Bob Reviews: Tomb of Annihilation (Spoiler Free)

[@zynthio]

I love Tomb of Annihilation. I've run it to completion one time, and currently running it for another group now who is close to reaching 5th level in it. I would totally recommend anyone that thinks it looks cool to absolutely give it a go, BUT there are some bits of it that do need some tweaking and work personally. There's tons of good content and a framework for a great campaign, but there are many parts of the module that are very poorly fleshed out, or not fleshed out at all. And I think there are a lot of parts that just need some tweaking to be more interesting, more fair to players, or both. So I have a few tips that I've used to improve the experience, and hopefully if anyone ever sees this it could be helpful. **1) DELAY THE DEATH CURSE** - This is unquestionably the big main quest and central tension of the module, but I really don't like how they introduce it in this module. The entire thing hinges on this Death Curse. This isn't really a spoiler - I'm pretty sure it's mentioned right on the back cover of the book and is one of the selling points of the module. The book will seriously tell you to open the adventure by explaining this Death Curse and how it works to your players, and then have you teleport them to the starting city, and have them start the hunt. I strongly recommend altering this introduction to this module if you want yourself and your players to get as much enjoyment out of the module as possible. The Death Curse puts a big ticking clock on the entire adventure, which is really fun don't get me wrong, but it can also be really restrictive. As mentioned in this video, more often than not, your players won't have a chance to experience like half of the content in the book because it really just isn't possible to explore all of it if you use the Death Curse as written. If players take their time and explore the entire hex crawl and finish every quest, there likely won't be much world left to save. Most NPCs that would be dying from the death curse will likely die from it by the time your players get about 3-4 weeks into the adventure, more powerful NPCs can last upwards of 6-8 weeks or sometimes more but that's rare. Player character has a parent that's dying from the curse? They could easily be dead before the players have any idea of where to find the source of the curse. All of that to say - My recommendation is to delay the introduction of the curse. Give the players 3-5 levels to explore, establish connections with npcs, grow attached to the setting and become familiar with it, complete some of the low level but very fun quests before you suddenly spring the Death Curse on them. You could change the rate that the curse goes, but personally I've seen that no matter what if the players know the clock is ticking on something really bad they will do anything to rush to the finish. **2) INCORPORATE SIDE QUEST SEEDS INTO YOUR PARTY BACKSTORIES** - This is one way you can set up some of the many cool side quests in this book for your players from the start and seed them into their backstories. Go through the module and find side quests that you think would be the most fun to explore, or think your players would enjoy most, take those and incorporate them into your party. Do this once they've already made their backstories, because you'll get ideas for which side quests fit with what they've already come up with and you just add on to it For example - there is a side quest to help a Dwarf NPC reclaim his families ancestral Mine that was taken over by a Red Dragon. Before the start of the campaign I incorporated this into one player's backstory as an old friend who sent him a letter asking for his aid - and that player made that an important goal of his character. There's something of a sub narrative, less of a quest, with an NPC that has been wandering the world for centuries in possession of a powerful artifact that is sought by many powerful entities of the world. I have a player character that is looking for the answers of his origin and his lost memories, and gave this thread to him before the campaign as someone he potentially could get answers from. Another player is looking to be cured from being turned into a Yuan-Ti so I gave him the thread of there being a potential cure hidden somewhere in the jungle. I did this with all of my player's characters, and they took it and are running with it. This really only works best if you delay the Death Curse and give them at least a bit of time to establish themselves and start to find answers to these side quests. These are just a few of the things I've used to enhance Tomb of Annihilation and make it the adventure it should have been. I apologize for writing so much on this... May not ever be of use to anyone, but who knows. It's a great adventure on it's own but it can be so much more with a little helping hand.

[@RitzDaCat]

Directions unclear credit card is now maxed due to DND modules.

[@EricClevelandSE]

The dread of losing a character *permanently* is wild! Nice introduction to the concept of a "Hex Crawl" too. Thanks for the review!

[@djstormx]

This makes me want to play this module. Thanks for the review! 😊

[@DIWhyGarage]

I would play it again just to see more of the world map.

[@thebeach7196]

Nice review; short, sweet and to the point. I also like how you've included some perspective from both sides of the game.

[@velmarg]

Fantastic review! Short and to the point, touches on everything that matters.

[@TabletopConspiracy]

Much appreciated!

[@TimeIsMine93]

I’m a bit nervous about this one. The DM picked this for our groups first campaign, besides him I’m the only one at the table with experience, everyone else is fresh. But it was either this or strahd so what can ya do, I suggested running some candlekeep mysteries but we’ll see.

[@mancalledz]

Great video!

[@kbennett2587]

I'm so happy that you enjoyed it. But I felt it was too restrictive for the dm. It just did not allow for any creative on the dm side in my opinion. It just felt like stating a script without much thinking on my part. I'm happy you enjoyed it. And im very happy you and others enjoyed it . but I just found it just boring and soul crushing to dm this adventure.

[@TabletopConspiracy]

I understand and have heard others with similar opinions. Did you find the whole book uncomfortable, or just one of the three major sections?