Dungeons & Dragons’ deadliest adventure, the Tomb of Horrors, is under new management. The classic module, designed and written by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax himself, has been reinterpreted for D&D’s 5th edition. It’s available as part of a new hardcover book from Wizards of the Coast called Tales from the Yawning Portal, which goes on sale widely today. Here’s a little background on the adventure, and tips for running it for the first time.

The Tomb of Horrors was first published by TSR in 1978. It’s a fairly small dungeon in the grand scheme of things, but what sets it apart are its traps. Many of them have no saving throw, meaning that they’re instant kills with no appeal. It’s a throwback to a bygone era of D&D when the mood was much more confrontational than it was collaborative. The module was regularly run by Gygax as a stunt to kill off high-level characters for sport, and the revised version still retains some of his original language.

There are a few stories about how the Tomb was first created, but the one I’ve heard most often is told best by the Dungeon Masters Guild’s editor-in-chief Shannon Applecline. They say the main purpose for creating the Tomb and its villain, a powerful demilich named Acererak, was to bring Gygax’s overpowered player characters down a few notches. That includes his own son, Ernie Gygax, whose PC Tenser was one of D&D’s first and most powerful wizards. You might recognize that name from his signature spell, Tenser’s Floating Disk.

From Applecline’s history of the first time the dungeon was run:

Gygax's "expert players" were both able to survive the tomb. Robilar famously brought in a squad of orc hirelings as trap-finders; they died in the first hallway, but Robilar still made it to the finale with Acererak and managed to stuff piles of loot into his bag of holding before escaping with his boots of speed. Although one report incorrectly claims that Tenser killed Acererak, the truth is that "when Tenser saw the nature of the tomb he simply retired from it not caring to risk life and limb for whatever treasure it might hold." He still did get some treasure: a ring of telekinesis and an auto-death poison. Terry Kuntz's Terik is also reported to have taken the better part of valor!

What follows are minor spoilers for Tomb of Horrors. It’s not recommended that players read any further. DM’s eyes only.

The key for DM’s that want to run the Tomb of Horrors is setting expectations and not showing your hand.

When I say setting expectations, I don’t mean prepping your players emotionally or apologizing in advance for killing off their characters. That it could happen should be understood. I mean introducing the dungeon itself as mysterious, hidden place.

What level should your players be? Tales from the Yawning Portal doesn’t actually mention what level characters should be before attempting the Tomb of Horrors, which is odd. My best guess is to run it with players that are at least level 10, although the original allows for players as high as level 14. If you don’t have a party of at least level 10 characters, you can make some from scratch using the Player’s Handbook. Give your players a budget of about 20,000 gold for equipment, and be generous. Think outside the box, and beyond what’s listed in the PHB. The adventure is about what you bring with you as much as it is what’s written on your character sheet. But if your players show up with a herd of cattle or a small retinue of armed guards, maybe you want to veto that. For my players, I also allow them to pick five magical items. I then veto two or three of them at the table before the adventure begins, just to keep them on their toes. A good resource for that is the new D&D Beyond tool from Curse. Once you log in, a searchable database can be found here.

The first hurdle in entering the Tomb is simply finding the door. There are multiple false entrances, and even gaining entry to those requires hours of arduous work digging into the earth and clearing brush. Don’t make it easy on your players. Making the entry itself a challenge will get them in the mood for the hard work that comes next.

Tomb of Horrors is a much more tactile dungeon than those found in modern D&D adventures. Players won’t simply be making a roll to solve a puzzle or find the magic door. They’ll need to lay hands on things, and the DM will need to literally tell them what they feel. Make your players describe what they want to do in great detail, and tell them what the experience is like based on the descriptions in the module. Be careful of improvising, however. One slip can give away a trap’s secret.

When players get close to something dangerous or deadly, don’t cringe or quaver. Keep an even tone and put on your best poker face. Once the traps are sprung don’t pull any punches. Be merciless, because that’s what Gygax would have wanted.

The Tomb of Horrors as published in this new edition is excellently annotated. You should have no trouble moving players along from room to room. What may trip you up, however, are descriptions of the rooms themselves. This new version is conspicuously light on art, and Gygax’s descriptions can feel a bit dated to modern ears.

What I recommend is supplementing The Tales from the Yawning Portal with the 1981 version of the original module, available as a PDF for just $4.99. Inside you’ll find a series of more than 30 hand-drawn illustrations from some of D&D’s first artists, men like David Sutherland and David Trampier. They come three and four to a page, so the original instructions tell DMs to carefully cut out and staple the images together into a little booklet. I went so far as to glue them into an old leather journal as a presentation piece to be handed around the table during play. Having them around is sure to inspire your players to ask questions and try things that they might not otherwise be able to dream up on their own.

Finally, expect your players to come to a dead end. That could be because they’re all literally dead, or because they can’t seem to find the right nook or cranny to poke at to move into the next area. Be quiet. Let them struggle, and encourage them to talk amongst themselves. But also be mindful of keeping their attention, and don’t be afraid to break for the night and pick up where you left off some other time. The whole adventure could easily run more than six hours depending on the speed at which your players are able to conduct combat. That’s a long time for anyone to sit in one place and maintain a high level of engagement.

Most importantly, have fun and be present at the table. The Tomb of Horrors is something that a player can only attempt for the first time once. It’s up to you as the DM to make it memorable. Good luck.