Canonfire!

Mon Jul 05, 2004 6:07 pm TOEE Question

Salutations,
I have GMd for a long time now, but this is my first time actually
taking a group of players through the "temple of elemental evil"
(using the old rules no less! -- albeit with some minor modifications).

I have a question of motivation. It is easy to see and play out
how the 4 minor temples on the upper two levels interact. What is
a bit confusing is level 3. What is the rationale behind Falrinth
(of lolth) having the orb of golden death? Surely he knows he has it,
and if so, lolth would know he has it. Is the motivation to keep this
secret from the "greater temple" below, until such time as lolth
and her forces can take control?

Tue Jul 06, 2004 6:38 am

EGG's original idea for the Temple had Lolth involved and not Zuggtmoy. After Q1 was released, Gary wanted to go with something new, so he decided to drop Lolth, and came up with Zuggtmoy. When Mentzer finished up the ToEE he was using Gary's original notes, some still mentioning Lolth. You could really just save yourself the time and just change all of the Lolth references to Zuggtmoy. which is what Gary had planned anyways.
Scott

Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:50 am Thanks

Having it as a temple of lolth does make more sense,
especially considering Lareth in Homlet. Maybe next time
I run a group through it I will make that change. At this point,
it would be a bit difficult for me to change since I have
already planted a lot of Zuggy and Iuz references.

Thanks for the info though!

Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:22 pm

Mmmm interesting, I have seen references to Lloth being the root of ToEE mentioned in GreyTalk and many other places, is there a link that goes into a bit more detail about the original design of the module, or perhaps someone can explain in detail Question

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The only Good hobbit is a well-done hobbit.

Tue Jul 06, 2004 1:53 pm

I another angle, and one I used, could be espionage. Lareth and Falrinth are actually spying on the temple for Lolth. She was aware of Iuz's and Zuggmoy's " collaboration" and want to know how it would affect her plans. It was quite coup for Falrinth to have the orb and testimony to his skills as a spy. Falrinth, knowing Hedrack's and Iuz's power, was biding his time, waiting for the right moment to betray the temple and give Lolth the orb. It made for interesting dialogues and caused the parties to pause and think a little. It also seemed useful as I continued the parties through the Scourge of the Slave lords and the Queen of the Spiders campaign modules.
_________________
"Its a dangerous business going out your front door." JRR Tolkien
Unless you are a Greyhawk Heretic.

Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:27 pm

I agree with IvorMac,

My rational was that Lolth wanted to ensure that Iuz's plans did not effect or interfere with her plans further west (no honour amongst demons etc etc). I took it that Falrinth had salvaged the orb and was deciding how to get it to his mistress just as the heroes enter the area.....

Once the orb was in Lolths pincers then she would have a major influence over the Temple and also Iuz.

I personally always liked the idea of Iggwliv being Iuz's mother and have S4 as an intergral module of my campaign.