Publication History
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.
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