In the latest issue of Wyrd Science, B2 Keep At The Borderlands is brought up as a benchmark for the adventure style of Dungeons & Dragons in a discussion about a new game from Osprey Publishing, Through the Hedgerow:
“[Hedgerow] definitely isn’t a game about delving dungeons to murder a few orcs, make off with their treasure, rinse and repeat.”
From the article, Hedgerow is a game about a group of PCs who are called to serve the mysterious Light in its never-ending war against the entropic forces of the Dark. The battle and PC adventures range across various eras of England, from the medieval past to WWII.
Later in the discussion, a distinction is drawn between American fantasy, which is more oriented toward a small bastion of civilization facing a broad swath of untamed wilderness, and British fantasy, where there is no uncivilized land. As a result, you have to deal with your “neighbors”, both material and immaterial and their choices present and past alike:
“American fantasy is the fantasy of the frontier between civilization and the darkness beyond. … You see it best encapsulated in the old D&D modular Keep on the Borderlands.”
Aside: Please don’t mistake me. I am not giving either Wyrd Science or Through the Hedgerow the evil eye. The former is an amazing magazine that everyone should get, especially this issue, which brings up The Grim and The Dark, has an interview with Castle Rat, and talks about Pratchett’s Nightwatch along with reviews by Idle Cartulary. The latter seems like a very cool RPG that started with an exploration of old-school D&D and grew from there into something that fans of Over the Garden Wall and Dolmenwood would seem to love!
What I want to focus on is how Keep on the Borderland casts such a long shadow over the entire discussion of D&D, despite other contemporary module alternatives. So what if we consider a Basic D&D line sibling as an alternative, like:
B4: The Lost City (1982)
In brief, The Lost City is a module about an ancient city that dug up an eldritch being when constructing their king’s burial tomb. Not being able to kill the creature, some began to worship it as a new god. Eventually, as more and more folks followed this god, the city was left to ruin, undefended, and destroyed by barbarians. The survivors, mostly still devoted to the eldritch god, built an underground city ruled by the law of this being. However, even there, a rebellion representing followers of the old gods flourished, and they plot revenge. Here is a review by Professor Dungeon Master. This is one of my favorite TSR module,s and I think one that deserves far more praise than it gets and it gets plenty.
Let’s consider the qualities of The Lost City:
A Dungeon of Factions: The PCs can make friends with 3 “good” factions representing the old gods of the city who are squared off against an “evil” faction, supported by their eldritch being, currently controlling the city.
NPCs With Their Own Goals: Each faction also has its own goal, set of recruitment requirements, and are all are at odds with each other. However, all want to free their city of Zargon’s rule, so diplomatic players have a clear route forward. In fact, its expressly called out that these factions “give the DM the chance to add character interaction to the adventure.”
All Human: A vast majority of the action in the Lost City centers around what the PCs are going to do with the human factions below ground. Three are rebel factions, one is a large cult, and vast majority of the rest are drugged, oppressed who really don’t know much else.
More Than A Dungeon, its a Sandbox: The main presentation of the module is the upper pyramid. The module ends when the PC reach the titular city, but in a few scant pages Moldvey offers an isometric view of the city, major buildings, alludes to five other adventuring sites (see below), and provides 8 different paragraph hooks for continuing the adventure.
Squarely Swords & Sorcery: Most D&D modules tend to come across as some variant of mid-fantasy, but difficult to pin down in its relationship with the Appendix N. The Lost City wears its swords and sorcery firmly on its sleeve. In fact, I think it's one of the few modules to actually do so, having been so inspired by Howard’s Red Nails.
So what would The Lost City say about Dungeons & Dragons if it were used as a benchmark in lieu of B2 Keep on the Borderlands?
I think you get an impression that PCs are often a group of wanderers who find themselves walking into the middle of various conflicts that are at a stalemate between humans divided between good and evil factions, which take place in sites of former grandeur. Their decisions and negotiations, which are mostly to the benefit of “good”, often help vanquish the avatars of evil in the adventure. Along the way they might uncover why the current state of things are the way they are, find some valuables/magic, and ultimately free and oppressed populations. This sets the stage for even more adventure!
To me, this seems down-right contemporary but certainly a far cry from “delving dungeons to murder a few orcs, make off with their treasure, rinse and repeat”. I don’t forward this benchmark change to launder Gygax’s conception of D&D, but to remind everyone that even by the late 70’s many voices had already begun providing alternative ideas of what a D&D adventure is. B2 is important for a variety of reason, but not because its the definitive or even defining conception of D&D adventuring.
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