From 2010 through to 2019, Wizards of the Coast published a string of co-op board games using rules called the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure System. Each was essentially a stripped-down D&D adventure you could finish in a couple of hours. Most were based on existing D&D modules both old and new, like Castle Ravenloft, Temple of Elemental Evil, and Tomb of Annihilation. That last one was adapted into the videogame Tales from Candlekeep: Tomb of Annihilation by BKOM Studios and released on Steam in 2017.
Unfortunately, licencing agreements being what they are, BKOM Studios has announced that Tomb of Annihilation will be delisted from Steam on May 20. “While it will no longer be possible to acquire the game or any of the additional content on that date,” the developer explains, “players who have the game in their Steam library will still be able to play it and enjoy all of its content.”
In Tomb of Annihilation four adventurers—or five with the DLC—travel through the jungles and dungeons of Chult in the Forgotten Realms, searching for a way to end the “death curse”, which has not only prevented raise dead spells from working, but is making anyone previously resurrected by magic slowly waste away. (One of the adventurers is Dragonbait, a character old D&D heads may know from Azure Bonds.)
The D&D module was an homage to the older Tomb of Horrors, first published in 1978, which was designed by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax as a competitive dungeon for play at conventions. It was basically a series of traps created to kill off player-characters, and putting it into print and the hands of Dungeon Masters around the world resulted in a lot of misery and total party kills. It was a long time ago though, so we can laugh about it now.
For those who want to grab the videogame on Steam while it’s still available, Tomb of Annihilation is currently 85% off, and its DLC is 60% off. A complete edition bundle is also discounted by 76%. It’ll be removed from sale on May 20.
