Terrific post by Gabe from Penny Arcade

[Psion]

Agree with Crothian.

Bait & switch is neither innovative, nor usually well received.

It can be fun, but you have to have a good bead on your players to decide if it's a good idea.

IRL, I know people who don't like their peas and potatoes to touch on their plate. In my gaming group, one player wigs out at magic popping up in a modern setting. Both odd, but like family, you gotta take care of them.

 

[Hellzon]

One idea that I have always wanted to try is running T1-T4 The Temple of Elemental Evil simultaneously alongside Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The way the campaign would function is to use AD&D 1e rules for T1-T4 and use 3e rules (probably 3.5) for Return. I would run 3-6 sessions of Temple of Elemental Evil followed by 3-6 sessions of Return so that the PCs could experience some of the links between to the two adventures as they go.

My former group was running through some adventures, anticipating an eventual trip to RTTOEE. Then, after saving an NPC in Speaker in Dreams, she sat down to tell the PC:s about the last time the Cult of Elemental Evil had been active. Cue TOEE (in a conversion to 3.0, we didn't switch).

So timeline:

Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, Speaker in Dreams
Flashback: TOEE, with other characters
Back again: RTTOEE, supposedly.

Alas, I moved. Ah high school.

 

[Odhanan]

I honestly don't think his take here really is a "bait and switch" in the traditional sense of the term. Didn't he send an email to his people before the game basically laying things out for them? If so, then he clearly stated his intentions, and if the players really did mind that much, they could have raised up in arms and complained about it. The DM could then have modified his plans accordingly.

Seems to me that "bait and switch" presupposes the players absolutely are not aware of a drastic change in the premise of the campaign as it unfolds: "It was all a dream", "I told you it was a FR game, but you're all teleported to Ravenloft now", et cetera.