RPG Retro Review: T1 Village of Hommlet

An extra special retrospective look at the classic module T1 - Village of Hommlet!
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[@kendo2377]

To this day I remember the village's tailor. He was scrawny and wasn't allowed to join the militia even though he really wanted to. The way the DM played him, he was excited to talk to the party and show off his considerable skill with a crossbow. We recruited him to go to the moat house with us and he saved the day a couple of times, even though he was 0 level. He survived the whole adventure and the DM made it t where he was a local celebrity of sorts.

[@johnevans9156]

That is good DMing. You are lucky to have had such a creative DM!

[@dmdon6314]

Before the temple was officially released I spent a month making my own version using the pre made dungeons and filling them in with monsters and traps

[@hawkeyepearce1066]

My first experience with D&D, back in 1980, was with T1. Our earliest games revolved around interacting with the NPCs in that module. They made such an impression at the time, that several of them have been carried over into every game I've DM'ed since. Elmo is always a mainstay! So, thanks again for another review that is as insightful as always.

[@jesternario]

I plan to run this soon. Being a starting adventure, I am going to have the following quests: 1. A beginning adventure just a few days before the party heads to Hommlet. Nothing big, just some sewer goblins. Unless the players light a torch in the sewer, they’ll be fine. 2. An ambush by bandits like what you are suggesting. With mine, the party are hired as guards for a merchant caravan, thus giving them some extra reason for talking to people in the quest 3. 3. Since the party is staying in Hommlet, the caravan leader tasks them with delivering the goods to the various areas. Ale to the Welcome Wench, leather to the leather work, wood to the wainwright, etc. This allows them to meet different people, and some extra information on the town. Plus some pay for a week long journey (a whopping 21 gp. They were payed a little more than average footmen). 4. (Optional) Obligatory Rat squashing. The tavernkeep in the Welcome Wench pays the party to go squish some rats that have entered the basement. 5. (Optional) The party can play bounty Hunter. The goldsmith pays bounties on various creatures slain provided proof is delivered. Twice the bounty of brought in alive (the goldsmith and guard captain ransom captured prisoners back to tribes. This establishes why NPCs don’t just kill the party is defeated. The party is worth ransom to the NPCs). 6. An old man offers the PCs a 70/30 split on a treasure he and his companions buried before the temple was defeated. They are ambushed by bandits as they dig it up. 7. The merchant caravan was attacked by kobolds, who stole most of the stuff. The players are hired to get it back. 8. (Optional) the players find a ring in a pool in the kobold lair. It is fairly valuable, maybe 50 gp, but has “to my lovely Belinda, from Gregory." In my game Gregory is the blacksmith, and if they give him the ring, he will make a single non-magical weapon or armor for the party. 9. The head priest-in residence of the temple to St Cuthbert tasks the party with handling unread that have been rising in the cemetery. 10. (Optional) the church blames the local Druid for the undead. The party must mediate before things get violent. 11. A farmer comes into town, stating his name wife and child were captured by bandits. The party, now local heroes, are asked to save them and anyone else they find. The bandits seem to have gone to that old destroyed moathouse that was used as an outpost for the temple back in the day…

[@HowtoRPG]

It's like Christmas. Hommlet is iconic.

[@captcorajus]

Temple of Elemental Evil Will be dropped by Christmas. :)

[@adampender2482]

That will be a good sized review

[@HowtoRPG]

@@captcorajus Cool.

[@elementaryabuse-chan5763]

I had the adventure hook be that one of the villagers was a murderer in disguise. Gives a great reason to talk to them and you can add more side quests as you like

[@ctvtmo]

Simply the greatest module ever made, with the right balance of depth with simplicity. Back in the day, I tied T1 in with B2, so after Hommlet the players went off to the Caverns of Chaos with its "Chapel of Evil" being another extension of the Temple of Elemental Evil in which the players had to purged from the world. This helped to give B2 much more of a background, both in its keep and dungeon. Thank you very much for this review. [ Though the correct rating is "Crit!" an unmodified 20/20. ;-) ]

[@captcorajus]

Ooooo... That's a good idea!! Love it! Rather than just a 'Temple of Evil Chaos" its a 'Temple of elemental evil'.

[@AgoodITguy]

Hey can this module be run with Basic D&D rules?

[@user-mp7dc3sw3v]

We did that exact same thing! My siblings and friends and I found my dads old ad&d stuff and homlet was our first module...but he had lost his copy of temple of element evil so we went to the caves and chaos following some of the temple agents we'd defeated/routed at homlet. Led to so many more adventures we made up as a continuation of the elemental evil cult plot, good times

[@jeffp2x443]

Hey Captcorajus. Just wanted to say I discovered your channel a few days ago and I have now watched all your retro reviews. I am 50 (probably about your age?) and I have to say how much I've enjoyed all the videos. Lots of nostalgia and fond memories! I just started playing 5E, but I don't think anything can compare to the old days when everything was fresh and you had child's imagination. So I just wanted to say thank you and that you have a new subscriber and fan. (I really loved the Dark Tower game you reviewed. I got it for Christmas as well and played it til I dropped and broke it!) Keep up the good work!

[@captcorajus]

Awww, shucks. Thanks for the kind words. :) and you're very welcome. I'm 55. I don't think you can ever REALLY capture the 'first time' you played back in the day, but I do enjoy introducing the game to new players and reliving it through their eyes. This was especially true when I did so with my kids. My oldest Daughter is now 24 and she's a regular on my Sunday game which has been going since like 2003.

[@jeffp2x443]

@@captcorajus Thanks for taking the time to respond. It shows you care about your fans :) I am dying to ask you a question. I saw you and Gary Gygax in a picture on your intro. Did you actually get to play with him and what was it like to meet him? To me, he is kind of an icon. Without him (and Dave Arneson of course) we wouldn't have what we have to today.

[@dangreig2675]

I was going to run this module for a group of 5e players soon, this being their first exposure to the classic editions, and now I know for certain I gotta run this one for them! Wish them luck with the frogs!

[@FreedomReigns1000]

Did you run this yet in 5e? I wanted to run temple of elemental evil, against the giants, and the spider queen. Side note: I'm running B4 The lost city, they're going to get to level 8, then, I'm going to transition them into Desert of Desolation

[@scottsmith3478]

@@FreedomReigns1000 I'm prepping to run our group through the goodman games 5e conversion of T1-4. The group is a touch more on the 'shoot first ask questions later' side so I'll need to make some adjustments!

[@kaneandlynch1213]

@@FreedomReigns1000 hey there! How have your players done thus far? I want to run Lost city along the line and wondering how you prepped? I bought the Goodman games 5e conversion and it seems like a lot!

[@TheGiantRobot]

The art in this module is just gorgeous. I loved this module. The implied politics in it was confusing for me as a DM, but I learned how to set up an adventure playing this. I especially remember those giant frogs. Back then, first level characters had very few hit points. They had to rest and come back to those dreadful frogs many times :), and lost a few npcs and secondary characters. The paralyzing ghouls were the worst, though.

[@tonyporco9524]

Among culinary experts, the village is known for its famous recipe of three eggs fried, filled with delicious ingredients, and then turned over. It's known as the Hommlet Omelet.

[@southron_d1349]

I simply used the village as a starting point for a short Greyhawk campaign. There were other things the group needed to do. The Gunslinger got his gun from a Modron inside a Gelatinous Cube in a simplified version of the Moathouse dungeon. Later, they were kidnapped by Neogi and taken to the Underdark. After escaping, the forces there had to be dealt with. An important weapon was a warhammer called "Favour of the Gods". This was found in the "Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan", in turn this module was set in Hepmonaland. The warhammer was simply a version of "Whelm", normally found in "White Plume Mountain". I also took the opportunity to insert my two 1st-edition AD&D characters (converted to 5e) into Hommlet - Varuxmal the Half-Elf Druid and Surdek the Dwarf Assassin. They hadn't had an outing since early 1985. In fairness to the Temple of Elemental Evil, I don't find the re-write "Prince of the Apocalypse" any easier to read, so I haven't run either.

[@BlackburnBigdragon]

My players didn't fare well with this module. They were never the type to "Talk to people" and were more players of action. Unfortunately, the way this module (and the follow up, "The Temple of Elemental Evil" is set up, if you play as "Players of action" rather than "Players who talk, gather info, use caution, kill when you have to, etc..", you die. Strangely enough, just "The Village of Hommlet" was a meat grinder for my players. It ended up being almost as much a meat grinder as "The Tomb of Horrors". Haha!!! As hard as I tried, I couldn't stop them from just... blindly attacking, or bad dice rolls. I tried to give them chances, over and over again, but as a DM, you can only do so much. Eventually I just switched to a home-brew module that was more tailor made for their style and it saved their player's lives until they got more used to the game. I was never able to get them back to the Village because they had such bad memories of it, haha!

[@captcorajus]

Ha ha, yeah, sometimes you have to do that. Thanks for sharing!!

[@TKFKU]

"Players of action" hahahaha priceless. "Excuse me villager, I'd like to axe you something."

[@shayulghul]

This is honestly my favorite game to run. I've ran it in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions.

[@IcarusDreamRPG]

Nice! I ran this at a con last year. It is a nice adventure

[@toddvanevenhoven7736]

I love to use this module as well to start a campaign the location makes a great town to build a sandbox around. And the plot of the module (Secret cult) gives the PCs an immediate villain w/o railroading them. My preference for a cult is snake worshippers which involves a naga and the yuan-ti. I like to use the cult as a long term opponent because they can either be openly operating or as a hidden foe. Other choices I've used including darkness, entrophy or the dark queen as objects of worship.

[@OceanusHelios]

I played this in my early teens as my first AD&D adventure. We had a Ranger in the group. He was named Tracson (because his player was 11 and wanted to use the tracking ability of the Ranger and named after it). If you want a reason to go to the moathouse....there are likely to be tracks leading to it.

[@dr.winstonsmith]

I like your videos before I even watch them. That’s how good they are. 👍🏻

[@LucaAmbrogiani]

It's so great to get new content from this channel!

[@shaggyrumplenutz1610]

That shirt that Gygax has on with all the Mayan hieroglyphs is amazing. I have to find one!

[@tinfoilhat6343]

Top quality content as always. Thank you for your time and effort in preparing these for our viewing pleasure.

[@AAron-gr3jk]

Always look forward to your reviews! keep up the good work :)

[@tr349]

T1 has been the start for a few groups in my games, including being the basic design for a few villages/towns in my games, as has the Moat House which has been used to varying degrees, including a somewhat restored version which became a small keep for some bandits pillaging an area. I have to admit it is favorite right up there with B2.

[@SupremeCleave]

I can't explain to you how happy I was to see there were new videos to watch in your channel. The bonus? The review is on T1 Village of Hommlet. I loved this mod. Keep up the good work!

[@tomkelly00]

I love the computer game adaptation of Those. But what I didn't like in the 80s as a little kid reading my brother's books and modules, they were always so random in what levels they were for. 8-12, 9-14, 10-13... Like WTF? I never saw one that was 1-5 and then 5-10 etc like how they are today. Also "the farmer keeps his poor stash under his bed" exactly what I was talking about with Gary encouraging murderhobos

[@blinddog4288]

You have to remember when it was written. VoH was absolutely AMAZING for its time.

[@Silversmith70]

Cap! Its good too see you on this fine day! Thank you for the vid, love that module.

[@captcorajus]

Thank you! Good to see you, and thank you for your support!!

[@mickikaufman5360]

YES! Thank you Captain for another excellent review. Monochrome T1 was a huge start of a few of our campaigns over the years!

[@brooksrownd2275]

I'd use the original T1, and skim T1-4 as source material to create my own version of "Temple of Elemental Evil".

[@captcorajus]

Yup. I think you'll like my TOEE Video next week then!!

[@robbabcock_]

Great review! Those were the days...👻

[@joeburn5430]

Great work as always cap, another module for the wishlist :)

[@captcorajus]

Doing my part to help fill gamer's shelves everywhere.

[@diaz5292]

My 1st characters returned when they were higher level and took control of the village, lol. This was during the long delay between T1 and T2. I never played T2. I had moved on from AD&D to other games by then.

[@hambinger]

Thankyou for explaining how you simplify and run this module. I remember being a dumb kid trying to run it cold... it didn't go well... because of all the times it took to look up stuff. Also really interesting background on gygax.... explains a lot about how incomplete things felt. Great reviews As always!!!

[@captcorajus]

Gary's full name is Earnest Gary Gygax. He also has a son named Ernie. I suspect that his use of Gary was one of preference and to minimize confusion with his son.

[@kurgon1976]

Great video capt. Per usual. I just finished the Dungeons and Dragons art/history book and was really impressed with TSR tragic history.. wish i had a time machine those would have been great times to experience the early days of dnd.

[@benasaro1043]

Wonderful review/recap/walk through! VoH/ToEE is one of those iconic town/dungeon adventures that set the template for so many modules that came after! Though Barrowmaze’s town of Hazlet and the Barrowmaze itself bear a lot of resemblance to this adventure, I think the decades of hindsight edge Barrowmaze into the front pole position for me.

[@mikesavill1474]

Another classic and another marvellous exploration of a very important module. Thanks for the shout out too, delighted to become a Patreon: looking forward to seeing the channel continue to go from strength to strength.

[@captcorajus]

Me too. I'm humbled. This is the first video I've release to hit 1000 views in less than 12 hours. Everyone's kind words of support and people like you willing to give my patreon a go have really inspired me. I'm just brimming with ideas at this point. Thank you!

[@roofields8468]

Excellent review

[@sw3dishla8rat]

Your commentary is most excellent

[@MarshmallowMadnesss]

I plan to use Hommlet as the starting town for some homebrew adventure leading to a Curse of Strahd adventure in 5e. Hommlet doesn't have too many plot hook out of box, so you can make your own and just keep it as your starting town for any adventure. Use the cultist sympathizers in the trading post however you want.

[@Talwyn22]

Another wonderful review Capt

[@captcorajus]

Thank you for the kind words. Given that your party was spending so much time going back and forth and looting the place, you might be grateful that your DM clearly brain farted on the 10th level assassin that's suppose to come after the party after you kill Lareth... Or did he escape? GREAT story btw! 'Glass Legged Andalusian Stallions'. I LOL'd. :)

[@Talwyn22]

@@captcorajus Lareth escaped so we never had to deal with the assassin, well not until later anyway. We did have a couple of random encounters over the days in which we were looting the Moat House which proved to be great little battles plus, in our eyes, bonus EXP for out PC's!

[@brianperry2599]

I seem to remember that Gary gygax was formerly referred to as E.Gary Gygax on the original printings or am I misremembering this...?

[@edlaprade]

You are remembering correctly. E. Gary didn't much care for his first name, so used his middle name most of the time.

[@mikemccoy5092]

The mordakanien module would be another good one to do

[@TallDude73]

Thank you so much, that was great. Will you review the ToEE video game as well when you review the T1-4 next week (I saw bits from it in this video)? And since you already reviewed the Giants, Drow and Queen of the Demonweb Pits modules, how about the Slaverlords, the middle stanza of the trifecta of supermodules?

[@captcorajus]

Well, I'm certainly going to briefly 'touch' on the video game, but not with any depth. The primary focus on this channel is on old school modules, so my thoughts on the video game will be brief. And, yeah, the slavelords series is sitting on my game shelf calling out to me for a review, and it certainly deserves an indepth look, so that's on the table for sure. Thank you for the kinds words!! Game on!

[@AeonVoom]

While i prefer Orlane from N1 Against the cult of the reptile god, Hommlet is a close second.

[@captcorajus]

No doubt! Agreed!

[@Johnny_Nitro]

Man, I miss electrum.

[@TheFatalT]

Always a favorite.

[@mikeh892]

I feel bad for the 8th graders in 1979 who completed the Moathouse, only to have to wait until college to see the followup.

[@captcorajus]

Honestly, I think a LOT of great campaigns came out of that where DMs just went and did their own thing.

[@user-ro1cs5hp5e]

Merry Xmas ! :)

[@aceyirl]

Love these old reviews. Kinda insane that every piece of gold is accounted for.

[@captcorajus]

i know right? To be honest though, I don't know too many people who ran it that way.

[@RPGmodsFan]

Acey88, if interested, I put together a Playlist of D&D Module reviews by various KZbinrs, including Captcorajus. kzbin.info/aero/PLzsw3tqRJUVzzpCp3u7eIK2MkgC0DQsM-

[@davidbabbitt1839]

Yeah, there is a gap in levels between the T1 and the Temple of Elemental Evil (TOEE). Gary was suppose to write the T2 to fill that gap but never got around to it. The players will simply not be high enough level to tackle the Temple after finishing the T1. They will be around lvl 2 to 3. So, instead a DM has two choices. Encounters and side quests around Hommlet and or another module.

[@mikrogamis721]

It's interesting how by the time this was coming out, (as well as the G-D-Q series), how the playing style was rapidly changing to story driven, vs. the hack & slash/loot & pillage that the old modules (and T2/Greyhawk/Castle Greyhawk, etc.) represented. Even when I purchased it back when, (waiting and waiting for T2) I was disturbed by the "lets loot everyone/everything/ all the peasants" playing style of those modules. --That despite Gygax's best intentions while creating the game, the books, and the modules, etc. in that 4-6 year period, the game had massively outgrown its table-top beginnings, right out from under him. (and the internal circular self-destruction of TSR certainly did not help.)

[@user-xh2yg4uv9q]

We would ler Ruffus and Burn do most of the firsting until they were exhausted then simply take back all the loot they took as their share.

[@Elderos5]

It's always wondered to see that you have posted a new video. I have a question for you. Do you think, at some point in time, you could make a video on one of your own home brewed adventures? I think it would be neat to see how you put together an adventure.

[@captcorajus]

I have something like that in mind for sure. I was going to discuss sandboxing and how I tend to do that.

[@lyleestuderiii8332]

Great review for a great module. I plan on using it in my upcoming Castles and Crusades campaign. Do you know where I can find a decent printable copy of the village map? I purchased the POD and PDF from DrivethruRPG. Unfortunately, the village map in the PDF is not that great.

[@heresysmith4068]

No. . . . No. . . . A bit of effort and this is a good module all by itself. It doesn't need the Temple of Elemental Evil. Clearing out the criminal jokers there and putting the moathouse into operation as a temporary base - "temporary" - while kicking around the area and getting to know the locals was good. It was enough to farm the area, and make gumbo out of the local wildlife. Most people never do this module justice, because they don't want to make an effort. The people seem anonymous, because they haven't got names, but once you name them, and give them a backstory, it's hard to let go. Farming the area for bounties, and getting Bernie to cough up works out. Suck the head out of that crawdad, I gaw-run-tee. Make friends with the druids, train some dogs, and figure out where the old-time priests hid their loot. I had one character make an entire suit of snakeskins. Just make an effort. Don't be hung up on The Temple of Elemental Evil. That's a different module, and not 100% necessary. Take the blinders off.

[@michealbohmer2871]

Personally, I don't see a need to update it for "modern gaming." Just get the 1st ed. rule books and play it the way in which it was intended to be played. But that's just me.

[@biffstrong1079]

We played this one back in the day and I was a little disappointed in it and the eventual Temple of Evil though I never saw that for another 10 years? I quite liked Cult of the Reptile God which shares a lot of the same elements but actually was a better mystery scenario with a better big bad. The worst thing was it seemed to lack a hook to make us want to go to the Dungeon. I did like the idea that high level adventurers were building their own Keep and Tower which was the dream for your first level character. It did seem crazy that we first level nobodies were running around chasing down bandits while high level fighters, clerics, Mu's and druids seem under utilized.

[@elextrano7597]

One of my players is going to run this as gamemaster, in the pathfinder sistem.

[@raphaelargus2984]

The spinster daughter is handsome, but bossy.

[@Bluecho4]

You could attempt to adapt some material from The Village of Hommlet to a 5e game of Princes of the Apocalypse, if you can think of a decent place to put it in the Forgotten Realms. Maybe the village is on the road to the Sumber Hills, or else leaves clues for the party to trace back to that region. Alternatively, the Moat House could be not too distant from the town of Red Larch, an outpost recently taken over by Elemental Cultists. Obviously, the history written in the Village of Hommlet will need to be modified, if not outright jettisoned, because the original Greyhawk story makes reference to a relatively recent Temple of Elemental Evil. By contrast, Princes of the Apocalypse portrays a Temple that is older, far beyond living memory, and is currently attended to by elemental cults that aren't generally known about.

[@captcorajus]

I actually did that when I ran POTA. I really not a fan that adventure to be honest. Its barely runnable as is. Reminds me of TOEE. Though you'll see what I did when my TOEE review comes out. :)

[@theguy3851]

My friend owns this module, we played on a stormy day. and then she spilled water all over it...

[@ricardoblikman2676]

How about some al-qadim kara-tur maztica and ravenloft lore? I fail to find any on KZbin

[@captcorajus]

We'll see!

[@NotesfromaFailedComedian]

@captcorajus The link to the Mad Mapper doesn't work ... know anywhere else we can get the maps?

[@Marshal_Dunnik]

7:08 Imagine some PCs who somehow get it into their heads to sift through the pile of manure (5. Prosperous Farmhouse), found the wealth hidden therein and for the rest of the campaign searched every pile of shit the DM put in front of them in the hopes of treasure, despite being given a Smells Like Shit penalty, -5 Charisma until you take a bath

[@captcorajus]

Ha ha ha, that's hilarious.

[@stephenclements6158]

Hey Captain, loved the video! Are you going to any cons next year? I'm going to GaryCon in March, and didn't want to miss you if our paths crossed. Also, while I am stoked one of my friends is running the ToEE for me (I wanted to play it for decades, just now getting to), but he skipped the Village of Hommlet. :( I feel incomplete!

[@captcorajus]

Oh, you know, I REALLY wanted to go to Gary Con this year, but for now that's on hold. It all depends on how things develop with the channel. If I do go, I'll post on it. I want to run the Tower of Zenopus using Blueholme. That would just be a blast I think.

[@redfeildre349]

Your sound seems to be a bit low. I turned my volume all the way up to hear then got blown away when the commercial hit.

[@captcorajus]

it is, and there's not much I can do about it. Its KZbin's processing that keeps cutting my volume. I try to work it out for future releases.

[@stephenclements6158]

@@captcorajus I heard you fine.

[@Talwyn22]

Just a quick note - it appears the FB link isn't working? Might be just me but I can't access it.

[@captcorajus]

Thanks for the heads up. Link fixed.

[@Talwyn22]

@@captcorajus and just joined :)

[@deathmetal926]

Can I expect either the A series or the U series from you in the near future?

[@captcorajus]

You can!!

[@doug9964]

Where is the link to the online maps?

[@edlaprade]

Love T1 and often use it to start campaigns. But I hate the slog that is the Temple of EE. I've never gotten through Temple, either as a player or GM.

[@captcorajus]

Honestly, I've run it, and I've talked to so many people have run it, and read accounts online of people who ran it, and not one time have I seen anyone say they ran it as written. Its a mess of thing, but there's enough meat there to grab hold of it and make it into something, and I think that's why so many people who PLAYED it think its so great.

[@edlaprade]

Oh, it is indeed chock full of ideas!

[@iamajediirl6444]

I love you Christan Slater

[@AgoodITguy]

Hey can this module be run with Basic D&D rules?

[@captcorajus]

Absolutely. As I said, there are no monster stats, just hit points.

[@AgoodITguy]

@@captcorajus Thanks Sir