D&D (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[KYRON45]

Finding justifications to explain otherwise immoral behavior has been mankind's second favorite pastime since the invention of sin.

I’m just the guy that does the thing.

 

[ECMO3]

The way I see it, massacring a bunch of innocent children is immoral. Playing make believe where you tell a story about an Elf who massacres a bunch of innocent children is not inherently immoral.

 

[Azzy]

I don't see a good reason to think this is going to be set in Greyhawk. I'm aware the 2E sequel adventure, Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, contains a suggestion for where in Greyhawk to place the module, but the adventure itself seems to have been written with Mystara in mind, at least partially. The novelization is set in Greyhawk, and Gary Gygax at some time stated the Pomarj would be a good placement if one was going to set the original module in Greyhawk, but neither the original module nor the video announcement make any mention of Greyhawk. In the video, it's stated that this adventure is set in a place called The Borderlands.

The Keep on the Borderlands predates the introduction of the Known World (Mystara) in the Isle of Dread as well as the Greyhawk Folio. The module was later retconned into each setting.

 

[Hriston]

I've used the Shield Lands (on the border with the Horned Society) and the edge of the Abor-Alz (near Hardby), but not the Pomarj (at least as best I recall).

I don't remember establishing any kind of a wider setting when I ran the original module in the early 80's, but when I ran the D&D Next version in around 2013, I set it in the "Dreadmarsh" area just east of the Yeomanry, influenced by the western Yeomanry placement in RttKotB. I've thought since of placing it in the mountain pass through the Griff Mountains between the Duchy of Tenh and the Hold of Stonefist because I wanted to run it along with In Search of the Unknown which originally had a canonical placement there, using the Cave of the Unknown as the location of Quasqueton. I think if I ran it now though, I'd go back to letting it be its own setting resembling the setting of Three Hearts and Three Lions. Another idea, however, is to tie it in to the GDQ series by having the Cult of Evil Chaos be servants of the Elder Elemental God as the design of their temple would seem to suggest.

 

[Hriston]

The Keep on the Borderlands predates the introduction of the Known World (Mystara) in the Isle of Dread as well as the Greyhawk Folio. The module was later retconned into each setting.

Yes, I was talking about the sequel, Return to the Keep on the Borderlands.

 

[Remathilis]

The way I see it, massacring a bunch of innocent children is immoral. Playing make believe where you tell a story about an Elf who massacres a bunch of innocent children is not inherently immoral.

It's not immoral for the player (as stated, it's a game), but I could easily argue it's immoral for the elf who does it. Which was my point, you can justify a lot of immoral actions (in character) as moral under the guise of "it's being done to evil people"

 

[Azzy]

The way I see it, massacring a bunch of innocent children is immoral. Playing make believe where you tell a story about an Elf who massacres a bunch of innocent children is not inherently immoral.

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." — Kurt Vonnegut

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's not remotely related to what I'm talking about.

Then what are you talking about? It sure looked like you were extrapolating in-game behavior outward. If I'm wrong about that, I apologize.

 

[Remathilis]

Then what are you talking about? It sure looked like you were extrapolating in-game behavior outward. If I'm wrong about that, I apologize.

This:

It's not immoral for the player (as stated, it's a game), but I could easily argue it's immoral for the elf who does it. Which was my point, you can justify a lot of immoral actions (in character) as moral under the guise of "it's being done to evil people"

 

[Micah Sweet]

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." — Kurt Vonnegut

He must have had a real problem with Hollywood, and the entertainment professions in general then.