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Adept Greytalker
Joined: Nov 28, 2006
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From: Barony of Trellwood, The Great Kingdom
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Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:47 am
WotC Website: Tharizdun Destroys Oerth
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Well the title gotcha didn't it.
Now that I have your attention, you can see the "offical" Elder Evil write up for using Tharizdun to end your 3.x Greyhawk campaign using the rules from the Elder Evil supplement. While T is mentioned it is really some minion you must stop from releasing evil upon the world:
| Elder Evils: Shothragot wrote: |
While various elder evils may or may not respond to the summons of the Dark God, Tharizdun's chief creation, an abomination named Shothragot, awoke in the cyclopean depths of the earth, far below the mines of a temple devoted to the Elder Elemental Eye. Weak and nearly powerless after years of undisturbed slumber, it siphons power from the prayers of the unwitting servants above, biding its time until it gains the strength it needs to set in motion the final events that would see its master free
While having an awakened elder evil is terrifying to conceive by itself, Shothragot is a special case, for this dreadful horror's origins trace back to the Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire, when Tharizdun's servants summoned forth his avatar for the last time... |
Elder Evils: Shothragot Link
Oh, and he has a minion:
Shothragot's minion
In Service,
Bryan Blumklotz
AKA Saracenus
Last edited by Saracenus on Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:19 am; edited 1 time in total
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CF Admin
Joined: Oct 14, 2003
Posts: 586
From: Rel Astra
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Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:07 am
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Looks to me like alot of big Greyhawk phrases and names thrown together in an attempt to wow you. 
edit: to be fair, I did not look into it much. I have learned to generally ignore anything that includes Tharizdun over the years.
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Adept Greytalker
Joined: Nov 28, 2006
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From: Barony of Trellwood, The Great Kingdom
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Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:17 am
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| abysslin wrote: |
Looks to me like alot of big Greyhawk phrases and names thrown together in an attempt to wow you.
edit: to be fair, I did not look into it much. I have learned to generally ignore anything that includes Tharizdun over the years. |
Abysslin,
I just thought it was interesting to see their take on it. I haven't read it all the way through and what I have read is funny.
I don't have the author Robert J. Schwalb on my designer radar but he has been involved with quite a few books for WotC but nothing that screams Greyhawk. And quite frankly, his involvement with Fiendish Codex 2 is a strike against him (IMO the 2nd worst 3e supplement published, only beat out by Cityscape)
In Service,
Bryan Blumklotz
AKA Saracenus
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Aug 24, 2005
Posts: 46
From: Toronto
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:17 am
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I liked this article, but I'm a big fan of everything Tharizdun. It could be criticized for name dropping, but I thought it did a good job of tying into the (sometimes disconnected) history of material on T. It brought together the avatar of Tharizdun summoned during the twin cataclysms, the 333 gems, and the Temple of All Consumption from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
A few of the adventure ideas are good, including a trip to the Forgotten City in the Sea of Dust to save Circle of Eight member Jallarzi Sallavarian.
The game effects of the increasing signs of the apocalypse are interesting as well, they would definitely drive home to my players the magnitude of events - I'm just worried the Cleric in my group would be unfairly burdened by them.
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Journeyman Greytalker
Joined: Mar 12, 2008
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:09 pm
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I did wonder how WOTC was going to justify cutting Greyhawk out of 4th Edition entirely (sigh). At least 'official' Greyhawk goes out with a bang, instead of a long, painful death from publisher neglect...
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GreySage
Joined: Aug 03, 2001
Posts: 3317
From: Michigan
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:51 pm
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| Vulcan wrote: |
| I did wonder how WOTC was going to justify cutting Greyhawk out of 4th Edition entirely (sigh). At least 'official' Greyhawk goes out with a bang, instead of a long, painful death from publisher neglect... |
Saracenus was joking. There isn't anything official about Oerth being destroyed.
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Journeyman Greytalker
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:50 am
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Well, I feel really silly then.
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Master Greytalker
Joined: Jun 25, 2007
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From: Neck Deep in the Viscounty of Verbobonc
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:09 pm
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You get used to it...
...or at least I have.
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Apprentice Greytalker
Joined: Apr 15, 2006
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From: Seattle
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Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:17 pm
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| rasgon wrote: |
| ...There isn't anything official about Oerth being destroyed. |
So how would you thwart this thing?
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GreySage
Joined: Aug 03, 2001
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From: Michigan
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Sun Mar 23, 2008 2:29 pm
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| CBorg wrote: |
| So how would you thwart this thing? |
First, it's important to find the gems of Tharizdun before his cultists do, and find a way to destroy them before they can feed them to Shothragot.
Secondly, you have to track down Jallarzi and either cure or kill her before she can complete her ritual.
Finally, when the characters are high level, they have to locate and kill the Essence of Shotragot and its black cyst allies.
Definitely a perilous battle, but assuming all this comes to a climax when the PCs are 20th level and not when they're 3rd level, they should be up to it.
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Adept Greytalker
Joined: Nov 28, 2006
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From: Barony of Trellwood, The Great Kingdom
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Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:30 pm
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| rasgon wrote: |
| Saracenus was joking. There isn't anything official about Oerth being destroyed. |
Rasgon,
Yes, I was joking with my title for this thread. Sort of. If you run the scenario, your players could blow it bad and end the world. But my post was really just a heads up to a Greyhawk related post on the WotC website.
BTW, if you haven't read the Elder Evil supplement from WotC, there is a section on Kyuss. In my opinion, you don't need the book for that as it is a light version of the Age of Worms Adventure Path in Dungeon magazine. There is some crunch in there for how to run an end of times game but its just a small part of it, the rest are write ups of different Elder Evils.
In Service,
Bryan Blumklotz
AKA Saracenus
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Grandmaster Greytalker
Joined: Nov 07, 2004
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From: Mt. Smolderac
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Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:47 pm
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| Saracenus wrote: |
| If you run the scenario, your players could blow it bad and end the world. |
Yeah, but then you just start over in 576 CY again. 
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Journeyman Greytalker
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Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:55 am
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Another Big T fan, here.
In my current campaign, the Briny Brotherhood, an assemblage of Scarlet Brotherhood experiments gone awry in the Olman Islands, has learned the location of a sunken galleon which supposedly holds "Lament for Lost Tharizdun".
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Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:44 am
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| Saracenus wrote: |
| If you run the scenario, your players could blow it bad and end the world. |
Since I plan for Shothragot to appear over the Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun (not the crater ridge mines) then if the party fails in the final battles (I'm going to use Essence of Evil) basically Oerth will be saved, but Ket and Perrenland will have been sacrificed in the process. Haven't decided how or who will prevent total annihilation by the big T, but since I never plan on running a campaign in that part of Oerth again, I don't have a problem with that outcome. This will hopefully give the players a sense of consequence for failing, but it allows me to play in the world still.
Greg
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Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:24 am
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But, Greyhawk can't be destroyed, not yet, anyway. Pluffet Smedger still has to write his Glossography in 998. After that (evil smiley)
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Journeyman Greytalker
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Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:33 pm
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...Greyhawk News Special Report: This just in. Oerth destroyed, Ket and Perrenland hardest hit... 
Big T fan here as well. I like this one, especially as a send-off to 3.5. I'm more of a Savage Worlds fan now, but I'd run this if I had the time to do so. (Our first child shows up in about three months).
I've always liked the Cult of T as a recurring adversary. He speaks to those with shattered minds and crushed souls, and invites them to revel in the destruction of everything they are not. If the party stops some evil plot, then the survivors might show up in a few months wearing an inverted ziggurat or spiral tattoo/brand/carving. I also like that he can never truly be defeated, only forestalled. Even the gods are of limited use against him.
Telas
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Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:59 am
Another Tharizdun Fan
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Hey, all.
Good thread, been lurking in it, just watching the discussion. I figure enough Tharizdun fans have chimed in now that I can join the discussion without feeling so lonely.
Anyway, I really like Shadows of Shothragot, Elder Evils: Shothragot and their companion adventure Essence of Evil in Dungeon 152. I do not think Schwalb did too badly on tying up all of these loose Tharizdun ends. I am definitely gonna use these items to conclude our current Greyhawk campaign. One of my favorite parts of Elder Evils is the rules on Sign of Apocalypse. I particularly like the Signs presented for Shothragot - Seals of Binding.
I am gonna take the Seals of Binding a step further, though. I mention this in a post in Heretics Nest, too. Whether or not my group of players defeat Shothragot and the monsters inhabiting its body, I am gonna keep the Sign of Binding and move it beyond "overwhelming" as a permanent fixture. All contact and communication with anything beyond Oerth shall cease, exactly like the Sundering in the Midnight Campaign Setting. No divine powers work, no extraplanar beings, no summoning, etc... I hope to plunge our campaign into a veritable dark age. As noted in Essence of Evil, the Seal of Binding was placed around Oerth by the gods to prevent Shothragot from uniting with and releasing Tharizdun. Yet, their effort is so complete that neither they (the gods) nor mortals on Oerth can undo the seal, yet...
We'll see how it goes. I can't wait to try a campaign without divine power (unless Shothragot survives) or extraplanar associations, or contact. If we hate it, we'll move on.
Don (Greyson)
Nyrond Triad
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Black Hand of Oblivion
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Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:38 pm
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So, it'll be just like Dragonlance then. 
Well, except that the halfings and gnomes won't be quite as annoying.
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Sun Apr 13, 2008 1:18 pm
Yes! DL!
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| Cebrion wrote: |
| So, it'll be just like Dragonlance then. Well, except that the halfings and gnomes won't be quite as annoying. |
LOL, yes. My veiled effort at playing in Dragonlance (a setting I actually like a lot). I'm one step ahead of the gnome problem, though - I've never allowed them as a race in any campaign I've DMed. I am not a fan of the gnome, from any edition of the game. I have reluctantly allowed halflings.
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Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:49 pm
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Why halflings over gnomes ? At least gnomes have better background than 'flings. The latter are only good in catapult tracing bullets... or grenade-like weapons ( they tend to burst to flame as soon as they appear in some worlds... )
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Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:58 am
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Because all halflings are thieves, and one always needs one of them. Just nip down to Elmshire and holler, and they'll come a-runnin'!
Gnomes are like dwarves, only smaller and cleaner.
(/sweeping generalisations ) 
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