The Keep on the Borderlands AKA Kendall Keep

[Shin Okada]

In my upcoming 3.5e game, I am trying to use the Keep on the Borderlands (AKA Kendall Keep) as one of the adventuring sites.

Now I got a copy of the good old B1 The Keep on the Borderland module and borrowed a copy of Return to The Keep on the Borderland.

Reading through those 2 modules, I could not find much information about the population and total number of soldiers in the keep. Those information are made vague, possibly intentionally.

But I am interested in those numbers, as I will let some evil army attack the keep.

If you were me, how do you estimate those numbers? The keep itself is rather big indeed, about 300 ft. by 400 ft. wide.

 

[billd91]

There's actually a lot of detail about the population of the keep in Return to the Keep on the Borderlands if you read through the area descriptions. Pretty much everyone is named and several form part of the militia (mostly members of the Lum family). But as far as professional soldiery, there aren't many. Laurl, Chorl, Wort, Joop, and Sabine the gatekeeper are pretty much it below Devereau and Jadale. Most of the military parts of the keep are taken over by civilians in some shape or form. That's part of the hook - an undermanned keep on the borderlands and a rising menace in the Caves of Chaos.

 

[Endur]

Actually, all populations are in both B2: Keep on the Borderlands and in the Return to the Keep on the Borderlands.

What is not present is a little blurb telling you total number in the 3.5 format for a town.

So you have to count up populations by room.

B2 has roughly 400 or so men at arms. I don't remember how many townspeople and non-combatants, but a significantly smaller number.

Return has a much smaller population (at this point the keep is abandoned and only a few people still live there).