Have you heard of Tomb of Horrors? Designed by Gary Gygax for the original Dungeons & Dragons game (and based on an idea by Alan Lucien), it is infamous as a character and party-killer. It was designed to test the skills of D&D players and was the D&D tournament module at Origins I in 1975 – that’s only a year after Dungeons & Dragons itself was released. Eventually it was released in 1978 as one of the first AD&D adventure modules, alongside the G and D series of adventures.

The most striking feature of Tomb of Horrors is its presentation: a 12-page adventure and a 20-page illustration booklet. It’s the illustration booklet that is most innovative, as it provides 32 illustrations of various features in the Tomb. An illustration booklet would be included in only two other modules of the classic era (Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks). I suspect reasons of cost caused the practice to be discontinued. The illustrations vary in quality, with Dave Trampier’s work generally superior to that of David Sutherland III. However, all are evocative, and they really add a lot to the adventure.

So, what is the adventure? Basically, the characters have heard rumours of a treasure-filled tomb of traps and other horrors, and so have decided to find the tomb and loot it. It’s a very AD&D reason, and the adventure plays to that. It really doesn’t need more of a reason; it’s quite acceptable as is. (I make a note here that in classic D&D, characters gain most of their XP for treasure rather than slaying monsters, in typically an 80:20 ratio).

The legends of the tomb are true: it’s a trap-filled dungeon. There are treasures to be found, but the path through is not easy by any shot. Nor can it be described as “fair” in a game sense. Indeed, it is most decidedly unfair. Tomb of Horrors isn’t designed for puzzle-solvers; it’s designed for players looking for the ultimate test of their abilities. Rob Kuntz managed to get through the dungeon by sending lots of orcs to their doom: it’s that sort of thinking that is the best way of overcoming the traps of the Tomb.

There’s no doubt that Gary Gygax’s fiendish adventure-writing tendencies were in full flight for this adventure. Consider this entry:

Charred Remains: Cinders, ashes, charred bones and skulls, the crisped and blackened remains of clothing and gear, arms and armor – a thoroughly awful and frightening sight – encircle a huge glowing orange gem. If evil/magic is/are detected for, the gem will send out pulses of wickedness and a strong aura of dweomer – so strong that the detecting character will get the vague feeling that the magic is wish connected. The gem is a cursed wish magic item, and no matter what is desired by the character daring to touch it and wish, a reverse or perversion will bring doom to that character and all named in the wish. Immediately after causing the evil wish to transpire, the gem begins to pulse with reddish lights, growing progressively stronger, brighter and hotter. Count to 10 as usual. The stone then explodes, absolutely killing any character within a 15′ radius with a wave of searing radiations and flames. The gem remains as a noisome mass of stinking purplish mold which bubbles and chuckles. In 1 week, the mass will reform as a glowing orange gem…

The writing is of this high, inventive quality throughout, and it makes great reading for the DM. For the players, the experience will certainly be evocative, if not particularly survivable – at least not for the average player.

The adventure reaches its conclusion in the final resting place of the demilich, Acererak. Here, the best solution is likely to just grab as much treasure as you can and run, for the demi-lich itself is almost impossible to destroy. (For instance, a fighter needs to have a vorpal blade to even hurt it!) The demi-lich, with its soul-sucking power, is one of the deadliest D&D monsters.

Tomb of Horrors would be revisited in the late-2E product Return to the Tomb of Horrors, converted to 3E in a free online pdf, and both converted to 4E and revisited with a new sequel in the 4E adventure confusingly titled Tomb of Horrors. In 5E, we get Tomb of Annihilation and a reprint of the original in Tales from the Yawning Portal. Very few adventures have had such an impact on the D&D game and its designers.

I think there’s little doubt that Tomb of Horrors can’t be approached as a normal adventure. It’s designed for a singular purpose: to be as difficult as possible. Both Ernie Gygax and Rob Kuntz were able to successfully navigate the adventure – with Ernie “Tenser” Gygax actually slaying the demilich – and so were other groups that Gary Gygax DMed. However, it’s slain many more PCs than have successfully completed it.

What Tomb of Horrors does well is provide the “ultimate” adventure within the D&D world: if a lich could populate their final resting place with deathtraps, you’d get this. It’s not meant to be survivable: it’s meant to keep the lich safe. The rewards for successfully completing the adventure are great, but the likelihood of that occurring is small. It’s there for the bravest and most skilled players. However, the Tomb exists in a design space that is outside of the regular play of D&D. It enriches the D&D game by existing, but most groups will have no need to adventure within it.

I really like Tomb of Horrors, having adventured (and had my character die) within it during my early AD&D adventuring days. I own the sequels, which have a lot of fun with some of the concepts without quite having the same devastating impact of the original. I’ve run one of my groups through the 4E sequel to the Tomb, and later I ran 5E’s Tomb of Annihilation.

However, this doesn’t blind me to the fact that Tomb of Horrors would likely be a very bad fit for most of my current adventuring friends. It exists at the edge of acceptable D&D design space, and is truly a “special” module, which should have a warning on it along the lines of “Handle with Care”.

It’s worth noting that a lot of the design in Tomb of Horrors is very much based around players specifically trying things and testing them out through discussion with the Dungeon Master. I’m very fond of how modern D&D allows repetitive procedures to be abstracted into Perception rolls and the like. However, the procedures in Tomb of Horrors are anything but repetitive. Every modern version I’ve seen of the Tomb tends to put in lots of Perception checks and the like, which significantly decrease the engagement of the players.

One of the strangest experiences I had was running a group of 5E players who had recently played the 5E conversion through the original (AD&D) edition, using the AD&D rules. They told me they found it too easy and boring in 5E. In this play through, they were not bored, and they were definitely engaged, even knowing many of the challenges ahead of time. There were no easy solutions, where player insight was replaced by a die roll.

Do I think Perception and Investigation checks are valuable? Absolutely I do. And they – in the form of the thief’s “Find Traps” skill and the elf’s increased chances to find secret doors – have been in the game for a very long time. But when everything boils down to them, engagement is reduced.

If you get the chance, play Tomb of Horrors in its original form. Or using the original Dungeons & Dragons rules. It’s an experience worth having. Should its difficulty be the norm? Of course not! But even though many traps seem unfair, some players will delight in the challenge and even surpass it.