User:Cedric/Tomb of Horrors

In the Tomb of Horrors, there is a the famous green devil face at the end of a corridor. Many cannot resist the temptation to go on, but what options can a DM take to make it interesting?

Speaking out loud, I suggest that the DM could take all of the players character sheets and poof they're gone. The players look in astonishment and ask "wha? what? What happened?" The DM can just sit there, eating an apple or something. But that's a little too much stress. Players would presumably have to make up new character sheets after investing time in their characters. That is why I suggest that this module (or this trope specifically) be pulled on new players. But don't take all of their character sheets, just take one player's. The rest of the characters are either sent to some random locale (perhaps one that the DM actually likes) or separated by large distances as if magic gone wrong (yet this is practically difficult -- even if the players are separated, they know where each other is at the game table unless you demand that everyone pass notes.). Because of the problems with the latter, ...

See how that cliffhanger can be used? When you take one of the player's character sheet, the DM can have the player re-roll a player. The player may conclude that their old character died, but the DM doesn't have to play it that way. PErhaps their old self comes walking by one day and starts up a conversation with themselves. Who knows?