If H1 = Keep on the Borderlands, H2 & H3 = ?

[w_earle_wheeler]

I found many similarities between H1 and Keep on the Borderlands, which I'm pretty sure were intentional.

I've been running it as if it were a conversion of the original B1 module. In this case, Shadowfell Keep is the "original" keep, but it has been destroyed and over-run with the enemy.

I'd like to keep the old-school conversion theme going. I don't have H2 or H3 yet. For those who do -- or have more information on them than I do -- do they bear any similarity to other pre-1989 D&D/AD&D modules?

 

[Grimstaff]

H2 seems to have shades of Descent into the Depths, Skullport, Caverns of Thracia, and of course the Slavers series.

Havn't seen H3 yet...

 

[renau1g]

H2 kind of reminded me of the Skullport & the Undermountain as well.

 

[mearls]

My PH 2 deadline has been chasing me like a pack of angry ninjas for the past six weeks, but here's some of the influences on my bits of those adventures:

The Well of Demons from H2 is a crude attempt at a tribute to White Plume Mountain. The idea of several branching paths you have to follow along with the sort of weirdness for weirdnesses' sake for the rooms is straight from WPM. I nicknamed the big, central chamber Keraptis' Pinball Machine in my notes.

The idea behind the Seven Pillared Hall, the trading post that serves as homebase, is inspired by Skullport and elements of the original SSI gold box game Pool of Radiance. The structure for the random encounters, with story elements behind each of them, was also inspired by the Pool of Radiance adventure published by TSR.

H1 draws from Keep on the Borderlands, as others have noted.

H3 is an odd duck. It has some thematic elements of KotB and Temple of Elemental Evil, but those are more in terms of structure than specific content. It's the sort of adventure that will seem really hack n' slashy for groups that attack everything in sight, and very RP oriented for groups that try talking to everything.

 

[Grimstaff]

Classic mod discussion is always guaranteed to flush the Mearls from his jungle hideout...

Nice mods, btw, my group and I are very happy with H's 1 and 2.

Keep 'em coming!

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

Thanks for the answer Mike!

I'm looking forward to the PHB 2. Hopefully it will rectify the absence of badger minions for Gnomes in 4e.

 

[StickPerson]

Yeah, I’m very happy with H1, H2, and looking forward to H3 as well. I appreciate the nod to the classic old modules. If that trend is going to continue I’d like to see the same treatment given to the old Tom Moldvay modules (Lost City, Castle Amber, and Isle of Dread).

 

[hailstop]

Yeah, I’m very happy with H1, H2, and looking forward to H3 as well. I appreciate the nod to the classic old modules. If that trend is going to continue I’d like to see the same treatment given to the old Tom Moldvay modules (Lost City, Castle Amber, and Isle of Dread).

Well, Isle of Dread did get some treatment in the Savage Tide adventure path.

But I would luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuv to see an updated version of Castle Amber.

 

[StickPerson]

Yeah, Castle Amber was such an interesting module. A host of fun and interesting NPC’s, outright strange encounters that on the surface were incoherent and disparate yet somehow managed to tie together in a narrative that ultimately made sense in a fun and twisted way. I don’t know any adventure I’ve played since then that captures the spirit that module had.

It was years ago and I was quite young when I DM’ed it and more inclined to hack-n-slash style gaming at the time, but with all the bizarre Amber family members it was the adventure that really inspired me to role play for the first time. I’d love to see something like it replicated for 4th edition. With it’s out of time setting I see it fitting in really well somewhere in the paragon tier of play, maybe P1, P2, or P3 will give it a bit of an homage.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

H3 is an odd duck. It has some thematic elements of KotB and Temple of Elemental Evil, but those are more in terms of structure than specific content. It's the sort of adventure that will seem really hack n' slashy for groups that attack everything in sight, and very RP oriented for groups that try talking to everything.

I think you've just made my Cleric player very happy - he loves trying to negotiate with everything!