I’ve been reading through my copy of Goodman Games’ Into The Borderlands and I was genuinely surprised by Mike Mearls’ introduction on page five. Mike Mearls has made a name for himself with numerous tantrums on Twitter and isn’t exactly a hero among the OSR community (I play D&D without his permission so he’s probably not too sweet on me either). Putting that aside, as head developer of the current Dungeons & Dragons line I would at least expect him to be familiar with the early days of the game. Yet in his introduction his natural tendencies can’t help but show through.
In a short piece that is supposed to display his appreciation of the adventures The Keep on the Borderlands and In Search of the Unknown he can’t help but complain about their shortcomings. Such complaints about well-loved adventures decades after they’ve proven their staying power can be overlooked but Mearls’ ignorance can’t. The content of his complaints make it plain to all that he doesn’t understand the early days of the first roleplaying game well at all.
He writes “The Keep on the Borderlands has its flaws. The Keep’s inhabitants lack names. Having so many hostile monster groups live in close proximity strains credibility. The Caves of Chaos are presented as a mysterious location, yet they are a short stroll from the Keep.” I want to address each of these.
First, the lack of names for NPCs. In ages past, people were known more by their title than by their name. “The castellan” or “the guard captain” would be used by people much more than “John” or “Mr. Ulrich.” Many people in the Keep are likely to not even know the names of many of the people in positions of authority. Furthermore, encouraging the dungeon master to come up with their own names is quick and simple for even young gamers. Devising one’s own names for the NPCs make the Keep more personalized and more adaptable to different settings. When The Keep on the Borderlands was first published it didn’t belong to a larger setting. Attaching names to the NPCs would have nailed it down to a particular culture.
The Caves of Chaos being near the Keep doesn’t strain credibility if you’re paying attention. Page B51 of Moldvay’s D&D Basic Rulebook (from the same box, by the way) has this: “Investigating a Chaotic Outpost: This scenario has to do with a Chaotic invasion (either in progress or about to begin)… Dungeon Module B2 (The Keep on the Borderlands) is an example of this type of scenario.” The trouble with the monstrous inhabitants of the Caves of Chaos either just started or hasn’t started yet. The monsters haven’t been there long. I believe it isn’t a stretch at all to suppose the evil priest in area K has gathered the forces and maintains the uneasy peace among them until the invasion can start.
The Caves of Chaos are nearby the Keep but I don’t see that as an indication that they are a familiar spot. The road that heads east and then north from the Keep leads to the Borderlands. It is a wasteland and no civilized groups use it. Forces from the Keep likely patrol it at intervals but they don’t have reason to go far and don’t spend long on it. Notice how the clearing for the Caves of Chaos lies behind a dense line of trees. I think it likely that the castellan and his forces don’t know the clearing or the caves are even there. Even if someone were to insist that they must know, they don’t have the manpower to keep a full-time outpost there. If the trouble with the monsters hasn’t happened yet the Keep’s forces wouldn’t think to investigate.
On another level, the Caves being so near the Keep was done intentionally. The Basic D&D games (as explained by Tim Kask) were created to make the game more accessible and more appealing for younger gamers. Placing the destinations so near the players’ home base made sense to Gary Gygax. Regular D&D was a game of resource management but this adventure was written for a young audience. Making travels short allowed Gygax to not only fit everything onto one map with a decent level of detail but it also made the resource management expected of wilderness forays unnecessary.
Mike Mearls’ involvement may have been necessary for Goodman Games to obtain permission to republish these two classic D&D adventures but it is distressing that the person currently in charge of Dungeons & Dragons knows so little about the game’s early days.
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