Abstract
Problem: Tim Cain's 2003 game Temple of Elemental Evil (ToEE) risks being erased from gaming history — even official D&D reference books omit it.
Approach: Tim shares his discovery that the 2018 book The Art & Arcana of D&D: A Visual History contains zero meaningful mention of ToEE, despite covering other D&D video games extensively.
Findings: The game holds several unique distinctions — first 3.5 edition D&D game, only Greyhawk computer RPG ever made, only digital adaptation of the Temple module — yet it was reduced to a single oblique sentence. Even Troika's redesign of Zuggtmoy became official D&D canon, but went unmentioned in the art book.
Key insight: Games made with dedication and craft deserve to be remembered, even when they shipped with problems. Tim uses his YouTube channel to ensure ToEE isn't forgotten.
1. The Art & Arcana Omission
Tim describes excitedly buying The Art & Arcana of D&D: A Visual History (2018, 450 pages) after seeing it recommended on the YouTube channel Wizards and Word Slingers. About a third of the way through, the book features multiple two-page spreads on the original Temple of Elemental Evil tabletop module — cover art, maps, even Gary Gygax's hand-drawn originals — but makes zero mention of the 2003 computer game adaptation.
Thinking perhaps the book simply didn't cover video games, Tim checked the index. Pool of Radiance, the Gold Box games, Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale — all present. BioWare and Interplay — mentioned. Even Doom appears twice (for its Beholder connection to D&D). Troika and ToEE? Nothing.
After reading all 450 pages, Tim found exactly one oblique reference on page 320: "Thanks to Hasbro's relationship with Atari as its former owner, more computer games quickly followed." That's it.
2. Why It Deserved More
Tim highlights several reasons the omission stings:
- First 3.5 edition D&D game — ToEE was the first computer game to implement D&D 3.5 rules
- Only Greyhawk computer RPG — over 20 years later, it remains the only computer game set in the Greyhawk campaign setting
- Only digital Temple adaptation — the module has never been adapted to a computer game before or since
- Zuggtmoy's canonical redesign — Troika's artists transformed Zuggtmoy from her crude original module illustration into a striking new design that Wizards of the Coast adopted as official canon. For an art history book, this is a glaring omission
By contrast, the Goodman Games boxed reprint of the original module — focused entirely on the tabletop side — still found space to mention the 2003 computer game.
3. The Team's Dedication
Tim shares a telling anecdote about the development team's commitment. The game was built on a year-and-a-half schedule. When Tim asked the publisher for copies of the original module so his dozen-person team could reference the art, maps, and characters, the publisher said they couldn't provide any.
Tim's solution: he chopped up his own personal copy — the one he'd owned since the early 1980s — spiral-binding it so sections could be photocopied and distributed. Meanwhile, the team bought as many copies as they could find on eBay.
4. Forgotten or Erased
Tim acknowledges ToEE is his worst-reviewed game and nearly his worst-selling. He's aware that Troika fans overwhelmingly remember Arcanum and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, mentioning ToEE far less often. He concedes it shipped buggy and had writing issues.
But he frames the omission in stark terms: at best, the book's authors simply forgot — their research wasn't thorough enough. At worst, ToEE was deliberately erased from D&D's visual history. Neither possibility sits well with him.
His core plea: regardless of its problems, the game was beautiful, people worked incredibly hard on it, and it deserves to be remembered as part of D&D's history.
5. References
- Tim Cain. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYg6uz1Gqf4