I am trying to 'locate' the Temple of Elemental Evil for a Campaign. I am thinking in Nirmathas, the nation just north of Molthune. It has a mountain range just west, and it has rivers, too. Due to the lack of political unity/national identity (other than "independent") it suits the rise/resurgence of the Temple. Skelt is an available large town for trading, and the Dwarf hold of Kraggadon is also nearby.
Anyone have any other ideas? I just want it to be an easy fit :) The Temple itself is easy: How many Lovecraftain/Cthulhu references are already on Golarion? More than one... ;)
GNOME
Temple of Elemental Drow.... Mountains near Riddleport ?
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Temple of Elemental Drow.... Mountains near Riddleport ?
If you've read prince of wolves, Ustalav might be good...
True but the Temple ends up with you fighting Drow and arnt they behind everything... The Drow City is under the Mt. Near Riddleport in Varisia, wich is near Ustalav... and Varisia has its share of wherewolves and Cthulhu monsters ;)
True but the Temple ends up with you fighting Drow and arnt they behind everything... The Drow City is under the Mt. Near Riddleport in Varisia, wich is near Ustalav... and Varisia has its share of wherewolves and Cthulhu monsters ;)
I don't think you fight any drow in Temple of Elemental Evil. I'm pretty sure they hadn't even been introduced yet. You fight elemental cultists, Zuggtmoy, and maybe encounter Iuz (if you are unlucky)...
No Drow city required. You are probably thinking of Queen of Spiders...
ToEE, needs a small village (Hommlet), a forest / swamp where you can place a moathouse, another run-down village (Nulb) and a nearby clearing where you can place the ruins of the Temple.
A nearby kingdom that is missing it's prince would be a nice fit as well, but probably not 100% required...
Nope. Drow are not a main bad-guy element in RToEE :) That was "Against the Giants" which led to Eclavdra and her crew of nasty little demonworshippers ;) In the Temple you fight Fiendish Elemnetals, and lots of humanoids: Trogs, Gobbos, evil humans. The nastiest enemies are the Clerics, stark raving mad Dorritos Casters (Dorritos? Crunch all you want, we'll make more!)
Usatalav was my first impression, too... except it is so hyper-gothic/Ravenlofty.
GNOME
I'd suggest Lastwall. Or maybe Brevoy, given its proximity to the demon-ridden Worldwound.
|Loos it in the jungles of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords up near enough to the world wound, and yet you have to treck through the cold, then enter a lost world of dinosaurs and jungle tribesmen and savage beasts... then at the edge of a frozen glacier... you find the temple....
Sorry I have a book - Temple of Elemental Evil wich has the whole series including Homlet, the Giants, and such... it runs the whole series of numbers from the whole Greyhawk adventure modules reprinted in 2nd edition in 1 book. :) Thats why I remembered it as being Drow as its cover as I remember has Drow all over it :)
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I'd suggest Lastwall. Or maybe Brevoy, given its proximity to the demon-ridden Worldwound.
It's easy to hear "elemental evil" and think "Worldwound," but this is misleading.
One of the most important elements of the ToEE was that it was located in a lush grassland in the heart of the civilized regions of Greyhawk. It wasn't a demon-infested hellscape, but quite the opposite.
If I were pressed, I'd say it should be somewhere in Taldor or Andoran, located not far from Cassomir.
Perhaps this could be the location of a famous clash between Taldor and Andoran?
I'd suggest Lastwall. Or maybe Brevoy, given its proximity to the demon-ridden Worldwound.It's easy to hear "elemental evil" and think "Worldwound," but this is misleading.
One of the most important elements of the ToEE was that it was located in a lush grassland in the heart of the civilized regions of Greyhawk. It wasn't a demon-infested hellscape, but quite the opposite.
If I were pressed, I'd say it should be somewhere in Taldor or Andoran, located not far from Cassomir.
Perhaps this could be the location of a famous clash between Taldor and Andoran?
That's why I suggested lands somewhat removed (and yet near) the Worldwound. Brevoy, for instance. That way the ToEE could have been a forward "base" for demon activity that originated in the Worldwound. Yet, the adventure itself would take place in the lands it affected. If you want to stay away from the Worldwound, you could still place it in Brevoy and say the threat encroached on that country from Iobaria, instead.
Regardless, my first suggestion, which I still stand behind is Lastwall. It's the site of the titanic struggle that took place during the Shining Crusade when Taldor blunted the aggression of the Witch-King, Tar-Baphon, coming out of Ustalav and the Hold of Belkzen. Lastwall now stands as the nation who takes responsibility for safeguarding against that kind of evil. Thus, I think Lastwall could serve a useful purpose for weaving something as old as the Temple of Elemental Evil into Golarion.
But that's just my two-cents,
--Neil
The Short List of possibilities then is Brevoy, Lastwall and Nirmathas.
the Good:
Brevoy because it is removed from the 'center' of the world. It's proximity to the Worldwound is similar to the original location in the shadow of Iuz's nation (what was that called again?)
Lastwall is good because it has a *direct* line of obvious as the defender of the Realms from the evil incursion of Super Bad-Badness! It also has the advantage of being fairly close to a few different major cities.
Nirmathas is also a good choice because it is constantly embroiled in a war of independence/expansion against it's Southern neighbor which easily explains why the Nirmathas' Folk can't/don't see the threat the Temple truly is. Also, as a campaign development tool, the relationship between Nirm and Molthune could be pivotal. Imagine is Nirm had to ask Mol for *gulp!* HELP! lol
Not sure if I should put this into a different thread, but here is a basic plan for the Temple as I want to run it:
The original party botched it. They did the moathouse, and Nulb, made their way to Rastor and up to the Temple in the mines. They knocked on the door and when the guards answered it, the PCs looked at each other: "Uh. Avon?" or some other Bad Plan (patent pending!). The fight was huge and the PCs were victorious, losing only one of their members. However, they left the Temple and dropped off the dead PC with her boss (Burne of Hommlet) and bailed. Now, many months have passed, the powers that be seeing their plans threatened and are moving up their timeline. The forces of the Temple are growing quickly, using bound Fiendish Elementals and as many cultists and humanoids as they can muster...
The original party was populated by players that all but refused to interact with the world: and if they did it was always in a negative "I steal this", or "I punch the barkeep." When the party did such a bang-up job at the Temple's door, I took it upon myself to pass the DM's Chair ot someone else: I was done running for that group :) (The good news is that after some serious shaking our group is pretty good! :D)
Now, our group is about 10th level and I am thinking about running a more dangerous version of the Temple... instead of starting the mines at about CR5/6, I am looking at doing it around CR10. Yeah, it's a bit (a lot!) of work, but adding an Elemental here, some bumped up Undead (Libris Mortis will be the only 3.5 reintroduced if I do that)
GNOME
I would go for Lastwall.
In TOEE there is a kidnapped prince, and in the Golarion version he could be a noble from Nirmathas, as part of future plans to expand their influence southwards. This would be done knowing this weakens Nirmathas and Molthune may take the opportunity to attack.
The cult of Urgathoa may be trying to take over the region and lends aid to the temple. They send skeletal patrols along Lastwall borders to cut off aid.
You can replace any Iuz/Iuz cult reference with Urgathoa, since that fits with the region more.
Since you want to increase the power level, you can put in a few Mummy on level 1, Mohrg on level 2, Devourer on level 3.
For abit of intrigue perhaps some of the Elemental cultists don't like the Urgathoa influence and will betray their 'allies' if persuaded.
The temple and moathouse can sit along a river through some light hills within the Fangwood.
During their trips into the temple, Nulb could be completely taken over by cultists, either Elemental or Urgathoa. Later they could start sending troops to Hommlet.
I'd throw some 3rd-7th level cultists up in the surface ruins around the central well. Also replace the beasties in room 402/403 on level 4 with Urgothoa cultists, say level 5-10th clerics.
I'd suggest Lastwall. Or maybe Brevoy, given its proximity to the demon-ridden Worldwound.It's easy to hear "elemental evil" and think "Worldwound," but this is misleading.
One of the most important elements of the ToEE was that it was located in a lush grassland in the heart of the civilized regions of Greyhawk. It wasn't a demon-infested hellscape, but quite the opposite.
If I were pressed, I'd say it should be somewhere in Taldor or Andoran, located not far from Cassomir.
Perhaps this could be the location of a famous clash between Taldor and Andoran?
That's where I'd put it. Probably Andoran near Falcon's Hollow. There is forested area, a hilly region, river could accommodate swampy regions. It in civilized country but far off enough to support towns like Homlet and Nulb.
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How's this to help:
= Tiny village on a oft used crossroads.
= Tinier, abandoned village.
= Medium city, out of the way location, 2 days from Hommlet.
= Huge forest where on one side lies the ToEE, near to Hommlet. And on the other side, 5-6 days away, lies a huge city, (GH).
= Small hilly region with gnomes just south of Hommlet. Very close to the ToEE.
= Temperate
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Based on that, I would put TOEE in the southern tip of .
It's rural.
It would be easy to create a Hommlet and Nulb down there. You've got foothills that could be like the Kron Hills (though, unlike the Krons, there's a huge mountain range beneath them).
Go north through a giant forest and reach a huge lake with a big Molthune city. Or a big Druma city. Either could be like GH.
It's easily a crossroads for Cheliax, Molthune, Nidal -- even Isger or Nirmathas trying to cicumnavigate Molthune Proper and still get to Cheliax (or Nidal).
You've got a huge forest separating Hommlet from civilization -- not that Molthune is a great civilization -- but maybe focus on the Wild Coast aspect, hmmm?
Verbobonc could be a small, northerly city of Molthune. Especially if the big city (GH) is in Druma. Kerse would be my vote for GH.
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Brevoy seems too near the WorldWound (Realm of Iuz) to me. Hommlet and the Gnarley are farther from Iuz's home. But I also don't think WorldWound is a good choice for Iuz's home. Iux is KING Demon-Spawn in the Realm of Iuz. You can't have that in WorldWound. I think it seems more fitting for Iuz to be in the Hold of Belkzen. If you do go with Brevoy, though, the Lake of Mists makes a great Nyr Dyv.
I don't like Lastwall only because it's too "Golarion-Famous." There's lots of published stuff specific to Lastwall and there's gonna be more. If you put ToEE there you're gonna run into more and more problems as Lastwall stuff gets published. Brevoy or southern Nirmathas or southern Molthune (my choice) all seem better than Lastwall.
Southern Nirmathas seems equally good as southern Molthune. Actually, maybe better.
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The other side of the portal to Greyhawk.
Yeah really.
All your PCs need to do is sail across the Arcadian Ocean, past Arcadia and they'll reach the Solnor Ocean. Then they just gotta sail down to the Azure Sea and up Wooly Bay, dock at Safeton and walk across the Gnarley Forest untill the hit Hommlet.
I've run ToEE a couple times, and some of the above posts (W E Ray's esp.) cover the "Present" pretty well. But there's the "Past" which has the first unification of multispecies armies gathered to defeat the ToEE forces (Battle of Emridy Meadows), which implies NE, where the major Dwarf & Elf nations are (and the Worldwound, too, but not too close as ToEE is near wild areas, but primarily civilized lands.)
When I read the Inner Sea Guide I could've sworn there was a spot where I couldn't help but think "Oh, here's the ToEE." Erik & James J. are big Greyhawk guys, and I think Golarion has a spot for EVERY major module from that era.
To give depth to the scenario, look over your PC's backstories. As well as Emridy, there are so many races and themes to the villains in the ToEE, it's easy to integrate one of several of the named NPCs or intelligent undead (missing person) into the events that sparked a PC's origin. Play up Hommlet's charm, it gives balance to the horror.
Lolth is a player (minor) in the ToEE, but no Drow. But her presence makes a good early, early hook...
The CR jump from a certain dungeon level to another certain dungeon level is huge. (Spoiler avoidance.) You can plant seeds for side ventures to bridge the gap. (I had one group gain a map to the Lost Caverns/Tharizdun duo, where I planted seeds about the Giants arc developing.)
Also, there are many TPK situations throughout, as it's a very reactive dungeon built to trap & kill the unwary player, esp. if you have a smaller party ("Wait, you all missed your save? Crap."). Use similar level NPCs liberally to pad out their numbers. Your players need to know it's not always "PC=CR" and they can run. It's a war (or series of small wars) more than an adventure, and they do have allies.
Let them have Leadership as an option. The battles here and in Giants can handle it.
The Slave Lords arc doesn't fit well at all to the end of ToEE, unless you bump up the CR of the Slave Lords (and the many traps) with a major rebuild. (My party was about twice the level of the Slave Lords by the end.) It could slip in that 'bridge' above, but it's a long sidetrek (unless cut to the tournament lengths). Strengthen the ties to the Drow (alternate areas of A2/A4) and it could work in the greater picture and earn that length. I actually had one of the pirates have a certain Earth Dragon Cleric be his cohort, and since both survived, he got to be the pirate Slave Lord. :) (Never did get to play it though.)
There are many critters that need to be adjusted (both up & down), but my main input on that is I ran Iuz as a CR 10 trap, running for said number of rounds, rather than a creature. (It's not like they can stop him...)
Beef up the finale. (Ahem, the second finale with a pungent foe.) Do it more in line with the video game than the module, lots of veggie/oozy allies. You can convert HER over almost exactly (with PA/Str of Stone Giant, same HD, she's brutal, but doable after all the rest.) I actually ran the 1st finale as is, and it was 2 whole sessions and lots and lots of markers/notation. (Keep Gygax's odd tactics/placements as is. Once the battle starts, and spells start flying, they make better sense.)
Oh, and lastly, unless you have specific questions to post here, those three cylindrical WBL breakers at the end. I gave them to my players as RPing loot, not to be spent on powering up/personal items, but on whatever else they wanted.
By this time, with all that gear and junk, they were well prepared for the madness that is Against the Giants.
Anyway, hope that helped,
JMK