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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greg Benage" data-source="post: 7706396" data-attributes="member: 93631">I don't want to escalate the argument, but do want to participate because Hidden Shrine was my introduction to AD&D in 1980. I really had no idea what the game was or what to expect. We come into this clearing in the jungle, there's this crumbling pyramid and a hole in the ground, and the other players start hauling out ropes and torches. I realized "the game" was that we were going to go down into that hole and explore. I was hooked!Anyway, I won't claim to remember all of it, and I haven't played the module since, but we didn't TPK. My first, general thought is: You gotta have a cleric. Maybe more than one. This is probably a fair statement for every difficult module in AD&D. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Slow poison reduces the damage a lot (1/turn?) and gives you plenty of time -- the spell lasts for one hour/level. I recall we had some scrolls with slow poison, but since it was my first session ever, I don't know how or when the PCs obtained them. It's entirely possible the DM let the PCs acquire them in a nearby village. Without the spell, you're taking several hit points of damage per turn, but you can overcome with healing potions and scrolls both coming in and discovered within the dungeon. Really, I see this as a problem you have to solve, rather than something you're going to let kill you.It's a different matter in tournament play, I suppose, but there the point is just to accomplish as much as possible in the allotted event time. The time limit will end your run before the poison does.The will-o-wisp doesn't want to fight you -- it wants to "lure" you into a trap (though I can't imagine any will-o-wisp ever actually succeeded at doing so). As I recall, it showed up when we were in the sand trap. The trap was bad enough, and I remember thinking this should have been a TPK. But it turns out the wisp doesn't attack unless and until you're about to escape the trap, and then flees if it takes any damage. So one magic missile will send it on its way.Anyway, I just wanted to weigh in because this module will always be my "first love." When Raiders came out the next year, I was like, "Been there, done that." I expect the experience of all these old modules varied widely from one DM and group to the next.</blockquote>

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