Alternate Ending

[Scott]

This came up on another board. Before he passed away, Gary and me were talking about doing a possible conclusion to the GD series closer to what he had in mind. This would have been a C&C adventure. After Gary passed, I mentioned the idea to Ernie and Luke, but they are either unintereted, or unable to get into adventure writing right now, so here are some of the notes I had saved:
Dorgha Torgu may have been involved.
The party learns the goal of Eclavdra’s faction is to bring back the EGG, and they learn of a ruined Temple on an island on the Sunless Sea. More of the weirdness from the temple rooms found in G1 and G3 could be expected, but the party could also learn more about the EEG.
The EEG drow faction are trying to gain four artifacts that could bring back the EEG, but they are in the lolth faction’s possession.
The artifacts were similar to the ToEE. Four pieces, each related to a different element with the same shape as the elemental symbols from the ToEE. They were the items found in the egg at the Fane, but that wasn’t how they were originally to be found. The web from Q1 wasn’t Gary’s but the concept was, sort of. There was a demon web. Lolth was going to be involved. The web was a demi-plane outside of the Abyss. Lolth was on the demi-plane; there was no giant mech spider ship. The artifacts the EEG faction were looking for were there.
Depending on what information the party had, and how they used the artifacts, several different outcomes were possible.
It would be possible, but unlikely, for the party to use the artifacts to achieve a clean win over the EEG faction.
The party could just release the EEG.
If pressed, the party could use the artifact to defeat Lolth, but it would also bring back the EEG unchecked.
Another possibility would cause a confrontation between Lolth and the EEG, and would result in them both being banished for a time.

[foster1941]

I like this, a lot better than David Sutherland's mom's bathmat + steampunk Wild Wild West spider-ship hot mess. It would be cool to do something with this someday if the inspiration ever strikes.

[geneweigel]

Heh, I just rewatched the post-prequel special edition STAR WARS trilogy again with my daughter and her comments made the whole thing fresher. It brought back memories of playing through the GD series between EMPIRE and JEDI.

The memories coincided with what was expected and what was given.

The jump from G to D is a trip that not a lot of players made. I recall the D series lacking the curb appeal of the G series for many "roll off the street" type players. For me, and my younger brother, we were in for the long haul back then so anything and everything D&D was a must but for many players it was too involved mucking around session after session cut off from supplies and succor deep in the earth (Its almost like the Slave series mimics this in a way. One might argue D-S-DL-FR-2E is a pattern of cheap DM evolution. ). Most wanted nothing to do with modules and were sticking with standard page by page leveled, grid dungeons. (Heh, I had many reams of these but half of them are completely gone. Years ago maps used to pop out of a pile of magazines but those days are over!)

[foster1941]

The G series is very easy for players to "get" - throw-down combat of high level characters vs giants (and special guests) is pretty much exactly what you imagine high level play will be like when you're first perusing the rulebooks. By contrast, the D series is less straightforward and more confusing - the players don't have a clear mission beyond "follow this map to the end" and all three of the main locations can, to some extent, be skipped over - that's pretty much what we did when we played through them back in the day which left us disappointed and wondering what we'd missed. The G series is about plot, but the D series is more about setting and atmosphere and to make it work the DM has to present it to the players in such a way to get them to buy into it and be guided by their own curiosity (which we weren't up to at age 11ish). That's why something like what Scott describes above would be a really good finale to the series, to bring back the plot and give the players an easily-grasped mission and reason for being there.