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Maldin's Greyhawk

The Southern Yatils

by Denis Tetreault
 Version 1.1



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.
 
 


RPGA Living Greyhawk Campaign update

After reviewing this page, Erik "Iquander" Mona has placed the LivingGreyhawk campaign "stamp of approval" on the second map - yatils2.gif (with a centrally located placement of the Caverns of Tsojcanth and Temple of Tharizdun), and it can now be considered as representing official canon. I hereby grant permission for the use of yatils2.gif within the Living Greyhawk campaign, as long as credit is given.
 

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This page last modified on December 20, 2004