What do you think?
Rate this book
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Module #T1
The Village Of Hommlet - Dungeon Module T1
AD&D module T1, The Village of Hommlet by the creator of AD&D, the late Gary Gygax.
24 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1980
1 person is currently reading
73 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 8, 2016
The hamlet of Hommlet, wherein this adventure takes place, is the sort of picturesque, idyllic community I wouldn't mind living in!
The map shows a lovely winding stream, a watermill, a church, numerous farmhouses, groves and pasture, an inn with the word "wench" right in its name, the weaver's cottage, a brewery and of course ye olde blacksmithy. It's like they picked a Cotswolds village and copied the Ordnance Survey map.
Much of The Village of Hommlet is about the village residents. In fact, way too much of it is about the mundane people. This whole module is more about portraiture than plot. Granted it is meant for low level characters, so it couldn't be too dangerous. Sure there are evil-doers and random monsters in some nearby ruins, but I think Gygax set out to create more of an interactive/play-acting adventure with this one, rather than a hack-n-slash dungeon crawl.
The village would provide a solid little base camp for future adventures that could be plugged into any campaign. Perhaps that was the intention and so I should stop bagging on it...
The map shows a lovely winding stream, a watermill, a church, numerous farmhouses, groves and pasture, an inn with the word "wench" right in its name, the weaver's cottage, a brewery and of course ye olde blacksmithy. It's like they picked a Cotswolds village and copied the Ordnance Survey map.
Much of The Village of Hommlet is about the village residents. In fact, way too much of it is about the mundane people. This whole module is more about portraiture than plot. Granted it is meant for low level characters, so it couldn't be too dangerous. Sure there are evil-doers and random monsters in some nearby ruins, but I think Gygax set out to create more of an interactive/play-acting adventure with this one, rather than a hack-n-slash dungeon crawl.
The village would provide a solid little base camp for future adventures that could be plugged into any campaign. Perhaps that was the intention and so I should stop bagging on it...
January 2, 2012
This adventure is a bit of a mixed bag. Lots of details on village residents you don't need, and the moat house adventure goes from quite manageable on the 1st level to insanely tough for a 1st level party on the 2nd. Still, there's some nice touches to it. I like how the moat house dungeon explains how the monsters got into the ruins, and the whole backstory makes the setting come alive. The various villains met in town waiting to waylay the party on their return also makes for a nice touch.
March 13, 2023
Now that's a name that will probably ring the bells of nostalgia for many, for years to come. The Village of Hommlet, one of the earliest D&D modules, written by the man himself, Gary Gygax. Originally intended to be the start of a series of two modules that would create the Temple of Elemental Evil, Gygax never finished the next modules and it was Frank Mentzer who would write and the compile T1 to T4 in the even more iconic Temple of Elemental Evil module for AD&D.
The Village of Hommlet is a little fascinating piece of history, clocking at only 16 or so pages, it manages to capture the initial footsteps of old school adventuring and the first signs of the so called Gygaxian style of D&D. It is basic in its premise, but it is the actual reproduction of it that manages to encapsulate what the game was all about back in the late 70s. This is also a time of change, for the OD&D era is now on its closing stages (although, Basic would still dominate sales for some more years), and AD&D will bring a new key to the field.
The module starts with your typical background introduction, taken more or less half a page of the early history of Hommlet. Not really necessary for the DM's understanding as most of it is basic "good village now under attack" concept. It mostly works to get you into the framework that the village acts as an outpost for your party to go and attack the Temple of Elemental Evil. Then, the start of the module… "You are poorly mounted, badly equipped, and have no large sums of cash. In fact, all you have is what you wear and what you ride, plus the few coins that are hidden in purses and pockets. What you do possess in quantity, though, is daring and a desire to become wealthy and famous." Now that does help set the mood! Hommlet is, after all, meant to be another introductory module, but rather than the B series, this one is for AD&D and meant to show you the pulls and strings of the game as both a new DM and a new adventurer. How well does it actually do that? Well, let's find out.
The village is very well mapped, quite complete and looks fantastical in every sense of the word. I really enjoy the map from this one. It has a very natural style to it that's both realistic and also artistic. It doesn’t feel like a forced grid-village or some other settlements that are there just to be there. The village has a sense of life to it, and even a culture to some extent. The majority of the villagers are "druidical" and practice their religion. Gygax takes a lot of time in describing various dwellers from the village. From your lowly farmer to some powerful clerics, and even conniving spies hiding in plain sight. Your party at this point, if you are playing it as a starter module, is probably around level 1, so pretty much just naïve youngsters with some fighting experience that extends to brawls. This village, however, has some very interesting characters have had their fair share of fights, including some masterful assassins, powerful clerics, experienced rangers, and though militia. It is not exactly the best place to go murder-hobo, but it also means that your party has plenty of opportunities for roleplaying. Maybe convince some of the men-at-arms to join you or learn some tips from the village's cleric. There's always someone to talk to and do something, and I really enjoy that. With around 30 or so buildings, most of them are inhabited, and almost all have something worth checking out.
Speaking of checking things out, this village has a serious coin problem. There's silver and gold coins everywhere, and while this may seem odd if you are a new blood that comes from the 2000s, it makes sense considering that gold was XP back then. Some areas have a few loose silver coins around, others have some nicely packaged pockets of gold coins, and you can even try to steal some of the treasure from the villagers. Ill advised, but possible. The village alone has plenty of coins to loot, so your party can already start both leveling up and also using the money to buy other useful stuff, or heck, use it to trade in stocks or pawn other shit, since Hommlet even has a moneychanger's shop. There are a set of locations that are also detailed explained and mapped for individual use, like the village's inn, Welcome Wench, or the Guard Tower, where two previous experienced adventurers live. The inn in particular has a ton of info, probably more than needed.
There's also a section that details the mercenaries that you can hire. Most seem to be average when it comes to strength or level, with the exception of the captain and the lieutenant. Since the village has treated them well so far, they are loyal and have high morale, so unless the players really fuck up, they shouldn’t betray your party. Interestingly enough, some of them are also adept at the usage of siege weaponry, like catapults and scorpions. How often would a siege come in AD&D? Can't really say but I don't imagine much, especially here considering that this is meant for some scrawny ass level 1 adventurers. Or is it?
The rest of the adventure now takes center around the ruins of the Moathouse, a medium-sized fortress that used to be an outpost for the Temple of Elemental Evil. While it may look abandoned, it has plenty of life inside it. A ton of encounters take place around here, and most of them seem to be around some dangerous fous, like owlbears, that might be a little too challenging for a 1st level party. Another interesting point is the fact that there's a lot of everything, particularly low level cannon fodder like zombies. There's even a giant crayfish, which managed to find his place inside the pools of the moathouse. As for the rest of the monsters? Why are they here? Why are there so many of pretty much everything? Well, because it is evil that's why! But seriously, there's no real narrative or explanation as to why the ruins are so populated. They are like this just because the players are meant to explore, pillage and kill whatever they can inside here. It is a playground, and the monsters are the toys. To make matters even more interesting. Every turn that passes, the DM has to roll for a random encounter inside the moathouse and the dungeon. There's a different table for the surface area and the dungeon area. Interestingly, there's no "1 in 6 chances" of a random encounter happening, the usual method. Instead, what I understand is that random encounters happen in already mapped rooms, on top of whatever encounter that room already has. The first table, for example, says: Encounter occurs 1 in 12, check each turn. I imagine this means that every time you enter a room, you must roll and there's a 1 in 12 chances of an encounter happening. Then you check the table and depending in what room your party is, you use that encounter. At least that's what I understand. I don't particularly like this system because it already makes things a little more complicated by adding random encounters on top of previous set encounters, and the general layout of it is a little confusing. The encounters can also be quite tricky depending on your player's levels, like getting surprised by an ogre, or coming across a patrol of 2-5 gnolls, add some bugbears to get absolutely eviscerated. It can certainly get difficult, but there's still some opportunities for roleplay and quick thinking that might allow your players to escape away from the danger. The ogre room, for example, acts as a little puzzle. The ogre has been purposely set there as a guard, and will not attack immediately, instead, he will wait for whoever approaches to do a "sign" that acts as a safe password. Those who do the sign will be allowed, and those who failed, well, things can get bloody. The giant crayfish is also another dangerous foe that can kill credulous adventurers as they approach its pool. However, the creature can be put at bay by men-at-arms using polearms, and if the creature is wounded, it flees away and doesn’t return for a day.
Some other areas are much less forgiving and will put your party at the edge of their seats. The crypt room, for example, has four ghouls that will immediately attack the party upon being spotted. While they are not a great danger on their own, all ghouls can paralyze a player if they fail their saving throw. You can pretty much count yourself dead if this happens. Then in the other room you'll come across six guardsmen and one sergeant defending the master of the dungeons. At this level, you could say they are the party equals, more or less, so a grueling fight will most likely occur. And then, the BBEG, if you will, the dark master, Lareth. A 5th level cleric, mind you, that will irrevocably destroy your low level party in a sweep. Once he is killed, however, things can get quite interesting; as the news of his death spread, a 10th level assassin will be sent 3 weeks after to enact revenge. Now that's an interesting way to spice up consequences.
While it proves to incorporate some rather hard encounters that aren't well suited for starting parties alone, we also have to consider that this module encourages you and even assumes that you will: a) have a cleric and b) make heavy use of mercenaries and hirelings. Fighting this adventure with your party alone is suicidal, and all help will be needed. One of the reasons there's so much gold to find is not only the quick leveling, but also to hire men-at-arms to protect you, particularly in the ruins of the moathouse where things are far more challenging. In this sense, T1 offers you a perspective into the old world of AD&D, when things could be a little more technical rather than personal, and inventory management extended to administrate entire bands of hirelings. The general idea, after all, was to become a lord or similar by the end of your journey, but here? You are part of the band, barely starting, and you are learning the ropes.
Speaking of learning, while The Village of Hommlet markets itself as an introductory module, it doesn’t really teach how to do such things as DM, or tips for adventuring itself. It's more like: Here's an easy adventure, go see what you do with it. In the B series, we had modules that tried to teach you how to design encounters, rooms, wilderlands exploration, treasure hunting, mapping, etc. Here, you are only given a few tips at the start of the module and that is it. Despite the introductory label at the start, it seems to me that it means to be a "low level" adventure, rather than one meant to be used by new DMs.
T1 The Village of Hommlet provides a different interpretation of the basic aspects of early adventuring. It is exceptionally simple in premise, but depth and well developed in execution. The village on its own is full of life and filled with many things to do, see, and experience. It doesn’t pose the same charm and excitement for discover like In The Search of the Uknown, nor it is as creative as Palace of the Silver Princess, or as exciting as The Keep at the Borderlands, but it stablishes the basic premises of D&D adventuring best than any. You have an outpost, and a dungeon to search. That is all you need at the most basic of basic resources. The village of Hommlet provides you with the earliest form of true OG adventuring, as barebones as it is, it is also full of meat.
Funny enough, the first print constantly mentions that more information and adventures will be provided with T2. As we all know, T2 never came to me. I do wonder why. I find it hard to believe that Gygax was simply too busy to write it, since it seemed that anything he did back in the 70s and early 80s was met with universal praise, so, why not finish the series? Who knows.
And now to the present, is the Village of Hommlet worth revisiting? Absolutely yes. It is so simple and effective and just providing you with the essentials and letting the rest to you. I do wish there was a more cohesive sense of goals here. Your party doesn't really have an excuse to go to the moathouse, or even staying at the village. The only thing worth around here is the gold and the promises of treasure, but other than that? There's no secret stash of diamonds, no fantastical creature to slay, and no legendary weapon to find. I am of the belief that an adventure module doesn’t need that, but I do think it helps convey a sense of journey and reward. The village? Well, there's plenty of gold to go around. Ultimately, I still enjoyed it and I would love to someday play in it.
The Village of Hommlet is a little fascinating piece of history, clocking at only 16 or so pages, it manages to capture the initial footsteps of old school adventuring and the first signs of the so called Gygaxian style of D&D. It is basic in its premise, but it is the actual reproduction of it that manages to encapsulate what the game was all about back in the late 70s. This is also a time of change, for the OD&D era is now on its closing stages (although, Basic would still dominate sales for some more years), and AD&D will bring a new key to the field.
The module starts with your typical background introduction, taken more or less half a page of the early history of Hommlet. Not really necessary for the DM's understanding as most of it is basic "good village now under attack" concept. It mostly works to get you into the framework that the village acts as an outpost for your party to go and attack the Temple of Elemental Evil. Then, the start of the module… "You are poorly mounted, badly equipped, and have no large sums of cash. In fact, all you have is what you wear and what you ride, plus the few coins that are hidden in purses and pockets. What you do possess in quantity, though, is daring and a desire to become wealthy and famous." Now that does help set the mood! Hommlet is, after all, meant to be another introductory module, but rather than the B series, this one is for AD&D and meant to show you the pulls and strings of the game as both a new DM and a new adventurer. How well does it actually do that? Well, let's find out.
The village is very well mapped, quite complete and looks fantastical in every sense of the word. I really enjoy the map from this one. It has a very natural style to it that's both realistic and also artistic. It doesn’t feel like a forced grid-village or some other settlements that are there just to be there. The village has a sense of life to it, and even a culture to some extent. The majority of the villagers are "druidical" and practice their religion. Gygax takes a lot of time in describing various dwellers from the village. From your lowly farmer to some powerful clerics, and even conniving spies hiding in plain sight. Your party at this point, if you are playing it as a starter module, is probably around level 1, so pretty much just naïve youngsters with some fighting experience that extends to brawls. This village, however, has some very interesting characters have had their fair share of fights, including some masterful assassins, powerful clerics, experienced rangers, and though militia. It is not exactly the best place to go murder-hobo, but it also means that your party has plenty of opportunities for roleplaying. Maybe convince some of the men-at-arms to join you or learn some tips from the village's cleric. There's always someone to talk to and do something, and I really enjoy that. With around 30 or so buildings, most of them are inhabited, and almost all have something worth checking out.
Speaking of checking things out, this village has a serious coin problem. There's silver and gold coins everywhere, and while this may seem odd if you are a new blood that comes from the 2000s, it makes sense considering that gold was XP back then. Some areas have a few loose silver coins around, others have some nicely packaged pockets of gold coins, and you can even try to steal some of the treasure from the villagers. Ill advised, but possible. The village alone has plenty of coins to loot, so your party can already start both leveling up and also using the money to buy other useful stuff, or heck, use it to trade in stocks or pawn other shit, since Hommlet even has a moneychanger's shop. There are a set of locations that are also detailed explained and mapped for individual use, like the village's inn, Welcome Wench, or the Guard Tower, where two previous experienced adventurers live. The inn in particular has a ton of info, probably more than needed.
There's also a section that details the mercenaries that you can hire. Most seem to be average when it comes to strength or level, with the exception of the captain and the lieutenant. Since the village has treated them well so far, they are loyal and have high morale, so unless the players really fuck up, they shouldn’t betray your party. Interestingly enough, some of them are also adept at the usage of siege weaponry, like catapults and scorpions. How often would a siege come in AD&D? Can't really say but I don't imagine much, especially here considering that this is meant for some scrawny ass level 1 adventurers. Or is it?
The rest of the adventure now takes center around the ruins of the Moathouse, a medium-sized fortress that used to be an outpost for the Temple of Elemental Evil. While it may look abandoned, it has plenty of life inside it. A ton of encounters take place around here, and most of them seem to be around some dangerous fous, like owlbears, that might be a little too challenging for a 1st level party. Another interesting point is the fact that there's a lot of everything, particularly low level cannon fodder like zombies. There's even a giant crayfish, which managed to find his place inside the pools of the moathouse. As for the rest of the monsters? Why are they here? Why are there so many of pretty much everything? Well, because it is evil that's why! But seriously, there's no real narrative or explanation as to why the ruins are so populated. They are like this just because the players are meant to explore, pillage and kill whatever they can inside here. It is a playground, and the monsters are the toys. To make matters even more interesting. Every turn that passes, the DM has to roll for a random encounter inside the moathouse and the dungeon. There's a different table for the surface area and the dungeon area. Interestingly, there's no "1 in 6 chances" of a random encounter happening, the usual method. Instead, what I understand is that random encounters happen in already mapped rooms, on top of whatever encounter that room already has. The first table, for example, says: Encounter occurs 1 in 12, check each turn. I imagine this means that every time you enter a room, you must roll and there's a 1 in 12 chances of an encounter happening. Then you check the table and depending in what room your party is, you use that encounter. At least that's what I understand. I don't particularly like this system because it already makes things a little more complicated by adding random encounters on top of previous set encounters, and the general layout of it is a little confusing. The encounters can also be quite tricky depending on your player's levels, like getting surprised by an ogre, or coming across a patrol of 2-5 gnolls, add some bugbears to get absolutely eviscerated. It can certainly get difficult, but there's still some opportunities for roleplay and quick thinking that might allow your players to escape away from the danger. The ogre room, for example, acts as a little puzzle. The ogre has been purposely set there as a guard, and will not attack immediately, instead, he will wait for whoever approaches to do a "sign" that acts as a safe password. Those who do the sign will be allowed, and those who failed, well, things can get bloody. The giant crayfish is also another dangerous foe that can kill credulous adventurers as they approach its pool. However, the creature can be put at bay by men-at-arms using polearms, and if the creature is wounded, it flees away and doesn’t return for a day.
Some other areas are much less forgiving and will put your party at the edge of their seats. The crypt room, for example, has four ghouls that will immediately attack the party upon being spotted. While they are not a great danger on their own, all ghouls can paralyze a player if they fail their saving throw. You can pretty much count yourself dead if this happens. Then in the other room you'll come across six guardsmen and one sergeant defending the master of the dungeons. At this level, you could say they are the party equals, more or less, so a grueling fight will most likely occur. And then, the BBEG, if you will, the dark master, Lareth. A 5th level cleric, mind you, that will irrevocably destroy your low level party in a sweep. Once he is killed, however, things can get quite interesting; as the news of his death spread, a 10th level assassin will be sent 3 weeks after to enact revenge. Now that's an interesting way to spice up consequences.
While it proves to incorporate some rather hard encounters that aren't well suited for starting parties alone, we also have to consider that this module encourages you and even assumes that you will: a) have a cleric and b) make heavy use of mercenaries and hirelings. Fighting this adventure with your party alone is suicidal, and all help will be needed. One of the reasons there's so much gold to find is not only the quick leveling, but also to hire men-at-arms to protect you, particularly in the ruins of the moathouse where things are far more challenging. In this sense, T1 offers you a perspective into the old world of AD&D, when things could be a little more technical rather than personal, and inventory management extended to administrate entire bands of hirelings. The general idea, after all, was to become a lord or similar by the end of your journey, but here? You are part of the band, barely starting, and you are learning the ropes.
Speaking of learning, while The Village of Hommlet markets itself as an introductory module, it doesn’t really teach how to do such things as DM, or tips for adventuring itself. It's more like: Here's an easy adventure, go see what you do with it. In the B series, we had modules that tried to teach you how to design encounters, rooms, wilderlands exploration, treasure hunting, mapping, etc. Here, you are only given a few tips at the start of the module and that is it. Despite the introductory label at the start, it seems to me that it means to be a "low level" adventure, rather than one meant to be used by new DMs.
T1 The Village of Hommlet provides a different interpretation of the basic aspects of early adventuring. It is exceptionally simple in premise, but depth and well developed in execution. The village on its own is full of life and filled with many things to do, see, and experience. It doesn’t pose the same charm and excitement for discover like In The Search of the Uknown, nor it is as creative as Palace of the Silver Princess, or as exciting as The Keep at the Borderlands, but it stablishes the basic premises of D&D adventuring best than any. You have an outpost, and a dungeon to search. That is all you need at the most basic of basic resources. The village of Hommlet provides you with the earliest form of true OG adventuring, as barebones as it is, it is also full of meat.
Funny enough, the first print constantly mentions that more information and adventures will be provided with T2. As we all know, T2 never came to me. I do wonder why. I find it hard to believe that Gygax was simply too busy to write it, since it seemed that anything he did back in the 70s and early 80s was met with universal praise, so, why not finish the series? Who knows.
And now to the present, is the Village of Hommlet worth revisiting? Absolutely yes. It is so simple and effective and just providing you with the essentials and letting the rest to you. I do wish there was a more cohesive sense of goals here. Your party doesn't really have an excuse to go to the moathouse, or even staying at the village. The only thing worth around here is the gold and the promises of treasure, but other than that? There's no secret stash of diamonds, no fantastical creature to slay, and no legendary weapon to find. I am of the belief that an adventure module doesn’t need that, but I do think it helps convey a sense of journey and reward. The village? Well, there's plenty of gold to go around. Ultimately, I still enjoyed it and I would love to someday play in it.
January 31, 2020
Currently running this module. Decided that after last campaign of making all of it up the week before hand I wanted a pre written adventure so I could do less work. Enter... a pre written adventure vague on details that needs a lot of work if it is to work well. :D worst. But, with a little help from a couple of side one shots and crew of wonderful players, we have spent over 5 sessions in Hommlet (we renamed it Hambra) and we had only now gotten to the dungeon (top floor).
the village is a wonderful base camp and gives you so much to use and create out of.
the village is a wonderful base camp and gives you so much to use and create out of.
February 4, 2016
I'm going to review this in T1-4, Temple of Elemental Evil. It's fine as a setting, ok as an adventure. My view might appreciate later.
December 6, 2022
More of a campaign setting than an actual adventure, this feels like the starting area and base for what will be coming in T2, only in 1979 you'd have to wait 6 years for T2, The Temple of Elemental Evil, to actually come out.
So you get a small village setting with every inhabitant, house and business described, with plotters and envoys of the evil temple as well as druidic forces and the lawful good followers of Greyhawk's St.Cuthbert as a setting for your adventure. There aren't really that many sidequests or things to do in the village except to understand the dynamics of the powers in the area. Some of the buildings, such as the inn, the church and the tower have detailed maps and more stuff going on in there. This is also an excelent setting for murder hobos as you get to know every little cent and bit of equipment that each innocent farmer has on the house or on his person, kind of rewarding the players for razing the town.
There's a small dungeon outside the town, an old Moathouse, full of all kinds of beasties and giant bugs and also some bandits and gnolls and such. However, unlike in modern adventures there is no hand holding here. There are no quests in the village directing you to the moathouse, no one even mentions it. You kind of have to guess. So it's a little sandbox module but a really important one, although the "small village starting area for low lvl PCs" might seems like a cliché today (as with Phandalin in the Starting set for 5e, for example), this is the very first time you get that. The start of a D&D staple. Now, only 6 years to go to actually get to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
So you get a small village setting with every inhabitant, house and business described, with plotters and envoys of the evil temple as well as druidic forces and the lawful good followers of Greyhawk's St.Cuthbert as a setting for your adventure. There aren't really that many sidequests or things to do in the village except to understand the dynamics of the powers in the area. Some of the buildings, such as the inn, the church and the tower have detailed maps and more stuff going on in there. This is also an excelent setting for murder hobos as you get to know every little cent and bit of equipment that each innocent farmer has on the house or on his person, kind of rewarding the players for razing the town.
There's a small dungeon outside the town, an old Moathouse, full of all kinds of beasties and giant bugs and also some bandits and gnolls and such. However, unlike in modern adventures there is no hand holding here. There are no quests in the village directing you to the moathouse, no one even mentions it. You kind of have to guess. So it's a little sandbox module but a really important one, although the "small village starting area for low lvl PCs" might seems like a cliché today (as with Phandalin in the Starting set for 5e, for example), this is the very first time you get that. The start of a D&D staple. Now, only 6 years to go to actually get to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
March 3, 2018
Another re-read of a classic adventure. I have read this many times, and led players through it several times as well, each time a bit better than the last.
For a beginning Dungeon Master, this module (and many other AD&D modules at the time) could be a bit overwhelming. There is a lot of text, and no real text boxes of information to be read, as the basic and expert lines had at the time (such as Keep on the Borderlands). I encountered this module very early on, before I really knew the difference between Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
Overall, I really like the way that Gary presents his material, but it does require a lot of mental agility for the Dungeon Master to assimilate, and to coordinate. For the village, the Dungeon Master needs to be aware of the many personalities in the village, and how they are connected to different powers in the region. Also, a better understanding of the geography then simply looking at the map (which is good, but also a bit overwhelming) is very helpful for a better playing experience.
The back picture on the color cover is one of the iconic pictures for me of Dungeons & Dragons, with the jovial and welcoming magic-user, and the taciturn fighter.
I am looking forward to starting another new campaign, with the module being the ground rock for it.
For a beginning Dungeon Master, this module (and many other AD&D modules at the time) could be a bit overwhelming. There is a lot of text, and no real text boxes of information to be read, as the basic and expert lines had at the time (such as Keep on the Borderlands). I encountered this module very early on, before I really knew the difference between Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
Overall, I really like the way that Gary presents his material, but it does require a lot of mental agility for the Dungeon Master to assimilate, and to coordinate. For the village, the Dungeon Master needs to be aware of the many personalities in the village, and how they are connected to different powers in the region. Also, a better understanding of the geography then simply looking at the map (which is good, but also a bit overwhelming) is very helpful for a better playing experience.
The back picture on the color cover is one of the iconic pictures for me of Dungeons & Dragons, with the jovial and welcoming magic-user, and the taciturn fighter.
I am looking forward to starting another new campaign, with the module being the ground rock for it.
March 27, 2020
Another module that I have DM’d multiple times. Like a lot of the EGG adventures it’s good for atmosphere but the payoff is lacking and the difficulty high. Quite difficult to DM unless you have put in a lot of work beforehand as EGG leaves *a lot* of leeway for the DM. In closing, a decent setting that needs to be developed extensively with other encounters by the DM.
November 5, 2022
Solid introductory adventure for first-time players of D&D. Hommlet is a charming hometown for players filled with interesting adventure hooks, and the moat house is a good, simple beginner dungeon with some great foreshadowing for future adventures (see T1-4: The Temple of Elemental Evil). Highly recommended and easily adapted to other editions or game systems.
November 13, 2007
My first D&D adventure ever played or run..a classic!
April 2, 2013
Good 1st adventure.
July 22, 2017
The first dungeon module I purchased on a band trip to Ames. I played it over and over.
March 16, 2023
The gold standard for how to build a fantasy village full of unique NPCs with unique motivations and loyalties. A great place to set a campaign, even if that campaign isn't T1-4.
May 1, 2025
Very meh.
I did like how if you killed the final boss, things can still get your ass.
I did like how if you killed the final boss, things can still get your ass.
March 26, 2024
I'd first looked at T1 when it was part of T1-4 super module. Then it was a adjusted prelude to the main act, with tweaked intro.
Here, as an isolated module, and as a precursor to a promised T2 that never arrived in Gary Gygax's time, it feels oddly isolated and without direction. Accepting that it was written as a starter module in the era before more story orientated modules arrived it is still significantly directionless.
What it does is give a great setting, with dozens of NPCs, and a detailed village with feels very alive. Several buildings are drilled down on, notably the Inn of Welcome Wench, with NPCs some of which are linked to the Temple.
The 'dungeon' is the ruined Moathouse which is a tough set of encounters for lower level PCs. Perhaps at L3 with some retainers/minions it would be manageable but it's rather tricky to think how PCs would get from 1 to 3. There's not really any 'side quests' detailed, and indeed that's the issue here: it's a 'starter' module for L1 to L3 but for starter DMs it just doesn't quite click. It needs some definite work to develop beyond a straight setting to play.
As a final comment, I ran it for the kids a few years ago and it was great fun in the Moathouse and Lareth the Beautiful was an iconic bad guy who scarpered away to the Temple with his tail between his legs.
Here, as an isolated module, and as a precursor to a promised T2 that never arrived in Gary Gygax's time, it feels oddly isolated and without direction. Accepting that it was written as a starter module in the era before more story orientated modules arrived it is still significantly directionless.
What it does is give a great setting, with dozens of NPCs, and a detailed village with feels very alive. Several buildings are drilled down on, notably the Inn of Welcome Wench, with NPCs some of which are linked to the Temple.
The 'dungeon' is the ruined Moathouse which is a tough set of encounters for lower level PCs. Perhaps at L3 with some retainers/minions it would be manageable but it's rather tricky to think how PCs would get from 1 to 3. There's not really any 'side quests' detailed, and indeed that's the issue here: it's a 'starter' module for L1 to L3 but for starter DMs it just doesn't quite click. It needs some definite work to develop beyond a straight setting to play.
As a final comment, I ran it for the kids a few years ago and it was great fun in the Moathouse and Lareth the Beautiful was an iconic bad guy who scarpered away to the Temple with his tail between his legs.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2025
Dumb name aside (is the "Village of Hommlet" near the "Town of Khoffee" and the "City of Baahcon"?)... this module's main focus it to provide a "home base" for the party. The "ruins + dungeon" in the ruined moathouse adventure is only squeezed into the last few pages.
Some of the descriptions are way too detailed and laughably trivial (e.g. is it super critical that we know that some random villager has exactly 19 silver pieces stashed away in a barn?), that results with unnecessary minutia taking up valuable space in this thin module. 10 of the 16 pages of this module go into far too much detail about every single nook and cranny of the village, the inn, the "Traders' Establishment" (Wow! How amazingly handy it is to have everything you want at one store!), the church, and the guard tower. The later is especially annoying IMO because the Level 1 characters intended for this module have no business poking around there. The two named bad-ass NPCs, two competent leaders, and 16 men-at-arms all ensure that the lowly newbie party is not going to be allowed to wander around and explore the tower just for the lols.
Only the last few pages have an actual adventure and dungeon to explore and go all hack&slasher'y on. This is a very concise yet monster bloated adventure that -- written in the "The DM vs. The Players" passive aggressive fashion that E. Gary Gygax was infamous for -- might be a bit too tough for entry-level PCs (and/or newbies to RPGs in general).
This is far better bundled with it's primary raison d'être: a entry point for the much more massive and satisfying The Temple of Elemental Evil. Because on it's own, this module has a super detailed village that I'm sure serves great egg-related breakfasts, but not much else.
Some of the descriptions are way too detailed and laughably trivial (e.g. is it super critical that we know that some random villager has exactly 19 silver pieces stashed away in a barn?), that results with unnecessary minutia taking up valuable space in this thin module. 10 of the 16 pages of this module go into far too much detail about every single nook and cranny of the village, the inn, the "Traders' Establishment" (Wow! How amazingly handy it is to have everything you want at one store!), the church, and the guard tower. The later is especially annoying IMO because the Level 1 characters intended for this module have no business poking around there. The two named bad-ass NPCs, two competent leaders, and 16 men-at-arms all ensure that the lowly newbie party is not going to be allowed to wander around and explore the tower just for the lols.
Only the last few pages have an actual adventure and dungeon to explore and go all hack&slasher'y on. This is a very concise yet monster bloated adventure that -- written in the "The DM vs. The Players" passive aggressive fashion that E. Gary Gygax was infamous for -- might be a bit too tough for entry-level PCs (and/or newbies to RPGs in general).
This is far better bundled with it's primary raison d'être: a entry point for the much more massive and satisfying The Temple of Elemental Evil. Because on it's own, this module has a super detailed village that I'm sure serves great egg-related breakfasts, but not much else.
Read
March 6, 2022A fairly drab and straightforward introductory module, describing a small village in great detail, and a nearby ruined fort and the dungeon beneath it. Maybe if you were stuck on a desert island with no other modules, and no imagination to homebrew anything, you might use this as a starting adventure. Otherwise, there's no real reason to bother with it when there are so many more interesting options available.
July 20, 2024
classic adventure - gotta play it
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews