Excuse our dust

I've started this blog in the hopes that it will help me to work through a large task I've set for myself: converting the original AD&D Temple of Elemental Evil to GURPS 4th Edition for use in the Dungeon Fantasy line.

Wait, wait. Who am I, and why am I doing this again?

I'm not what you would call an 'old school' gamer. I didn't grow up with any of the D&D boxes; in fact, I remember seeing the AD&D books on my father's shelf as a child and marveling at how old they were. Instead, I grew up playing GURPS, set on Yrth, with my father and his group of gaming buddies every Friday night. In fact, I originally started coming with him as a way to entertain their kids - put three young boys together and you only have to make sure they don't kill each other, rather than worrying that they'll get bored - and to spend quality time with my father.

However, that quickly parlayed into me gaming as well at a very young age, using GURPS 3rd Edition and then later 3rd Edition Revised. That circles back around and answers both questions, then: I'm doing this because I am most comfortable with GURPS, and I have no experience with AD&D (or any D&D prior to 3.5, actually).

The answer to why I want to play with the Temple of Elemental Evil is more complicated. Partially, I chose it because it is a touchstone; one of those names that everyone in the hobby, even us youngsters, knows about. Partially, I chose it because it has special associations for me that I hope to elucidate in a further post. And, partially, I chose it because I am becoming enamored with the idea of old school play and want to try my hand at experiencing it myself. (More on that later, too.)

This blog exists as a place for me to brainstorm conversions, talk about what I'm doing and what I'm not, ramble about barely-related things (even I have old war stories, at least in my estimation), and eventually post after-action reports, once the campaign gets rolling. Above all, I created it in the hopes that having to regularly report on my progress will goad me into actually making some.

As a last note, if you're one of my players, and you come across this blog, I'd recommend against reading it. You may stumble into details of the module, changes I've made and haven't made, and other similar material that could partially spoil the experience.