Many are familiar with the classic 1st Edition adventures S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth and WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. Placing these adventures into ones campaign world, physically, can be rather problematic. The maps provided therein use a very different hex scale from the original Gazetteer Darlene maps, so are rather difficult to place within the larger geographic context. Years ago (1982), when I ran these modules for my own players, I created a very rough sketch map so that I could do exactly that, as they cavorted and meandered about the countryside. I placed the locations a bit further into the Yatil Mountains then suggested by a direct comparison of the maps, for personal preference (E5-90 for the Caverns, and H5-90 for the Temple). Shortly thereafter, the World of Greyhawk boxed set came out (1983) with locations listed as E5-88 for the Caverns and F5-88 for the Temple. Unfortunately these co-ordinates do not fit the maps within the modules on comparison with visible geographic features, with the length of the trails as given within the module maps, and are quite impossible when comparing the distance between the Caverns and the Temple (even ignoring all other external geographic features). Well, we are all used to inconsistencies between (and even within) products. This is yet another example.
Below I provide a map that represents the best fit between the
module
maps and the World of Greyhawk wall maps, while maintaining the trail
distances
presented in the two modules. This places the Caverns of Tsojcanth at
D5-91
and the Lost Temple of Tharizdun at F5-90 (marked with red dots). If
the
1983 hex numbers are used, you must extent the "entry" trail by three
times,
and halve the distance between the Caverns and the Temple (and
therefore
shrink all other trail distances). There are compromises of course. In
the map below, the distance between the adventure region and Perrenland
is significantly more then what is implied in both the text of
the
modules and in the presence of Perrenland foothills in the northwest
corner
of the map. For this reason, it is unlikely that any Perrenlander
patrols
would be encountered in the area. Unfortunately the map provided in S4
is grossly out of scale with the World of Greyhawk wall maps. Note that
the encounters at the various dead end trails shown unlabelled here
were
originally determined randomly from a list in the module, so there are
no specific or "correct" descriptions for them.
However, people who wish to have these adventure locations deeper
into
the Yatils (as I did), and place more importance on having the
locations
equidistant between Perrenland and Ket rather then a strict
interpretation
of the geography in the modules, I present an alternative location map
below. This compromise also puts the locations more in line with the
co-ordinates
given in the 1983 Campaign boxed set (though still not exactly) by
putting
the Caverns in hex E5-89 and the Temple in hex F5-88. Personally, I
much
prefer this second location map over the first, but as DM, you are free
to choose your own preference.
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