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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Reminiscent of what came before, but lacking, July 22, 2010
This review is from: Tomb of Horrors: A 4th Edition D&D Super Adventure (Hardcover)
This was another one of those releases that I was waiting for the moment I heard about it. I was also very curious about how a book the size of Revenge of the Giants (which had 6 levels worth of material) could cover 12 levels of material.
I'll answer the questions you most likely have.
How does the adventure range from level 10 to 22? It splits the book into 4 adventures of level 10, 14, 17 and 22, in four different locations. There are level gaps between them.
Is it as deadly as the previous Tombs? It has its deadly spots, but not to the degree of "step and die" like the other Tombs.
Is it a recreation or continuation? It builds on the events of Return to the Tomb of Horrors from 2e. Skull City and the original Tomb of Horrors are involved, but not nearly to the same degree. Most of this book is new material and maps.
What do we get? A 160 page hardcover with a poster map detailing 3 of the battle maps. The final battle of the campaign is NOT one of the maps. There are about 40 encounters and various skill challenges, and a fair number of recommended wandering encounters. There are a few pieces of artwork that depict encounters or room contents, but not in the amounts that the previous Tomb products provide.
Even though the adventure states that the PHB, DMG and MM are the only books required to run this adventure, I do recommend The Adventurer's Vault since several treasure items come from that book. A few of the wandering encounters also require the Monster Manual 2.
I think the overall campaign arc suffers with the disjointedness of splitting the book into 4 adventures. Players eager to continue the story will either have to be leveled up after each sub-adventure to begin the next, or toil through other adventures to level up before continuing the arc. Some DMs may welcome the idea of placing these adventures in their own custom arcs, but I was hoping for a continuous campaign in this single volume. Also, I didn't find the read itself to be all that entertaining. Those brand new to the concept of the Tomb of Horrors may take more interest in this product.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some parts are great, others are very poorly executed. On par, worth considering., November 26, 2010
This review is from: Tomb of Horrors: A 4th Edition D&D Super Adventure (Hardcover)
While I love the setting, backstory, and 'flair' that the designers have added to this adventure, things are very hit or miss.
Some encounters are incredibly fun -- such as the grey angels encounter, for example, which is probably the most fun pre-generated book encounter I've ever seen from WOTC, and which is incredibly simple in mechanics to boot. Others involve a lot of the same pattern that plagued Revenge of the Giants, where the DM gets to have a lot more fun than the players by doing chain CC effects repeatedly. For example, the very first encounter in the game has a trio of harpies that can at-will AE push 5 and immobilize the part (each turn!). they also have an exponential damage AE... Kinda a mess -- can TPK players easily on the 'warm up' encounter while playing by the rules DMs should read ahead and polish down some of these problematic encounters, or remove and replace them entirely.
From a DMability standpoint, the book does OK. Parts of the encounters make a lot of sense, but lots of little details are a pain -- such as irregular dungeon layouts that are hard to transcribe to a battlemat or whiteboard, etc. Play balance is all over -- some trivial encounters are TPK material, while some 'boss' encounters are trival. At times, it feels like the book was not well beta-tested for usability by a DM and play balance for a player group.
Pacing was a bit on the low side. By having such a huge mega-adventure, it's easy for specific adventures to not hold the player's interest, and filling in the blanks can be a serious challenge.
The high points of the book are some of the well designed traps, that get players intellectually engaged. From this angle, tomb is a success.
Overall, I think this is a good effort, but it's really held back by inconsistent encounter design and some rough along the edges testing. While I'm somewhat inclined to give 3 stars, I am giving this 4 because I feel that this module does represent a large movement forward in D&D module design from the perspective of cool settings and interesting traps that actually make the traps FUN. This was a major achievement.
But I really hope WOTC can formalize their testing process and train some of the 'hate the player' out of their junior encounter designers. I know they are capable, because the company is bursting with talent... Just a question of getting the right people in to help out. Please guys, do this on the next one!
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing..., September 24, 2010
This review is from: Tomb of Horrors: A 4th Edition D&D Super Adventure (Hardcover)
As C.Yack "waverider2" mentioned, this book is a let down. Since it is broken up into four seperate adventures, having to "fill in the gaps" is a pain in the butt. I am all for a custom campaign with a great storyline, but I don't have time to write one or to put together encounters... I bought a pre-made adventure for just that reason! In many cases in the book, the writers leave a lot of the "writing" to you. Fine if you're just incorporating this into your own campaign world, but a real bummer if you're not. They even leave a lot of the random encounters up to you to generate. Thanks, but I didn't want to buy an adventure "location."
As far as the "deadliness" of the adventure goes, it seems more frustrating than fun. Good ideas seem to be thwarted by tedious dice rolling, especially during the middle parts of the adventure. My PCs are getting angry because they can't "solve" a riddle or puzzle by using their intuition. There is even a statement at the beginning of the book saying that this is how it should be! But no, just a lot of frustrating rooms that do damage with no or few enemies and only dice rolls to save you. Another bummer.
Roleplaying is not rewarded and instead of "instant kill" spots, it features more "slow, boring, almost death" locations. If you're dying to play another pre-generated adventure because you've played all of the rest, then make this one as fun as you can. If you haven't played some of the other WoTC adventures, try those first. And of course, if you have the time, do the best thing and write your own.
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