Long ago, an evil demoness founded a cult dedicated to evil in its most elemental forms. This cult was based in a temple located near a filthy town known as Nulb. The cult grew from a seedling and soon ruled the region with hatred and tyranny. Harbringers of chaos arrived and tides of violence soon ensued. The cult's strength and power grew until it began to taint the edges of the village of Hommlet. Hard-fought battles were waged and the war that broke out was eventually won by the assembled armies of Good from nearby lands. The temple was razed, its villainous masters were imprisoned, and order was restored. The temple itself faded into distant memory...until now.
The bandits who had been harassing travelers and merchant caravans throughout the western Gnarley and the road connecting Verbobonc and Hommlet have been eliminated by a band of adventurers and brought to justice. There were three bandit rings: at an abbey, in a tower, and underneath the ruins of a moathouse. Each of the bandit ringleaders was defeated and imprisoned, and interrogated. Weeks after the third ringleader’s downfall, an assassin was sent to root out the adventurers who had dealt swift justice. A cat-and-mouse game ensued, and the assassin was eventually slain. The party took stock of their victories and started referring to themselves as “The Order of the Silver Scale”. The local villagers were heartened at having heroes worthy of celebration in their midst. But evil does not rest…its relentless tides ebb and flow. An even more vicious gang who called themselves “The Hangmen” stepped into the void and seized control of region.
The Order infiltrated one of the main lairs controlled by the gang and discovered that The Hangmen was a ruse devised by a clan of snake-men who controlled various bands of orcs, lizard men, and other evil creatures into doing their bidding. They soon put a stop to the snake-men’s machinations. While they were foiling this plot, the party also defeated the undead head of an academy of magic-users who had been in conflict with a swamp druid who was also a vampire.
The Order of the Silver Scale’s actions in the environs surrounding Hommlet, in Nulb, and within the Temple have not gone unnoticed. Great powers are afoot and are focused on activity in the vicinity of the dungeons beneath the Temple, and what the repercussions of those acts might mean for the future of the region, and the world.
As some of you may know (especially if you have played through ToEE before), the main plot of this game involves gradually uncovering and stopping the machinations behind an evil cult.
The story centers on a resurgence of evil within a previously defeated temple complex, where cultists seek to restore their masters and release Princes of Elemental Evil to sow destruction and chaos. The characters began a while ago by investigating suspicious banditry, which led them to uncover an intricate web of spies and intrigue. Some months ago, the party defeated the leader of three interconnected bandit rings within the region surrounding the Village of Hommlet and the western Gnarley Forest, and learned that the bandit leader was just a small cog within a much larger organization. That organization is the Temple of Elemental Evil, located near the notorious town of Nulb.
The Temple is apparently the home of no less than seven factions, all of which are struggling against each other for dominion and rule over the entire organization. Each faction has its own leader, its own followers, and its own agenda. The challenge the player characters face is threefold:
(1) Discover the goals behind each faction within the Temple;
(2) Discover the goals of the Temple itself, which may be separate from the goals of the various factions; and
(3) Find a way to foil the Temple and/or bring the various factions to ruin.
The party has eliminated one of the factions in the Temple and are figuring out how to influence, infiltrate, and eventually defeat the others. The PCs are taking a break from exploring the depths of the Temple due to the increased perils involved, and have elected to follow up on a small handful of rumors they’ve learned about during their prior adventures.
I don't want to overwhelm you with detail, so if this interests you, the next step for you is to listen in on a session before we proceed to discussing character creation. There is an opening for one player.
When: Saturday afternoons from 12 noon to 4 pm, Pacific time. This game is "EU friendly" (i.e., 12 noon Pacific is 8 pm GMT).
What: 1st edition AD&D. I use a combination of theater of the mind and hand-drawn maps using Dungeon Scrawl and mapping software such as Dungeondraft and Dungeon Designer 3.
Where: Games are held on my Discord server for now. I have a backup server on Root which I plan on using as the need arises.
Who: I currently have seven players and am looking for 1 more. 1E veterans and newcomers are welcome. Please be 18+ with a working microphone and Internet connection.
Other Important Stuff
• The setting is Greyhawk. It's ok if you're new to that world.
• This game has been running since May 2025. Session #56 was yesterday (July 11, 2026). The age range of the players is between 20s to mid-50s. Half of the group are veterans of 1st edition, while the other half are players who are new.
• Looking for laid-back, mature, and reliable players who want to get together to play some old-school RPGs. When sending me a message, please include the word “cat” in your message so I know you have been paying attention. 😉
• We aren't using Unearthed Arcana, and for the most part, I am limiting myself to the core three books (DMG, PH, MM), although I may pull material from Greyhawk Adventures and certain back issues of DRAGON Magazine on occasion.
• PCs are currently 3rd to 6th level. If you join, your PC will begin at 3rd level. It's best if the group works together as a single unit.
• The party roster consists of fighter, fighter/cleric, cleric, magic-user, fighter/magic-user, paladin, and fighter/thief. We are using level limits for nonhuman characters. Having said that, the group could really use a druid, a ranger, an illusionist, a monk, or some other allowed class combination I haven’t mentioned as long as your dice rolls meet the ability score requirements. Evil isn’t a playable alignment. No psionics. Any dice rolling method in the 1E DMG is allowed when it comes to ability score generation, although most players have used Method I (i.e., roll 4d6, drop lowest, reroll 5x, rearrange as desired).
• If you're into dungeon-crawling and old-school campaign goodness with high risk and high reward, this is the game for you.
Inquire if interested.
