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That said, when as a GM I had an NPC in a town fondling a cheap brass ring and calling it "My Precious" and going "Gollum, Gollum", it really was just a trap, and I genuinely expected them to be too smart to touch the ring. The PC's forcibly took the ring, and gave it a prolonged careful examination. Then, after they had to kill the PC who'd been examining it, they carefully put it in a box and had one PC carry the box arround, ....
Three fatalities. I think there were a total of only 6 PC fatalities in that 3+ year campaign, and that silly ring was directly responsible for half of them.
They finally did put the ring on a skeleton and throw the skeleton into a volcano (teleporting before the inevitable erruption). There was no actual reason to put it on a skeleton (it's a discount version of the ring, you could throw it away if you did so quickly enough after the "remove curse" spell), they just had something wearing it because it felt more appropriate to them for someone to be carrying it when it went in.
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
13 for the adventurers to stupid to live."
I've never played or read Tomb of Horrors. Were I in the room I'd definitely have everyone else back off, and pick up the gem out of the conviction that you'll need it later."To be fair, though, this is exactly the sort of reverse psychology double bluff that Gary Gygax loved putting in his dungeons. It's so ridiculously obvious that it's a trap, that you get the nagging feeling that that gem will be vital for a later part of the adventure."
That said, when as a GM I had an NPC in a town fondling a cheap brass ring and calling it "My Precious" and going "Gollum, Gollum", it really was just a trap, and I genuinely expected them to be too smart to touch the ring. The PC's forcibly took the ring, and gave it a prolonged careful examination. Then, after they had to kill the PC who'd been examining it, they carefully put it in a box and had one PC carry the box arround, ....
Three fatalities. I think there were a total of only 6 PC fatalities in that 3+ year campaign, and that silly ring was directly responsible for half of them.
They finally did put the ring on a skeleton and throw the skeleton into a volcano (teleporting before the inevitable erruption). There was no actual reason to put it on a skeleton (it's a discount version of the ring, you could throw it away if you did so quickly enough after the "remove curse" spell), they just had something wearing it because it felt more appropriate to them for someone to be carrying it when it went in.
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
13 for the adventurers to stupid to live."
Statistics: Posted by Doug Lampert — 30 Jan 2025 13:43
