D&D 4E Pre-4e adventures ripe for conversion?

[mrtomsmith]

EDIT: Anyway, on topic, I have an old copy of Keep of the Borderlands at home I picked up from a second hand place. I've just flicked through it. Is it a good Adventure to run? I know it is a favourite of some peoples.

What is it that people like about it?

Honestly, the main reason is nostalgia. It's many people's first adventure, mine included. So to many people, it defines D&D. And thus defines awesome.

That said, as an actual module it's not bad, but not stellar. Lots of random monsters packed into a small space with very little rhyme or reason. There's a good sense of place, but no sense of story. Ignoring the nostalgia, it's a simple fun experience that doesn't measure up to many modern modules.

 

[Magus Coeruleus]

D'yknow, I've never heard of it - I think I only ever got AD&D modules and never really looked at BECMI modules at all.

From the cover art I probably wouldn't even have picked it up, but it is getting such glowing reports that I might spring for the PDF of it.

One question though - in BECMI, elves were a sorta F-MU in one class, were they not? For those who have/have run BoV, how important is that to the story?

Cheers

Yeah, not the best cover art. BECMI elves indeed their own class built to be a F-MU. That is important not so much to the story per se but to the challenges. Since D&D is really about party rather than solo adventures, it helps for this solo adventure to use a F-MU for more variety in what obstacles can be overcome. That and the character has a horse s/he rides and two pet wolves that fight alongside him/her. It makes things more interesting than if you were just playing a totally lone F/MU/C/T.

 

[rayoman]

Honestly, the main reason is nostalgia. It's many people's first adventure, mine included. So to many people, it defines D&D. And thus defines awesome.

That said, as an actual module it's not bad, but not stellar. Lots of random monsters packed into a small space with very little rhyme or reason. There's a good sense of place, but no sense of story. Ignoring the nostalgia, it's a simple fun experience that doesn't measure up to many modern modules.

I've ran through this module as a player and a DM. I always thought the monsters were brought together by the Clerics of Chaos and planned to use them in an invasion into The Realms. I'm not sure this information is in the module but that has been my explanation as to why all of these different monster types were in the area.

*SHRUG*

One of the things I find I like better in the old modules is the basic plot of the story is in the module but specific informaiton is for each individual DM to include.

 

[mattcolville]

I've ran through this module as a player and a DM. I always thought the monsters were brought together by the Clerics of Chaos and planned to use them in an invasion into The Realms. I'm not sure this information is in the module but that has been my explanation as to why all of these different monster types were in the area.

*SHRUG*

One of the things I find I like better in the old modules is the basic plot of the story is in the module but specific informaiton is for each individual DM to include.

People often say that the old modules had monsters and bad guys sitting around with no rhyme or reason. While that is true, it neglects a certain aspect of the game.

The players didn't know that. The GM might not even have known it, he might have just presumed there was a reason and he didn't read it. But the players often just assumed there was a reason and in many cases, we'd guess. And the GM would think "Sounds good to me!"

We just assumed there were reasons for this stuff and as a result...there were.