Temple, Tower & Tomb (1994) is part of the late TSR period and its return to increasingly support generic D&D material (they kept up with their many campaign settings during this time, but there are many, many more setting unspecific items on offer starting around ’94).

This one is surprisingly old school in construction. The Autarch needs three magic items to fend off an invasion. You guessed it, one is in a temple, another in a tower and the final one in a tomb! That’s it, that’s the whole set-up.

Each of these places is horrible. Like Tomb of Horrors horrible. Well, perhaps not quite that bad, but in the same ballpark. One room removes enchantments from magic items, for instance. Many of the asshole monsters are here (the second encounter is with a medusa, which is certainly a way to set the tone) and many monsters have unusual gimmicks or are disguised in some way to more effectively trick players into preparing in a way that will actually put them at a disadvantage.

I dunno, I should probably dislike this, but I emphatically delight in Labyrinth of Madness, which came out a year later and does basically the same thing (though arguably better). It isn’t so brutal as Tomb of Horrors. And the fact that it came out in a moment of ever-increasing player options that leaned into power fantasy, when scenarios were full of events and railroad-y set pieces, I gotta appreciate the brain that thought we really needed a deathtrap dungeon right now to balance the scales.

Jennell Jaquays on the cover, delivering a good scream. Ken Frank, who I think is under-appreciated, delivers some killer interiors.