Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008719" data-attributes="member: 18387">Contains SpoilersTo start out - I love the World of Greyhawk. I love the atmosphere, the huge scope, the untamed borderlands, Mordekainen, The Blue Wizard, Iuz, and on and on andon. It is the world I base all my adventures in. So when I saw the module Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil sitting on the store shelf I could not resist buying it. Memories of Iuz, Zuggtmoy, Hommlet and the Moathouse all came to mind and beforeI had even cracked the cover I began to think about how I could incorporate RttToEEinto my own campaign. I read the module. Put it down. Took a deep breath. Mumured "wow" and proceededto read it again twice more. My first impression of Return was how epic it was. Thecover says 4th to 14th level and as I imagined my players journeying thru it I gotgoosebumps. Then I began to wonder how many of them would actually make it thru this adventure. The challenges are great. Evil is on the rise again in the area of Hommlet but this timeits true face is being revealed. We find out that Iuz and Zuggtmoy and all the otherswere but pawns of a greater evil in the first Temple adventure. A greater evil? Oh,most certainly. Monte Cook gives to us Tharizdun and his cult in all their gloriousmadness. Here is a dark god, imprisoned long long ago by the combined effortsof all the other gods, god and evil, for fear of this destructive power. Here is hiscult, manipulating other religions, inventing dark sub cults (Elemental Evil) and doing their best to break Tharizdun out of his prison. And their best is damn good.The monsters are awesome, the setting is incredible, the plots are myriad and ohso twistable. This module is not a closed loop. Side adventures by the dozens caneasily be tacked on to it. If you like political intrigue, you got it. But if you have thetype of party who wouldn't know intrigue it if introduced itself to them at dinner, thenit a DM can just as easily ignore it as use it. The evils of the past blend perfectly intothe evils of the present. I love the sense of history this module gives its DM and its players. And if you're like me and groove on dark incomprehensible Cthulhu styleevil then this module is a must have. It bends itself into Old One mythology like taffyin the sweaty fist of a child. Aspects of the module can be intimidating. While the scope is awesome it is alsodemanding. This is no module for a DM to skim thru and run on a whim. Luckily, thecommunity surrounding the module at Monte Cook's Temple forum is awesome (DM's only please). At a few points in the module a certain timeline needs to befollowed and as most DM's know, players will do anything they can to break a timeline dependent plot. Be prepared to wing it when that happens. Monte givesa DM a lot of detail in Temple but their will be times when its necessary to makeup motivations and plot devices on your own. This module is deadly. Downrightscary, dirty, oh-my-god you've got to be kidding me, deadly. My players havetaken to calling it The Temple of Elemental Frickin' Death and of 8 players whohave started the module, only 2 have not rolled up a new characters and theyare only half way thru it. Its a hero's module. Evil characters could play this module but I fail to see how they would remain motivated in the face of the challengesthat they will meet. Characters have to be resolved to stomp out evil at allcosts cause thats what its going to take.This module is simply the best I have ever read. Its so big. So put together and so darn fun to DM. It reminds me of the epic avdventure Antartica in the Cuthulhuworld. If you want epic adventure and great writing this is the module for you.-Lenny<a href="http://www.darktheatre.net" target="_blank">Darktheatre.net</a></blockquote>

Verification