Blood and Mayhem on the Borderlands

My IRL B2: Keep on the Borderlands Campaign For 8 Players(!) Thus Far

I’ve been running the classic B2 module using Moldvay Basic for a table of 8+ players for the last four weeks.

This write-up details what I’ve changed, what I’ve learned from running such a big table for several weeks, and goes into a session by session breakdown of the famous adventure/setting.

I hope you enjoy this little report, and if so, consider subscribing, and checking out our current Kickstarter here for STUDDED LEATHER, the post-apocalyptic OSR setting of our table’s usual weekly game!

My usual group of 3-4 players came to me a couple months ago with an intriguing concept: they’d each bring a friend to the table less experienced than themselves for a rollicking, old school B/X game using B2: Keep on the Borderlands as the basis.

My first reaction was “no,” as I generally don’t enjoy running tables this big: the chaos, the talking over each other, the bored players on the phone going “huh?” when you ask them what they’re doing, etc.

This time, however, I thought I’d take it as a challenge to my close to 30 years of DMing (I started when I was about 10 and I’m in my 40’s now), and have some simple rules we’d all follow to make things fun for everyone.

My basic table rules were: no extended cell phone scrolling (except on breaks, of course!), no yelling over each other, clockwise order for stated actions, and a few other basic courtesy agreements.

With this out of the way, I printed out a few copies of Moldvay Basic just up to the Monster section to use as player’s handbooks at the table. I printed out my own drawing of the Borderlands, with some rumors written down the side. I printed out a keyed isometric map of the Keep I’d used when doing a solo run of the module.

I put my own notes and maps in a three ring binder, and dove in.

SPOILERS FOR B2 BELOW

My pre-game adjustments were considerable. I didn’t want to get stuck into session after session of dungeoncrawling, so the Caves of Chaos were broken apart, and the factions changed, and lessened in number.

I added a village a day southwest of the Keep that supplies it, and offered a starting location for the PCs to get to know each other and hear some rumors.

I named the mountains surrounding the river valley, and placed hideouts and lairs around it - the Evil Shrine being in the mountains on the north of the map, the goblins and orcs to the south, barbarian tribes in the east and the ravine where the caves of chaos would normally be, and added some subplots.

The Guild House is thoroughly criminal, running an illegal slaving operation through the dangerous Borderlands at a high profit with high risk.

The Castellan is a young man, and many say a lesser one than his father. He seems totally under the influence of the Curate.

Other changes were made, but these were the big ones, tying an overarching idea of evil slavers, corrupted barbarians serving the Evil Cult, and humanoid tribes basically just doing their thing.

I knew I wanted the general feeling to be one of increasing chaos, things breaking down, and so on, with characters and their players feeling the pressure of a region totally embroiled in war and the struggle for supremacy between many factions, none of whom are particularly “good” in the black and white sense of the term.

SESSION ONE

Characters were rolled, with much jocularity and good speed - house rules were discussed, and players decided on their own (INT rolls determine name syllables as a party shorthand for who the dumb ones are…)

Some of the starting PCs were Grom (low CHA and terrible INT, demands all call him The Widowmaker, though he’s done nothing yet)

Throgg (he claims the second G is silent - a quiet but steady member of the party)

Lar of Kan (insane rolls, STR of a natural 18, the only one rolled during creation… except for a very subpar Intelligence - this seemed to be a running theme re: low INT PCs)

Rond (thief and criminal on the run from the north country, and possibly the only PC with any moral fiber at all in the game)

Targ (Rond’s bodyguard, illiterate, only knows his family was taken and a strange symbol left on the door of their hut)

And so on.

All told, we began the campaign with 8 players, and I’m pleased to report that in 4 sessions, only one of them have missed a game. (The player of our solitary elf who was killed in the first combat of the campaign, and the player was replaced by another person due to work schedules)
I started each PC out with their own single sentence “backstory” to set up a small amount of context, and they were off to the races.

In the first session, they made it to the Keep, made enemies with an adventuring party in the tavern (Grom challenged their fighter to gamble who could beat their head into the post more times and not lose consciousness, then went back on his 20gp bet immediately), killed a dozen bandits kidnapping merchants and other travelers for the Cult, and restored prisoners to the Merchant’s Guild.

During this rescue from the bandits, the other adventuring party (the same as Grom had already angered earlier) showed up, apparently double-hired by the Guild Master - the party promptly lulled them into trust by inviting them to their campfire and then immediately attacked them, killing their wizard and two fighters before the adventurers fled into the night swearing vengeance.

Later in this 6 hour session, they were invited to dine with the Castellan. Suspicion of the Curate immediately cropped up when some of the smarter PCs saw his reactions to their mention of Cult activity.

They learn he has only been here since the death of the former Castellan, and led a small inquisition against the former Curate, killing his acolytes and putting his eyes out, before he escaped and fled into the wilderness.

Distrust by the end of the session led to full-blown accusations, eventually culminating in getting into the lower levels of the castle and interrupting a ritual by the Curate in an evil shrine beneath the Keep. Battle ensued and the Curate flees as well, with the Keep on alert, and the Captain and Castellan earning a newfound respect for the PCs…

Throughout, the PCs basically are compulsive maniacs outside the Keep, but model citizens inside the Keep for the most part so the “good guys” have a very skewed opinion of them as generally flawed by heroic characters. If only they knew.

SESSION TWO and THREE see the PCs heading to the Moathouse Castle (borrowed from T1) near the river as they have reports of potential cult activity there.

A dozen orcs on the river are slaughtered by the now mounted, lanced and plate armored fighters, who crush the orcs with ease. (Grom is positive that by purchasing a horse and spurs, he is automatically a knight and demands that people call him SIR Grom the Widowmaker now.)

Madness ensues as another PC is lost to the spider in the tower, the bandits who are holing up here are taken prisoner and forced into the dungeon as slime, trap and zombie detectors. They die in droves until the PCs take to “monster fishing” down the hidden shaft leading to the crypts and lose the final one to a broken rope; Rond the Criminal is shocked at the evil actions of his party.

They have an epic battle with the ghouls in the Crypt, leading to a heroic comeback and another PC death or two. They decide to call it quits and head back to the Keep, discovering that this place is being used as a storeroom for what looks like an upcoming invasion of the Keep by the cultists.

They report the news to the Castellan - the traveling priest is now installed as temporary Curate and supplies them with some healing, and they rest at the Inn to recover their wounds.

SESSION FOUR has them realizing their foes in the rival adventuring party have gone into the Moathouse after they heard news of the PCs going there and totally plundered it, selling a ton of stuff and making themselves quite wealthy in the process.

The Tavern is burned, and a huge cult symbol painted on the Inner Bailey wall.

The spring that supplies the Keep with drinking water is fouled, and now barrels of water must be brought from the town - because the Castellan has no troops to handle this, the Merchants hire the rival adventuring party and their growing crew of mercenaries to police the road between town and Keep, enraging the PCs, of course.

PCs are entreated by the Castellan to ride 4 days east, through the Borderlands to the Black Pass, where his cousin Terryn has another fastness called Korhald, and to send word there for him to send troops to assist with this upcoming potential assault and all the other problems going on.

Instead, the PCs:

Spot a dragon (random wilderness encounter)
Encounter barbarians fighting another group of their own tribe - apparently two factions have emerged, one corrupted by the cult, the other following a mysterious blind holy man…you guess it - the former Curate, the one who escaped the inquisition of the evil Curate serving the cult.

They meet with Sarnath and Veren (the priest) and make a deal on the Castellan’s behalf for peace with these barbarians, if they will agree to fight with the denizens of the Keep against the Cult. An agreement is made.

They learn from Verent that its likely the Castellan killed his father, the former Castellan, to take over his position.

On the way back to the Keep, heavily armored and armed hobgoblins attack on mounts - a big battle ensues, two PCs bite the dust, and they make it back to the Keep much the worse for wear, but some PCs have leveled up, a few of whom are now pretty formidable.

Their plan is rejected strongly by the Castellan, who is angered they didn’t take his message to Black Pass. He puts them out of the Keep, and back into the outer bailey, where there’s nowhere to stay because of the burned down Inn/Tavern.

Their new thief (a replacement) climbs the tower of the Keep, making a series of insane rolls to sneak in, listen as the Castellan discusses his plan with the Merchant’s Guild leader to abandon the Keep to the Guild and move to a mansion back in civilization.

Apparently much of what is happening has nothing to do with the cult proper, but is part of an economic destabilization to give the Guild control of the area!

The thief attempts a hide in shadows and move silently roll. He makes them both, amazingly.

He attempts a backstab on the Guild leader and rolls a 20.

It was such a series of crazy rolls, I threw my hands up laughing. He kills the guild leader, is hacked down by the Castellan’s guards. The rest of the PCs start a riot in the outer bailey, and storm the guild house.

The upshot of is by the sessions end that much of the Outer Bailey is on fire, most of the soldiers have been bribed/hired with Guild gold, the inner gate has been taken, the former Captain of the Guard has been promised the position of Castellan to sway him in their favor, and Castellan has been seized and imprisoned.

It was a wild ride.

Lots is happening in the area, and between an angry cousin, an angry Merchant’s Guild with a lot of powerful allies in the city, a Nameless Cult, a bunch of orcs and hobgoblins, and two potentially troublesome barbarian tribes, not to mention a dragon and who knows what else, they PCs will have their hands full for some time to come!

A few things I learned - it had been more than 3 years since I ran a game for a table of this size.

To manage general chaos level, having everyone state their actions clockwise in an organized fashion was critical.

Initiative was done by “phase,” using the standard Moldvay round order, but alternating between combatant parties - this avoided one side or another being totally wiped out and broke combat into more reasonable groups of missile troops doing their thing, mounted troops and melee doing theirs and so on.

I did away with dungeon mapping entirely and just…showed them. I took the moathouse castle map and removed the key from it, same for the dungeon.

They had to roll to find secret doors anyways, and it didn’t take anyone’s enjoyment down. Dealing with a mapper with that many players would’ve slowed things down too much, but I do like it with a smaller group.

After our initial game, we all agree to 10x the cost of metal goods like armor, weapons, and the like - the players wanted more stuff to spend their money on, and more stuff to “work” toward, even if it meant future L1 PCs not being able to afford plate right off. We also made “masterwork” a feature, as this is a low magic setting, and decided it would be 10x the normal cost. Plate mail is 600 coin, masterwork plate (+1 AC) is 6000. There’s still a ton of gold in the game.

As usual, having to keep people moving forward without “rushing” them is an art form with this many players. Lots of “ok, ok, what do you want to do” happened, but it was usually due to all of us laughing a lot and having a good time.

I did my best to set up the area, get the hell out of the players way, and let them enjoy themselves. Random encounters were based on PC number to make things remain threatening.

All in all, a great time was had, and 8 players doesn’t seem as intimidating now.

Keep your blades sharp!

- Castle Grief