-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Run Time?
- Thread starter Ulrick
- Start date
Ulrick
First Post
It sounds like that the Crator Ridge Mines are the sticking point to the whole adventure. And I was reading through them and they did seem to just drag on forever as if the whole point was just to level up characters for the final battle at the temple. Also, I just don't see the logic of a small group continually harassing a semi-organized force and not having that force try to kill them. (Yes, the module explains that the doomdreamers are insane and each faction doesn't want to help the other but still...)
Perhaps somehow snipping the Crator Ridge Mines would suffice--perhaps having the characters go on another adventure or two before getting to the mines would work. That way they have the resources and the levels to bypass or quickly subdue the encounters for 5th and 6th level characters.
So, it sounds like I need to keep my group focused, tinker with the mines--perhaps offering story awards for achieving minor goals to level up the characters a little faster so things don't stall out, and tell the group that they don't have to clear out the entire mine systems (I think I read somewhere in the module that if half the crater mines are cleared out, then all the bad guys abandon the mines or the whole project--I can't remember which).
hmmm...
Perhaps somehow snipping the Crator Ridge Mines would suffice--perhaps having the characters go on another adventure or two before getting to the mines would work. That way they have the resources and the levels to bypass or quickly subdue the encounters for 5th and 6th level characters.
So, it sounds like I need to keep my group focused, tinker with the mines--perhaps offering story awards for achieving minor goals to level up the characters a little faster so things don't stall out, and tell the group that they don't have to clear out the entire mine systems (I think I read somewhere in the module that if half the crater mines are cleared out, then all the bad guys abandon the mines or the whole project--I can't remember which).
hmmm...
Nareau
Explorer
It took us about 2 years to get through, meeting for 4 hours once/week. We did a couple of semi-related side-adventures when things got boring.
I really, really enjoyed running this module. It's the first thing I ever really DM'ed, and we're continuing the campaign right now. I heavily modified the CRM to include much more NPC interaction. Quite a few of the NPC's in that module were very memorable to my players.
Also, when I ran it, there was a whole lot of support for it on Monte's messageboard. That helped a lot.
Nareau
I really, really enjoyed running this module. It's the first thing I ever really DM'ed, and we're continuing the campaign right now. I heavily modified the CRM to include much more NPC interaction. Quite a few of the NPC's in that module were very memorable to my players.
Also, when I ran it, there was a whole lot of support for it on Monte's messageboard. That helped a lot.
Nareau
We started in the Summer of 2004, play 3 hours a week, and still haven't finished. I'm don't know exactly how much we have left, but the DM says we'll have to hustle to finish before February, when two of our players are moving out of town. (We've cleared the mines and the outer fane, and are currently working our way through the Inner Fane.)
We even got shortcutted through a bunch of the CRM because we accidentally (spoiler)
.
We even got shortcutted through a bunch of the CRM because we accidentally (spoiler)
released a bound bebilith, which tromped through two and a half temples before we could stop it
Endur
First Post
Think of the various evil forces as being an unruly barbarian horde.
Part of the horde is at the CRM, part at the original temple, part at the moathouse, etc.
Your players could role play with any or all parts of the horde. You could (if your characters were diplomatic enough and sneaky enough) probably finish the entire adventure without any melee combat.
On the other hand, you could fight through every single room. And there are close to one thousand possible encounters, not to mention additional evil recruiting going on all the time.
So, my response is that you could finish this module in under six months if you want to. Or you could take three years.
I would definitely award exp for monsters defeated through roleplaying/avoidance instead of combat.
Part of the horde is at the CRM, part at the original temple, part at the moathouse, etc.
Your players could role play with any or all parts of the horde. You could (if your characters were diplomatic enough and sneaky enough) probably finish the entire adventure without any melee combat.
On the other hand, you could fight through every single room. And there are close to one thousand possible encounters, not to mention additional evil recruiting going on all the time.
So, my response is that you could finish this module in under six months if you want to. Or you could take three years.
I would definitely award exp for monsters defeated through roleplaying/avoidance instead of combat.
The Blue Elf
First Post
My group did it in 2 sessions,3 hours I hated that adventure so much when you had too fight some Haf-dragon,Haf-man,haf-bear,haf-elf,haf-demigod,haf-demon,haf-of a little bit of everything, and it had too be a adventure that only someone didn't bother too mention the level.
Last edited:
Olaf the Stout
Hero
The actual book isn't that long. From memory it is the same page count as RHoD. How is it that it takes so long to finish? Too many combats? I bought the module a couple of years ago but I only ever browsed through it. From most people's comments it looks like too much of a pointless combat after pointless combat type adventure to be of any interest to me.
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout said:
That was part of it. Partly also, it takes a GM who looks absorbs the entire module and is willing to change things as the adventure progresses - which is not easy with any mega module. Our GM gave us the clues Monte wrote into the adventure, but there was a huge gap in the middle where we just didn't know what to do next, so we just kept wandering, killing things, wandering, killing things...A lot of wasted time on our part.
After about a year we were all ready to finish it, so the GM gave us a lot more info and engaged in some minor railroading, and we finished it with a memorable fight with Imix. I don't think we ever got the First (he got away twice), but otherwise most of the baddies got theirs.
BTW - I'd actually like to run this one myself, but instead of the CRM, I would place each temple on its own demi-plane. Only outposts would be in the CRM, guarding portals that allow the elemental temples participate in the overall plot (for their own ends, of course). If the PC's took over a portal and figured out how to use it, they could go adventuring on the demi-planes, which would be a nice change of pace. In the meantime, eliminating 3/4 of the encounters in the CRM would eliminate most of the problems with the middle portion of the module.
Oh, and I'd proably boost the treasure given out and make it more interesting. I think the most powerful weapon the PC's find is a +2 sword or so. There were tons of cleric scrolls, but almost no wizard scrolls. My group had to take item creation feats and make liberal use of certain 3.0 spells (greater magic weapon, buff spells, haste) to compensate.
Endur
First Post
Most important, if you are going to run this adventure, read through the DM's message board on Monte Cook's website. www.montecook.com
It is the best reference for GMing any adventure that I have seen.
No other message board comes close.
It is the best reference for GMing any adventure that I have seen.
No other message board comes close.
Ulrick
First Post
Endur said:
That is a damn good website. The forum for RttToEE is just chalked full of useful advice. There's even a converision to 3.5!
However, after much consideration, I probably won't run RttToEE. I'll probably just do Red Hand of Doom. That module only takes characters from 5th to 10th level. And seems to go at a pretty fast pace--the PCs don't have much time to dawdle around or the bad guys win.
But I thank everybody for their input in helping me make that decision!
Thank you!
