The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, Advanced Dungeon and Dragons Module Wg-4 [Paperback]

NOTE: THIS REVIEW FOR REFEREE'S EYES ONLY. THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE FOR PLAYERS.

The prior two reviews are right on the point. I wanted to elaborate on the comment made in the one review regarding this AD&D module's "Party Potential."

My sister and SO had just shown up, and we -- including my brother, my wife and I as well -- had the evening left after a Thanksgiving meal. What to do? Gaming had been mentioned, AD&D specifically. Eyes turned towards me... "Wayne, can you come up with something?" "Ahh, yeah, maybe..." And I went and did some thinking.

Any DM who's been forced to come up with a scenario on short notice knows this situation. Four players and about 4 hours to work with, including set-up & prep. (And you know gaming sessions always take longer than you anticipate) I wanted the adventure to be memorable, and come to a satisfying conclusion within that time. I asked the players if they wanted a thinker-type module, or a knock-down, drag-out melee.

You can guess their vote. Well, I'd remembered Tharizdun had a No-BS lead-in with the players needing to assault a tough humanoid faction holed-up in the Temple. Tharizdun ended up being a perfect choice: A combination of old-fashioned PC assault and intelligently sketched humanoid defenders. I used the PC tournament character roster from Module S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

I altered the scenario background slightly, directing the Gnome King to request the party's aid in rooting out this nest of bandits. The gnomes had sent their forces against the humanoids previously, but had been unable to concentrate their forces effectively enough to crack this nut. But the PC's party represented exactly the sharpened force necessary for the task. They'd be the assault force, with the gnomes to follow-up and secure the Temple afterwards.

The 5 PCs and 13 'spear-carrier' gnome warriors attacked the temple directly. I added fabric/chain link curtains to the entrance to prevent any cheap-shot player Fireballs hurled through the entrance. I thought the attack was too easy for the PCs at the beginning. The tarry net trap at the entrance caught them by surprise, but the two Fighters were able to hold off the humanoid counter-attack at the next doorway. The rest of the party extricated itself from the net undisturbed.

The two fighters -- a dwarf and human -- were able to make short work of the Orcs. (Which I'd traded for the uninspiring Norkers... two players were relatively new, and the orcs made a nice mental image from the recent LoR movies.) Despite the numbers attacking, they were able to slay several per round. The gnoll archers were firing into the melee, hitting friend and foe alike.

The fighters were able to press forward and to the side a bit, allowing the rest of the party to slowly emerge from the bottleneck. This continued for a bit, with bodies piling up. Humanoid reinforcements started trickling in at first (per the module's clever chart, showing how the lower-level's rooms would empty out and come to the aid of their comrades upstairs).

The wizard, levitating above the melee and shielded from normal missiles, cast a Cloudkill. The noxious vapors started forward in the room, and eventually down the stairs ahead. This slayed the mid-level defenders, killing the gnolls to the last one. With the pressure on the PCs eased for a moment, the orcs in close melee started dropping quickly.

The reprieve was not to last. The 5 trolls and giant trolls came up the stairs and pushed through the poison cloud. The tide turned here, for the PCs were pressed hard. The dwarf fighter went down, with the cleric saving him at death's door. The trolls were cutting the gnomes down like grass; the gnome archers fled the scene.

The mage's lightning bolt and frost wand helped to regain control of the situation, until the 2 hill giants and mountain giant leader arrived. A Cone of Cold repelled the hill giants, causing them to flee down the stairs badly wounded. But the mountain giant pressed on. Given the 2 trolls still functioning at this point, the party was in desperate straits. The remaining fighter went down, and the mountain giant tossed the cleric across the room like a rag doll. The mage and thief (who'd been finishing off downed but regenerating trolls) pressed their attack, facing a badly wounded giant and barely wounded troll. They knew they would either succeed in this next round, or not at all.

Under the pair's desperate attack, the troll died for good. The mountain giant surrendered, gravely wounded. The gnome forces arrived, their poor timing receiving only weary looks.

The lower levels remained, unexplored for now. Yes, I'd say Tharizdun makes a fine party module.

A well-named module... WG4 is an excellent Greyhawk adventure written by Gary Gygax in 1982, but almost no one remembers it! Even better, it forms the epic prequel to the legendary S4, Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. (Tharizdun - The Phantom Menace?) I personally believe this is Gygax's most bleak, mysterious, demonic, sinister, and gothic adventure, followed closely by T1-4. Oh yeah... it's a lot of fun at parties, too. :)

This module suffers from being basically an extended random encounter for the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Given that, it's a very GOOD addition to that adventure. However, it lacks good art (actually, it almost lacks art, period) and doesn't have enough "personality" to make it a great module. In essence, this is a "hack'n'slash" adventure that is something of a war of attrition with humanoids that have set up housekeeping in a temple to an imprisoned evil power. It has the beginnings of some great atmosphere, but ultimately lacks luster. Get it if you have the Lost Caverns; then it is imbued with the added depth it sorely needs.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars