM
I'm not intending on telling my players that they're going through the tomb. None of them have played D&D before, outside of an "Intro to 4e" game I ran about six months ago, and a 3.5 game that concludes tomorrow night. They don't know the lore, they don't know the exploitation tricks, and they scare easily. This is going to be the most fun I've had in years.

Ohhhh, haha. I wish I was in your shoes! hehe. Then it should really be special. Make them speak in character primarily. Dim the lights. Find suitably creepy music to play in the background (but don't make it too noisy).

edit: please report back afterword. haven't played 4e version. If they kept to it true, your players should stand no chance.

TroubleBrewing
2011-03-06, 07:34 PM
Oh, good call! I'll let them know that everything they say will be considered "in-character". That will make those puzzles a lot more vicious. Also, not to worry, Dalek: I pulled the same thing on them about two years ago with CoC and "Beyond the Mountains of Madness". I gave them a list of skills and attributes and such, and told them to make characters for a 1930's RPG. They'd be going to Antarctica, so pack warm! They had no idea what they were in for. It was glorious.

Katana_Geldar
2011-03-06, 07:39 PM
Okay, let me get one thing clear first: You are playing the level 10-22 super adventure, right? The Shadowfell sequence gave it away for me, as I am running this at the moment for two groups.

This is not the same as the original tomb, though the tomb is part of it.

It's more a sequel to Cordell's Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

Do you know what you have planned for the gaps? As you need to make your own game between levels 11-14, 15-18, and 19-20.

I'm using the plane shifting magic as a linking theme to Acererak with one group. My players are going through this underground Dwarven city where one of Acererak's minions (a Tiefling lich) has set up camp and is trying to finish an eldritch engine.
To get to him the players need to go through a room that plane shifts while they are in it. But as the engine was finished quickly, it's faulty and randomly shifts betwen the Feywild, Shadowfell and Pluton.


But some tips...

You may want to nerf the grey angels just a wee bit. I look off their aura which gave them a penalty, and their ability to not trigger Attack of Ops while moving with their Reaping Scythe after they were bloodied.

Also, change the Lamia encounter as even Ari Marmell says that it is broken. I ran it from the book and in the end it was just boring, pound pound pound take poison damage every round. The fact that everything but a blast or burst is going to be ineffective is going to be very, very annoying.

TroubleBrewing
2011-03-06, 08:56 PM
I thought that the first adventure took them from 10-14, the 2nd from 14-17, the third from 17-20, and the last from 20-22. Was I mistaken?

Katana_Geldar
2011-03-06, 09:29 PM
Yes, yes you were. The first dungeon should take the players to level 11 or 12 if you stretch it a bit. There's no way you are getting three levels from one dungeon, even in 4E.

You need to think big campaign, what happens after the first dungeon? There are suggestions in there, but I'm not going with any of them.

blackjack217
2011-03-06, 09:51 PM
From 3.5 thrall herd is the best way to overwhelm the tomb with bodies. or the reserve feet to summon elementals.

TroubleBrewing
2011-03-06, 09:57 PM
Thanks for the info, but I'm running the 4e version, as indicated in the thread title...

Katana_Geldar
2011-03-06, 10:02 PM
From 3.5 thrall herd is the best way to overwhelm the tomb with bodies. or the reserve feet to summon elementals.

This is not that tomb, this is a different thing entirely.

You may want to specify what you're running in the OP, as 4E has two versions.

gourdcaptain
2011-03-06, 10:45 PM
Also - Elesdri the Lamia in the first of the four modules (The feywild one) is an eater of parties - seriously, when I ran it it steamrolled the party in TWO TPK's when played remotely intelligently.

Katana_Geldar
2011-03-06, 10:54 PM
That's why even the writer said to tweak it.

For my second game of it...



I'm putting a flamejet trap in one of the walls that they can (hopefully) pin her in.