Updating Keep on the Borderlands

I spent a better part of this weekend going over Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands in an effort to see how it could be brought forward and used as an introductory module for D&D 3.5. I was amazed how much of the advice given in the DM section is still relevant to modern gaming. Gygax's "writing voice" came through clearly in every paragraph.

The style of the module is similar to Gygax's own campaign - lots of different monsters in a small area existing in some sort of chaotic ecosystem without rhyme or reason, but close enough to civilization to be considered a threat. I've always assumed that evil congregates as the result of a summons, sort of a calling from some master planner or ultimate villain. Evil creatures would rather attack each other than cooperate, but if some "master" villain calls them together for a purpose, then they may fight but remain obedient to their master out of fear. Such was my assumption with the Caves of Chaos, but the details were never actually placed in the module itself.

I've read on other gaming blogs how people think that B2 is hokey and makes no logical sense. Well, you really do have to take a few things into consideration. First off is game mechanics. You simply can't have a game that relies on experience points and treasure for advancement and NOT have some dungeon-like adventure; gamist adventures work in the system, novelist approaches fail. If you go into the adventure with the idea that the dungeon accommodates the game mechanics, then its much more enjoyable. Secondly, over-thinking and rationalizing why things are the way they are detracts from the adventure and causes it to fail or blow up in one's face. I've seen people slam the module for the concepts - that's odd, because it was an instructional module on how to play the game, not some opus written to win awards or change the face of gaming. The fact that it DID revolutionize gaming is amazing! In essence, though, it was a one shot adventure, a throwaway used to show people how to play and DM the game, then make their own campaigns. In that way it was one of the best teaching tools ever made, and is still relevant today.

So now I'm looking at this adventure and I'd like to update it to D&D 3.5 stats. Doing so unmakes the very reasons why it was such a strong adventure in the first place. Simple, elegant, and quick to adjust on the fly, updating this module would require an added complexity that doesn't work well in instructional writing. The entire ruleset of D&D Basic was easily fit within a few pages of the rulebook. In most instances, you could add rules in as you went, so long as the basics were covered. In order to run an 3.5 game, one has to explain how the modifiers all work together, stat blocks become longer than a line of text, and detailed explanations of why things work in a certain way need to be explained. One cannot have a generic stat block when all the creatures are using different weapons (which affects what feats they have), or they use special gear which has a situational modifier, or when special attacks depend on size and HD categories. It was rather depressing to see that simply detailing the Keep itself was going to be a major hassle - and an unnecessary one according to D&D 3.5 rules. Other than a short paragraph and stat block for the Keep, all the details on buildings and treasure troves within the keep could be eliminated. The focus of the adventure, the Caves of Chaos, becomes the meat of the module. In essence, this is how it should have been, but then again it was an INSTRUCTIONAL module. It's easy to pick and choose details once you have the basics understood. A base town, in my opinion, should be not only a source of rumors and training, but also of adventures within the town walls and interactions in the ways that most novelist gamers would desire.

D&D 3.5 with its myriad of choices and preferences complicates the simplicity of B2 with unnecessary clutter. Perhaps running the adventure as simple B2: The Caves of Chaos would make it a more palatable experience. Also breaking up the adventure by eliminating some of the caves or spreading them out along the northern hills also makes more sense for an instructional adventure. I found from DMing novices that their attention span wavers after a few rooms. They also need closure. By separating the lower level caves and placing them near to each other but not on top of each other makes for an easier and neater game experience. Placing some evil idol in the Caves of the Unknown as a unifying force to gather nearby evil makes it seem like the whole is more cohesive. Perhaps some psionic entity is trapped within the idol (some interdimensional prison) and is summoning a force of evil to free it from its bounds. The clerics of chaos could be working to save their master (hence the tunnel leading out from their cave, probably towards the Caves of the Unknown). The evil emanations have twisted those in the region to evil, hence the reason why the lizardfolk in the fens are Neutral Evil in alignment. The old hermit (perhaps once a druid) is now driven mad as the unnatural entity corrupts his mind - or he could simply be a Neutral Evil druid wanting to be left alone. The fact that he has a mountain lion companion fortifies this assumption.

Some of the caves could include clues that link the whole together - missives from the cleric to the more intelligent tribes in the region, shamans and witchdoctors bearing fetishes with the idol's image, treasures from the ancient Caves of the Unknown paid to the humanoids by the cleric for their continued allegiances, etc. The entity would likely need to be Neutral Evil in alignment to account for all the various alignments congregating under one Evil being. Surely, the Lawful and Chaotic bands of evil humanoids would fight each other for top position (especially goblinoids vs. orcs), but outright tribal warfare would be kept to a minimum. The Keep obviously is strong enough to resist assault from the various humanoids, but a force of evil sweeping through may cause widespread destruction and the Borderlands are vast and unprotected except near the road. Keep forces sent to quell rebellion in one area would mean leaving the roads defenseless to other tribes. Perhaps a necessary artifact is in the hands of the Castellan of the Keep, some artifact necessary for the idol to be released or defeated (or both). Convincing the Castellan of the necessity of this action would require proof and thus the characters have a region to explore, follow clues, and investigate all the caves in the region! Failure may mean that evil forces will continue to arrive in the region until the clerics have enough force to overwhelm even the Keep's defenses.