I decided to put the Keep in Nyrond to start my players out with. Somewhere close to the Flinty Hills, but not in the Flinty Hills. I'll be running Return to the Keep on the Borderlands with my group. I almost bought the original B2 from Drivethru, though.
If you weren't already aware of it, The Keep on the Borderlands is my favorite beginning module. Here is a link to the blog I wrote about one party of adventurers and their antics at the Keep and its environs.
If you haven't run it before, I have a few suggestions.
1) As a beginning adventure, it will set the tone for what your players expect from the game. If you want it to be a seriously realistic game, this is where you demonstrate that to your players. If you want it to be a campaign full of silliness, here is your opportunity to start if off with a bang.
2) Plan ahead. Come up with personalities for some of the Keep worthies and the leaders of the humanoids in the Caves of Chaos. Especially, develope personalities for the evil clerics, the executioner, and the medusa in the Shrine of Evil Chaos. Don't let your players encounter them for the first time and defeat them in battle as if they were no-name humanoids. That would be far less memorable than getting into an insult war with one of them, having that opponent escape, only to have to suffer more insults the next time they meet.
For example, I named the evil cleric (spy) in the Keep 'Akkub'. That means 'insidious' in Hebrew. Just a small hint for players who think to look into such matters.
3) Add a few planned wandering monsters of your own design. They could be competing adventuring bands, mercenaries hired by the clerics of the Caves, angry elves who don't like the party encroaching on their portion of the forest, or an annoying dryad. Make the campaign your own.
4) Make sure its location and the Keep have a believable reason for existing where you locate it. Tie its story into what the party knows (or will discover) about the surrounding lands in the World of Greyhawk. The Keep could well become their base of operations for many adventures to come.
I was aware Sir Xaris. The keep is in your favorites of beginning modules (and I looked at your link twice). I'll try to keep your suggestions in mind. Yep, you're trying to help, not hinder. That's why I suggested that we'd be friends.
The reason why I picked this adventure, Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, is that it's relatively easy to start a party with. The only other one to try was "Night Below." And I'm not ready to run that one yet.
I read through Return to the Keep on the Borderlands and used some of the material. I liked the original scenario better, so kept my campaign in line with the original, but I appreciated the expansion of many of the personalities in the Keep. Some of those, I was able to port over to my own campaign. I liked that the evil clerics were kidnapping people and turning them into zombies, but I used Sir Bluto as the bad guy spear-heading that particular plot instead of someone in the Keep (was it the evil clerical spy?).
Of course, like you, I chose my own location instead of using the official one in the Yeomanry. Near the Flinty Hills is a great location as it is centrally located between the 'civilized' lands of Nyrond and the wild frontier - the borderlands. Great pick!
Of course, like you, I chose my own location instead of using the official one in the Yeomanry. Near the Flinty Hills is a great location as it is centrally located between the 'civilized' lands of Nyrond and the wild frontier - the borderlands. Great pick!
SirXaris
I already tied the keep to one of the players. His fourth cousin runs the Keep, and no I didn't imply there were any heirs. yet. Yeah, I wanted to tie the Keep to the setting there. The southern Rakers Mountains was perfect. It's in the Duchy of Flinthill, beyond the Gamboge forest.
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