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## D&D Classics: B2 The Keep on the Borderlands
This module includes a cover folder with maps and a complete description
booklet to form a ready-made scenario for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS(R) Basic Set. It
has been specially designed for use by beginning Dungeon Masters so that they
may begin play with a minimum of preparations.

Within are many features to aid novice players and Dungeon Masters: legends,
history and background information, a list of adventuring characters, tips on
how to be an effective Dungeon Master, plus an interesting area for characters
to basethemselves in (the Keep) before setting out to explore the Caves of
Chaosl

Product History

“B2: The Keep on the Borderlands” (1979), by Gary Gygax, was printed by TSR in
December 1979. It was probably TSR’s twelfth adventure, and the first one to
use a full-color cover, rather than the monochrome covers that had been used
for the previous 11 adventures.

Basic Sets. Like its predecessor, “B1: In Search of the Unknown,” this
adventure was created for use with the first edition of the Dungeons & Dragons
Basic Set (1977), created by J. Eric Holmes. Once it was printed, “Keep on the
Borderlands” immediately replaced “In Search of the Unknown” in the Basic
boxed set.

However, “Keep” is much better known as the adventure packaged with the second
edition Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1981), which was revised and updated by
Tom Moldvay. It remained a part of that package throughout its life
(1981-1983).

From 1980-1983, Dungeons & Dragons was seeing its most explosive growth, and
the Basic Set was the prime entry point to that game. As a result, B2 ended up
the most printed D&D module of all time. Much later estimates suggest there
might have been 1.5 million copies printed in all, between the two boxed sets
and standalone sales.

Introductory Ideas. Like B1, “Keep on the Borderlands” was positioned as an
“introductory” module; it provided instructions not just on how to run the
campaign contained within, but also on how to run combats and to be an
effective GM. However, it varied notably from its predecessor B1 in one area:
Where the previous adventure had been a bit of a toolkit – with GMs learning
to create dungeons by actually filling in the monsters and treasures – this
one was a complete, ready-to-run adventure.

The Caves of Chaos themselves showed off the introductory nature of B2 in
another way: They’re pretty much a who’s who of the humanoids you could meet
in Basic D&D, with separate caverns inhabited by kobolds, orcs, goblins,
ogres, hobgoblins, bugbears, gnolls, and even a minotaur. Gygax later admitted
that the result wasn’t “ecologically correct,” but that wasn’t really the
point.

Adventuring Tropes. “Keep” is also of historic note because it detailed not
just dungeons to explore, like most adventures of the period, but also a home
base for the players to use: the eponymous Keep, which spans about 6 pages in
the adventure. PCs can interact with the various inhabitants there and thus
have plenty of roleplaying opportunity before they ever strike out into the
Caves of Chaos.

This would have been a huge innovation for TSR if Gygax hadn’t done the same
thing just a a few months earlier in “T1: The Village of Hommlet.” As it was,
these two modules set “home base + nearby adventure point” as a standard
adventure design element (though towns would be more frequently used in the
future).

There’s also a page of wilderness adventuring. Though pretty scant, it was an
innovation for the Basic adventures.

Future History. “The Keep on the Borderlands” has been revisited many times,
most notably in Wizards of the Coast’s Return to the Keep on the Borderlands
(1999) for AD&D. In more recent years, the setting made a thematic return as
the Chaos Scar, which was spotlighted in D&D Encounters Season 3: Keep on the
Borderlands – Season of Serpents (2010-2011) and in Dungeon #171 (October
2009) through Dungeon #197 (December 2011), all for 4e. The adventure may
still have a future in D&D too, as it was released as Caves of Chaos at D&D
Expo 2012 as a playtest for D&D Next.

About the Creators. Gary Gygax wrote “The Keep on the Borderlands” at the end
of his period of greatest adventure productivity, from 1977-1979, shortly
after creating “T1: The Village of Hommlet.” By this time, actually managing
TSR was taking up increasing amounts of his time, which kept Gygax from doing
more creative work. He hired Jean Wells and Lawrence Schick to form a Design
department in 1979. Going forward, this department would be the main source of
TSR’s adventures, not Gygax.
Converted by: Rob Twohy

Requires: An active subscription or a one time purchase of a Fantasy Grounds
Full or Ultimate license and a one time purchase of the 2E Compatible ruleset.
Converted by: Mike Wilson and Rob Twohy

Requires: An active subscription or a one time purchase of a Fantasy Grounds
Full or Ultimate license and a one time purchase of the 2E Compatible ruleset.

Fantasy Grounds – D&D Classics: B2 The Keep on the Borderlands