The Keep on the Borderlands | D&D Walkthroughs

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  • čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
  • PATREON: / dmitall
    After numerous delays, our newest video is finally ready. In this video, we discuss "The Keep on the Borderlands", the most played D&D adventure of all time. Like the Village of Hommlet, it was the introduction to D&D for many players back in the day. And in many ways, it is the archetypal D&D adventure. Thank you all for watching and we hope to get back to our regular video schedule relatively soon.
    Music: D&D Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (1990 DOS game), D&D Death Keep (3DO)
    Title & Credits : Temple of Elemental Evil (Circle of Eight mod, co8.org), Witcher III: Wild Hunt (Sleep Scenery HD), Dark Souls (eroticfishcake)
    Chapters:
    0:00 Intro
    0:35 Keep
    9:17 Caves
    18:45 Shrine
    23:24 Spoiler Free
    D&D Clips: Neverwinter Nights 2 (ENoa4 and Carlo, BlackRain, Neverwinter Vault), D&D Online (Cybermagician, Ras_al_Gar, Subtle Aggro), Pool of Radiance (the Lost Sectors), Reclaiming the Caves on the Borderlands (Sacrosanct Games), Designers & Dragons (Shannon Appelcline), Chronicles of Mystara (Capcom), Polyhedron Magazine, RPG Net Review by Mike Mearls, Legends & Lairs (Fantasy Flight Games)
    Misc. Clips: Talespire (u/marctassin), World of Warcraft, Dungeon Keeper (CaptainPlanets), Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (NintendoComplete), Warlocked Game Boy Color (Leny 1777), Metal Slug, Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Jongo Phett), Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo), Lord of the Ring, Flickr (Rob Marquardt), Wikimedia Commons (Moroboshi, Wellcome Images), Radiant Historia (mapstalgia Tumblr)
  • Hry

Komentáře • 518

  • @jh1859
    @jh1859 Před 3 lety +303

    "In D&D basic you didn't get death saving throws, you just got new character sheets." Not bad.

    • @kevinsullivan3448
      @kevinsullivan3448 Před 3 lety +35

      It made your choices more important as the consequences were actually severe. Modern DMs are too lenient.

    • @chrisperrien7055
      @chrisperrien7055 Před 3 lety +20

      Those poison saving throws were very tense. Hated fighting poison monsters , one hit and missed saving throw that was it, below lvl 5. It got slightly less tense after that if you had a lvl cleric with cure poison, IIRC , or a scroll/potion of the same.

    • @jh1859
      @jh1859 Před 3 lety +20

      @none none E.G.G. who created AD&D, played quite strict and cut-throat apparently. His campaigns made use of hirelings and henchmen to allow low level PCs to rise up and not get killed so easily. I respect that about 1E. It's more realistic and rewarding when the DM doesn't have to coddle the PCs in order to make the game work.

    • @StevenMichaelCunningham
      @StevenMichaelCunningham Před 3 lety +3

      If you role played well enough actually......especially besting the moderator or moderators in dice rolling..

    • @briankirkland2118
      @briankirkland2118 Před 3 lety +11

      @@jh1859 Big Difference between cut throat and a dick GM. I think it is just different from table to table. As long as the party is having fun, then that is the most important thing. Of course I have always had a rule... I may be nice to you guys, but fuck around with your character and you will find out. Got to make it a challenge as well as fun.

  • @mosespray4510
    @mosespray4510 Před 3 lety +89

    Gary Gygax designed well realized modules that slaughtered player characters like they were Confederates at Pickett's charge. While it was quite edgy and exciting to know your whole party could be wiped at any moment, it was also pretty tough to develop any personality in your cannon fodder of the moment. I think this might have been because he was a war gamer first. Thanks for making these wonderful videos. They take me back.

    • @biffstrong1079
      @biffstrong1079 Před rokem +7

      We did have a series of first level fighter henchmen called in series Tom Dick and Harry and then Larry Curly and Mo. I believe Larry might have made it to third level. I think the henchman were earning half experience points back in original D&D. Not much personality.

    • @swirvinbirds1971
      @swirvinbirds1971 Před rokem +11

      Yep.. cannon fodder and the ones that survived became beloved characters.

    • @biffstrong1079
      @biffstrong1079 Před rokem +5

      @@swirvinbirds1971 Good Ole Larry.

    • @davidfinch7407
      @davidfinch7407 Před rokem +16

      Yeah, when you survived and leveled up, it was a real accomplishment. Especially if you started with a 1st level Mage. "OK, you got two hit points, a dagger, the worst ability to hit with the dagger, no armor, and one spell: "magic missile", that can do up to 4 points of damage but might only do 1 point. Go get 'em, tiger."

    • @robinblackmoor8732
      @robinblackmoor8732 Před rokem +4

      ​@@biffstrong1079we had that too. One was named Fred the door opener.

  • @richardthepastamancer6619
    @richardthepastamancer6619 Před 3 lety +224

    *THE RETURN OF THE KING*

  • @bikzimusmaximus5250
    @bikzimusmaximus5250 Před 3 lety +104

    Holy shit, yesterday I was like "I think they died..." and here we are.

    • @EvilLPS
      @EvilLPS Před 3 lety +1

      man, I was the exact same!

  • @DMItAll
    @DMItAll  Před 3 lety +294

    Remember, we can't die unless you destroy our coffins!

    • @navidryanrouf441
      @navidryanrouf441 Před 3 lety +19

      The dark powers make sure to never let you leave your domain of dread, know only as "CZcams".

    • @MySqueezingArm
      @MySqueezingArm Před 3 lety +26

      @@navidryanrouf441 The dark lord Al Gorithm knows all. He's a master of Scrying and Necromancy. Some say he can even turn hatred into gold.

    • @That-Google-Guy
      @That-Google-Guy Před 3 lety +5

      Yet another amazing breakdown of old school D&D that I was too young to ever have a chance to try and lived in an area too sparsely populated to be able to get a game going with anyone other than my brother. Thanks for sharing this, I look forward to many more!

    • @pwykersotz
      @pwykersotz Před 3 lety +5

      I just found your channel and watched all your videos. You have ridiculous production values and great content. I can see why it takes a while to make these.

    • @bartconnolly6104
      @bartconnolly6104 Před 3 lety +1

      @@That-Google-Guy first module i played.

  • @ralphreichert8416
    @ralphreichert8416 Před 3 lety +120

    Great video! I'm old school enough to have played this puppy back in the eighties. Ah memories. Mt. Dew, potato chips and death by minotaur. Classic.

    • @TheMinecraftACMan
      @TheMinecraftACMan Před 2 lety +2

      What, not Doritos?

    • @gilbertkohl6991
      @gilbertkohl6991 Před rokem +4

      The Doritos dust got all over the dice

    • @thomasbarclay1551
      @thomasbarclay1551 Před rokem +2

      Never drank Mountain Dew. It was super sweet but that by itself wasn't enough. One time I was visiting friends in the US, I asked about what the attraction was. one of them said "Um.... highest caffeine content in a pop"... I said "Really? Up North of the 49th, for a long time, maybe still, caffeine could only be in colas." My American friend looked at me and said "What the he**???!!!! What sort of a Communist country do you come from?". It was a hilarious moment. I had no idea there was caffeine in Mountain Dew in the US. If I needed caffeine, it was Coke (Classic).

    • @legionarybooks13
      @legionarybooks13 Před rokem +1

      @@gilbertkohl6991 Cheetos were the worst! 😄

    • @biffstrong1079
      @biffstrong1079 Před rokem +1

      @@TheMinecraftACMan Did even we have doritos in the 1980's? I remember Hickory sticks and Cheesies being terrible choices at the gaming table.

  • @TheEricthefruitbat
    @TheEricthefruitbat Před 3 lety +19

    To my mind, Keep On The Borderlands is the best module name, ever.

  • @VioletDeliriums
    @VioletDeliriums Před rokem +4

    I got the 1981 Basic set for Christmas from an older cousin when I was in 8th grade, and had no idea what it was. But when I started reading the stuff in the books, I was enchanted!!! The Keep on the Borderlands was included and it the first adventure I tried to run for people, and I did a terrible job. But it taught me what I needed to know forever! To this day I still make a town with stores, and on session zero the players bring their new characters into the town and talk to people at the shops. The shops don't necessarily have everything in the Player's Handbook. A 5e player once got mad at me because battle axes were not available in the town!!! But, I love the rumor table and the idea of some hermit (either a friend or foe) out in the woods, and a humanoid faction moving into the woods near the city and attacking people. Between The Keep on the Borderland and The Isle of Dread in the Expert set (where I learned how to do a hex crawl), I had all the fundamentals for being a sandbox, open world DM!!! All I had to do was refine it as I went on and made my own sandbox campaigns later. I eventually figured out that what you have to do is generate home brew rules and fluff that allow you to make the fantasy lit that I like to read come to life and embed the characters in a world with strong consequences, good or bad, for their choices. I think every DM would benefit from running The Keep on the Borderlands & Isle of Dread, esp. because 5e books just don't give the DM the tools they need ...the 5e books only make it harder on the DM by adding more and more unnecessary player options.

    • @louiselockett2905
      @louiselockett2905 Před 11 měsíci

      My older wss our dm for a l9ng time. This module made me cry baby tears many times. I agree with you about 5e. They don't want you making your own adventures. That keeps you coming back to them at every turn. My opinion is that homemade adventures are sometimes the most fulfilling for everyone involved. They can get personal too.

  • @MySqueezingArm
    @MySqueezingArm Před 3 lety +35

    My dad ran the Hermit + Mountain Lion as my first session with him. My siblings and I were all young at the time.

  • @KahnShawnery
    @KahnShawnery Před 3 lety +86

    I ran the 25th Anniversary Edition about 2 years ago for a new, younger group of players and they loved it. They got really involved with a number of NPCs in town which made things so much easier on me with regards to giving them leads and such. They sold the golden dragon egg to the evil merchant that occasionally travels into town, not having figured out who he is.
    A year later, long after we had finished the module, there was a gold dragon terrorizing the countryside and the merchant was using it to make money. Boy were they surprised.

    • @legionarybooks13
      @legionarybooks13 Před rokem +4

      Oh, that's classic! 😄It's been at least thirty years since I played Keep on the Borderlands. I don't think we ever found the Gold Dragon egg. We came across the Minotaur once, and it did not end well. Funny enough, my current 5e group is (I think) close to finishing Icewind Dale and we found a Silver Dragon egg. My rogue-assassin (who's a total fop) has already called 'dibs' on it, stating that he is going to raise the dragon and call him Steve...or Stephanie if it's a girl!

  • @robinblackmoor8732
    @robinblackmoor8732 Před rokem +5

    I can remember replaying this as evil characters. The DM changed up everything, so it would be fresh. We did actual role playing and made deals with the denizens of the caves. We ended up robbing the Keep and letting our monster buddies in to the Keep to wipe out the guards for us. We used some cows for cover at one point. The end game was us double crossing and attacking the depleted monster ranks. It was more fun, than playing good characters.

  • @yavin99
    @yavin99 Před 3 lety +43

    I still have my Temple of Elemental Evil game module from the 80s and have been wanting to try and play it with modern rules.

    • @shayulghul
      @shayulghul Před 3 lety +3

      YES! DO IT! I've ran it in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions. I hope to run it again in 5e in the next year or two. It honestly works well with any edition with very little tweaking, so 5e shouldn't be a problem.

    • @starshiplazyboy475
      @starshiplazyboy475 Před 3 lety

      @@shayulghul Agreed.

    • @Bluecho4
      @Bluecho4 Před 3 lety +2

      @@shayulghul Though it might require a bit of finesse when using the old monsters. For example, while the Caves of Chaos seem geared towards a low level party, the Medusa in 5e is a CR6 monster. Between that and her petrification, she may be a bit more than the party can handle.

    • @shayulghul
      @shayulghul Před 3 lety +2

      @@Bluecho4 Like I said, you still have to tweak it a little, but it works well in any edition.

    • @mikemckinney7031
      @mikemckinney7031 Před 3 lety +3

      ToEE is one of my favorite module's from the 80's. I have used (stole) the Village of Hamlett in multiple games, it's a great model to use for a village setting.

  • @OhThatRobin
    @OhThatRobin Před 3 lety +36

    My mom played this adventure in the 80s and to get her back into dnd I ran it for her again and we set it in Eberron ^^

    • @gicking3898
      @gicking3898 Před 3 lety +2

      Omg. Rare and double rare. A lady who liked dnd, and gave birth to a daughter who also likes it!
      👍👍👍

    • @bloodySunday77
      @bloodySunday77 Před 3 lety +2

      How cool is that!!

    • @OhThatRobin
      @OhThatRobin Před 3 lety +2

      @@bloodySunday77 so cool! She plays a multiclass warlock sorceress and eldritch blast is her favorite spell 😁

    • @JazzyBassy
      @JazzyBassy Před 3 lety +3

      Oh wow, it's awesome to have family into the same hobbies as you. Glad you could give her that treat of nostalgia!
      Out of curiosity, where did you set it on Eberron? Monsters and cultures are very different there so I think it's one of the most interesting places to run it with its moral quandaries.
      Interest in old modules got me thinking of remixing the flavor to run in areas that my game is set in and here is what I've come up with so far:
      Setting:
      *Placing it on the border between Karrnath (For the Keep) and the Mror Holds (For the Caves of Chaos), with the wilderness encounters/discoveries being influenced by the Icewood's Madstone (The Mad Hermit) and Lake Dark's Undead.
      *The keep is lorded by a Knightly Order of Karrnath from a nearby city/town (Whatever order you choose will change its flavor, items, and services). The party may be veterans from the Last War looking for new work, Mercenaries hired for the help, agents of King Kaius, Rekkenmark cadets on an expedition, diplomats/agents from nearby regions/factions with an interest in the area, etc...
      *The Caves of Chaos were recently created by a manifest Zone to Kythri, the Churning Chaos. This makes it more likely for its inhabitants to act on impulse and has transmogrified the cave into new twisted passages, opening up the divisions between enemies and passages to The Realm Below (Explaining how they've "co-existed" for this long). Rumors of great discoveries and treasure in these passages alongside calls for aid and disappearances has brought many factions at play here.
      *Caves of the Unknown can be the Realm Below, where dwarves and aberrations are locked in war, or a demiplane within Khyber to one of the Overlords or a Daelkyr.
      Factions:
      *Jhorash'Tal Orcs as the Orcs, a tribe of barbarians vengeful to the dwarves that drove them out ages ago.
      *Dwarves as the Goblinoids and the main inhabitants and explorers of the Mror Holds, with different clans having different dispositions and occassionally sabotaging each other for riches. Their primary concerns are Riches, the conflict with the Jhorash'Tal Orcs, and the Realm Below. On the latter, some hope that this Cave can lead them to turn the tide of the War Below with the forces of Dyrrn for their ancestral home. Whether it be as a secret flank to surprise them, to gain magical weapons and artifacts, or to find aberrations for the creation of Symbionts.
      *The Emerald Claw as the Gnolls, allying with the Orcs and reaping the benefits of the dead in the conflict for their necromantic projects and for the wheels of war to turn again. Them being an ex-knightly order makes them a source of infamy to Karrnath and a foil to the Knightly Order of the players. Their influence reaches as a worldwide campaign front, with Lake Dark and the Madstone both being of interest to them.
      *Mind Flayers/Other Aberrations of Dyrrn, as the Bugbears, luring off creatures into their sickening experiments. Perhaps they created the rumors through mind seeding to lead the dwarves into a trap. The motives of both them and their creators are incomprehensible to mortals and inhumane.
      *Githzerai as the Kobolds, pulled from their refuge in Kythri, they are once again hiding from the Mind Flayers that once ruled over them. With their psionic abilities and interplanar abilities, they are able to hide and navigate the caves expertly, but what they most want to do is to go home or flee their predicament.
      *Cults of the Dragon Below to either an Overlord or Daelkyr for Cult in The Shrine of Chaos. The catalysts of the Kythri manifest zone's tranmogrification. Those being whatever BBEG you wanna use for later. Bonus if they allied with one of the faction your players were most interested in taking down or on the opposite end, the one that they most trusted.
      *Each faction can attempt to convince the players to help them or mislead them to do so (In the case of Mind Flayers/Emerald Claw).

    • @OhThatRobin
      @OhThatRobin Před 3 lety +2

      @@JazzyBassy I set it in the Mournland ^^
      The kobolds were the original ones here and are bigger thanks to mutations by the grey mist. The big scary chaos alter was put their by cultists of the dragon below that were killed by gatekeepers (I made them the orc tribes). Some of the orcs were bewitched by the artifacts of evil chaos and became cultists themselves and now the uncharmed group is trying to both save their friends (by either cure or death) and protect themselves.
      The goblinkin are newer arrivals. They are mercenaries from Darguun working for a wealthy benefactor.
      That wealthy benefactor is an Inspired from Sarlona who’d heard of the altar and wants to use its curse evil spreading curse to further the goals of the Dreaming Dark. This inspired and his closest lieutenants take the place of the cultists in that topmost floor by the altar room in the original adventure.
      The Minotaur was simply an avid explorer who came across the altar herself a while ago and became a cultist of belashyrra. She is not inherently violent but will slay intruders if she thinks they mean her harm. If she does so she takes their eyes out and puts them on her horns or makes things out of them.

  • @richardleatherman5075
    @richardleatherman5075 Před 3 lety +14

    I remember learning the value of healing potions and that running away was always an option.

  • @cakefaceroller
    @cakefaceroller Před 3 lety +127

    Glad to see another upload from you, i really enjoy how you present these old adventures.

  • @ThaiThom
    @ThaiThom Před 2 lety +2

    Actually a very challenging module for Levels 1-3. Takes me back to the early 80s!

  • @darinlagarry3091
    @darinlagarry3091 Před 3 lety +12

    Wow, this brings back memories. My group played this module as first level losers back in 1979 shortly after it was released. This was the beginning of my love for gaming.

  • @toddapplegate3988
    @toddapplegate3988 Před 2 lety +6

    This was my first module back in the day. It literally stayed part of the game for years returning as the base of operations ultimately having a larger city build up around it.

  • @Pandion1872
    @Pandion1872 Před 3 lety +6

    This was the very first adventure I played when I got into D&D many, many, heavy sign, many years ago.

  • @mikegould6590
    @mikegould6590 Před 3 lety +7

    I can remember receiving the Basic (Moldvay) set in 1981 for my birthday. That set the tone for how I DM to this very day...half-prepared and continually improvising. The artistic styles of Bill Willingham and Jeff Dee influenced my art style too, so it's a win win.

  • @Dyundu
    @Dyundu Před 3 lety +8

    So, this was like the Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt NES cartridge, but for D&D. Neat!

  • @cjanquart
    @cjanquart Před 3 lety +52

    I played this in 2nd edition, rolled up a Monk, getting killed in one of our first random encounters by a giant black widow spider by failing his poison save. As a DM, I had a enterprising party that after making a few successful runs of the goblin and orc caves buy a wagon, a couple horse and hired some henchmen/flunkies to mind the wagon to haul off all their loot. It got really silly when they cleared out the evil temple section and hired more people to remove all the tiles and inlays of the altar area.
    Better times.

    • @blockmasterscott
      @blockmasterscott Před 11 měsíci

      I once saw some players in Tomb of Horrors trick retainers into setting off the traps. Told them that all they were doing was carrying torches for the party.

    • @maxmuller6730
      @maxmuller6730 Před 10 měsíci

      😂😂😂😂

  • @shockerck4465
    @shockerck4465 Před 3 lety +9

    I love the Keep and Caves and have used it at least a dozen times, adding my own details, side quests, and more

    • @robinblackmoor8732
      @robinblackmoor8732 Před rokem +1

      I think many of did that. Our group adventured with this many times, with the DM changing and evolving the caves, the keep and the area as we leveled up.

  • @Anaris10
    @Anaris10 Před 3 lety +1

    DM'd this for several new campaigns. Was a great introduction for noobs. My current group (5) are between 58-65 years, all have been playing since early 80's with one group or another, we used to have a large circle of friends and some parties numbering 12 or more players. Over the years we now have only 2 groups, who never play together. Us and the "Young" guys now in their 50s, using their own House Rules and such. But we still have a Mapper and a separate Records Keeper. Play a mix of 2-3.5 rules.

  • @rickstar171
    @rickstar171 Před 3 lety +17

    aahhh, it's back! Some of the best D&D content on the CZcams

  • @hitomisalazar4073
    @hitomisalazar4073 Před 3 lety +7

    Ah this was funny enough the second adventure I ever DM'd. When I got my set of Basic Edition D&D it came with three modules in that package. One was this, Keep on the Borderlands. The second was perhaps my favorite adventure module of all time, Isle of Dread. The third was Tomb of Horrors, and what i decided to run for my first adventure. Put the players in front of it, gave them a deck of many things for each of them to draw from, and said "Have at it".
    By comparison no one considered Keep on the Borderlands to be insanely difficult even at its worst hose moments.

  • @deltavictor8369
    @deltavictor8369 Před 3 lety +16

    I ran this shortly after the 5e monster manual came out, as just a straight conversion to 5e. It does feel a bit dated, and the prep (or improv) required in the keep is not to be underestimated, should players be inclined towards heavy roleplay. I did appreciate that the caves have enough sheer numbers of enemies to require either diplomacy, sneaky tactics, or hirelings (not simple hack-and-slash roll-play).

    • @kaneandlynch1213
      @kaneandlynch1213 Před 2 lety +2

      Did you run this in person or online? Trying to find the online HD map for the caves of chaos

  • @waza987
    @waza987 Před 3 lety +3

    This was the only module we had at first, there was no internet to download other modules or much advice and examples for designing your own. As all of us wanted to play we rotated Dungeon Master, picking the cave we were going to enter next and the chosen DM would read up just on that cave. We spent very little time in the keep, it was just a place to buy, sell and rest.

  • @NefariousKoel
    @NefariousKoel Před 3 lety +11

    The 'Temple Of Elemental Evil' PC game was great with the Circle Of Eight megamod, fixing issues and adding more. Best representation of D&D 3.x rules in a digital game.
    Too bad Troika tanked. Despite their RPGs' buginess, they made some greats.

  • @gabrielgutierrez1419
    @gabrielgutierrez1419 Před 3 lety +19

    They are back! My day has improve!

  • @sleeperawake9818
    @sleeperawake9818 Před 2 lety +2

    This was one of my favorite adventures. Why? No idea, that was about 40 years ago. Probably because my cousin was a good DM. Thanks for the nostalgia!

  • @TheDoughboy1917
    @TheDoughboy1917 Před 3 lety +7

    Holy moly! You are alive! That's great!

  • @Datan0de
    @Datan0de Před 2 lety +1

    This was the module that came with my basic set, and was the first module I ever ran. I pored over every detail, so much so that I remembered most of the details you mentioned here 40 years later. Thanks for the flashback!

  • @wraith313
    @wraith313 Před 4 měsíci +2

    When you keep in mind that a lot of this stuff was designed with a greymarch type campaign in mind, it makes sense how deadly it is. Tbh modern d&d is a little strange insofar as every PC is some kind of superhero aristocrat even at low levels and by high levels you are somehow just a deity flat out

  • @billcox8870
    @billcox8870 Před 3 lety +6

    I played keep on the border lands at the teenager. After that we went to Castle amber

  • @RougeMephilesClone
    @RougeMephilesClone Před 3 lety +10

    Welcome back! I had to double check to see if this was the channel I remembered it was. Hope you're doing well and whatever held you up has been solved. I need to get back to watching the rest of your videos!

  • @kal-torakmtgarena8478
    @kal-torakmtgarena8478 Před 2 lety +3

    one of my all time favorites, we played this for a month of weekends i think. Sadly my best friend who DM'd this for us is has now passed on, but it was a blast and i still have the original copy.

  • @miracledev2656
    @miracledev2656 Před 3 lety +32

    Don’t ever leave me like that again, I beg of you.
    Fr though I was having an anxiety episode going on like 7 hours and I saw this video and it made my day immediately better. You are great.

  • @viktord2025
    @viktord2025 Před 3 lety +3

    Keep On The Borderlands, Gary's only contribution to Mystara. I think anyway

  • @ServantRules
    @ServantRules Před 3 lety +4

    DDO did a great job translating Borderlands. And it's going to serve as the gateway to more Classic modules, with Saltmarsh coming soon.

  • @lordofentropy
    @lordofentropy Před 3 lety +2

    Wow, that's a blast from the past lol. Takes me back to my Commodore 64 days. I didn't have the friends that were really interested in D&D, but I loved reading all the rule books and modules. The Keep on the Borderlands has a big place in my heart.

  • @XX-sp3tt
    @XX-sp3tt Před 3 lety +6

    5:47 Sometimes it's the meaningless details that give a little world like this meaning.

  • @puremgtowpaladin2940
    @puremgtowpaladin2940 Před 3 lety +2

    This was the module that made players into combat vets, or shell shocked them into making better decisions using tactics. The entrance you choose either made you or killed you.

  • @mackchannel6348
    @mackchannel6348 Před 2 lety +1

    Great review! Keep on the Borderlands is the first module I ran for my children and wife. They did it in this order: Travel to the Keep on a caravan, learning that the road beyond was interdicted, linking up with five NPCs (two Clerics, a Halfling, and two 0-level fighters), Scouring the Countryside (spiders, lizardmen, bandits, then hermit), then Cave of the Unknown (I made it an abandoned, ancient Dwarven mine that had been invaded a very long time ago by...something fell and no longer present), then the Caves of Chaos.
    As they had a Ranger in the party, it was not difficult for the party to suss out a partial plan of who lived where from footprints (though not all of the caves were so revealed). They took it in this order:
    Goblins (and the back room of the Hobgoblins), return to the Keep, Hobgoblins, return to the Keep and level up (they had ingratiated themselves with the Advisor and Castellan).
    Further exploration of the Cave of the Unknown, return to the Keep
    Bugbears and Minotaur, Retreat to the Keep and level up (exchanging much of the magic and treasure gained to do so)
    First foray into the Shrine of Evil Chaos and Gnolls (via the back door!), retreat back through the Shrine of Evil Chaos to the Keep
    Orc Caves, Shrine of Evil Chaos.
    The campaign took about two months of game time and some fifteen sessions, and ran much like a skirmish back and forth, with maneuverings and strategems. Not all of the monsters were slain--some were allowed to flee with their lives--typically the females and young. The Kobolds read the writing on the wall and departed. The Owlbear was never encountered. Nor was the wight who departed the crypts to report on the destruction to higher authorities.
    This is THE introductory module. If you flesh its content out with some of the excellent suggestions you can find on the internet, and treat the Caves of Chaos as a living ecosystem that reacts and adapts and has hooks into other parts of the game setting, it can be the foundation of a great campaign (I made the evil cleric a Baron's younger, ambitious son gone bad and an adherent of Iuz).
    Allowing the party to level up during the campaign is a choice--not everyone will like this, but I used the AD&D EXP rules and it was a good way to drain away their treasure and magic items because training fees are EXPENSIVE.

  • @IdiotinGlans
    @IdiotinGlans Před 3 lety +16

    You cannot place Keep at the Borderlands in Ravenloft, it doesn't....
    Wayne June: Ruin has come to our family...

  • @enoa4
    @enoa4 Před 3 lety +1

    Nice video. I often listen to reviews like this as I work. Today was one of those days, I happened to switch by view back to the video for a moment and was pleasantly surprised to see my Neverwinter Nights handle (ENoa4) and mod on screen. You had some footage of the Keep on the Borderlands conversion I did for Neverwinter Nights 2. What a nice treat! Thank you. Keep the great videos coming. Thanks again for the blast from the past, I never expected to see something I worked on flash past. It made my day.

  • @Unhacker
    @Unhacker Před 2 lety +1

    "Kid Killing Quandary", an alliterative that occurs rarely - except in D&D, where it's surprisingly common.

  • @bassett_green
    @bassett_green Před 3 lety +1

    I love this video idea. Castle Amber and White Plume Mountain are great options for this type of video too

  • @xcar0982
    @xcar0982 Před 3 lety +17

    I have never played the module, but I used the Keep as part of an adventure.

  • @austinhadley6086
    @austinhadley6086 Před 3 lety +1

    I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOUR HEALTH
    SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK

  • @JohnQ5
    @JohnQ5 Před 2 lety +2

    How to fit, "The Keep On the Borderlands" into Spelljammer: Your spelljammer suffers a catastrophic and mysterious failure. Despite your best efforts a crash landing was inevitable. From your ship's suprisingly stable and well hidden mountain perch you are able to see multiple landmarks in the distance...

  • @durwinpocha2488
    @durwinpocha2488 Před 2 lety

    So good, we played on a extra large chalk board, with block walls and the lead figurines. This module took several hours and every minute was enjoyed. The movies never matched our imaginations until the lord of the rings came out in the early two thousands. Great post, thanks.

  • @rhero1
    @rhero1 Před 3 lety +1

    Read first part of title and two piped into my head. Keep on Borderlands and Ravenloft.
    Need a console version of Keep.

  • @tankhedgehog
    @tankhedgehog Před 3 lety

    I'm so glad to see another of there! I absolutely love these videos about old D&D adventures!

  • @bonbondurjdr6553
    @bonbondurjdr6553 Před rokem

    Great video! Thank you for your work!

  • @davemustang8173
    @davemustang8173 Před 5 měsíci

    Two things:
    1. Love your videos. No one gives Pre-5e D&D the love it deserves quite like you
    2. After the OGL scandal, My group went back to 4e for nostalgia. We did Keep on the Shadowfell as an introduction, and I noticed Winterhaven kind of looks like the Keep on the Borderlands. And since KotB is basically 8 Dungeons in One, and 4e is the ultimate edition for Dungeon Crawling, I did a conversion for it and it fits PERFECTLY in Nentir Vale (4e's default Setting).

  • @Drizzttoable
    @Drizzttoable Před 3 lety +1

    I can't believe my eyes! So glad you guys are back at it!

  • @kanvaros4451
    @kanvaros4451 Před 3 lety +5

    Love the channel y’all help me use older adventures as formats for my current dming planning , really do appreciate it !

  • @edh9999
    @edh9999 Před 3 lety

    My very first character (a fighter) died in one of the orc areas. DM rolled max damage and we both agreed that the Orc's blade slipped into the small gap between my character's helmet and armor, decapitating him, so when we came back later (me with another character), we 'discovered" a head, still wearing his helmet, right where he fell.
    It's been more than twenty years since that happened, but I've never forgotten that first death.
    Thank you for the unexpected surge of pure nostalgia!

  • @trailmiix7581
    @trailmiix7581 Před 3 lety

    Great video love everything you put out!

  • @Tasarran
    @Tasarran Před 3 měsíci

    This module always has a special place in my heart

  • @racemccool3831
    @racemccool3831 Před 3 lety

    Yay! So glad to see yall post again, a wonderful channel that I cant get enough of!!

  • @sawyeryoung7849
    @sawyeryoung7849 Před 3 lety +1

    Glad to see you back! Love your content.

  • @ShadowChief117
    @ShadowChief117 Před 3 lety

    I'm so happy to see a new video from you! Seriously your other videos are some of my favorite dnd content on CZcams. Looking forward for more to come, keep up the amazing work!

  • @legithopecrew
    @legithopecrew Před 3 lety

    I love these! Thanks for the content!

  • @twistanturnu529
    @twistanturnu529 Před 3 lety

    So glad you're back, love your content

  • @jonathonfreeman9233
    @jonathonfreeman9233 Před 3 lety

    thanks for putting this together!

  • @suy21
    @suy21 Před 3 lety

    Very glad to see new content from you! I watch the videos here tons of times, and I am always eager to see if there is new content.

  • @johncartwright3130
    @johncartwright3130 Před 3 lety +1

    Another great video!
    Thanks.

  • @marksoberay2318
    @marksoberay2318 Před 3 lety

    Wow! Incredible detail in this video!

  • @ZombieNikuchan
    @ZombieNikuchan Před 3 lety

    I'm so happy you guys are back. I look forward to more of your quality videos.

  • @FernandoDolande
    @FernandoDolande Před 3 lety

    It’s back! I love your videos. Thank you for your hard work ❤️

  • @n2bfw884
    @n2bfw884 Před 2 lety

    I loved this video. I never got a chance to play through it and I'm glad you made this video.

  • @westcoastgeeks7294
    @westcoastgeeks7294 Před 3 lety

    This is my favorite Starter DnD module. Nice review, looking forward to your next video.

  • @allie5842
    @allie5842 Před rokem

    really love your vids. theyre informative and really calming and get me excited about dnd seshs.

  • @deepspacecreative
    @deepspacecreative Před 3 lety

    This made my day, good to have you back buddy!!

  • @tubebobwil
    @tubebobwil Před 2 lety

    This is a great breakdown of this classic

  • @ArbiterLord
    @ArbiterLord Před 3 lety

    Y'all have awesome content, really happy to see another video.

  • @michaelstueber7243
    @michaelstueber7243 Před 3 lety

    It's always a pleasant surprise to see one of your videos pop up; great to see another video up to your usual standards.

  • @TheyDarthElmo
    @TheyDarthElmo Před 2 lety +4

    So unless I am completely wrong here, the 4th edition version of keep in the boarder lands, actually takes place in 4e's default setting which despite common misconception is not the Forgotten Realms but the Nentir Vale, sometimes called Points of Light. It takes place in the Chaos Scar, which is in-between the Ogrefist Hills and the Witchlight Fens, just south west of Fallcrest the starting town for 4e.

    • @ernestvanophuizen461
      @ernestvanophuizen461 Před 2 lety +1

      Exactly!
      I recently ran that 4e module - it was good beer-and-pretzels fun. It was designed for D&D Encounters (the 4e version of the Adventurers League), so it's very linear. I've always been curious about the famous original, though.

    • @TheyDarthElmo
      @TheyDarthElmo Před 2 lety

      @@ernestvanophuizen461 I've only gotten to run half of it. But my experience was similar once I told my players to think of it as a narrative based dungeon, they had a lot of fun with it. Also it's always fun to meet a fellow 4e player in the wild.

  • @HyveMindsGames
    @HyveMindsGames Před 3 lety

    Hell yeah, I've been waiting for more videos from this channel!

  • @alexshortall5237
    @alexshortall5237 Před 3 lety

    I’m so happy you are still making videos! One of my favorite D&D youtube finds in the past year!

  • @deathmetalbard
    @deathmetalbard Před 3 lety +1

    Nice to see a new video, was getting worried that you weren't coming back.

  • @Sendobren
    @Sendobren Před 3 lety

    Happy to see you back!

  • @whitemansucks
    @whitemansucks Před 2 lety

    These are walkthru's are great! Thank You. Time Travel and other spells can allow any 5E player to travel into these older modules. These can be very remote places in time/space that the characters can remotely observe or actually travel to. Example, a 5E player wants the original version of Mordenkainen's Sword, they can time travel back to Greyhawk and get a copy. Eventually planar characters will have done this and catalogued all prime material plane spells, and they will be for sale in Sigil. Prime Material player's and DM's often forget this.

  • @earthwingbomber
    @earthwingbomber Před 3 lety

    I've been a player in B2 in a Dungeon Crawl Classics game and run it myself with adaptations for 5E. It was incredibly fun. The PCs captured a bugbear and were going to torture it to death but it revealed it was just a simple, (relatively) peaceful bugbear and all he really wanted out of life was to eat slugs and do his own thing. He was coerced by the Chaos priests to be their slave. The PCs did a total 180 and made it their mission to defeat the priest and free their new friend (now "Hugbear"). Sadly, they had already killed all the others of his kind, but when he was freed he joined them as a henchman, albeit one they had to keep hidden from civilized NPCs.
    It was awesome.
    Also, I love your channel and I'm glad to see a new video! Keep it up!

  • @TheRancias
    @TheRancias Před 3 lety

    Lovely!! Waiting so long for this video

  • @gilbertkohl6991
    @gilbertkohl6991 Před rokem +1

    "Back then, one party member was designated as the party mapper....."
    I feel so old.

  • @Andrew-Gomez904
    @Andrew-Gomez904 Před 3 lety

    Good to see you back man!

  • @robcharette1915
    @robcharette1915 Před 3 lety

    This walk thru is very well done and a great way to experience the nostalgia of old school D&D . Death was really around every corner and TPK were just an excuse to roll a new party up

  • @eclipsetnb
    @eclipsetnb Před 3 lety

    Great to have you back!

  • @Adunhakhor
    @Adunhakhor Před 3 lety

    Critical save ! you're back ! Thanks for your work :)

  • @jackdavis98
    @jackdavis98 Před 3 lety

    I’ve been waiting sooooooooo long for another one of these!

  • @fallenthestory-teller8420

    I'm so happy ya'll are back!

  • @sdallas68
    @sdallas68 Před 2 lety

    Enjoying your videos. Appreciate the short intro and clear presentation voice without goofy sound effects. Old school D&D forever.

  • @hisnameisvila
    @hisnameisvila Před 3 lety

    New sub- love the presentation of old adventures. I regularly port old sources into my 5e games, really enjoy seeing these get some love

  • @bakuiel1901
    @bakuiel1901 Před 3 lety +2

    So I'm running Kingmaker for my DnD 5e group, think its hilarious that the Mad Hermit from here is exactly the same as the Mad Hermit encounter in the Rivers Run Red book. Really cool, thinking of running this for my group after we finish.

  • @BlackMew13
    @BlackMew13 Před 3 lety

    Glad to see you back! I really missed your videos
    As someone who started playing DnD just a few years ago with 5th edition, its great to have some insight into what came before it
    Im excited to see what you'll do next!

  • @michaelrussell1672
    @michaelrussell1672 Před 3 lety

    So glad your back I missed your videos

  • @Lcirex
    @Lcirex Před 3 lety

    It's nice to hear from you again.