Greetings, 3WD-verse! DM Chris here. Along with Curse of Strahd, Tomb of Annihilation occupies a revered status as one of the “must-play” adventures in D&D. It has grown from the original Tomb of Horrors module into a complete setting, with the aforementioned Tomb lurking deep in the dangerous and vast Chultan jungle. Death and glory await…
After first reading the adventure, I was a tad overwhelmed by all of the information. I needed a different perspective, so next it was off to the internet to see how others had tackled this classic. Tip #0 – Learn from the experiences of others. Not only did it get my creative juices flowing, but I found additional community created content that helped to fill out important sites in the jungle. One of the great things about these classic adventures is that so many others have run and enhanced them over the years. So here is my coin dropped into that well.
1. Why am I Traveling to Chult?
One of the few drawbacks of the published adventure is the introduction to Chult. No spoilers here, but it’s a little bit of wham, bam, thank you ma’am, welcome to Chult. It needs a little enhancement. A touch more of a reason for the party to travel halfway around the world to a deadly jungle. I didn’t want to tell them why they were going, I wanted to show them.
For our Session 0, I ran a short module I found on DMs Guild created by James Introcaso called Cellar of Death . He created it as an introduction for Tomb of Annihilation, to act as a way to give the party a reason to travel to Chult, as well as an opportunity to get them to 2nd level before the real shenanigans start. Highly recommended.
2. Hot, Hot. Hotter than Neverwinter
The jungle is a hot and humid place. More than almost any of the other adventure modules, ToA turns up the weather and encourages you to let your players experience it in all its sweaty, exhausting glory. Or perhaps a torrential downpour that forces the party to hunker down for the day? There is plenty of that, too. One of the keys to making the weather more than just some boxed text is to make it part of the game.
The published adventure has random tables for determining the weather – use them. Start every day in game with the weather report, either rolling at the table or preparing an almanac ahead of time to speed things along. Let it affect the party, both movement-wise and on saving throws for those adventurers foolish enough to wear heavy armor into the jungle. Be prepared for days that force the party to stay in. This little trick helps to boost the tension by thinning their rations, etc.
Everybody Do the Dinosaur
Although you will be tempted to get them right out into the jungle, be patient and let them soak in the sounds and sights of Chult. Before they go anywhere, they’re going to need a guide, as exploring without one can leave your party lost. The published adventure offers many different NPC guide options, each with their own backstory and motivations. Pick the ones you like. Interviewing guides is a little like in-game shopping, so let them choose from the ones that suit the story you’re telling.
One of the most spirited additions they’ve made to Chult over the years is the Dinosaur Races. It’s a fun little in-game game that involves making Animal Handling checks while riding on dinosaurs. Players can participate, or they can make bets on who will win. This is a great way to get everyone rolling, as well as some really fun role play. Use it to spice up your first excursion through the city.
No Rest for the Jungle Explorer
Tomb of Annihilation comes with its own hexcrawl mechanic and a treasure trove of region-specific random encounter tables but, just like the weather, this is an adventure where the journey matters. Jungle travel is dangerous and exhausting, and you want your players to feel it. The existing mechanic wasn’t really doing it, so I went back out to the internet.
The fantastic blog post I hate the hexcrawl in Tomb of Annihilation by Harald Maassen was a eureka moment for me. Here was someone who saw the issues and provided an alternative that is frankly genius. The post is chock-full of great ideas around traveling in the jungles of Chult, but the part that really hit home for me was a simple, but logical twist. No long rests while traveling through the jungle. Resources, or the dwindling lack thereof, are one of the best ways to ratchet up the tension.
As a warning gleaned through actual play using the no Long Rest mechanic, you’ll want to provide a way to let your party regain some level of resource and reward to keep them happy. Wizards and other spellcasting classes really start to wither after a few days. I introduced a campfire mechanic for when the party stopped for the night. Different activities (a meal, a song, staring at the stars, etc) provided little mini-rewards like regaining a spell slot or inspiration. With that small tweak, it made the travel both fun and still challenging.
Better Run Through the Jungle
There are so many places, encounters, and NPCs in ToA that you could almost make a whole campaign of it without going to the infamous Tomb itself. The jungles of Chult are crowded with ancient mysterious ruins and other interesting things. Choose your tour. Find the stuff in the adventure that speaks to the story you and the players will tell, then let them find it. You can always change the location of ancient ruins, but you can’t always keep your players focused on the story if they get bogged down in small side quests and a mass of trivial information.
The modified hexcrawl mechanic for traveling I spoke about earlier is an easy and effective tool to help the players feel like their characters are traipsing through the deep jungle. But by the time they’ve hit 5th level, you’ll have drained all the magic out of it. It’s perfect for low-level, but sort of pointless once they’ve developed into some serious customers. Plan on abandoning it somewhere around 5th level and move to redlining to locations with random encounters sprinkled in until you get them to the Tomb.
Finally, prepare your random encounters for ToA. Roll them out ahead of time and leave yourself a list. I love a good random encounter, but this way you can be head-up about which random encounter you rolled earlier works the best for where they’ve ended up in the session, rather than trying to read the tiny text on the encounter tables.
Final Thoughts
Although my ToA campaign eventually fell apart after the untimely passing of our dear friend and erstwhile leader, DM Thorin, the tips I learned from others that had played this classic module and the lessons I learned while DMing it still help me in my other games. So, if you haven’t had the pleasure, maybe make Tomb of Annihilation your next campaign. And make sure to tap into the wealth of information and community created content out there to help it, or any of your other campaigns, shine. Many thanks to the below creators for providing me inspiration when I began preparing:
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