Some History - Tomb of Horrors
WOW. With those three words, has there ever been an adventure that has spawned more horror, discussion and/or awe? Dungeon Magazine (116) ranked it the #3 greatest module of all time (behind the undisputed #2 original Ravenloft and the questionable Queen of Spiders*), and its sequel (Return to the Tomb of Horrors as #10. I personally can say it was the hardest dungeons I have never completed, but have am proud to say I never died in either (as sole survivor – I ran away).
I have personally ran it 3 times in my life, and (even though I am known to be a deadly DM) just the thought of me breaking it out fills my players full of dread.
So, what is the history of Tomb of Horrors? How did it come about?
The original idea of a deadly tomb came from Alan Lucien, when he sent his Tomb of Ra-Hotep to E. Gary Gygax (EGG) to review. Gary was very impressed and he quickly worked with it an ran it as a DM – responding to Alan with the following –
“ Have just had time to reorganize your excellent tomb area and run Rob (Kuntz) through it as a trial. It took him over four hours, and thanks to a bit of luck cost him nothing more than a mule, a few crummy orcs and a badly wounded entourage.” – E. Gary Gygax, 1975
Acknowledgement to Alan Lucien from the Monochrome version - missing from later releases.
Latching onto many ideas from the Tomb of Ra-Hotep, EGG reworked and fleshed out the adventure further, finishing just in time for the very first Origins convention in July of 1975. At the convention, during single two hour sessions, 8 groups of 15 pregenerated characters had the pleasure (horror) of experiencing what would become a classic…. Tomb of Horrors.
EGG was later quoted as saying he designed Tomb of Horrors for two reasons
First - "There were several very expert players in my campaign, and this was meant as yet another challenge to their skill—and the persistence of their theretofore-invincible characters. Specifically, I had in mind foiling Rob Kuntz's PC, Robilar, and Ernie Gygax's PC, Tenser.
Secondly - so that he was "ready for those fans [players] who boasted of having mighty PCs able to best any challenge offered by the AD&D game."
Tomb of Ra-Hotep Map Origins 1 Map First Published TSR Map
Timeline of Tomb of Horrors
1975 - Alan Lucien sends his module Tomb of Ra-Hotep to EGG.
1975 - Tomb of Horrors is played as a Tournament Module at the 1st Origins.
1978 - The adventure was released as an actual TSR product in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line, with Tracy Lesch’s artwork being reimaged by Sutherland and Trampier and was released in what has become known as the monochrome cover.
1981 - ToH was re-released with a never full-color cover.
1998 – Again the module was reprinted, this time as part of Return to the Tomb of Horrors, and was converted to 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons format. This adventure expanded on the storyline, and added the pocket universe/demi-plane of eternal darkness and ice, plus Acerak’s fortress on the Negative Energy Plane.
2005 – For Halloween, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) released an updated version for the module as a free download.
2010 – WotC released two adventures bearing the ToH name – one a hardcover edition, the other an update of the module to 4th Edition.
2017 – WotC re-released the module, now updated to 5th Edition, as part of the Tales of the Yawning Portal collection.
2018 – The special edition book “Art and Arcana” contained a bonus of the “original 1975 tournament module”.
2019 – WotC released Infernal Machine Rebuild, which allowed time traveling adventurers to pursue Lum the Mad and actually adventure in the tomb as it was being built.
Over the years, I bet I have met 100 gamers and heard them tell stories of this module (although I am skeptical of some of their proclaimed successes). It is so engrained in D&D lore – I actually wish WotC was not making a Drittz TV series, but instead did a live action show of players going through classic modules – with the very first being the Tomb. Even if it were only a one-off, I would record and watch that over and over (laughing maniacly). Hmmmm – maybe LARP TV Gameshow…….you read it hear first, so I have claims!
As for other media representations, I’ve always thought either EGG or the other artists used Parco Dei Mostri as the inspiration for the famous “Mouth” at the beginning of the adventure, especially since it is featured in the very very D&Dish movie “Castle of the Living Dead” (see my review here). Another form of media where the ToH comes up is in the book Ready Player One, where I was overjoyed at the homage and story that pertained to the Tomb. Needless to say, I was crushed when the movie came out – and all you had was a blink and miss it picture on the side of the van.
Parco Dei Mostri Origins 1975 1978 1981 Color Cover Tomb of Ready Player One
Annihilation
Overall, Tomb of Horrors is a great module – Tied at #1 on MY list (alongside Ravenloft). It lived up to its “Horrors” name, yet rewarded players if they were smart and survived. If you can get your hands on the original Temple of Ra-Hotep or the original Origins module (simple Google searches with Trove in the subject should do the trick), you get an amazing snapshot of the evolution of the game, something for new players and old farts like me to really enjoy.
Anyway, thank you for this journey down memory lane, I would love to hear your Tomb of Horrors stories and experiences below (try be somewhat spoiler free though). Its those insights and history like this that make us all better DMs and Players…..truly giving a new perspective and appreciation to this game we love.
Cheers
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed
*Queen of Spiders is questionable due to the fact that it is actually a combination of the G series (Against the Giants), D series (the Drow adventures) and Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits. It is not a stand along, but a compilation set.
