PLAYER: Ernie Gygax

RACE: H
SEX: M
ALIGNMENT: LG
CLASS: MU
S: 10
I: 16
W: 11
D: 16
C: 16
CH: 18
LV: 14 (Wizard: 555, 442, 1)
HP: 56
AC: 10
SL: 7
+H: -
+D: -
DB: -2
SB: -
R/AT: +1

Contrary to most M-Us, Tenser has always been a lover of battle. Occasionally he will seemingly TARGET his
spells and charge into melee with his staff, depending on his magical protections to preserve him. In many ways,
it is felt that his temperatment was better suited to be a fighter.

At the same time, Tenser is no tool. He has no aversion to using magic and generally will choose it first. He has
gathered about him a firm power base for law and good and will readily use it if necessary. He will sometimes
enspell good M-Us to go on dangerous missions <journeys?> to aid the cause of good. He is reported to have alliances
with various non-human races and even some that are considered monsters.

Tenser has dust of disappearance, a wand of negation, a staff of the magi, a ring of protection, +3, a
displacer cloak, a ring of human influence, a wand of metal and minteral detection,

a potion of protection from dragon's breath
(This potion causes the imbiber to become resistant to all forms of dragon breath. When
attacked by a dragon's breath weapon, the person protected is allowed a save of +2 against gases --
sleep, fear, slow, paralyzation, etc. -- witht he result being either total success or failure. Against direct attacks by
dragon breath -- fire, acid, lightning, etc. -- the user is allowed a normal save, where a successful save
does no damage and failure to save results in only half damage. Note that this potion does not protect against
physical attacks or spells CAST by the dragon. The potion lasts for 6 to 15 ruonds and the contents of an entire bottle
must be drunk for the potion to have effect.), and

dust of dispelling air elementals (This dust apears indistinguishable
from the other magical dusts and is usually found in the same types of packages -- bone tubes or silk
pockets. When a handful  is thrown onto any creature summoned from the elemental plane of air, that creature
will immed. be forced to return to its proper plane. It may also be used to encircle an ARA in a special
protection ring. If the powder is laid in an unbroken circle or from wall to wall, it will cause summoned creatures
from the elemental plane of air to attack at a -1 on their "to hit" rolls. The powder may not be blown away by any
creature it effects, <> although other creatures and spells may. It is important to note that it will not affect free-willed
creatures from this plane. One handful is req. to dispel one creature, create a 10' diameter circle, or a single
line 50' in length.).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Angel of Adventure
Hey Col,

There is a thread under the General RPG Discussion forum that rates your S1 mod.
There seem to be a few naysayers there that believe it can only be won by cheating or extreme (perhaps Lotto winning) luck. <mad>

Please smite them with a story of how some non-metagaming players took down Acererak and his crypt by virtue of their skill. Thanks for writing this one, too. No one has surpassed this one in terms of originality or terror. (As I mentioned in that thread, the mod also improves the gaming skills of those that survive.)

Thanks,

AoA

Well Amigo...

What I say about nay-sayers is, pluck 'em! They can express their opinion, and so what?
I don't need to defend anything.
Some hundreds of thousands of PCs have adventured in the ToH, and not many have made it successfully, so it is most demanding of real skill.

You can quote me from this post, if you like, for we ran the module as a tournament at a Spring or Autumn Revel, or a Winter Fantasy con here back in the day. There were, IIRR, eight teams, and one of them absolutely obliterated the demi-lich by using the crown, putting it on his head, and touching the "wrong end" of the scepter to it. Russ Stambaugh was the DM for that team, and he asked me if that would work. I was astounded at how clever the players had been, said so, and gave them the top spot for their innovation. Again, as I recall, several of the other eight teams made the cut, destroyed Acecerak. those were veteran dungeoneers, of curse.

Ernie playing Tenser didn't go for the situation and cleared out. Rob playing Robilar made it to the end, grabbed all the loot, and didn't bother fighting the demi-lich--not much profit in that by his estimation, not with all the treasure in his bag of holding. I have run a party of local gamers through the ToH, and they made it with the loss of a couple of the PCs. It was many years ago, so I do not recall player names and details--way too many gaming sessions under my belt in the 33 years I have been a GM for such recollections...

Cheers,
Gary
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Edena_of_Neith
Let me ask this. I've always wondered about this, since I went through S1, the Tomb of Horrors, 20 years ago. (My character was the only survivor ... as usual, the infamous Tomb killed everyone or left one survivor to tell the tale as a warning to others ...)

What would have to happen to so provoke Acererak that he assumed full form, came out of the Tomb, and decided to wreak some havoc?

As son Ernie has said, when Tenser saw the nature of the tomb he simply retired from it not caring to risk life and limb for whatever treasure it might hold.

Anyway, as far as I am comncerned, Acererak needed some great source of magical negative energy to return to regular lich state, be able to manage such a return to his former "glory."

Cheers,
Gary
 
 

James M: 2. Were you a participant in the original Greyhawk campaign refereed by Gary and Rob Kuntz and, if so, which characters did you play?

Skip Williams: Ah, you're giving me a chance to split hairs here.

Gary ran the very first Greyhawk campaign using the map from the Outdoor Survival game and his notes for the future D&D Game (the very first D&D suggests getting Outdoor Survival and using it for your campaign map). After TSR published D&D, Gary drew a campaign map of his own and that became the Greyhawk setting everyone knows. I was involved in that campaign pretty much from the start, having seen the map laid out on Gary's dining room table.

In "New Greyhawk," I had several characters. The most famous of these was Rufus of Hommlet (or Rufus of Skipperton as Gary named him in one of his novels). Rufus explored the Temple of Elemental Evil and eventually became a bigwig in Hommlet. He's mentioned in the modules Gary wrote about the Temple of Elemental Evil campaign.

I also had a halfling thief (these days D&D players would call him a rogue) called Phalangas, or "Fingers," who ran around the City of Greyhawk causing as much trouble as he could, and picking pockets on the way. I only ever played Phalangas when Rob Kuntz, Gary's co-DM decided to run a pickup game, so no one has heard of him until now.

My longest-running character in the Greyhawk campaign was a human fighter named Boaric. Boaric was no great shakes, but he rubbed elbows with the big boys in the campaign (Tenser, Erac's Cousin, and Robilar to name a few) and was involved on some famous adventures. He was involved in an aborted expedition into the Tomb of Horrors. His biggest accomplishment there was dragging various bits and pieces of his former comrades back out. He also hacked and slashed his way through Against the Giants until coming toe to toe with Snurre Ironbelly. That episode ended badly for all, and it took a wish to get us back on our feet. Boaric also made a few trips to The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, and briefly owned the Invulnerable Coat of Arnd.

Boaric was the only character I played under both Greyhawk DMs, Gary and Rob Kuntz.

- Grognardia (Interview: Skip Williams)

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