D&D Lore: Tharizdun and the Forgotten Temple

Aten shares the lore of Tharizdun including the adventure where he first appeared, WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.
Thanks for watching ! We hope you enjoy it and we have many more coming soon!
In regard to the Forgotten Temple adventure module, if I have any criticisms it’s that the published adventure itself has a lot of wall of texts and can be a bit confusing at times to completely understand what Gygax’s intentions were. This adventure isn’t for beginning DMs and will require a fair amount of work to ensure a smooth run. I do recommend the 5E conversion available on the DMs Guild website and the maps are far superior to those from the original TSR publication.
Resources:
www.dmsguild.com/product/1708...
www.dmsguild.com/product/1802...
www.dmsguild.com/product/3386...
greyhawkonline.com/greyhawkwi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_...
rysarian.fandom.com/wiki/Thar...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Los...
Join our fledgling community
DISCORD: soon
INSTAGRAM: / we_love_ttrpgs

[@RobOfTheNorth2001]

One other thing that was interesting with WG4 was that it was entirely possible for the players to complete the adventure’s objective and never even realize the hidden adventure regarding Tharizdun. Which puzzled my young self as to why you’d create a whole adventure the players might never see. My older self realizes it was perfect as is for campaign play. If they don’t discover the secret, then clearing out the temple opens it up to being restored as a cultist stronghold.

[@robertdennis8933]

Tharizdun is a huge part of my world, has been since 3rd edition came out. Having a big baddie behind the scenes always keeps that feeling of dread omnipresent.

[@welovettrpgs]

awesome!

[@craigcochrane2284]

Always loved the Gord the Rogue novels. Can't wrap my head around the pronunciation Thurs-doon though, it was always the more frightening Thar-Iz-Dun in my head. Nevertheless, cool video.

[@welovettrpgs]

Thanks! I can't stand the "Thurs-duun" pronunciation myself, sounds like the dollar store version of a Conan adversary.

[@micaarnold2589]

Back during 4e I did a lot of research on tharizdun. Can't remember the exact dots I connected but I was 99% sure that Astral stalkers were created in tharizduns image. Check em out, they are just missing the pointy ears and although looking black their description somewhere says dark green skin

[@welovettrpgs]

great theory thanks for sharing! Could be!

[@cernunnos_lives]

I'd love to see more about the "Chained God" & more about the lore here. It brings me back. I loved playing and running these adventures. AJ Pickett does a great job as well. Too bad WOTC wanted to scare all their fans away. The fools don't deserve the lore they inherited.

[@johnedgar7956]

100% agree!

[@Gramakin]

I currently have the party in my 5e game working against a cabal of aboleths who wish to create a fledgling God that they are going to sacrifice in a ritual to free Tharizdun. The aboleth intend to be forefront in the construction of the new multiverse once Big T has destroyed this one.

[@welovettrpgs]

Sounds great!

[@victorverola6900]

loved your chanel! high value content and production

[@welovettrpgs]

Thank you!

[@Captain1nsaneo]

At increased speed, the ending audio sounded like an alarm from Half-Life which gave me a chuckle.

[@welovettrpgs]

haha

[@pickard72]

Excellent video! Thank you for all of the background. It sounds like WG4 is more of a campaign than a straight-forward dungeon crawl. I'll whip out my old copy and read through it tonight. My AD&D 2E group consists of DM + 6 PCs (levels 7-11); this sounds like a great challenge for them. We have already completed The Temple of Elemental Evil a few years back.

[@welovettrpgs]

As you're aware, those old modules were very sparce and left a lot of room open for DMs to develop their own ideas. I think in this modern age of gaming that adventure would require a big update. But if youre up for it that could be great. Have you seen Goodman Games original adventures reincarnated? Their Temple of Elemental Evil update is really amazing.

[@markbenand]

Even if you don't use Tharizdun, you can use Tharizdun's unholy tome, The Lament to the Lost Tharizdun as a necronomicon equivalent in a campaign. It could be interoperated as the worst of the big books of bad juju even more so than the Book of Vile Darkness or the Demonomicon. Tharizdun also has an avatar running loose called Shothragot who can also be kind of a Nyarlathotep expy.

[@welovettrpgs]

In my own campaign the Queen of Bubastia "casually" mentioned the book in regard to the PCs looking for an ancient library. .. "if you happen to find it bring it to me." :p

[@timhaldane7588]

1:49 Oh, good. In my 4e Campaign, I mistakenly read the name as Tharzidun and pronounced it "THAR-zi-doon." By the time I realized my mistake several months into the campaign (I didn't go back to the original source material often since the setting was about 95% custom), that's how my players pronounced them name as well. Guess I dodged a bullet there. 😉 Also, I dig your 5e campaign description. Mine involved the Far Realm, Dreams, and deception too. It was about the interplay between Free Will and Fate, where the primary villains, The Oblates of Discord, sought to subvert Fate (the collective will of the Gods) on behalf of the Primordials. Using the crystalized eye of the original (now dead) God of Time, they subtly orchestrated world events to drive them toward disaster. Only a few of the Oblates recognized that they themselves were agents of "Tharzidun" - the god of Madness and Entropy. The whole idea was that, near the end of The Dawn War, Tharzidun had secured himself a means of escaping his future imprisonment by corrupting the original God of Time with madness. This "infected" time itself with its inevitable march toward greater entropy. Everything from that moment on was essentially a cascading spiral into one fated end point: the return of Tharzidun.

[@welovettrpgs]

It is in deed a good idea to use false names so as to not summon the attention of evil supernatural beings! :)

[@PatriceBoivin]

Nice to see you have the right basic set box back there. Not the later ones. 🙂

[@welovettrpgs]

Thanks!

[@josephperez2004]

I'd had a long running 4e campaign that, unfortunately, petered out after a few years. The general backdrop was essentially that the many Elemental Lords imprisoned or defeated after the Dawn War had been freed and once again fought for control of the Material Plane, while at the same time Formori Kingdoms in the Feywild forged alliances with unlikely sources and marched on the Feywild, and other various troubles seemed to cascade through the various planes of existence. The endgame idea was that Tharzidun had orchestrated all this to weaken his prison so as to escape and finish his work of unmaking reality while old enemies and rivals were busy at each other's throats. We got pretty far, into early Epic Tier (the 21-30 level tier for anyone unfamiliar with 4e), powerful enough that our Druid took on the mantle of their mentor primal spirit after its death and the characters got as far as actually meeting and coordinating with several God's (Asmodeus, The Raven Queen, and Zehir) who were aware something bigger was happening behind the events but could not risk clueing in the players yet. Unfortunately, I'd sort of wrote myself into a corner on more than a few adventurer leads and I was practically making things up as I went along in the final few months until the game eventually got shelved.

[@welovettrpgs]

Sounds awesome!

[@democracymmmk]

Good content! And less than 100 subs is just the beginning. Make more!

[@welovettrpgs]

Yup ! Thanks for your support! I'm excited about all the videos we have in store!

[@realmoftheouroboros8313]

The thing with fourth edition is it isn't Greyhawk but an other world so while creating the Abys there doesn't mean it created it in another

[@welovettrpgs]

Ill be addressing that in a future video. The Tharizdun Abyss story definitely conflicts with all the other Abyssal lore.

[@Lowe505]

this is the best video on this subject Tharizdun. i watched it twice

[@welovettrpgs]

Thanks!

[@BlackEcology]

I upvoted as soon as this dudes face appeared lol

[@welovettrpgs]

:) Thanks!

[@midnightgreen8319]

Very good video! You have researched the subject very thoroughly. Fantastic work!

[@welovettrpgs]

Thank You!

[@mattinthehat3]

I just subscribed to your channel because of this video. Thank you. High time someone dedicated a video to this adventure module. I'm excited to see more of your videos.

[@welovettrpgs]

Thank you! I hope all my videos can be useful as well! Thanks for your sub!

[@Gumby-vx7ki]

I have wondered if the Cult of Chaos in The Keep on the Borderlands module was an early iteration of a Tharizdun cult.

[@welovettrpgs]

Interesting thought!

[@benschrose]

what greatness the Algorithm has brought to me today..! I am currently beginning to write more storylines for my running campaign set on the Flanaess and since we had started with the Temple of Elemental Evil, we might just make a Return to it!

[@welovettrpgs]

Glad youre here!

[@ReadingDave]

That was a great adventure.

[@welovettrpgs]

absolutely!

[@Brik888]

Great Video!~ its got me using Tharizdun in my home game now

[@welovettrpgs]

Wow thank you! Hail Tharizdun! May the cosmic horrors rule over us all! :)

[@russellharrell2747]

I see THARIZDUN, I hit the like and sub.

[@welovettrpgs]

Thank you! I hope all my long form videos will also be useful!

[@paulcoy9060]

"Thurzdun?" "Thurston?" "Thursday at noon?"

[@welovettrpgs]

haha

[@paulcoy9060]

@@welovettrpgs Back in the day, my DM called him Tharzidun, and that's how I said it for years. It still sounds more evil than Tharizdun.

[@KargoolElvalie]

Thanks for this. Any references to 3.5 material for Tharizdun?

[@welovettrpgs]

I've learned several new things that have had me thinking I'll either redo this video or create a part two. (Originally Gygax intended on Tharizdun to be involved with - or the greater power behind - the Temple of Elemental Evil.)

[@Svartalf14]

If the temple of Tharizdun is dedicated to a lesser avatar, is it not likely that such is the Elder elemental eye that is found in GDQ modules?

[@welovettrpgs]

I've been rereading Gary's Gord the Rogue books as well as finding little remarks he made about Tharizdun and the Elder Eye (for example - Lolth wasn't supposed to be involved with the Temple of elemental Evil - it was supposed to be a different goddess but due to a typo it was changed) so I'll probably end up doing a follow up video with the additional info I learn. Thanks for watching!

[@colinleat8309]

I don't know if you're player's watch your channel at the time you posted this ( I imagine they do), you just gave them a spoiler for your campaign on the villain. 🤣🤣. Not making fun, it just caught me as funny. I'm not familiar with this villain as we don't play 4th or 5th E. I love the idea of of a central baddie with secondary and tangential influence/impact though. 🤘😁🖖🇨🇦

[@welovettrpgs]

They discovered Tharizdon's plots by the end of this session: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZiki6GNqK2fgs0

[@oakpuncherlast2672]

Where are you getting the incredible illustrations.... Wow

[@welovettrpgs]

Thanks!

[@mr.pavone9719]

2:06 WHAT? B1, The Keep On The Borderlands explicitly said that the inhabitants of The Caves of Chaos would behave like rational beings in response to the players actions. No, most kids played dungeons as murder-hobos racking up XP like they were trying to get the high score on the video game at the 7 Eleven.

[@welovettrpgs]

Right, back in the 80s Dungeon Crawls were pretty one dimensional. Be sure to check out my video about Wandering Monsters. I address that in better detail.

[@mixedlove1234]

Can someone explain to me the point of the magicians mustache ? I tried reading up on it. Couldn't find anything.

[@welovettrpgs]

what keywords did you use in your searches?

[@dianayoung2045]

There are two points to the magicians mustache. One is North and one is South, unless the magician is facing North in which case they are West and East.

[@jonytequileiro]

I've come to understand that OFFICIAL LORE is the same as ORIGINAL LORE. I don't care if right now WotC is the IP owner, if Gary or Ed disagree with something, therefore isn't cannon. The older the editions, more lore accurate people can find things. But remember people: original lore = Gary Gygax & Edward Greenwood. If those names aren't there, don't take it as cannon.

[@welovettrpgs]

Making lore videos is made more difficult with that game we're supossed to call 4th edition since they went out of their way to change not only the rules but much of the lore. As I say in several lore videos, when conflicts arise I hold what the original creator as truth above later authors. I intend on making a new Tharizdun video because I have found a lot of additional informatin (from Gary) that can be included. Also, TSR only pushed Forgotten Realm as a way of killing off Greyhawk. I love Ed, he's fantastic, but remember TSR was only interested in removing Gary from the books any way they could.

[@jonytequileiro]

@@welovettrpgs i heard you saying that and I totally agree, just wanted to share my thoughts too, I love when I see that people, specially new people, dig through and see that the real gems are in the past. The 4th edition like some alterations in the 5e are just delusional and forced things the arrogant Jeremy Crawford pushes through, which I condemn and don't consider officially material regarding the lore.

[@welovettrpgs]

@@jonytequileiro I've been a forever DM since 1980, so people would have a hard time pursuading me to ignore the works of Gary (and Ed).

[@welovettrpgs]

@@jonytequileiro Oh check out my Graz'zt video, you might like that one!

[@jonytequileiro]

@@welovettrpgs that's why I immediately subscribed to your channel! It felt so comfortable finally hearing honesty and integrity, giving not only respect but credit to the ones that created this amazing Hobbie

[@seanfaherty]

I hated that guy for a long time

[@welovettrpgs]

lol there's a lot there to hate!