Maybe Keep That On the Borderlands

 

When I started playing Dungeons and Dragons at age ten, Module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands was the first adventure every one of us fledgling players knew. It was packaged in with the Basic Set at the time and served as our introduction to the game.

At that age, the few times I tried to be the Dungeon Master, invariably with with that Module, whether with school friends or Up the Lake. It always felt overwhelming and difficult to control. I chalked it up to my lack of experience. 

In my teen years, we had switched over to the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons hard cover rule books, and there were far more adventures available. There were multiple Modules I became proficient at running without thinking, at all, of using that one.

As a (much younger than now) adult, when starting a campaign for my family and some local kids, I wanted more straight forward dungeon crawls and far more personal control of the adventures. Therefore I used a few of my own modifications to Module B3, and a completely customized Module B1.

Looking back over stories of those times, I theorized that The Keep on the Borderlands might work as a decent setting and stated the following:

 

"Honestly, now that I know what I’m doing, I could probably DM the hell out of a low-level campaign set in and around B2's The Keep on the Borderlands and the Caves of Chaos. Oh well, maybe next time."

Every so often, I get inspired to read through my old D&D stuff, in a mix of nostalgia and always imagining I may start playing again in the back of my head, just in case. I decided to read through B2 cover to cover, likely for the first time in my life, to see if my idea of using it as a basis for formulating a series of low level adventures was accurate.

Wow. That module truly is terrible.

It is astounding how many of us fell in love with the game of Dungeons and Dragons in spite of this thing.

B1 gives a basic structure of a two level dungeon. It is empty but the book provides a list of tips and examples of how to fill in the encounters, and also how to fit it into a campaign. It is a little too open ended for a brand new Dungeon Master, but there's enough guidance that it could lead to manageable (if possibly unremarkable) first time gaming experiences.

B3 provides a full story, and a fully stocked dungeon with descriptions, interactions,  explanations, and a story line, providing well thought out "hand holding" for a first time DM.

B2 seems to be designed to be intentionally overwhelming for both players and Dungeon Masters. 

I will admit, like many youths using both this game and that adventure for the first time, I skipped right to the "dungeon" portion detailing the Caves of Chaos, ignoring much of the rest of the Module. This was including my first feeble attempts to run players through it. 

Coming back to it, I expected helpful bits for DMs, both general and specific in the introductory section I passed over. 

Nope.

That part was mostly Gary Gygax trying to inspire delusions of grandeur for his perceived God like powers of the DM, and advice for starting Dungeon Masters to create their own dungeons to set in the Keep's area. (Not really HOW to do that, just to use the "infinite powers" his game provides to go do that.)

Fine, i thought, everyone needs a pep talk sometimes. Then, I expected the description of the castle (or "Keep") the Module is named after would have a decent amount of possible town based encounters, and scripted meetings with locals that would inspire the delvers to head out to various  locations out of the myriad options over at the Caves of Chaos and its surroundings. 

Also, Nope.

There's a large portion of the book dedicated to the rulers of the Keep and its defenses, without any suggestions of how to use them. It seems to be a way to prevent the players from trying to attack and loot the joint instead of using it as a home base. I was hoping to find inspirations leading to specific missions to make a little more sense out of the mix of creatures with lairs in the caves, not to mention the couple of other miscellaneous, out of the way encounters the players would be extremely unlikely to stumble upon. The Keep listings were mostly places the party could buy equipment, spend the night, and store or exchange treasure. These are necessities certainly, but not conducive to role playing or generating quests.

There is a tavern, as a "source" for adventures. However, all that it has listed is that there are mercenaries for hire and a set of rumors, which would be more like "helpful hints" except that 30% are false, and many of the rest aren't all that helpful. 

Only two lead to actual goals. One is a lost magic item, with no specifics, meaning its a straight "kill for treasure" idea like the rest of the Caves, assuming the players locate it stumbling around the caves, as the rumor is what is lost, not where, how or by whom. The other is a captured Merchant, which is the only (marginally) story based quest. Some of the rumors indicate the existence of other encounters away from the Caves and Keep, but do not provide reasons to visit them.

Then there are the Caves themselves. Man, I thought "Tomb of Horrors" was a meat grinder dungeon. The only individuals that aren't set to "attack the party on sight" are of the "wait until the worst possible moment and then attack the party" variety. (This includes "helpful" individuals met in the Keep and on the trail.) 

There are almost no puzzles to figure out, everything is combat based. There is ONE paragraph on suggesting how a tiny party could attempt to play one group of monsters against another Fist Full of Dollars style but with no details, and no role playing suggestions. Oh, and there is a warning that doing that would make the adventure too easy for anything but a tiny group. I do not think so.

This is an adventure for brand new characters AND players just starting out. That means the characters are weak, poorly equipped and broke. I know D&D evolved from a table top miniature wargame, but the constant reminders in the background that the adventurers should hire non-player henchmen to build up the party size is insane. 

"Gee, should I pay this guy to help fight the monsters or... I don't know... 

BUY A SWORD AND ARMOR?"

Also, the players are beginners too, meaning they are learning to role play. What a great example. There is almost no chance to talk to anyone or anything in the caves since EVERYTHING charges into battle, immediately trying to eliminate the delvers. 

Most underground dungeons start with the weaker foes near the surface, and increasingly powerful creatures as the party descends, allowing a ramping up of skills and equipment to meet the challenges.

Because their entrances are all outside, in a canyon, the Caves of Chaos are reversed, with the weaker creatures at ground level, and more dangerous ones higher up. 

Let's assume the new Dungeon Master has enough of a clue to get the party this information, and the party has enough of a clue to believe the DM and not start scaling the walls immediately.

(Hey, it is a fantasy setting.)

What can happen on that first level?

There are four caves. 

One houses a clan of Kobolds. The less than Hobbit sized dog men are some of the weakest of the evil humanoids in the game. However, at the entrance is a covered pit trap. Combining the ones hiding in the trees outside that cave, with the Kobolds right inside the door past the pit has the group of players (and characters) who have never met a monster before (and being divided into smaller groups by the pit) facing FOURTEEN Kobolds.  

That's before getting ten feet into the tiny lair where the rest of the tribe of about two dozen individuals live. Almost all of them come running when they hear a fight.

Fortunately for any surviving players, Gygax's famous misogyny is on display. Let's not forget one of his quotes- "Gaming in general is a male thing. It isn't that gaming is designed to exclude women. Everybody who's tried to design a game to interest a large female audience has failed. And I think that has to do with the different thinking processes of men and women."

He and the rest of the team made a great game, but had some seriously questionable views which leeched into multiple versions of its system.

Therefore- nearly all of the female monsters in this module are useless. Unfortunately for our inexperienced heroes, the Chieftain and his guards are bigger and tougher than average, shifting the balance away from the new players yet again.

That cave is, by far, the easiest place the players could start.

Across the way is a Goblin lair. They're only a shade bigger, and just as numerous as the Kobolds, but there is a catch. They can run for help through a secret passage to the bigger and tougher Hobgoblins who live on the next level up. Additionally, (and terrifyingly) they can bribe one of the most dangerous monsters in the Module to help them. Sure the players could offer a counter bribe, assuming they have more than 250 gold at the start of their adventure. (I think the most money one of my first level characters ever started with, after equipping, was seven gold pieces.) Also, it is very difficult to make a counter offer while being ground to jelly by a battle frenzied behemoth.

Yes, the final two caves on the bottom level are "hidden" behind groups of trees. This means any party I've ever known will automatically find and enter them first. In one is the Ogre that the Goblins can bribe through another secret passage. That ten foot tall, low level delver crushing engine of destruction will just as happily grind the just starting out players to dust in his own home, or the Goblins' cave. 

The other tree covered cave on the ground level has a group of Gray Ooze. Those are giant amoeba like beasties that will not only kill the characters on their initial excursion with ease, but also dissolve their boots and armor in the process, making it much easier for their fearsome Owlbear room mate (an over grizzly sized, extra ornery "bear" with a razor sharp beak) to devour the party without having to remove the packaging first.

And that's just the ground floor. 

On level two are:

Hobgoblins-  an almost as populous but bigger and tougher type of Goblins who will have any of their smaller cousins that survived the party helping out. And remember, they're the ones who hire the Ogre.

Orcs- Only a shade tougher than the lower level gangs, but there's two separate tribes next door to each other that will combine forces at any sign of trouble. The players are not Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli here. (Those three are theorized to be at least tenth level in multiple classes.) The low level characters will be over run in short order. 

"Meat's back on the menu, boys!" Indeed.

Bugbears- These are hairy, eight foot tall monstrosities. (They always reminded me of the boogeymen who tormented Laurel and Hardy in Babes in Toyland that gave me nightmares as a kid.) They will happily drag defeated players (who will be far weaker than them) into slavery, where they will be attacked by the other slaves - also monsters plus one evil, higher level, lunatic warrior.

A freakin Minotaur- who will tear through first to third level players like one of his ancestors through a China shop. 

Note- I haven't even mentioned the wandering monsters tables, stocked with things, most of which will outclass the players, and also get progressively worse at each level.

Oh, the party of beginners survived all that? But they realized the Owlbear has almost finished eating their friends who didn't make it, so they're going to drag what's left of their bodies to the top level?

They will either meet a tribe of Gnolls- seven foot, relentlessly vicious, non-picky about sentient meals carnivorous, Hyaena people who likely have some demonic blood... good luck with that.

Or the final cave housing a Temple devoted to some eldritch horror, where the cursed objects,  evil cleric spells and undead hordes within said temple will render the players as prime sacrifices. 

For THE iconic, beginners level adventure, this thing is both lethal and uninspired. 

The only way to make this adventure work at all would be to manually go in and create residents of and visitors to the Keep with their own personalities and agendas looking to hire, threaten or bribe the players into taking on specific quests to individual locations in the Caves of Chaos and surrounding areas, setting up attainable goals. 

And also, crafting identities, interactions and politics between the various tribes of monsters, their leaders, and multiple other individuals to keep the role playing going, and give a normal sized gang of delvers a chance to survive against these armies. 

To really round things out, throwing in many tricks and traps along the way to allow the players to flex more than their weapon arms throughout the journey would be needed.

Ooooooh.

Well played Mr. Gygax.

But as written, it is still a terrible introduction.

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