KotB... The Caves of the Unknown

kallisti23 · Feb 2, 2008

Many folks have fond memories of the Caves of Chaos from the Keep on the Borderlands adventure module. However, we don't seem to hear much about the Caves of the Unknown, which were mentioned in the same module. It is likely that most people that have been through the Caves of Chaos never went through the Caves of the Unknown simply because the latter were mentioned only as a possible follow-up quest, and then left to the DM to design.

So... I am curious... has anyone ever done anything cool with the Caves of the Unknown? Villains, encounters, plot devices, the map, etc.... I want to know what happened in your own expedition to the Caves of the Unknown.

I remember my old DM had the Caves of the Unknown set up as humongous three-level dungeon beneath an abandoned castle. Bargle was the main villain (remember him?) and he was attended by some evil clerics and ogre bodyguards, as well as some undead. I remember their being a lot of orcs, too. We encountered some troglodytes in the tunnel between the Caves of Chaos and the Caves of the Unknown, but I don't think they worked for Bargle. My magic-user was killed by a yellow mold, and that's about all I remember.

Your stories?

howandwhy99 · Feb 2, 2008

Dear God, our Ref has crafted a Tolkien-sized world out of B1 & B2. The Caves of Chaos never stopped being a threat. They kept changing... chaotically. The Caves of the Unknown, however, I can't quite place, but I do know B1's Quesquaton tunnels connect.

Heck, every place in the whole damn county seems to connect into one big dungeon. But that's just my theory. I'm still waiting for someone to break into my temple and stop my daily rituals, shouting "Kill the heathen!".

You can read an old, unfinished storyhour here: (link)

SuStel · Feb 3, 2008

kallisti23 said:
So... I am curious... has anyone ever done anything cool with the Caves of the Unknown?

No. No one has ever done anything cool with the Cave of the Unknown.

TheAuldGrump · Feb 3, 2008

SuStel said:
No. No one has ever done anything cool with the Cave of the Unknown.

Or if they have, it is Unknown.

The Auld Grump

Jack Daniel · Feb 3, 2008

I always just placed Quasqueton there. I let the one-way secret door in room 53 lead to that tunnel in the southwest corner of the Caves of Chaos.

I've actually just begun another campaign based on B1 and B2. It's always awesome to start a game with those modules.

Mouseferatu · Feb 3, 2008

Jack Daniel said:
I always just placed Quasqueton there.

And in fact, the module Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, from 2E, did the same thing.

However, I personally don't care for that, simply because the descriptions of the surroundings, while close in many respects, don't match in a few important details. So while it's a perfectly valid option for a homebrew campaign, I think it was a mistake to do it in a published product.

(I must admit to some bias here. I love KotB, but I don't care for In Search of the Unknown. So I don't want to see them linked. That said, I stand by my assessment that the descriptions don't match.)

Wik · Feb 3, 2008

I seem to recall making parts of the Caves link to the mini-adventures found in the original Books of Lairs, as well as some awful dungeons I wrote in the fifth grade.

Really, though, I don't think we played around there too much. Or, truth be told, in the Caves of Chaos, either. We thought the Isle of Dread was just so much COOLER...

SuStel · Feb 3, 2008

TheAuldGrump said:
Or if they have, it is Unknown.

If someone does something with the Cave of the Unknown in the forest, but no one is there to Know it, is it cool?

kallisti23 · Feb 3, 2008

SuStel said:
If someone does something with the Cave of the Unknown in the forest, but no one is there to Know it, is it cool?

I guess it's cool with me, dude.

jdrakeh · Feb 3, 2008

I plan on using the Caves of the Unknown as an Underdark access for Night Below.

KotB... The Caves of the Unknown

kallisti23

First Post

howandwhy99

Adventurer

SuStel

First Post

TheAuldGrump

First Post

Jack Daniel

dice-universe.blogspot.com

Mouseferatu

Hero

Wik

First Post

SuStel

First Post

kallisti23

First Post

jdrakeh

Front Range Warlock

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