D&D 5E Temple of elemental Evil

[MonsterEnvy]

Once the players arrive at the temple of Elemental evil I constantly have all the fractions in it get the reinforcements it says it gets. Like every day they get another human or humanoid. Every 3 days they get stronger type of humanoid like a Bugbear. Every week they get a big monster like a Ogre.

Pretty much if the party takes a long time the forces of the temple will be much larger.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm planning to run toee using 5th ed.
but I'm worried about some things...

I'm currently running this, so I can help you out quite a bit.

can I run it straight?

Somewhat. Using the MM stats you can keep most of the monsters the same. NPCs are a bit tricky, but I suggest heavy use of Guards and Bandits, with Thugs and Bandit Captains for Leaders, with a Veteran or 2 thrown in periodically. Use Cult Leaders for lesser clerics, and Priests for the temple leaders. Important NPCs, such as Lareath should be custom made, however, and their CR determined using the DMG.

will it need work to convert?

Yes, but not that much. Most of it will probably be on the fly determinations of various checks (mostly Wis/Perception and Int/Investigation), but if you have time you could determine most of those in advance. I also highly suggest lowering the treasure value by a factor of about 10, otherwise the PCs will be rich as hell in no time. Also, pick new magic items, because the power level has changed over the years (Staff of Striking being Very Rare, for example).

How many sessions or time will it take us? playing 6-7 hs every two weeks.

This depends on your group. I play every 2 weeks for 3-4 hours, and they just got to the Temple proper at session 5. Starting level also affects this, as staring at Level 3, the party could do most of the Moathouse in one game day (4 IRL). At this rate, I figure to finish the Temple in about 5-6 months or so. Your group might be faster or slower, so be prepared for a long campaign.

how will it improve the gaming having knowledge about Greyhawk?

It depends on what you're trying to do. I'm incorporating a ton of Greyhawk lore, because I'm introducing the group to my favorite world. If you're just wanting to run a great adventure, then I would pretty much only make sure they know about St. Cuthbert and Iuz, as they are the major deities important to the adventure, and the kidnapping of the Prince of Furyondy while serving as Provost of Veluna, for several reasons.

 

[Schmoe]

I'm planning to run toee using 5th ed.
but I'm worried about some things...
can I run it straight?
will it need work to convert?
How many sessions or time will it take us? playing 6-7 hs every two weeks.
how will it improve the gaming having knowledge about Greyhawk?

Before you run Temple of Elemental Evil, read this. That's all you need to know about how to run it.

 

[Li Shenron]

By all means go for it!

I have never run ToEE myself as a DM, but I have been a player of it (in a 3.0 campaign), so I don't actually know stats and mechanics behind ToEE but at least I've experienced the outcome...

And with your thread you just made me want to run this as my first tabletop 5e campaign

I knew about the new elemental evil line. but since I didn't live the first and second ed era and converting this adventure to 3rd ed or pathfinder will take lot of works, 5th ed serves well to run this gem I have in my library since years. It's just seems an adventure that I "have to" run. It's something historical for gamers. I want to taste it, and share that experience with some friends.
Ill certainly use adventurer's Handbook to improve my experience.
thanks. 1-2 years seems too much. I know it's a live dungeon that is what call me the most. I'll figure out how to run it in one year. thanks a lot for sharing your experience with me.

Given bounded accuracy, I think you will have much less problems converting ToEE to 5e than you would be in 3e and 4e.

For monsters, just use the 5e version of them straight out of the Monster Manual when it exists. It shouldn't matter if the same monster is a few levels lower or higher than in the original AD&D.

For non-combat challenges, use the guidelines in Basic (or DMG) to pick a reasonable DC. But I wouldn't worry much about this either, because there are so many ways to proceed in the adventure, that an unbeatable obstacle or monster shouldn't make the adventure stuck.

I ran it during the D&D Next playtest and had no problems with conversion. You will want to tone down the treasure quite a bit as the Temple is pretty rich with gold and gems and such and 5E assumes a much lower rate of treasure gain.

I wouldn't worry about too much treasure. Treasure means nothing if you can't convert it into magic equipment, spellcasting services, or mercenaries.

Just put a little bit more realism into the campaign: the nearest villages of Hommlet and Nulb are where you can go shopping within the day. How much can they have on sale? Just don't foolishly offer unlimited purchases.

Once the PCs can't spend too much in too short time, you'll also get rid of behaviours like looting every single penny, going back and forth every 2 encounters to carry the loot, or pretending you are sneaking around a dungeon with 300k of gold coins and an elven +1 grandpiano in your backpack.

Using the MM stats you can keep most of the monsters the same. NPCs are a bit tricky, but I suggest heavy use of Guards and Bandits, with Thugs and Bandit Captains for Leaders, with a Veteran or 2 thrown in periodically. Use Cult Leaders for lesser clerics, and Priests for the temple leaders. Important NPCs, such as Lareath should be custom made, however, and their CR determined using the DMG.

These are great suggestions! In a nutshell:

- custom-make only the really important NPCs
- default all others to stock NPCs
- use the MM 5e versions of all monster you can find
- replace missing monsters with something similar by theme and/or re-fluff
- if something is still not satisfying, try the DMG monster creation guidelines, or start with a fairly generic monster and add appropriate special abilities borrowed from others

 

[Halivar]

For the moathouse and certain highly-guarded areas of the ToEE, consider allowing something like 0th level henchmen (1d8 hp, +4 attack, 1d8 damage) and some adept healers (1d6 hp, 1d8+2 healing, twice each) to accompany the party; hand them out to players and have them keep track. The original was pretty lethal even in troupe-style play, and you may need to emulate some aspects of it. I, myself, would not take the tack of watering down the monsters; the lethality is the real charm of the original.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

For the moathouse and certain highly-guarded areas of the ToEE, consider allowing something like 0th level henchmen (1d8 hp, +4 attack, 1d8 damage) and some adept healers (1d6 hp, 1d8+2 healing, twice each) to accompany the party; hand them out to players and have them keep track. The original was pretty lethal even in troupe-style play, and you may need to emulate some aspects of it. I, myself, would not take the tack of watering down the monsters; the lethality is the real charm of the original.

I would not do this. Instead I would just do as the original adventure does and allow the players to hire the NPC's that are stated to be hireable. Like Zert, Elmo, Spugnoir and Otis among others. Once the players realize how dangerous it is they will probably reluctantly give up a share of the xp and Gold to the NPCs.