This was my favorite module when I played D&D.

Some of my favorite memories of AD&D involve the Temple and the surrounding areas like Hommlet, Nulb, Mother Screng, the Moathouse, etc.. amazing time to be playing the game.

Great review. I've enjoyed this module as a player but now you've got me wanting to run a tweaked version of it.

Hell yeah

This was an excellent review and upon picking up a copy, I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment! There is so much useful info here that can be run as is or pulled apart for a new setting. I plan to use the moathouse and town as part of a 'reclaim the keep' and 'rebuild the town' set of scenarios for my players. The best part? I can use the existing NPCs as the ones that eventually move in to their rebuilt homes ... exactly where they were with the module. :)

Fantastic module. My DM used it before setting us through the TOEE. It was there that we had a total party wipe. (Harpys). It was still very enjoyable. After creating perhaps another 2nd or 3rd party, we even finished TOEE, though it took about a half of a real year of game sessions.

What I do now is have a Druid from the Druid grove in Hommlet get kidnapped by Lareth and taken to the Moat House for torture. I either say one of the Druids in the grove inside Hommlet were part of a party that hid the Hand of Vecna, or if one of the PCs are a Druid I have them run an adventure where they help take the Hand of Vecna to the Elves of Celeste to keep it hidden. In this later case I have one of their fellow Druids of the grove get kidnapped (because word has gotten around town that the Druids helped hide the Hand of Vecna) by Lareth on accident...thinking this other Druid was the PC Druid. This is a sure way to pull them to the Moat House in a hurry. And it helps explain why the Cuthbert priests don't go to the Moat House themselves.....because they could care less some Druid was lifted.

Great overview of a classic. Having run the module a few times, I agree there are a few difficulty spikes, especially for novice players. We've had great fun losing characters to giant toads and spiders at the Moathouse entry, however also learned valuable lessons around player frustration in terms of the difficulty of dealing with Lareth the Beautiful at the end. Any party that tries a full frontal assault in the final rooms is destined to lose, and while when I was learning to DM my focus was to make sure Lareth was played as a formidable opponent, these days when I run the module I try to find alternate ways to handle the encounter - my favourite being Lareth attempting to bring the party into his fold, as what forward thinking petty despot with delusions of grandeur wouldn't want a pet adventuring party, with all it's varied skills, as part of his roster. It's always fun to watch a table of players work through the moral debate.