T1: The Village of Hommlet - why are the PCs there?

[grodog]

It's just reconciling that with Lareth making sure no-one can tell where they're coming from: the moathouse isn't that far from Hommlet. So, Lareth has been really sneaky but the adventurers still come to tales of bandits around Hommlet...

I always read that to mean that, yes, while Lareth is probably being pretty sneaky, that the local townsfolks/veterans of the ToEE era were sufficiently paranoid to "cry wolf" upon the signs of sustained bandit activity, even if it wasn't in their immediate vicinity.

Maybe he isn't the "dark hope" after all!

Well, his Int is only 9, although he's got that 18 Wis: so, he's intuitive and has common sense, but isn't necessarily the best project manager on the Oerth

PS: what other key GH modules are you missing, Merric? What are your thoughts on S4 so far (and, when you get a chance, on my S4 page too)? (Perhaps another thread? ).

 

[MerricB]

I always read that to mean that, yes, while Lareth is probably being pretty sneaky, that the local townsfolks/veterans of the ToEE era were sufficiently paranoid to "cry wolf" upon the signs of sustained bandit activity, even if it wasn't in their immediate vicinity.

I do believe you're right.

Mind you, I've always felt that T1 falls short of what I think it should do. The Village itself is very interesting, but it lacks adventure opportunities. (I've always preferred the set-up of L1 for introductory parties). I expect that T2 never properly materialized has something to do with it, for T1 is very much part of a greater whole and without the Temple nearby, there's somewhat lacking in adventure.

PS: what other key GH modules are you missing, Merric? What are your thoughts on S4 so far (and, when you get a chance, on my S4 page too)? (Perhaps another thread? ).

LOL.

S4 I've had in pdf for a while, read it before then, and actually played in during the day. It isn't my favourite Gygax module (that is a tie between EX1 and B2!). For me, it relies a little too much on "this is the next new monster you'll be facing". But that's primarily from reading it; as I recall it was mostly fun to play through.

S4 really suffers from being old; at the time, it was a source of a *lot* of new material and I'm sure that if I'd been a DM at the time, I'd have been over the moon. However, I read Unearthed Arcana and Monster Manual 2 long before I ever saw S4, so much of its impact is blunted.

I've always liked your S4 page, grodog. Learning bits of obscure design lore about old D&D is something I love doing.

At present, I think the only 1e Greyhawk products I'm missing are... none of them! WG5 (and a special extra) arrived, and that closes off the AD&D Greyhawk I didn't have.

2nd edition - now, there's a different story, but are any of them "key"? I don't think so. I have the boxed City of Greyhawk, and a few odd modules, but most of the rest - especially the late 2e material - I'm missing. I've got them somewhere in pdf form, and I'm not really wanting to search them out.

My actual list of 2e Greyhawk products:
City of Greyhawk boxed set
WGA1 Falcon's Revenge
WGA2 Falconmaster
WGA4 Vecna Lives!
WG9 Gargoyle (yuck!)
WG10 Child's Play
WG11 Puppets
WG12 Vale of the Mage (double yuck!)
WGS1 Five Shall Be One (I like this one)
WGS2 Howl from the North (I don't like this one)
WGR2 Rary the Traitor
WGQ1 Patriots of Ulek (a friend bought me this back in the day for my birthday, knowing how much I liked Ulek. Alas, it's poor).
City of Greyhawk Boxed set

I suppose the only one I'd really want is WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, but I have it in pdf - and played through it as a 3e conversion a couple of years ago - and it doesn't thrill me at all!

Cheers!

 

[Kurtomatic]

..his Int is only 9, although he's got that 18 Wis...

Typical mini-maxer!

 

[grodog]

Mind you, I've always felt that T1 falls short of what I think it should do. The Village itself is very interesting, but it lacks adventure opportunities. (I've always preferred the set-up of L1 for introductory parties).

Interesting!: L1 is probably my next favorite starting module for low-level PCs. What do you like about L1 that makes it superior to T1 for you?

I expect that T2 never properly materialized has something to do with it, for T1 is very much part of a greater whole and without the Temple nearby, there's somewhat lacking in adventure.

To some degree, I agree: T2 suffers from the Real Castle Greyhawk Syndrome

S4 I've had in pdf for a while, read it before then, and actually played in during the day.

Doh!: I hadn't thought about .pdfs: for some reason, I thought you were saying that you'd never read it

However, I read Unearthed Arcana and Monster Manual 2 long before I ever saw S4, so much of its impact is blunted.

That makes perfect sense.

I've always liked your S4 page, grodog. Learning bits of obscure design lore about old D&D is something I love doing.

LOL, thanks. I thought I might have found someone who would be checking it out with eyes fresh from a fresh reading of the module: again

At present, I think the only 1e Greyhawk products I'm missing are... none of them!

Excellent!

2nd edition - now, there's a different story, but are any of them "key"? I don't think so.

I remain inordinately fond of Return of the Eight. Otherwise, I agree, much of the 2e materials were happily miss-able. I also like the Star Cairns, Slavers, and The Adventure Begins, but I don't think they're essential per se, just usefully mine-able.

I suppose the only one I'd really want is WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins, but I have it in pdf - and played through it as a 3e conversion a couple of years ago - and it doesn't thrill me at all!

I'm with you on that one.

Typical mini-maxer!

LOL!

 

[Festivus]

In the computer game the PCs found someone being mugged and intervened unfortunately not in time to stop the Canon's death, but long enough to be asked to pass on word of her death to the church of St.Cuthbert...

Those frogs however kept killing off my party every darn time, for some reason the game wouldn't let my characters rest so they could relearn spells or more importantly change them to the ones I wanted!

As for the adventure scenario itself not a clue!

Off topic a bit: You need to head over to Circle of Eight and get the patches and mod packs. It works great after you install those.

Temple of Elemental Evil - Circle of Eight Forum

 

[haakon1]

I remain inordinately fond of Return of the Eight. Otherwise, I agree, much of the 2e materials were happily miss-able. I also like the Star Cairns, Slavers, and The Adventure Begins, but I don't think they're essential per se, just usefully mine-able.

Roger Moore-era Greyhawk is quiet different from From the Ashes-era Greyhawk. Return of the Eight was the first Greyhawk material produced after a long dry spell, and I agree it's very very good.

Star Cairns I had fun with, and The Adventure Begins is a good source book.

Other 2nd Edition 'hawk I like includes Ivid the Undying (never actually published on paper), WGR4 the Marklands, WGR 6 The City of Skulls.

Isn't there a module about patroling along the Furyondy/Iuz frontier too? I can't remember the name.

 

[haakon1]

Off topic a bit: You need to head over to Circle of Eight and get the patches and mod packs. It works great after you install those.

Temple of Elemental Evil - Circle of Eight Forum

I played until some update disabled it, and even with Circle of Eight, I couldn't get it running again. I knew two other people with the same problem, and we never could figure out.

Do you know if it runs in Windows 7? I'm thinking of buying a new computer with Win 7 on it, and ToEE working it on would be just wonderful.

 

[roguerouge]

Baseball. Clutch hitting, for one example.

Football: you have to run to win. People will often cite the fact that winning teams have high rushing totals. That's correlation, not causation. In fact, that's because if a team is behind by ten points or more, they have to pass to catch up quickly, while the other team will be running the ball more frequently to run out the clock. Part of that, of course, is announcers pandering to a subset of the audience that hasn't left the 1970s, where the rule set favored running more.

 

[Ulrick]

To use a cliche:

You all meet in the tavern of the Inn of the Welcome Wench over mugs of ale. You've all heard of rumors of adventures nearby and decide to work together.

 

[Sigurd]

Because if they leave Hommlet, everything gets more vague and it takes the universe way too long to answer the question "what do I see?".




Sigurd