Publication:The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

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The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan exists in other D&D editions see:

The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan (disambiguation).

[  The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan]
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System: Dungeons and Dragons 1e
Levels: 5 – 7 
Author: Harold Johnson, Jeff R. Leason 
Publisher: TSR 
Item Code: 9032 
Publication Date: 1980 
Format: Paperback 
Page Count: 32 
ISBN-10: 0394515447

Plot Summary[edit]

The player characters explore a stepped pyramid deep in the heart of a tropical jungle—the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. The characters must penetrate this Mayan-style temple, which is full of tricks and traps. Some of the traps include cursed items, firebombs, and triggered statues. The shrine is an ancient Mayan/Aztec pyramid, and the module uses names, monsters, and characters based on that period. It also includes an illustrated booklet with fifteen pictures depicting various parts of the shrine to be shown to the players at the appropriate time. Also included are three pre-made characters for use if the scoring system is used.

Publication History[edit]

This module was originally used for the Official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons tournament at the 1979 Origins International Game Expo (Origins '79). The original printing consisted of forty loose-leaf pages in a zipper storage bag, with a light blue cover; only three hundred copies were printed for sale at Origins '79. In addition to the adventure itself, the module contains a scoring system and pre-rolled characters for adventuring. The original Origins pre-publication version did not have a module code and was titled Lost Tamoachan: The Hidden Shrine of Lubaatum. After Origins '79, unsold copies were put up for sale at the Dungeon Shoppe in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Surviving examples of this version are quite rare and are highly prized by collectors. The first version published for sale to the general public in 1980 was titled The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan and bore the module code C1. This book was written by Harold Johnson and Jeff R. Leason, was printed as a thirty-two page book and an eight-page book with an outer-folder and a two-color cover illustrated by Erol Otus, and featured illustrations by Otus and Darlene Pekul. The 1981 version consisted of a forty-page booklet with an outer folder and a color cover. The 1980 version featured a monochrome cover of a fire-breathing bat-monster, while the 1981 printing had a dark brown full color cover with cover art of a green giant. A separate booklet of artwork was included in the module, containing illustrations of what the player characters would see in specific encounters, including work by Otus, Jeff Dee, Greg Fleming, David S. LaForce and David C. Sutherland III. The module was the first to introduce players to the Olman culture of the World of Greyhawk, a society loosely based on Aztec, Mayan, and other sources. Most unusual for Greyhawk modules, the adventure therefore references Aztec gods such as Quetzalcoatl and others. The adventure itself takes place in the Amedio Jungle at a disused temple near the ruined city of Tamoachan. In 2017, Wizards re-released the adventure updated to the 5th Edition rules as part of the Tales from the Yawning Portal collection.


Template:Publication Breadcrumb/1e Adventures

AuthorHarold Johnson + and Jeff R. Leason +
ISBN0394515447 +
Item Code9032 +
Maximum Level7 +
Media TypePaperback +
Minimum Level5 +
Module CodeC1 +
Page Count32 +
Publication Date1980 +
PublisherTSR +
SystemDungeons and Dragons 1e +
TitleThe Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan +