D&D (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[BookTenTiger]

What benefit (other than nostalgia-fueled sales) does the adventure gain by referencing a 40+ year old adventure with a design paradigm very different from modern WotC's? There might be such a benefit, but I have no reason to believe WotC saw one that didn't have a $ in front of it.

Everything 5e?

There's as much evidence that it's a shallow product cashing in on nostalgia as there is that it's a Curse of Strahd style modern classic. It could even be a mid-tier "just okay" adventure!

Assuming it's just a hollow cash-in just feels like it's poisoning the conversation. As one who is actually interested in how this classic adventure might get updated / upgraded, it's frustrating to see everything become an argument about if WotC should publish it or not.

 

[mamba]

Rather, let's not pretend the previous versions didn't exist.

who is pretending that?

 

[Micah Sweet]

who is pretending that?

Edit: Nevermind. We're supposed to lay off WotC unless the thread is inviting it.

 

[mamba]

I dont care for PDFs, and I'm not the only one.

KotB does not become any less available than it currently is by WotC reimagining it in a new starter set

 

[mamba]

The Caves of Chaos being many separate caves across a range of wilderness would be a very interesting take.

Definitely what I would do with it

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Definitely what I would do with it

Nothing would be more chaotic than the caves actually moving and changing over time.

 

[Micah Sweet]

KotB does not become any less available than it currently is by WotC reimagining it in a new starter set

True, but that doesn't make a WotC re-imagining a good idea.

 

[mamba]

This sort of thing is one of the reasons that (for example) I greatly prefer the 4e Dragon Magazine version of the Against the Giants series to the Tales from the Yawning Portal version.

yeah Yawning Portal is a bit of a disappointment in that regard, I prefer what they did with the Staircase, not really interested in a 1:1 conversion of the originals

 

[GreyLord]

eh, I already found that setup nonsensical in the 80s

I like your ‘forces of chaos’ approach, but even that does not really explain it as there are different factions that are at odds with each other, not one united force made up of different races, and their food supply is unsolved even if they were just one large group - unless things that go bump in the night have no need for such things

Depends on the author...but

Just like Undead don't really need food, other things don't either for some.

Others would have it that they do need food (afterall, in this one they do have children which implies other earthly concerns, and though not appropriate for these forums, there is also the way in which Half-Orcs are formed which is not a consensual act in the old days).

However, as they are one force...who knows? Maybe they have feeding time...OR...they could just go raiding and bring food back and spread it around (Food meaning humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and whatever else they can find like that).

 

[occam]

Just because you don't UNDERSTAND the legends and fairytales that have Goblins (and thus goblinoid creatures) as the things of darkness and hell, doesn't mean you get to tell others who HAD those stories told to them that their culture and their stories are BAD/WRONG, especially if it was in the past when some of them were probably already quite progressive in some areas that you may not realize.

In which of those legends and fairy tales were these chaos monsters presented as sentient mortal creatures that mate and bear noncombatant children to be slaughtered by the heros, as they are in KotB? Where in Tolkien's published works (which you reference) were there caves filled with Orc children huddling next to their mothers? As one of those people who clearly doesn't possess the encyclopedic UNDERSTANDING that you have of the folklore informing this adventure, I look forward to the relevant examples you can provide.