Do any of you guys/gals remember playing this module with a DM and real live people in your party? Do you remember just how hard it was? I'm involved in a group and we're playing this module now and MAN ... it's freaking hard to stay alive with an evil dwarf-hating DM running us through the ringer. Instead of the opening vignettes we have become accustomed with the crpg version, he's thrown in a few encounters with bandits and a cave with bugbears ... yeah, bugbears at level one. We've finally reached Homlette and are on our way to meet the lords of the tower in the east part of town. I had truly forgotten just how much fun it can be to play this module, especially with a maniacal lunatic for a DM. We're using FG2 to play and I have to say, it's exactly like sitting around the table except you don't have to provide snacks for everyone. Here's a link if anyone wants to look at Fantasy Grounds 2, or wants to join a group. We might even be able to fit you in ours. Click on the yellow text to go there.
I ran a game of TOEE when I was in college. I had the PC's terrified of the gnolls on level 1 of the dungeon, even after they had cleared out a good portion of the second level. The looks on their faces when they first opened the door and found an overturned table with longbow wielding gnolls using it for cover were priceless. One round of bow fire later they were slamming the door shut and running for their lives.
No, I wish my friends would try it though =( I could try and take the reins of DM myself and run it but we're running through a WoD campaign atm. Might want to wait 'till that's finished before trying it out. That's the online tabletop simulator right? IMO, part of the appeal of PnP in the first place is being a chance to catch up with the mates irl again.
I still have the module in my Chest of RPG antiquities. When I tried to start off a campaign with ToEE as the first module, the players only ever cleared out the moathouse and then tried to come up with ways to kill Rufus and Burne. At the time our "gaming group" was easily distracted and nobody took the idea of role-playing very seriously. We liked combat and dice rolling and XP totaling. I believe the combined XP value of every citizen, all the gp value XP, and all the magic items in Hommlet was around 215k in the first edition AD&D rules. For those of you that are new to the game there was a time when GP value and magic items=XP. Some years later with a group of totally inexperienced players I ran N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God. I had more fun in a month of weekends with completely novice players than I ever had in my high school heyday playing every week. N1 would probably make a great module for the ToEE engine.
FGII is set up for live chat, you can use Skype or whatever internet chat you like, we've been using mumble because it has an overlay made just for FGII, (lets you see which character's player is talking). Oh, and you can also set up "push to talk" so you don't share the crying kids and dog barking with the rest of the group.
I'm actually running a few friends and, of all people, my girlfriend through this module right now... Old friend from school that lived in Vegas moved back down to San Diego and wanted to RP for old time sake. Apparently my girlfriend used to do similar stuff when she was younger and REALLY wanted to try it. Kinda wacky, but I ended up having them roll up 3.5 characters and running them through this thing. They both rolled Clerics and a 3rd friend made a Ranger. They all met up while on route to Homlett, the victims of a brigand attack on a caravan. None of them have played the extended computer version of this, so I can borrow voices and some of the quests quite liberally. They love it so far, though we only have so much time to get together...
If my level one character saw bugbears, I'd say "We go home," unless the party had a serious numbers advantage or something.
Yup, one bugbear a human cleric and a few human thugs. And to top it off, our DM makes you roll a damage against any adjacent team member when you roll a one on attack. Example; My dwarf attacks the bugbear with his dwarf waraxe ... rolls a ONE ... so our wonderful DM says roll a 1d10 on <insert player name> I roll an eight and almost kill the level one fighter beside me. This is going to be a loooooooooooong campaign. heh heh
