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Author
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Comment
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Captain Gunther
Looking around
(4/9/03 7:44 am)
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Keep on the Borderlands as an intro...
I'm thinking of using KotB as an intro to RttToEE (or possibly the original ToEE) and was wondering if anyone else has tried this and could share some tips.
Thanks!
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Andorax
Still here? Wow.
(4/9/03 8:40 am)
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Re: Keep on the Borderlands as an intro...
Haven't tried it, but I am quite familiar with KotB...been running it for onto two decades now.
I guess my big question is how you intend to tie it in? There aren't really any cultist connections that bring you *to* Hommlet...you aren't really looking for them when you get there, so the evil temple isn't really a good lead-in. Other than that, it's a relatively generic humanoid bash, and I'm not sure how well it translates into 3E terms (save for a very efficient way to gain those first three levels).
If I might pose one alternative? Swing out by my website:
www.firedragon.com/~andorax/
and download the "package" of free WotC web adventures that I used as a lead-in. I've included a doc for how I tied the adventures together, so it gives you some guidelines to go on.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
 Infiniti2000
Still here? Wow.
(4/9/03 10:38 am)
Reply
ezSupporter
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Sorry for the Hijack!
Thrommel, please add Andorax's link to the FAQ! 
[link=http://www.firedragon.com/~andorax/ newwindow]Andorax's Home Page[/link]
PS If any other links should be posted, speak up!
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Caedrel
Here for a while
(4/9/03 2:53 pm)
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Re: How about ZansForCans site?
Maybe you should upload this stuff onto ZansForCans' site - centralisation of this sort of great info would be terrific.
And my two bits' worth - I love Keep on the Borderlands, although I've always been faintly troubled by the ecology of the place. But tying it in to RttToEE could be a great explanation for this - maybe the heretofore unnamed evil temple in the highest cave is actually dedicated to the Elder Elemental Eye - the altar already requires a Will save or the viewer becomes insane, so change the colours from red to purple and it's already getting very, very close...
So, maybe all of the inhabitants can be explained as the humanoids starting to gather around this evil power centre, much as they did around Nulb and the original Temple of Elemental Evil - maybe this is a place planted by the doomdreamers.
Alternatively, maybe the altar a full on EEE altar such as that found in the catacombs under the Moathouse and in the Fire Temple, but only just discovered and being recovered by the doomdreamers - in this scenario, the evil tribes aren't there as an explicit army, they've just been drawn by the evil ambience in the area. Maybe the cultists are excavating this site in the same way that they're excavating the Moathouse - you'd have to make the temple complex less "lived in" if you wanted to do this. But this would provide better links to Hommlet - maybe there's some indication on the cultists of another excavation party going to the Moathouse in Hommlet, a note that they are to join those agents there. Maybe these people are to staff the wagon that's due to arrive in Hommlet to carry away those other "artifacts".
And maybe this is what turned the Mad Hermit "mad"... perhaps you should make his panther a pseudonatural one... 
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Calendil
Here for a while
(4/10/03 11:57 am)
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How about Return to KotBL?
Actually, speaking of KotBL, when they came out with the silver-anniversary stuff way back in forevermore, they also revisited KotBL. In it, there's (surprise-surprise) a cult of Evil Clerics gathering Humanoids back to the Caves of Chaos and its up to the PCs to hunt them down and clear them out. If you turn the Clerics into Clerics of the Elder Eye and throw in a (very loose) connection, whalla! You've got yourself a lead-in. You could probably find copies in an out-of-the-way shop or check on eBay to get it there. And that gives me a great idea to help it, too.
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Captain Gunther
Looking around
(4/10/03 1:57 pm)
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Re: How about Return to KotBL?
Yeah, I have both the original and Return to, and also a version I found online converted to 3E. It's basically the same plot, evil cleric of Erythnul building an army of humanoids.
That's what I was thinking though, making him a cleric of the EEE. I'm just trying to figure out how to get the players to Hommlet from the Caves of Chaos. I'll probably have some kind of journal with hints or some correspondance with the cult in the moathouse.
Not sure if I want to use the original Temple or Return. Is one easier to run than the other (aside from having to convert the original)?
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Captain Gunther
Looking around
(4/26/03 11:04 am)
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Keep on the Borderlands as an intro...
*bump*
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Caedrel
Here for a while
(4/26/03 9:22 pm)
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Re: Keep on the Borderlands as an intro...
Well, the conversion process would make all the difference, I think - the straight monster conversions are easy, and someone will have done that somewhere for you, but you'll probably have to wind back the treasure yourself - AD&D adventures give out a lot more than what's expected in the 3e guidelines.
You'll also have to be comfortable with creating more of your own stuff in ToEE than in Return - it's much more light on in detail and descriptive text, in keeping with Gary Gygax's "build it yourself" philosophy. Return is much better fleshed out and also has this board as a wondcerful resource.
But if you DO run ToEE, you can then run Return with much greater impact. You'd have to figure out timelines and look at retiring the ToEE group before starting Return, but it could work out very well - you can Foreshadow some of the stuff in Return that isn't in the original ToEE (for example, the Thrommel in ToEE is much less compelling than the one in Return - get rid of him).
On the other side, that's two campaign length adventures you're talking about there - my group has been on Return for more than a year (albeit with a 3 month break in there) and is only halfway through the CRM. It would have taken us a similar time frame for ToEE, I suspect - that's a Long (Long!) time for any group, and maybe they'll get tired of the whole bit.
Anyway, hope that helps!
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Zagig
Here for a while
(4/27/03 12:25 am)
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Re: How about Return to KotBL?
"Is one easier to run than the other (aside from having to convert the original)?"
I ran ToEE as a 2E conversion about 10 years ago and I think that RttToEE is actually harder to run than ToEE, mainly due to the incredible amount of detail and options available. However, it is also a more interesting adventure as well for the same reasons. I would personally recommend against running both unless you are sure that your gaming group will be together for the next 5 years or so.
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