Superdungeon: Tomb of Horrors

Review:  Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax published in 1981.

The Tomb of Horrors is a killer-dungeon that is far more likely to kill the whole party than for the party to be successful.  There are more traps than locations in the dungeon.  Probably about a third of these traps are lethal if not dealt with correctly.

On the one hand, some of the traps are a bit mean/cruel/borderline unfair on the other hand, what do you expect searching the tomb of a demi-lich?

It will probably take several hours and multiple sessions for a group to get through the Tomb successfully because of how much careful, cautious, and thoughtful exploration is needed.

Ranked as the 3rd best module of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, it is an adventure that every first edition D&D group should attempt at least once.

5 out of 5 stars.

"Killer" Dungeons. Advice for Players (part 1)

A "killer" dungeon is one that is written with the goal in mind of being difficult for characters to survive.  Characters that make bad decisions or do not cooperate well, are particularly vulnerable to such dungeons.  Killer dungeons are often a combination of powerful monsters, dangerous obstacles and deadly traps.  Killer dungeons can be published or unpublished.  Better killer dungeons reward good decision-makers and do not rely too heavily on the "save or die" saving throw rules from earlier editions of Dungeons and Dragons.

How to survive (win) a "killer" dungeon:

• If the dungeon does not have a time limit, take your time and move cautiously
• If there is no time limit, resting after every fight if possible to make sure that your group is at full strength, can be very useful
• If there is a time limit, move quickly and decisively
• Beware of dead ends
• A little paranoia goes a long way
• 85% of the encounters are logical.  15% are surprises that even the best-prepared party will have trouble with
• As long as you pay attention and think clearly, logical encounters will not be extra difficult. 
• High locations (particularly those without safety railings) and water locations are inherently dangerous
• Teamwork is important.  Characters should work together well and protect each other.
• Have a strategy for retreating that can be employed when most characters are still standing.  Most of the party is in big trouble in a disorganized retreat
• Having pre-determined strategies to use for particular kinds of battles can help with coordination and teamwork
• Scrolls with restorative spells and healing potions are a must
• Although First Edition modules in particular have a reputation for being the sort where everything in sight is to be killed, most intelligent monsters are willing to parley or are open to bribery in exchange for temporary safe passage.  Sometimes paying off the bridge troll is the smart move rather than using up your strength and spells on a non-essential opponent.

More advice in a subsequent post...

"Killer" Dungeons part 1

Dungeons that are hard for the players to the point of generally having a high character mortality rate have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Challenge ratings or the equivalent are ignored.  A wrong turn or sometimes just a turn leads to an encounter that is not really meant for the level that the characters are at, such as 4th level characters stumbling onto a hill giant.
• Lots of encounters are in close proximity, making healing between fights difficult
• Most of the fights are only winnable if the characters are at full strength and willing to use all their full arsenal (such as daily powers or high level spells)
• In earlier editions...timing events where if the characters do not say "I run away" within 10 real-time seconds, the characters are crushed by a mechanical block trap
• Somewhere in the dungeon is a slippery high spot that has a long drop associated with it.  (ie a lethal fall off a cliff)
• In earlier editions...save or die effects from monsters and traps.  Characters that have to make 5 or more of these rolls in a given dungeon are bound to miss one.
• Pregenerated player characters for use with the dungeon are malformed and never would have made it to 8th level with only 30 hp as a fighter except as a module character
• In a related note, pregenerated characters make odd spell and equipment choices, making it unclear how the character survived so long
• A couple of traps early in the dungeon to get the characters if they are not paying attention.  Then no traps through the middle, then after several hours when the players have forgotten to start searching for traps again, several lethal traps near the end of the dungeon.
• A mixture of friendly and neutral monsters thrown in so the characters cannot just obliterate everything that moves.  Characters can pull off some fairly deadly ambushes if they know that all of the monsters are evil.
• Misaligned treasure.  Weak monsters have really good treasure.  Tough monsters have really poor treasure.  This disorients the players and distracts them from safely navigating through the dungeon.
• Obscure monsters are better than common ones.  They tend to be slightly nastier and scarier.
• Monsters using special abilities intelligently, generally to force the characters into natural hazards or off edges of cliffs
• Have one or two really unsafe areas.  There is always a character who has to test firsthand whether the stuff that obviously looks like lava on level 10 is really lava or just warm red water.

That's all for now.  More thoughts about "killer" dungeons in a later post...