T1-4, ToEE - What the crap?!

[MerricB]

That would be Frank Mentzer, of course

Most likely. Sorry, I'm feeling very poorly at the moment. Illness has struck, and though I'm not quite delirious, my memory may be somewhat erratic.

I think I just used the name of someone I knew in Grade 2, and haven't thought about since. Right...

Cheers!

 

[DMScott]

So on to a constructive thread: How have you actually used this baby in play? What do you use for hooks, and how do you connect the locales?

I'm working from memory here, but as I recall the hooks are relatively straightforward. One way to do it: Initially, the PCs are first level rubes, they show up in Hommlet by whatever means the DM likes, hear about the bandits in the moathouse, and head off to get rich/smite evil/whatever. When they do that, the bigwigs in town take notice, and either Elmo or Terjon can let them know about Nulb, where evil is afoot. In Nulb, they hook up with Otis (I think that's the name, Elmo's big brother) or Y'dey, and hear about the Temple. They're probably also suspicious of the temple if they met Lareth the Beautiful back in the moathouse, so it shouldn't be hard to steer 'em at the ToEE, and then watch the bodies fly.

Another option would be to pick up the Temple of the Elemental Evil computer game, which is a pretty faithful recreation of T1-4 under 3E rules. It has various side quests and other threads that might be useful to you, and it's not a bad game in its own right.

 

[Treebore]

Hooks? I don't need no stinkin story hooks! I have my own imagination for those. I just want maps and NPC's worked up for me. I take it from there.

 

[Spatula]

Hello; I picked up an old copy of T1-4, The temple of elemental evil, and I have to say, I'm flabbergasted at it. THis is a _very_ famous dungeon, but there's absolutely no development or hooks to get this thing off the ground! I mean, I can't figure out why the players would even hang out in Hommlet long enough to actually learn of the adventures.

Heh. My old group played through ToEE back in the day. The DM stuck the party in Hommlet without giving us any hooks or anything. In frustration, my character went around asking the NPCs if they had a plot. "We're looking for a plot." "Do you mean you want some land?"

We did eventually end up in the temple, although I forget how exactly.

 

[Numion]

In two minutes, Ive come up with a half-dozen or more scenarios with an easy 'hook' into hommlet or the moathouse.

If it's that easy, makes you wonder why they didn't include those in the product itself ..

 

[Ottergame]

sigh, I guess those who have only played later editions need to be led by the nose

Quite the opposite, actually. People who play the later editions DON'T want to be lead around by the nose like TOEE does once you finally fumble around enough to find out what's the point of the module. There's no real purpose behind anything at the start and it's hard to care about what's happening.

 

[billd91]

Quite the opposite, actually. People who play the later editions DON'T want to be lead around by the nose like TOEE does once you finally fumble around enough to find out what's the point of the module. There's no real purpose behind anything at the start and it's hard to care about what's happening.

Led around by the nose? How can TOEE lead you around by the nose when it's a series of room descriptions? There's no leading around at all which leads to some of the problems players have figuring out what's going on and figuring out a motivation to be there other than "the adventure of it" or "it's a site of evil that must be expunged".
TOEE, like most old-school style modules, are really snapshots of the setting at a particular time. There's very little in most early modules that anything is going on unless the PCs make it happen. TOEE is a slight exception in that the factions in the temple will grow if left alone and at a particular rate.
TOEE is a classic module that really requires a lot of work on the DM's part to make it a classic playing experience rather than just a door-kicking dungeon crawl of no more significance. The DM has to play the NPCs fairly well to convey the rivalries within the temple and the motivations any of them might have to be there and really make the environment seem plausible.

 

[diaglo]

Opinion is divided on the subject.

well i'll just reiterate my opinion then for those who haven't heard it before...

T1-4 was the beginning of the end.

i bought it at Gen Con in 1985. it was so full of errors and mistakes it made me want to retch.... take that back.. i did retch. i'm retching right now IYKWIMAITYD.


i waited years for the T2. and then they gave us this POS.

along with the UA (which i still say Gary wrote for his powergaming scions) this marked the end of the good old days... and the start of the C**p that is D&D today.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Quite Frankly, I preferred the Return to The Temple of Elemental Elemental Evil module.

 

[Henry]

Let's keep it civil, please. I'm noticing a little hostility around the edges.

T1-T4 is a good module to me BECAUSE it's rough around the edges. You could adapt the thing to almost eny European style fantasy campaign (most D&D homebrews and worlds) and have it fit. Unlike a, say, Dark Sun or Birthright adventure, heavy modification is not required. It does require a little work to come up with world-specific hooks, but honestly, ALL adventures do; even an adventure that gives you hooks needs to be adapted for your specific world. However, a DM needs to thoroughly read the module to understand all the places where hooks can be introduced - and as Trollwad showed, they are legion. He didn't even get to all the hooks that Nulb has wandering around.