The Village of Hommlet has a built in TPK ending

[mythusmage]

To me, the realism question is this: would the Temple really be able to afford a tenth-level assassin to avenge the death of a fifth-level priest?

He doesn't work for the temple, he works for the temple's patron.

(When you peel off one layer of onion what do you find? )

 

[grodog]

I've always found the assassin afterword one of the high points of T1: since that module is an intro module that's supposed to model how a DM sets up a campaign, and keeps it in motion, the assassin is the perfect exemplar for "actions have consequences"---which is, in my book, one of the most important lessons for any PC or DM to learn.

As a result of this little paragraph, many fledgling DMs have had to create answers to questions like:
- who is this assassin and where is he from?
- who in the Temple hired the assassin, and why?
- why does Lareth merit such high-level support?

The answers to this simple question can spawn wildly different campaigns. Consider a DM that decides that the Temple faction that supports Lolth sends the assassin (since Lareth is in league with them in some manner according to T1) versus a DM who decides that the assassin is a devoted member of the cult of Elemental Evil from Dyvers, sent from the cell there to make an example of these meddling kids. If the PCs defeat the Lolth assassin, they may learn info which may eventually trace back to Eclavdra and her drowic plots, perhaps, as opposed to the Dyvers assassin which would potentially point the PCs in the direction of state-level support for the cult via Iuz and the disappearance of Thrommel.

It all just depends on what the DM and players do with the plot twist! That's the beauty of T1

 

[Pielorinho]

I do remember that I used an assassin at this point in the adventure, and you're right, Grodog--it was one of my earliest experiences at designing adventures.

My assassin was a gnomish glassblower who came to town, befriended the adventurers, and made them each little glass trinkets according to their orders. Naturally, they wake up trussed and gagged in the woods one night, with Mr. Glassblower cackling evilly over them and leaving them to their fates; as soon as he leaves, each PC finds him- or her-self alone in an arena fighting an unbeatably tough version of the glass trinket.

The last player to go through the battle figured out that gnomes are often illusionists, and disbelieved the whole scenario, allowing him to break free and free the other PCs, who'd lapsed into comas and shock after losing their fights. The gnome was never seen again.

What can I say? It was pretty cool when I was twelve years old.

Daniel

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

As others have pointed out, a 10th level assassin in 1E was far less powerful, relatively speaking, than the same character in 3E, plus with a party size of 6-10, this ending is hardly a TPK.

What I enjoyed most about it, though, was that the computer game preserved this little tidbit. Sell some of Lareth's gear to the evil merchants in Hommlet and eventually the assassin shows up ...

 

[Klaus]

Yes.

I keep thinking I would like to run ToEE with a 3e group, but then I look at those unfinished nodes, among other things...

I'm curious, has anyone actually played through ToEE, found all the little bits needed to complete the skull artifact, successfully destroyed the nodes, and got out again in one piece (well, at least one party member getting out in one piece) to tell the tale?

ToEE was the very first adventure I DMed! Only the halfling thief (Lux Light-Hands) made it through the entire module without dying-and-being-replaced-by-a-clone-'cause-the-player-was-too-lazy-to-roll-up-a-new-character.

Ahh, to be thirteen again...

 

[billd91]

To me, the realism question is this: would the Temple really be able to afford a tenth-level assassin to avenge the death of a fifth-level priest? IIRC, there weren't many tenth-level characters anywhere in the adventure, and by the end of it, eight-level characters are expected to be able to drive an (admittedly weakened) demon queen back to her homeworld.

This would be a lot more plausible to me if it called for the services of a fifth- or sixth-level assassin, one that would be commensurate to the damage committed by the PCs.

Daniel

That, in my opinion, is too much metagaming thought. Lareth is an up and coming priest with potential. He's being groomed for better things. Off him and the people higher up are going to hire someone really good at what he does in retribution. They won't shop around for someone of the same approximate ability as Lareth because that would be foolish (and risk failure since any group that took out Lareth and his guards could probably take out a single assassin of similar power). They'll bring out the best guy they have on retainer and send him out for a quick job.