AD&D Review - Tomb of the Lizard King

[@elfbait3774]

Re-watched this and it occurred to me that, if you were running the Salt Marsh arc, and the players failed at some point that you could pull this module in as a follow-up. Beaten down, the lizardmen now turn to an ancient evil and wake the Lizard King from his long slumber to wreak vengeance upon those who wronged them. Have dead sahaugin start to wash up on the beaches and townsfolk start to disappear from surrounding villages as the lizardmen feed their undead king.

[@mike8015]

lol, Sakatha's scared of a 7th-level cleric, but one of his random minions can cast Flame Strike? Who's really in charge here?

[@danielrowan4716]

That’s a great point. I thought it weird too that the king had a 9th level cleric and couldn’t handle a vampire. Could be he was hiring adventurers as he knew his own folks were the Flamestrike the king types.

[@bryantbentlee5031]

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[@beniciocolby4549]

@Bryant Bentlee instablaster :)

[@bryantbentlee5031]

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[@bryantbentlee5031]

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[@Thynqikan]

I successfully played this module some 20 years ago and creatively linked it with the module N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God. My party played through N1 first, and the creature to fight at the end wasn't a Naga but was the King of the Lizard's instead. After the players defeated the Lizard King the body was taken by the remaining Lizardfolk and corrupted priests who entombed the body in a ritual burial. Instead of a vampire the Lizard King in my game was a mummy. The mummified Lizard still had terrible powers that made him a powerful foe. The players loved that they were facing an enemy they had met and vanquished before.

[@falcon989]

You know your adventure is tough when the 400-year-old dragon isn't the toughest encounter.

[@99thJediWarrior]

Especially if your final boss happens to be a vampiric lizardman mage. Brings up a whole lot of questions though. Like what happened to make him a vampire? What necromancer rose him back from the dead?

[@lbpews9919]

@@99thJediWarrior The first page of the module explains exactly what makes Sakatha a vampire and how he rose from the dead, however there's easily more you could add to flesh it out more.

[@sebbonxxsebbon6824]

16 Wights is a brutal encounter. I run 1st and 2nd edition, that is bad news.

[@Bluecho4]

I would foreshadow the Lizard King by having a tapestry hanging in the Count's keep, depicting the military victory of humanoid forces over the Lizard King's hoard. It would establish the existence and importance of this historical figure, without necessarily requiring an NPC to exposite about it at length. Or if exposition does occur, having it be an NPC explaining the tapestry to the players would be a good way to justify it. If you're running this in 5e, I'd recommend using a Young dragon stats for the black dragon. You may even want to lower the AC, HP, and damage output, if it still seems too strong a foe. With the cave encounter - with the wights and the lizard men - one thing you could try is making the lizard men hate and fear the wights. Sure, they're on the same side and won't outright attack one another, but that doesn't mean the two groups like it. So when the PCs show up, the lizard men could deliberately avoid drawing attention to themselves, in the hopes that the PCs will destroy the wights for them. You may even leave room open for the party to use diplomacy on the lizard men, so they can join forces in killing the wights. This, of course, depends on whether the lizard men would be okay with the party then going forward, to potentially kill the Lizard King. But I imagine that there might be a select group within the Lizard King's ranks, who see their undead lord as having fallen from grace. That it's unbecoming. They may decide that it's _better_ that he be killed, if for no other reason than because they don't want to be his next meal.

[@nolgroth]

Nice touch.

[@silverthedruid4754]

the book actuall says that the lizardmen do not fight because they hate the wights. It is pretty easy to miss it, though

[@jasonnewell7036]

I would have been disappointed if there wasn't a Jim Morrison joke

[@kachiechan]

If I ever run this module, the Lizard King IS Jim Morrison

[@rodpeterson4485]

Nicely done Seth. I tried playing this module as a player 5 times. Each time I made it further than the previous attempt. The DM added Diseases from insects in the swamp, Parana in the water, and Hungry Hungry Hippos. That Idea came on the fly, because his little sister was playing it in the same room we played. I agree with your closing comments.

[@Rezkeshdadesh]

The Count offers his son's hand in marriage, but his son is Vecna.

[@AgencyNighthawk]

10/10, would take hand again

[@kennethwoody5897]

Hail Vecna!

[@ewanfox6076]

Vecna lives? Vecna loves.

[@bishopsancho]

@@ewanfox6076 Die Vecna Die!

[@nomadjensen8276]

Haha offers Vecnas "hand" in marriage....see what I did there?

[@dddawson]

Hearing the early description about how the Lizard King is after the descendant of his enemy, and that there was a twist about the final boss, I jumped to the idea that *the Count* was a vampire, pretending to be his own descendant. This whole thing could be rivalry down the ages between a pair of vampires. Give the assassins some anti-vampiric weaponry/scrolls (that Flame Strike isn't a bad start) and a) the PCs might pick up on it and realize what's up with their employer and b) they'll undoubtedly keep the stuff, giving them better odds against Sakatha.

[@Cruddyhorse]

Years Late but that's a solid idea.

[@katjordan3733]

I watched this video 3 times while I worked on Tomb of the Lizard King. I updated it for 5e, ripped out the cavern level and my party of 8, 7th level characters had the most epic time! It was great fun, they still talk about it. Thanks to you, Seth, I was able to run this module and make some great memories for my table! It was so much fun for me to run it, after 30 years away from D&D. Sweet!

[@spritelady4669]

Jack's terrible song almost topped Bonesaw for the funniest thing I've seen in your reviews. XD. BUT! Seth, you missed a golden opportunity to have karaoke style lyrics scroll on the video like those old Disney sing along videos. You could of had a bouncing lizard over each syllable as Jack song it. I mean if you're going to have cringy-oke, you need to turn it all the way up to eleven with Z E R O regrets for our ears and your own sanity.

[@SSkorkowsky]

You're right. I failed a golden opportunity. I shall contemplate my shame of the Tree of Woe.

[@spritelady4669]

Seth Skorkowsky Look at it this way, you got some form of inspiration in the end. That was my poor attempt at a dnd pun, I'll excuse myself.

[@michaelstricklett7130]

@@SSkorkowsky A year late but still a perfect response. Just hope you have learned the Riddle of Steel.

[@nolgroth]

@@SSkorkowsky Funny you should say that because, with a very few essential tweaks, I can see this fitting in to a Conan 2d20 game.

[@angusmullins511]

I like how you give modules that you don’t necessarily like, equal treatment in your reviews. These comprehensive reviews are a pleasure to view!

[@markhumphries6020]

Just wanted to say thank you for the review videos of modules. I use modules often and it's always nice to get an idea of challenges you might face running them. I appreciate the time you put into these and want to encourage you to do more in the future.

[@diaz5292]

Generally speaking, the AD&D Gratitude conversion rate is 8 Gratitude Units = 5 gold pieces.

[@anon_laughing_man]

🤣🤣🤣

[@Angelfyre.]

Pro DM Tip in order to make this adventure more fun for players I’d start them off at 6-7th level and just give Sakatha Legendary Resistance (3/day)

[@justinjanicki6561]

I’m surprised , considering from what I’ve seen that most undead are assumed to be human (banshees aside), that they simply didn’t make the Lizard King’s turn resistance far higher as he’s a "monster undead" and stronger than a standard vampire.

[@TheHalcyonCalamity]

As a new-ish DM with a light reading disability I cannot BEGIN to tell you how useful this video was for me!! I love mining old adventures for ideas and adventure arcs but I really struggle with the old school modules both in terms of layout and just in typeface and text formatting. This video is just *chef's kiss* fuckin subscribed, my man

[@dane3038]

Lets stat out Jim Morrison: I'm thinking Epic Level Bard with a high charisma.

[@nolgroth]

Nah, he works better for Call of Cthulhu. A musical entertainer with some Cthulhu Mythos knowledge and Sanity issues.

[@entr3_nou5]

@@nolgroth oh my god stop 😂

[@carloscaro9121]

@@nolgroth Cultist of Ecstasy.

[@1Ring42]

5e Jim Morrison a human glamor bard with the noble background (likely the knight variant) and the backstory that he charmed is way into becoming the king of a group of lizard people.

[@RPGmodsFan]

"Curse" you Seth Skorkowsky. Because you sang the awful "Ballad of Sakatha" in your video, now I have to in mine (which starts at the 16:54 TimeMark on my video).

[@pudgydog00]

Back in the later days of 2nd Edition AD&D, I had a game collapse because my big bad was a vampire with wizard levels. It was an encounter designed to match the players level, but they threw a holy hissy fit when "just a measly vampire" cast magic missiles at their cleric. For me, the fun of being a GM and creating my own adventures is coming up with encounters that break the players expectations.

[@captcorajus]

This is one of those deals where you just take an active hand and adjust the encounters to reflect the group at your table, versus the module as written. The entire scenario from start to reveal has so many GOOD things going for it. There's political intrigue, interesting traps, puzzles and encounters.. and of course a dragon! Just scale things back, which is especially easy to do with 5E and just have fun with it. I especially liked the ideas for the rewards you mentioned in the beginning and the time frame for the 'assassin' was pure genius, which I'm totally stealing the next time I run this.

[@danielrowan4716]

Nice to see you in here, Captain

[@mr.pavone9719]

Ha ha..."scale" back the "dragon".

[@Se7enBeatleofDoom]

We are not worthy!

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

So the module as written calls for throwing 16 to 19 enemies at 9 or more players. I can't imagine getting through any combat encounter of that size in a single play session. "Okay, everyone roll initiative and remember your numbers because there are 15 wights and 35 lizardfolk in the next room, and you only have half a dozen murder hobos left on your side. We'll see how that turns out next week."

[@davidpeters6743]

Old School D&D did initiative differently. It usually one group then the next group.

[@paulofrota3958]

You really deserve more subs and FAST, Seth. Your channel/videos are among the most well-written and produced on the platform, you have great charisma ... THIS IS AMAZNG

[@squeethemog213]

Totally using bits of this for my current 5e campaign. It's gonna be sick :)

[@TheMonyarm]

Would love it if you could do a review of Desert of Desolation, or any other desert themed AD&D Module.

[@mykediemart]

I have been looking to run this for a while with 5e. The criticisms you put forth are valid and whats need to be changed to make it playable. That said I might just mine it for ideas

[@NefariousKoel]

IIRC, that "turned as higher type of undead" substitution was being done in adventures even back in the day. I agree that the author should've also made that simple change. I'm sure plenty DMs did so when they ran it.

[@stephenmartin1982]

Knowing how early modules tended to railroad players a lot, it isn't so surprising that this one does much of the same. The inclusion of the songs though we're a good idea and it was ahead of its time with the monster race vampire. Thanks for sharing your insights into this both from the player and DM sides of the table

[@shawnwarswick8898]

The only thing I love more than these old school modules is watching your reviews. Thanks!

[@trevynlane8094]

Easy way to counter the cleric's turn undead ability without neutering the party would be to give the Lizard King an Amulet of Turn Resistance +5, making the guy harder or impossible to turn.

[@joebyrnes9254]

My honest idea, scrap the lizard king being a vampire and instead have there be some sort of secret ritual happenning that involves tricking the party into killing him because it’ll revive the king as a Demi Lich or high level ghost with magic Just imagine it as the lizard king’s body slumps down dead. The room goes cold and dark and his ghostly laughter fills the room as he rises from the dead and begins either a brief second stage fight or leaves to return once again later on.

[@the13thwarlock48]

This is one of my favorite modules of all time for AD&D. That being said, I'm a huge fan of lizard men and that has probably shaded my view of things. I appreciate your review and I think you definitely point out some shortcomings in the adventure that I had not thought of and some well thought out suggestions that will make this awesome adventure even more awesome and more important... believable for my players. I'll be replaying this just before I actually run the adventure making some good use of your ideas, as usual. Thanks for another awesome vid!

[@Znobishtucon]

This video jogged my memory hard... I actually own the 1st edition copy of this, and never played it! I had it all these years. It was a hand-me-down and seemed lame. And I have to say: I really appreciate you making these videos!

[@RoDaGrier]

Seth I have watched almost every one of your reviews, and I have never seen you look as irritated as you have been reviewing this module. As this is my first comment (though I have viewed a ton your your material, and bought a couple book, and support your patreon), let me say I love your work. I have never encountered some one go so far out of their way to make shop talk about the hobby so much fun.

[@SSkorkowsky]

Much appreciated. Glad you've been enjoying my work. Thank you.

[@danielrowan4716]

I played this as a PC in ‘87?, then DMd it in about ‘90. It is legendary in my group (we’ve been playing together since) as the most original and dangerous pregenerated module we’ve ever run. I solved the issue of the kings reticence by having a rumor table with true, false, and 1/2 true rumors, one of which was that Sakatha was a sorcerous undead monster. Party effectively laughed that one off. The highlights were the 9th level Thief getting melted by the Black Dragon in the first encounter with it, the party charming the Captain of Sakathas guard (8th level fighter, I rolled a 1) and using him to bypass all of the traps, the 70 lizard men at the bridge, and going straight to the High Cleric. The party attacked the Cleric and his minions which caused the charm to break. There was a heavy fight which the party won without getting too dinged up but the Cleric was able to flee to Sakatha. They have chase but arrived in Sakathas lair just as the Lizard King completed his Cloud Kill spell. Four PCs failed their saves in what is possibly the saddest display of rolling at any of our sessions, where I swear the sum total of their saves was less than 20. The two remaining PCs a 7th Level Cleric and a 7th level Magic User got demolished by Sakatha

[@kurtoogle4576]

Had a blast running this one back in the day!

[@DahVoozel]

Why not just make the baddy a lich And allow much higher level clerics?? Would it be inconsistent with other parts of the mod? Are lich lizards not sexy enough?

[@randomnerdery6511]

Lich lizards are the sexiest of beasts.

[@manticore6963]

Him becoming a Lich would also make way more sense than becoming a Vampire...

[@Cyberpuppy63]

Lizard men can only have up to 8th [or so] level clerics. ...

[@mike8015]

The way it's explained in the module is that Sakatha isn't terribly bright. He found a Ring of Wishes one day and used Wish #1 to learn magic. Later, as he's dying, he (accidentally) uses Wish #2 and wishes to "live to drink the blood of the descendants of the guy who killed him for all eternity" - accidentally turning himself into a vampire. Not a bright guy, seeing as how he could have wished for some hit points or something. In the final encounter, he's still got the stupid ring and it still has one wish left, but he still lets himself get killed (again). I don't think he was anywhere near powerful enough a mage to become a lich, Wish or not, but if you play him as someone who's learned anything in his long life, he should be able to stand up to a cleric. He has associates who are 8th and 9th-level clerics, and it's stupid to give a 7th-level party a Ring of Wishes for killing a vampire.

[@davidpeters6743]

Or just give a ring that makes him turn immune. GODDAMN IT SETH I WAS COMMENTING WHILE YOU SUGGESTED MY BRILLIANT SUGGESTION

[@bastionunitb7388]

Hell ya lizardfolk I think they're so cool and wish they where used in more campaigns

[@Cyberpuppy63]

1st edition had Pheobus; a lizard-man (reincarnated) from a fighter class guy.

[@danielhale1]

I'm glad you call out some modules as outright bad. There's a lot of meatgrinders out there that have no concept of the roleplay aspect of roleplaying games. They just want you to throw paper-thin characters at them to die, and they're written with only that surface-level interaction in mind. I think a lot of convention modules are so railroaded and superficial, you'd be better off assigning a chat bot to play them. Good RPGs happen when you drop the lethality and let the players engage with the game, invest in their characters, and be interested in what's going on. Don't make it a cakewalk -- threats should still be threatening -- but death should be a threat not the central goal. This module was made before we'd really formalized these ideas.

[@BeerMatt96]

From re-reading some of my old AD&D modules, they did use to have an unrealistic number of player characters as their target. A typical number of players round a table (these days especially) must be significantly lower than seven to nine - G1-3 Against the Giants expected the DM to rustle up nine players for the campaign! There's echoes of MMORPG trends here, where they cater for more casual gamers (i.e.: with actual day jobs, families and social lives) nowadays. 4-6 players for Tomb of Annihilation is far more realistic.

[@Seelenverheizer]

in the time of adnd first edition it was common for 1 player to play 2-3 characters simulataniously. It was a wierd time.

[@BeerMatt96]

@@Seelenverheizer Yeah, not so much room for Critical Role method acting on an AD&D dungeon crawl...

[@JGray1066]

@@Seelenverheizer It was a great time!........It's a mystery to me why running 2 Characters in a Dungeon crawl is never even talked about these days?

[@Seelenverheizer]

@@JGray1066 Fully running multiple Characters does hinder roleplaying a bit, albeith the whole Henchmen idea beeing dropped surely is a loss. Playing your PC and controling 1 or 2 henchmen works nicely. I really think 2e was the overall best edition, especially when you are willing to add a bit of homebrew to add some additional combat options.

[@JGray1066]

@@Seelenverheizer Hmmm.......a DM has relatively little trouble roleplaying multiple NPCs so I'm not sure why a player roleplaying two characters is seen as a such a big no-no? I played 3 years solid with a group of about 5-8 players who each ran multiple characters, having a party of around 10-16 characters really gave the feel of an adventuring party like that shown on the original AD&D Players handbook. Running two characters in a session allowed players to run for example a fighter and magic-user, thus keeping them more involved in the game, plus the death of a single character didn't mean an end to that players involvement in the session. Death was not common in our games but it was definitely something that happened, and if you have good players the roleplaying element was even enhanced on several occasions, for example one player ran two Dwarf fighters whose story was that they were twins, when one of them died at around 5th level after a year of play it was an emotional moment that even the other players felt!........lastly, have you ever tried it?

[@marijumanji]

Loving your videos. Would like to see more D&D reviews. I'm a new dungeon master/player looking for someone to hack through the weeds of the past 40 years D&D adventures and recommend the good stuff and tell me what to avoid. The clickbaity Top 10 video style would actually be a good format to use. Detailed reviews are also great. Really hope your channel keeps on growing.

[@gregh5665]

In my four-player DND group in the early 1980s we always had two characters each: voila, a party with 8 PCs capable of handling any module, with built-in resilience should any PCs die. Not sure why this is not more common. Tomb of the Lizard King was a fun challenge. We had a number of henchmen for this one, thanks to our DM recognizing the need. It was full of mystery leading into a classic "harder-every-step" dungeon crawl. And the final reveal did indeed surprise us. We had a 6th level cleric, but if we had a higher-level one, so what? The DM would have given the Lizard King a magic item or some divine protection that ensured he could not simply be turned. Thanks, Seth, for giving this module some visibility with modern players, and for making some great recommendations to make it even better. I don't agree with your judgement that this is a bad module but agree that it is ripe for improvement, and with the great advice you have given, I can't see how anyone could argue this will be a fun and challenging adventure.

[@randomnerdery6511]

I'm going to run the 5e conversion for our group starting next weekend, after we all agreed we wanted to try a meat grinder, something none of us have played before. I'm pretty hyped!

[@stevemanart]

From my notes when I ran this adventure (for AD&D2E)... Sakatha's Crown This piece of magical headgear, which automatically drains two levels from any living creature that dons it, grants a protective blessing to any undead whose head it sits upon. The wearer is immune to the turning attempts of clerics whose levels are less than the wearer's hit dice, and regardless of level the wearer of the crown may never be destroyed outright via turning. EDIT RE: The stinger. I once constructed a scenario where my players had to have a rap battle with frost giants.

[@meatguyf1375]

Nice. Great to see another classic D&D module reviewed. Any chance of maybe doing Keep on the Borderlands?

[@jasonGamesMaster]

I'd be interested in that myself

[@BenFrayle]

I loved that module so much. I got it with the Dungeon Masters Guide and Players Handbook for a Birthday plus Christmas present from my parents. It was a really good module too, plenty of meat.

[@ScowlieMeerkat]

Rewatching this specifically for them Jim Morrison dad jokes. Just want to say thanks man, I love your work.

[@grimfuture9967]

Excellent thoughtful insights. I agree with so much of everything you said - I use your conclusions to edit my own modules I create. Very entertaining video too. I subscribed and will look for your others.

[@seileurt]

I have this module from back in the day. Awesome review!

[@nkmason8284]

Can’t wait for The Doors module

[@Bluecho4]

I just this second (at the time of typing this) had an idea: a DnD campaign with a rock n' roll theme, and the gods are all deified rock musicians. Bards abound, and even Clerics have a bardic feel to them (that is, they look like rock fans). The landscape would look like a continuous succession of metal album covers (so, basically, it's like the open world map of Brutal Legend). Sprinkle the setting with a host of song references. In the town of Beatles-burg, the party travel to the intersection of Abbey Road and Penny Lane, passing townsfolk like Mr. Kite, Eleanor Rigby, and the lovely Rita, the town meter maid. They pop in to the pub - the Hard Day's Night - which is open eight days a week, and currently serves a collection of day trippers and paperback writers. The party gets a quest to travel out beyond the docks, to find a yellow submarine marooned off the coast, guarded by a cyclops. Sorry, it has two eyes, so it's a bi-cyclopes. Just a day in the life, really. But it's getting better all the time, so long as you've got a little help from your friends. Er, party members.

[@Gripen1974]

I played that module converted to Palladium fantasy rpg and it was insane but now i know the original for add was even more insane. The black dragon was replaced to nightstalker dragon and the lizard king was an undead lizard mage which made the dragon easier but the lizard king was totally bonkers.

[@MaxWriter]

LOL. The Jim Morrison thing was perfect. Now I want to write a scenario where players actually have to fight him.

[@mike8015]

Once per round, Jim can utter a rhyme so bad that everyone who hears it loses a point of intelligence. When you reach 0 intelligence, you become a big Doors fan.

[@samprastherabbit]

I'm loving all these new costumes Jack gets forced into wearing! He looked so put out being Patch! Fantastic funny video & great review, Seth. Now you do realise you'll have to eventually film fighting Jim Morrison, right?

[@Oleg-dp2fh]

Great review and interesting thoughts, Seth! It is fascinating how far the concept of roleplaying games has come: they evolved to be more diverse, inclusive and maybe even more fun. However there is still much to learn from older games which is wonderful 😄

[@StephMcAlea]

Possibly my favourite video from Seth. Witty, balanced, and revealing.

[@jameskoskidescamps2497]

I have not run very many modules in my nearly 40 years of game mastering; I have extensively used the Book of Lairs though and things like that in my random encounters or planned encounters

[@valentine1980]

Jack's rendition sounds like something off a Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits album.

[@rossy3486]

Just rewatched this when it popped up because I had to hear Jack sing again. That’s one way you know Seth is an awesome GM - he sung it!!! I also like the historical perspective on the innovation of the BBEG here and the use of class / undead levels

[@lazarus30001]

"...super happy fun slide..." Brings back my days at the carnival LMFAO

[@johnnysizemore5797]

I Agree with Seth on what he gave for the Tomb, I mean at the time it was a great improvement to the RPG scene but they really did put a lot of stop gapes to the PC's. Great job Seth :) Also I love the song

[@andysimmons2648]

An excellent review, thank you. I know I played this module many years ago but I don’t remember it anywhere like you described. I suspect my DM may have fudged the game a little. Good singing, Jack. Better than I could do.

[@thereluctanthireling]

One of the few AD&D modules I don't have....still on the fence if I want this one. Great review as always, does look like it has some fun parts though.

[@WestOfEarth]

I remember as a young DM specifically avoiding this module because the player count was so high. At the time I wasn't confident enough as a DM to modify the module

[@joshuakepple]

When did you get that Umbrella Corp shirt? It looks very '90s.

[@TheNomad2727]

you can buy them online still

[@moapchan1905]

Hey Seth just wanted you to know I love your content and hope you keep making more, wish I could play in one of your games and you're awesome.

[@danacoleman4007]

But not as awesome as Jeff!

[@Wanderinpaladin]

I'm thinking about running my 5e group through this....and one of the rewards might be Bonesaw.....btw I will not have to sing it, Jack will sing it for me mwahahahaha.

[@Sorenzo]

I also need to use spells on my boss to figure out what is going on. Sadly I don't have any, so I'm stuck being called after the fact because he's angry I didn't do something he didn't tell me to do.

[@WM1313]

SACRILEGE! THIS MODULE IS AWESOME! Had a lot of great memories attached to this one. All kidding aside very good review

[@cameronf5893]

That song was terribly painful, yet also hilarious. Good show chap!

[@EpifanesEuergetes]

I bought and read this module back in the day but never had the chance to run it. After watching this review it seems fortunate since my players would have been annihilated very fast and I certainly wasn't an experienced enough DM to make the necessary modifications to it to make it survivable for them.

[@kevinnoorman4815]

The stairs in room 10 dungeon level 3 where do they come from

[@shazariahl]

I remember running this as a GM when I was a kid. Everyone died on the fight to enter the 3rd level of the dungeon. Needless to say, people weren't happy. They basically avoided the dragon by just running as fast as they could, getting hit by its breath weapon a couple times, and getting into the dungeon. I ran it at a boyscout camp though, so we actually had 7 or 8 players and used the pre-gens because not everyone had characters in the right level range. It's funny, because over the years I've always heard such good things about it, and I thought the main villain was so cool, but I always thought I must have made it too hard as the DM and felt bad that the whole group died. Granted, I was like 13 back then and didn't really understand how to customize things. We also didn't use DM screens or anything, so all our dice rolls were open in front of everyone. Made it hard to fudge things when someone failed a save and took fatal damage from a dragon. Oh well, time marches on and we all learn. I guess this is why I never really run modules as printed anymore; I either invent my own stuff or take them for inspiration but re-write them. Honestly, if I were to do this adventure for 5e, I'd probably make the characters between 10th and 12th level, give the lizard king better spells (basically make him a lizard Strahd or something), throw him a couple weak legendary abilities, and go from there. There are a lot of cool elements; you could leave the dragon in if the PCs were high enough level, and fighting things like 20 lizard men or 16 wights at a time would feel a lot more epic if you knew the players weren't going to die almost instantly. I like your idea of making him harder to turn - he has that magic ring, you could say along with its other powers it gives him advantage on his rolls to avoid being turned or something like that. Anyways, I agree with your review that it had some great ideas and rp potential, but overall is way too difficult for the level range given, has ridiculous expectations for the number of players (seriously, I'm probably among the few DMs who actually had the suggested number of players).

[@AlluMan96]

For the time my DM is taking a break, I'm actually planning on using this game as a framework for a small campaign. Mostly just kinda the overall plot and the structure of the campaign is similar, with alot more set-pieces to fill the gaps of just "Oh, here's another bunch of enemies and a black dragon" styled encounters. Among the changes I have; *Vendare* To get players invested and actually give a shit about the history surrounding Sakatha (Not to mention how they already know I'm running Tomb of the Lizard King, so the surprise is out the window), I have decided that the heroes have come to Waycombe during the "Day of the Lizards", a celebration of Eor's ancestor's triumph over the Lizard King. As well, instead of an interview, you gain an audience with the count as part of a reward for emerging triumphant in a battle against some elementals at the arena, held as part of the celebrations. It will still have the atmosphere of rivaling adventure parties interacting with one another, as teams are waiting for their turns to fight and there will be others from the arena to be summoned by Eor as sorta red-shirts, sent to investigate the southern swamp while you're sent to find Barto, who has been missing for almost 2 weeks after being dispatched to deal with the Brigands. *Brigands* These guys are gonna be a bit more flavored as cultists, with Warlocks of Sakatha among them at an outpost to which they bring people they kidnap in the fields, draining them of blood that they then take in barrels to the southern swamp to feed the recovering Sakatha. This allows for alot of approaches from stealth infiltration to just guns blazing. Barto is going to be met here as well, imprisoned, yet left alive because of the charm spell plan they're hatching. Barto is going to give a lead to head for the swamp and then head back towards Vendare, unaware of the charm spell that is going to trigger once he meets Eor. *Swamp* Steve is just a raft-salesman, as it isn't hard to track where the tomb is gonna be. Here I wanna have a nice set-piece, where the heroes get ambushed by a giant snake, swimming in the water and the players can have a nice encounter, where they gotta try and either escape, scare off or kill this snake as they're on the raft, making checks not to fall off and be left in a compromising position. *The Tomb* The only thing that needs changing here is the difficulty. Less bullshit "save or die" and more just fun Indiana Jonesesque traps and puzzles. The spiral staircase and the murals are what I wanna keep in particular, but have to consider how to intergrate them.

[@erc1971erc1971]

I used this module in a savage frontiers game, in forgotten realms, that I introduced my players to a bunch of old-school goodness. Early on, they did the palace of the silver princess, and found out that the princess was a distant relative of one of the PCs (This played into the campaign’s climax). As they helped this kingdom integrate into the world of the party, settled in the village of Restinford where they played through the sinister secret of sal marsh and eventually to the secret of bone Hill (the wraith at the end of this adventure was the one who cursed the silver princess), And after a few adventures out of dungeon magazine, they braved the tomb of the lizard king, Where they also fought an avatar of Demogorgon 😈.

[@captainbloth]

I NEED THAT SONG for a ringtone! NOW :D

[@paralentor]

Well if everyone tells you you'll love it then more than likely the expectations will never meet reality. Players who died at the end to the Lizard King ended up waking up as enhanced Vampires which led to so much fun adventuring at night terrorizing villages and sleeping in graveyards by day. We attached a whole campaign on tracking down and killing the Lizard King who moved to a different part of the world and once dead the characters were no longer vampires. Amazing fun.

[@Phsstpok]

I agree with your assessment of the module... though I also really like the base plot-line.... but I must say... almost all of your critisim I feel I can heap on any of the old modules.... D&D seemed always like ghost train ride with monsters at every turn and corner... often completely combined or place without inner logic or ciritcal thinking of "why would they leave such a dangerous beast in the next room" or "how exactly found the troll his way into the innermost chamber of the grave with all those narrow passageways.... I always felt that the sheer amount of deadly dangers didn't to the module and the intended tension any good or credit.. therefore I usually drop at least half of the enemies and make the ones I leave in count.

[@briannearon4066]

Seth, thanks for another great review. Always informative and always entertaining.

[@mikefang9995]

Funny thing, when you sang that minstrel's song, I thought that the ring the lizard king had was going to be a pivotal point. I wasn't expecting him to be a vampire; I was expecting him to be a lich and the ring would be his phylactery, and for the players to truly destroy him, they'd have to destroy his ring, and if any of them put that ring on, they'd have to save against being possessed by the lizard king's spirit, otherwise in time he would take over the player's body and they would transform into a lizardman themselves, fully resurrecting the lizard king once again.

[@chameleondream]

Why is Stephen the mad hermit necessary? Because that is Dennis Hopper's character from Apocalypse Now. While listening to this (which was great btw) it occurred to me that this adventure is basically that movie in D&D form except they're going into a swamp to stop Sakatha instead of a jungle to return Colonel Kurtz. Yeah, big difference. It would also explain the Jim Morrison / Lizard King connection as the music of the Doors featured prominently in that movie.

[@BTsMusicChannel]

Awesome review and rendition of the ballad (hahaha)! Also, as a musician, I can totally related to that "exposure" payment (to which I respond, "Exposure to who? In this insignificant town?") I want to add a couple things from my experience of having played Tomb of Horrors in 1982 and later running Perkins's 5e conversion (published in Dragon). (1) Perkins's 5e conversion gave ZERO GUIDANCE for number and level of 5e players would make sense. Naively trusting WOTC personnel to do a good job of game design (sorry, but I am getting fed up with their brand(s) of D&D), I deferred to the AD&D level 10-14 characters. WRONG! The problem is not that monsters (and traps) are too powerful, the problem is that the superhero 5e characters (for example, with monks that can walk on walls) breaks the Tomb of Horrors. It requires far too much knowledge of too many player options (even those limited to only the 5e PH) for a DM to really make a conversion -- all those player options and powers can easily break a 5e game (look at all the "how to break the game" vids that are out there on KZbin). (2) The first time I ran through the Tomb of Horrors, it was actually terrifying because we were using our primary characters! Dong it that way increases the HORROR -- the intensity -- of the game. In short, if you really want an intense game full of fear, awe, and wonder, I think that while it is possible in 5e, it requires a creative dungeon master to pull it off (i.e., one that makes encounters that the players cannot simply blow through, but may have to run or avoid, or do something different than simply kill the monsters and move on to the next monster area). That said, I am willing to be that "as-is" 5e conversions are not going to do it. The DM probably needs to figure out how hard the encounters are in the old game and use that chart in the 5e DM Guide that tells you the number of CRs you need to make various levels of difficulty.

[@opa-age]

Love the I series...some of the most exciting action packed modules ever made.

[@VioletDeliriums]

IKR? If the monsters are too easy or too hard, then change them!!!! DUH!!! The player characters are the protagonists in the story that the table is "writing." You make the adventure around them, not the other way around. Too simple. :/ Also....Ya, the smoke thing. If you read "Fellowship" carefully, you will see them debate whether or not to start a fire: do we stay warm or not attract monsters? It's a survival thing....Same thing goes for noisy things like rivers. If you walk in the forest and there is a big stream or a river nearby, you will hear it going "TSSSSSHHHHHHHHH" well before you see it, and as you get closer it gets louder. You don't just accidentally stumble upon a river unless there is something preventing sound from travelling. DMs need to get outside and walk around more so that they understand how worlds work.

[@dsan05]

You know... that song is stuck in my head now... Great review. Might DriveThruRPG this one. Just needs a bit of tweaking and should be fine.

[@Runeslinger]

"I like that shirt, Friend!"

[@Ralndrath]

Will Jack now form up a NPC union now?

[@Dorian_sapiens]

Warriors of the world, unite! ✊

[@wjrasmussen666]

Well, we used to get massive groups playing DND back in the 70s. I recall regular gaming groups with 18 to 24 players.

[@lindy9196]

GREAT MODULE! You are now known as "Seth The Heretic" (which actually sounds cool)

[@J2982able]

Okay, I know I'm not the only one who rewatches all these for the sheer entertainment value. That being said, how am I just now realizing Jack has (had..?) beef with Jim Morrison?!

[@ebony1442]

I feel like I need to write up an campaign against the lich bard Morrison, and his lizard army.

[@youtmeme]

re: payment. in most places in my campaigns, even if done for favor, places explored or conquered for ruling kings, all treasure is usually taxed. so when the characters get to keep everything they find, that IS an incentive!😉

[@patrickmullen9485]

There was an AD&D module about Jim Morrison’s grave?

[@valerfor8361]

A meat grinder of an adventure for the proposed levels Seth, unless the PCs are both experienced & have some good magical items/spells. Ironically, that tournament style of the adventure is also what makes me want to run it as-is just to see how far one can get into. In that case, it would be similar to running a DCC RPG funnel adventure only for higher levels. Your suggestions are all good but what made me subscribed instantly was the ballad :+)

[@ydela1961]

When I ran this module as DM, it became the most traumatic dunjeon the party ever played. Their highest level character was a F7. In 2nd edition, a F7 could hit 3/2 turn. At 7th level, he could specialize and in fact hit 2x per turn. He had a decent THAC0 and was their main asset. Vampires back them made you lose 2 levels per hit. And the lizrad had 3 attacks per turn (2 fangs, 1 bite). The fighter got hit twice, lost 4 levels, and with it, his specialization, his 3/2 hits, his THAC0. He was down to a F3, with 1 hit per turn. With other characters also downleveled once or twice, they had lost the ability to simply inflict damage to that final boss. When the fighter got hit for the third time and was reduced to level 1, the guy playing that fighter just shut down. I had to allow them to flee the room to avoid a total party anihilation. They spend all their acquired gold to pay a cleric who would restore 4 of the 6 lost levels, but only because I lowered the 'official' price as stated in the rules. If I add that back in the days we palyed it hard to acquire new levels. The average was 1 level per year. Those 3 hits on the fighter made him lose 6 years of game.

[@--enyo--]

Could start giving the players the pregenerated characters to start out with. Tell them to just roll with it. Put them in the middle of the dungeon with absolutely no context. Have an hour of that hack and slash before (maybe?) they get to the vampire lizard and die. Then have one member of the party wake up and it was a dream premonition. Now they’re playing their real characters and are somewhat forewarned.

[@Trashloot]

:D i like the idea of the count giving out dollars. Great video.

[@dallasjacob99]

can you make a video on how to prep a session? Maybe tips on note making?

[@blazetheplaneswalker]

I was run this adventure and the DM allowed a 7th level cleric but he changed it that Sakatha could only be turned if we destroyed an idle he had (our group runs combat more like a puzzle)

[@edlaprade]

This is the type of 1E module that convinced me that the only way for an adventuring party to survive one was to have the maximum number of PCs, of the maximum level.

[@r.d.hargrave8159]

I agree with Jack that Jim Morrison at the end would have been a great surprise; ... but you have to beat Jim Morrison in a poetry slam, not a dance off.