GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
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Post by GT on Nov 14, 2004 11:01:47 GMT -5
OK, we haven't discussed this module very much, and there are things to be looked over here (thanks for the header, Scott!) Gene will hate this, because Dave Cook did it, but it was the tournament module from Origins '80--so just look at it as an example of Anakim Skywalker before being turned by the Lorraine side of the force! The module itself is quite good, but I was going through it for the first time in awhile and realized that there was a sheaf of notes in back dealing with some adventure hooks listed at the end. A race of vampiric orchid-like humanoids (the orchonos), jungle ghouls with slime-ridden flesh and a cancerous touch, hidden ways in the sewers beneath the lost city, and a gate wherefrom a "tentacled other planar creature of evil" strives to enter our world. I remember thinking along the lines of Cthulhu for the being, but now--yet another avenue for the elder elemental gods perhaps. If you count the given gates in G3, D3 and T1-4, along with the possible altar in B2, we now have 5 EEG areas. Not bad for a forgotten deity, but remember at one time the EEG exercised considerable power on Oerth and there are THREE of them... Anybody else ever use/develop this module??
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Post by Scott on Nov 14, 2004 11:35:19 GMT -5
It was probably 1984 the last time I ran, or gave a serious read to I1. I remember liking the adventure. I'll have to pull it out and skim through it a bit before I comment. Scott
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foster1941
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Post by foster1941 on Nov 15, 2004 12:35:23 GMT -5
This was one of the first AD&D modules I ever got (after about 6 months of limiting myself solely to B/X D&D) and I remember not being particularly impressed by it (the other module I got at the same time was A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, and I liked it much better). I'm not sure I even read it all the way through, I definitely never played/ran it, and I don't think I've so much as looked at it since ~1985. I've still got it, though, and perhaps the time is right to check it out again with fresh eyes...
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GT
Wizard
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Post by GT on Nov 15, 2004 23:49:58 GMT -5
Yeah--when I first got it, I already had S1 and the GDQ series, for example, and one tends to be a bit jaded after those; but I was intrigued by it's very setting (in a rift in Hepmonoland) and I now see other potential cool ideas that work with it. One might even be able to do a double adventure using C1 "The Lost Shrine Of Tamoachan"...
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Post by GeneInJungle Hell on Nov 17, 2004 9:30:51 GMT -5
Well, isn't this the thing that got him on board with TSR? It was a convention tournament module before he was at TSR. I heard that he was as a real ambitious apple-polisher as well. Sure, I've played it and thought it was okay but let's face it I'll never forgive him for the death of boy... He's an animal! Wait, that was Captain Kirk and the Klingons... Seriously, the fans paid the price for his unwarranted "bait and switch" success and I find no reason to not revise D&D history by having his ultimate removal. There's the next creative project for the Lost Dungeon creating replacement modules for A1 and I1 to burn the false sentiment garnered b-... Er.... I'll come back in.
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GT
Wizard
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Post by GT on Nov 17, 2004 18:18:37 GMT -5
Heh!! I was waitin' for Gene to come in on this one...
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Post by Scott on Nov 17, 2004 18:40:05 GMT -5
Yeah--when I first got it, I already had S1 and the GDQ series, for example, and one tends to be a bit jaded after those; but I was intrigued by it's very setting (in a rift in Hepmonoland) and I now see other potential cool ideas that work with it. One might even be able to do a double adventure using C1 "The Lost Shrine Of Tamoachan"... The Forbidden City/Tamoachan thing seems like a natural, but I don't know enough about I1's seting. Tamoachan is definately central/south american. Is forbidden city set in a simlar locale, or is it implied african or SE asian jungle? Scott
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GT
Wizard
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Post by GT on Nov 17, 2004 19:56:11 GMT -5
I1's fauna is more like an African jungle (with the gorillas for example), but since both were (later) set in Hepmonoland, I reckon you have a mix of both kinds of animals on Oerth in that locality. Very possible, given the proximity of landmasses in that region ^__^
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Post by Scott on Nov 17, 2004 20:01:44 GMT -5
My Oerth looks more and more like Aerth all the time. The Flanaess and Vargarrd have sort of merged, and the rest is pretty much Aerth. Scott
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Post by Scott on Nov 17, 2004 20:06:06 GMT -5
I really like the Solomon Kane stories set in Africa. Perhaps some mini-advebtures based on those could be added into the mix. Scott
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GT
Wizard
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Post by GT on Nov 19, 2004 14:02:19 GMT -5
A cool thought! You will note that I1 has elements of the Face In The Abyss (Merritt) and Yig (from Lovecraft) blended in. If more designers read the Classics, modules would take on a superior element; I believe...
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GT
Wizard
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Post by GT on Nov 19, 2004 14:06:08 GMT -5
By the way, Scott--as Gary would say about the Flanaess/Aerth thing: "An astute deduction, m'lad!" ^__^
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Post by Scott on Nov 19, 2004 15:47:33 GMT -5
A cool thought! You will note that I1 has elements of the Face In The Abyss (Merritt) and Yig (from Lovecraft) blended in. If more designers read the Classics, modules would take on a superior element; I believe... The Face in the Abyss was the one that I associated it with, which was located somewhere in South America I believe. Using it in that context would allow the Tamoachan crossover. Scott
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foster1941
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Post by foster1941 on Nov 19, 2004 18:03:30 GMT -5
I1's fauna is more like an African jungle (with the gorillas for example), but since both were (later) set in Hepmonoland, I reckon you have a mix of both kinds of animals on Oerth in that locality. Very possible, given the proximity of landmasses in that region ^__^ I1 was set in Hepmonoland, but wasn't C1 was set in the Ameido Jungle? That's part of why I always associated Hepmonoland with Africa and SE Asia whereas the Ameido was analogous to Central/South America. Are you telling me this distinction is something I just dreamed up entirely on my own?!
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GT
Wizard
Duke of Indiana, Knight Commander
Posts: 2,032
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Post by GT on Nov 20, 2004 10:31:00 GMT -5
I stand corrected! Chalk it up to getting older ^__^ I had thought that the Olman Empire "broke eastward", but in fact it was westward--in the Amedio Jungle area! The Greyhawk box set in fact sets the adventure site in Hex A4, 137. The Amedio Jungle does in fact correlate to a South American biome, and since ivory and gorillas are found in Hepmonoland, it is apparently an African equivalent. That solves the apparent incongruities. Does anybody remember if Hepmonoland received any more coverage than the Regional Products map of the box set and that of I1? The Amedio had a write-up, but I don't think Hepmonoland did...
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foster1941
Warlock
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Post by foster1941 on Nov 22, 2004 13:01:40 GMT -5
Wow, I'd never realized until right now that Hepmonoland doesn't have a write up in the WoG folio (and presumably not in the boxed set either?). I wonder if this was intentional (surely not, the Ameido Jungle gets a write-up), if Gary simply neglected to write an entry for it, or if it just got lost in the editing/production (and in that case why wasn't it picked up for the revision -- did EGG actually edit/compile the boxed set or was it done by others while he was in exile in Hollywood?).
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Post by Scott on Nov 22, 2004 13:35:23 GMT -5
Another thing that bothers me is that Zagyg's description is missing from the box set Glossography too. His write up is in the guide, but each god was also given a write up in the Glossography as well where the game mechanic information was listed along with any unusual information pertaining to the gods' clerics. Does anybody know if this information was given in Zagyg's write up in Dragon? Scott
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Post by GeneInZagygsCastle on Nov 22, 2004 14:04:35 GMT -5
I'm having a flashback because it seems that we've already had this conversation regarding Zagyg's stats but I don't recall the outcome.
I'll have to check when I get home.
Maybe it was on your old forum, Scott.
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Post by Scott on Nov 22, 2004 17:26:09 GMT -5
Yeah, we did discuss this before, but nobody ever posted the additional material, or even confirmed that there was additional information. Scott
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Post by geneweigel on Nov 22, 2004 17:56:46 GMT -5
As far as tactical information with an exception of a reiteration that he has the powers of a demigod and he is hit by only +2 weapons everything is the same in the original magazine.
The 83 WoG set Gazetteer has an extra sentence about his followers that wasn't in the mag too.
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