In the original T1 module Elmo is a 4th level ranger but it doesn't say what his alignment is. In the protos he is a fighter, chaotic good, but the deity is OldFaith. He's not associated with the Church of St.Cuthbert, but he is a agent for the Viscount of Verbobonc. His brother, Otis, is off with Canoness Y"Dey on a quest. The storyline here is very muddled. Why would a chaotic good worship a typically druidical deity? And work for a neutral good St. Cuthbert viscount? I don't think the Troika writers had their D&D down well or got some strange advice.
C'mon George, you've been here long enough to know we've argued this before Elmo is certainly not by the module, but I think they got him pretty close. Since i only have T1, perhaps someone with the whole series can shed some light on his background? I don't tihnk the Old Faith thing is too unbelieveable, because it would presumably be how he was raised - even if he went on to bigger and better things in the big city, still he may keep to the faith of his youth.
:blink: Please don't tell me that his valuables' chest is somewhere in ToEE, and I'm finding about it a year and a half later... :blush:
That about covers it. His dad is a 'retired' fighter, level 4, and captain of the militia; but he won't just offer that tidbit of information to newcomers. He's the old faith worshipper. Otis & his followers are the chief servants of the Viscount, and they are NG. Elmo is CG, and is a less important figure in the service of the Viscount. Otis will get curious if Elmo gets in trouble (or worse), and will come looking for answers. Elmo spies on moathouse explorers, and Otis on Temple delvers. As for Troika, weren't they given a copy of T 1-4 to work from? I recall smoret saying this once upon a time. They had to decide what to keep; what to flesh out; and what to ditch.
That's a real shame they had to ditch many things... Some of those revelations are new to me... and I must say that I am sometimes astounded by the depth of the story... and the lack of it's representation in the game itself.
The old guy in that big house surrounded by a rock walled fence did warn me that there is more than meets the eye with Elmo. He encouraged me to seek him out. I have always thought whilst exploring Hommlet and all its rooms and dungeons that there seemed to be room for so much more to be happening. I always used to wonder if the game was rushed to release without being fully completed. (All the bugs the game originally had used to strengthen my opinion) It is a real shame. I do love this game but if wasn't for your Mods I would have stopped playing it years ago.
Heh, I never knew about the longbow (the earlier description is from the T1-4 full module, not the T1 Village of Hommlet I owned which is similar but not identical). It would have settled the 'twf vs bow' issue for Elmo ranger. And that, in a nutshell, is the problem. Elmo was a 1e ranger with a shield, chainmail and a BIG axe that people wanted to turn into a 3.5 twf-er. Glad we never did. The wiki seems to largely be from Return to ToEE, but don't take my word.
Elmo, whether he's a ranger or fighter, being chaotic good, following the Old Faith, and being a loyal servant of a NG lord isn't odd at all. Elmo's family are old folk from Hommlet and all of those are Old Faith people. It's only the new families that moved in to replace the families murdered by the temple raiders that follow Saint Cuthbert. Also note that Cuthbert is Lawful Neutral. That's only one step away from Lawful Evil - IE: the exact opposite of Elmo's Chaotic Good alignment so of course he doesn't follow Cuthbert. One doesn't have to be True Neutral to follow a nature god/religion. Rangers almost always had to be Good, and as nature's defenders they would of course worship a nature god. Also, nothing says a follower has to be the same alignment as the person they follow. Even the old followers rules allowed players to recruit followers of different but similar alignments. In actuality Gygax was very sparing on details about the module unless you call having loot tables for every home in Hommlet a lot of details. The Troika game actually added considerable detail to the game. For instance Gygax didn't bother to name hardly anyone except for some of the potential hirelings like Elmo. And of course everyone a starting party could actually afford to hire were all traitors that would backstab the party at the first opportunity. Troika decided to take all the random traitors and tie them into the plot. I don't remember most of them having any connection to the temple at all. It wasn't until Return to the ToEE (or what-ever the name was) that most of the background was actually written.
If I remember correctly, two-weapon fighting for Rangers was introduced with 2nd Ed (possibly as a result of the influence of a certain Drow who made his debut a year or so earlier). First Ed. Rangers were basically fighters with some additional magical perks (including, IIRC, the ability to cast Magic Missile), and an increased XP requirement to level up to compensate. For some reason, the quote "a ranger is no longer a walking tank who can track" from the preview of 2nd Ed that came with Dragon magazine sticks in my memory after 30+ years.
