The third season of D&D Encounters began today, and so a few players gathered with me, my DM, as we played the first session of the newest version of The Keep on the Borderlands. I have very fond memories of Keep. It was one of the very first adventure modules I tried to DM (badly, I might add), and I used it again as the starting point for one of my more successful 3E campaigns – the first Ulek campaign. Watching the wizard failing to climb a tree to avoid a minotaur while the rogue called down encouragement (to the wizard) was a great moment in D&D.
Writing – and running – a D&D Encounters season is a challenging task. A lot of the tricks you use in regular adventures don’t work. The beginning of the Dark Sun season really showed this: a skill challenge over several encounters works great when it all happens in one session. When it is spread over five separate sessions, it’s a disaster. (It isn’t a surprise that I gave up on the Dark Sun adventure early on and wandered off to run Living Forgotten Realms instead, leaving Josh and Mick with the unrewarding task of running the sessions. Yes, I must respect the adventure to run it properly).
However, I really respect the Keep on the Borderlands. It was originally by Gary Gygax, but this latest incarnation is set in the Nerath Vale, near the Chaos Scar… a modern version of the Caves of Chaos. However, from the very first encounter I was thrown back to my memories of being a 12-year old boy, struggling with my early days of DMing.
7b. Priest: The western portion houses the jovial priest who is taking advantage of his stopover at the KEEP to discuss theology with learned folk and to convert others. Everyone speaks well of him, although the two acolytes with him are avoided, as they never speak… The priest is a very fine companion and an excellent listener. He does not press his religious beliefs on any unwilling person. He is outspoken in his hatred of evil, and if approached by a party of adventurers seeking the Caves of Chaos, he will certainly accompany them…
There is no doubt in my mind that the stout, jovial cleric that hires the party at the beginning of this new adventure is inspired by the Priest in the original Keep on the Borderlands. Unlike the original priest, he now has a name, and far more of an active role than I gave him when I first tried to run the Keep in 1985. (I was introduced to D&D in 1981, and played it mostly until I started getting into DMing in ’85… a role I’ve kept for most of my life thereafter, only rarely do I play in an extended D&D game). Worried about evil in the Keep, he sends the characters to rescue someone important… and so the game is afoot!
This first session gave the players a good opportunity to roleplay with the cleric over dinner, then some investigation as they looked to see if there was proof of his allegations… (proof they found, but of a negative sort, as their quarry was well-protected and the thief couldn’t enter his domicile!)
From here, it was a short step to the Chaos Scar, and the first battle against the forces of evil and chaos… one that went very well for the characters, although some took quite a bit of damage. Will they survive the three remaining encounters of this chapter? I guess we’ll have to see.
What really impresses me about this adventure is that it has a strong story which is informed – for me – by the nostalgic feelings about the Keep, a place I know very well. There’s a good story being told here, and it will be a wonderful adventure for the players as they progress through it. I hope that it maintains the momentum: something rather difficult when only one encounter per week is played!