Keep on the Borderlands - Starting Materials

Keep on the Borderlands by Erol Otus

Since I mentioned Keep on the Borderlands on my last post, I thought I'd share two documents. I used these the last time I ran this module. I had this amazing opportunity to run B2 for a group of college students. Except for one person, they had never played a role-playing game before. The one student was a regular 5e player. The main draw to play the game was they were all fans of either Strange Things or Game of Thrones (or both).

The first PDF is a set of starter tables:
Starter Tables

This includes an heirloom for each player, a motivation for being at the Keep (called "The Greyfort"), and a names list of each race.

The second PDF is a list of NPCs and Rumors:
NPCs and Rumors

This contains a set of names for all the major NPCs at the Keep. This includes names for the main establishments inside the Keep. I used the Game of Thrones angle to hook in the main draw for the players. There's also some intrigue hooks set up between the Castellan and the Captain of the Guard. The Castellan is in charge as a reward. The Captain is secretly furious since his own house owns the Greyfort. The players could get wrapped up in some shit there.


Anyway I hope you enjoy these resources! The students I ran this for were ravenous gamers. The game happened during our per-semester Animation retreat. It's a 24-hour jam session were we all cram on creative efforts. This initial session lasted 8 hours! They cleared out the entire wilderness area between the Keep and the Caves. The only exception was the extra small dungeon I threw in. We had to stop as one of the players was passing out from exhaustion at around 4 a.m.


Until next time, thanks for reading!

Alignment Languages in D&D - What the heck?

 This is a fascinating subject. I first encountered it in Moldvay's Basic D&D rulebook. Shortly thereafter I read about alignment languages in the AD&D Player's Handbook. My high school group in the mid-80's ignored this rule outright. My first DM ever in 1980 ignored it too. Yet, when introducing new players to the game, this weird feature always reared its head. 

 The idea has merit but is not presented in the best manner. In my mind, alignment language is not accurate. Alignment empathy would be a more believable thing. My best example of this is from the remake of 3:10 to Yuma (2007). In this particular scene, Ben Foster's character Charlie Prince rides into town. He's looking for his boss Ben Wade (Russel Crowe). He does not know exactly where Ben Wade is until...he catches the eye of this guy in the window of a nearby building. This guy doesn't speak. He makes eye contact and nods up.

So what's so amazing about this is not how this communication happened but why. We can only assume these guys are two peas in a pod. Charlie is an outlaw but this guy in the window is a bartender in the hotel where Ben Wade is being kept. Was the bartender a bad guy in the past; did he have a grudge against the men holding Ben Wade in the hotel? We don't know the answer. His motivation to contact and help Charlie was his moral prerogative. He wanted to help the bad guys win.

 Now imagine the "jovial priest" from B2 - Keep on the Borderlands. He and his acolytes are on page 9 of that adventure. If you have never played or run this module I recommend it. This is a spoiler alert if you intend to run or play B2! The jovial priest is in fact Chaotic (or Chaotic Evil in AD&D). Yet, he put on a facade of happiness and fellowship. He does this to lure victims to the Caves of Chaos. If a PC in the group that encounter the jovial priest is also Chaotic, they should have some ability to understand the ploy only by making eye contact. Body language and basic empathy would allow the Chaotic PC to see right through the ploy. At the same time using Alignment Empathy could work with the jovial priest secretly! Very much in the same way and the bartender helped Charlie Prince. 

This is intriguing and nuanced. The idea of some fully realized phonetic language for each alignment is silly especially in AD&D (10 distinct languages!!). If this empathic communication seems to easy, use a Charisma ability check to see if the desired communication is effective. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Goblin Slasher (for Moldvay B/X)

Artwork by Craig Brasco © 2018 All Rights Reserved

Goblin Slasher

Armor Class:	4	No. Appearing:	1-2 (4-6)
Hit Dice:	2	Save As:	Fighter:1
Move:	60’ (20’)	Morale	10
Attacks:	Cleaver or large knife	Treasure Type:	U (or V)
Damage:	By weapon +1	Alignment:	Chaotic

These gruesome specimens of the goblin race are seasoned warriors. They also have a more sadistic streak. They are not affected by sunlight. They tend to lead the vanguard of traveling goblin bands or are bodyguards to goblin kings (in a goblin lair). Their skill with cleavers, daggers, and knives gives them +1 to hit and damage with those weapons. There is a 10% chance that a goblin slasher wields a magic blade when encountered in the wild. Goblin slashers love to collect dwarf ears and noses as trophies. The Treasure type V is only found in a goblin lair in the slasher's own quarters.