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players gain important information that leads them to a quest or meet NPCs. However, no one location or character is key to putting together the story as a whole, nor can it be because there is nothing to make players go to each location. For example, the character of Elmo is detailed in area two, where he lives, but Elmo is just as likely to be met at the inn where he spends a good amount of time. It is up to the DM where the party encounters Elmo. In addition, in the print version of the module, the information about the ruined moat house does not appear until after the detailed descriptions of the various buildings in Hommlet, and the clues are not specific to any one building. Instead, it is simply noted that “the following information may be gleaned, piece by piece, through conversation with the villagers of Hommlet” (Gygax & Mentzer, 1985, p. 21). It is up to the DM exactly where and how this information is obtained, allowing for flexibility in where the players go and who they talk to.

In fact, there would be nothing to stop a DM from actually starting the story at the Temple itself and ignoring the towns of Hommlet and Nulb completely. Gygax and Mentzer encourage DMs to adapt the adventure to their campaigns. In part two, “Nulb and the Ruins,” a note states that it is “absolutely necessary for the DM to personalize his or her map” (Gygax & Mentzer, 1985, p. 30). The DM is also encouraged to “adjust details to suit your own concept of a fantasy milieu” (Gygax & Mentzer, 1985, p. 28). Interestingly, it is also in this section of “notes for the DM” that the backstory of the temple and Zuggtmoy and Iuz is told. It is not read aloud to players at any given point, but provided to the DM as background to be added in when he or she sees fit. Although it may have gained a reputation for hack and slash combat, it seems clear that Gygax and Mentzer intended DMs to adapt the module to their own campaigns, not follow it to the letter.2

One participant in my survey explained that such a variation was indeed how their experience with Temple had come about. This respondent explained:

Ours was ... different. We ran Temple in an historical fantasy game, prior to the building of the Cathedral of Mont St. Michel in Normandy. In our version, the “Elemental Evil” was the remains of a Celtic polytheist worship resisting Christianity. Instead of Zuggtmoy we used Cernunnos with “elemental” friends. Apart from that, however, we used the general plot trajectory of a small village, the political subterfuge etc. that is typical of T1–4. It was just less “good versus evil” and more “Christian versus Pagan.”

This example shows that the Temple module can indeed be used as a manual; as a tool for creating a story rather than as a story itself. In this version, the DM changed the overall setting of the temple, to put it in more of an actual historical context, as well as significant NPCs. Nevertheless, the DM was able to use the module and its story about the rise of a temple and the political maneuverings involved with it to form his or her own adventure. Taking the CRPG or the novel to a new setting like this is an obvious impossibility, as the narrative details are more deeply embedded in the structure of these media. Yet, even this example kept the same basis for setting in the small town and the temple itself. Certain elements remained the same even when major changes were made between the print text of the module and the text of the actual gaming session.

While the flexibility to completely alter the world is only found in the TRPG, the medium of the computer game consists of its own affordances. In particular, the options of visual representation of the narrative are key to the CRPG. In the computer game, cut-scenes serve a similar purpose to the description passages read aloud in the TRPG, but add more visual interest. Cut-scenes are moments in a videogames where the gameplay is interrupted by a visual scene. The player has no control over these scenes, except to skip them, and is presented with visual and often audio narration.