My Ideas about B2: The Keep on the Borderlands

 

This was the first module I owned, simply because it was included in the first set of D&D rules I was given, the Moldvay Basic set. I ran it (with varying degrees of success) with school friends and family members. As I discussed previously, I am going with the official line that this is set in and around Castellan Keep in northeast Karameikos. 

One of the things I have come to realise is that it is a sandbox adventure: once the party arrives at the keep, they can do whatever they want - there is no pre-set plot. Traditionally the party are expected to set up base in the Keep and then explore the nearby Caves of Chaos. In fact several times in running it, players have assumed the Keep was the place they were meant to attack. This may have been a lack of exposition on my part as DM - I started the PCs off in front of the Keep gatehouse without explanation. Did I do this wrong? Did the players do it wrong? Maybe, but the module is flexible enough to allow that. Rather than requiring the PCs to behave in certain ways, the module just presents how things are. This has been an important influence in how I view (and sometimes create) map-based adventures.

The Cult of Chaos has become a faction within the region, as exemplified by the treacherous chaotic priest and his acolytes within the keep (building 7b) cave K (the Shrine of Evil Chaos) among the Caves of Chaos, and the camp of chaotic raiders (area 3 in the wilderness). 

The surrounding wilderness on the map in the module is primarily woodland with a marshy river running through it, while in Gaz1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Castellan Keep is set in the Altan Tepes mountains. My explanation for this is that although the module area is surrounded by mountains, the keep, the caves and surrounding forest are within a valley in the mountains. The module wilderness map is 5200 yards * 4000 yards - that's 2.9 miles x 2.2 miles. It could fit within an 8 mile hex as a valley set within the mountains if the DM so wishes. Conveniently there is a river on the Karameikos map with its source starting near the keep, the Castellan River. However, if you are not comfortable with the idea of a forested valley in that particular hex, you could keep the actual Keep and the Caves of Chaos and replace the module's wilderness map with something more mountainous. 

Reading the gazetteer's description of Castellan Keep is interesting:

Castellan Keep: This lonely, cold fort lies in the Altan Tepes mountains, and the only way to reach the fort is by riverboat. The garrison (Fourth Division, Castellan Guard Battalion, "The Mountain Storm"), is supposed to keep an eye on possible invasions from the north and east, and to watch the activities of the frost giants known to live in these wild lands. If you have adventure B2 (The Keep on the Borderland), you can set it here; eliminate the large town the adventure mentions for the area, and leave only the cold and stubborn garrison.

That  last sentence seems a bit odd to me. There is a community within the keep, but I wouldn't call it a large town. Also since there are no given NPCs or maps for a simpler and harsher Castellan Keep, I feel I might as well use the NPCs and map supplied with the module. I think one of the module's few shortcomings is the Keep's inhabitants don't have names, just job descriptions. Despite this the keep has lots of details. As a nod to the gazetteer entry, I would increase the number of troops based at the keep to at least 100 (the rest of the battalion are on leave, or on patrol, or temporarily stationed in outposts).