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seycyrus · 01-07-2021, 06:41 AM

I run a game in that setting using the larger world of Mystara as a backdrop.

The first thing I did was to make it a bit more "plausible".

In the original, the caves are within an hour's walk of the keep. Even if you make it 3 hours because of difficult terrain, that still seems way too close for a threat that of that nature to exist near the local symbol of law.

I put my caves at about a day's travel, with the safest route taking about double that time.

The caves themselves are also way too close to each other for my taste, in some cases being within a few minutes travel. I spread em out a bit more, and made sure that traveling "up and down" between "levels" of the hillside was not that straightforward.

I replaced the evil priests with a highly Charismatic Leader who is the leader of a "Third Party" in the valley. He keeps the various tribes from each other's throats (most of the time) as he tries to get the humanoids focused on his ultimate goals - apparently the excavation and continued exploration of the temple. He brought a few human allies (but are they?) with him.

Granted my knowledge is at least a few editions out of date, but in DnD it seems the languages come too easy. In my game, very few of the PCs and/or NPCs speak ANY of the humanoid languages, and the humanoids can't automatically communicate with each other either. The Charismatic Leader CAN speak all the humanoid languages, which helps him immensely in keeping everyone working towards his goal.

Each of the humanoid tribes has their own goal of course.

01-07-2021, 06:41 AM	#2
seycyrus Join Date: Jul 2013	Re: Keep on the Borderlands I run a game in that setting using the larger world of Mystara as a backdrop. The first thing I did was to make it a bit more "plausible". In the original, the caves are within an hour's walk of the keep. Even if you make it 3 hours because of difficult terrain, that still seems way too close for a threat that of that nature to exist near the local symbol of law. I put my caves at about a day's travel, with the safest route taking about double that time. The caves themselves are also way too close to each other for my taste, in some cases being within a few minutes travel. I spread em out a bit more, and made sure that traveling "up and down" between "levels" of the hillside was not that straightforward. I replaced the evil priests with a highly Charismatic Leader who is the leader of a "Third Party" in the valley. He keeps the various tribes from each other's throats (most of the time) as he tries to get the humanoids focused on his ultimate goals - apparently the excavation and continued exploration of the temple. He brought a few human allies (but are they?) with him. Granted my knowledge is at least a few editions out of date, but in DnD it seems the languages come too easy. In my game, very few of the PCs and/or NPCs speak ANY of the humanoid languages, and the humanoids can't automatically communicate with each other either. The Charismatic Leader CAN speak all the humanoid languages, which helps him immensely in keeping everyone working towards his goal. Each of the humanoid tribes has their own goal of course.