Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Geoste 03-22-07, 09:10 AM	Right now I am running a 3.5 updated version of the old classic Temple of Elemental Evil (not the "Return to..." version). I've always wanted to run this sucker way back in the 80s and 90s but never really got a chance to until now. I have heavily borrowed from a 3.0 conversion of the module from Enworld, and part of my prep work is to update the stats to 3.5 using eTools and/or PCGen. Part of the prep work is to also change the monster and NPCs around by adding class levels and such or even to change what classes they are. I do this in order to help prevent players from getting their hands on the module and predicting what comes next by that. I also can and will change the layout of the dungeons and locations and whatnot, adding tunnels here, adding or changing or removing traps there, etc. Along with ToEE, I am also using another old classic, B2 Keep on the Borderlands. This ties in to ToEE because the moathouse was a location where the Temple gathered evil forces (aka humanoids) to them before in the past. Well, it turns out that the Temple needs a place to store these gathered evil forces, right? Well, the Caves of Chaos is that very place. I fully expect the Caves to be mostly a battle romp and stomp - but I will be adding some character development in there, to be sure. The Caves also serve another purpose: to get the party up in experience levels so that by the time they get to the Temple itself they should be powerful enough to do so. When reading these journals keep in mind that I use a heavily modified D&D ruleset, borrowing much from Unearthed Arcana as well as the Rolemaster Critical tables and Fumbles for both physical combat and spells. My downloads page for these house rules and such are here (http://www.geoste.com/rpg_downloads.htm), in case any of you truly need to see them. I am going to post my campaign journals here and I hope to keep them updated as the play progresses. We try to play every two weeks. This particular journal is going purely by memory and is nearly three weeks after the last session (five weeks from the first). The Characters: -Cecilia, Female Human Fighter, lvl 1 -Rayne, male human Ranger, lvl 1 -Karvac, male dwarven Cleric of Skirm, lvl 1 -Olaf, male halfling Rogue, lvl 1 -Aldus, male human Sorcerer, lvl 1 The Recap (last two sessions): There was some background roleplay with the party meeting for the first time and learning about the bandit issue. The adventure more or less begins with the PCs out to get a bandit leader recognizable as having a shield coloured in equal portions of red and black. As well, for each bandit ear collected they would earn a monetary reward - this was a bounty as placed by the mayor of the village of Hommlet. The party arrived at the moathouse, and noted the marsh and the rather large pond just outside the moathouse. As the party came near the moathouse, a group of hungry Giant Frogs leapt towards them. A short battle ensued, and the Frogs were made short work. Notable moments was the critical blow that Cecilia had made to one of the larger Frogs, splitting it open. Another moment had been Aldus' first spell he ever cast in the game which ended up in spell failure. He went unconscious from internalizing the magical enegies but was saved by Karvac. After defeating the giant frogs just outside the moathouse, the party checked out the old and partially rotted drawbridge. Some sounds had been heard inside and they sounded like footsteps. When the party arrived to the doorway, they cautiously checked inside for danger and the threat for attack but found nothing immediate. The interior room was over 50 ft in size. Inside nearby was another door which was checked over and then opened. A large spider had confronted the party, and within a few rounds it had been killed. The party then proceeded towards the steps that lay northeast of them. Beyond the steps there was yet another room approximately the same size with hallways going west and another going south. Another door was on the north wall. The party approached this door and as soon as they got within 30 ft of this door, the party spotted someone hiding in the western hallway. Noticing he had been spotted, the hiding man charged forward to the party with spear, shield, and leather armor. He engaged the party but failed to cause any serious harm. However, the man's yell had spurred others into action: from the south hallway another man similarly dressed as the first one came charging toward the party. The door to the northeast had opened, and the rest of the bandits spilled into the room in a charge. They attacked both Cecilia and Rayne as they had been closest but failed to connect with their spears. One of these bandits was in fact the bandit leader they were after: the one with the red and black shield. Karvac cast a spell which increased his size (Enlarge) and went on to attack the bandits around him. Cecilia and Rayne also did the same, and Olaf and Aldus made for supporting missile fire and spells. This was the longest battle yet. A notable moment was when Aldus had been able to cast a spell without costing him any energy (Spell Critical) and yet another moment occurred near the end. This moment was when Olaf used his crossbow to shoot under the larger sized Karvac at the Bandit Leader. A critical hit was scored with the result of the Bandit's knee shattering from the impact. The bandit leader tried to attack from a prone position but was killed. Victorious, the party searched the room that the majority of bandits came out from (which was the north door). Indeed, that was the main lair of the bandits and the party found some treasures. They took the loot, and took the bandit ears as well as the red and black shield as proof of their deeds and came back to Hommlet to collect their reward. Upon collecting their reward, the party was asked to see 'His Most Worshipful Mage of Hommlet', Mage Burne. He seemed concerned about the moathouse, and revealed to the PCs that it had been an outpost at one time for an old evil - forces of evil whose source had centered around an ancient temple in days gone by. Burne said that the moathouse had been a place for gathering the local "evil" humanoid populations (Orcs, Goblins, etc) to get them to serve these evil forces. The party revealed that they had not searched the moathouse entirely, and so Burne asked them to do that exact thing. He supplied them with a note of credit worth 1,000 gold coin and as well had rewarded for the bandit ears and the proof of defeating the bandits and their leader. (The party spent the credit note in Hommlet on training to learn new skills and ability for gaining level 2.) - - - - - Next date of play: March 24.
snakeheadfish33 03-22-07, 10:55 AM	Great recap. Looking forward to more. I'm currently trying to find a used copy of tToEE in the local hobby stores in my area. With Tintagel's maps and conversions readily at hand I really want to play this classic that we passed up in my younger days.
GrimshofHighSorcery 03-22-07, 03:24 PM	I ran ToEE updated to 3.5. It was the basis of my campaign. For the most part the party tended to die alot. It is a pretty hard module to start off with. I had 22 PC deaths in total. Only one PC made it through the whole Temple, and it was of course the rogue:P. The party learned about the nodes, and eventually returned, and managed their way through the nodes. It was fun, and it did allow for an interesting campaign. I hope your party enjoys it just as much as mine did. Good luck and have fun! Bruce
Geoste 03-22-07, 04:43 PM	Thanks snakeheadfish33 and GrimshofHighSorcery! This time the PCs had been told to make a more thorough search... so I hope all goes well in that regard. Its going to be a tougher fight as the rest of the moathouse bandits - and all - has had time (more than a few days) to find the bandit bodies and are now on alert for intrusion. I will keep this updated. :)
Geoste 03-24-07, 11:05 PM	3.5 D&D Temple of Elemental Evil Campaign March 24, 2007 The Characters: -Olaf Bjurback, male halfling Rogue, lvl 2 -Aldus Maerovan, male human Sorcerer, lvl 2 -Cecilia Nyne, Female Human Fighter, lvl 2 -Karvac Strakholm, male dwarven Cleric of Skirm, lvl 2 -Rayne Sydenham, male human Ranger, lvl 2 And a new character (as well as player): -Brennan Leander, male human Barbarian, lvl 2 NPC addition: -Calmert, male human Cleric of Magni, lvl 3 (I kept forgetting to have Calmert do something during combat! So a running “had to have been there” joke was created: Calmert was known as “Calmert the Talking Cleric” when we referred to him out of character, due to his lack of saying and doing much of anything. I'll try to make him more active next time.) The Recap: Before I continue with the recap, some background info is needed first. Olaf Bjurback had been traveling with a gypsy caravan and had arrived to Hommlet prior to the campaign starting. It was through this caravan of which Brennan Leander, a North Midran barbarian, hired himself out as a mercenary caravan guard. Upon arriving to Hommlet, Brennan had gone on to hire himself out as a mercenary for the militia, and thus had not initially been present when the party had initially formed. On with the recap: two days had passed since our intrepid adventurers had returned back to the Village of Hommlet and received their rewards and training. During those two days of downtime, the party had kept in touch by meeting each other daily at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. So it was on the third day that the party had once more regrouped at the Inn. Mage Burne of Hommlet had greeted the party there that morning, and had them recall their commission to go to the Moathouse and explore it further. He reminded them that he was willing to pay them 500 gp to search out the moathouse. Burne had other matters to tend to with the party, and so had asked if they would take a Cleric of Magni along with them, who was named Calmert (he was present alongside Burne). The party accepted Calmert into their ranks. Then Burne asked Brennan, who was still under hire by the militia, if he was willing to go with the party and do this task (he would also pay him 500 gp). Burne explained to Brennan that he was excused from regular militia duties if he was to do this task. Brennan accepted. Burne told them that 500 gp was a lot of money, and the reason for such high wages was that he was very concerned about the potential for old evil that had come from the Temple. Burne related that the moathouse was a staging area for those forces of evil, and also that it had served to gather evil forces to the Temple. That was in the past – but Burne wanted to know if this was what was going on. He also warned them that if there was indeed evil forces at work there, and that if they proved too powerful, that the party should retreat and come back to Hommlet (where Burne and allies would deal with the threat). The party consoled that they could handle matters, and so prepared to set out. Later on the party arrived at the Moathouse once again. Olaf and Rayne took it upon themselves to do a general search of the surrounding area. Specifically, Rayne had elected to search for tracks to see if any activity had occurred while they were gone. Rayne's suspicion was confirmed: there was evidence of tracks that had been purposefully covered up. He judged the tracks to be that of tall humanoids, and his Ranger training told him rightly that these were Bugbear and Gnoll tracks – common enemies of mankind. The tracks were less than 2 days old. The marching order had been established as Brennan on point, Ceclilia and Rayne second, and Olaf at the side so he could search for traps (when Olaf could not be at the side, he walked alongside Brennan). Aldus and Karvac brought up the third line. At the back was Calmert. (This was the semi-default marching order, but it seemed to change as play progressed, but it did not deviate very much – one or two places, at most, were exchanged.) Cautious now, the party proceeded up the drawbridge. Olaf searched for traps but failed to notice the new makeshift trap, and so when Brennan had advanced he tripped a tripwire. A sledgehammer affixed to a hinge swung downward towards him, but he saved himself by bringing up his Greataxe to block the blow. After a short inspection, Brennan saw that the hammer was hinged to the ceiling. He pulled on it, tore it free, and attached it to his backpack rigging for use as a weapon (I allowed it as an equivalent of a Heavy Mace). The party continued onward to the stairs that lay to the northeast. They decided to try their hand at moving silently, but Cecilia's armor was one of the worst noisemakers. She decided to remain behind a the bottom of the stairs while some of the party went upstairs. Aldus remained halfway up the stairs, and Calmert did the same. Olaf went up the steps and went off to the left, while Rayne stood at the top of stairs. Brennan actually had advanced just a little farther than that. Rayne spotted the three Gnolls hiding near the south hallway (merely crouched and waiting in place) and one Bugbear in the hallway that led west (three others were actually in the hallway, but they were out of line of sight, and thus could not be detected). Rayne made a stopping motion with his hands and stepped toward Olaf and placed his hand on his shoulder in silent warning. Brennan by that time had advanced a little further away from his place, although he was already warned. Knowing their ruse had failed by the ranger's hand motions and by the way he acted, the Gnolls charged forward towards Rayne. The Bugbears spilled from the hallway. One was able to make a charge while the rest moved as much as they could without wild abandon (yep, a double move). Unknown to the Gnolls and Bugbears, the Bandits had tried a similar attack pattern but their maneuvers failed. The same held true this time: none of the attacks by the Gnolls nor the Bugbears managed to do much of anything as the party's armor and combat prowess saved them from the worst of the Gnoll's battleaxes and the Bugbear's morningstars. The party saw that only the bugbears were armored, and even then in mere leather. They did have shields. The Gnolls only had their battleaxes and the clothes on their back. It was pretty much one to one odds: four Bugbears and three Gnolls versus seven party members. During one of the early rounds, Aldus' Orb of Acid spell had managed to hit a Bugbear but it did not sink past it's armor (no damage due to Low Open Ended roll for damage). However, a later Magic Missile spell by Aldus had made for an extremely well placed killing shot (what would have been a normal 1d4+1 Missile had High Open Ended doing 19 pts of damage: a 4 was rolled, another 4, another 4, and then a 3). Cecilia managed to drop a Bugbear and continue her attack on another one close by, which had wounded it greatly. Also, in one of the opening rounds, Karvac had cast Enlarge upon himself, went up the stairs and over to a Gnoll for two rounds, and on the third round had struck a mighty blow that reduced the Gnoll to a near dazed state (1 hp left from a full 11 pts of damage). Even olaf got in a well placed shot with a crossbow bolt (High Open Ended roll with damage) but had not felled the Gnoll. When the battle was over, a full minute had elapsed. The party gathered up the goods that the defeated Gnolls and Bugbears had, which actually did not amount to much. However, as the party did so, Olaf decided to do a general search of the room. He did not find much of anything. The party continued off down the hallway to the west. The first door Olaf had chosen: it had been the only door down along the north wall, which was near the double doors. In this room as a fireplace and a couple tables. Beside the fireplace was a wooden cask. Olaf opened it and a Giant Tick came out of it. It had surprised Olaf, and it landed on his shoulder, but it could not penetrate his Padded armor. Olaf tried unsuccessfully to get the Tick off him but failed to do so. Brennan came into the room then and tried as well, but the Tick ran over Olaf's shoulder and onto his back and avoided Brennan's slapping hand. Olaf backed up to the wall, back first, so as tro crush to Tick, but it ran down his back and down his upper leg just before that crushing blow came. Again, Brennan slapped the vermin with his hand and managed to knock it into the fireplace. Olaf used his crossbow and got a penetrating hit through the Tick's bottom. As ichor dripped out of the Tick (still alive!) Brennan used his sledgehammer and brought an end to the annoying oversized bug. Some of the party had remained out in the hallway as some of the others dealt with the Tick. It was Calmert who noticed that there was more Gnolls sneaking towards the hallway (they had arrived from an east direction). Aldus had noticed this was well. Calmert cast a Hold person spell as some of the party tried to move out of the room while the others advanced forward to engage the Gnolls. Only Cecilia had managed to make a Charge. She killed the Gnoll that was Held in place with her greatsword (it was the only one within Charging distance). This battle did not last as long as the previous one had. The Gnolls fell to Brennan's greataxe, Cecelia's greatblade, Rayne's dual wielding of longsword and dagger, Karvac's Heavy Mace, Aldus' spells and Olaf's crossbow bolts. Clamert had been busy this battle with a Healing spell for Cecilia and yet another Hold Person (that failed to take). Aldus had a Ray of Frost spell that did particularly well: it had totally frozen a Gnoll's torso (another couple of High Open Ended results with a d3!). The party did not waste time with gathering the Gnoll's items as these were equipped much the others: battleaxes and not much else. Calmert suspected that these Gnolls did not carry much because they did not need to go far... The party explored the two hallway doors that was on the south wall. One room was devoid of anything useful, so the other door was tried. The room was devoid of threats, and Olaf searched it for secret doors. He did find a torch stub set into a wall, and his prodding for secret buttons and such had also included taking out the torch stub. Olaf found that the end of the torch was encased in silver, and a quick estimation gave him the notion that it was worth around 40 gold coins. Finally, the double doors was opened and the party entered that room after seeing that the remains of of cots, tapestries, and broken weapons racks lined and littered the place. A south corner of the room was entirely rubble. The PCs figured it must have been a barracks room at one time, and so a general search of the room was made. During their search, the sound of rolling rocks was heard and the party was not surprised when a Giant Lizard came forth. They noticed that an intact chest was located beside it's lair's entrance. The Lizard was quickly dispatched after Brennan had scalped it with a mighty swing of his Greataxe, and by a well placed blow of Aldus' Magic Missile. (another High Open Ended Magic Missile damage result). The chest did not contain much of value: 30+ copper coins, a light crossbow, and Olaf found the use for a case of 24 bolts, which he kept. The party then left the room, back east down the hallway, and into the large room. The party went into the room located off the northeast door in the large chamber, which was where the bandits had charged from the first time the party was here. They had not been inside of this room before (strange, that...), but now had the opportunity. There was a number of bedrolls and rotted skins used as sleeping places, and the tell-tale signs of small fires having been made here (the Bandits had used these). There was an open crate with a blanket covering iot's contents as well as a barrel with a stopper. A search of the walls (but not the rubble) was made for secret doors, and one was found. The crate was found to have a supply of edible rations and the barrel was filled with watered down ale. Finally, the party found the stairs that led downward into the dungeons! It was behind the secret door. After Karvac determined that the party descended just over 35 feet underground, the end of the stairs was within sight. Olaf and Brennan saw the a green slimy substance dripping from the arch of the stairwell. It also gathered at the floor of the stairs, so that it covered a 5ft x 10ft area, which one could try to clear by jumping. Karvac warned the party about the dangers of Green Slime. They quickly looked up and saw that they were not directly under any of it. Olaf backtracked and got one of the bedrolls from the Bandit's sleeping area. Brennan followed him and retrieved a barrel of ale. Olaf threw the blanket over the Slime and waited, as Brennan came down with the barrel. It was found that the bedroll was in the process of being devoured by the Slime. Brennan placed the barrel down on the stairs (his idea, I think, had been to wash away the Slime from the bottom of the steps). Aldus used his ability to create an Unseen Servant (Night Haunt feat, Complete Arcane) to carry a lit torch to have it burn the Slime. After some time of this the Slime did catch fire and was thus dispatched. Now safe to tread, Olaf walked from the stairs towards the open passageway that led south to the cells. The door to the northeast was noted. The Unseen Servant was still carrying the torch, and so it provided illumination for Olaf to see. Instead of going south into the cell area, the party went to the northeast door. It was stuck, so Brennan forced it open. This made some noise. The door led into a 20 x 20 ft room littered with worthless junk. There was yet another door, and it too was stuck. Brennan could not open the door, however, and so the barbarian was outdone by the warrior blacksmith woman Cecilia. The door opened and Cecilia went inside... ... only to find the slicing end of a large sized Halberd! Inside the room was an Ogre who wore leather armor and wielded a Halberd that was sized to him (Large). If it had not been for Cecilia's armor, she would have been knocked into unconsciousness (i.e.: forced to make a consciousness check according to the house rules). Brennan and Rayne came into the room to save their ally. A few blows later the Ogre was defeated in combat, with the final blow struck when Olaf's crossbow bolt pierced the Ogre's forehead. - - - - - This is where we ended off the session and everyone agreed to play this upcoming weekend. So another entry will be made for the game of March 31st.
GrimshofHighSorcery 03-24-07, 11:48 PM	lol i must say in my ToEE campaign, i had Calmert also do the same thing, i would always forget about him, and while it annoyed the party, it was always a good joke.
Tintagel 04-09-07, 01:13 AM	I'm not sure if you will find this useful, but my group set up a wiki at Wetpaint for our campaign. We use it to keep notes on NPCs, places, etc. http://toee.wetpaint.com/