Dungeon Module T1: Moathouse Monsters and Mayhem

Looking over the old modules for clues on how the game was played back in the day I stumbled over some very interesting stuff. While reviewing the monsters as written in the module there were a number of discrepancies between their stats as listed in the Monster Manual and the creature listing. The Upper Ruins were pretty much by-the-book, but once you got to the Dungeon Level it was seemingly a mash of old school references and what I can only refer to as "screw the player" mentality at work.

SPOILER ALERT (for all 3 of you who have never run or played this module....)




Room#1 of the dungeon is a stairway with green slime over it to discourage investigation of the lower ruins. The AC of the slimes is listed as 7, but in the Monster Manual it is AC 9. Seems a trivial complaint or perhaps a transcription error (many times people have sloppy handwriting and I can see a 9 being mistaken for a 7). In any case, this monster makes no sense since it has a Move 0" and "drops on unwary targets." So how the hell does a new patch develop on a ceiling to continue attacking this way?? Does it get moved there by other creatures? Does it have a reproductive system that violently splatters itself on walls and ceiling?

In Room #4 of the dungeon, there are 12 zombies, all perfectly presented as any other undead zombie in the Monster Manual, except for the fact that these zombies take only 1 hp of damage from any piercing weapons. It was written in so casually that it seemed as if ALL zombies are like this. No mention of where this decision or ruling came from. It does not exist in the Monster Manual. Could Gary Gygax have been working on ways of modifying the basic monsters? Was he somehow confusing them with skeletons which take half damage from piercing and slashing weapons? Are the zombies so dessicated that they are becoming skeletal?? No explanation is given.

In Room #7 the ogre Lubash is listed with 5+1 HD. Normal ogres are 4+1 HD. His bardiche does 2-8 + 5 points of damage. Ogres using weapons do only +2 damage per the Monster Manual. Leader ogres have much higher HD and hp and do up to +4 damage. So where do these modifications come from? One would think that a beginner adventure would have more info on why this creature differs from the norm, or at least a rationalization. Could Gary have forgotten ogre HD? Possible. Was he developing a better damage system for ogres based on size and strength? Perhaps. Did he mention why he changed it? No! In fact, this is a TPK waiting to happen. No party of 1st (or even 2nd) level characters stand a chance against an ogre capable of causing 7-13 points of damage with a swing. They would need to be very lucky with their rolls or gain surprise. Note that sleep is useless against his HD, perhaps a reason for making them so high.

Room #14 has a pack of 4 ghouls, much stronger than ordinary ghouls in that they cause 1-4/1-4/1-8 damage instead of normal ghoul damage of 1-3/1-3/1-6 per the Monster Manual. Now it does say that the "Master" keeps them well fed, but giving them MORE damage is just cruel to the party. Granted, a cleric has a chance of turning them at this level, but it is more likely for them to gain surprise and paralyze their targets before they can do so. If the ghouls have surprise, then the party is doomed since they can then strike any paralyzed members automatically for double damage! The only godsend of this monster description is that Gary finally saw fit to give us duration on the paralysis!! For the first time in any module I can remember, the paralysis is listed as 3-12 turns! Since most combats last only a few rounds, this is rarely an issue. Imagine though that the poor PC rolls a 12 for duration. That's 2 hours of paralysis in game time. If they were paralyzed at the beginning of the combat, that character is either dead when the party TPKs or useless for the next 12 turns of game time (a long time indeed). It's not likely that they have any means of removing the paralysis either.

Room #17 contains 15 guards. Let me reiterate that - 15 GUARDS!!! This breaks down to 12 normal men (0-level humans), 2 2nd-level fighter sergeants, and a 4th level fighter lieutenant. A normal party size is 6-8 characters of levels 1 (or 2 by this point). Most of a party at this level consists of henchmen of 1st level max. Most spell casters are out of spells. Unless the party decides to hit this place last after rest and recuperation (likely requiring several days to heal everyone to full) the temple force is likely to realize that the party is on to them and has learned too much already. Then again they are led by a wise cleric with an intelligence of 9 so who knows!

Room #18 contains the leader of this band of evil, Lareth the Beautiful, whom I suspect was originally a drow cleric converted to be a human. This cleric is a powerhouse! He has three stats at 18 (Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma), the best possible armor and weapons for his class, a nearly impossible to hit Armor Class of -1 (any character requires a 20 to hit), and a full complement of spells to use against the party. They are very unlikely to kill him if he is played correctly. His staff of striking can eliminate any target with a single swing while he is immune to "hold" spells due to his phylactery of action, and sleep will not affect him. Burning hands will likely not work if he has cast his resist fire spell, and neither will burning oil (another useful tactic used by old schoolers). Shocking grasp has a good chance of affecting him though as would some of the illusionist spells. He can take out a party of fully rested characters by himself, but add to this the 15 guards in the prior room (one of which is a 4th level fighter) and the tables are definitely turned. The party will NEVER gain surprise on them because there are 7 guards in the hallway BEFORE they even get this far! Tight quarters and defensive tactics ensures that Lareth will be triumphant. If anyone escapes he would assume that his agents could track them down and kill them before they reached Hommlet. If not he could also send word to the Temple to send reinforcements. The moathouse would likely be able to restock monsters faster than Furyondian troops could organize. If the Hommlet militia is called in, they may be able to overwhelm the men, but only if the secret exit is blocked. It's not likely that Lareth would go quietly but he is Chaotic Evil and would likely surrender to capture than die (given his high Wisdom). It might be better for him to leave the moathouse entirely, perhaps leaving deathtraps for future explorers (likes glyphs of warding at all the secret entrances). He could return later with a larger force of gnolls or bugbears from the Temple, or perhaps wait out any retaliation in a nearby shack or wilderness camp. The bogs around the moathouse are likely to be easy to hide in. If all else fails he can head to Nulb, but reporting failure to his superiors in the Temple would likely get him killed.

These are the only problems I can see with the module. It is otherwise a classic example of how to start a campaign and establish a base town. There are three factions (Good - St. Cuthbert, Neutral - Old Faith, and Evil - Temple forces) and many NPCs to interact with here. There does seem to be a lack of trainers for all the classes, but the major ones are represented (except for thieves). It is likely that training would occur in Verbobonc, necessitating a day trip away from Hommlet and at least a week of time otherwise in training. This is not likely to happen more than twice for each character, and likely but once for most of them during T1. Since the group is assumed to be mostly good or neutral in alignment, training in Verbobonc is possible for all (except assassins). Thieves, clerics, and druids would advance the fastest, followed by fighters. More characters = less XP per person = slower advancement.

It might be fun to run this adventure in reverse - have the party be a group of evil adventuring mercenaries based at the Temple of Elemental Evil and hired on to cause trouble in the region. They could make strikes against the forces of good and use Nulb as a base of operations. Perhaps they are needed to locate other former holdings of the Temple, clear them out, and recruit new forces to the mix. I could see encountering gnolls in the Gnarley and fighting them to prove supremacy and strength. Perhaps they hire bandits as henchmen and raid farms (most of the farmers in or near Hommlet have militia training and could be a match if they have enough fighting men). The end goal here would be an attack on Hommlet itself to gain control of the village and cripple all trade through the region. In order to do this the evil party would have to run interference to keep the major powers of good (Celene, Ostverk, Verbobonc, and Furyondy) from finding out until it was too late. This would include intercepting messengers, rooting out spies, and attacking strongholds of elves, gnomes, and humans nearby. Naturally many NPC parties would be engaged in combat as well. Turning on their leaders in the Temple might also be considered in a bid of power to gain control. Perhaps they ally themselves with one of the elemental temples vying for dominance. Or they could be manipulated into freeing the demon trapped within.