Marmoreal Tomb Review

 In my previous post, I indicated my unhappiness with the Marmoreal Tomb versus what I thought I was getting. Certainly, the long winding road traveled by this Kickstarter has biased my viewpoint (Funded in September 2015, promised for 2016, Troll Lords takes over and cracks the whip 2019, last .pdf received by me January 2023). I will attempt to put my biases aside and review the delivered products on their merits. Benoist's maps are gorgeous and have been available for a long time. I have five main products: the Tomb itself, the Wilderness Expansion, the Underworld Expansion, the Players Guide, and the Prismatic Maze. So far the best ones are the Underworld Expansion and the Prismatic Maze. Please note most of my detailed review is in the spoilers below (I have a hard time reviewing things without talking about them). At $150 for the boxed set, it is a bit pricey but there is a lot of stuff within. Unfortunately, the Prismatic Maze does not appear to be included in the box set.

RATING

Art ****

Writing ***

Creativity ****

Overall ***1/2

****** Spoilers below******

Tomb Main Module

THE PREFACE

Mostly explaining how the game was played back in the day. I'll ignore the references to forthcoming products as they are unlikely to appear soon other than the Underworld and Wilderness which are already published. 

INTRODUCTION

History of the region, suggestions for starting character background, rumors and other helpful stuff

CHAPTER 1 VIPER PASS.

Description of the Wilderness surrounding the dungeon. Not really a concept I am enamored with since parties can be easily be distracted by the wilderness and never make it to the dungeon at all. The network of goblin tunnels is intriguing. The frequent tremors in the pass can open some interesting side adventures.

CHAPTER 2 ENVIRONS AND CAVE SYSTEM

I feel this chapter is redundant with the prior one. Smart parties will just walk straight up to the entrance to the first level and not mess with any of these encounters.

CHAPTER 3 GRUN GALEB

the dungeon finally. Pretty standard monster selection. some interesting coordination between rooms. a dwarven ally hidden out.

CHAPTER 4 THE BURIAL VAULTS

undead and stone giants interesting combinations. I like the rhinoceros stone giant chariot

CHAPTER 5 THE CRYPT

Urns and Sarcophagi are guarded by vengeful spirits and Cyclops Priests

Marmoreal Tomb Wilderness

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I - PRIMER TO THE LOWER MIDLANDS

Overview of the Geography, history and religion of the lower midlands

CHAPTER 2 – FIGURES AND FACTIONS

People and groups of the lower midlands. I like that most of the profiles include some adventure suggestions.

CHAPTER 3 – CROM CAEMLOCH

A town to use as a homebase for adventuring. Of course there is a tunnel network underneath

CHAPTER 4 - THE TWIN TANKARD

A tavern to use as a homebase for those who don’t like towns. The cellar has a passage to the underworld

CHAPTER 5 – ENCOUNTERS

Several different approaches to wilderness encounters. Includes the random castle system for outdoor survival.

APPENDIX A – MONSTERS AND CHARACTERS

APPENDIX B – HIRELING EXTRAVAGANZA

 

Marmoreal Tomb Underworld

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I – EXTENDED BURIAL VAULTS

Addition to core burial vaults level. More rooms become available off the core map as tremors clear passages

tsCHAPTER II – THE HEARTH OF CHAOS

A crazy high level adventure with a lake of fire and magic artfact forge. Even though it is an 82 room level the authors feel the need to include suggestions for making it bigger

CHAPTER 3: THE PROVINCE OF THE SHOKO-JUMI

Linked to the Hearth by a portal this adventure takes place in the far east with a Japanese vibe. Wilderness map so I’m not sure why its in this book

CHAPTER IV – THE MELLIFLUOUS SHRINE

An extra-dimensional nexus with gates to numerous other planes.

CHAPTER V – THE HIVEWORLD OF UR-SHAMATH

Seeming a large beehive in the Mellifluous Shrine expands to world size when entered by one of the planar gates in the Shrine

APPENDIX A: BESTIARY

New monsters

APPENDIX B: SHADES OF IYON

Additional planes using the outdoor map

APPENDIX C: HANDOUTS REFERENCE LIST

List and Handouts. Includes a dungeon cross-section

APPENDIX D: SECRETS OF THE HEARTH

Timeline of the setting. Location of major artifacts in the modules.

Marmoreal Tomb Players Guide

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE DUINNSMERE

Background and history for the region

II. CHARACTER CREATION

How to roll up a character. Little specific to the settling so perhaps redundant with your core rules              

III. ADDITIONAL RULES

House rules for this campaign including gnomes, extra stuff for your primary character, and cold iron as a special weapon.

Character Sheets and Maps

Prismatic Maze

INTRODUCTION

this module and the main setting

CHAPTER I – DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Large quantities of NPCs with long backstories

CHAPTER 2 – GAME OPENINGS

A bunch of different options on how to connect this dungeon to the core campaign

CHAPTER 3 – DUNGEON FEATURES

Explanation of how the dungeon works. Having both three rotating middle sections and shifting effects dependant on region color explanation is required.

CHAPTER 4 – DUNGEON KEY

Encounters include the NPC adventuring party, A hidden gem and boss monster for each color, a maintenance drew capable of melding with the walls, and a surprising number of sea creatures for dry level with only fountains. Mummies, and a lich also. Numerous unlocks are available by manipulating the rotating sections, color gems, and beams of light. Many creatures reform so have to be defeated more than once.

OVERALL

THE GOOD

More great ideas than you can shake a stick at. My favorite level is the Hearth of Chaos. My Second favorite is the Prismatic Maze. Years of adventuring material. The clean black and white text layout is highly readable. Pen and ink drawings definitely harken back to the Erol Otis days. Hand-colored maps are gorgeous. Motivations are given for most encounters enabling roleplaying beyond hack and slash. I like that most of the profiles in FIGURES AND FACTIONS include some adventure suggestions. Players Guide is a great idea to introduce the players to the setting.

THE BAD

Verbose, many entries suffer from wall-of-text syndrome. Introductions tout many products that will never be.

THE UGLY

The long journey from CROM CAEMLOCH to the tomb is rough on low-level characters. The many encounters outside the tomb also threaten low-level parties. I didn’t like having TWO chapters on encounters outside the tomb. When I run this I’ll probably delete the outdoor environs encounters (or move them to Viper Pass) and use the caves as an additional level for the tomb itself. Not sure why there are two bases a town and a tavern in the wilderness guide but at least I can place the tavern close to Viper Pass and cut out the three days and two nights of wilderness encounters