DM Advice - The Temple of Elemental Evil 

It really is a classic, despite the few flaws it might have.

I'm glad I could be of help!

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment!

Thanks, it really is a classic!

Not surprising, I always felt like the nodes were added in after Mentzer took over the project. There's nothing really "wrong" with them, I suppose. I just don't see that much value is added to the adventure by including them. I did include them whenever I ran the module back in the late '80s and into the '90s, and I feel like they dragged things out way too long.

Gary said that by ‘elemental’ he meant ‘fundamental’ and ‘primeval’ not the Aristotlean four elements and that is the sense he meant by ‘elemental’ in his shattered Elder Elemental God. On the other hand, when Rob Kuntz played it, the demoness Zuggtmoy was already the demoness trapped in the TOEE (as the Oerth Journal relates) and the Zuggtmoy’s pass scarab is held by the evil merchants in the pre T1-4 version of T1, so she is not a late addition. Gary also invented the elemental grues (drawn from Jack Vance, not Zork) holding the gems for the Orb of Golden Death for the adventure - which suggests that Gygax continued to develop the adventure before Frank Mentzer got the notes. That or Rob Kuntz (who ransacked the temple to Gary’s annoyance - see Rob’s The Return of Robilar) didn’t get that far. Personally, I keep all the demonic factions (Zuggtmoy is a big deal in my campaign as the Underworld worships her as a food goddess like Ceres, and her being imprisoned is partly why the Underworld is causing so much trouble on Oerth). The beauty of this module being essentially unfinished is that it is so open to tailoring by each referee.

@@elliotvernon7971 That's true, in a way, the unfinished nature of the module makes it easy for DMs to customize it for their personal campaign, while retaining the overall flavor.

I am glad you found the video helpful! Although I do own a copy of The Return to the ToEE, I admit that I've never run it, or even thoroughly read through the entire module. However, I have read enough reviews by other people to decide that it's not worth my time. I do believe that the alternate ending I propose in my video would be much more satisfying for the players: Allow them to destroy the place absolutely, and then move on with the quest.

The 4 levels of the actual dungeon are plenty, for my tastes. No need for the elemental nodes. Just my opinion, of course.