History TabletopGame / TombOfHorrors

Many years after the original module debuted, an updated version for use with the ''D&D'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5 ruleset]] was available as a free download from [[http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a the Wizards of the Coast Web site]]. (A mirror, [[http://archive.org/details/3EDDAdventure09TombOfHorrors here]], was subsequently pulled from access for download from the Wayback Machine/Internet heavily reduced the lethality, partly due to the differences in edition rules, primarily due to general AdaptationDecay; rather than a perfect replication under the 3.5 ruleset of the original super-lethal module, the official update is actually a standard, mostly-balanced dungeon crawl, aimed for level 9 characters. Not only are there few of the classic traps from the original left in, the Acererak encountered at the dungeon's end is actually a [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil CR12]] "fake demilich construct" - the 'Demilich' monster had not undergone the same AdaptationDecay as the adventure itself, and the new designers felt gamers would not appreciate a FailureIsTheOnlyOption dungeon.

Many years after the original module debuted, an updated version for use with the ''D&D'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5 ruleset]] was available as a free download from [[http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a the Wizards of the Coast Web site]]. (A mirror, [[http://archive.org/details/3EDDAdventure09TombOfHorrors here]], was subsequently pulled from access for download from the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive for no clear reason.) This version has elicited strong controversy due to heavy reduction in the lethality, partly due to the differences in edition rules, primarily due to general AdaptationDecay; rather than a perfect replication under the 3.5 ruleset of the original super-lethal module, the official update is actually a standard, mostly-balanced dungeon crawl, aimed for level 9 characters. Not only are there few of the classic traps from the original left in, the Acererak encountered at the dungeon's end is actually a [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil CR12]] "fake demilich construct" - the 'Demilich' monster had not undergone the same AdaptationDecay as the adventure itself, and the new designers felt gamers would not appreciate a FailureIsTheOnlyOption dungeon.

Many years after the original module debuted, an updated version for use with the ''D&D'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5 ruleset]] was available as a free download from [[http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a the Wizards of the Coast Web site]]. (A mirror, [[http://archive.org/details/3EDDAdventure09TombOfHorrors here]], was subsequently pulled from access for download from the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive for no clear reason.) This version has elicited strong controversy due to heavy reduction in the lethality, partly due to the differences in edition rules, primarily due to general AdaptationDecay; rather than a perfect replication under the 3.5 ruleset of the original super-lethal module, the official update is actually a standard, mostly-balanced dungeon crawl, aimed for level 9 characters. Not only are there few of the classic traps from the original left in, the Acecerak encountered at the dungeon's end is actually a [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil CR12]] "fake demilich construct" - the 'Demilich' monster had not undergone the same AdaptationDecay as the adventure itself, and the new designers felt gamers would not appreciate a FailureIsTheOnlyOption dungeon.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Gygax created the module in response to members of his original group (mainly Rob Kuntz and Luke Gygax) rampaging with abandon through the toughest dungeons Gygax had to offer.

* SpiritualSuccessor
** [[http://svdpress.com/fourthcore/ Fourth Core]], a series of modules intended to replicate the difficulty of the original ''Tomb''. Like with ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', players are supposed to roll up several backup characters, since they are expected to go through them like a cold-sufferer goes through tissues.
** The 5e module Tomb of Annihilation (see bellow) is a more obvious sequel to Tomb of Horrors, being set in a tomb (this time it belongs to a bunch of gods), having the BigBad plan to steal souls, and, of course, featuring Acererak as said BigBad.

The adventure's reputation is due primarily to its use in an early ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (now referred to as '[[TabletopGame/OriginalDungeonsAndDragons Original D&D]]') tournament, in which players were competing against other teams... not to ''beat'' the dungeon, but to see who could solve the most traps and puzzles before the (virtually certain) TotalPartyKill. A few years later, it was published as one of ''[[TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsFirstEdition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]'' (what is now called 'first edition AD&D') premade adventure 'modules' (albeit an adventure with a 'very high risk' disclaimer), ''S1: The Tomb of Horrors''. Out of print for many years, it has been made available again as a PDF.

Twenty years later, an updated version for use with the ''D&D'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3.5 ruleset]] was available as a free download from [[http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a the Wizards of the Coast Web site]]. (A mirror, [[http://archive.org/details/3EDDAdventure09TombOfHorrors here]], was subsequently pulled from access for download from the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive for no clear reason.) This version has elicited strong controversy due to heavy reduction in the lethality, partly due to the differences in edition rules, primarily due to general AdaptationDecay; rather than a perfect replication under the 3.5 ruleset of the original super-lethal module, the official update is actually a standard, mostly-balanced dungeon crawl, aimed for level 9 characters. Not only are there few of the classic traps from the original left in, the Acecerak encountered at the dungeon's end is actually a [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil CR12]] "fake demilich construct" - the 'Demilich' monster had not undergone the same AdaptationDecay as the adventure itself, and the new designers felt gamers would not appreciate a FailureIsTheOnlyOption dungeon.

* SpikesOfDoom: All over the place. Also, they're all poisoned. [[DifficultySpike And some of them fire up at you]].

* ActuallyADoombot: There is an earlier encounter that some players will think is Acererak but isn't. And later games and versions reveal that what the party fights at the end of the first game was a Demilich construct, not the real one.

One of the storyline adventure modules to be released for 5th Edition concerns a version of the Tomb that Acererak constructed in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', called the ''Tomb of Annihilation'', and concerns a strange curse: those who have been resurrected before slowly waste away to die again, while attempts to resurrect people completely fail. Consultation for the story of this particular module was done by Creator/PendletonWard.

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[[folder:Tomb of Annihilation (5th edition)]]

* ApocalypticLog: When the party first enters the empty city where the tomb is, they'll find a journal entry from an adventuring party which came through before them which gives some insight on how to enter the tomb and describes some of the enemies in the city. Later on inside the tomb, the party can find the corpses of this same party, one of whom has a diary which finally reveals to the player characters who the tomb was constructed by.
* ArtifactOfDoom: We get two big ones, though the players may never know about the second.
** The Soulmonger most obviously, a massive artifact that collects the souls of everyone who has ever died and been resurrected across Faerûn, maybe even entire Toril, and feeds them to a god-to-be.
** The Ring of Winter is a sentient ring used by the npc Artus Cimber. It protects its wearer from both age and cold, can cause cold, create ice constructs and cast a number of spells. If the ice giants are to be believed, it can also coat the world in everlasting winter.
** On a lesser note, Acererak's staff, the Staff of the forgotten one, which contains the soul of an archmage that has gone insane over the centuries. If someone other than Acererak picks it up, the archmage will attempt to possess them, and use their body to destroy the staff. Which will cause a massive explosion, likely more than enough to kill players that just got done fighting Acererak.
* BestServedCold: If the party slays Acererak in the climatic battle, he goes back to his personal demiplane to regenerate. He won't come back for revenge, since he'll outlive the characters anyway, and decides to let time do the job for him.
* BossArenaIdiocy: Downplayed and justified. Acererak is certainly a dangerous enemy, and while he'd be a lot more dangerous if he weren't fought on a very narrow platform right next to a pit of lava,the players themselves will have a hard time dealing with it due to the Sphere of Annihilation he's controlling. Acererak never planned to fight anybody in that particular room, and he only teleports in furiously after the players thwart his plans. The only danger he faces is losing his staff, which is a only a minor inconvenience for him.
* BossRush: The final level of the Tomb contains a coven of night hags, the Soulmonger, the Atropal AND Acererak, all fought in quick succession (though you can probably get a break after the hags). If the players are careless, or the DM cruel, they might have to fight an arcanaloth as well. And just in case they're feeling overconfident, Acererak's staff has a small chance of dealing between 12 and 240 damage to anyone who picked it up and those around them.
* BreathWeapon:
** Within a jungle ruin, players can fight an intelligent Tyrannosaurus Rex that can exhale swarms of wasps.
** Out in the jungle, and in the tomb itself, there are zombie t-rexes that spew out normal zombies.
* TheCassandra: In Nyanzaru, the players might encounter a beggar who screams that "The Ancient One[[note]]One of Acererak's titles[[/note]] beneath the Forbidden City gives birth to a terrible new god! The snake men know, they know!". Passersby advise the players to ignore him, since his predictions are always wrong.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: The Yuan Ti warlord Ras Nsi acts as the main antagonist of the adventure prior to actually entering the tomb. He also acts as TheDragon to Acererak, but [[spoiler:will give you the key needed to get inside the tomb should you reveal that the death curse afflicting him is being caused by whatever is inside the tomb]].
* EleventhHourSuperpower: [[spoiler:Any character that has one of the Nine Gods while fighting Acererak gains a huge number of temporary hit points every turn, and deals extra damage on each attack. If the entire party is possessed by one of the Nine Gods, the battle with Acererak arguably becomes a victory lap, as there is very little he can do to mitigate the temporary hit points they'll be gaining.]]
* EnemyMine
** Valindra Shadowmantle, an elf lich and agent of [[SorcerousOverlord Szass Tam]] can be encountered. She'd prefer to capture the Soulmonger, but she's more than willing to collaborate with the players, and will even point them in the right direction.
** Can also apply to Ras Nsi. [[spoiler: He's afflicted by the death curse, and if the characters can convince him of this and that whatever is causing it is in the Tomb of the Nine Gods, Ras Nsi will cooperate with them.]]
* EscortMission: Played with, played straight, and subverted. You are heavily encouraged to hire a guide to take you through the jungle. Some of them, despite their knowledge, will be a liability in combat, while others will be able to single handedly carry the party through combat, especially while the party is low level. Most of the guides have their own unique knowledge and agendas.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The jungles of Chult are home to various sorts of dinosaurs, up to and including Zombie ''T. Rexes''. Port Nyanzaru is home to people with DomesticatedDinosaurs and there's even dinosaur racing as an event.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: The Tomb is bad enough. Now the entire landmass around it, Chult, is filled with so many dinosaurs, monstrosities, undead, hostile natives, pirates, and native Chultan beasts that all look like chimeric lab experiments that just getting around to learn about the Tomb might end up killing you.
* EvilVersusOblivion: The Red Wizards of Thay are also in Chult searching for the Soulmonger (the artifact causing the death curse), but them getting a hold of it wouldn't be ''as'' devastating as Acererak's plans. The Flaming Fist is another example, being a mercenary company from Baldur's Gate that wants to plunder/conquer Chult but having no knowledge of what is really going on.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The Tomb of the Nine Gods is exactly what it sounds like.
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: [[spoiler:The entire third floor of the dungeon is covered in purple fungi filled with eyes that a beholder can use to spy on the party. Attempting to remove any of the fungi will result in the beholder firing an eye ray at the one foolish enough to try it.]]
* KillerGorilla: Chult is populated by, among others, Girallons, large, white gorillas with four arms. Acererak has also conjured up some undead ones, for added fun.
* KillTheGod: What Acererak did to the local pantheon. [[spoiler: And what players will have to do to the nascent god at the bottom of the Tomb]].
* LostOrphanedRoyalty: Mwaxanaré and Nu, descendants of the royal family of Omu, are being raised in secret by the aarakocra of the Kir Sabal monastery.
* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: To keep things balanced, 5th edition D&D usually assigns each spell caster enemy a class (even if their magic come from other sources), and follow the rules of that class when assigning them spells and spellslots[[labelnote:Example]]A normal lich is considered an 18th level wizard for the sake of assigning spellslots and known spells.[[/labelnote]]. Acererak is ''described'' as a 20th level wizard, but the amount of spells he has, including two lv. 9 spellslots and unlimited lv. 1-through-3, would seemingly put him somewhere closer to level ''30'', an ''Epic character''. Which ''do not exist in 5e''.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Acererak has discovered how to siphon the LifeEnergy of ''anyone'' ever brought back by a resurrection spell, causing them to weaken and die.
* PowerOfHate: When Acererak appears on the final level, any players possessed by the nine trickster gods will gain a massive power boost, solely because the spirits hate the lich that much. Any character without this boost is unlikely to survive long.
* PowersViaPossession: The official name of the tomb in universe is the Tomb of the Nine Gods, which is exactly what it sounds like, and players can be "inhabited" by one of these spirits to gain a useful power and a new character flaw. They still retain their free will, however.
* ReligionOfEvil: At one point, the party will have to get the final key to the front entrance of the tomb from [[spoiler: a temple to an Elder Evil called Dendar the Night Serpent, a being created from the first time anyone had a nightmare, whose goal is to devour the sun... Again]].
* ReverseEscortMission: One of the guides [[spoiler:is a Couatl, a celestial serpent who is immune to nonmagical weapons, has Truesight which is incredibly useful in the Tomb and in detecting Acererak's coven of hags, and can cast a number of useful spells, including creating food and water, healing, and Greater Restoration, which removes some of the nastier effects in the game.]]
* RoyalBrat: Mwaxanaré. She's not stupid, but the aarakocra raised her to believe herself the rightful ruler of Chult. The rest of the world just doesn't know it.
* ShelteredAristocrat: Again, Mwaxanaré. Her upbringing has made her so sure of her right to rule that she believes she just has to reveal herself, and the merchant princes of Nyanzaru will simply hand over their power. She also believes states like Waterdeep (a city state of over 2 000 000 citizens) and Amn (nearly 3 million in 1372, 120 years ago) to be small principalities and holdings, negligible compared to (the mostly uninhabited) Chult.
* {{Sidequest}}
** The entire campaign up to finding the tomb is full of them, as the party is not given solid details on where to go, merely hints on where they ''might'' find leads.
** It can be argued that a large part of the Tomb itself is this. You only ''need'' [[spoiler: the Skeleton Keys]]. You can pretty much skip everything before the Gears of Hate if you remember to pick up those.
* SplitPersonality: The aboleth in the depths of the tomb is... Not quite there, flipping between a child like innocence, and a demonic being awaiting the end of the world, seemingly with each personality unaware of the other.
* SpoilerCover: Acererak being the main villain isn't a particularly shocking twist, but it's not made clear to the characters until the Fane of the Night Serpent, at least. Despite this, he's pretty obviously depicted on the cover.
[[/folder]]

* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: To keep things balanced, 5th edition D&D usually assigns each spell caster enemy a class (even if their magic come from other sources), and follow the rules of that class when assigning them spells and spellslots[[labelnote:Example]]A normal lich is considered an 18th level wizard for the sake of assigning spellslots and known spells.[[/labelnote]]. Acererak is ''described'' as a 20th level wizard, but the amount of spells he has, including two lv. 9 spellslots and unlimited lv. 1-through-3, would seemingly put him somewhere closer to level ''30''. Which ''does not exist''.

The adventure's reputation is due primarily to its use in an early ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (now referred to as '[[TabletopGame/OriginalDungeonsAndDragons Original D&D]]') tournament, in which players were competing against other teams... not to ''beat'' the dungeon, but to see who could solve the most traps and puzzles before the (virtually certain) TPK. A few years later, it was published as one of ''[[TabletopGame/AdvancedDungeonsAndDragonsFirstEdition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]'' (what is now called 'first edition AD&D') premade adventure 'modules' (albeit an adventure with a 'very high risk' disclaimer), ''S1: The Tomb of Horrors''. Out of print for many years, it has been made available again as a PDF.