The TOMB OF HORRORS
I have always wanted to take a party of player characters through the D&D adventure, The Tomb of Horrors, that infamous Gygax module that has probably killed more high level PC's than any other adventure in the history of D&D.
My players (we are playing a home grown clone of OSR D&D and 5E) however are currently only 2nd and 3rd level. So it seemed rather punishing to take them through this dungeon. I was watching the Goodman Games 'Talking TSR' YouTube channel and one of the guys mentioned that he had used The Tomb of Horrors as a Zero Level character funnel. This got the brain juices flowing. How can I put my players through this dungeon without them using their current characters?
I didn't reveal the Portal or the Demon Face onto the table until they approached to torch light range. But even then, the players didn't realise what dungeon they were in.
Here's how I set the players to go through the Tomb of Horrors without risking their actual characters.
SETUP
Overview - This is a Character Funnel Adventure. That said, it is very likely that all the PC’s will end up dead. The purpose of this adventure is to have a one shot quest within the greater Campaign where the players get to experience one of the most lethal AD&D modules every devised; The Tomb of
Horrors. But don’t tell the players this. They should think that they are just actors playing out a part of the local history.
Background - As the adventurer’s escort a famous bard up river to Hommlet, the bard recounts the tail of the exploits of a desperate group of hard-up locals and would be adventurers as they search for the famous Bonesaw Blade, the prized but lost possession of Cassimire Varden, the Baron of The Woodhall Vales, now deceased. The bard sits himself down upon a barrel near the bow of the barge they are taking passage on and starts strumming his loot idly. He then stops and looks at you gathered around there:
'Shall I tell you a tale to while away the hours as we travel? Yes? Good. How about a tale from these lands. Let me see…' He stares absently out across the marshlands. 'Yes, how about the tale of The Bonesaw Blade? This is a tale from my very youth when I was but a lad of sixteen summers.'
Thus begins his tale and the players, as they listed, take on the role of those hard-ups and would be adventurers as they search for the Bonesaw Blade, lost somewhere in a forgotten tomb in the middle of a God forsaken swamp. The players have no clue that that very tomb is THE Tomb of Horrors.
Yes, this PC got separated from the rest of the party and yes, they did stick their head into the mouth of that demon sculpture. You get what you deserve dumb@$$
Running the Adventure - Give each player the following:
● Eight pre-generated Level 0 PC’s.
● Sixteen Luck Dice to share amongst those eight PC’s.
Explain to the players the following:
● PC’s are all human,
● They can name them now or later, but the first PC they use should be given a name,
● They should play one PC at a time, not all eight at once (their other PC’s are following at a safe
distance observing events),
● At Zero Hit Points, PC death occurs. NO DEATH SAVES !
● When PC death occurs, change to the next PC in their line-up, who just happened to be following behind the previous PC from a safe distance,
● Dead PC gear can be looted by the player who lost that character only, as long as they can reach the body of the PC. If that PC falls down a pit, then anyone who can get to that body can loot it,
● PC’s are all Level 0 would-be adventurers and therefore do not have an Adventuring Profession as yet,
● All PC’s want either the reward for finding the Bonesaw Blade, or the blade for themselves.
They still didn't get what dungeon they were in at this time.
Beginning the Adventure:
GM: “You stand upon the northern slops of a low bleak hill. Behind you, stretching away as far as the eye can see, is the Saltmarsh, its rotten stench assaulting your nostrils.”
GM: “Before you lay three holes into the hillside, big enough for you to crawl through. Others have ventured into these holes and not returned. But you know fortune and favour await those who can come back with the famed Bonesaw Blade. Blackest darkness lays within each hole. Which of the three do you choose?”
By chance, my players chose the middle hole to enter, and thus without realising it, entered the main entrance to the tomb avoiding the two death traps on either side.
'Is that a statue?'
'Yeah, its a statue.'
The most amazing part of the evening was when the four-armed gargoyle came to life and threw one of the PC's against the wall before charging down the corridor. It came to one of the PC's who had a stake he had salvaged from one of the pit traps to keep for a spear. The player rolled desperately to hit the enraged Gargoyle and got a natural 20!
We use Critical tables for Critical Damage whenever a natural 20 is rolled. Everyone threw in their spare Luck Dice to get the score as high as possible, resulting in a roll of 87% on the Puncture Critical Table. That resulted in the spear going through the Gargoyle's neck and severing its spine, killing it in 1d4 rounds. The beast toppled over instantly and was a goner. The cheers and high-fives from the group was very satisfying, especially given that this was a Zero Level character.
Natural 20 sucker!
How do you open these doors again?
One of the players finally started to twig as to where they were. The others had never been through this adventure before and so didn't realise the danger they were in.
The evening ended in 9 player characters dead from traps! And they only got to the basically the third real room (actually Area 9) in the adventure. Nasty!
