D&D 5E (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[Paul Farquhar]

The Merry Mushmen modules are apparently excellent. If you do turn out consistently excellent home adventures, good on ya. But I think the online RPG community includes all skill levels when it comes adventure design. Some folks, whether due to skill or time constraints, sometimes just want to grab something good off the shelf and run it.

I can consistently turn out adventures that are a lot better than KotB, or LMoP for that matter. What I can’t always do is come up with interesting ideas that surprise my players. I’ve never come across a published adventure that I could run without giving it a thorough going over, if only to commit it to memory. So I’m looking for ideas, and as @Micah Sweet says, good maps and stat blocks.

The maps in the original KotB were pretty rubbish though. I can certainly draw better (and do better illustrations for that matter).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I can consistently turn out adventures that are a lot better than KotB, or LMoP for that matter. What I can’t always do is come up with interesting ideas that surprise my players. I’ve never come across a published adventure that I could run without giving it a thorough going over, if only to commit it to memory. So I’m looking for ideas, and as @Micah Sweet says, good maps and stat blocks.

The maps in the original KotB were pretty rubbish though. I can certainly draw better (and do better illustrations for that matter).

If you are looking for amazing ideas, I would raid the Appendix N Jam's entries, 99% of which (of the more than 200 four-page entries) are currently free. Lots of amazing ideas in there, even if I wouldn't run all of the adventures as-is.

 

[Scott Christian]

Any 12 year old could write it in an afternoon.

I would disagree with that. I think when looking at that classic, is the reason it is a classic is because it holds at its heart the modern-ideal of gamemastering - player agency. After all, there is no railroad. The plot hooks are whatever the players want them to be. They can just do, and that in turn, allows the DM to respond to their ideas, wishes, and interests - not the adventure's.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would disagree with that. I think when looking at that classic, is the reason it is a classic is because it holds at its heart the modern-ideal of gamemastering - player agency. After all, there is no railroad. The plot hooks are whatever the players want them to be. They can just do, and that in turn, allows the DM to respond to their ideas, wishes, and interests - not the adventure's.

You can write “there is no plot” in a couple of seconds, you wouldn’t need an afternoon.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you are looking for amazing ideas, I would raid the Appendix N Jam's entries, 99% of which (of the more than 200 four-page entries) are currently free. Lots of amazing ideas in there, even if I wouldn't run all of the adventures as-is.

Not really my sort of thing, but if you have anything based on Forth Wing (the sex more than the dragons) so I don’t have to wade through the book, then I have a player who would be interested.

Edit: it’s just occurred to me that I might be able to repurpose Stryxhaven. Wouldn’t get me out of reading the book though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think when looking at that classic, is the reason it is a classic is because it holds at its heart the modern-ideal of gamemastering - player agency.

A lot of adventures have player agency but aren't considered classics. Keep on the Borderlands was the free adventure included in the boxed set that introduced tens of thousands of players to D&D. It's a classic in the same way that a lot of Saturday morning cartoons are classics, independent of their quality.

That said, I think it makes perfect sense for WotC to use it for this boxed set:

• They are working on cross-media branding and this is one of their better-known ones and one that is part of the core flavor of D&D. I could certainly see them using the Borderlands and the Keep as a setting for a kid-focused TV show in future, for instance.
• It's got a mix of "city," "dungeon" and wilderness adventure environments, making it ideal for WotC to split it up, as they have, into three separate adventure booklets and accompanying maps. The split also means it plays well across classes and playstyles, especially if they bring in the ranger, druid and bard in an expansion pack at some point.
• It's got such a feather-light story that very few people (at least, people who actually buy WotC products -- i.e. the people WotC cares the most about) will object to whatever new story or adventures they put in the boxed set, so long as there's a keep, the Caves of Chaos, and some stuff in the wilderness (most of which, other than the hermit, isn't particularly well remembered even by fans).
• The great old school name tells you more or less what to expect: There's a castle and there's a presumably dangerous wilderness. In contrast, "Dragons of Spring Dawning" wouldn't mean much to the D&D-curious person just browsing the shelves at Target.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There isn’t much player agency in KotB. It’s in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing to do apart from go to the caves and murder humanoids. You want agency, do a city.

 

[Distracted DM]

I’ve never come across a published adventure that I could run without giving it a thorough going over, if only to commit it to memory.

This is one of the things I like so much about many (not all) DCC adventures- they're so easy to run straight from the book without any prep. I've run some of them without more than a cursory look beforehand.

Check out Tome of Adventure Vol 1.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is one of the things I like so much about many (not all) DCC adventures- they're so easy to run straight from the book without any prep. I've run some of them without more than a cursory look beforehand.

Check out Tome of Adventure Vol 1.

Kelsey Dionne's adventures for both 5E and Shadowdark are great this way as well. I've run about a half-dozen of her 5E adventures, sometimes with no prep other than downloading the PDF, and they always run great.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This is one of the things I like so much about many (not all) DCC adventures- they're so easy to run straight from the book without any prep. I've run some of them without more than a cursory look beforehand.

Check out Tome of Adventure Vol 1.

I would never ever run an adventure without prep, for a very simple reason: I’m dyslexic and can’t read quickly whilst also doing other things, I need to commit it to working memory.

Easy to run isn’t a feature I look for in an adventure in any case. I’ve been DMing for 43 years, I don’t need it to be easy.