D&D General Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - welcome your thoughts and suggestions

[Eyes of Nine]

From the Lost Mines to the Lost Caverns
My players are a few sessions out from completing the Lost Mines of Phandelver. I'm going to follow up with a MacGuffin quest to get a thing out of the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - there are several intriguing magic items therein.

I've got 5 players, so ideally they would be 6th level when they hit the Lost Caverns; but they could be even higher I think (it's for 6th-10th; and Gary Gygax says it's pretty challenging).

On their way to the Lost Caverns, I'm thinking of having them fall into the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan so that they can level. But is that necessary?

My question is - anything to consider about the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth? Any thoughts on how easy or hard it would be to convert to 5e? (looked pretty straightforward). I haven't read the module yet - but I'm asking now so if folks have any things I should look out for, I can look for them as I go through it.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

From the Lost Mines to the Lost Caverns
My players are a few sessions out from completing the Lost Mines of Phandelver. I'm going to follow up with a MacGuffin quest to get a thing out of the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - there are several intriguing magic items therein.

I've got 5 players, so ideally they would be 6th level when they hit the Lost Caverns; but they could be even higher I think (it's for 6th-10th; and Gary Gygax says it's pretty challenging).

On their way to the Lost Caverns, I'm thinking of having them fall into the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan so that they can level. But is that necessary?

My question is - anything to consider about the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth? Any thoughts on how easy or hard it would be to convert to 5e? (looked pretty straightforward). I haven't read the module yet - but I'm asking now so if folks have any things I should look out for, I can look for them as I go through it.

If I recall there was 3.5 conversion and sequel which might be good to mine for extra stuff.
Also The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun is actually linked so that adventure might work as a side trek. (I think the gnome encounter outside of the caverns links them?)

 

[TerraDave]

When I ran it way back when, I used an item hunt to give some structure to it.

This and Tharizdun share a common mountainous area. You can use the gnome village as a base for both.

The Lost Caverns have a wild and whacky side, and I would play that up. There should be weird social encounters as well as fights. If the party is fighting everyone, it means that it is too easy. Speaking of which...the caverns also have a darkside...try to leverage the Demonicomic supplemental material and have that central boss fight be a big one.

 

[GuyBoy]

Good luck with the game. I adored this adventure (along with Tharizdun too) back in 1E days.
It’s still my fervent hope for a 50th anniversary Re-visit.

 

[TerraDave]

Good luck with the game. I adored this adventure (along with Tharizdun too) back in 1E days.
It’s still my fervent hope for a 50th anniversary Re-visit.

Its an obvious one for Goodman. Or maybe even WotC itself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

it's for 6th-10th; and Gary Gygax says it's pretty challenging).

Levels in 1st edition are not the same as levels in 5th edition, and some monsters are very different in power level too. And parties where much larger. You will need to covert the encounters and then work backwards to find the new level. So far as I remember the boss is a vampire or vampire warrior, who is CR 13/15 depending on stat block. I would rate that as appropriate for a party of 6 level 6 characters. Smaller parties might need to be higher level though. Watch out for the Dao encounter, they are tougher in 5e, and I think 4 might be too many.

Level drain made 1st edition vampires much scarier!

 

[Stormdale]

I ran it a couple of years ago in 5e, converted on the fly, party was 6-10 level. Plenty of room to add outdoor areas as well to get them up a lvel or two before the main event- but made for a fun few months of gaming.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I ran it a couple of years ago in 5e, converted on the fly, party was 6-10 level. Plenty of room to add outdoor areas as well to get them up a lvel or two before the main event- but made for a fun few months of gaming.

Didn't it come with a bit of a hexcrawl? Or was that in The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun?

 

[Lanefan]

Didn't it come with a bit of a hexcrawl? Or was that in The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun?

The hexcrawl is en route to Forgotten Temple. FToT is a fine module (I've run it more than any other) but the hexcrawl part is IMO very meh and you don't lose much by skipping it.

Lost Caverns is an interesting module for a 1e game but I'm not sure how well it would survive the inevitable nerfing a true-to-RAW conversion to 5e would represent. In original form it's pretty deadly - even a powerful party can expect to lose one or two characters and two or four levels - but as 5e has taken out most save-or-die effects and has also taken out level drains it might be a bit underwhelming now; the final battle in particular.

One thing to note is that particularly on the lower level it's imperative you get your players to make a map of the dungeon as they go along (if not using a VTT) so they can eventually figure out for themselves how things connect together; but at the same time said players must be warned that the place is a bloody nuisance to map.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Didn't it come with a bit of a hexcrawl? Or was that in The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun?

It comes with a hexcrawl, and the geography slots together with The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun so that they can be played sequentially.

I have very fond memories of S4, but it can be pretty brutal. The Gnome Vale makes a good base, but some of the wilderness encounters (blue dragon, goblinoid army) are pretty insane. In the caverns, the party will probably get split up with the planar teleportation. Beserk golem, dracolisk, bodak, Iuz's vampire half-sister...

I'd pack some extra characters - 3-4 henchmen of level 5-6 - and I think you'll want the PCs to be at least 8th when they enter the caverns.