My paladin/cleric adventured in this after Keep on the Borderlands with his partner & my henchmen. I loved it. Definite fave. I rescued someone pivotal to the finale with an alter reality. But I'll leave who that is to you. I'll just say this - Iuz was mad.
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is easily my favorite 1e module that I have never played nor run, but I have read several times. I always thought the built in tournament explanation was wonky but I could get around that easily enough. I wonder if Quag Keep had any impact on the multiversal spin?
My group hasn't decided the direction to take following the defeat of TToEE. Since I'm running through a general timeline starting in Spring of 576, I was planning to take them through this if they decided to involve themselves in the Iuz or Giant conflicts and have it and its secrets end up with one of those factions if the party fails to intervene.
Always one of my favorites. I actually like to weave my entire long term story around it and the Forgotten Temple of Tarizdun. I usually make the Gnomes from the Gnome Vale direct them to the Forgotten Temple first.....because they aren't surviving the Lost Caverns without that Cube of Force in the temple. Assuming they don't go stark raving mad first. :P
The whole element of PCs from other nations competing against (antagonizing/ attacking) your PCs to get to Iggwilv’s trove first provided really great pre-dungeon encounters. A great module! Thanks also for the background of Iggwilv/ Graz’zt/ Iuz- great deep dive!
The concept of selecting the best player from each party and having them come together sounds a little like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion concept, where there's multiple versions of the hero, and sometimes they can meet. I'm probably overthinking it.
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is one of my FAVORITES. I've run it (3) times and I'm planning on running it a 4th time in the near future. I actually always plan to use it and work towards leveling PCs up so that they can handle it. SPOILERS... The last time I ran it, I actually homebrewed a 3rd level to the caverns. In the original, the party can find a treasure trove at the end, with a BBEG, Drelnza, to fight it out with as a climax. But they never really find Iggwilv's lair. I actually placed this in a secret entrance underneath where the slap where Drelnza is sleeping. Beneath it, they find stairs leading down to a finished area (a portion was kept as some caverns, but most is masonried into a lair as befits someone who had ruled the surrounding area as a queen for a few decades. When they enter, the party inadvertently trigger something. Seems that Iggwilv had opened up a gate to the Abyss and maintained control of it for some time, treating with demon lords, especially Graz'zt. When she had her falling out with him, she lost control of the gate, and used a minion named Tsojcanth to block the gate. It's his body and soul that now keeps the gate from re-opening, and both have been tormented over the century, such that he is now a grotesquerie and demon himself. Anyhow, while they explore this seemingly abandoned area (except for the fact that Drelnza is somewhere within, having escaped the party in gaseous form), they accidentally breach one of the magicks holding Tjoscanth in place. There are tell-tale signs of something having happened, with the entire area shuddering with increasing tremors. They come across a gnome servant of Iggwilv, who reveals to them what is going on. They have to battle Tsojcanth, who manifests and huge demon, with the head of a baby, body of a rhinoceros, feet in the shape of massive baby hands, and a mouth that spews caustic bile and has eight regular-sized human arms extending from it (this was actually a "mini" I found online and wanted to use for the situation). They battled it out with him, driving him back into the gate, sealing it permanently. Maybe. Anyhow, I just thought an actual lair of Iggwilv for the party to explore was a much better ending for the adventure. I've thought to put it all to paper and publish it as an optional extension of the original. I know that Dungeon magazine put out an expansion along these lines, but I thought it was pretty lame.
That mini-monster manual is awesome. Heck, I'd really dig seeing you do a deep dive on just it and hearing your thoughts on the different creatures, their evolution, and their place within Greyhawk. This was pretty darn spiffy.
Sadly, my copy was lost years ago, but I do have the reprint in the Dungeons of Dread S1-4 collection. I always figured the mini-monster manual was to show the inhabitants of caverns near/under Tsojcanth, inspiring further adventures!
I did the math just now -- some pretty complicated calculations -- and "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" is precisely 4 million, one-hundred-sixty-seven thousand, 3 hundred and 26 Times BETTER than "The Temple of Elemental Evil."
My paladin/cleric adventured in this after Keep on the Borderlands with his partner & my henchmen.
I loved it. Definite fave.
I rescued someone pivotal to the finale with an alter reality.
But I'll leave who that is to you.
I'll just say this - Iuz was mad.
This is one of my favorites. I loved running it in conjunction with the Lost Temple of Tharizdun.
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is easily my favorite 1e module that I have never played nor run, but I have read several times.
I always thought the built in tournament explanation was wonky but I could get around that easily enough. I wonder if Quag Keep had any impact on the multiversal spin?
Love this video! I like the dive into both the mechanics and lore of these adventures that were foundational to the hobby!
Lost caverns of Tsojcanth was the first AD&D module I ever bought, so it has a special place in my heart!
My group hasn't decided the direction to take following the defeat of TToEE. Since I'm running through a general timeline starting in Spring of 576, I was planning to take them through this if they decided to involve themselves in the Iuz or Giant conflicts and have it and its secrets end up with one of those factions if the party fails to intervene.
One of my favorite modules, along with WG4.
WG4 needed a lot of work to run. Not a fan.
That whole Pinkerton thing makes for such a great sign-off! LOL!
Cool im prepping this module as i watch this video.
Great video. Very informative
Always one of my favorites. I actually like to weave my entire long term story around it and the Forgotten Temple of Tarizdun. I usually make the Gnomes from the Gnome Vale direct them to the Forgotten Temple first.....because they aren't surviving the Lost Caverns without that Cube of Force in the temple. Assuming they don't go stark raving mad first. :P
Thanks for some great background info & useful context! Much appreciated! 📚
The whole element of PCs from other nations competing against (antagonizing/ attacking) your PCs to get to Iggwilv’s trove first provided really great pre-dungeon encounters.
A great module!
Thanks also for the background of Iggwilv/ Graz’zt/ Iuz- great deep dive!
My favorite module of all time
The concept of selecting the best player from each party and having them come together sounds a little like Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion concept, where there's multiple versions of the hero, and sometimes they can meet. I'm probably overthinking it.
Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is one of my FAVORITES. I've run it (3) times and I'm planning on running it a 4th time in the near future. I actually always plan to use it and work towards leveling PCs up so that they can handle it.
SPOILERS...
The last time I ran it, I actually homebrewed a 3rd level to the caverns. In the original, the party can find a treasure trove at the end, with a BBEG, Drelnza, to fight it out with as a climax. But they never really find Iggwilv's lair. I actually placed this in a secret entrance underneath where the slap where Drelnza is sleeping. Beneath it, they find stairs leading down to a finished area (a portion was kept as some caverns, but most is masonried into a lair as befits someone who had ruled the surrounding area as a queen for a few decades.
When they enter, the party inadvertently trigger something. Seems that Iggwilv had opened up a gate to the Abyss and maintained control of it for some time, treating with demon lords, especially Graz'zt. When she had her falling out with him, she lost control of the gate, and used a minion named Tsojcanth to block the gate. It's his body and soul that now keeps the gate from re-opening, and both have been tormented over the century, such that he is now a grotesquerie and demon himself.
Anyhow, while they explore this seemingly abandoned area (except for the fact that Drelnza is somewhere within, having escaped the party in gaseous form), they accidentally breach one of the magicks holding Tjoscanth in place. There are tell-tale signs of something having happened, with the entire area shuddering with increasing tremors. They come across a gnome servant of Iggwilv, who reveals to them what is going on. They have to battle Tsojcanth, who manifests and huge demon, with the head of a baby, body of a rhinoceros, feet in the shape of massive baby hands, and a mouth that spews caustic bile and has eight regular-sized human arms extending from it (this was actually a "mini" I found online and wanted to use for the situation).
They battled it out with him, driving him back into the gate, sealing it permanently. Maybe.
Anyhow, I just thought an actual lair of Iggwilv for the party to explore was a much better ending for the adventure. I've thought to put it all to paper and publish it as an optional extension of the original. I know that Dungeon magazine put out an expansion along these lines, but I thought it was pretty lame.
Keen for more splendid reviews of modules, because modules are what I run for my two groups of players.
That mini-monster manual is awesome. Heck, I'd really dig seeing you do a deep dive on just it and hearing your thoughts on the different creatures, their evolution, and their place within Greyhawk.
This was pretty darn spiffy.
Cool, looking forward to your insights of this adventure.
Played this one years ago but never DM'd it nor read the module.
one of the best ever ... to me, second only tomb of horrors
Great overview! I remember running this. Hope mine’s still complete.
Expedition Of The Barrier Peaks would make a good video . I still have the module with the picture book
I played this at Gary Con. Beware the bodak!
I think a Pinkerton is on the random encounter table in the wilderness portion.
When you slay one, all you find in its pockets are Magic: The Gathering cards.
I have this module but I haven't run it yet. I'd like to build a campaign around it, maybe involving a cult of Grazz't and its master's machinations.
Thanks for another awesome video man
Sadly, my copy was lost years ago, but I do have the reprint in the Dungeons of Dread S1-4 collection. I always figured the mini-monster manual was to show the inhabitants of caverns near/under Tsojcanth, inspiring further adventures!
If the caverns were really "lost" . . . they wouldn't get so many visitors. LOL
How would you play the elf (presumably from Highfolk) encounter? In another video you point out that many elves were probably alive back in the day.
🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉🐉
I found the wilderness half and other resources more useful than he dungeon.
I did the math just now -- some pretty complicated calculations -- and "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth" is precisely 4 million, one-hundred-sixty-seven thousand, 3 hundred and 26 Times BETTER than "The Temple of Elemental Evil."
My favorite module of all time