I have a pre-order in for Goodman Games's remaster of Temple of Elemental Evil. I've also been looking over some of my old modules, my copy of the AD&D 1e ToEE among them. So, I have a question.
Does anyone really like the Temple of Elemental Evil as a dungeon?
I'm not talking about Hommlet or the Moathouse. I've played and run the T-1 Village of Hommlet part of the adventure, and that part is pretty good. It's a bit Gygaxian, but it's servicable. Hommlet is solid. The Moathouse is a pretty decent dungeon.
But then there's Nulb and the Temple. And other than some dungeon level maps that look like a 13 year old dreamed them up (thinking specifically about the one where the map has a skull shaped room which would only be apparent from a mapmaker perspective), the Temple is just sort of blah. And then there's the true secret of the Temple, that it's all a cunning machination by... some mold.
I was watching DM It All's two video long overview of the Temple, and I have to say that a lot of it never occurred to me. It has been a long time since I read the module, but I feel like most of the key elements are buried in the text. Yes, whenever I or anyone I knew approached it, the Temple was seen as a megadungeon to be hacked through. And yes, in that role the Temple is just not fun at all.
IMX, ToEE is a campaign killer. It doesn't kill because it slaughters the party. It's that once the adventure reaches the temple and after messing around either trying to get in or exploring the initial sections, everyone loses interest. I've even been a part of at least one group that was going to just quit a campaign altogether because the Temple was so uninteresting, but the GM quickly sort of erased the whole plot with the Temple, has us realize the real threat was elsewhere, and saved the campaign that way.
Anyone here actually manage the endurance test of getting through this one? Anyone else have any thoughts? Is the Temple as bad as I remember and as bad as it seemed while I was skimming it?
I seriously think I might just use a couple of the map layouts rekeyed for my own megadungeon and forget all about the official presentation of the Temple.
Does anyone really like the Temple of Elemental Evil as a dungeon?
I'm not talking about Hommlet or the Moathouse. I've played and run the T-1 Village of Hommlet part of the adventure, and that part is pretty good. It's a bit Gygaxian, but it's servicable. Hommlet is solid. The Moathouse is a pretty decent dungeon.
But then there's Nulb and the Temple. And other than some dungeon level maps that look like a 13 year old dreamed them up (thinking specifically about the one where the map has a skull shaped room which would only be apparent from a mapmaker perspective), the Temple is just sort of blah. And then there's the true secret of the Temple, that it's all a cunning machination by... some mold.
I was watching DM It All's two video long overview of the Temple, and I have to say that a lot of it never occurred to me. It has been a long time since I read the module, but I feel like most of the key elements are buried in the text. Yes, whenever I or anyone I knew approached it, the Temple was seen as a megadungeon to be hacked through. And yes, in that role the Temple is just not fun at all.
IMX, ToEE is a campaign killer. It doesn't kill because it slaughters the party. It's that once the adventure reaches the temple and after messing around either trying to get in or exploring the initial sections, everyone loses interest. I've even been a part of at least one group that was going to just quit a campaign altogether because the Temple was so uninteresting, but the GM quickly sort of erased the whole plot with the Temple, has us realize the real threat was elsewhere, and saved the campaign that way.
Anyone here actually manage the endurance test of getting through this one? Anyone else have any thoughts? Is the Temple as bad as I remember and as bad as it seemed while I was skimming it?
I seriously think I might just use a couple of the map layouts rekeyed for my own megadungeon and forget all about the official presentation of the Temple.