Update!

My players: Let's lay low for a bit.

Me: Well, there is this wedding invitation sent to the bard by his love interest. It's just beyond the Gnarley Woods along the Wild Coast...

Them: Yeah, let's go there, maybe have a little side adventure, and then come back to the Temple.

Me: Sure thing!

Also me:

I've been planting the Slave Lords since the beginning of Temple. In fact, their very first adventure was breaking up a small operation run by two of the main slavers. In addition, the thief's dad is one of the high council members. The payoff is going to be fantastic.

@Taskerland Ouch, that's a bummer. I was thinking they might be too high level for it, but as I read it, I think it will be tough. I'm not hoping for a tpk, though! They still have the climax of Temple to go through! Then on to the giants, drow, and maybe Queen modules

@Taskerland I don't know (or really care, honestly) what their reputations are these days, but I find them each to be fantastic. Temple is a dungeon crawl, but there's a lot for a creative DM to play with when flashing it out. I have run it many times. The time before now ended in a TPK after 2 and a half years of playing.

As for Slave Lords, I played it once in the 80's but have yet to run it. I enjoy what I've read so far and the design seems like it would appeal to today's players more.

@Taskerland It was an ambitious project when it came out and satisfied the playstyle of the time. There's a lot in it and with all the moving parts (and hand off to Mentzer to work on it from Gygax's notes), that created some consistency issues. But, they were easy to fix as a DM, really. It's my favorite adventure to run.

It starts small and unassuming for the players, but builds to a powerful challenge that can impact the entire area with a lot of toys for DM's to play with in the background.

@Taskerland I say give running it a shot, if you ever get the chance!