D&D General Session Recaps: Keep on the Borderlands

[THEMNGMNT]

This thread contains the session recaps of my latest 5.5E campaign, "The Keep on the Borderlands". It's an expansion and remix of the Heroes of the Borderlands Starter Set. Which I'm playing with my kids. But this campaign is run online with my primary group of fellow Gen Xers. There's six of us in total spread across North America. We've been playing nearly weekly since 2017.

This campaign is set in the aftermath of a previous 1-20 level campaign in the Forgotten Realms that mashed up Tyranny of Dragons and Storm King's Thunder. The player characters saved the world. But at a price. The world is in bad shape and is in desperate need of heroes. You'll see elements that depart from canon. This is an opportunity to put my spin on the Realms.

I've placed the Keep in the Sword Mountains outside Waterdeep, adjacent to the Dessarin Valley, next to the now-ruined hamlet of Rassalantar. The Keep was built during the Trollwars to guard the Long Road. Today, the Keep represents the outer edge of Waterdeep's sphere of influence. Waterdeep's power is in decline as it is occupied by internal problems. The Keep is crumbling, the soldiers haven't been paid in months, and mutiny ferments. Meanwhile, goblins and trolls and nefarious wizards all have designs on the nearby Caves of Chaos, a strange complex of warrens constructed by the ancient Netherese.

You're welcome to post any questions or comments you have.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Normally we have five players. At Session Zero only three were available. I'll update this list of characters as additional characters are generated.

No restrictions or guidance from me -- the players could make any character they wanted. We are using 5.5E rules and starting at level one.

• Gold Dragonborn Fighter. Soldier background. Strength-based great weapon master with a great sword. Savage Attacker. Planning to go Battle Master.
• Human Paladin. Noble background from the 5E rules (with a retainer). Strength-based great weapon master with a glaive. Savage Attacker and Tough. Leaning toward Oath of Glory.
• Halfling Rogue. Criminal background. Alert. Shortbow and dagger. Leaning toward Thief.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

Session 1.

In the opening narration, I established that the player characters have answered the Keep's call for adventurers. They were on a caravan traveling north from Waterdeep. As the caravan entered the Sword Mountains, they were harried by goblin raiders. Over the course of two days and nights the caravan was slowly whittled down until the characters were the only survivors. As they finally came within sight of the Keep they were ambushed by 6 goblin minions and 2 goblin warriors.

We rolled initiative. This was a Deadly encounter. It nearly resulted in a party wipe. The fighter went down in round 2 but was brought back by the paladin's lay on hands. In round 3 the characters finally dropped a few goblins and turn the action economy in their favor. By round 4 the goblins were in retreat. Two goblins fled and escaped. One goblin was taken captive.

We'll start next session with the player characters arriving at the Keep.

We used DND Beyond Maps (which I'm still figuring out) and this map from Red Hand of Doom.