A review by snazel
Tomb of Annihilation by Christopher Perkins
4.0
Okay so this is a well-done adventure, but really not one I'd choose to run myself. The amount of ways player characters can die in this is truly, terrifyingly, high. Every location in the jungle has at least four ways players can die, at LEAST, and that's not even including the random encounter tables, which when they're not ways to die, are reminders of the fact that other people have died recently. It's a ticking time bomb of a game that is also a meat grinder. I was reading a lot of this going "ahhh who would want to play this, this is an ENTIRELY different style of play that I'm used to" until I got to the temples at the end, that are full of traps and puzzles, and it finally clicked. "ooooo, this is an Indiana Jones-Style adventure, racing to save the day despite horrible peril". And then I read the final dungeon, where my face did this the whole time.
Let me just say, that I've read the descriptions of some pretty gothic horror type dungeons, creeping dread, etc. Those are bad. This one seemed to be pulled directly from some back corner of my nightmares? Just so many terrifying things, so many ways to die, so many ways to be reminded of everyone who died before you.
So yeah, if you're more of an AD&D player, really interested in the overall puzzle of the adventure, you really want to feel like you survived your DM throwing EVERYTHING at you, you have no issues with dungeons designed as actual nightmare fuel— this may be a great game for you! I'd be really interested in hearing the story of how your story went! If you're really attached to your characters, or want to feel like you have a fighting chance with most challenges you face (cause a lot of these there's just like, so many ways to insta-die of poison, or fall damage, or torture), this may not be the best game for you.
Let me just say, that I've read the descriptions of some pretty gothic horror type dungeons, creeping dread, etc. Those are bad. This one seemed to be pulled directly from some back corner of my nightmares? Just so many terrifying things, so many ways to die, so many ways to be reminded of everyone who died before you.
So yeah, if you're more of an AD&D player, really interested in the overall puzzle of the adventure, you really want to feel like you survived your DM throwing EVERYTHING at you, you have no issues with dungeons designed as actual nightmare fuel— this may be a great game for you! I'd be really interested in hearing the story of how your story went! If you're really attached to your characters, or want to feel like you have a fighting chance with most challenges you face (cause a lot of these there's just like, so many ways to insta-die of poison, or fall damage, or torture), this may not be the best game for you.