I've recently been in another nostalgic mood for AD&D, mainly because I haven't been able to play in a few months. Whenever this happens, I wax nostalgic on Hommlet and the Temple of Elemental Evil and this time is no exception. I started re-reading sections of the module and introduction, hoping to get more insights on the original campaign run by Gary Gygax. However, this effort is doomed to failure for a host of reasons.
The first stumbling block I face is that Gary's Greyhawk in no way resembles the published version of the campaign setting. His version was based off a mutated North American continent, with Lake Superior as the Nyr Dyv and all other kingdoms surrounding the great lakes as versions of the real world cultures present (Greyhawk ~ Chicago(?), Dyvers ~ Milwaukee (?), Great Kingdom = New York/New England/Original 13 colonies; the Pale ~ Ontario; Midwest America ~ Nyrond, SW America ~ Keoland, and the Rockies were the Hellfurnaces and Crystalmist Mountains wherein the Giants campaign was run). The various distances and directions given in the background information of T1 do not match the hex map made by Darlene in the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio (or later versions of the same). T1-4 tried to rectify this but although they changed the mini campaign map, the text remained the same in the module, copied verbatim from the original printing (with numerous editing errors). So right off the bat, what we get in the module is obviously what Gary used for the module, but does not correlate to the map we have.
The second point involved the NPCs in the module. Gary stated that the major personages in the module (Burne, Rufus, Jaroo, Otis, Elmo, Y'dey, etc.) were all the original player characters in the adventure, later used in the module as "the clock was turned back." Gary promised a play synopsis in a DRAGON magazine article, but it was never meant to be. If these characters are the replacements for the original leaders of the community, I wonder who the originals were?? Who was the original mayor of the community? Was there even a church of St. Cuthbert in the village? Was the village elder the leader of the community, later replaced by the Viscount's men? When did the traders come to the community?
The final stumbling block is a lack of direction in the module. The DM has to come up with some way to get the players from the village to the moathouse. The connections are not obvious - more like vague rumors. Most players I have would have skipped the moathouse (if they even cared about the ruin) and gone right for the Temple of Elemental Evil. Even in the moathouse, there's little to link the temple forces below with the bandits above (by design I think). It's never even stated if the two groups are aware of each other! The secret door in the upper chamber is the only safe way into the dungeons (other than the secret tunnel) and seems to be guarded from intruders by humanoids of various sort. So who knows the connection between the bandit leader and the forces of Lareth the Beautiful? Perhaps Lareth is there to not only make sure the bandits are not chased off by the local authorities, but to make sure they are also not lured into service by Burne and Rufus (who apparently gained their own men in a similar fashion; perhaps the very SAME bandits from the original run). Or perhaps Lareth is the real director of the bandits, telling them where and how to strike in order to disrupt trade and yet remain in the shadows or on the fringe.
The moathouse itself is a meatgrinder for novice players. There has to be more of a lead-in before the characters can safely enter the adventure. Even the NPCs in the village are mostly 2nd and 3rd level, so how can 1st level characters hope to survive when these NPCs (if they are asked to join the party) will usually turn on their associates the moment weakness is detected or treasure is to be gained.
The Temple itself seems incomplete and rushed to me. The amount of detail on the first two levels makes it seem like the description was meant to intimidate and deter intrusion. The later levels are more combat heavy and involve details of encounters and tactics over useful description. It's as if the DM is meant to flesh out everything below the 2nd dungeon level. Not very useful since the plot itself is NEVER really explained - no details on the background or WHY some of the monsters are actually located in the dungeon. Some of the "traps" and "tricks" could not have been devised to catch the occasional curious explorer. Monsters don't just stand around all the time waiting for stupid adventurers to wander into their careful and elaborate death trap. It just makes no sense! I realize that the place is Chaotic and Evil, but Chaos can't explain away every weird encounter or obviously dropped-in "gotcha" trick/trap for which Gygax is notorious. There must have been some prior reasoning for why these things exist. Two examples I can remember off the top of my head are the "angelic" wolfweres(?) and the strange illusion scene with the leucrottas/lamias (?) on the lower levels.
So the Temple needs a major re-write, and the village itself needs a firm hand to definitively identify WHERE it is located, WHY it differs from the original write-up, and HOW to run the various NPCs located therein with motives and get the players on the right track of the adventure. Simple random exploration of the region would take numerous sessions and likely lead to nothing more than a couple of wandering monsters in the farmlands and roads of the countryside. Not that this is bad, mind you, but detracts from the main reason for playing the module to begin with.
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D&D Basic: Entering Hommlet
Well, it has been a while since I've published anything on this blog. To be honest, I've been dabbling in D&D 5e and trying to...
I love this sort of discussion. I had occasion to run Village of Hommlet for my children and wife a couple of years ago, and I had to think about some of these same matters.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the map of Greyhawk that Gygax used, and the positioning of Hommlet, I agree that this is an imponderable. However, I do like the idea that Greyhawk was a Dying Earth way way way post Gamma World setting where plate tectonics have reshaped the land to inscrutability. I basically have Hommlet as two days by cart from Verbobonc--10 or so leagues to the southeast, as stated in the module. To me this would imply a waystop halfway between Verbobonc and Hommlet. I think Gary would be the first one to say whatever you decide is equally excellent. He seemed to delight in vague wording that forced people to make it their own.
Your second point about the leaders of Hommlet is interesting. I hold that the original mayor was and still is the village elder at #27. He is the Justice of the Peace as well. His residence reads "In time of attack, villagers nearby seek safety in his compound." Was this compound walled during the original time of troubles? Perhaps not. I do not believe that he is "replaced" by the Viscount's men so much as he is being made somewhat irrelevant by Rufus and Burne. Rufus strikes me as the incipient Baron of Hommlet, who will become a vassal of the Viscount, who is a vassal of the Archcleric of Veluna.
As for the village itself, and what it might have looked like at the time of the original campaign, what I suggest is this: Take a copy of the map, then go through the village key and color all of the residences that are Druidic green, and all of the residences and buildings that belong to the "new faith" of Cuthbert red. That, I think, will give you a sense for what might have come to town in the past five or so years.
New Arrivals Since The Original Campaign: The Potter, The Tailor (who "just moved to the village"), The Teamster ("another newcomer"), The Dairy Farmer and Cheesemaker, The Weaver ("moved to the area only two years ago"), The Wheel and Wainwright, and the Woodbutcher at 28 ("Having come to the village about two years ago"). So, I think it is safe to say that as the church was being built, these newcomers came to perhaps escape the oppression or crowdedness of Verbobonc.
The Church of Saint Cuthbert was NOT present at Hommlet at the time of troubles, I am certain. The Church of St. Cuthbert (bldg. 20) is noted as being of new construction "raised in honor of the aid rendered him by the Archcleric of Veluna in the war against the Temple of Elemental Evil." And who rendered this service? It seems apparent--to me at least--that Y'dey and perhaps Terjon were agents of the Archcleric of Veluna in the original campaign.
As for the Traders, I believe that they are recent additions, placed there as early as possible by the renascent Temple of Elemental Evil. So, perhaps two or three years prior to module start?
You are absolutely correct about the lack of direction. But there are hints that can be followed. The first hint is the wagon and team that the local carter has lost. In the background, we are told that "bandits began to ride the roads again" up to about a year ago. In essence, the problem statement of the module is "Hey, there's some banditry, get to the bottom of it."
Now, who would be in charge of these bandits? By the way, these are bandits which are not detailed in the module--you have to make them up yourself. Lareth himself. "He has been sent into this area to rebuild a force of men and humanoid fighters to gather loot and restore the Temple of Elemental Evil to its former glory."
By drawing up a environs of Hommlet map, and adding bands of brigands north, south, east, and west of Hommlet, you provide an opportunity for the adventurers to gain some knowledge, and even possibly level up, especially if you add in random encounters. These brigands are also an opportunity for the adventurers to be led to the moathouse.
ReplyDeleteAs for the brigands in the upper level of the moathouse, I agree with your suspicion that they are NOT connected with Lareth. I had them as aspirants, hopefuls looking for Lareth, but operating not in coordination with Lareth's plans, not aware of Lareth's presence at the moathouse, and also able to be encountered out on the road. If captured and questioned, the survivors will spill their guts about their cache in an effort to save their skins. In my campaign, it was these brigands, encountered not at the moathouse--but on the road from Hommlet to Nulb--that led the party to the moathouse.
As for why everyone in the village doesn't just say "Hey. There's this MOATHOUSE GO CHECK IT OUT," I did some module analysis and it seems like there are a lot of widowers. Statistically, it's notable in a setting where men ought to be dying early. I built up some diabolical backstory to explain the villagers' silence about the moathouse. The black lord of the fortress had taken the womenfolk of Hommlet prisoner for his vile purposes. When the villagers laid siege, he had them slain and animated, then sent out to do battle against their own husbands. Thus, nobody speaks of that place or that day. My adventurers still don't know that information.
As for the ideas and questions you raise about Lareth and Rufus and Burne, these are all worthy of consideration I think. I believe that Burne's henchmen are more recent finds, however, and not former servants of the Temple.
The upper level of the moathouse is just an exercise in Gygaxian naturalism, in my opinion. The fen breeds monstrous creatures, perhaps grown large by the evil which festers there. Between the idea of the brigand bands, some random encounters met while tramping about the countryside, and the treasure and monsters fought in the upper level, the characters ought to have enough experience points to gain a level. They can be trained by some of the NPCs in the village, if you like.
By breaking up the moathouse into two--or more--forays, to be taken separately, and by adding in some reaction by Lareth to the adventurers depriving him of his brigands, the moathouse need not be experienced strictly as written. What will Lareth do when he comes to realize that his brigands are undone? What if the adventurers enter into the dungeon level and withdraw to recover and reset? You might find it curious that the final encounter between the party in my campaign and Lareth occurred not in the dungeon, but in the open before the moathouse, as Lareth had reset his defenses to make open battle with the interloping adventurers when they returned. It was Lareth's bad luck that Elmo had hit it off with the party's Ranger and had come along...
I have no comment on the Temple as written in T 1-4. I dislike it immensely and will be writing a new T2 for my home campaign, envisioning the Temple of Elemental Evil as a triune alliance of Llolth, Iuz, and Tzuggtmoy worshipers hoping to free Tharizdun, the "Elemental" (as in original, pure) Evil, not this nonsense with Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.