The first TSR module that I ever played or ran was T1, The Village of Hommlet, published in the old orange monochrome cover with iconic cover art by Dave Trampier back in 1979. I was twelve years old and the idea of a (mostly) above-ground adventure largely taking place in a medieval peasant village was a mind-blower. This was probably the first sandbox scenario I'd ever come across-- the first place where the GM had to imagine an entire world beyond the dungeon-- the first place where the GM had to improvise and adapt because the plot as written wasn't entirely linear. And I didn't just run Hommlet for others-- I ran it five or six times in a matter of weeks. I was obsessed with D&D, and Hommlet was a real place where I could turn that obsession loose. Yeah. It's fair to say that this module holds a special place in my heart. I returned to Hommlet just once in the years since, in 1984, when the long-awaited follow-up adventure was finally published. The Temple of Elemental Evil was a grand, sweeping tunnel-crawl. I had to play T1-4 from beginning to end, so I recruited a friend to run the game, and it was satisfying enough-- but it was really that village where the story began which had so captured my imagination as a child. This massive two-volume set reproduces the original TSR modules in their entirety and also provides an updated version for 5th edition D&D, so you basically get two copies of more or less the same material with revised game rules and current game statistics. Paying for two versions of the same adventure might not be as appealing for people without the nostalgia for the originals, but I enjoyed revisiting Hommlet and rereading the text that I knew so well in 1984. Goodman Games has done a great job with this update to The Temple of Elemental Evil. They didn't strictly limit themselves to converting the material to 5e, either, and also added several new minor encounters to smooth the story out a bit. Creatures from 1st edition AD&D who aren't currently canon in 5e D&D are suitably statted, giving the game a very 1984 feel. The game's layout was, I think, intended to preserve the appearance of an old-school adventure module, and this is perhaps the one criticism I have of the product. Bringing the adventure's format into the 21st century with text boxes, sidebars, and indexing would have made the material a bit more useful and user-friendly, especially considering the massive size of these two tomes. Even as a longtime fan of this material, my heart sunk a little as I flipped through its hundreds of pages, knowing that my first task, after skimming, would be to figure out how to organize and make use of its voluminous contents. The quality of the physical product is outstanding. Both books are solidly bound in a sturdy cover, with a thick heavy-duty slipcase to protect them. This published adventure should survive just about anything short of being immersed in fire or water. My only quibble here goes back to my complaint about the outdated layout-- some new art to update the feel of the adventure would have been really cool-- but the black-and-white drawings contained within are certainly appropriate for the 1980s old-school vibe that Goodman Games was clearly going for. I think I could have done without the reprint of the original module, as much as I enjoyed revisiting my past through those pages. Still, this is a classic adventure module, easily on my short list for best-ever adventure modules, and it's worth having both versions.
