Tomb of Annihilation is a near-perfect adventure designed for character levels 1-11. Your players will travel to the faraway Land of Chult; a primordial jungle teeming with life and brimming with undead. You’ll explore secret temples, lost ruins of fallen kingdoms, and the world’s deadliest dungeon, as your group tries to stop a global death curse that finally puts the fear of dying back into the players’ hearts. Along the way they’ll have to contend with a mummified Yuan-ti and his army of snake people, the infamous lich Acererak and his armies of undead, not to mention carnivorous plants, deadly monsters, and freaking dinosaurs!

Drawing inspiration from three classic old-school modules, The Isle of Dread, Dwellers of the Forbidden City, and the infamous Tomb of Horrors, this adventure presents something for evrey type of player. Sandbox exploration, an exotic locale, high-stakes adventure with a world-ending threat, interesting and diverse villains and NPCs to interact with and unique bad-ass monsters to fight. And that’s before you even get to the titular dungeon at the end filled with more traps, tricks, and crazy encounters than the original death-trap dungeon. If you’ve read my Top 15 D&D 5e Adventures post, you’ll know that Tomb of Annihilation is at the top of my list, but it still can benefit from a little tweeking. Strap on your +1 pith helmets and let’s explore.

 

Adventure Resources

As with all my Campaign Resource Pages, this is a complete overview of our experience playing this adventure. There are six sections:

The Campaign Diary – The full saga of the new Society of Stalwart Adventurers as they sail down to Chult to catch a few new attractions for a batty zookeeper and quickly get in over their heads.

Explorer’s Guide to Chult – A summary of my in-depth post that delves into the history, legends, and lore of the Land of Chult that is hinted at in the adventure, but never fully detailed. Full articles on Chult’s religion and pantheons, its history and timeline, its calendar and celebrated holiday, plus notes on its culture and languages. To read the full post, here is the link: Explorer’s Guide to Chult.

The Charts – All of the charts and tables that I use to run the campaign. They include Monster Stat sheets, Encounter Lists, DM Screen inserts, Village Rosters, Rules Synopses, Campaign Setting Overviews and more. I’ve included the adventure-specific charts and a blank copy if you prefer to make your own. If you want a more in-depth analysis of these charts, check out my Dungeon Master Resource Page.

The Maps – All the maps that I used to run Tomb of Annihilation, including custom maps and battle mats. Player Maps have all hidden locations, traps, and secret areas removed. They are great for handing out to your group (as they explore each section) so that they can better visualize the encounter.

The Handouts – I love handouts! In the tradition of the original module, this adventure has an official 24 handouts. Frickin’ awesome! Of course, I added dozens more, including a 14-page “lost” journal, to seed adventure hooks and potential exploration opportunities. I usually print them using a variety of construction and specialty papers cut to fit my printer. The PDFs versions can be printed as is or used as a starting point for your own creative spin.

The Online Resources – I’ve included links to some excellent websites that can help you run your game, along with some awesome YouTube channels that will give you more ideas to run this adventure and improve your skills as a DM.

As always, if there is anything else that you think I should have here to help you run your own campaign, please leave a comment.

 

Campaign Diary

Session 1 – We embark on a grand expedition into uncharted territory. An exploration of life and death in the primordial Land of Chult!

 

Session 2 – Our heroes visit the Realm’s strangest zoo, get a quest from the daffy zookeeper and gain passage on the slowest boat to Chult.

 

Session 3 – Enroute to Chult, our stalwart heroes sit through a grim eulogy, ram a sea monster, and try to crash their ship before it sinks.

 

Session 4– Our stranded heroes struggle to survive an arduous safari, as the players insist on making it harder than necessary.

 

Session 5 – Our castaways’ desperate expedition continues, plauged with monsoons, deadly flowers, and very determined undead.

 

Session 6 – Finally, we start the jungle adventure, with surly custom agents, massage parlors and an urchin known only as “Bucketboy”.

 

Session 7 – It’s Dino Racing Time! Where I commit a cardinal DM sin and permanently lose a player as a result.

 

Session 8 –  Welcome to the Trickster Trials. Witness thrilling competitions, feats of daring-do, and the specter of past sins.

 

Session 9 – Where our heroes wrap up their city adventures; gaining sponsors, hiring guides, and fending off the local mafia.

Session 10 – The time has come to turn up the heat, as our heroes venture into the steamy jungle primordial. Finally.

 

Session 11 – Our valiant expedition hits a snag when they stumble around an ancient temple and suffer a glorious, rejuvenating TPK!

 

Session 12 – Trapped and alone in a Yuan-ti prison, our heroes have to find a way out, find each other, and find all their stuff.

 

Session 13 – The penultimate battle as our heroes defile a Yuan-ti temple to save their friend from a fate worse than death.

 

Session 14 – The party hits a major crossroad where they have to decide between obligation, morality, or friendship.

 

Session 15 – Our heroes choose a new direction in the campaign, but will they choose goblins, undead, or dinosaurs?

 

Session 16 – Where we find the final destination of Yellyark, stumble upon a huge, delirious plot development, and nearly get killed by fog.

 

Session 17 – This is it! The Raiders of the Lost Ark session we’ve all been waiting for. Don’t forget your whip. But leave Satipo behind.

 

Session 18 – This week, some raging reptiles seek revenge, we complete our first quest, and the death curse finally begins. Yea, death!

 

Session 19 – This week, an epic invasion of undead, our heroes get their first glimpse at Ras Nsi, and Martic finally plays his cards right.

 

Session 20 – Our heroes tangle with a metallic god, a dinosaur king, and they witness firsthand the devastation of the death curse.

 

Session 21 – Our heroes discover the source of the Nyanzaru plague, which leads to a very unexpected reunion.

 

Session 22 – Our heroes receive a prophetic gift in a session filled with runes, glyphs, and secret societies. And the Flaming Fist.

 

 

Explorer’s Guide to Chult

The Explorer’s Guide to Chult is an indispensible resource if you want to expand upon the adventure presented in the official printed book. This is a separate post I wrote to fully explore the legends, lore, history, and culture of this vastly unique land. I highly recommend reading the entire post, but I will briefly discuss its contents and any important charts it includes.

The land of Chult was not originally conceived by Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms. Chult is the brain child of James Lowder who wanted to write an epic jungle adventure as part of the loosely defined Harpers series of adventure novels. Written in 1992 for D&D 2nd edition, The Ring of Winter follows the adventures of Artus Cimber as he quests for a powerful (and evil?) artifact, the Ring of Winter. His journey takes him to Chult where he finds the ring and saves the ancient city of Mezro from destruction at the hands of a horde of cannibal goblins, a maniacal cult, and a demonic spirit. James Lowder also wrote the follow-up supplemental adventure, The Jungles of Chult, so that players can run their own adventures in this primordial wonderland.

Even though the events of The Ring of Winter take place 130 years before Tomb of Annihilation, Artus Cimber is a major NPC in our current adventure. But it is possible to skip his storyline completely. That would be a shame, since the secondary villain of Tomb, Ras Nsi (the yuan-ti with the flaming sword, above), is also a major player in The Ring of Winter. These storylines, plus the mystery surrounding Mezro, the machinations of an evil god, Dendar (given just a single line in Tomb), and the fate of the true god of Chult, Ubtao, are all so intertwined that it would be a shame to exclude them. My Guide attempts to give some context and ways to incorporate these glimpsed ideas.

Religion

There are three separate pantheons worshipped in Chult. Because I am insane, I added a fourth. There are deities for Chultan, Forgotten Realms, Trickster gods, and Maztica religions. My Guide gives full details for all these gods but I will list them breifly here.

Ubtao – He is the most important Chultan god, and if I only focused on one deity, it would be him. He is the creator of Chult and its guardian, althought he does not interfere directly with his land or its people. He has many followers but no clerics and he grants no spells. His symbol is a maze which represents the path each person must walk in life.

Dendar – She is an evil 300′ long snake that is prophesized to swallow the sun and destroy the world. She is worshipped by the Yuan-ti, whom strive to free her from her prison in the volcanic Peaks of Flame. Also in my game, I have Dendar as represented by the moon.

There are a few other minor deities, such as Ectazin, Eshowdow, and Thard Harr but they can easily be ignored and not be a part of the story. But they can be found in Chult so I included them in my Guide. Link above.

Several Forgotten Realms gods have worshippers in Chult. Waukeen, goddess of trade and gold is the main deity, due to the local leaders (merchant princes) reliance on wealth and trade. Others include Gond, god of invention; Lathander, god of dawn, birth, and spring; Savras, god of wizards and divination; Sune, goddess of beauty; and Tymora, goddess of good luck.

The Trickster gods are false deities that many Chultans worshipped after Ubtao stopped answering their prayers. Many believe that these Trickster gods are merely aspects of Ubtao. They play an important role at the end of the adventure, but are not mentioned in the book beforehand. I used a homebrewed festival that occurs during the first week of the player’s arrival to introduce them. They each have a unique spirit animal. See the diagram below.

Lastly, I used the Maztica pantheon to further flesh out the calendar and add some holidays. I consider them to be further aspects of Ubtao, Each representing an important element to the land of Chult. I will mention them in the calendar section, but here are their names and main facet: Kukul – man, Maztica – earth, Qotal – peace, Zaltec – war, Tezca – fire and sun, Plutoq – mountains, Azul – water and rain, Kiltzi – love, Watil – plants, Nula – animals, Eha – air and wind.

 

History

Chult has a rich and detailed history that is barely mentioned in the book. It makes some vague hints but gives no details. The extended history goes back to the dawn of time, where Ubtao first captured and imprisoned Dendar. As a reward, Ubtao is given full reign over Chult. He creates the jungles and all its diverse flora and fauna. The first tribes of men arrive in Chult and immediately begin warring with each other. Ubtao creates a magical city called Mezro for his favored tribe, the Tabaxi, a race of humans named long before the introduction of the now more well-known cat-folk.

During the war between the human tribes, one tribe is nearly wiped out when a demonic summoning goes wrong. Then, in a act of genocide, one of Mezro’s leaders, Ras Nsi, murders every single man, woman, and child of that weakened tribe. For his atrocity, Ras Nsi is banished from the city. This is the same Ras Nsi that is a villain in our adventure. He is over 4000 years old and still longs to return to Mezro, which he has sworn to protect at all costs. Meanwhile, the city of Mezro uses magical means to hide itself from the world.

Skipping ahead a few centuries, Chult is discovered by the country of Amn, who immediately set up a trading colony. Then the events depicted in The Ring of Winter novel occur in 1363DR and Mezro reopens its gates. Later, during the Spellplague of 1385DR, Mezro is seemingly destroyed, leaving nothing but a few ruins. Then just a few years ago, Amn grew bored of Chult, and pulled back most of its armed forces, allowing several wealthy merchants to proclaim themselves the new rulers of the land, with Port Nyanzaru as it’s new capital. No official year is given for Tomb of Annihilation, but I’ve set my campaign in 1490DR. The Year of Star Walker’s Return.

 

Calendar and Holidays

Just a few notes about the Chultan calendar. I kept the same 12 months per year, 30 days per months, 10 days per week schedule that the Forgotten Realms uses. But to make Chult unique, I renamed all the months to reflect the Maztica pantheon. I also named each day based upon the Trickster gods. Then, I reworked the festival days and added several new holidays to honor the Chultan gods. Chief among these changes is the first week of Azul (April) and is the first full week of my players’ arrival in Chult. The Trickster Trials will have a competition and celebration for each of the nine Trickster gods. This will allow my players to learn a little background and maybe earn a some coin to boot. Obviously, for more details, read the full post from Session 8. Here is a link to PDF of the full Chultan Calendar:

PDF – Calendar ToA

 

Language

I haven’t decided how deep I want to bury myself in the different languages in Chult. Officially, Chult uses the language of Amn, which is called Thorass. It is spoken like Common English, but the alphabet is different. To complicate things further, the original language of Chult is completely different. I would base that language after Cuneform or Demotic alphabets. And to really drive your players nuts, use the Hieratic alphabet for the Yuan-ti; all the letters look like snakes to me.

Don’t get me started on Mayan heiroglyphs.

This is just a summary of the info found in the full post. Check the link Explorer’s Guide to Chult for more details.

 

The Death Curse

In Tomb of Annihilation, the adventure begins with the inciting incident, The Death Curse, having already begun over twenty days before our heroes arrive in Chult. This is a mistake and a huge missed opportunity. As is, the Curse is impractical, has no emotional investment, no gravitas, forces the story into an early climax, and worse, is boring.  My advice is to not start the death curse until the players have conducted at least one expedition into the jungle.

You players can begin the game in Port Nyanzaru simply looking for adventure. If you need a story hook, you can use the factions to create one. The Order of the Gauntlet is always sending new recruits to fight the hordes of undead. The Harpers have heard that some other faction is trying to destabilize the newly installed government; the heroes are sent to investigate. The Emerald Enclave has felt a disturbance in the Natural order; go look into it. Etc. Or if you want your players to be factionless, do what I did. Have a wealthy patron hire them to go to Chult to collect artifacts and animal specimens.

Once in Chult, try to develop some NPCs that have died and been ressurrected. Look into the player’s backstory to see if anyone with a close connection to them fits this criteria. One of my players gave me a list of fellow soldiers who died and were raised during a war fought in a faraway land. Thank you, I’ll take that. As the campaign progresses, when the group meets a suitable NPC that they gravitate towards, add into that NPC’s backstory that they had been resurrected. Even better, work it into the adventure and have the players be the one responsible for reviving them. In my very first session, I gave my players two Scrolls of Revivify for just this reason. They ended up using it on a well-liked NPC when that person died. When the Death Curse began, this gave my group a much stronger motivation to stop the Curse.

The Curse Begins

Whenever you decide to begin the Death Curse, you’ll want it to be as leathal, global, ruthless, and relentless as possible. But as it is, it just isn’t. There are two main effects of the Curse. Anyone who dies cannot be revived from the dead by any means and their soul is lost to feed the rebirth of an evil god. Next, anyone who has been raised in the past is currently dying at the rate of 1 hit point per day until they die again and their soul is lost. While clerics might be disturbed by the existential crisis and players might be annoted that Death Saves suddenly became important, the Death Curse isn’t much of a threat.

To begin with, the Curse does not affect that many people. Even in a high fantasy world, aside from a few high-level NPCs that the players have never met, just how many people have been resurected? The number has to be ridiculously small. reviving the dead is a very expensive spell. In fact, the adventure itself, only named three people, directly affected by the Curse. The player’s patron, Syndra Silvane, one of the Merchant Princes, and Ras Nsi. And the last two never willingly reveal this affliction to the players. So, there’s one person in the entire world that this Death Curse affects. Well, it sucks to be her. To be even slightly impactful. The Death Curse needs a lot more bodies.

I created a list of 15 new NPCs that have been raised in the past, live in Chult, and can interact with the players. Some of the NPCs, such as Houndspurr the thief and Undril the cleric, met the players before the Death Curse became active. This gave their affliction a more emotional impact. The others met the players in a hospital set up once the Curse began.

 

The Charts – DM Resources

Here are the links to all the charts I created to help me run Tomb of Annihilation. If you need more details about each chart, continue reading below.

PDF – Party Character Stats – keeps each player’s important stats at a glance.

PDF – ToA DM Screen – rules for  travel, diseases, poison and more for your DM Screen.

PDF – Calendar ToA – full 12-month calendar, with months and holidays unique to Chult.

PDF – Equipment List Arms ToA – List of Armor and Weapons with Chultan prices.

PDF – Equipment List Gear ToA – List of Gear with items unique to Chult.

PDF – Nyanzaru Questionaire ToA – Handout I give to players to fill out for story hooks.

PDF – Expedition Equipment ToA – Handout shows the cost break down of expeditions.

PDF – ToA Camp Vengeance Battle Chart – Chart used to run an epic large-scale battle.

 

Player Character Stats

For this campaign, I did not provide my players with the usual Rules synopsis, Critical Hit tables, and Setting guide. They are experienced players, we just use the double damage Crit rule, and I don’t want them to have any knowledge of Chult yet; they will have to learn these things through good roleplay. But for the sake of completion, I will include them at the end of this post, below. What follows are all the charts and tables for the DM eyes only. No peeking, you conniving, cheating, double-crossing, lily-livered, dice-fudging, min-maxed, hobo-murdering, meta-gaming PCs! For further explanation of any of these tables, go to my Dungeon Master Resource Page.

First, I keep all the important Player Character Stats on this cheat sheet. You can see it attached to my DM screen below. It helps me plan encounters and keep things balanced, especially when running things on the fly. The PDF is blank, so that you can pencil in your own PC stats.

PDF – Party Character Stats

 

The DM Screen

Almost every adventure released by WotC has a unique DM Screen associated with it and available for purchase. The one for Tomb has some decent art pulled from the pages of the book, but that’s about it. Some of the art is on the DM side, so it is useless for showing to players and takes up valuable space for things a DM really needs: charts and tables!

Of the tables that are included, they are mostly pointless. Over 75% of it is random monster and treasure tables that are better presented in the book itself and do not reflect the things that you will need every session. To that end, I created my own charts that will prove to be far more useful. Just print out the PDFs (ToA DM Screen) and attach them to your usual DM screen with paper clips. I like the medium black binder clips that are easier to apply and remove and don’t mar you screen. Following is a brief overview of the contents of all three pages.

Page 1 gives the rules for travelling in the jungle. WEATHER has some simple rolls to determine temperature and rain. This also includes how much water can be collected by using a rain catcher. For example, 4 hours of light rain would collect 4 gallons of water, mist would produce 2 gallons, heavy rain provides 8, and zero in a monsoon (the winds are too strong, and spill any water collected.) TRAVEL & NAVIGATION repeats the rules as presented in the book for those mechanics. However, I would either eliminate or lower the DC to 5 if the players are following the shoreline, say if they got shipwrecked on a beach and refused to enter the jungle.

GUIDES is a quick list of the Navigation stats of all the available guides for the party to hire. Sadly the book does not provide these stats and I had to work them out based upon their listed skills. The Survival skill was determined strictly based upon class and skill proficiency listed in the book. But I would alter several of them to better reflect their character. Specifically, Faroul should be +3 tops, Qawash +6 or +7, and Shago +4 or +5. But you do what you want. If a player insists on being the guide (or a guide is killed) add their stats to the page. Additionally, I would have any player navigators make their Navigation checks with Disadvantage or at least a +5 to the Difficlty Challenge (DC).

FORAGING I added from the DM Guide because I guarantee that someone is going to want or need to hunt for food. DEHYDRATION is as described in the adventure except the italicized line about needed 3 gallons of water each day when the temperature is over 100 degrees. EXHAUSTION is taken directly from the Player’s Handbook and should hopefully come into play several times.  The EQUIPMENT DAMAGE chart is a homebrew table that reflects the harsh conditions in the jungle, Each day, there is a 25% chance that something will break while on expeditions into the jungle. If something breaks, roll a d20. It might be a minor inconvenience like a lost pot, a wet bedroll, or a oar snapped off in the mud. Or it could be far more detrimental like spoiled rations, a smashed water barrel, or a swamped canoe. You decide how this affects the party. Hopefully they brought extras.

Page 2 presents all the rules for Disease and Madness. These two elements represent a big shift in the deadly nature of this campaign. Several new diseases are presented in the adventure but it is easy to forget to implement them and when you do, you will not be able to find the page they are listed on (page 40). Also, I included the three diseases listed in the DM Guide (page 257). Each disease lists its source, the Constitution save (printed in bold) needed to not become infected, and the incubation period or onset before symptoms occur. The major debilitating symptom is also listed in bold. Notes on any addition triggers and how to cure it are included. Most of these diseases are natural so, sadly, they can also be cured by clerics and paladins instantly. (Kill them first.)

The first three DISEASES (Cackle Fever, Sewer Plague, and Sight Rot) come from the DMG. Cackle Fever has no listed contraction source so I added that it comes from exposure to the noxious fumes in swamps. I also made it a magical disease created by the Red Wizards of Thay to keep out trespassers, and thus immune from those pesky clerics. Sewer Plague is not altered from the book. Sight Rot is also the same, except I changed the source to be from airborne plant spores. Which plants specifically? Don’t know yet. This is to make it distinct from Throat Leeches (both listed as coming from tainted water.) The three diseases listed in Tomb (Shivering Sickness, Throat Leeches, and Mad Monkey Fever) are unchanged from the printed book. Just remember that Insect Repellent will stave off the Shivering Sickness from the constant gnats everywhere but not from taking damage fighting giant insects. Also, Mad Monkey Fever is a magical disease unaffected by healers (HA!), and I would change its onset to 0-3 hours (1d4-1).

Two of the diseases (and one new poison) can inflict MADNESS to varying degrees. So I added those tables to my DM Screen. I was pressed for space and I tried to be as concise as possible, but check the DMG (pages 259-260) for clarification for anything that isn’t clear. Bear in mind that any madness that affects speech, prevents verbal spellcasting. In addition to the natural cures listed, lesser restoration can cure a short or long term madness, but feel free to rule against that, if appropriate. Greater Restoration is required to instantly cure an indefinite madness.

Page 3 has lists for all the poisons that can be harvested and inflicted upon both player and monster alike. Next are several lists of all the types of animals, some deadly, some not, that might be found in the jungle. It uses a mix of African and Amazonian animals.

POISONS lists the effects of 15 poisons, nine of which are found on pages 257-258 of the Dungeon Master Guide. I did not include posions that would not be available here, such as Drow and Purple Worm poison, or ones that had very similar effects to others, such as Oil of Taggit. I added six new poisons (denoted with an *) some referenced in the book, some homebrew. Each poison includes its method of intake, its Constitution save in bold, the price to purchase one dose, and its source ingredient (in italics) from a plant or animal indigenous to Chult. The DMG poisons are unchanged from the book, except for the inclusion of its Chultan ingredient. If the ingredient is in bold, then it comes from the ToA adventure book, and probably also has a beneficial effect (see page 205). The only poison unavailable for the players to produce or purchase is Yuan-ti Blue. Its formula is a closely guarded secret. But if they loot some off Ras Nsi’s corpse, well that’s fair game.

RANDOM ANIMAL TABLES – Despite all the undead roaming around, the jungle is teeming with life. So I created several tables to populate paradise with all manner of beasts that walk, slither, swing, and fly to spruce up your tropical descriptions. “You hear the wincing wail of a Howler. These rations are 100% pure warthog, tough and leathery. Ouch! You just got bit by a Boomslang, very deadly. No, that’s a Ocelot kicking your ass, not a jaguar.” Twenty Herbivores, 20 snakes (6 constrictors, 14 Poisonous), 20 species of birds, 10 Carnivores (including 10 feline species), and 10 breeds of monkeys. That’s over 90 animals, dawg! Ooh, I forgot dogs. The dingo will have to do. There are two glaring omissions. The chimpanzee is technically an ape, but wouldn’t be on the predator list; just add it to the list of possible monkey breeds. And the elephant is not canonically found in Chult. I have a plot line where they have been hunted to near extinction and the players might have to defend the last remaining herd from poachers.

Here’s the link again to the DM Screen inserts – ToA DM Screen

 

Equipment Lists

I ususally include the Equipment list with my batch of Player’s Handouts. But I didn’t use them this campaign, so I’ll include it here. This is mostly identical to the lists presented in the Player’s Handbook. There are a few items (such as metal armor) that are much more expensive in Chult. Also, there are a few specialty items that are controlled by various Merchant Princes in the city. They are denoted with an (MP) symbol. Plus, there is a unique weapon, and a fermented honey drink called tej that replaces wine on the beverage list. Obviously, prices can be adjusted, based upon availability and the quality of the shop. There are two files for the Equipment Lists.

PDFs – Equipment List Arms ToA & Equipment List Gear ToA

 

Port Nyanzaru Questionaire

When my players finally got to Port Nyanzaru, they had to go through customs, to make certain they weren’t smuggling anything into Chult. (No one cares about what they smuggle out.) This survey is a fun way to impose taxes on any weapons, seed a few quest hooks via the various factions, mention the Merchant Princes, and inquire about any resurrections in their backstory, which will become important later on.

PDF – Nyanzaru Questionaire ToA

 

Expedition Pricing Sheet

When my players finally get around to planning their first expedition, they will be in for a rude awakening when they discover that to finance a modest trip into the jungle will cost about 1000 gold. When they balk at the cost, you can provide them with this expenditure pricing sheet, explaining all the required gear. For the cheapskates, there is an economy option, but that runs the serious risk of leaving them stranded in the jungle after running out of supplies.

PDF – Expedition Equipment ToA

 

Dinosaur Racing

One of the more exciting activities one can do in Port Nyanzaru is watching (and participating in) the dinosaur races that are run every week in town. It’s like the Kentucky Derby, but with frickin’ dinos! Personally, I think that there should be NO dinosaurs within the city of Port Nyanzaru. It ruins the mystique of these legendary monsters and completely negates their danger and threat when they are presented as domesticated beasts of burden, pets and playthings. Better to leave them in the jungle where they reign supreme. But if you are determined to let your players run in the Dino Derby, as I mistakenly was, here are some rules I used to make it a more visual and viceral experience. Just be forewarned that my mis-handling of the race and its new rules resulted in a player leaving the group permanently. See ToA Session 7 for all the tragic details.

To start, each player drew a random index card that I prepared beforehand. Each index card had the name and breed of their Dinosaur, plus its DC Animal Handling check and its two speeds, normal and max. See the chart below for these details. For game pieces, you could use small plastic toy dinosaurs as I did, or your player’s mini, or any colored token to represent each dino in the race.

Just like in the book, the race is determined by Animal Handling checks. For simplicity, have each player use their own character’s skill stat for this check. Each round, every player makes an Animal Handling check against the DC listed below on the chart. If the check passes, the dino moves ahead based upon the first Speed listed. Each space on the track is equal to 10′. Thus, on a passed check, a T-Rex would move 5 spaces. On a failed roll, the dinosaur does not move at all that turn. See below for the Complications chart. I flipped the rule for pushing your mount faster. If you choose to make your dino run faster, you roll the Animal Handling check with DISadvantage. If they pass, the dino runs that turn only at the higher speed. That same T-Rex would move 8 spaces. If they fail, the dino doesn’t move and if the check fails by more than 5, then that dino is out of the race due to exhaustion.

If a player wants to use a RED alley as a shortcut, the player rolls an additional Animal Handling check to see if the creature can navigate the narrow space. If they pass, the dino enters the alley and moves the remaining number of spaces based on its Speed score. If they fail, the turn ends here and any remaining movement is lost. If two players enter a NARROW space on the track at the same time, then both players roll a contested Animal Handling check, the winner immediately moves one extra space past the narrow section and the rest of the move phase occurs normally. The first dinosaur to cross the finish line, wins.

For strictly narrative purposes, below is a chart with a list of Complication to be used when a rider fails their Animal Handling check. This gives a descriptive explaination why that dinosaur fails to move on a particular turn. In addition, bear in mind that this race is actually a player vs. player scenario, which is usually problematic in an RPG. Some players might have their character cheat or create some kind of advantage, because that’s what players do. Be very careful when considering any character inspirations or ideas that might unbalance the game to the detriment of another player.

This applies to combat within the race as well. In the “tame” regular race, avoid any temptation to allow any combat to occur between any dinosaurs. This is a clean race. During my playthrough, I allowed the possibility for the carnivores to lose control. This was catastrophic, ruined the entire session, and ended with a player quitting the game. To avoid this, don’t allow any carnivores to run in any of your “clean” races. As for the no-holds-barred “Unchained” race, well all bets are off.

I would hold a combat attempt when ever two dino end their turn in the same space or when one dinosaur passes another. Obviously, a player can choose to have their dinosaur attack another, or not. But in the case of a carnivore jovkey choosing not to attack, I would have that player roll another Aninmal Handling check to control its mount’s carnivorous nature. Roll attack rolls based upon that creature’s stats, but remember that the victim of the attack can use the Dodge option, forcing the attacking dinosaur to roll with disadvantage. This is key in allowing a fair chance of survival. I did not think of this during our session and it cost me dearly. Caveat bellator dinosaurum.

Camp Vengeance Undead Invasion

At least once every campaign, I like to run a large-scale epic battle, pitting our heroes against an insurmountable number of enemies. This adventure, I got my chance when our heroes visited Camp Vengeance, a lonely outpost housed with an outnumbered squad of fighters. The story’s main villain, Ras Nsi, unleashed a horde of undead to ransack the fort. Fortunately, our heroes arrived just in time to lend a hand.

To run an encounter like this, read my post, How To Run A Fantasy Siege. In it, I detail all the steps I used to make such a complex scenario, simpler to run and still be exciting and dynamic to play. The key complonent to organizing a session like thjis is a Battle Chart

This Chart keeps all the info I need on a single 1-page sheet for easy access to monster stats, NPCs, condition triggers, story synopsis, and a running tally of all the mosters killed. It is a very usefull chart. A link to a PDF of the Battle Chart used in my adventure can be found here:

PDF – ToA Camp Vengeance Battle Chart

 

Monster Stats, Encounter Lists, Village Rosters

And yes, I will include a Monster Stat Sheet, a full Encounter List, and an expanded Port Nyanzaru Town Roster on this resource page. These are things that take me a long time to compile, but I will include them as soon as they are done.

For now, for those of you who prefer to make their own lists, here are links to clean, blank versions of all those charts. If you prefer to type your own, you can recreate them using Microsoft Excel.

PDF – Monster Stats Sheet Blank

PDF – Encounter List Blank

PDF – Village Roster Blank

 

The Maps

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Handouts

This handout is a 14-page journal, written by the explorer Aluicius Alphonse, over 100 years before your player’s adventure, about his doomed expedition to Chult. There are of clues to dozens of legends, lore, and locations to be discovered by the players. Numerous pages are missing, lost to the jungle. Just when the journal is about to explain something, the next page is inexplicably missing. There are references to the Batiri, the Crocodile Man, Mbala, Mezro, Nangalore, Ubtao, Artus Cimber and more. There is even the start of a treasure hunt to look for Aluicius Alphonse’s buried treasure. Printed on construction paper with several torn sections. Here’s the link to a clean PDF of the journal.

ToA Journal Alucius Alphonse

 

 

 

 

 

PDF – ToA Acererak Dream cards – Each dream included a memeory of the past, a glimpse of the afterlife, a warning of the future, and and omnious threat.

 

 

 

 

Online Resources

There are a number of excellent additional resources available online to help you be a better DM. Here are a few that I use all the time. I often keep the website tabs open on my phone or tablet to refer to them as needed during a game.

 

Chult Specific Videos

Dungeon Smith – This has excellent advice on how to run a campaign in Chult. He covers several topics, such as improving the start of the adventure, excellent music choices for background ambience, beefing up the bad guys, and alternate endings to increase the drama. He also has an excellent video on the “lost” city of Mezro.

Jorphdan – Jorphdan has the best channel that delves into the lore of the Forgotten Realms. His video on Chult is great and explores the legends and lore of the jungle. He has plenty of other things on his channel, such as reviews and advice, creating your own world, but his encyclopedic knowledge of the Realms is without equal.

Dungeon Craft – This is an excellent video about how to run a hexcrawl adventure, which might be new to some DMs. He also has excellent advice about running D&D, specifically about running a grim, hardcore, death is a way of life campaign. I didn’t have the guts to impose this level of harsh, but I wish I had. Check it out.

 

Websites

Roll 20 D&D 5th Edition Compendeum – Roll 20 is one of the best virtual tabletop systems and they have compiled a complete listing of every rule, monster, spell, and more that is D&D. The link does offer virtual books for sale, but the entire database is fully searchable and completely free. Just use the Search Bar to type in whatever you need to find and get the full description and statistics of that item. This resource is invaluable.

Forgotten Realms Wiki – Every article of fact, trivia, and lore relating to the Forgotten Realms (where the 5th edition adventures are set) can be found here. This is a tremendous source for inspiration to add favor and spice up your campaign. Perfect for researching the people, places, and events of the world’s greatest fantasy setting. Most of my research into Chult was from this site.

Drivethru RPG – This is an excellent source for finding all the OSR D&D adventures and modules from every edition, but especially 1st and 2nd edition. They mostly come in PDF format but some have a print on demand option. My copy of the 2nd Edition supplement The Jungles of Chult came from this website. In the rare event that I can’t find what I need, I will use the Dungeon Masters Guild which is their sister site.

 

D&D Philosophy

There are a number of excellent YouTubers who produce good, useful content related to all roleplaying games and D&D specifically. Here are a few of my favorites.

Matthew Colville – This is by far and away, the best channel for getting advice about being a dungeon master. His series on Running the Game is phenomenal, and covers every topics from running a simple hack-and-slash dungeon to an open sandbox adventure and even a deep, sophisticated politcally-motivated Game of Thrones style campaign. His love of RPGs is evident in every syllable of every word. And the streaming of his actual gameplay sessions is the only one I can watch, even over Critical Roll! I would kill to play in his campaign.

Seth Skorkowsky – This is a kick-ass site that dives into a ton of great stuff such as DM tips, player advice, RPG Philosophy, adventure reviews and overviews. He also discusses several other RPG systems, including Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, and Star Traveller. His videos are always fun to watch and his interlaced skits are the only ones that are actually funny. Plus, I met him once and he is a truly great guy, so I’ll try to help him out. Not that he needs it. His channel recently won an ENnie award for best online content!

Capt Corajus -Pronounced Captain Courageous, this channel is an excellent place to learn about the Old School Revival that is finding its way into more and more D&D campaigns. Here you will find out about all the original D&D adventures (including all of the inspirations for Tomb of Annihilation), as well as ways to incorporate the elements of Old School style of play into your game. This is also where I stole the Game On! tag that ends all my posts.

 

Extra Charts – Player Resources

Prior to every campaign, I ususally give my players a folder for their character. Theses two-pocket folders hold each player’s character sheets, spell cards, handouts, and other PC related items. The center binder ususally holds several important handouts.

As I mentioned, I did not give these out this time for two important reasons. First, this group is comprised entirely of experienced players and I didn’t want to insult them with the basic rules of play. They also don’t use my optional Critical Hit / Fumble table (even though it is awesome). Second, Chult is a land completely alien to all my players (at least it is supposed to be). They should have no pre-knowledge of the religion, history, or calendar of Chult and will have to discover all those things throughout the campaign. But I have included these handouts in case your players are new or need a reminder.

First, is a brief (4 page) Rules Synopsis that includes info on Adventuring and Combat basics to help new players learn and veteran players remember some the of the core rules of D&D.

PDF – Rules FOUR PAGE

 

Next, is a homebrewed Critical Hit / Fumble Chart. Although this is included in the Rules FOUR Page, some have asked for this chart spearately. Most players love the chart since it allows them the chance to completely obliterate an enemy even at the risk of falling flat on their face, losing a weapon, or stabbing an ally. Some do not, so always discuss the use of this table with your party.

PDF – Critical Hit-Fumble Table

 

Last, is the Setting Synopsis. Most of the published adventures take place in the official D&D setting, The Forgotten Realms, specifically along the Sword Coast on the western edge of the continent. This two-page Overview gives your players the common knowledge that a person living in the Realms would know. Basic Geography, Known Factions, Currency, Major Gods, the Standard Calendar, and a Brief History of the World are included. Again, this has little relevance to this campaign, but you might find it useful.

PDF – Sword Coast Codex

 

That’s about it. As always, this is a work in progress and I will update this page as we continue our journey into the jungle.

We hope that you have as much fun and excitement when you run this adventure. Feel free to use any, all, or none of these extras that I used to run the adventure. Hopefully, you can use them to inspire your own epic adventure.

And if you like these Resources pages, then check out the ones I’ve created for the other campaigns I’ve run or am running at the D&D Campaign Resources Page.

As always, it’s better to show than tell, and Game On!