Tomb of Annihilation (Dungeons & Dragons)

Exactly as described.

Technically speaking, Tomb of Annihilation is a full campaign between two covers, with a focused objective for the players, a major narrative hook driving them forward, and all you need to run that campaign.But for me, it's just a sandbox of possibilities easily plucked out and dropped into my own campaign with next to no adjustment needed.That's the big selling point for me and it's why I like ToA so much more than many other modern modules / campaigns.Officially, this is a campaign spanning roughly levels 1-11, with the players trying to find a lost city and stop a curse that prevents people from being raised from the dead. This takes place in the jungles of Chult, and includes a major "hex crawl" exploration component, a lost city to find and explore, a mega dungeon inspired in part by the classic Tomb of Horrors, and lots of side locations. There is also a ticking clock on the whole adventure.But in practice, it's a sandbox. By that I mean there are loads of nicely fleshed out, unique and interesting locations that can easily serve as standalone adventures. Just pluck them out and drop them into your own world, no converting needed. There are 20+ such locations here, PLUS the lost city, which itself has a whole series of puzzle-focused tombs, PLUS an epic dungeon, as well as an assortment of small settlements, NPCs, monsters, and more.Lots of variety, too, from a kooky goblin village with a defense mechanism you have to see to believe, to a race of bird people living in a strange circular maze, to an imposing tower, to undead-infested camps and more.You don't need to run it as a pre-set campaign if you don't want. There is LOTS of material here to pillage and use as you see fit. That's what I love about it. I've gotten my money's worth and then some, and my group hasn't even played the actual campaign itself.About the only thing preventing it from being a perfect sandbox is that the main city which will serve as the PCs' base of operations is only lightly fleshed out.Otherwise, if you want to run a cool jungle-based, exploration-focused campaign, just toss out the death curse and ticking clock and run this. Or if you just want a bunch of standalone locations you can use with minimal work, this also fits the bill.For those reasons, this is easy to recommend.

The media could not be loaded. if want to mess with your players and show them that plot armor is fake in your campaigns, this is for you. i highly recommend this story. having it physically is a game changer. this arrived within a day and i started planning for my session immediately after. I'm currently on session four and two of my players have already made new characters, those who survived made backup characters just incase. the no revivify and DC 15 for death saves are my favorite mechanics, players are forced to think critically to stay alive. my players take the campaign serious which allows for emotional moments you just cant have in other campaigns I've DM'd. i will recommend that you play this with milestone and that you read everything first. Also keep at least two places for your players to find themselves at fresh in memory or possibly built in encounter builder, and also think up creative ways for them to get to those places. your players might surprise you with how fast they can navigate an area when they take the game seriously.

I love this adventure. It's based on a hugely favorite D&D module from ages ago, Tomb of Horrors. It steps up the play, though, and hands the players a larger environment filled with danger and discovery.There are two parts to the adventure, the first, and smaller aspect, is one of being in a town where players have to uncover the mystery, find clues and become prepared for the trek into the trackless jungle. There is politics, backstabbing, along with lots of potential palace intrigue, areas to poke around in, a whole culture to explore. Plus, dinosaur races!Not into that? Flip past it and dive into the jungle. Lots of encounters and adventures are outlined to keep your party busy and interested. Explore ruins, encounter never-before seen creatures, find treasure and magic items. Zombies, dinosaurs, and zombie dinosaurs! It's a vast, unexplored jungle filled with things to visit.The final episode, delving into the lost city itself, is filled with puzzles, danger, and very nasty creatures. All the while the danger of the Death Curse hangs over your and everybody in the world's head. Come out victorious and your players could become the heroes of all of Faerûn!This adventure is probably one of the best WoTC has put out in a long while. The book is packed with ideas and fascinating settings. As a DM, this book really gets my imagination going, and really gets me excited about the kind of things my party will encounter. The situations and people in the book feel really well-rounded and full of potential. The mechanics of the travel through the jungle will be fun and add incredible dimension.I would say this is not a good book for a beginning DM. It requires a good understanding about how D&D module books work and how to use them to create a campaign. They aren't scripts, they are outlines that require the ability to fill in the gaps, use your imagination, and be able to react to situations. This book benefits from a good amount of preparation prior to each session, mapping out potential encounters and situations. I extrapolate and invent, expand parts of the book I find interesting and skip over parts I don't. If you really want to run this adventure, but would like help, there are companion pieces available for purchase on the Web (I use the DM's Guild). These will help you understand and greatly expand the potential of the book. Don't think the book is the extent of the module. The adventure is what you make it!I guess my only big complaint would be that the maps are too small, as always. I wish there could be full-page maps for every encounter, but that would be prohibitively expensive. It does come with an immense map of the entire map of the Chult peninsula, that is two-sided, showing both undiscovered and fully-discovered aspects.Have fun!