Exploration plays a huge role in Dungeons and Dragons, with the core rules of fifth edition going so far as to call exploration one of the three pillars of a successful adventure. DMs encourage players to keep a curious mind. Leave no stone unturned. Stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. After all, it’s your fantasy land -- indulge your inner child!
If other adventures are playgrounds for your inner child, then Tomb of Horrors is the Wonka Factory Tour. Sure, it looks cool and you were excited to get in, but now you’re being led around the place by a madman and if you touch absolutely anything you will die.
One earlier feature of the Tomb of Horrors is the Face of the Great Green Devil. It’s an enormous relief of a devil prominently displayed on the wall, with a gaping mouth that’s completely dark inside. If it seems like a familiar visage that’s probably because you’ve seen it before and didn’t realize what you were looking at. Veteran Dungeon Master Dan Collins of Wandering DMs calls the Great Green Devil, “iconic … the image of DnD. It’s emblematic of the whole tomb.”
If you’re a Dungeons and Dragons player, then your inner child is absolutely bursting to play with this cool dark mouth. Maybe you throw a rock in! Maybe you poke at it with your sword! If you’re trying to show your friends what a goofball you are, maybe you just touch it!
If you do that you can kiss your friends goodbye, because the mouth isn’t just a round dark space—it’s a sphere of annihilation hanging on the wall. That means it “obliterates ... all matter that passes through it.” No saves, no damage, no nothing -- just gone. Sorry about your face, Veruca Salt.
The Face of the Great Green Devil is emblematic of the Tomb not only because of its image, but because the nature of the trap is at the heart of the Tomb’s design. Dungeons and Dragons often boils down to a game of risk and reward -- you choose when to take a risk and roll the dice, and if you get lucky then there’s some treasure in it for you. Tomb of Horrors works in a completely different way: There is often no luck at all, no saves, and, most amazingly, no rewards! You thought putting a sword into this hole would open up a secret passage? Sorry, you must be thinking of a different dungeon. Like many of the more intriguing parts of the Tomb, the Great Green Devil is a red herring -- the only winning move is to walk right past it.