In 2nd edition it was really deadly. In 3.x/PF it is not that bad IMO, but I don't know how good your players are.
I would not tell them it was Tomb of Horrors, but I would tell them via an NPC(in-game) that nobody has ever entered and walked out alive, or something similar. :)
PS: I see they are already there. I would just be careful. This part of the adventure is very dangerous. That is all they need to know.
Yeah, let them know it's extra dangerous. And hopefully you haven't said that about every other dungeon so far.
It's troll deadly...
The final encounter is not doable. I can't imagine a team of normal adventurers handling that unless they were specifically prepared in advance for that particular encounter.
There's a corridor which, if you enter the room at the end of it, you die.
There's a room with a tapestry which, if you touch it, you die.
There's a room with the walls covered in swords. If you enter it, expect to die.
Also the teleporter. You have two teleporters linked together. There is one at the beginning of the dungeon and one at the end. Any player will be cautious about the first one and ignore it, because it seems very dangerous (it's a face in the wall). In a room much later in the dungeon, there's a similar head. If you enter the mouth, you appear in the beginning of the dungeon. That's not a big problem... The problem is that now you're going to think that the mouth in the FIRST room leads BACK to where you were before... Think again.
There's also a trap that teleports the player characters to beginning of the dungeon with all their loot teleported to the place of the final encounter.
I am going to have to read it again. I don't remember it being that bad as to have auto-deaths except for that hole in the wall. :)
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Do NOT run Tomb of Horrors with the characters they've been building up all campaign. Unless you remodel it to be much less deadly (allow saves on stuff, give more warning/hints, etc.), your players will probably get upset when the personas they've held for months all suddenly die to cheap shot, no warning traps.
IMO, the best way to do it is to play it at full deadliness with a STACK of spare characters built up, so every time you die you just pick up a new character and keep going. The iconic PFS characters might be good for that.
I'm with Reynard.
When I played this with a bunch of people we all made level 9 characters.
In the end, with some GM fudging, ONE character managed to survive to the final encounter.
And that was after we had spent our "extra lives" we were given.
IMO, the best way to do it is to play it at full deadliness with a STACK of spare characters built up, so every time you die you just pick up a new character and keep going. The iconic PFS characters might be good for that.
The original (1st Edition AD&D S1 module) Tomb of Horrors recommends 3 level 10-14 characters per player. Having run that version a few times, that's probably not enough but I've heard the updated version is much less cruel.
One of the problems that players seem to have with it is that it's very much not a traditional adventure, in that there's very, very little combat and almost 100% traps, puzzles, riddles, and stuff that just kills you if you're ordinarily inquisitive. It's a good time for lateral thinkers, who don't want to hit stuff, and aren't attached to their characters though. It's much more a test of the players than it is a test of the characters.
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Here's the
A party of PCs created at high level stands no chance. A cluster-£^%& style party will be crushed.
A party of PCs that have leveled up together, and have developed great teamwork, and have a supremely outstanding trap finder have a chance.
If the players had any idea what was in store for their PCs they would all just flee the place and call that one a loss.
Tomb of Horrors represents, IMHO, the worst parts of this game. DM vs Players, no real story, too lethal, stuff that kills you if you do the logical thing ... I wouldn't even consider it.
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Tomb of Horrors represents, IMHO, the worst parts of this game. DM vs Players, no real story, too lethal, stuff that kills you if you do the logical thing ... I wouldn't even consider it.
Isn't that kind of the appeal though? That this is the ridiculous, unfair, borderline unwinnable adventure? If everybody comes to the table knowing that's what it is, and comes with a stack of characters they're prepared to lose, then it can be a good time. I mean, a lot of the traps and tricks are general enough to have multiple ways around it (like driving an entire herd of cattle down the corridor with all the pit traps, say, or killing Acerack with the crown and scepter because it's an instant death trap) that people inclined to come up with novel solutions to problems can have a lot of fun.
Do not every spring the Tomb of Horrors on a group of players who don't know what it is, or as a punishment, or whatever. It's primarily interesting as a historical artifact, in that Gygax got sick of being told by people that their characters could beat any adventure, so he wrote an infamous adventure specifically to kill everybody save for the cleverest.
The original Tomb of Horrors (don't bother with the remake IMHO) is as nasty, vindictive and sadistic as they say. It really is DM vs. Party.
That said, after nearly 30+ years, it is the one dungeon we ALL still remember and ALL wish we could do over again.
I've run the Tomb of Horrors and the Return to the Tomb of Horrors 4 times now (I'm currently on my 4th and final run) and I will say - it's earned it's reputation. Even with the 3.5 version from WotC providing saves on things that 1st and 2nd don't, it's still an unmitigated meat grinder. My current group of players were right about level 13, knew very well what they were walking in to and were well equipped as well as being a long running group who have established really good team dynamics...and they still suffered some big losses.
The materials for the GM in the Return box set specifically caution you against using long running campaign characters - and the Tomb isn't even the worst part of that adventure! I'd caution against it - maybe see if something from an AP would be a good fit - Carrion Crown has a similar feel to it (though I've never played it, so I can't say for sure). If you feel like ToH is really the way you want to go - talk to your players in advance, even in a general way, and take their temperature on it.
The original Tomb of Horrors (don't bother with the remake IMHO) is as nasty, vindictive and sadistic as they say. It really is DM vs. Party.
That said, after nearly 30+ years, it is the one dungeon we ALL still remember and ALL wish we could do over again.
Just because it is memorable or people still talk about it incredulously doesnt mean its a good thing. Bad things are often the most memorable.
I agree that it is the worst aspects of the game's history all rolled into one stupid adventure.