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Author Topic: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Lincoln is no match for Acererak!  (Read 374670 times)

USEC_OFFICER

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Well it turns out that you can get the Tomb of Horrors for free from Wizards of the Coast, so for a lark I decided to download the thing and see what the fuss was about. And while I was reading it two thoughts kept on going through my head.

1.   What kind of sick and twisted mind does Gary Gygax have?
2.   I wonder how if Bay12 would get through this?

Unfortunately I’ll never know the answer to the first thought, but for the second one, well, why do you think I created this thread?

What is the Tomb of Horrors?

Probably one of the most famous, evil and devious dungeons ever created. It’s so filled with traps, secret doors and obstacles that getting through it alive is impossible without having peeked at the notes or some sort of sixth sense. It was originally created by Gary Gygax way back when Dungeons & Dragons didn’t need a version number. It has since been updated twice, for the 2nd edition of D&D and version 3.5. The version that I have is the 3.5 one.

How evil and/or devious are we talking about here?

If you find yourself teleported to one room of the dungeon and all of your equipment to another, then you should feel lucky. Most traps aren’t so merciful. As for the devious side of things, well, you have three ways you can die before you even find the dungeon’s entrance.

Will you be running this as a Dungeons & Dragons campaign?

God no! The campaign is rated for ninth level characters, and going through the effort to create one isn’t worth it, trust me. Instead we’ll be using a highly simplified system. Think of a RTD, but using a d20 instead of a d6. This is still D&D after all. Additionally we’ll be playing this by post, for three reasons.

1.   It’ll make things much easier when characters are spilt up all around the dungeon, which will most likely happen several times.
2.   Characters can jump in (and out) at any time, which simplifies things with the large amount of deaths (and hopefully players) in the game.
3.   I’m not going to bother waiting for every player to submit their turns.  Admittedly it’ll make some of the traps less deadly (ie they won’t kill your entire party) but I want the game to proceed as quickly as possible.

Does it matter if I have some knowledge about how terrible the Tomb of Horrors is?

Depends on how much we’re talking about here. If you’ve already played through the Tomb of Horrors, have read the module or something like that, then you probably shouldn’t be joining (crackling and rubbing your hands in glee is perfectly fine though). As long as you don’t have knowledge about every single trap and terror, I don’t really care. Listening to a couple of rumours or reading Order of the Stick is fine. Just make sure not to ruin the FUN for everyone else.

How can I join?

First you’ll need to create a character. He or she will need at least a name (to identify your character), gender (for pronouns) and a class (I’ll go over then shortly). If you want you can also give your character a race and a backstory, since this is still technically a role-playing game. Just note that only your class will affect your stats. Anything else is just fluff, so even if you are a mighty 3-yard (D&D uses imperial units, unfortunately) long dragon, you’re virtually identical to anybody else that’s the same class of you. You should also choose some items to take with you into the dungeon. If everything appears to be in order about your character, then you’ll appear at the starting location, ready to go.

EDIT: By popular demand:

Can I join?

Of course! The more the merrier! Plus, given the death rate (high), anybody can join/re-join at any time, so you have no excuses not to!

Anyways without further ado, here’s the rules.

Spoiler: The Game System (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Classes (click to show/hide)

If you have any questions I’ll do my best to answer them, and if you don’t then submit a character and get ready to explore the Tomb of Horrors!



« Last Edit: January 12, 2013, 05:43:56 pm by USEC_OFFICER »
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Kadzar

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2012, 06:27:08 pm »

Name: Kadzar
Gender: Male
Class: Battlechef (Fighter)

Items: iron pan, fork, sack of flour, jug of cooking oil, cord of firewood, flint and steel
Weapons and armor: large kitchen knife (about the size of a short sword) and pan lid (used as shield), plate apron

EDIT: Updated profile
« Last Edit: August 15, 2012, 01:16:06 pm by Kadzar »
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OREOSOME

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2012, 07:11:36 pm »

Name: Redd T. Shir
Gender:Female
Class:Rogue

Equipment: Crossbow, Leather armor, 30 Bolts, Rapier, Rations for 2 weeks.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2012, 07:15:09 pm by OREOSOME »
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killerhellhound

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2012, 09:50:13 pm »

Name: Urist Mcderm
Gender: male
Class: mage
Items: spellbook of summoning, wizard staff, robe, hat, sacrificial dagger bound and gagged snake 
« Last Edit: August 14, 2012, 06:01:54 pm by killerhellhound »
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Fluttershy jumps onto TCM, giving him a hug. "~Yay~"*Player TCM has left the server. Reason: HHHHNNNNNGGGG-

We Madmen are very ingenious.  Sometimes it just takes just a little less sanity to pull off something completely awesome.

Azthor

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2012, 11:50:31 pm »

Name: Tybar Whurthic
Gender: Male
Class: Fighter
Equipment: mining equipment and an extensive supply of water & bland rations.
« Last Edit: August 13, 2012, 11:54:40 pm by Azthor »
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jaass

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2012, 11:55:28 pm »

Name: Gedric
Gender: Male
Class: Mage
Item: Quaterstaff, Acorns
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Zako

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2012, 11:57:29 pm »

I like the maiming aspect of this, plus having to adventure on low health in a trap filled dungeon REALLY puts the tension on the players and makes it more fun! Perhaps you could just have a simple 3 hits and your dead system, with adjustments according to class and spells. That would make healing spells useful! Also, do we have a limit on spells, so we have to think real hard about what ones we take?

Name: Kazard McDermeth
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue

Equipment: Rope, Pouch of chalk sticks, 10 foot pole, lockpicks (weapons are a crossbow, a short sword and my armor is studded leather)
« Last Edit: August 14, 2012, 12:00:40 am by Zako »
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killerhellhound

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2012, 01:05:07 am »

I like the maiming aspect of this, plus having to adventure on low health in a trap filled dungeon REALLY puts the tension on the players and makes it more fun! Perhaps you could just have a simple 3 hits and your dead system, with adjustments according to class and spells. That would make healing spells useful! Also, do we have a limit on spells, so we have to think real hard about what ones we take?
+1 mages guild agrees
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My Sig
Fluttershy jumps onto TCM, giving him a hug. "~Yay~"*Player TCM has left the server. Reason: HHHHNNNNNGGGG-

We Madmen are very ingenious.  Sometimes it just takes just a little less sanity to pull off something completely awesome.

Kadzar

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2012, 01:09:18 am »

I noticed you have a sacrificial dagger, but didn't bring anything to sacrifice. That's not an ominous portent, is it?
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What if the earth is just a knick in one of the infinite swords of the mighty fractal bear?
Glory to Arstotzka!

killerhellhound

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2012, 01:34:28 am »

I noticed you have a sacrificial dagger, but didn't bring anything to sacrifice. That's not an ominous portent, is it?
yes it is  :P  look on the bright side it will let someone who is too injured help out the team and it will bring a want to catch monsters and I brought a snake
« Last Edit: August 14, 2012, 01:57:33 am by killerhellhound »
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My Sig
Fluttershy jumps onto TCM, giving him a hug. "~Yay~"*Player TCM has left the server. Reason: HHHHNNNNNGGGG-

We Madmen are very ingenious.  Sometimes it just takes just a little less sanity to pull off something completely awesome.

Azthor

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2012, 06:05:10 am »

Just sacrifice them to Vecna; it will be all the more ironic since this is Acererak we are talking about.
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USEC_OFFICER

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: Yes, it's THAT Tomb of Horrors
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2012, 04:21:22 pm »

I'm glad to see that everybody is getting into the spirit of things.

I like the maiming aspect of this, plus having to adventure on low health in a trap filled dungeon REALLY puts the tension on the players and makes it more fun! Perhaps you could just have a simple 3 hits and your dead system, with adjustments according to class and spells. That would make healing spells useful! Also, do we have a limit on spells, so we have to think real hard about what ones we take?

Well, if you want the game harder, who am I to stop you? Fighters will get 3 hit points, Rogues 2 and squishy Mages 1. And I guess that I'll limit the number of spells that Mages can know to five, however they'll be able to swap spells with each other, so it shouldn't be too restrictive. Sounds good?

Name: Urist Mcderm
Gender: male
Class: mage
Items: spellbook of summoning, wizard staff, robe, hat, 1 week of food and bedroll, sacrificial dagger bound and gagged snake 

Assuming that your wizard's staff is a ranged weapon, the dagger is your melee weapon, and the robes/hat are your armour, you're still carrying way too many items for a Mage. If you want to bring everything I'd talk with Redd T. Shir, who seems to be carrying only the rations, since weapons and armour don't count towards the item limit.

...

Well, your first melee/ranged weapon and armour that is. Anything after that counts as an item. Wouldn't want people running around with fifty pikes on their back or something.

Luckily the module doesn't start you off in the screaming deathtrap known as the Tomb of Horrors, so everybody can fiddle with their item selection as they see fit. Oh, and Urist McDerm and Gedric can choose the five spells that they want to start off with.
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USEC_OFFICER

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Delving the Tomb of Horrors: It has begun!
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2012, 05:45:42 pm »

After an hour's travel from the village of Badend, your adventuring party finally stumbles upon the location of the resting place of Acererak, hidden underneath an ominous hill.

Quote
A low, flat-topped hill, about 200 yards wide and 300 yards long, protrudes from the earth. Ugly weeds, thorns, and briars grow upon the steep sides and bald top of the 60-foot-high mound. Black rocks crown the hilltop. The north side of the hill is fronted by a 20-foot high crumbling cliff of sand and gravel. A low stone ledge overhangs this eroded area, and shrubs and bushes obscure it from observation at a distance.

You get the nagging suspicion that the hill looks like a human skull from the air, with the black rocks forming the eye and nose sockets, while the teeth of the skull is formed by the white sand of the northern side.

No obvious openings into the dungeon exist, but obviously the entrance to the tomb must be buried somewhere inside the hill. The only question is where.

Spoiler: Brave Adventurers (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 14, 2012, 08:21:40 pm by USEC_OFFICER »
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Doomblade187

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: It has begun!
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2012, 05:51:40 pm »

((Is this too late to join? If so, ah well.))

Name: Generic Nameless Hooded Stranger
Gender: Male
Class: Rogue
Weapons: Short Sword and Crossbow
Items: Lockpicks, Rations, Rope, Ten-Foot Pole
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OREOSOME

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Re: Delving the Tomb of Horrors: It has begun!
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2012, 05:57:19 pm »

"Hmmm... Alright, We should probably check the rocks, although i don't suppose the 'Owner' just left some keys in them.
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