The Temple Of Elemental Evil Circle Of 8 Portrait
The cover of The Temple of Elemental Evil, with art. The artwork depicts the Temple during a storm, surrounded by gargoyles.CodeT1–4TSR Product Code9147Rules required1st Ed AD&DCharacter levels1–8Campaign settingAuthorsandFirst published1985Linked modulesT1–4The Temple of Elemental Evil is an for the game, set in the game's. The module was published by in 1985 for the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules.
It was written by and, and is an expansion of an earlier Gygax module, The Village of Hommlet (TSR, 1979). The Temple of Elemental Evil is also the title of a related 2001 Thomas M. Reid novel and an Atari computer game, and the term is used by fans of the setting to refer to the fictional Temple itself.The Temple of Elemental Evil was ranked the 4th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game. Contents.Plot summary In the module T1 The Village of Hommlet, the must defeat the raiders in a nearby fort, and thereafter Hommlet can be used as a base for the party's subsequent adventures.
The adventure begins in the eponymous village of Hommlet, situated near the site of a past battle against evil forces operating from the Temple. The adventurers travel through Hommlet and are drawn into a web of conspiracy and deception.The module is recommended for first-level characters, who begin the adventure 'weary, weak, and practically void of money'. They travel to a town that is supposed to be a great place to earn fortunes, defeat enemy creatures, but also to lose one's life. While the town initially appears warm and hospitable, the characters soon learn that many of its inhabitants are powerful spies for minions of evil.The T1 adventure stands alone, but also forms the first part of T1–4. In The Temple of Elemental Evil, the characters start off at low level, and after establishing themselves in Hommlet, they gradually work their way through the immense dungeons beneath the Temple, thereby gaining experience. T1 culminates in a ruined moathouse where agents secretly plan to re-enter the Temple and free the demoness, imprisoned therein. The Village of Hommlet module has been described as a beginner's scenario, which starts in the village, and leads to a nearby dungeon, while The Temple of Elemental Evil continues the adventure.
Temple of Elemental Evil has a fairly persistent modification community. The most well known group is the Circle of 8, who, for years, have been balancing and adding to the core game with a set of downloadable patches.
In the next section, T2, the adventurers move on to the nearby village of to confront several nefarious opponents, including agents from the Temple. Based on the outcome of these encounters, the player characters can then enter the Temple itself to interact with its many denizens and test their mettle against Zuggtmoy herself.History of the temple The temple referenced in the module's title is an unholy structure located in the central not far from the city-state of. In 566, forces of evil from or the constructed a small chapel outside the nearby village of. The chapel was quickly built into a stone temple from which bandits and evil humanoids began to operate with increasing frequency.In 569 CY, a combined force was sent to destroy the Temple and put an end to the marauding. This allied army clashed with a horde of evil men and humanoids, including, and, at the Battle of Emridy Meadows. Men-at-arms from and united with from the, from the, and an army of archers to face the threat of the, consisting largely of savage humanoids such as,. The arrival of the elves from the shadows of the turned the tide of battle, trapping the savage humanoids against a bend in the Velverdyva where they were routed and slaughtered.At some point in this battle, cleric of and member of the, was slain.
The Citadel was notable for its absence at this pivotal moment in the history of the Flanaess, and their failure to take part in the Battle of Emridy Meadows contributed to the group's decline and eventual disbandment.After dispersing the Horde of Elemental Evil, the allied forces laid siege to the Temple of Elemental Evil itself, defeating it within a fortnight. Spellcasters loyal to the goodly army cooperated on a spell of sealing that bound the demoness (a major instigator in the Horde of Elemental Evil) to some of the deepest chambers in the castle's dungeons.The site itself remained, however, and over the following decade rumors of evil presence there persisted. The Viscount of Verbobonc and the Archcleric of Veluna became increasingly concerned, and cooperated to build a small castle outside the Village of to guard against the possibility of the Temple rising again.For the next five years, Hommlet gained in wealth thanks to adventurers who came to the area seeking out remnants of evil to slay. Things quieted down for another four years as the area returned to peace and normalcy, but in 578 CY evil began to stir again, with groups of bandits riding the roads. In 579 CY, the events in the T1–4 module occur.is set 12 years later, in 591 CY.Publication history The adventure module The Village of Hommlet was a 24-page booklet designed by, and published by TSR in 1979. The original printing featured an outer folder and a two-color cover; the book was reprinted in 1981 with a color cover. The Temple of Elemental Evil was originally intended to bear the module code T2 and serve as a true sequel to The Village of Hommlet.
Gygax began writing T2 soon after the publication of T1, but often stopped to work on other products, such as (Gygax 1981). The T2 version was never completed, and no module bearing the codes T3 or T4 was ever independently published. Instead, the material for the sequel was combined in 1985 with the original T1 storyline and published as an integrated adventure bearing the module code T1-4.The original printings of T1 featured monochrome cover art by, who also contributed interior art along with. The 1981 and subsequent printings of T1 featured a new color cover painting by surrounded by a lime green border. The expanded T1-4 book from 1985 features cover art by and interior art by Jeff Butler, Parkinson, and Trampier.T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil was written by Gary Gygax with, and published by TSR in 1985, incorporating T1 The Village of Hommlet. The module was a 128-page book with a 16-page map booklet, and featured a cover by and interior illustrations by,. The module includes descriptions of two towns, the Temple itself, and four large dungeon levels.Although initially written as a stand-alone series, T1-4 was made to dovetail into A1-4 when these two campaigns were revised in 1986 as supermodules.
The combined campaign then culminates with the GDQ series, incorporating modules G1-G3; D1-D3, which introduced D&D fans to elves for the first time; and finally Q1, in which the heroes fight against the spider demon herself. These last adventures were also combined and republished as a supermodule bearing the code GDQ1-7,.In 2001, published a novel by also bearing the title.Wizards of the Coast also published a sequel to the T1-4 adventure in 2001, the 3rd Edition module.Wizards of the Coast published a remake of The Village of Hommlet adventure for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition and released it through the.
The original TSR product code for module T1 (bluetone and full color cover) is 9026.Reception Kirby T. Griffis reviewed The Village of Hommlet in 1981, in #35. Griffis found it a very playable module, noting that the module could be very fun if run by a good. Griffis commented: 'Players 'get into' their roles, the thieves stealing from the revellers at the inn, the fighters getting drunk under the table.'
He also found the map to be well-keyed, and noted that important buildings have floor plans mapped out. Commenting on the imbalance of power, he noted that 'some of the evil spies are entirely too powerful for the party to tackle, and the local high level good characters are hardly ever interested in aiding the adventurers.' Overall, Griffis found The Village of Hommlet to be a very good introductory adventure, and recommended it as an introduction to D&D. Legacy The Temple of Elemental Evil was ranked the 4th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.Dungeon Master for Dummies listed The Temple of Elemental Evil as one of the ten best classic adventures, calling it 'the grandfather of all huge '., in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, says of The Temple of Elemental Evil, 'If you like huge classic dungeon crawls, this is probably the best of the lot.' The original drawing of the cover art for the albums, and are all inspired by the art for The Temple of Elemental Evil. Computer games. ^ Schick, Lawrence (1991).
Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. P. 114. ^;; Dungeon Design Panel (November 2004). 'The 30 Greatest D&D Adventures of All Time'.
(116): , 68–81. ^ Griffis, Kirby T. (January 1981). 'Capsule Reviews'. (35): 28. (1982). Dicing with Dragons, An Introduction to Role-Playing Games (Revised ed.).
The Temple of Elemental Evil (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).;; (2006). Retrieved 2009-06-19. Retrieved 29 August 2018. Missing or empty title=. Cain, Tim.
New York: Atari, 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2018. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2018.Further reading. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil (Wizards of the Coast, 2001).
'More 'Meat' for Greyhawk.' #55 (TSR, 1981).
The Village of Hommlet (TSR, 1979). The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSR, 1985).Review: The V.I.P. Of Gaming Magazine #4 (1986)External links. at The Acaeum. at The Acaeum (includes information on T1–4, A1–4, and GDQ1–7). at the TSR Archive.
at the TSR Archive. at Pen & Paper.
at Pen & Paper. (#1). (#2).
Longtime readers will recall that Legend of Drizzt (, ) was the second set I painted since returning to the hobby, and I finished in November 2014. With Drizzt, we played it first, then I painted the minis, but at that point, we were kind of tired of the game. With Ashardalon, I painted the minis first, but the game just wasn't quite as good as Drizzt. For The Temple of Elemental Evil (henceforth ToEE), I had read in several places that the gameplay is an improvement over Drizzt, in part because it includes a proper campaign mode while keeping the game's simple charm. I have not actually played the game yet, though: I bought it in July 2015, started painting in October 2015, and just finished it today.
I hope it lives up to the expectation! (Incidentally, during those eleven months, I painted, and a few one-offs. Also, there were a.). I used these as an excuse to practice wet-blending the shades of yellow and orange. The transitions are pretty smooth, and I think they are fine for what they are. I thought about trying to make a more mammallian/furry face on them, as one sees in illustrations, but this proved to be too much work for such weenie characters.
That's why the one of the far left has a slightly darker head: I painted over the brown head with yellow and didn't really care to clean it up more than necessary. He looks fine by himself, it's only in the threesome that he stands out as a blackhead. And here's the finished result. The two on the left used actual sand from my kids' sandbox for basing, which still looks OK at scale. The guy in the creekbed is cornmeal guy. The picture doesn't quite do it justice: with some green-brown paint and gloss varnish, it really looks like a mucky creekbed.
I don't think I'll use the cornmeal again soon though because it is so variable in size. For a creekbed, you get a look of some small and some large stones, but it's not going into my toolbox for regular use. Air cultists. These are the first in the 'What is going on with the cape?' These grey capes were a real pain to paint, with poorly-sculpted seams running at the top of the ridges, making a simple wash technique doomed to failure. I suppose it didn't help that I primed them black and then had to build back up to this color, which just made extra work for me.
Notice, too, that the cape sits much too close to the their backs: that's not how a cape would fall, especially not if you're an air cultist in presumably a windy area. Maybe their special elemental power is back vacuums. There are several different perspectives on Velathidros, the iconic black dragon. I started with the intention of doing him all black, knowing that this would be a real stylistic challenge. However, when looking around for inspiration, I found, and I completely fell for the yellow and black motif.
I think it turned out well here.I'll point out that painting him was a challenge of dexterity and equipment. I normally base my miniatures onto corks while painting them, and that worked for the fire bats which were already affixed to their clear rods. What I ended up doing with Velathidros was supergluing a thick straightened paperclip into the peg hole and jamming this into a cork. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but this was very top-heavy, and the weight of the miniature pushed down on the wire, making balancing him upright a real challenge. Given the awkwardness of the sculpt, I ended up doing most of the painting while just holding other parts of the model in my bare hands. I had to clean up a few spots, but for the most part it was painless, and easier than working around the paperclip/cork combo.
There she is, all done. I had intended to also do an OSL effect, to make it look like the orb is glowing, but there were two problems. First, the orb is really not much brighter than the rest of her. Ghool points out that, when painting OSL, many add color without adding light, but lights brighten things—they don't just color them. I know I've made that mistake on my scant OSL efforts in the past! The other problem was that I had layered gel onto both of her hands, which meant I couldn't repaint them: I had put the gel right over the spots I would have to brighten and color with OSL effect!
Turns out for the best to just have it like this, I think, with an otherworldly cool purple.A few other comments on Nym. (Her character card points out that we can call her 'Nym.' None of this 'Nymmestra' business between friends.) I am very happy with the layering on the back of her robes. The silver filigree on the front trim was a bit of a gamble: it disappears in some light, and shimmers in others.
I was going to go in and add more contrast so it's more visible, but I decided I liked the sort of mysterious quality of it. I would not do it this way again, however: I would layer it up from a darker shade so that it looks more intentional in general lighting conditions. Also, I think she should be listening to new wave music while doing her little magic hand dance. Ratshadow is a halfling rogue. I would have called him 'Face,' because he has a big face. Whereas I was trying to increase contrast in a lot of my painting during this series, with Ratshadow, I wanted to keep it toned down.
The Temple Of Elemental Evil Circle Of 8 Portrait 2
I think the black cloak turned out nicely, considering the aforementioned challenges of highlighting black.Around this time, I told someone that I only had three heroes left to paint, and I would be done. Then I went into my box and I found a naked Earth Elemental looking up at me. Remember how I mentioned that I had messed him up and stripped him? I had re-primed him and then kind of forgot about him. Barrowin the dwarf cleric is kind of a terrible model when you look at her: those arms are much too long, and why is she doing that with her hammer?
The paint job, however, I am proud of. I envisioned the skirt as being scale mail made from some kind of lizard. I painted each scale individually, and inadvertently gave it a sort of NMM look. The rest of the gold was done with TMM paint.
It was before working on this model that I started reading more about two-brush blending, relying again on. My first efforts with this technique can be seen in the gold and the hands here. Talon the ranger provided a good excuse to continue my experiments with two-brush blending, and this technique was used throughout. While I am still getting the hang of this approach, I think the results are quite good. My default painting approach, taken from, is to start with black primer and build up from the darkest shade to the highest highlight via layering. With two-brush blending, it's recommended to start with the base color (on any color primer), paint in the shade in increasing darkness, and then paint in the highlights in increasing brightness.
I find that this approach helps me see where I want the shadows and highlights a bit better than the other; often, when building up from the darkest shades, I don't end up with the base color I really wanted, because I over- or under-shot the layers.Also, I have been catching up on Ghool's articles and, trying to learn what it is that he's offering. In his videos on female faces (, ), he makes a big deal about women being paler than men, and their having blush and eyeshadow. Yes, he is careful to ensure your miniatures don't look like harlots, but he unapologetically wants them looking 'feminine'.
You know what? My women adventurers don't have time for that nonsense. Of course, just because we have stylistic disagreements does not take away from the amazing quality of Ghool's articles and the helpfulness of his videos: I definitely recommend them to someone looking to up their painting game. I'm including some pics here of Talon along with Catti-Brie from Legend of Drizzt. They are similar models in many ways, and I think putting them side-by-side shows how I have developed as a painter over the past two years or so.
The contrast is much better in Talon, the treatment of shadows and highlights. The blacklining really helps show the difference in color on the tunic.
I can remember being so proud of Catti-Brie's pants at the time, and now, they look kind of lackluster compared to Talon's. Incidentally, I am currently using these two as my archers in a campaign, but maybe I'll write more about that later. Unfortunately, I don't keep paint lists for my models. When I first started, I used to write it all down for reference, but I found I never referenced it! Since I'm not painting armies with a need to match colors across models, I've stopped keeping such detailed notes.However, I do have a limited collection of paints, so I can reverse engineer what I probably used, or what I'd try if I had to color match it. Almost all my paints are Vallejo Model Color, because that's what I can find easily at Hobby Lobby. All of the Caucasian flesh that I paint is based on either Flat Flesh or Medium Fleshtone; it was probably the latter here, since Flat Flesh leans pink and Medium Fleshtone leans brown.
I believe I toned it down with something like Beige Brown, which I likely used for the leather/hide also.Roughly two years ago, I picked up Buff, which I started using for lightening warm colors instead of white; again, that's probably what I used here for the highlights. More recently, I bought Ivory, which is like a secret weapon for highlighting almost anything.Looking back at the Ettin-and re-reading my comparison if Catti-Brie and Talon-I think it is nice, but I wonder if I could have added more tonal variation, thinking about how Sorastro consistently surprises me, e.g. By putting purple washes onto brown creatures.