YMMV / Tomb of Horrors

• Broken Base: The fan perception of Tomb of Horrors is generally divided into two camps;
  • The proponents of the Tomb say that, while the dungeon is indeed incredibly hard and frustrating, it is not too unfair, and it is all worth it in the end for the sense of accomplishment you get by beating the most legendary meatgrind in D&D.
  • The other camp point to the Tomb as the primary example of why Gary Gygax was a sadistic bastard who should've never been allowed behind a DM's screen. The dungeon is not only extremely hard, it is too frustrating to actually be fun, and any sense of accomplishment is beaten out by how blatantly unfair the dungeon is, with countless traps that will instantly kill you if you don't know about them beforehand. Two changes made in later editions are frequently mentioned when pointing to how blatantly unfun and sadistic this module is. The first Obvious Rule Patch was changing the crown to be immovable, making it impossible to weaponize it. The second Obvious Rule Patch was to prevent players from stealing the gates (originally they were made of precious magical metals, but were changed to be dirt enchanted) preventing players from getting too rich. Detractors point out how while this is obsentitly a "puzzle" level that rewards creativity and quick thinking, these changes prevent players from using said creativity. The gate is particularly egregious, as the Tomb is already sparse with treasure, especially for an adventure with such a high lethality rate.
  • A third party notes the Tomb of Horrors' biggest issue is that it is different from other games of its era. The Tomb of Horrors is primarily not a combat location but a puzzle location with lots of traps and weird lures designed to be Schmuck Bait. The best way to survive is to slowly move through with a literal ten foot pole and test everything. Ironically, subverted with the Demilich at the end who may well be invincible to combat.
• Complete Monster: Acererak is a cambion demilich who founds cults, so he may manipulate their members into being his shield, resulting in their deaths when convenient. Creating the titular tomb of horrors to entrap adventurers, kill them horribly and drain their souls for his dark purposes, Acererak crafted even more tombs, in some cases wiping out entire cities or civilizations to do so while experimenting on countless innocents to create undead monsters, while also crafting a device to drain the souls of the dead to eventually create a new god to unleash to destroy as many innocents as possible. After his supposed defeat, Acererak returns to seek godhood by draining the essence of dead gods. Killing countless people via undead attacks, Acererak even orders a mass suicide of his followers to empower his abilities, intending on becoming a being strong enough to challenge the gods themselves and rise to force every living thing in the multiverse to suffer.
• Heartwarming Moments: Asking the Siren trapped in the Gold and Silver misted cave to join you would free her from the enchantment trapping her in the cave and make her the players' friend for life. Heartwarming indeed.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • One of the hints spelled out on the floor in the first room is "the iron men of visage grim do more than meets the viewer's eye".
  • One trap amounts to dropping a magic steamroller on the victim.
  • One scene in Kubo and the Two Strings replicates the infamous front entrance trap: the trio is about to enter the mouth of a skull entrance, when one of them removes a tooth and the cavern ceiling comes barreling down on them.
• Signature Scene: The green demon face in the front entrance, which contains a Sphere of Annihilation, is perhaps the most iconic trap of the entire dungeon, and that's saying a lot.
• Spiritual Successor
  • Fourth Core, a series of modules intended to replicate the difficulty of the original Tomb. Like with Paranoia, players are supposed to roll up several backup characters, since they are expected to go through them like a cold-sufferer goes through tissues.
  • The 5e module Tomb of Annihilation is set in a tomb (this time it belongs to a bunch of gods), has the Big Bad plan to steal souls, and, of course, features Acererak as said Big Bad.
• That One Level: There are challenges aplenty in the hundreds of other adventures written for the various incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons. This is the one you don't want to see in your game master's hands.
• The Woobie: The Siren in the original version of the Tomb of Horrors. Trapped inside the tomb as a personal joke by Acererak, she is cursed so she can't leave the cavern she is trapped in. The curse prevents her from saying how to lift it; she can only hope the players "Ask her to join them" to lift her curse. Of course, most players would suspect the Siren to be just one of many traps, a shmuck bait or just a monster or simply take one of the bag of holdings resting beside her, resulting in her being erased from existence. On the other hand, saving her would make the players' friend for life.

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