Tomb of Horrors: Difference between revisions
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Author Avatar]]: In a way, Acererak is a villainous version of Gygax himself, the lich's sick sense of humor an exaggeration of Gygax's. His original goal was for the players to match wits with the Dungeon Master himself, the only true way to succeed.
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]/[[Take That]]: Gygax created the module in response to complaints his earlier modules were too ''easy''.
* [[Boring but Practical]]: At least one group of adventurers has made it through without a single casualty by having a team of dwarves [[Dungeon Bypass|dig around the traps and obstacles]] with non-magical mining equipment over the course of several weeks. The writers planned for ethereal travel, melding into stone, magical defenses, teleportation, etc. but never expected an ordinary pickaxe and a group of patient, careful adventurers.
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* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: Up to and including Gary Gygax.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Acererak
* [[Excuse Plot]]: The original module gives no clear reason why the PCs want to explore the Tomb (letalone why they would ''keep'' exploring it, should they survive the first room, rather than run for their lives). Most of this is for the DM to add.
* [[For the Evulz]]: Acererak doesn't have any reason to put all the horrible stuff he does in the tomb. It doesn't even contain remotely the amount of treasure that would make those defenses worthwhile, and they clearly cost more than anything it contains. He's just ''that much'' of a [[Jerkass]].
** As it turns out, though, he ''wants'' strong adventurers to reach the final chamber - so he can [[Your Soul Is Mine|steal their souls]] in an attempt to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|become one with the Negative Energy Plane]], which would basically [[A God Am I|make him a god]] with total control over ''all'' undead including Vecna and Nerull.
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* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: The remake has to explain, in great detail, how all the adamant and [[Mithril]] gates and doors are just magically hardened to resemble these mythical metals; and if removed would lose this enchantment. This is because in the original version, savvy players would find ways to detach and steal them, as these metals are ''very'' valuable.
* [[Killer Game Master]]: The kind of person needed to run this.
** To be fair, Gygax himself developed this module for his own players, for the purpose of seeing how they'd do against a ''completely'' non-biased referee. The dungeon as written is winnable, so long as players use their heads and not their impulses. Players who take the "hack and slash" approach will be flattened quickly.
* [[Jackass Genie]]: In the form of a cursed gem that purports to grant wishes.
* [[Hand in the Hole]]: One of the more infamous [[Death Trap]]s used.
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