Review of Tomb of the Lich Lord

In previous posts, I've deconstructed the setting and characters of the Dungeoneer: Tomb of the Lich Lord set. In this post, I review the set as a game. To be fair, the mechanics of Dungeoneer sets don't vary all that much, but I want to at least look at what kind experience each set creates for its players, using unique monsters, locations, and quests.

All Dungeoneer sets are essentially dungeon crawls, whether they're set inside a tomb or in a cursed forest or scorched desert. However, Tomb of the Lich Lord is a classic dungeon crawl, and it feels like it. The moment I placed my character tokens down on the Tomb Threshold, I felt a surge of familiar and comforting dread wash over me. We were going delving into a dungeon. What would we find there? What kind of treasures and magical items would we bring back out with us? And, most importantly, which one of us would even live to tell the tale?

The map sets the tone from the start, which is one of the strengths, and I guess technically one of the weaknesses, of Dungeoneer. I admit it's a weaness because once you've played a few games of a set (and maybe deconstructed it for a series of blog posts), you know what the dungeon holds for you. Exploration is less about finding out what room's behind that door, and more about which order the doors happen to be in today. However, it's also a strength because the locations in a dungeon set are pretty iconic. You've got stone corridors leading to rooms imprisoning horrible monsters or ready to summon untold evils.

This matters because those first 5 cards you see are what sets the tone for your very first action.

The entrance card is named Tomb Threshold, not the Tomb Entrance or Stairs or Exit. This is the threshold of something dark and forboding. The question that presses upon you, even before you take your first action, is "Will this be the time I encounter the Lich Lord?" And that is as terrifying as it is exciting.

Unprovoked brutality

If you've ever played dnd, or even a compter RPG, you might have experienced a time when the game is actually trying to kill your player character. I don't mean the times when there's a single monster, maybe even a big one, and it's a formidable enemy, but in the back of your mind you find comfort in knowing that with a few really good hits you'll be able to destroy it. I mean the time when you're looking at several threats, and you see no way out, and you just can't understand why the game doesn't want you as a player any more.

There are some really nasty monsters in Tomb of the Lich Lord, there will almost definitely be times you think you've been confronted by an impossible obstacle. In the game I played most recently, Kron the dwarf remained at level 1 for the entire game only because a Death Shadow kept dealing wounds to him, which had the additional effect of stealing a level! It looked like a frustratingly impossible death spiral: Kron would level up to improve his melee, only to be knocked back down a level by the Death Shadow.

Bad game design? or evil genius?

Evil genius, definitely. Kron collected treasure, including a bonus to hit and some armour to prevent the level-draining damage, and eventually managed to destroy the Death Shadow. It was one of those game moments, the kind where you feel you've won the game despite being nowhere near the stated goal.

Personal triumphs

Tomb of the Lich Lord has a lot of moments of personal triumph, if you let it, because those Peril points keep stacking up whether you like it or not. It shouldn't work, in the same way that any automated punishment system fails in many other games, and yet it feels appropriate for, I think, 2 different reasons. First, Peril is a constantly changing value that can be spent on a wide variety of threats. You can mitigate through movement, and power up the best you can. Secondly, the narrative of the game reinforces it. There is great peril in the dungeon. You're fighting the undead, stealthy shadowy killers, legally-distinct beholders, poisonous gases and needles, traps, wraiths, and lots more. This is quite literally what you signed up for when you placed your player token on Tomb Threshold. Sometimes it's at the expense of a game victory, but you do learn to love it, especially in those moments of a real, meaningful personal victory.

Dungeoneer living up to its name

In my most recent game, Kron was delving with Lorel Alanus, who managed to reach level 4 and also won the game. Leveling up in Dungeoneer feels really good, because you get to see your bonuses work for you. By the time Lorel had to sneak past a trapped door, her Movement speed exceeded the test requirement, so it didn't even slow her down. She blocked a level-draining Wraith witha a magic ring, and destroyed the Wraith the same turn. Her victory was sound, and yet it didn't overshadow Kron's ability to stay alive, making the most of treasure and healing pools to offset his inability to get past level 1.

If you love a dungeon crawl, then playing Tomb of the Lich Lord is satisfying in so many ways. It's the exact right amount of maintenance, with Peril and Glory being surprisingly uncomplicated to track, and the Pack serving its purpose to keep monsters on the table, and special rules for damage cancellation through magic items. You get into the flow of updating records in no time, and the game hums along like a procedural dungeon delve you'd find in any good RPG or board game. This set knows exactly what it is, and it hits the mark with every card. It punishes you for daring to enter the tomb, and rewards you for acts of bravery and, if you can manage, brutality.