Tomb of Horrors

Greyhawk Source

Tomb of Horrors
Type:	Adventure module
Code/Abbreviation:	S1
Edition:	1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
Author(s):	Gary Gygax
Series:	S1, S2, S3, S4, Return to the Tomb of Horrors
First Published:	1978
Class:	Canon

Tomb of Horrors is a 1978 adventure module for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, written by Gary Gygax. It was the original tournament dungeon used at the Origins Game Fair convention. The Tomb of Horrors is a 2002 novelization of the adventure written by Keith Strohm.

Numbered "S1," the module was the first in the "S" (for "Special") series of modules. It was followed by S2: White Plume Mountain, S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Although part of a series for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, the four modules had no connecting plot or theme. Tomb of Horrors is one of the most famous Dungeons & Dragons modules.

The Tomb of Horrors is infamous among players of the game as a "killer dungeon," filled with all manner of extremely deadly traps and monsters that are capable of easily wiping out high-level parties of player characters. Indeed, some players consider Tomb of Horrors to be "unfair"; many of the traps within largely ignore game mechanics and story logic in their operation.

The plot of the original module, such as it was, was a simple dungeon crawl; the evil demilich Acererak was said to linger on in his ancient tomb in undead form, and the characters were to fight their way down through it to the demilich's inner sanctum to slay him once and for all. In 1998 a sequel was produced, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, which significantly updated the plot of the original.

Tomb of Horrors was ranked the 3rd greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Updates

Wizards of the Coast released an updated version of the original module as a free download for Halloween 2005 [1]. It retains much of the original content, updated with content from the Dungeons and Dragons supplement book Libris Mortis. The update was designed using the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition rules.

In 2017 the module was re-released, updated to Fifth Edition rules, as part of the Tales of the Yawning Portal by Wizards of the Coast, along with a number of other "classic" modules including from Greyhawk.

Novelization

Tomb of Horrors was made into the novel The Tomb of Horrors by Keith Francis Strohm for the Greyhawk Classics series. The book was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2002.

Creative origins

The concept of the Tomb of Horrors was conceived by Alan Lucien. Gary Gygax wrote the adventure from his basis with the particular goal of foiling Rob Kuntz and his son Ernie Gygax, whose characters Robilar and Tenser (respectively) had so far been invincible. Robilar ultimately managed to reach the final encounter by expending numerous orc servants. He fled with his loot rather than face Acererak. Tenser actually destroyed Acererak and kept his loot to boot, although the adventure (complete with demilich) would go on to slaughter countless other player characters.

Bibliography

• Cordell, Bruce. Return to the Tomb of Horrors. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1998.
• -----. Tomb of Horrors (Revised). Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online:[2]

• Gygax, Gary. Tomb of Horrors. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1978.
• Strohm, Keith Francis. The Tomb of Horrors. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2002.
• Kim Mohan, Mike Mearls. Tales of the Yawning Portal. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2017.

External links

• Wizards of the Coast's Tomb of Horrors page
• The Acaem's page on the "S" D&D module series
• Pen & Paper's entry for S1
• RPG Now's entry for S1

  Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic	Type	Description	Product	Page/Card/Image
Below the tomb of horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Dragon magazine #249
Return to the Tomb of Horrors Boxed Set (Tomes)	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Dragon magazine #249	38
Return to the Tomb of Horrors Boxed Set (Tomes)	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, D&D 4e	108
Return to the Tomb of Horrors Boxed Set (Tomes)	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Tomb of Horrors (Revised), D&D 3.5e	2
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Dragon magazine #225	49
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Dragon magazine #249	38, 39
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, D&D 4e	108
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Dungeon magazine #213
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	From the Ashes: Atlas of the Flanaess	73
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Ghosts of Saltmarsh, D&D 5e	28
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Ghosts of Saltmarsh, D&D 5e	28
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Living Greyhawk, Living Onnwal Gazetteer, D&D 3.5e	5
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Return to the Tomb of Horrors	3
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	S1-4 Realms of Horror, Adventure Booklet	3, 4, 5, 6, 7-20
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	S1-4 Realms of Horror, Illustration Booklet	#1-18
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	S1-4 Realms of Horror, Inscription and Map Booklet	1, 3
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Tomb of Horrors (Revised), D&D 3.5e	1
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Tales from the Yawning Portal, D&D 5e	4, 5, 212
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	Tales from the Yawning Portal, D&D 5e	210-227
S1 Tomb of Horrors	Adventure	Located in: Vast swamp,	World of Greyhawk boxed set (1983)	30
Tomb of Horrors	Place		LT2 Crypt of Lyzandred the Mad	29
Tomb of Horrors	Place		Player's Guide to Greyhawk	27
Tomb of Horrors	Place		Return to the Tomb of Horrors	6
Tomb of Horrors	Place		The Adventure Begins	2
Tomb of Horrors (D&D 1e)	Adventure		Reference	SEE S1 Tomb of Horrors
Tomb of Horrors (D&D 4e)	Adventure		Into The Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook, D&D 4e	108
Tomb of Horrors, Revised (D&D 3.5e)	Adventure		Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, Web Update
Tomb of Horrors, Revised - Illustrations (D&D 3.5e)	Adventure		Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, Web Update
Tomb of Horrors, Revised - Maps (D&D 3.5e)	Adventure		Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, Web Update
Tomb of Horrors, Revised - Maps (D&D 3.5e)	Adventure		Map-A-Week Archive, 2005	Web