Is The Keep on the Borderlands a well-designed adventure module?

[Rhun]

Is the classic AD&D1 adventure module The Keep on the Borderlands a well-designed adventure module?

The Keep on the Borderlands was a Basic D&D module, not AD&D. Although I definitely used it with the AD&D ruleset.

 

[Quasqueton]

The Keep on the Borderlands was a Basic D&D module, not AD&D. Although I definitely used it with the AD&D ruleset.

That's what happens when I use a template for these regular threads. I forgot to change that little item.

Quasqueton

 

[Akrasia]

I think it's a great adventure. I love site-based adventures, and B2 is a fine example of that genre. As already mentioned, it is generic enough to fit into any setting. In addition, it has a lot of great 'plot hooks' for future adventures (including further investigations into the 'Cult of Chaotic Evil' and that mysterious dungeon tunnel).

As for complaints about the 'monster condo' problem with the CoC, two easy solutions are available:
(a.) assume that the evil 'high priest' exerts a general authority over all the different humanoid tribes, thus preventing all-out war from breaking out; or
(b.) place the different cave complexes in different areas (iirc, even though many of the caves are interconnected, there are at least 3 distinct 'cave complexes' that can be separated out).

I actually used both solutions the last time I ran the module.

... We had some great fun reusing the Keep in a Castles and Crusades game I played last year....

I'm glad you enjoyed it -- despite the fact that the evil priest in the Keep managed to deceive and betray your party at a crucial moment!
(Of course, making the priest an attractive female helped in the deception ... )

...
Of course, my favorite D&D adventure is still The Isle of Dread (X1).

That's a good one, but the greatest Basic/Expert D&D module of all time is B10 ('Night's Dark Terror'). I would urge anyone interested in seeing the Platonic Form of D&D modules with their own eyes to obtain a copy.

(I'm also a huge fan of the X4 & X5 series.)

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[cildarith]

moments of utter stupidity (a giant corpse in a cave with a 10' ceiling, COME ON!!).

What on earth are you talking about???

 

[Raven Crowking]

Removed

 

[painandgreed]

There is a short, very interesting, and fairly negative review by none other than Mike Mearls over on RPGNet (http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_1250.html).

*comments deleted for fear of breaking posting rules here*

I voted good. It did its job back in the day and I think it still holds up. It's a bare bones adventure with no cumbersome background and thus fits into any setting.

 

[gizmo33]

and moments of utter stupidity (a giant corpse in a cave with a 10' ceiling, COME ON!!). It's one of the most fun adventure complexes ever put together, but has too many sentient races in it.

What is going on with this "versimiltude" thing lately? When did people become such experts on fantasy-reality? Especially when none of us are even experts on plain-old reality?

My basement ceiling is shorter than I am. I suppose if the cops ever found my skeleton down there they would just stand around and stare in disbelief. "How did he get down here?" "Was he able to 'stoop' or something". I guess giants don't have the Stoop feat? I just checked and a Hill Giant is 10 1/2 ft tall and has bad posture. Give me a break.

Seriously, "utter stupidity" is YET ANOTHER example of someone in desperate need of a thesaurus. Not everything that you disagree with after 2 seconds of thinking about has to be utterly stupid. It's almost beside the point that this encounter is not found in KotB - because I'm sure there are plenty of other things that are equally as "utterly stupid".

Speaking of utterly stupid, the Mike Mearles article takes the same tone of righteous indignation - apparently it's inconceivable to Mearles that orcs would not have have running water and toilets.

I mean, you gotta be crazy if living alone with a wooden bowl and a pet panther somehow makes you a fourth level murderous psychotic thief.

What part of this is he having a problem with? The man is probably living alone BECAUSE he is psychotic - he could have been banished from his village. What seems likely is that Mearles is having a problem with the "4th level thief" part.

What I have a problem with is thinking that EVERY SINGLE NPC in the world with levels got them by going on adventures of the sort that PCs undertake. That's too much mayhem for me to wrap my mind around - and I don't think it was much thought out by Mearles either.

 

[Faraer]

Mike Mearls's 'review' of B2 is bizarre. Some kind of satire? It's a collection of personal and above all theoretical nitpicks in place of any discussion of what the module's like to DM or play.

 

[Emirikol]

I voted yes because it has several appealing features:

1. A starting point (the keep)
2. NPC's
3. Outdoor encounters (on a MAP no doubt!)
4. Dungeons that are in a unique format (in the valley/crags) with rumors
5. The artwork is memorable

Drawbacks:
NPC's need names

Jay H