OD&D Frontier Forts of Kelnore

GuyBoy

Hero

• Jun 27, 2021

• #1

I adored this old JG resource. It came out in 1978 and was an early example of sandbox D&D. Basically, a once mighty empire had protected itself by a series of border forts, all built to the same design (a bit like the Saxon Shore forts in the UK), but the empire had collapsed anyway, leaving the forts abandoned and open to colonisation by diverse creatures.
There was a standard fort map and, IIRC, three examples of how they had become lairs. I think one might have been bandits, another an ogre clan, but I’m not sure.
I thought it was a great idea at the time and used them a lot in early campaigns.

So what might be some cool ideas for these encounters on the frontier in these mix-and-match lairs?

• a medusa and her statue collection?
• a bandit group, besieged, starving and terrorised by a nearby flock of perytons preying on them?
• a “farm” of giant harvester ants?
• the lair of a lonely vampire?
• a ghost fort, haunted by the last soldiers it housed, believing the empire still stands?

I’m sure you can do better than my ideas........

 

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hopeless

Adventurer

• Jun 27, 2021

• #2

Maybe home to refugees being protected by a lone knight and his retainers standing guard over them?
Perhaps use it as a base for your PCs to explore the area with the possibility they might end up "inheriting" the position of the knight over the keep as he has only stayed because there was no one else willing to assume the post.

 

GuyBoy

Hero

• Jun 27, 2021

• #3

I love the idea of a knight protecting a group of refugees, with PCs inheriting both the fort and the role of protectors to the people in need. The knight could be alive and looking to leave, or perhaps good-natured undead and eager to find final rest. The refugees could be developed as interesting and complex NPCs for an ongoing campaign.

 

M

MattW

Explorer

• Jun 27, 2021

• #4

I seem to remember that one of the scenarios involves a fort on the cliffs (a sort of lighthouse, I think). It features some (very lost) Japanese ogres who have been shipwrecked.

I agree that it's a very versatile idea. I used one of the forts as the home base of some adventurers who were descended from the original garrison. The surrounding forest was home to some elves and one or two of the party were half-elves. The adventurers were basically "go-betweens" for the elves and a nearby human barony. Also, there was a shrine to Epona in the stable block and the fort had a tradition of blacksmithing excellence.

 

GuyBoy

Hero

• Jun 28, 2021

• #5

Sounds like a thriving and evocative home base for the party.
The forts were, I believe, about 15-20 miles apart; roughly a day’s travel on horseback, depending on terrain. In 1978, that was a novel take on dungeon environments, because these were mini- dungeons with a 15 mile wilderness “corridor” between them.

 

Mannahnin

Scion of Murgen (He/Him)

• Jun 28, 2021

• #6

I think it's a pretty neat idea. For me, a big part of the joy of dungeons is novel layouts to explore, so this would miss out on that.

But on the other hand it would also allow the chance for players to learn & master the layout and employ that knowledge in subsequent locations. This is one of the hoped-for virtues of megadungeons, that players learn the layout and can use it tactically and strategically on return delves. So as long as the layout itself is reasonably interesting, this could offer a neat play experience.

Also, the site each is located on would also impact how it plays. Is the area around it open, or wooded? Is it at the top of a cliff? Or perhaps parked on top of or beside a mine which functions as a dungeon?

 

GuyBoy

Hero

• Jun 28, 2021

• #7

You can definitely create difference by the surrounding terrain. Another potential variant is what has happened to the fort since it was abandoned: partially ruined due to an earthquake? Or due to an attack by a pair of marauding hill giants?
This, and your terrain idea, makes the basic outline of the forts familiar enough, but allows for surprises that go beyond just who/what lives there.

 

hopeless

Adventurer

• Jun 28, 2021

• #8

Or mysteriously disappears until your PCs stumble across it after being stranded in the Feywild or the Shadowfell...

There's quite a lot of possibilities to do with this idea!

 

el-remmen

Moderator Emeritus

• Jun 28, 2021

• #9

I like this idea a lot and want to second the notion that the basic layout can reward attentive players who work to master it as they encounter each fort, but also allowing for potentially surprising differences - various degrees of ruin, details of terrain, one has a dungeon level, another was built where digging out such a level was impossible but connects to a series of caves with a spring, etc. . .

 

Ralif Redhammer

Legend

• Jun 28, 2021

• #10

I actually just cracked open this very book recently when I needed inspiration for my game!

To go with a classic Wilderlands feel, my contribution...

Long ago the soldiers barracked in the fort uncovered a weapon of the ancients buried beneath it. The leaking radiation killed them all and now as undead they haunt the poisoned fort.