CasusNO

The next section is the “ Temple of the Frog” scenario.
Located in the Lake Gloomey area of the Blackmoor campaign, the temple is in the middle of a century-old schism between the “good” Brothers of the Swamp (clerics) and the “evil” Keepers of the Frogs (monks). Actually, neither group is very likable, the difference between them being that the Brothers are feeding slaves to their man-eating frogs and the Keepers are feeding the Brothers to the frogs. Meanwhile, they’ve allowed a whole town full of bandits to congregate around them for protection, as they know someone’s going to try to bust them for all this eventually. So far it is a quirky, but not too unusual set-up for a fantasy scenario, but what changes that is Stephen the Rock and his followers. They came to the temple with an offer of hi-tech equipment in exchange for leadership of the temple. The sci-fi elements are downplayed (again, technology in Blackmoor is described as magic), but it is clear that Stephen and his men are aliens from another world/dimension who need the temple. They are supposed to be here looking for others of their kind and looting items unique to this world for their never-named superiors, but Stephen is sending his bosses false reports and coveting wealth and power for himself. The “new” fortifications on the temple grounds suggest that they are preparing for eventual retaliation.

 There are 11 numbered encounter areas outside the temple, 23 numbered areas (and 2 unnumbered) on 3 floors of the temple, and 28 numbered areas (and 5 unnumbered) in the 2 levels of dungeon. The descriptions for each paragraph are information for the DM, with no pre-prepared material for the players to hear (an innovation in modules still six years away) Almost no statistics or even suggested levels are given for any of the NPCs (except for some magic-users in the dungeon), though we have numbers and daily routines for the rest. The temple and its grounds are not a “static” locality as most published modules would later present, but rather a variable or "living" locality meant for player characters to interact with over time. It is an open-ended scenario without any obvious goals. It is not only up to the Dungeon Master to provide goals (besides killing and looting everyone) and NPC stats (based on how challenging the DM wants it to be), but it is assumed the DM understands this is his role without it ever being stated (and, again, later modules will contradict this mindset).

 The community surrounding the temple is referred to as a city, but adding up the local population estimates by encounter area gives a rough figure between 2,000 and 3,000 (a city by Blackmoor standards?). Curiously, one-third to one-half of this population is kept underground guarding the dungeons under the temple – a huge undertaking with no given motive, though one can infer that Stephen the Rock is either paranoid, fearful of aerial assault, or both (the fact that Stephen has to report to a satellite --orbital? -- suggests the fearfulness is not unfounded).
 The only game mechanics provided are for Stephen’s “magic”/hi-tech items. While perhaps balanced for the Blackmoor campaign, the anti-magic battle armor, lightning-spewing sword, spell-reflecting shield of invisibility, and medical “kit” that can heal virtually anything are monstrously powerful by most standards. Although they make Stephen a truly formidable foe for any PCs seeking a tough boss villain to fight, a DM had best hope that no PCs ever get their hands on this stuff! Of course, nowhere in the course of the adventure is it suggested the PCs must fight Stephen. Indeed, the throwaway line about the progress reports he feeds to a satellite from a communications module suggest that canny PCs could use this to “go over his head” and have him dealt with by his superiors.

 In a similar fashion, the scenario seems to be treasure-heavy, with a jewelry-adorned pulpit valued at 100,000 gp in the temple and a library with 10,000 volumes in it (just as available, assuming the books are worth only 10 gp each). While the scenario is not necessarily about looting the temple, it is certainly conceivable (and robbing it would be easier than an all-out assault). Of course, this is not far off from many early D&D/AD&D scenarios where treasure hordes are measured in thousands or tens of thousands of gold pieces. The literary source for this convention is probably Edgar Rice Burroughs, who used ubiquitous wealth to decorate his exotic settings, and the early authors of D&D were more interested in combat simulation than considering the economics of dumping so much gold into a medieval-like setting.
 Worth mentioning are subtle dichotomies in the text, such as the well-tended gardens festooned with songbirds next to warehouses where raiders store their “inventories.” The “good,” slave-keeping Brothers is another example. One could even argue the “technology-is-really-magic” is another example of Blackmoor contrasting with itself at the same time it contrasts with tropes and conventions of the sword & sorcery genre. In this regard, “Temple of the Frog” makes for a good introduction to Blackmoor and an example of what play in that campaign was like. But it is also a Blackmoor-specific scenario and unlikely to work in most other campaign settings.
 Also worth mentioning is the clue about the pipe organ in the temple being the last “of its kind still in existence,” which is one of the clearest indications that Blackmoor is a post-Apocalyptic setting.