Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil

Plot summary

The player characters must foil the plan of the cultists of Tharizdun who have again occupied the temple. They have to open the gates to each of four elemental nodes or Tharizdun's servants, the princes of elemental evil, will emerge and use an artifact to release Tharizdun from his prison.

Publication history

The module was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2001 for the 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. It was written by Monte Cook, and is a sequel to module T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil (TSR, 1985). It features cover art by Brom and interior art by David Roach.

Reception

Reviewer Alan Kohler stated that "the material is well written and consistent with the D&D rules" but that he doesn't consider this to be Monte Cook's best adventure. Furthermore, he said that the adventure "involves mostly a series of interconnected dungeon crawls" and that "the players' motivations are weak" but that "it is still an immense adventure with tons of usable material, with a sort of brooding Masks of Nyarlothotep feel to it".

Matthew Pook, in his review, stated that one problem with the adventure "may be in getting the party to the starting point ... to begin the campaign". He stated that the adventure "is a large and detailed dungeon bash" and it "resemble[s] the onionskin model exemplified by many of Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu campaign packs".

Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil was ranked the 8th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Dungeon Master for Dummies lists Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil as one of the ten best 3rd edition adventures.