Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil on Faerun [Archive] - Wizards Community

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil on Faerun [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Asciiman
04-13-05, 04:33 AM In a campaign I'm running, I am looking to start Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but I'm having difficulty deciding where to set it within the Realms.

I need some ideas, and why a place would be good. I do not want it to be in the Dalelands however, it is just too close to Myth Drannor and I'd like to spread it out a bit if I could.
Sage_of_Shadowdale
04-13-05, 05:33 AM Well, it mainly depends of the 'elements' you want involved. As there are elementals and whatnot, you either should base it in Thay, or it's outskirts, for that is the location of the faith of Kossuth(lord of flames). Doubtless there are some crazy evil temple complexes lying around there.
Also, the Calim Desert, in the outskirst of Calimshan, is a good place. The djinni that died or frequent the area are bound to have created some enclave of this type somewhere. I personally like the seedy towns and merciless landscape of running PCs in the desert, so Calimshan would be my choice. Plenty of psychos there, from the ancient Shoon Imperium, the ancient Jhaamdath Empire, and Mir and Coramshan. All smashed into one pot of possible hooks. The blistering wastes of the Calim Desert most likely also support worshippers of the Lord of Flames.

Sage

P.S. That first sig quote is hiliarious, and I think I might just have to steal it!
Asciiman
04-13-05, 05:39 AM Yeah I was thinking Calishman as well, as I liked the desert theme, but I was leaning more toward the Eastern side of the Realms, specifically Mulhorand. I was thinking of a distinctly egyptian feel, but as you say, there would be seedier elements around Calishman.

You of course are welcome to the sig.
dragonfriend
04-13-05, 05:54 AM I finished this adventure in the Realms last year. I put the Great Temple in the mountains between Calimshan and the Lake of Steam. The Old Temple was in Erlkazar, in what is now eastern Thetyr.
dragonfriend
04-13-05, 05:55 AM I finished this adventure in the Realms last year. I put the Great Temple in the mountains between Calimshan and the Lake of Steam. The Old Temple was in Erlkazar, in what is now eastern Thetyr.

hope this can help
Bocklin
04-13-05, 10:08 AM Funny...

A year ago, I was working on a campaign in Tethyr for characters around lvl 5, I wanted to send them on a very adapted version of RttToEE.

The main temple was set at the border between Tethyr and the Lake of Steam, in a region under control by the Black Gauntlet. The Banites were trying to reactivate the facilities of the temple to build some Helmed Horrors and Evil-aligned elementals to secure their position about Mintar.

I was playing Tarizdun down and was more focusing on the Kossuth aspect. A mean and evil Cleric/Elemental Archonte was one of the BBBs.

We never got around playing it though... I am DMing a new campaign now.

Bocklin
Zanan
04-14-05, 05:57 AM Vendui!

When I DM'ed that campaign I located the temple and the towns in the eastern edge of Damara, near the Giantspire Mountains. Most of Damara's armies were sent towards the Bloodstone Pass' gates to Vaasa, awaiting a new orc (et al) horde. The monks of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose - for whom we did a little service, asked us to check on rumours in that mentioned region and the group found the old temple and all. I twitched the story along the lines of the old Vaasa-Witch-King vs. Damara conflict: while an orc horde is pressing on the pass, some cultists used the old temple to establish not only this cult, but also were trying to open a gate/portal to Castle Perilous and Orcus' legions. Thus they could fall into Damara's hinterland and the backs of Dragonbane's army.

BTW, we did not finish the adventure, but on our way back to the monastery, I also included the Standing Stone adventure (a group of Damarans who were called to arms by their lord did not arrive in time and the lord requested the PC to double check on that village, as it lay on their way. That was of course the village in the stone circle ...).
Xavier_of_Cormyr
04-14-05, 07:12 AM Looks like we're all basically on the same page here. I was thinking the Southern reaches of Amn would be a great location. And it would make a great storyline to have a merc group from even further North, like the Flaming Fists, to be the original "sackers" of the temple.
ClobberinTime
04-14-05, 02:58 PM Don't forget Dragonspear Castle, it has the same history as the Temple of EEvil. It was sacked by an army in like 1355 or so, and has become a haven of evil off and on for the last 17 years. The full temple could be in the many groups of rugged/lightly populated mountains to the east.
Moscone
04-22-05, 08:23 AM I dunno about the desert setting myself, I'm currently adapting the original mod from 1985 to 3.5 (don't have the redux), and I just can't picture it in the desert...Maybe if you were adapting it to Dark Sun, and it would work great there as well, since the elements are the deities of Athas, just drop any reference of gods...but that's neither here nor there.
Anyway, you could always use Hommlet and Nulb as villages in the Realms, and the sidebar in the FRCS that gives you a conversion of GH to FR gods is a good place to start.
Kossuth as a fire god is cool, but who says some ancient sect of Kossuth wasn't erected in the Dalelands or somewhere but was sacked and wiped from memory?
A patch of uncharted forest in the Dalelands is cool, just because of it's proximity to Myth Drannor. If your players barely survived MD, just fully healed, then they wouldn't expect the Templeof Elemental Evil to be their next stop- I'd change the names of Hommlet and Nulb though, since it's a good bet your players may have played ToEE: the computer game, and the village names are a bit of a giveaway. Creatures from MD could travel freely to ToEE and vise-versa.

I myself was a player in the original module about 13 years ago and it is FREAKING hard!!! Among old school gamers such as myself, ToEE is widely regarded as the coming-of-age for DnD players- even if you don't survive, which is highly likely.
Gary Gygax definitely had a winner here.
Sir Dorian Kelvedor
04-30-05, 12:23 AM I've been running my group through RttToEE for the last year and a half, and they're only about a quarter of the way through the Crater Ridge Mines thus far (we only get to play once or twice a month). I did set up Hommlet and the original Temple of Elemental Evil in the Dalelands - Battledale, to be precise. I've got the Greater Temple set in the Thunder Peaks between Cormyr and the Dales.

I''ve actually played UP Tharizdun. In my campaign, he's a peer of the Overgod Ao (the gods weren't strong enough to kill him, so they did the best they could by imprisoning him). It fits in nicely in my world.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Asciiman 04-13-05, 04:33 AM	In a campaign I'm running, I am looking to start Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but I'm having difficulty deciding where to set it within the Realms. I need some ideas, and why a place would be good. I do not want it to be in the Dalelands however, it is just too close to Myth Drannor and I'd like to spread it out a bit if I could.
Sage_of_Shadowdale 04-13-05, 05:33 AM	Well, it mainly depends of the 'elements' you want involved. As there are elementals and whatnot, you either should base it in Thay, or it's outskirts, for that is the location of the faith of Kossuth(lord of flames). Doubtless there are some crazy evil temple complexes lying around there. Also, the Calim Desert, in the outskirst of Calimshan, is a good place. The djinni that died or frequent the area are bound to have created some enclave of this type somewhere. I personally like the seedy towns and merciless landscape of running PCs in the desert, so Calimshan would be my choice. Plenty of psychos there, from the ancient Shoon Imperium, the ancient Jhaamdath Empire, and Mir and Coramshan. All smashed into one pot of possible hooks. The blistering wastes of the Calim Desert most likely also support worshippers of the Lord of Flames. Sage P.S. That first sig quote is hiliarious, and I think I might just have to steal it!
Asciiman 04-13-05, 05:39 AM	Yeah I was thinking Calishman as well, as I liked the desert theme, but I was leaning more toward the Eastern side of the Realms, specifically Mulhorand. I was thinking of a distinctly egyptian feel, but as you say, there would be seedier elements around Calishman. You of course are welcome to the sig.
dragonfriend 04-13-05, 05:54 AM	I finished this adventure in the Realms last year. I put the Great Temple in the mountains between Calimshan and the Lake of Steam. The Old Temple was in Erlkazar, in what is now eastern Thetyr.
dragonfriend 04-13-05, 05:55 AM	I finished this adventure in the Realms last year. I put the Great Temple in the mountains between Calimshan and the Lake of Steam. The Old Temple was in Erlkazar, in what is now eastern Thetyr. hope this can help
Bocklin 04-13-05, 10:08 AM	Funny... A year ago, I was working on a campaign in Tethyr for characters around lvl 5, I wanted to send them on a very adapted version of RttToEE. The main temple was set at the border between Tethyr and the Lake of Steam, in a region under control by the Black Gauntlet. The Banites were trying to reactivate the facilities of the temple to build some Helmed Horrors and Evil-aligned elementals to secure their position about Mintar. I was playing Tarizdun down and was more focusing on the Kossuth aspect. A mean and evil Cleric/Elemental Archonte was one of the BBBs. We never got around playing it though... I am DMing a new campaign now. Bocklin
Zanan 04-14-05, 05:57 AM	Vendui! When I DM'ed that campaign I located the temple and the towns in the eastern edge of Damara, near the Giantspire Mountains. Most of Damara's armies were sent towards the Bloodstone Pass' gates to Vaasa, awaiting a new orc (et al) horde. The monks of the Monastery of the Yellow Rose - for whom we did a little service, asked us to check on rumours in that mentioned region and the group found the old temple and all. I twitched the story along the lines of the old Vaasa-Witch-King vs. Damara conflict: while an orc horde is pressing on the pass, some cultists used the old temple to establish not only this cult, but also were trying to open a gate/portal to Castle Perilous and Orcus' legions. Thus they could fall into Damara's hinterland and the backs of Dragonbane's army. BTW, we did not finish the adventure, but on our way back to the monastery, I also included the Standing Stone adventure (a group of Damarans who were called to arms by their lord did not arrive in time and the lord requested the PC to double check on that village, as it lay on their way. That was of course the village in the stone circle ...).
Xavier_of_Cormyr 04-14-05, 07:12 AM	Looks like we're all basically on the same page here. I was thinking the Southern reaches of Amn would be a great location. And it would make a great storyline to have a merc group from even further North, like the Flaming Fists, to be the original "sackers" of the temple.
ClobberinTime 04-14-05, 02:58 PM	Don't forget Dragonspear Castle, it has the same history as the Temple of EEvil. It was sacked by an army in like 1355 or so, and has become a haven of evil off and on for the last 17 years. The full temple could be in the many groups of rugged/lightly populated mountains to the east.
Moscone 04-22-05, 08:23 AM	I dunno about the desert setting myself, I'm currently adapting the original mod from 1985 to 3.5 (don't have the redux), and I just can't picture it in the desert...Maybe if you were adapting it to Dark Sun, and it would work great there as well, since the elements are the deities of Athas, just drop any reference of gods...but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, you could always use Hommlet and Nulb as villages in the Realms, and the sidebar in the FRCS that gives you a conversion of GH to FR gods is a good place to start. Kossuth as a fire god is cool, but who says some ancient sect of Kossuth wasn't erected in the Dalelands or somewhere but was sacked and wiped from memory? A patch of uncharted forest in the Dalelands is cool, just because of it's proximity to Myth Drannor. If your players barely survived MD, just fully healed, then they wouldn't expect the Templeof Elemental Evil to be their next stop- I'd change the names of Hommlet and Nulb though, since it's a good bet your players may have played ToEE: the computer game, and the village names are a bit of a giveaway. Creatures from MD could travel freely to ToEE and vise-versa. I myself was a player in the original module about 13 years ago and it is FREAKING hard!!! Among old school gamers such as myself, ToEE is widely regarded as the coming-of-age for DnD players- even if you don't survive, which is highly likely. Gary Gygax definitely had a winner here.
Sir Dorian Kelvedor 04-30-05, 12:23 AM	I've been running my group through RttToEE for the last year and a half, and they're only about a quarter of the way through the Crater Ridge Mines thus far (we only get to play once or twice a month). I did set up Hommlet and the original Temple of Elemental Evil in the Dalelands - Battledale, to be precise. I've got the Greater Temple set in the Thunder Peaks between Cormyr and the Dales. I''ve actually played UP Tharizdun. In my campaign, he's a peer of the Overgod Ao (the gods weren't strong enough to kill him, so they did the best they could by imprisoning him). It fits in nicely in my world.