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Matthew
2007-02-26, 01:24 PM
So, Wizards have a new Free Adventure up on their Web Site, Return to the Temple of the Frog (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20070223a). A brief peruse of this module intended for a party of four Level 10 Adventurers piqued my interest. Having never played the original Temple of the Frog (http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-da2.htm), I was left wondering if anybody could fill me in as to the plot of that adventure or a 3.x conversion of some sort. Anybody have anyting to say on the subject?

ken-do-nim
2007-02-26, 07:54 PM
Um, I own it but haven't looked through it. I suppose I could browse it and get back to you. In the meantime, thanks for posting the link! Ironically, the Adventures page only has a link for this at the way bottom; it should be up with White Plume Mountain and Tomb of Horrors at the top.

ken-do-nim
2007-02-26, 08:21 PM
Okay I just looked through it. There's a lot going on there! You think you're going on a typical save-the-princess type adventure, and you discover aliens with blasters have set up shop and they've got some secret plan for world domination I think.

Edit: Looks like it is also the prequel to the next adventure, City of the Gods, where you follow the aliens back to their homeworld. Very neat sci fi fantasy.

Darrin
2007-02-27, 08:50 AM
Having never played the original Temple of the Frog (http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/dd/dd-da2.htm), I was left wondering if anybody could fill me in as to the plot of that adventure or a 3.x conversion of some sort. Anybody have anyting to say on the subject?

Temple of the Frog is the first published RPG scenario ever printed. It appeared in "Supplement II: Blackmoor". This is from the first 1974 "brown box with white labels" edition of D&D (not the 1978 White Box edition), when the rules consisted of three little booklets.

Here's a review of the original supplement (circa 1975) which discusses the scenario:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12622.phtml

Looks like the original supplement is available for download here:

http://www.jovianclouds.com/blackmoor/bmc.html

Later, the scenario was reworked and repackaged in 1986 as DA2: Temple of the Frog. (This is the version available for download on the Paizo site):

http://paizo.com/store/downloads/wizardsOfTheCoast/classicDAndD/blackmoor/v5748btpy7mxa

The Blackmoor campaign world is Dave Arneson's creation. Although he and TSR parted ways early on, Blackmoor has been part of the background of D&D since the game's inception (Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax have differing opinions on who inspired what... both claim at some point that Chainmail was part of their inspiration, but the original mechanics for Chainmail and D&D aren't all that close as one might imagine).

Some versions of Greyhawk place Blackmoor on the map somewhere towards the cold wastes to the north. Blackmoor had a more "official" place in the "basic" version of D&D, or rather the Expert Set, since all the DA modules were designed for Expert characters. When TSR codified the Mystara setting, it was decided that Blackmoor had existed as part of its ancient past, achieved a high level of technology, and then some catastrophe shifted the planet's axis. The DA1-4 series sets all this up so the PCs can travel through time and learn what happened with Blackmoor. Wikipedia has more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmoor

BrokenButterfly
2007-02-27, 08:54 AM
Was I the only one who checked out this adventure and thought that those cyborgs were a bit difficult?

Ranis
2007-02-27, 09:30 AM
That's definitely something that needs to be tackled by a campaign with guns and such; seriously, those cyborgs' guns do HOW much?

Frojoe21
2007-02-27, 09:51 AM
I like to think of that adventure as being poorly named, and should be call "Congratulations, you have cancer. Enjoy".

I mean, you have a group of generally 4-6 people who lack knowledge of the effects of exposure to radioactive exposure being exposed to a damaged nuclear reactor. And the adventure lists benefits. Yes, I know that D&D is not real life, and extraordinary circumstances can have different effects in real life and in a fantasy world, but come on! A horse also has a better climb bonus than most first level characters and you can knock a snake prone in D&D. Those are just rules glitches. Getting benefits from something that is known to kill people in quite a horrible fashion is where I draw the line. If I want radioactive heroes, I'll play M&M. /rant

Were-Sandwich
2007-02-27, 12:23 PM
I so want to run this. The final encounter just sounds so awesome. I have the mental image of this radioactive vampiric alien mutantguy standing on the cieling and firing two lasers at the party, like those guys from Matrix: Revolutions

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-02-27, 01:38 PM
I downloaded it and read it over and I just might use it in my campaign because of it's sheer strangeness to the setting. Right now they're in an era sort of like the dark ages and I think a little sci-fi aspect will make the already magical and backwards aspects of my campaign even more so.

Matthew
2007-02-27, 07:04 PM
Some great links there, Darrin, I am reading the Blackmoor supplement now...

Thanks to everyone else who responded with information as well. I am looking forward to getting the chance to run Return to the Temple of the Frog.

Jade_Tarem
2007-02-28, 02:59 AM
I.... I'm sorry, and I don't know anything about the module, but based on the name I keep getting the following mental image:

Wizard: "I summon a small monsterous fly! Why are you looking at me like that?"