I just got done reading the new 4e treatment of the Tomb of Horrors, and I am totally psyched to run it. I don’t want to go into too many specifics, as I do plan to use the material in my game, but I’ll tell you a few things about it.

First, it’s a very intelligently designed dungeon crawl. That is, most of the adventure takes place in dungeons, but it’s rare that an encounter is purely combat, or is even what it appears to be on the surface. Many combats include traps, and many encounters act more like puzzles–very lethal puzzles–than traditional encounters. Your group will have to think and be on their toes to get through this adventure.

Second, it’s really not a single adventure. Tomb of Horrors is actually a series of four adventures that take place between levels 10 and 22, but not consecutively. There are gaps between adventures of about two or three levels in which you can put whatever you want, whether it’s adventure material to play up the Tomb of Horrors, other published adventures, or even completely unrelated adventure material of your own devising. It’s designed to be woven into your existing campaign, a recurring theme and threat that keeps coming back to haunt the group throughout their careers.

Third, it’s got a high degree of lethality. There are a lot of “three strikes” effects where, when you fail a few saving throws, you die, are petrified, are permanently aged, and so forth. There are also more than a few interesting instantaneous effects that, while they are not immediately lethal, are extremely nasty. Tomb of Horrors doesn’t pull any punches, and is not for the faint of heart. There’s a good chance that, if you run it, some or all of your PCs will die. Be prepared for that. Further, if you want to enhance the lethality of the adventure, there are guidelines for that. Use them at your own risk.

Finally, I’ve heard rumblings about some mistakes in the adventure, particularly in relation to cartography. I noticed a few of them, but I don’t see these mistakes as deal-breakers. They are at most minor annoyances in an otherwise brilliant product that I had a blast reading and can’t wait to delve into.

Also, if you’re a player in some evil DM’s game, and this adventure is on the menu, do yourself a favor and don’t read ahead. It’ll spoil the surprise.

Related posts:

1. Mini-Review: Munchkin Cthulhu
2. The unthinkable horrors
3. The Mini Conundrum
4. Review Miscellany
5. Review: Keep on the Shadowfell