Keep on the Borderlands is a conversion of paper and pencil module written by Gary Gygax, first published by TSR in 1979. The paper and pencil module, The Keep on the Borderlands, was ranked the 7th greatest Dungeons & Dragons adventure of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, on the 30th anniversary of the Dungeons & Dragons game.
Players arrive at the Keep on the Borderlands, where they base themselves before investigating the Caves of Chaos, a series of nearby caverns full of humanoid tribes poised to destroy the keep. It typifies the dungeon crawls associated with beginning D&D players, while permitting some limited outdoor adventures.
The module is primarily a hack and slash adventure, although I have tried to add opportunities for role playing and there are some tricks and traps.
It is intended for new characters. It should work for multiplayer but I did not have the opportunity to run a multiplayer test.
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In collaboration with original module author ENoa4, the DM-Friendly Initiative (DMFI) is pleased to announce that B2: Keep on the Borderlands - DMFI Edition has just been released and is available for download on this page.
The DMFI edition of the module has additional features designed to enhance multiplayer and DM'd play, including a new DM Guide, revamped Player Guide, DM Plot Wand, the DMFI Tools, and other goodies. We hope you enjoy.
Many thanks to Carlo for all of his hard work preparing the DMFI version of Keep on the Borderlands.
Posted by Avo at 2012-09-16 05:53:00 Voted 7.50 on 09/16/12
Funny old school dungeon adventure.
Posted by jfoxtail at 2012-07-26 08:27:39 Voted 8.50 on 07/26/12
Late to the game and late to vote. I hope that the author still lurks and considers the odd project in a beloved medium.
Ernie flair witht the toolset remains unchanged since his NWN1 days. This mod should be in your collection.
While the plot is linear so is the base material. And having played this mod 100's of times in PNP and NWN1 - I can say this is perhaps the very best rendition of them all (NWN1 and 2 obviously). It runs bug free and smoothly with thoughtful placement of terrain for tactical combat.
It delivers exactly what it promises. The unique plot hooks to introduce a couple of henchmen are very well done. It is neither overpowered nor underpowered. It is very faithful to the originial material.
Familiarity and nostalgia inspire more appreciation for what he is able to achieve and I have/can not.
If Enoa still lurks - thanks old friend for a number of hours of nosalgic enjoyment. I hope you come back to the toolset.
Posted by Ander Gent at 2011-06-07 13:13:09 Voted 9.00 on 06/07/11
Great mod! This was a fun low level dungeon crawl. The only critique i have is by the end it got really easy. Maybe give the bugbears and final dungeon a bit more going on. The undead cave was my favorite of the bunch.
Posted by BentonGrey at 2011-05-02 20:26:18 Voted 6.00 on 05/02/11
This was a fun little module, but it was pretty bare-bones. There wasn't much story to be had here, though I imagine that has more to do with the source material than the author. Also, the balance was a little off in places, with the last caves being rather on the easy side. Still, this was fun hack and slash, just as advertised.
Thanks for the post and feedback. I wrote this a few years ago, if I recall correctly there is a cursed fountain or alter and this is one of several random effects as per the original PnP module.
Posted by ***Jason*** at 2010-06-09 21:18:56 Voted 7.00 on 06/09/10
I am confused, somewhere within the game. It changed my Alignment. I don't have a problem with alignment shifts, I just think you should warn players that there is a possibility that it could happen. Otherwise fairly basic mod, thank you for all your work. _________________________ "Who am I? I am the center of the Storm, Master of the Sword, Draw your blade, cur or die where you stand" Sidhe quote
I think I'm not gonna rate it. As someone who have never played the pnp version nor played the module with a DM, I don't think I'll do it much justice. It's surely a solid straight forward hack-n-slash module with little else. Interaction with companions are basically non-existed, the story is also straight forward. Some minor glitches like the kobold chieftain starting to attack before finishing the dialogue (I had to give myself an invis potion).
I wonder how it would feel playing with a DM, too bad I don't have anyone close that's still playing.
Posted by keebler10 at 2010-01-13 09:43:37 Voted 10.00 on 01/13/10
I'm giving this a 10 for nostalgia. Sure it's not the greatest mod ever but it was great fun checking this out. I haven't experienced any kind of interactive game going back almost 30 years since my first impression of D & D and the original PnP module that came with the basic set. Thanks for your efforts and the trip back in time.
Posted by Deadeye_Daxx at 2009-09-26 18:37:13 Voted 5.00 on 09/26/09
5.0 - Fair, Solid Yet Unremarkable
This module is a bit dated because of it's early development. A very faithful but lackluster reproduction of the original PnP mod. To really be fun it needs a group and a DM to fill in the story and flavor that was left out. Nonetheless it's a classic, and I enjoyed running through it quickly. Given when it was made though, it's a solid piece of work.
Posted by Lanessar at 2009-09-01 07:35:32 Voted 9.25 on 09/01/09
This is an excellent conversion to the original PnP mod. It's pretty identical to the original (having run about 15 groups through it). But it's missing some... I don't know... DM touches which were never present in the original DnD mods. Don't get me started on how the mods from 2000 onwards spoon-feed DMs everything as opposed to the originals which were left for the DM to craft an intriguing setting. That's not the author's problem, per se.
As an example, as you finished clearing certain areas, the townsfolk reacting differently and more interaction with the Castellan would be pretty in-line with the original module. There were also another set of caves which, even sticking with the original PnP mod, could have been fleshed out by the author in his usual flair which would have made this from a copy of the original to a truly breath-taking module.
That being said, I really wish there were some features added to the module from SoZ, which I may do myself, to make it more "PnP-like", such as the new party roster and the overland map. I understand that Ernie is on a hiatus/permanent break from modding, which is really sad, as I wanted to see the Halls of Kilgrin for NWN2. That was, perhaps, one of the best dungeon-crawls I've ever played in NWN1.
There are many, many good points about this module. On the building side, I wish that the placeables and the keep were more fleshed-out. As well, there should have been some random encounters in the CoC external areas, as per the original module. Aside from the "laid out" encounters, EG did put in quite a few "random encounter" scenarios as I recall. Some of the terrain was also a bit blander than could have been done. While that's due to the author squeezing this out pretty quickly after release, I think some visual face-lift is in order.
Forgive my rambling; this is a module pretty much any DM or player should start out playing in NWN. It has excellent scripting, decent conversations, and is generally what we consider a "hack n slash" mod worthy of praise.
Posted by Loosifur at 2009-07-21 09:34:49 Voted 8.50 on 07/21/09
Really enjoyed this, especially as it's a PnP conversion. Good to reminisce about the old game! Very true to classic modules, i.e. no hand-fed plot, and trying to kill everything in the dungeon isn't always the best plan. A great module for starting out a character without playing through the OC for the seventeenth time.
Only cons that come to mind are those inherent in the module itself. Fights can be a little too easy depending on your character build, but I suspect that could be because converting from original D&D to current PC incarnation loses some things in translation. Same with the lightness of plot, which would be solved by a decent DM in PnP.
Overall, easily worth the download and the two or three hours to play. Please, convert more PnP modules for geezers like me!
You can play the regular version multiplayer without a DM, I'm not sure about DMFI. Carlo would need to answer that. I don't recall how much scripting was modified, I suspect you could play either version. _________________________ ENoa4 http://enoa4rpg.blogspot.com
Posted by Tauschitz at 2009-02-19 11:18:59 Voted 9.75
Is it possible to play the DMFI version multiplayer but *without* a DM?
As a reminder to folks, the DMFI version is an updated version of the ENTIRE mod, with additional multiplayer and DM functionality added, and none of the original functionality taken away. You can still play the DMFI version solo (if you insist). A good amount of work was done on revamping the NPC convos for the DMFI version, but it's up to the user to download the updated version if they want that.
Posted by DM Heatstroke at 2009-01-22 03:28:25 Voted 8.00 on 01/22/09
Very good conversion of the PnP module. I do wish it had less typos as they distract from the whole. _________________________ Heatstroke
Thanks for the kind rating. I am very happy you enjoyed it. _________________________ ENoa4 http://enoa4rpg.blogspot.com
Posted by Ambrose MacAthol at 2008-12-22 13:23:29 Voted 8.00 on 12/22/08
Thanks for the faithful reproduction of this mod Enoa, I remember this one back in high school. It wasen't flawless but really nothing worth mentioning as I did finish it. Equipment and money I felt was normal as well as leveling in the game. WELL DONE!!
I'm not too far into the module, having just finished clearing out the Kobold cave (first cave I entered) but I am enjoying the module and wish to thank Ernie for putting it together. Showing my age here, but I felt a little nostalgia having played the PnP version 20 years ago. I can't remember too much, but I think the module is at least generally consistent with the story and content of the original PnP version. I'll try to remember to post a rating once I finish.
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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