Tomb of Horrors - An Analysis by DMDave
Added 2021-03-10 16:00:04 +0000 UTCA big part of my job involves reading and analyzing adventures throughout the history of the game. As I'm starting to prepare my next module The Vault of Terror for GaryCon '21, I wanted to breakdown a similar module. So I chose Tomb of Horrors, the classic dungeon romp written by Gary himself waaay back in 1975 for Origins 1.
Originally, Tomb of Horrors was played as a tournament module. Basically, players were to test their wits against the dangerous dungeon. Whoever survived the longest was declared the winner. Tomb of Horrors has since been reincarnated in each subsequent edition, including Fifth Edition.
In this analysis, I broke down the various parts of each chamber into the following categories: encounters, hazards, obstacles, traps, tricks, and treasure. Some chambers only had one of these "complications" while others had multiple.
What's worth noting is the exceptionally high number of traps that pervade the dungeon. Over 53% of the Tomb of Horror's rooms have traps with which the parties will need to contend. On the other hand, there's not a whole lot of encounters here. Beyond Acererak, (the real one and fake one), there's only a handful of creatures to deal with, mostly weenies, too.
Finally, I took each of the areas' "complications"—in other words, the number of different features that an area had—and graphed it out. Interestingly, the rooms become more and more complicated the closer you get to the tomb's end.
Anyways, I hope this is useful for all of you in your own studies. Enjoy!
Comments
gotcha. That makes this resource more valuable now
Ltbadger
2021-03-15 03:35:31 +0000 UTCThe prompts aren't related to ToH. They're for the new adventure, Vault of Terror.
DM Dave
2021-03-14 22:13:09 +0000 UTCWhat was the significance of the prompts please? Some of the prompts make no sense to me.
Ltbadger
2021-03-14 17:22:51 +0000 UTCOh yeah. Gotta beat Ace in Joust. ;)
DM Dave
2021-03-11 19:27:15 +0000 UTCI'm interested in scheduling it but the Vault is well hidden in the schedule. Thursday 12pm games here: https://tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xiii/schedule#?query=&startdaypart_id=A67356F6-C14F-11EA-B204-FCB517DBACC0
2021-03-11 14:27:35 +0000 UTCThe irony is that I just finished reading Ready Player One, for the Xth time, and this module is referenced as a significant topic.
Brad Thomson
2021-03-11 13:10:23 +0000 UTCI’m not sure but we’re slated for 12:00pm CST on the 25th.
DM Dave
2021-03-11 01:40:18 +0000 UTCWow this is flippin sweet - GREAT JOB! Always appreciate these DM Tools!
2021-03-10 19:05:46 +0000 UTCWhich event are you running at GC? I don't see the Vault of Terror on the schedule.
2021-03-10 17:58:10 +0000 UTCThe work is never done!
DM Dave
2021-03-10 17:32:09 +0000 UTCProbably not with ToH since it was a 1e module. But definitely with the modern stuff. I do at least. Also, ToH specifically says that the party can rest anywhere in the dungeon as there's no random encounters.
DM Dave
2021-03-10 17:31:49 +0000 UTCThis is great. I'm tempted to do the same breakdown for the Labyrinth of Madness just to quantify for myself how utterly and purposely ridiculous that dungeon was. Another small project to add to my backlog.
2021-03-10 17:23:00 +0000 UTCI'm curious if designers of dungeons like these ever budget for how much could be done in a game day (long rest), a single gaming session, etc using the encounter builder. Do you ever program in a "break spot" or is it just slog through and suffer?
C.c. Snyder
2021-03-10 17:17:06 +0000 UTCThis is awesome, Dave! Thank you for sharing the information, this is very cool.
Doug M
2021-03-10 17:06:14 +0000 UTCI especially like how it gets wilder and more difficult as you go.
DM Dave
2021-03-10 16:59:40 +0000 UTC
