The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 Session 0 and 1

Session 0: 

Keep on the Borderlands is one of my favorites, and today I decided to run a solo session. If you click that link, you'll get the DriveThruRPG page to purchase the module. 

I have selected 6 2nd-level PCs to run through the Caves of Chaos: Elf, Half Elf, Magic-User, Cleric, Fighter, and Ranger. I haven't selected names for them. Maybe next session. 

The PCs have 3 NPCs with them, a drover and two man-at-arms leading 3 mules. They also have a collection of fun magic items. I selected them as they were both effective and fun. They have 3 Bags of Holding, 4 potions of healing, a potion of gaseous form, 2 Cloaks of Defence +1, Boots of Travelling, Eyes of the Eagle, 2 Scrolls of 3 Arcane Spells each, and +1 Leather Armor. 

These are basically all of the items I would wish for as a low-level character. 

They have one more "great" item, a map of the Caves of Chaos. They don't know the map is hopelessly incorrect. Because of this, they bypass the Keep and head due north into the forest. They are reading the map wrong and are expecting a road running east to the Caves. They are looking at a contour line. 

Session 1: 

This mess continues until they meet the Hermit. Well, his mountain lion first. The marching order was: 

Ranger, Elf, followed by 1 mule and a man-at-arms, Magic User, and Cleric (side by side), followed by the drover and a mule, Half-Elf and Fighter, followed by the last man-at-arms and a mule. 

The lion missed its chance to surprise by leaping on someone. It bolts towards the party from the rear. The Fighter and Half-Elf swap places with the last man-at-arms and mule. 

Startled to see a lion racing at them, the Half Elf passes a javelin to the Fighter before they both heave at the lion. The Fighter hits for 4 points of damage as the lion flashes by, running up the right side of the line of characters. The mule spoils the man-at-arms' shot with a crossbow. The Cleric had his sling ready, and the drover and Magic-User drew daggers. The Magic-User goes down under a flurry of bites and slashes. He is bitten for 3 points of damage. 

The Magic-User hits the lion with a dagger for 4 points of damage. The drover weakly swings and misses, while the Cleric drops his sling and lands an incredible kick for 2 points of damage. 

The rest of the party is charging to the Magic-User's defense. The round is over. The mountain lion has 5 hp left, the Magic-User has 3 hp left. The NPCs are struggling with the mules rather than fighting. 

Next round. Initiative is a tie; all attacks are simultaneous.

The lion bites for 2 points of damage and flubs his slash attacks. The Magic-User's dagger bounces off the lion's hide. The Cleric gets his warhammer out and kills the lion. As everyone is running towards the center of the group, only the Fighter and Half-Elf see the Hermit brain the man-at-arms, and they are at the rear. The module doesn't say what weapon the Hermit has. I like the idea of a massive wooden club. I am using my damage reduction rules, and the man-at-arms' chainmail absorbs 2 points of damage. It doesn't matter much.  He goes down and has -3 hp. 

The Half Elf elects not to throw his last javelin at the Hermit, but the Fighter knocks an arrow. I am using my modified attack rolls for archers. The Fighter rolls an 8, which would be a miss. However, being an even number, he realizes he would miss and does not actually release the arrow. Nothing happens, and the Fighter has an arrow ready for the next round. 

Round 3. The party handily wins initiative this round. 

The Fighter takes aim again and hits with a 20. I was going to give the Hermit some sort of advantage because of all the mayhem around him, but a 20 is a 20. He has taken 5 points of damage, damage reduced by one for his leather armor. 

The Half-Elf charges ahead with his javelin and won't reach the Hermit this round. The Cleric pulls the Magic-User up as the drover and the second man-at-arms struggle with the mules. The third mule darts up the road. The Ranger and the Elf hem in the Hermit with sword and mace. They hit for a combined total of 8 points of damage, again reduced by 1 point per attack. 

Round 4. The party decides to make sure they both stay down. The initiative is tied again. 

The Hermit misses the Elf. The Half-Elf flings a javelin, striking for 2 points. The Fighter holds his arrow on a second roll of 8. The Ranger and Elf close in again. The Elf hits for 5 points of damage, and the leather armor eats up one point of damage. The Hermit is down, and the Ranger makes sure. 

The drover, Ranger, and Half-Elf go after the lost mule while everyone else attends the fallen man-at-arms and the injured Magic-User. The Cleric casts Cure Light Wounds, bringing the man-at-arms to 2 hp. The Magic-User forgoes healing. 

It doesn't take too long for the Half-Elf and the drover to round up the mule. The ranger has a 50% chance of finding the tracks left by the Hermit. He does so. They take some time to strip the bodies, skinning the lion and picking over the Hermit's body. 

They collect up their goodies; they have the club, the lion pelt, and the Ring of Protection +1. It doesn't take long to follow the footprints back to the Hermit's Hollow in the tree. They toss the place and find his treasure: a Potion of Invisibility, the +1 dagger, 31 gold pieces, and 164 silver pieces. 

The party decides to bed down around the hollow for the day to rest up before tackling the Caves of Chaos tomorrow. The NPCs decide to roll for morale. They get a 9. 

The party talks among themselves, attends to their weapons, and beds down for the night. They have been awarded a total of 175 for the Hermit and the lion, plus 47 exp for the treasure. That is 37 each. I will round this to 40 exp and award it now. 

The next morning, the party awakes long after sunrise. It is strangely quiet. 

The 2 men-at-arms, the drover, and all three mules are gone. 

The three NPCs have taken stock of their loot while having breakfast at the Keep on the Borderlands. They have a map, a 100 gp lion pelt, 3 mules, 2 scrolls with 3 arcane spells on each, two suits of plate armor, a +1 dagger, a potion of Invisibility, a giant club, 232 gold pieces, 164 silver pieces, a bow, 3 javelins, 2 swords, 6 weeks of iron rations, a lantern, 6 flasks of oil, and 40 arrows. 

They divvy up their stuff, sell the pelt (50 gps), the scrolls (300 gps each), the mules (15 each), and saddle bags (2.5 each). They are awarded 216 exp each. They also have 650 gp in cash, plus fine armor and weapons, a potion, and a +1 magic ring. They don't know what to do with the giant club, so they give it to a barkeep. They pop into the armorer's for a nice suit of leather armor for the drover turned thief and pay to have the platemail properly fitted to the newly minted fighters. 

Rety the drover hears rumor 11, while Lefty and Punch are being fitted. 

The Court Wizard Dallehm

In my last post, I covered the Crown of Saunders. This is the history of that item. I like to codify these mysteries and histories so that Bards, Magic-Users, and Clerics can use their abilities and spells to dig into the world. I like it when the players and characters feel they are the source of knowledge rather than me doing a silly info dump.  

When characters use their abilities, I will summarize only the parts applicable to the nature of the characters' powers. Sometimes that is lore, or knowledge, or merely the result of casting a spell. 

The Crown of Saunders could always reverse alignments and provide immunity to charm. How it gained its other powers is summarized below. 

Dallehm was the last Court Wizard of Saunders. He thought he was tricky and came up with a plan to steal the throne from the rightful heir. Dallehm knew that the Crown of Saunders was magical, but couldn't figure out its properties. He enlisted the aid of Magarven the Drow to find out the exact magic of the item. 

Dallehm plotted to use Magic Jar, possessing the king and forcing him to abdicate in favor of himself. 

Problem one: Magarven was not just evil; he was untrustworthy. He didn't bother to do the research or spells to determine the nature of the Crown's power. Magarven fed Dallehm information to keep the flow of coins coming. The lies didn't stop until Dallehm's coins dried up. 

Problem two: The Crown is very powerfully cursed. 

Problem three: Interactions with Magarven are cursed. 

Feeling that he had the most excellent plan in place, Dallehm proceeded to fail spectacularly. 

When he attempted to Magic Jar the king, the crown acted. First, it flipped Dallehm's alignment. Then there was a violent confrontation between the Magic Jar and the Crown, ending when Magarven destroyed the Magic Jar "to save the King!" Having no place to go, Dallehm's soul found refuge in the Crown itself. He is now effectively immortal, but trapped in an inanimate object. Dallehm is the source of the other powers the Crown possesses. 

Magarven, being of a clerical bent, ensured that Dallehm's empty body passed away quickly and quietly. 

"I tried my best, but I don't know what evil befell the Court Magician. Perhaps if the Crown had a healer instead of a Magician, this tragedy could have been averted. If the king was so inclined, I would be happy to serve at his pleasure." 

Yeah, Magarven is that kind of evil. 

Dallehm soul's can converse directly with the king, and generally Dallehm likes to talk to the king. This is what provides the gift of languages and bonus to Charsma. Dallehm is completely independent of the king's mind, so he can make observations, provide translation and the ability to speak languages while the king is otherwise occuppied. 

Dallehm can cast any of the spells he knew at the moment he was trapped in the crown. He knows 3 spells for levels 1-3 and 2 fourth-level spells. As a 9th-level Magic-User, he should also have a single fifth-level spell, but I ommit this one because he never bothered to study after using Magic Jar. DMs should select these spells base on thier campaign. 

There are two final powers Dallehm provides. When the king engages in dancing, singing, riding, or swimming, Dallehm experiences a fusion with the king. Dallehm feels like he has a body again. He amplifies the king's natural abilities but does not replace them. 

There is one last power the crown conveys to the king. When the king is subjected to telepathy or mind reading, the results are unique, to say the least. Since someone using these abilities on the king does not know there is a second mind in play, they perseve the king's inner thoughts and voice as very cold, as if he is not entirely human. The description I use for this is: "You can sense the king's thoughts, but not his voice. His thoughts are like the sound of words made by silence and absense." 

This last tidbit isn't a power of the crown, it is just my way as DM to get into the heads of the players and make them lery of mind reading and such.  

A Simple Crown for Saunders

I was always fascinated with the artifacts in the DMG, but there was always a problem with them. They were written for someone else's campaign, plus they were essentially cursed. And often world-breaking. 

I often make up artifact-level magic items for my campaign. In general, they are more of a McGuffin of limited utility rather than The Ring of Power. I really suggest using the artifacts in the DMG as a guide rather than items to be selected. 

The Crown of Saunders is one such item. The Kingdom of Saunders is a tiny place. Its main claim to fame is that the wisdom of the kings has allowed it to remain stable for centuries. This is the power of the Crown, the actual crown worn by the king. 

Saunders' main problem is that its princes usually fall prey to the men around the king, the type of men who always gravitate to power. Every prince has always been remembered as a horrible little prick, who, upon ascending the throne and donning the crown, suddenly had a change of heart and became wise and kind. 

This is the Crown's doing. It has the following magic: 

Reverse Alignment (once in a lifetime),
Immunity to Charm,
Allows the spell ability of a 9th-level Magic-User, 
Confers on the owner the ability to sing, swim, ride horses, and dance exceptionally well. 
Confers the ability to speak and understand many languages. 
Confers a +1 to Charisma, up to 19.  

The first 3 powers require the wearing of the crown. If someone other than the king wears the crown, they will experience the alignment reversal, but not gain any of the other abilities. Those are reserved for the king. 

The DM should make up a list of spells for the crown as if a Magic-User were getting ready for travel, not combat. These can be cast once per day, but only if the crown is worn. These extra spells require no study or a spell book. Should the king actually be a Magic-User, that person can cast their own spells or one of the ones the crown "knows", but they cannot exceed the casting limits of a 9th-level caster. They don't get to cast extra spells. The Magic-User is required to study if they wish to cast a spell from their own spell book as per normal. 

The next three powers are conferred to the proper owner of the crown, not someone wearing it or holding it. It is impractical to wear the crown all the time, especially when dancing or horseback riding. The Kings of Saunders can perform all of these tasks ridiculously well, but I will leave the actual bonus up to you. I will note that drownings and riding accidents never happen to the Kings of Saunders; it's like they are Olympic-level athletes. Hubris is still possible, but unlikely. 

DMs should select up to 3 languages for the Crown to confer to the King, based on your campaign setting. In my setting, these are "evil" languages that a King typically wouldn't study due to the stigma. 

Several wily kings have historically used the alignment-reversing power of the crown to "pardon" a politically motivated criminal by placing the crown on their head. This will force the alignment change, turning an evil or chaotic person into a lawful or good citizen. It greatly reduces the likelihood of reprisals and problems for the king.  The utility of this is dubious, as the reverse of neutral is still neutral, and so is reversing the alignment of someone who is acting out of logic or belief. On many occasions, this trick of "pardoning" has actually caused more problems for the king than it solves. 

So, here you have it. A very neat and powerful item that could, but doesn't have to be game-breaking. I will have a second historical post as to how this Crown was created. It is unusual because the Crown's gambit of powers are also unusual. 

Happy News!

This is a weird and happy update. 

Back in March of 2022, I received a bit of bad news. Amazon ended my Associate account. This ended an important source of revenue for my website. It also caused a headache; I had to go back and remove all affiliate links to Amazon. Well, as painful as it was, an agreement is an agreement. 

Last month, I vaguely mentioned this in a post, and amazingly, Amazon reached out to reinstate my account! This is great. I really appreciate the extra effort and being invited back to promote items I already use. 

So, we are back on with the Amazon Ads. As I previously stated, all ads will be clearly marked. I am in the process of going back through some (limited) posts to re-add previously removed ads. 

Since it was so painful to remove said ads, I have no intention of slapping ads into a ton of old posts. You will mostly see these appear in book reviews and posts where I specifically mention Amazon as a source. I am 100% certain you will see ads on books, just like you do for DriveThruRPG. I am much less likely to plug in an ad where a casual mention of Amazon is made. 

I like my sources of goods to be diversified, and you should, too. If I say a brand name and you see it somewhere else, by all means, use that other source. Be loyal, don't be inflexible. 

The Travelling Box

File under things I have done and should have done. Way back in 2020, I posted about a game by GDW called Striker. I assured myself that I would read and review it. That didn't happen. What really happened was I stuck the box in a drawer and moved it to the garage. 

That was a win because when the house burned a year later, I found a desk full of game books in the garage, which did not burn. 

Fast forward four years. 

I still haven't read this one, but I should. 

One of the problems with old games is that the cardboard boxes often fall apart, regardless of whether they are exposed to fire or not. This box is ok, but in a few years, it won't be. I cannot tell you how many games I have without boxes. This cramps my style of reading and reviewing things. 

However, I now have a laser cutter, which is also contributing to my lack of reading and reviewing. Funny how hobbies battle with each other. Here is my grand plan: Make boxes for games. 

This box is designed to fit the small booklet games that were so popular decades ago. The exterior dimensions are 6 1/4" (15.8 cm) x 9 1/4" (23.5 cm) x 1 3/4" (4.5 cm). The bottom panel has reinforcing teeth, and the lid has a backplate to prevent flex. 

This is a prototype, but once I have the design down, I plan to sell them on my website. I need to tweak the design a little. As you can see, it is a tiny bit too small for the modern hardback books that are common today.

I also had a friend ask if I could felt the interior, to prevent rattling. That means I need to make the box a smidgen larger. And learn how to apply the felt. Once I am 100% with my dimensions, I'll see how good my painting and staining skills are after all these years. 

These boxes have lift-off lids, which I like, but I will probably design two with wooden hinges and a fourth with metal. I need to set a clear goal and stop fidgeting with the design like I did in the picture to the left.  

I hope to have these for sale on Ko-Fi by September 1st. In these few weeks, I need to get a lot done.