Prelude to the Temple of Elemental Evil

[Alasomorph]

I am intrigued to know if anyone else has tried this and the outcome..

For a long time I have wanted to run a campaign set a decade before the events of the original Temple of Elemental Evil. There are hints of history in the text and spread across the Internet, some considered canon and some not. What were the events that led to the first temple being sealed and what adventures and battles led to this momentous event.

In October i dipped my toe in the water and and ran a one off game in which a mysterious group of humanoid bandits and slavers attacked a small mining town gripped by unseasonal weather. They were led by a heretical priest wielding wild elemental magic.

Last night we started the new campaign. Burne, Rufus, Y'Dey, Otis, Fernok and Ko'Lag, all 1st level, started to investigate a strange fungal infection affecting a small town in the Kron Hills.

I'm interested to know whether anyone else has tried this? The pitfalls are numerous ranging from players who have played or DM'ed the original, railroading toward the historical outcome, character pigeon-holing and players reading the Internet being chief amongst my concerns.

 

[slwoyach]

What an awesome idea! Wish I could play in that campaign. It completes the Temple of Elemental Evil Trilogy. Do your players come to this site?

 

[Crothian]

I haven't tried that. I did set p the groups and establish the politics of the adventure well ahead of time and then had the players just ignore all of that and not really care what was going on in the ancient temple. So, I took them to Dragon Mountain to face kobolds.

 

[Alasomorph]

Do your players come to this site?

Not that I know of. Although there is always a chance so I better be careful how much I divulge. The rough campaign arc I have mapped out is mostly my own material with a few sections drawn from various Basic to 4e to Pathfinder and Dungeon sources. A good portion of the back-story and world events are taken from internet sources and even interviews. My first problem was how to walk the fine line between delivering the epic back-story and at the same time allowing the players total freedom to make their own decisions that shape the conflict to come.

 

[Whisper72]

Very cool idea. Have not tried this myself, but thought to reply to a few of your concerns.

If I remember correctly (and I seldom do...), the original temple was ultimately destroyed in battle. With armies and stuff. This implies that the definitive destruction is not at the hands of the PC's.

But this is not necessarily so. First off, even if armies are ultimately responsible for the destruction, the adventure could consist of: finding enough evidence to convince some goodly king to mass troops to defeat the temple forces. This still leaves plenty of leeway / freedom for the PC's to do as they please.

Even should they single handedly destroy the main antagonists in your plot, the masses of slavering followers could still be hunted down and destoroyed by said army, and the histories were simply not entirely clear, and the nobles who sent the troops simply claimed the victory, even though all the real legwork was done by the party...

In other words, even knowing the outcome does not tell the PC's how to get there, or even whether that was really what went down exactly. After all, the histories were defined by the victors and by those who had the power to dictate the historians...

 

[Alasomorph]

I did set p the groups and establish the politics of the adventure well ahead of time and then had the players just ignore all of that and not really care what was going on in the ancient temple. So, I took them to Dragon Mountain to face kobolds.

I'm going to try spoon feeding the players information over the first 3-5 sessions like the 1st series of a good sci-fi series. This lets the players get accustomed to their new characters and becoming invested in the setting and some of the NPC's. Once the growing mystery has embedded itself.. BANG.. hit them with a big dose of reality, a WTF moment that outrages and shocks them, spurring them into action. That's the plan anyhow!

 

[the Jester]

Cool idea, but:

...railroading toward the historical outcome...

...is more likely the more you know about how it went originally.

I'd start where you are and ignore the history, personally.

 

[slwoyach]

Not that I know of. Although there is always a chance so I better be careful how much I divulge. The rough campaign arc I have mapped out is mostly my own material with a few sections drawn from various Basic to 4e to Pathfinder and Dungeon sources. A good portion of the back-story and world events are taken from internet sources and even interviews. My first problem was how to walk the fine line between delivering the epic back-story and at the same time allowing the players total freedom to make their own decisions that shape the conflict to come.

Well, if I was going to run something like that the campaign would culminate in defeating the cultists in the Temple in a way that destroys the party as well as the enemies. To assuage player anger I would let them know that I was planning on starting a new campaign set 20 years later when this one wrapped up starting at first level, hopefully they won't be upset because they'd have to start over anyways.

I'd then run the "next generation" through the Temple of Elemental Evil module, where they'll find their old characters trapped in the Nodes. If any of the original pcs had families there could even be some unexpected father-son reunions.

 

[Croesus]

I'd start where you are and ignore the history, personally.

Agreed.

Another thought - much of history depends on who is doing the telling. Treat the "official" history as just another version, one that never was quite true - the true version is what your players do.

Could be interesting if the same players are playing in a campaign set 20 years later, hearing an npc tell them the official history as if it was what really happened.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Your prelude (Chapel of Elemental Evil? Revival Tent of Elemental Evil? Roadside Shrine of Elemental Evil?) has much potential! I wish you much luck!

As for the official stuff, just set it apart further in time from the events you're DMing now. Its your campaign, after all..."official" timelines don't really matter.