u/austac06

Viskar, Irodyn, Utette, and Rusala, avert thine eyes! No reading this thread.

My players are progressing through the Tomb of the Nine Gods, but scheduling has been a challenge, so they've been in the dungeon for more than a year of IRL time. We had an out of game discussion about how the campaign is going, and they're having fun, but they did ask for a break from the tomb. They're looking for a chance to leave the tomb, go back to Port Nyanzaru, rest and restock, before diving back in.

They have not yet tried to teleport out of the tomb, so no one has landed in the Oubliette yet. They do have a mechanism to potentially teleport out, but if I stick to the alterations to magic in the Tomb, doing so would inevitably drop them in the Oubliette. I don't want to undermine the tone and inescapability of the tomb by allowing them to teleport out. Not to mention, if they have the ability to come and go as they please, they can just leave when they need to rest, which significantly undermines the deadliness of the tomb.

One thought that I had was to let the players teleport out, go back to PN, rest, restock, maybe check out dino races for some levity, but... then, suddenly, they see/experience one of the traps they've already triggered, and they abruptly wake up from a nightmare. They never left the tomb. A cruel trick played on them by Withers/the Sewn Sisters. This could give them the chance to play a more fun session (downtime at PN), while still maintaining the tone and inescapability of the tomb.

My worry is that, while they would get 1-2 sessions of doing "fun" things, this will frustrate the players even more knowing that their characters didn't get to keep any of the positive outcomes (rest, restocking, etc.) and are still where they left off in the tomb, no better off than before. I would essentially be taking away rewards they had just earned. If it happened to me as a player, I think I'd feel bitter about it too.

One thought that I had was that, upon awakening from the dream, Withers could have left them a "gift" as a consolation prize for the nightmare, which might include some (but not all) of the things they would have bought at PN. While the act of generosity might seem contrary to Wither's/Sewn Sisters'/Acererak's goals, I think it could still be consistent with their characters, because giving the players "gifts" raises their hopes, meaning their hopes would be shattered even harder when things continue to go terrible for them in the tomb.

Thoughts about this idea? Is it too cruel of a trick to play on my players? Any other suggestions to give the players a break from the torture without undermining the tomb?

Any feedback is appreciated!

I have been running Tomb of Annihilation with a group of friends for several years now. We all work full time and some of the group have kids, so naturally, scheduling is a challenge (the true BBEG of DnD). As such, progressing through the campaign has taken some time.

They're in the final dungeon of the campaign, and for those unfamiliar with the module, spoiler alert, it's a doozy of a dungeon. The campaign was written to be brutal and unforgiving, and the final dungeon is pretty grim, with lots of deadly traps and enemies.

We're all experienced players, so going into the campaign, the players knew what they were signing up for. They knew that it would be a challenge and that the risk of character death was high.

That said, I could tell the brutality of the campaign was wearing on the players. Because we only play 2-3 times a month, usually for 2ish hours, the party has been in the final dungeon for more than a year IRL time. Leaving the dungeon is next to impossible, so the party has essentially not been able to get a break from the brutality of it. They've made great progress in the dungeon and have found loot and leveled up a bit, so they have some successes to celebrate, but at the end of the day, they're still essentially being perpetually tortured by the BBEG, and the only option is to push through.

So last night, at the start of our session, I just did a check in and said "Before we get started, I wanted to check in with y'all. This dungeon has been really rough. How are we all feeling about the way the campaign is going?"

They were honest that they were having fun and always look forward to playing, but that the slow progress, coupled with inescapable torture, was definitely a downer and was keeping them from enjoying it to the maximum. They also were very gracious to say that they weren't complaining about how I was running the campaign, but that the nature of the campaign (more specifically, the nature of the final dungeon) kind of inherently limits the potential for enjoyment. They said that what might help the vibes would be a chance to leave the dungeon; bring some of the NPCs they've rescued back to the main city; have some downtime to sell loot, resupply, and recuperate; and then dive back into the dungeon.

We've talked about schedule changes to give us more time to play, and I'm brainstorming some ideas to give them the break, while also not undermining the tone of the final dungeon.

But the check in was helpful to revisit everyone's expectations and set the tone going forward. I think the players appreciated it and when we started playing, I could feel they were less anguished about their next objectives.

Of course, then one of the PCs lost an arm to a trap, which was both hilarious and a bummer, but I digress. (Plus, they have access to regeneration, so they're not terribly worried about the loss of limb for now.)

But I thought I'd share this as a friendly reminder: DMs, if you haven't checked in with your players in a while, it might be helpful to check in with them and do a sort-of mid-campaign session 0.5 to clarify expectations.

Happy adventuring!