Return to the Keep on the Borderlands
| Return to the Keep on the Borderlands | |
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| Cover of RttKotB, art by Fred Fields. | |
| Type: | Adventure |
|---|---|
| Code/Abbreviation: | RttKotB or TSR 11327 |
| Edition: | second edition |
| Author(s): | John D. Rateliff |
| Editor(s): | Duane Maxwell |
| Cover Artist(s): | Fred Fields |
| Interior Artist(s): | Glenn Brewer |
| Series: | Silver Anniversary Adventures |
| Publisher: | TSR |
| First Published: | June 1999 |
| Pages: | 64 |
| ISBN: | 0-7869-1327-4 |
| Class: | Apocryphal |
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands is a 1999 adventure for second edition. It is a sequel to the original The Keep on the Borderlands adventure (B2) from 1979. Both adventures were published by TSR, Inc. It takes place twenty years after the events of The Keep on the Borderlands, and featured a fully re-stocked Caves of Chaos. Although the original B2 publication was generic in terms of setting, the 1999 Return located the Keep in the World of Greyhawk.
The placement of the Keep in Greyhawk was made difficult, due to some details not matching the Greyhawk setting, such as: several non-Greyhawk deities, nations, and peoples. Two of the NPC descriptions even refer to details from the Mystara setting rather than Greyhawk. Therefore, for the purposes of this wiki, it is considered apocryphal, and it is left to the DM to determine if it is useful for their campaign.
Background
Although the original B2 The Keep on the Borderlands publication was generic in terms of setting, the 1999 "Return" publication retroactively placed the Keep in the World of Greyhawk, specifically in the southwestern Yeomanry .
The events depicted in the sequel take place approximately 20 years after those in the original B2 adventure. It is nevertheless an introductory adventure intended for low-level characters.
Plot summary
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands was set twenty years after the events of the original adventure, and featured a fully re-stocked Caves of Chaos.[1]
Publication history
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands was written by John D. Rateliff, and published by TSR in June 1999.[2]
Several supplements were released in 1999 to update some of the most popular of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons adventures, including Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (1999), Dragonlance Classics 1fifth Anniversary Edition (1999), Ravenloft (1999), Return to the Keep on the Borderlands (1999) and Return to White Plume Mountain (1999).[3]:284
Reception
Andrew Byers, in his review of the adventure for Pyramid magazine, commented that "much of this adventure is a dungeon crawl, but it's an intelligently designed one, with a fleshed-out base of operations for adventurers, an interesting wilderness environment, and some very good characterization of non-player characters. It could easily provide the basis for an extended campaign for low-level adventurers."[1] Byers stated "If you're not nostalgic about the early days of D&D ... don't buy this book. But if you're interested in reliving (or experiencing for the first time) those first few roleplaying adventures... I don't think you'll be disappointed."[1]
Notes
Because of the inclusion of things like a Mystara deity, and the city of Cyndicea, on the Mystara mailing list Sean K. Reynolds is quoted from the original AOL message boards as saying,
"RTTKOTB was never supposed to be a GH product. It was a core product, designed with some Babylonian/Sumerian deities (_not_ Mystaran deities), and the GH logo was added late in the production schedule, and nobody caught it in time. ... It was not supposed to be a GH book, it's not a GH book, it's not a Mystara book, and so he could have suggested it be near the City of Greyhawk or Glantri for all it matters. It's just a suggestion, it's not canon, it does not matter. Previous canon location of the old adventure does not matter (note that apparently the first printing of the original actually had a GH location listed in it, which was dropped in later printings), since this is a _core D&D_ adventure and does not require any of our other world material."[4]
External links
Disclaimer:Any lore presented through the following links does not necessarily adhere to established officially published content, and the views expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of this wiki.
- Repair of the Keep on the Borderlands Russ Taylor's attempts to make RttKotB mesh with Greyhawk canon. Also available in Oerth Journal #11.
- Return to the Keep on the Borderlands at the TSR Archive
References
Citations
- ↑ a b c Byers, Andrew (2000-01-07). "Pyramid Review: Return to the Keep on the Borderlands". Pyramid (Online). (sample)
- ↑ WotC Product Library: Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. wizards.com.
- ↑ Shannon Appelcline (2011) Designers & Dragons, Mongoose Publishing ISBN: 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ↑ Reynolds, Sean K.. Mystarra Archives: The official word on the Keep on the Borderlands (AOL message boards). Oracle.wizards.com. TSR, 26 September 2000. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved on 2 June 2021.
Bibliography
- Byers, Andrew. Pyramid Review: Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. Pyramid magazine online. Steve Jackson Games, 07 January 2000. Retrieved on 15 February 2008.
- Gygax, E. Gary. The Keep on the Borderlands. (TSR, 1979).
- Rateliff, John D. Return to the Keep on the Borderlands. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 1999.
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Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index
The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.
| Topic | Type | Description | Product | Page/Card/Image
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return to the Keep on the Borderlands | Adventure | Adventure - | Living Greyhawk, Living Onnwal Gazetteer, D&D 3.5e | 5 |