Review: Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands

 

Today we're looking at Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands by Chris Powell. This is the fourth in a series of nine (at the time of writing) supplements that include an adventure as well as a bunch of optional rules, classes, setting info, etc. 

As the title implies, this particular supplement is an update on the venerable Keep on the Borderlands. KotB has been updated, remastered and retold many times in the last 45 years. So how does this one hold up?

Instead of beginning at a fully functioning and stocked keep we are told that the forces of chaos of overtaken it, and it falls on a group of 3-5 level 1 greenhorns to clean it out. You know, instead of the duke or whatever just sending a detachment of soldiers to mop up the 15 low level baddies that just made him look like a chump. In the original KotB the party is a bunch of nobodies that need to make a name for themselves by stabbing some kobolds in a hole. But OK, we'll suspend our disbelief. 

The rank and file baddies, as well as the boss and their motivations are all randomized. This is a problem because that means the dungeon itself must be completely generic in order to be able to accommodate Lizardfolk or Gnolls or a Drow priestess or a Manticore that wants human sacrifices or perhaps natural resources. If you read just about any advice on writing a dungeon, it will tell you to pick a theme and then pick inhabitants, puzzles, hazards etc that fit that theme. This kind of randomization completely obliterates that very important step.

As a result, the room descriptions are terribly dry. "Debris: Trash, armored corpses, and gore. Enemies: Two henchmen loitering." I've seen one-page dungeons with more evocative language. I'm not saying we need to go full 2e wall of text, but a few details to help paint a picture would be nice. At least the format easy to grok. As it should be, because each room has precisely one point of interest and nothing more. The key for room 9 contains only a description of the door and nothing on the contents of the actual room. The treasure is a random roll from the core book tables. The boss is standing on the roof, alone, apparently waiting to die. 

There's nothing here to fire the imagination or engage the players except at a very superficial level. The text suggests that players should use the environment and surprise to their advantage but gives them precious little in the way of tools to do that. There are some barrels of oil, that's about it. 

After the party clears the keep, they get to keep it. They also get about 320 gp for their troubles. Too little by about half. 

From there they can make their foray into the Caves of Cowse, our analog to the original's Caves of Chaos. But before we dive into that I want to take a brief diversion to talk about what Gus L. called "The Gygaxian Fortress". Gus writes about how some of the essential components to a stronghold infiltration adventure like Keep on the Borderlands or Steading of the Hill Giant Chief are:

• Stealth, subversion and sabotage gameplay
• Alarm mechanics - what happens when the stronghold is on alert?
• Environmental tools -  diegetic elements like secret tunnels, guard rotations, environmental hazards, etc to give players opportunity for creative infiltration
• Structured order of battle - clear hierarchy and deployment plans for the fortress inhabitants

Let's see how Keep on the Borderlands fares according to this criteria:

• It forces stealth, subversion and sabotage gameplay by presenting the players with overwhelming odds. A frontal assault would be suicide.
• For the most part it details what sort of alarms the inhabitants raise and who will be alerted. No room is an island and room descriptions include who in the surrounding areas will be alerted. 
• Environmental tools are a bit lacking.  Hazards are sparse, and the map lacks the kind of interconnectedness and verticality that support tactical players in using their surroundings to the fullest.
• Gygax was a wargamer and he didn't screw around when it came to order of battle. All throughout KotB there are instructions for how the caves' inhabitants will respond, what tactics they employ, ambushes they will set and how they are organized.

So let's keep these things in mind as we dig into the Caves of Cowse. The caves are a whopping 44 rooms split into sections for each of the seven factions. As with the keep, the room keys are quite minimalist and typically only describe one thing. For example, if there's a chest in a room you get a description of the chest and nothing else. An economy of words isn't really necessary here - the book is 76 pages, 5 of which are dedicated to unnecessary GM advice, 3 of which are blank and 1 of which is an advertisement for the next volume. So I don't think there's an excuse for not giving the GMs, some of whom will presumably be new or inexperienced, some additional support in describing the locations and for not giving the players something more to interact with. 

The inhabitants of the caves are far fewer than the original KotB with less than half as many for each faction. Combined with the fact that Shadowdark PCs are just stronger than B/X PCs, the pressure to employ stealth and sabotage is much less. The lessened difficulty might be welcome, but it does give the players less incentive to act like commandos and more like Arnold in the movie Commando. 

A weakness of KotB is that the different sections are not connected, which limits navigation and infiltration options. But it also means there's no chance of aggro'ing the gnolls while you're dealing with the kobolds. A tender mercy in a relentlessly punishing dungeon. The Caves of Cowse pulls its punches here - the different sections of each faction are connected, but there's no mechanic or advice for putting the areas on "high alert". Whereas in KotB, we are told who will sound an alarm, who will be alerted and when they will show up, in all 44 rooms of the Caves I counted only 3 places where the inhabitants will alert others or call for reinforcements. So it's a step backwards in terms of alarms, missing out on the escalating tension and eventual denouement of violence and/or panicked flight when the jig is finally up. But a baby step forwards in terms of interconnectedness.

The Caves would also benefit from some additional traps and hazards to make havoc with the baddies. There are 3 traps that would be difficult for the players to use to their advantage (such as a blade trap that only hits things taller than goblins), But in an adventure with really nothing to investigate, no secrets to learn or mysteries to unravel, this is the kind of stuff that should be the focus.

We are also given no order of battle. Whereas Gygax was remarkably thorough about detailing the enemy tactics in each encounter, what weapons they will employ, where they will take cover, and the routes they use to escape  - the enemies in the Caves are pretty much static. Sure, an experienced GM will be able to improvise these sorts of things, but this is a first level adventure and should be written to accommodate 1st level GMs. The original KotB was, after all, included in the basic rules set to teach folks how to run and write adventures.

One area where Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands is a clear improvement over the original is in supporting faction play. Each faction is given a simple but clear goal and I think that will generate the most interesting gameplay here - deciding who to ally with, when and if to double-cross them, etc. This is all aided by the enhanced interconnectedness. There are also a few memorable scenes like the snake-handling gnolls and the dangerous bridge between the lizardman and gnoll lairs. 

The whole affair culminates in one of the strangest and most contrived "end of adventure, stop the ritual" scenarios I've ever seen. Without getting into details, it involves a cult leader with plot armor, giant industrial fans and jellyfish that represent the fire element. 

Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands learns all of the wrong lessons from its progenitor, having the form of a Gygaxian fortress but denying the power thereof. It gives us a monster zoo and not only fails to build on the concept in a meaningful way, but also abandons much of what made the original work. And all we're left with is rooms full of monsters. 

I'm not trying to say that it will be an unfun slog. With some engaged players and a good GM it could be interesting negotiating with the different factions and strategically clearing the caves. But it's a missed opportunity.

ALSO WHY DOES THE FISH MAN HAVE NIPPLES AND A BELLY BUTTON THERE IS LITERALLY A ROOM FULL OF THEIR EGGS

On a scale of 2-12, Letters from the Dark Vol. IV: Borderlands gets 6 stingbats.