Dungeons & Dragons Provides Guidance on How to Run Heroes of the Borderlands As More Traditional Campaign

A new D&D Beyond article by the designer of the Heroes of the Borderlands set provides guidance on how to tie together various parts of the starter set into an overarching plot, which seems to be a direct response to some of the main criticism leveled at the new D&D starter set. Today, Justice Arman posted a new article providing guidance on how to run the Heroes of the Borderlands starter set into a more traditional adventure. The article contains some new narrative read-aloud text, some additional guidance on how to start playing through the adventure, and some guidance on how to emphasize the Cult of Chaos as the overarching antagonists of the adventure.

Heroes of the Borderlands is based on the 1979 adventure Keep on the Borderlands and utilizes a sandbox-style campaign, where various encounters and plots are provided to DMs, but an overarching plot is left for the players to draw out on their own. There are narrative threads that tease various encounters present in the booklets, but there's not a traditional storyline compared to the other Starter Sets. Several reviews, including our own, criticized the design of the adventure, saying that it wasn't advantageous to new DMs. Part of the reason for the narrative freedom, according to the D&D Beyond article, was to allow every player a chance to DM without spoiling the story.

 

[aco175]

I have not read all of the booklets and plots yet, but got the impression that the article was rather close to the books in that it just points to specific quests rather than more open.

 

[Aellic Mornbringer]

Decent article. It definitely ties together the strings that are sprinkled throughout the adventure booklets but doesn't add anything really new.

And that's a fair assessment, it does streamline out some of the more superfluous encounters/quests with their suggestions. Or another way, the article points out the recommended encounters that can help tie the loose plot together.

 

[Clint_L]

I wrote a 5 page, 3000 word adaptation to give it a more cohesive plot and tie it to the setting I use; it took a few hours, but as a result, I am very familiar with the new adventure. As written, it is pretty much a complete sandbox; there is very little tying any of it together or really painting the Cult of Chaos as the overarching threat. I don't write that as a criticism; I think it is that way by design so that new players, some very young, can run it without tracking a bunch of plot threads. And veterans like me can adapt it without too much tinkering.

I think this additional context is great for those who want it, but I am glad that the adventure as written is extremely open.