The Lost AD&D Books, Part II -- Lost Gary Gygax Modules
When it became clear that there was money to be made from pre-written adventures, TSR started printing modules -- either those written for tournament use or written by Gary Gygax based on adventures in his own Greyhawk campaign.
Gary Gygax started a vague overarching storyline with certain modules: The Village of Hommlet, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, Hall of the Fire Giant King, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Vault of the Drow. The Village of Hommlet was designated as module T1 and was to lead to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The story goes that a peaceful area around the village of Hommlet was assailed by the forces of evil, based around the nearby village of Nulb and the Temple of Elemental Evil. Though the module, written in 1979, promises a sequel module, it didn't appear for a good five years, and then it was written by Frank Mentzer. Frank reworked the later portions of the module, using Gary's notes to fill in the earlier parts. References to Lolth were removed in the rewritten version, but more on that later.
This adventure was part of Gary Gygax's own D&D campaign. After a few failed attempts at the Temple, Robilar, fighter character of Rob Kuntz, ransacked the Temple single-handedly. He was chucking pillars through the sealed doorways that were part of a spell imprisoning the demon queen of fungus, Zuggtmoy, in the bowels of the Temple. Freed, she took Robilar away to her home in the Abyss as a reward for his deed. He escaped, convincing her that lawful evil and chaotic evil don't mix, and he returned to find his orc henchman had turned his carpet of flying into a poncho, having had to wait his master's return for so long!
The Against the Giants series (G1-3) featured attempts by the players to stop the increasingly organized raids by the various evil giant races. It soon becomes evident that a darker agency is at work: the dark elves, or drow.
The drow are first mentioned in the Monster Manual (1977) with the following description: The "Black Elves" or drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries [grey elves] are bright and as evil as the latter are good. Tales picture them as weak fighters but strong magic-users.
These also were part of Gary Gygax's campaign. The evil dwarf Obmi appears in G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King, and was much hated by Gary's players for his treachery and cowardice. The drow priestess Eclavdra must have been beloved by Gary, for she re-appears in Vault of the Drow, even if slain: her lover will clone her! She also appears in Gary's Gord the Rogue novels, even those not published by TSR!
These were followed by the D series, which involved the players pursuing the drow into the depths of the earth, a vast maze of caves. They encounter drow checkpoints, the shrine of the insane fish-human hybrid Kuo-Toa, and finally the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu, where mind flayers and even demons openly walk the streets. The drow are chaotic in nature and belong to many feuding houses, most worshiping Lolth, demon queen of spiders; however one house, Eilservs, has turned to an Elder Elemental God to help them become the rulers of Erelhei-Cinlu. Gary said that all of his players took one look at the city and went home, to his dismay. The intention was to play the houses against each other and bring about the destruction, or at least weakening, of both the Elder Elemental God and Lolth.
Alas, artist Dave Sutherland saw an interesting pattern on a bathtowel and thought it would be perfect for the sequel module, and he was given an okay from the highers up to produce module Q1, Queen of the Demonweb Pits. It featured the characters going to Lolth's home plane and destroying her. It was quite different from what Gary had envisioned, and it kind of blew up his plans for both Lolth and the Elder Elemental God. Distraught, he gave up work on T2, the Temple of Elemental Evil, until Frank Mentzer talked him into letting him complete it. Thus, we know almost nothing of the Elder Elemental God, except that he was to lay deep beneath the Temple and that Lolth was somehow key to freeing him. Gary's sequel to Vault of the Drow would have featured a web-like maze full of shadowy stuff (Lolth's victims turned into shadows, according to Gary) as apposed to Dave's Abyss web with a steam-powered spider ship (!) crawling around.
Planned modules at the time of his departure from TSR (1985), included Shadowlands: "A high-level module set in the World of Greyhawk. Journey to the perilous Plane of Shadow to rescue Princess Esterilla and confront the master of the plane... where you find yourself an unexpected guest at a wedding where the guests include a lizardman, a catlord, and a mistress of illusion!" This module was to be co-written by Skip Williams, but Skip opted not to finish it with Gary and thus, it was cast aside. The Catlord appears in the Monster Manual II, and I believe he also appears in the Gord the Rogue novels, seeming to be a pet NPC of Gary's.
Another module entitled The Wasp's Nest regarded the city of Stoink, home to many thieves and other scumbags. Further he had one called A Midsummer's Night's Nightmare, which essentially put the players in A Midsummer's Night's Dream, but with a dark twist.
Gary Gygax started a vague overarching storyline with certain modules: The Village of Hommlet, Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, The Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl, Hall of the Fire Giant King, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Vault of the Drow. The Village of Hommlet was designated as module T1 and was to lead to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The story goes that a peaceful area around the village of Hommlet was assailed by the forces of evil, based around the nearby village of Nulb and the Temple of Elemental Evil. Though the module, written in 1979, promises a sequel module, it didn't appear for a good five years, and then it was written by Frank Mentzer. Frank reworked the later portions of the module, using Gary's notes to fill in the earlier parts. References to Lolth were removed in the rewritten version, but more on that later.
This adventure was part of Gary Gygax's own D&D campaign. After a few failed attempts at the Temple, Robilar, fighter character of Rob Kuntz, ransacked the Temple single-handedly. He was chucking pillars through the sealed doorways that were part of a spell imprisoning the demon queen of fungus, Zuggtmoy, in the bowels of the Temple. Freed, she took Robilar away to her home in the Abyss as a reward for his deed. He escaped, convincing her that lawful evil and chaotic evil don't mix, and he returned to find his orc henchman had turned his carpet of flying into a poncho, having had to wait his master's return for so long!
The Against the Giants series (G1-3) featured attempts by the players to stop the increasingly organized raids by the various evil giant races. It soon becomes evident that a darker agency is at work: the dark elves, or drow.
The drow are first mentioned in the Monster Manual (1977) with the following description: The "Black Elves" or drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries [grey elves] are bright and as evil as the latter are good. Tales picture them as weak fighters but strong magic-users.
These also were part of Gary Gygax's campaign. The evil dwarf Obmi appears in G3, Hall of the Fire Giant King, and was much hated by Gary's players for his treachery and cowardice. The drow priestess Eclavdra must have been beloved by Gary, for she re-appears in Vault of the Drow, even if slain: her lover will clone her! She also appears in Gary's Gord the Rogue novels, even those not published by TSR!
These were followed by the D series, which involved the players pursuing the drow into the depths of the earth, a vast maze of caves. They encounter drow checkpoints, the shrine of the insane fish-human hybrid Kuo-Toa, and finally the drow city of Erelhei-Cinlu, where mind flayers and even demons openly walk the streets. The drow are chaotic in nature and belong to many feuding houses, most worshiping Lolth, demon queen of spiders; however one house, Eilservs, has turned to an Elder Elemental God to help them become the rulers of Erelhei-Cinlu. Gary said that all of his players took one look at the city and went home, to his dismay. The intention was to play the houses against each other and bring about the destruction, or at least weakening, of both the Elder Elemental God and Lolth.
Alas, artist Dave Sutherland saw an interesting pattern on a bathtowel and thought it would be perfect for the sequel module, and he was given an okay from the highers up to produce module Q1, Queen of the Demonweb Pits. It featured the characters going to Lolth's home plane and destroying her. It was quite different from what Gary had envisioned, and it kind of blew up his plans for both Lolth and the Elder Elemental God. Distraught, he gave up work on T2, the Temple of Elemental Evil, until Frank Mentzer talked him into letting him complete it. Thus, we know almost nothing of the Elder Elemental God, except that he was to lay deep beneath the Temple and that Lolth was somehow key to freeing him. Gary's sequel to Vault of the Drow would have featured a web-like maze full of shadowy stuff (Lolth's victims turned into shadows, according to Gary) as apposed to Dave's Abyss web with a steam-powered spider ship (!) crawling around.
Planned modules at the time of his departure from TSR (1985), included Shadowlands: "A high-level module set in the World of Greyhawk. Journey to the perilous Plane of Shadow to rescue Princess Esterilla and confront the master of the plane... where you find yourself an unexpected guest at a wedding where the guests include a lizardman, a catlord, and a mistress of illusion!" This module was to be co-written by Skip Williams, but Skip opted not to finish it with Gary and thus, it was cast aside. The Catlord appears in the Monster Manual II, and I believe he also appears in the Gord the Rogue novels, seeming to be a pet NPC of Gary's.
Another module entitled The Wasp's Nest regarded the city of Stoink, home to many thieves and other scumbags. Further he had one called A Midsummer's Night's Nightmare, which essentially put the players in A Midsummer's Night's Dream, but with a dark twist.