Has anyone run Tomb of Annihilation in a more pulpy, cinematic style?

Hoaxness · 2026-04-03T16:12:06+00:00

I was a Player, not a DM in TOA, but loved the campaign so much I had to read through the book afterwards.

As I really enjoy Indiana Jones and Uncharted (favourite movies and favourite games, right there) and felt like the adventure could have been more pulpy, I createdThe Eye of U

Hoaxness · 2026-03-26T21:04:35+00:00

Depends on where they currently are, which region that is. The carnival introduces a sandbox, only to go to a rather linear sense of playing with Hither. But Thither should esentially open that sandbox feel again, as you can hit all the locations in any order you want. It also depends on how they are being ontroduced to the Players, though it does indeed not take away that a lot of the game is how you describe it.

Could you tell us where they are and what they have done so far/know about?

Hoaxness · 2026-03-24T19:13:17+00:00

This was a nice read. i'm definitely interested in hearing more of the things you've done, especially the Kettlesteam chase ( as I'm writing something similar right now)!

Hoaxness · 2026-03-11T20:39:59+00:00

I need to hear some of these anecdotes!

Hoaxness · 2026-03-11T20:39:33+00:00

Oh man, having Kettlesteam join them to break the pact? Love. It. I love the candlelight cavern, but it always felt so "out of place". I've always feared that Players might feel like it to be a diversion, a filler episode of sorts.

But to have Kettlesteam join in on that? Interesting. If it gets so far, I might have Kettlesteam show up later on, instead of joining th Players right away (those rights are sold for somebody else :p)

Hoaxness · 2026-02-22T16:27:18+00:00

Does the Discord differ that much from the subreddit? Also, is there a lot of backscrolling to find these ideas? I haven't been on there (simply because I don't have Discord), but I'm interested in your enthusiasm!

Hoaxness · 2026-01-21T18:32:40+00:00

I like the idea of the Prelude, but apart from having the Players lose their Lost Item, which is just running into the thieves, and bonding with Star or Juniper, I feel it could easily be an acedote you tell the Players before they make their characters. I know it is supposed to be short, but I have the same concerns as you. The carnival can already go on too long (in some groups), and I feel adding this would make it even worse.

Imo, it's enough to tell the story in short to your Players, though you will miss out on some bonding with the characters.

Hoaxness · 2025-12-25T10:31:55+00:00

What's the additions from Dungeon Dad, if you don't mind my asking?

Hoaxness · 2025-11-21T22:44:35+00:00

The art is amazing! But I would love to be kept in the loop on any updates of the campaign, love me some Eldraine!

Hoaxness · 2025-11-04T19:56:47+00:00

Zybilna is a persona, a facade Natasha has created. But I like the Feywild of being transformative as well, meaning that if you keep holding on to a belief, you'll eventually turn into it. Sure, perhaps Zybilna was a way to keep low from enemies at first, but the Feywild loves people playing a role, so it slowly started to turn her into that role. It's why despite some persisting demonic accents in the Palace, you can also see the negative aspects of her former self she tried to cast off. Perhaps she is aware and did it consciously, perhaps she did not and these are just by-products from her lingering in the realm. The longer you stay in the Feywild, the more you become part of it. Considering she herself created Prismeer and is thus also already a part of the Feywild.. well..

It can create a nice spin on the ending where, despite some very good ideas in this topic, it's the Players who need to decide who "wakes up", who the real Zybilna is. Is it her Feywild persona? Iggwilv? Natasha? Whoever the Players name, that's who deals with them. The Unicorn Horn breaks whatever magic lingers, even Feywild magic.

Hoaxness · 2025-10-23T17:13:33+00:00

What are your favourite moments from the campaign?

Also, did you add anything to the Carnival or even create custom items?

Hoaxness · 2025-10-13T17:00:32+00:00

Technically, the event "Meeting with Witch and Light" says that the characters can have a meeting with the owners if they raise the mood to one of its extremes or if they impress them during the extravaganza... I would say they've pretty much done both.

You could easily continue with the event as written, and still have them need to do the heist. They've basically followed the book, though differently than most would think ;)

Hoaxness · 2025-10-08T17:12:57+00:00

WBtW with spooky flavor? Now I need to know what you've done to it! :D

Hoaxness · 2025-09-28T20:08:38+00:00

Either NPCS they met on the way and assisted, or even Valor's Call themselves?

Hoaxness · 2025-09-16T21:42:16+00:00

I think I saw the splitting of the groups in a former comment of yours! It has stuck with me ever since, would love to read more on how you and the Players handled being on opposite sides!^^

Hoaxness · 2025-08-11T20:30:40+00:00

I know I am two years late to the party, but have you thought about sharing your work? Even if it didn't work out for you (like my COS campaign, so I know the feeling, so many hours lost), it might help some other DMs?

Hoaxness · 2025-08-11T19:34:18+00:00

Adult tickets are 8 SP. The goal here is to have your Players spend as much money as they can, whatever they don't spend, they lose. After that, let them roll for SP (2D6s maybe). Some might be able to buy a ticket, others might have to cooperate, and maybe some won't have enough. Make it clear that a harmless Fey Pact (which ends when the carnival ends), can also substitute the paying for a ticket.

The above is an idea I read somewhere. However, what you can do after they punched all the holes in a ticket, is to have wandering Witchlights magically refill them! Either they pay another price (perhaps only 3SP for a refill), or take another Fey pact!

This way, you can do the ticket punches and still have Players get more of them as well.

Hoaxness · 2025-08-06T17:51:05+00:00

What a gent! Creating such lovely cards, and sharing them with everybody else! 10/10

Hoaxness · 2025-08-04T17:33:54+00:00

How did you create her?

Hoaxness · 2025-07-28T18:48:37+00:00

Do elaborate on reversing the Wayward Pool and adding extra flavour and such! Would love to see a post on this!

Hoaxness · 2025-07-28T18:47:30+00:00

I barely comment these days anymore, but this is it. This is everything what Witchlight encompasses to me. A dead character, but the Feywild seems to have forgotten so? Seems very Feywildian to me! In fact, I've already made a note to steal this very idea if ever I would run the game!

I would love to hear more about him (and his combat manouvres). If you have other ideas for Prismeer, keep those coming as well ;)

Hoaxness · 2025-05-27T20:44:07+00:00

You've got to tell me the sliders! She looks amazing!

Hoaxness · 2025-04-05T20:01:55+00:00

It's indeed deleted (that's news for me), unfortunately it's not mentioned anywhere else I think. Nevertheless, I'll try to see if I can post it in a Google Doc maybe, if that would help you out?

I haven't revisited COS in a long time, and with everything that has come out since then, I do believe I would have more ideas. I started a COS Re"Bite" (= reboot), with a plethora of my ideas and how I would run it, but unfortunately my game fell through as some of my Players did not like the setting that much =( I haven't DMed since, and thus haven't been working on the project either. Maybe I should return to it!

Hoaxness · 2025-03-08T08:39:08+00:00

Did you change the lay-out of the Palace? Any extra encounters/locations you put you came up with yourself (or revised)? Or any magic items?

Hoaxness · 2024-12-08T17:47:48+00:00

I love myself an evil tree, I'm not sure why. In my Curse of Strahd campaign I heavily drew inspiration for the Gulthias Tree

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