DMing Tomb of Horrors (3.5)

[Studoku]

At some point in the near future, I'm going to be DMing Tomb of Horrors for some friends. I'm using the 3.5 version from the Wizards site rather than the original since I'm far more familiar with 3.5. The catch is, this is my first time DMing.

Does anyone have any advice, particularly regarding dealing with player deaths. I want it to be fun for everyone but I don't want to trivialise death (since the deadlyness is most of ToH's schtick)?

[Human Paragon 3]

Go through the module and customize it, making the sillier traps less deadly or removing them all together. Add in ways for the PCs to get out of tight spots, possibly by using the gear or clues left by fallen adventures from past runs or some other contrivance.

I am not a fan of deadly for the sake of deadly, and if you don't want to trivialize the deaths, you need to make them less common.

[PId6]

I'm going to assume this is a one-shot. Give them a ring of resurrection with 1-3 charges. For ease of play, houserule that rather than lose a level, they just gain a permanent negative level that lasts for the entire game and can't be removed. This will allow for a bit of a buffer zone against randomly dying while still keeping death relevant (since they're spending charges and getting weaker).

The actual 3.5 ToH isn't that hard if they're relatively optimized and ready to deal with it, but if they don't have a trapfinder with a fairly high +Search, it's just going to be a grind with an inevitable conclusion. Also, I never really liked the ToH since it usually ended up with one person poking places while everyone else mopes around, but your group may be different.

Consider using some more monsters rather than traps or at least making the traps a bit more "active" so that 1. the rogue isn't the only one able to deal with them and 2. the rogue can't just deal with everything by himself. That would at least engage the party a bit more.

[Aharon]

Actually, the 3.5 Tomb of Horrors is less deadly than the original, so it's not too much work.

(Example:The Collapsing Ceiling right at the beginning deals 16d6 damage. That's 56 average. A 9th level wizard with 16 Con would have 51 hp on average, so the trap would bring him to the negatives, but not kill him outright. If he is the only one who is trapped, the others can free and heal him.)

Some Tips
- Perhaps allow the players a slightly higher point buy to raise their chance of survival
- use average damage when possible, so that lucky dice rolls on the monster/trap side aren't quite that fatal.

[Hendel]

Having run both 1st edition (the majority of the party died in the collapsing tunnel) and 3.5 versions, I would agree with the comments already posted that the current version is more forgiving.

That being said, prepare the players with the expectation that their characters most likely will die at some point, so either have the means to bring them back or replace them quickly. I like the idea of the Ring of Resurrection or some item like that to help out in this situation.

You might also want to prepare them by letting them know this is not a hack and slash adventure, it favors the prepared and the wise. If everyone has some way to overcome the obstacles (even if they do not realize it), that would be good. One time a party I ran through it lost the rogue (actually, he was a thief back then) and they did not have a really good way to get back out past all of the traps that the thief had gotten them past in the first place.

Last thing is why would you pick this as your maiden voyage in to the life of a DM? I can suggest some better published adventures of the same level if that is needed, as could others I am sure.

[DonEsteban]

Ahhh, don't listen to them. The whole point of the Tomb is for you, the DM, to have fun killing your players. Make this very clear to them.

I'm almost serious. The idea with the resurrection item is actually good, I think. Just make sure it isn't annihilated :)

[Aharon]

Yes, that's also a way to do it. In fact, I chose to go that route myself, telling the players to use their standard characters, but making clear from the beginning that it would be a very deadly one-off.
The four-armed Gargoyle was fun, responsible for a kill before the party beguiler dominated it. Strangely, my players were very very lucky. I'm sure none of them knew the adventure beforehand, yet they totally ignored the sphere of annihilation. I really, really would have wanted to kill or maim somebody with it

[Akal Saris]

Well, ask yourself why you're running the Tome of Horrors as your first adventure. Is it to get a "retro" feel? If so, then White Plume Mountain might be a better choice.

I ran ToH with my PCs because I wanted a difficult adventure that would challenge them, and also for the retro feel. We all had a good time with it, though the PCs kept remarking that they would leave the ToH since they were rich as kings by half-way through and didn't really want to fight a lich :P

I wouldn't make it any less deadly, personally. It's already quite survivable as it is - I ran it with only 2 PCs at the standard level, a fighter/rogue and a cleric, and they dealt with the entire dungeon with only 1 death (in the fake treasure room, the PC got blown up by taking a broken staff of the magi out of an anti-magic field). Lots of close calls, but that's a good sign, not a bad one.

Things to modify:
-The 4-armed gargoyle is dangerous - I'd remove its DR or lower its burst damage. It's maybe the scariest monster next to Acererak, which is weird, especially for a dungeon that's supposed to kill you with traps, not monsters.
-Try and give the rest of the party things to do while the trap-finder is making search checks. We had a barbarian join for 1 session, and while the rogue was searching and the cleric was buffing or whatever, the barbarian mostly just sat there. It's really not a combat-heavy module.
-Make sure that the PCs get the riddle to the dungeon, and try and make the references clear to it when possible. Having a "plan" to the dungeon can give the PCs more confidence in what's coming.
-I added random encounters to the dungeon, namely other (evil) adventurers entering it from time to time, just to spice up the game with some combat and role-playing from time to time.
-Give them a solid in-game rationale for wanting to go to the end of the dungeon. More than just a reward for an item - something like their parents are trapped in Acererak's soul gems or something crazy.

Edit: More advice!
-I wouldn't include a rod of resurrection - make the PCs take a 2-week trip to town to rezz their friend and have him lose a level for a third of the dungeon before he catches up. Gets rid of the loot they found and gives everyone a brief break from the dungeon.
-The ToH can really wear down the PCs sometimes because you have to be constantly on your guard against a trap - if you're a first time DM, make sure you're very engaged with the game and energetic about it, to keep PC interest going.
-Make sure that you give the PCs all the information they will need, and be forgiving when it comes to this. A lot of first-time DMs tend to say "You walk into an empty room." instead of "You open the door to a 10x10 room. The walls and floor are smooth and polished stone, with nothing inside the room as far as you can tell. Do you want to enter the room?"

[Hendel]

Well, ask yourself why you're running the Tome of Horrors as your first adventure. Is it to get a "retro" feel? If so, then White Plume Mountain might be a better choice.

White Plume Mountain, while still dangerous, is an excellent suggestion and gives the Gygaxian feel of "what are a sphinx, a vampire and an ogre mage doing living next door to each other?" I love it! This is old school as well and much easier to DM. In and out is easy and it divides into about three logical stopping points if the party desires a rest.

[Tough_Tonka]

I played tomb of horrors in 3.5 once and we had a less than stellar time. Here's some things you might want to avoid.

1.Don't invite people who've never played an DnD before. We invited 2 guys to join our group when we did this one shot. Since they were new the DM suggested they play a fighter and a barbarian since they were easy to play. With little to offer even during the fight they weren't having a good time.

2. Favor classes with skills. The rogue probably had the most fun during the adventure. Classes like monk, ranger and bard will probably have more fun than the fighter.

3. Careful about casters (especially wizards). I played a gnome wizards and another friend played a druid. I kind of felt we were a bit too powerful for this adventure. I prepare overland flight so my feet never touched the ground and the druid kept summoning monkeys to go through and set off every trap before we considered entering a room.

Some DMs might like the players using there spells to solve problems, it seemed that most problems we had were just solved by casting spells.

[PId6]

...it seemed that most problems we had were just solved by casting spells.

To be fair, most of the rest of D&D past level 4 is pretty much like that as well.

[Tough_Tonka]

To be fair, most of the rest of D&D past level 4 is pretty much like that as well.

Yeah, it can be. More than anything casters, especially in a Dungeon like ToH can outshine the other adventurers or make other characters feel useless.

Unfortunately I don't know what to suggest. Banning certain really abusable spells might just make the players angry.

[Akal Saris]

For the record, I think a Factotum 1/Conjurer 4/Unseen Seer 3 could solo the 3.5 ToH. He'd need to rest every so often and play it cautiously, but I think it would be doable.

[Hendel]

For the record, I think a Factotum 1/Conjurer 4/Unseen Seer 3 could solo the 3.5 ToH. He'd need to rest every so often and play it cautiously, but I think it would be doable.

Spice it up a bit with the Demi-lich from the Epic Handbook. Now were talking 1st edition type of terror.

If your players are not scared, well you know what, then you are not running Tomb of Horrors with the vision that Mr. Gygax had for it. The very mention of that place should draw shudders and chills. It still does for me and I ran the darn thing!

[Akal Saris]

Hendel running a normal game:

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Hendel running Tomb of Horrors:

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No, the difference is not that he only wears pants when running Tome of Horrors.