Against the Cult of the Reptile God - your experiences?

[Keeper of Secrets]

I ran this but never played it. This ranks higly as one of my favorites of all time. It may even be my favorite low level modual of all time. It had a nice creepy village feel, like something out of a Stephen King novel and the players did not know what to make of it (even though I was still young enough to not have the foresight to hide the cover from my players). I probably ran this thing back in 1985 or so (right around when it came out) and had so much fun with it. I'd love to run it again.

 

[Kestrel]

Ive ran this module a few times. I even rewrote it once from memory because I had lost it. I later bought a pdf of it and it was fun to compare my memory's version to the actual.

Needless to say, this is my favorite classic adventure. I love mysteries, either running or playing.

 

[SWBaxter]

I always thought of this one as "the other Hommlet", another good starting module with a beleaguered village and nearby base full of bad guys. I didn't really like the way the final fight was set up, but otherwise it's pretty solid. When I play non-D&D fantasy games, this is one of the adventures I convert, because of the relatively detailed village and the classic Conanesque plotline.

 

[WSmith]

One of my all time favorite modules, thought I think a little too tough for 1st level PCs unless they had a decent sized party.

 

[PaulGreystoke]

With such good reviews, this deserves a bump.

Quasqueton

Quite so. Although I am surprised that we didn't cover this module before.

Anyway, this is easily one of the best low level modules ever, as long as your party likes to do some mystery-solving. And troglodytes are just way cool!

When we started our first 3E campaign, this was the module I converted as the beginning of the campaign. Among the lessons we learned - mid level clerics make a great challenge for a low level party, especially if given a chance to pre-buff. It took a full team effort to drop the mad cleric in a memorable battle. And the party didn't blink an eye when the rescued slave girl took her revenge on the defeated baddie.

Of course, how the cleric was able to cast spells when under the influence of the naga is a bit of a plot hole. But I solved that by creating a Dark Serpent Cult that was really behind things. I was then able to use that to connect this module with the U series, the Sakatha adventure, & the Slavers modules. So a potential problem became a major element of my whole campaign.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As has been said, this is one of the best modules ever, maybe even THE best module ever. Yes, the final fight is a bit of a deus ex machina, but it's incorporated somewhat well, and that's the only real blight on otherwise stellar module.

It's been 20 or so years since I ran it, so I can't remember if we finished it, but I do recall that everyone was VERY jumpy after the trog ambush in the inn.

As for the cosmological implications, "Frostburn" (which I'm just reading now) states that Levistus doesn't grant spells, but he's a focus of worship for entities that DO grant the spells. The BBEG in N1 could certainly serve in precisely the same way.

 

[TheNovaLord]

Yep


have to agree this is the best module for AD&D. Have DMed it many times sicne playing it. Nice mix of village, wilderness and dungeon....just what an 'adventure' needs. Final challenge is a, erm, challenge.

JohnD

 

[Joshua Randall]

It's certainly a solid adventure, but it suffers from the NPC-who-is-cooler-and-more-powerful-than-the-PCs-being-integral-to-the-plot syndrome. Without the NPC wizard and his globe of invulnerability, the PCs don't stand a chance against the naga.

PaulGreystoke: I hadn't thought about linking Orlane to the Sakatha adventure (Tomb of the Lizard King, I believe it's called) -- but what a great idea. I must have a thing for reptiles... then again, it is called Dungeons and Dragons!

 

[papakee]

captured parties

Great Module!!! Has anyone ever ran this without the party being captured? I'm in the process of running it for 2 separate groups. One was captured in the Golden Grain, the other when they tried to infiltrate the temple.

 

[Akrasia]

A great module.

I DM'ed this module over 20 years ago. It was probably my best job as a DM during that time (a combination of learning from experience, and using such a fine adventure).

... the classic Conanesque plotline.

Wow -- you're right! I've had this thing for over two decades, have always been a huge R.E. Howard fan, and never noticed this until now.