Lead-in to Temple of Elemental Evil remake?

[R_kajdi]

You could just start them at level 4 so that you can run Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil right away. This way you don't need a lead in to bring them up to that level.

I thought about that, but it fails in three ways:

1. It hurts with one of D&D's nest features: going from zero to hero. Especially considering the usual rural settings for most low level adventures, this can make for a pretty good "coming of age" theme that I wanted to latch on to for this campaign.

2. These guys don't like the "pretty princess shopping spree" aspect of magic items in D&D, so giving them a bunch of gold to spend on items would be considered distasteful.

3. RttToEE is often regarded as exceedingly deadly. Hell, the first big encounter at the Moathouse is a dragon! While I like it in the "This is a serious adventure-- don't screw around!" way, I think it would be a bad start for a campaign as a whole, especially since there's a good chance for a couple of people to not make it through the encounter alive.

Raymond

 

[HellHound]

I was looking at them. But I have no idea which ones are good, and which ones are going to be plot-filled messes, or just poorly thought out. Any suggestions as to which ones to go with? If you think any really have a good hook to work them into the whole Elemental Evil plot, so much the better.

Raymond

I disagree with statements that it is hard to go wrong with the set in question. There are some very ho-hum adventures in there.

However, I HEARTILY recommend DCC28 - it should be enough to get them to level 3 at least, is non-linear, and feels almost like a 3.5 rebuild of Keep on the Borderlands.

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

There are several glowing reviews of Tomb of Abysthor right here. Check them out! You can still find cheap copies once in a while online. I bought mine from amazon maketplace for $5 about a year ago. I also was able to obtain a pdf of it with some minimal poking around.

 

[green slime]

I'd avoid RttToEE.

The crater ridge mines are just truly, mindboggingly uninspiring. If you really have your mind set on the adventure, I'd change this, at the least. Place the elemental temples in more inspiring locations.

 

[dragonlordofpoondari]

I agree that RrrToEE isn't as good as the original.

If you're interested, I just tracked down a copy of ToA for you. It is a little on the rare side these days. Most copies of Tomb of Abythor sell for $40-$100.

Abebooks has one available right now for $9 if you follow this link .

(I tried to PM you this first, but I couldn't for some reason)

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

One of the best features of RttToEE is that there is a readily accessible community of DMs running the adventure here:

http://p222.ezboard.com/Return-to-the-Temple-of-Elemental-Evil/fokayyourturnfrm17

It's slowed down from the heyday, but this would be another good place to ask the question.

 

[Aluvial]

I ran that monster a few years ago.

I use the Wizard's Amulet freebie and then Crucible of Freya. I put those just west of Hommlet. Afterwards, I had the group go to Verbobonc and used some of the great resources that are out there for that. By then, they were levels 3-4 and ready to get their faces kickeed in by the first moathouse encounter. I killed 3 of 5 PC's with Utreshimon (spelling I'm sure). Very good start.

The CRM are a haul. You have to make them dynamic if you are really going to get the spirit of the place down. The thing is, you should be killing your PC's in this adventure.

Have them meet a few NPC's along the way, who drop in and out, so that they will have characters in the story that can fill in when their characters are eaten/slain/immolated.

Also, DON'T MISS MONTE'S MESSAGE BOARDS! There were plenty of incredible people back in the day who really fleshed out that adventure.

Also, there is a GOOD 3.5 conversion. If you can't find it, email me and I'll send it to you.

Also, look for all of the great Verbobonc stuff out there. It's definitely worth finding for this adventure.

DON'T PULL PUNCHES. Kill them. Kill them all.

Your players will respect the adventure so much more if you do...

Aluvial

 

[airwalkrr]

DON'T PULL PUNCHES. Kill them. Kill them all.

This brought a tear to my eye. Old school DMs who think this way are hard to find these days.

 

[Grimstaff]

I like DCC 28 Into the Wilds quite a bit, and it could be a good precursor to ToEE. Its got a Keep on the Borderlands feeling, combined with some very cool original elements.

QFT.

I've run DCC28 twice and played in it once. Def the best intro module I've seen in a while.

Of course, this is coming out soon:
http://goodmangames.com/5050preview.php