Tomb of Annihilation - DM Guild addon: Is it worth it?

[Zisse]

Hi,

we are about to start ToA next weekend. I am wondering, if I should invest in the addon that is available at the DM's Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/307801/Tomb-of-Annihilation-Expanded-Fantasy-Grounds-BUNDLE

Has anyone used it and is it good use?

Zisse

[Scuba72]

Im running ToA currently and just made the switch to FGU from in person as my players reached Omu...
I have already pulled a bunch of random encounter maps from online and added line of sight and grids,
Had I known that this existed (I should have loooked) and I had the extra cash, I absolutely would have bought this expansion and save myself multiple hours of prep as well as probably having access to higher quality maps than what I did prepare.

TLDR: I havent used it but if I run this module again... this is the first thing I am buying.

[Zacchaeus]

If you need more maps for ToA there's this https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?40025-Tomb-of-Annihilation-Maps

[GavinRuneblade]

In general these are more useful the less comfortable you are designing your own content. I've used guides and similar products for other WotC books, the most valuable thing for me is a guide that includes tips like "this NPC in chapter 2 is related to that other NPC in Chapter 6 if you want to do some forshadowing and when you're in 6, remember to do a callback". These have none of that for ToA.

But what they do have is a lot of good side quests. the maps are not bad, the extra content is good. Honestly, I bought two of them (didn't do the bundle at the time) and I never even ran Tomb of Annihilation, I just needed jungle stuff. They were pretty good. These are better than most of the A.L. adventures released in the ToA season for being directly relevant to the book. But they aren't adventures, these are just encounters and occasionally quests, and some events to stick into the game if your players surprise you by wandering off the map. If you don't need this, then you're overpaying for maps. If you do need it, these were not bad at all.