Tomb of Horrors

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Tomb of Horrors
Code S1
Rules required Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition
Character levels 10-14
Campaign setting Greyhawk
Authors Gary Gygax
First published 1978
ISBN 0-935696-12-1
Linked modules
S1 S2 S3 S4
Return to the Tomb of Horrors

Tomb of Horrors is a 1978 adventure module for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, written by Gary Gygax. It was originally written for and used at the 1975 Origins 1 convention. Numbered "S1," the module was the first in the "S" (for "special series")[1] series of modules. Several versions of the adventure have been published, the first in 1978 and the most recent, published online, in 2005. It also served as the basis for a novel published in 2002.

The module's plot revolves around the tomb of the demi-lich Acererak. The players' characters must battle their way past a variety of monsters and traps, with the ultimate goal of destroying Acererak. Tomb of Horrors is considered one of the greatest Dungeons & Dragons modules of all time, as well as one of the most difficult. The module has influenced later Dungeons & Dragons products, and was followed by three other modules in the "S" series: S2: White Plume Mountain, S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

In Tomb of Horrors, the players are told that the evil wizard Acererak is said to linger in his ancient tomb in undead form. Once a powerful lich, he has (unbeknownst to the players) become a demi-lich, a more powerful form of undead that has transcended the need for any physical body apart from its skull. Player characters must survive the deadly traps in the tomb and fight their way into the demilich's elaborately concealed inner sanctum to destroy him once and for all.

The module is divided into 33 encounters, beginning with two false entrances to the tomb, and ending with "The Crypt of Acererak the Demi-Lich". Example encounters are the "Huge Pit Filled with 200 Spikes" (section 20), or encounter 22, "The Cavern of Gold and Silver Mists": "The mists are silvery and shot through with delicate streamers of golden color. Vision extends only 6'. There is a dim aura of good if detected for. Those who step into the mist must save versus poison or become idiots until they can breath the clean air above ground under the warm sun."[2] The module ends with the destruction of Acererak, without any postscript.

[edit] Publication history

Tomb of Horrors was written by Gary Gygax for play at the 1975 Origins 1 convention.[3] In 1978, TSR, Inc. published the module with a monochrome cover for use with first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules.[4] The module features a book of illustrations to show to players as the adventure unfolds.[5] Tomb of Horrors was republished in 1981 with identical text but a new, full-color cover. The module has been described as the first of a series of high-level scenarios, and involves a foray into a wizard's deadly crypt.[6] This module was included as part of the Realms of Horror abridged compilation produced in 1987.

In 1998, the module was reprinted as part of the Return to the Tomb of Horrors a substantial expansion and sequel to the original adventure, written for Second Edition rules.[5][7] Wizards of the Coast released an updated version of the original module as a free download for Halloween 2005, retaining much of the original content; the updated content is from the Dungeons & Dragons supplement book Libris Mortis. This updated version was designed for use with the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition rules.[8] Tomb of Horrors was also adapted into a novel of the same name by Keith Francis Strohm for the Greyhawk Classics series, published by Wizards of the Coast in 2002.[9]

[edit] Reception

This is a D&D adventure created in 1978 for the purposes of testing the wit and fortitude of adventuring parties at game tournaments. "Testing" is used here in the same sense as the sentence "We'll be testing the dog for rabies." Let's just say the subject is not expected to survive the procedure.
—Lore Sjöberg of Wired on Tomb of Horrors.[10]

Tomb of Horrors was ranked the 3rd greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.[11] It is infamous among players of the game as a "killer dungeon", filled with all manner of extremely deadly traps and monsters that are capable of easily wiping out high-level parties of player characters. Indeed, some players consider Tomb of Horrors to be "unfair"; many of the traps within largely ignore game mechanics and story logic in their operation.[12] Dungeon Master for Dummies, which lists Tomb of Horrors as one of the ten best classic adventures, posits that many of the adventure's traps would kill a character just for making poor choices.[5]

Wayne MacLaurin of SF Site describes the module as "a classic" and a "must have" for gamers, saying that when he played the game in high-school, most of his group's characters quickly died. MacLaurin explains that the reason Tomb of Horrors is a classic is not because of its difficulty, but because it was the first module that did not involve killing large amounts of monsters; it was a "collection of puzzles and maps". Its focus on traps rather than monsters was a surprise to gamers at the time.[13] One technique some players used to get past the deathtraps was to drive cattle ahead of them, which Lore Sjöberg of Wired described as "a bit less than heroic", noting that in Lord of the Rings Gandalf did not send "50 head of cattle into the Mines of Moria to serve as Balrog bait".[10]

Tomb of Horrors has also influenced later Dungeons & Dragons products. Jason Buhlman used the module as well as Indiana Jones as inspiration for some of the traps in the 2007 D&D supplement Dungeonscape.[14] The computer role-playing game Icewind Dale, developed for Windows by Black Isle Studios, was influenced by the module; Black Isle Studios division director Feargus Urquhart said, "We wanted something that reminded everyone of their first foray into dungeons like the Tomb of Horrors, with traps around every corner, and the undead crawling out of the walls."[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Dungeons & Dragons FAQ". Wizards of the Coast. 2003. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDArchives_FAQ.asp. Retrieved on 2009-02-09. 
  2. ^ Gygax, Gary (1978). Tomb of Horrors. TSR. pp. 7. ISBN 0-935696-12-1. 
  3. ^ Denmead, Ken (December 14, 2007). "Top 10 D&D Modules I Found in Storage This Weekend". Wired. http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2007/12/top-10-dd-mod-1.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 
  4. ^ Gygax, Gary (1978). Tomb of Horrors. TSR. pp. cover. ISBN 0-935696-12-1. 
  5. ^ a b c Slavicsek, Bill; Rich Baker, Jeff Grubb (2006). Dungeon Master For Dummies. For Dummies. pp. 320. http://books.google.com/books?id=pSG3zxln4FUC&pg=PA320&dq=%22White+Plume+Mountain%22&ei=-_GISb39JZLElQTWu93EBg&client=opera. Retrieved on 2009-02-12. 
  6. ^ Livingstone, Ian (1982). Dicing with Dragons, An Introduction to Role-Playing Games (Revised ed.). Routledge. ISBN 0710094663.  (preview)
  7. ^ "Tomb of Horrors (Revised)" (PDF). Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/Tomb_of_Horrors.zip. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 
  8. ^ Cordell, Bruce R. (October 31, 2008). Adventures: Tomb of Horrors (revised). Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on January 21, 2008.
  9. ^ Strohm, Keith Francis (2002). The Tomb of Horrors. Wizards of the Coast.  UK ISBN 0-786-92702-X. US ISBN 0-786-92727-5.
  10. ^ a b Sjöberg, Lore (March 12, 2008). "What Real-Life Dungeon Exploration Might Look Like, Graduate Students in Tow". Wired. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2008/03/alttext_0312. Retrieved on 2009-01-20. 
  11. ^ Mona, Erik; Jacobs, James (November 2004). "The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time". Dungeon (Paizo Publishing) 116. 
  12. ^ Turnbull, Don (June/July 1979). "Open Box: Dungeon Module Review" (review). White Dwarf (Games Workshop) (Issue 13): 16–17. 
  13. ^ MacLaurin, Wayne (1999). "Return to the Tomb of Horrors". SF Site. http://www.sfsite.com/03b/ret53.htm. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 
  14. ^ Carroll, Bart (March 5, 2007). "Product Spotlight: Dungeonscape". Wizards of the Coast. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ps/20070305a. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 
  15. ^ "Black Isle Studios Presents Icewind Dale". Spong. May 11, 2000. http://news.spong.com/article/230/Black_Isle_Studios_Presents_Icewind_Dale?cb=417. Retrieved on 2009-01-26. 

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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