(Pathfinder) Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil Help

[CheshireCatAW]

Hello Playground

I'm going to try and run Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for a group of mostly novice gamers and using the Pathfinder rule set. I'm specifically looking for help by people who have run the game beforehand and have noted things that should be changed or updated. Also, I'm looking to hear if people think this is a good module. I chose it because of name recognition and the fact that we have plenty of time to play through it but I really don't know if it's any good.

Are there any major updates or notes I should make since I'm going to use it using the Pathfinder rules?

As these are almost all completely novice players I feel comfortable leaving most of the enemies depowered if they would get a boost from the change of editions, although this may change after the game actually gets underway. Signature bad guys will probably get upgraded, however. Does this seem like a reasonable course of action?

Sadly, we're a hemisphere or two away from any decent gaming supplies. Printing is also at a premium although not impossible. While I have plenty of looseleaf and pens I don't have any gaming grids or even figurines (though we could rather easily make do with rocks and hand made graph paper). Will this be a major liability with this module?

I did a quick search for game journals for RttToEE but only brought up a play-by-post game (which I'm skimming for hints and ideas of what characters MIGHT do). Do any of you know anywhere I might go for a list of hints or suggestions?

Are there any other items that you could suggest that I might need to keep in mind for this module?

I'll be playing with 5-6 novice players. I'll likely be asked for suggestions during character creation so a balanced team (or something resembling it) can be anticipated. We'll start gaming soon at level 1 but I won't actually run the module until they're level 4 or thereabouts.

Thank you for your time, help and your expertise. It's greatly appreciated.

[deuxhero]

I don't think Pathfinder nerfs housecats, so start at level 3.

[DarthKawauso]

After playing this module through (and having our rear ends handed to us) and then running it, I would suggest straight character classes. You need to have the four basic classes (cleric, wizard, fighter and rogue) and then go from there.
Have fun, best module ever!

[Another_Poet]

General 3.5 -> PF tip: when converting a Spot, Listen or Search check to a Perception check (as for traps, ambushes, etc.) raise the DC by 1 - 3 points. This is because the three skills have been combined into one, meaning it is far more common for people to have max ranks and the class skill bonus in Perception. You will find that PCs make Perception checks pretty easily if you leave the DCs the same.

Also was the TttToEE PbP thread this one? If not feel free to check out this one too. I'm in it :)

Someone made very nice digital maps of the RttToEE module here

One option is to save those maps and then use them as background in Maptool. You could then bring up the map, with movable tokens for PCs and enemies, on your computer screen and use it instead of a battle mat. A friend of mine got a wireless mouse to make it extra easy to pass the mouse around from player to player as their initiative comes up. Maptool takes a little getting used to, but there are free tutorials and it is an AWESOME system. It even calculates line of site for each token and hides areas they can't see with shadow. (You can turn that option off if you want everyone to see everything.)

I personally feel that many of the areas and encounters would have been confusing, or at least less fun, without a battle map. There are a lot of unusually shaped areas, rooms with multiple unusual things to be found in them, encounters that stretch over multiple rooms and corridors, etc. If you ran all that without the map it'd be confusing and if you just ignored all those factors you'd lose a lot of tactical complexity that makes the battles so much fun.

However graph paper and a pencil will let you do it all if you are not looking for the hi-tech solution mentioned above.

Good luck!

ap

[Scipio]

I ran the entire module over a period of about 3 years. It is a great adventure, and you should have a lot of fun running it.

The module is 3.0, so you will have your work cut out updating it to PF. This forum on Monte Cook's webpage has links to a 3.5 update, which should help. The 3.5 update is in the stickied FAQ at the top. Not sure how active the forum is, but you should be able to get some help there as well.

You have the right idea on not boosting the encounters. It can spiral quickly out of control, since you end up having to boost later encounters to keep up. True to Monte's style, there are some extremely dangerous areas to be aware of. There are three that come to mind right away: Utreshimon at the moathouse, the greater crypt in the CRM, and Chymon at the Fire Door.

Have a great time with the module. I would be happy to give any help you may need.