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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Looking at The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan


I literally hadn't looked at this in 20 years, but discussions in the weekly group had me dig it out of the nether regions of the endless closet.

I forgot how much this module does right, such as:

- tri-fold cover, which could double as a poor man's DM's screen (given a choice between a module and a DM's screen, teenage me would go for the module every time)

- illustration booklet - holy shit, but it is well done - damn shame I can't draw for shit, or I'd be doing this for my game sessions

- "This module is meant to stand on it's own, and includes areas on the map where Dungeon Masters may add their own levels" - I did so back in the day, just wish I could find those maps 30 years later

It does suffer quite a bit from "boxed text-itis". Too much to read, to the point the players' attentions will stray. Easily enough to fix, but common for the era.

Still, i ran this multiple times. May have to do so again in the future.

8 comments:

  1. Never heard of this one before.

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  2. The rewritten version that was a gift for D&D Encounters judges is a nice update to this.

    Top 5 module of all time, I completely rewrote this for a DCC tournament at my store last summer. Big hit!

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  3. When I was working on RCFG, I converted this module, and the players had a blast.

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  4. The following sentence wins the internet today as far as I am concerned.

    "It does suffer quite a bit from "boxed text-itis". Too much to read, to the point the players' attentions will stray. Easily enough to fix, but common for the era".

    Boxed-texted and its proper usage is something I mull over way more than is healthy for a normal person.

    Therefore, I am grateful to live in the modern era. I can find others whose opinions regarding important topics that I feel strongly about without boring anyone in my immediate vicinity to death.

    Z

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. boxed text is fine - in moderation.

      winning the internet for a day? woot! ;)

      Delete
  5. Boxed text works here in the context of a tournament module. Clues are hidden in the text and when read to all the teams insures a fair game. I ran this back in the day as a sort of tournament with my usual players using the three characters they gave. Was fun even though they didn't make it all the way through.

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  6. Tamoachan dropped into Dwellers of the Forbidden City is like the Reses Cups of AD&D.

    ReplyDelete

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