D&D (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[Micah Sweet]

Lore is a resource to be mined, not a set of shackles to bind.

More like a series of popular proper names to be exploited.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The classic Keep on the Borderlands isn't really about the keep, but more about the Caves of Chaos. Seemingly, this product will expand on the actual keep as well as the wilderness in between and around the locations (in addition to likely giving the Caves a serious reworking).

I look forward to the NPCs at the keep having names this time around. Heck, maybe even the keep itself gets a name!

 

[KYRON45]

It’s not about the lore, it’s about the name recognition. They are more than happy to dump the lore, but the 'brand'? Now that has value.

I don’t suffer from nostalgia so I’ll never understand it I guess.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The time has come to say "Fair's fair"
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact's a fact
It belongs to them, let's give it back

I love that song.

 

[mamba]

For a design ethos that doesn’t place value on lore; they keep leaning on the old lore they don’t value.

there isn’t really any lore in KotB, it might have some name recognition though

 

[Scribe]

I don’t suffer from nostalgia so I’ll never understand it I guess.

In this case its a few things.

Brand recognition, name recognition, and likely a desire to supplant a piece of game history that has not aged well.

 

[KYRON45]

there isn’t really any lore in KotB, it might have some name recognition though

I’m sure it’s wonderful.
While I am a “player of a certain age” I have no attachment to the “classic” stuff.

I was just hoping that in my lifetime there would be some new classics.

Game on my friends.

 

[Sacrosanct]

there isn’t really any lore in KotB, it might have some name recognition though

I think what made KotBL so great was because it was our own lore that was created. Not official lore. Tales of fighting the owlbear, pitting one clan against the other, freeing the mad barbarian or letting him hang, getting skewered by the minotaur, learning what "bree-yark" really meant, or even taking over the keep for ourselves.

Me personally, that's what gets lost in modern adventures--how players created their own stories and tales. Not something predetermined. All the pieces were there, but how each group approached the caves was different. Heck, every time we played it, we approached it differently. That's harder to do when an adventure is more fleshed out and the NPCs have predetermined motivations and personalities. YMMV of course.

 

[Parmandur]

My guess is that the choices are only

Class, Background, Species

All the choices within those are already dictated.

Probably the phrasing has something to do with how the choices are presented to players.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think what made KotBL so great was because it was our own lore that was created. Not official lore. Tales of fighting the owlbear, pitting one clan against the other, freeing the mad barbarian or letting him hang, getting skewered by the minotaur, learning what "bree-yark" really meant, or even taking over the keep for ourselves.

Me personally, that's what gets lost in modern adventures--how players created their own stories and tales. Not something predetermined. All the pieces were there, but how each group approached the caves was different. Heck, every time we played it, we approached it differently. That's harder to do when an adventure is more fleshed out and the NPCs have predetermined motivations and personalities. YMMV of course.

WotC adventures are, happily, only a small piece of what's out there today. Lots of adventures of the style you like are out there. I'd say they predominate, even.