Goodman Games

All,

I purchased an original version of keep on the borderlands to run some games for my family. A couple pages in and the nostalgia factor caved a bit. I realize that Gary left it somewhat unfinished to encourage new players to make it their own, however, there is only so much work that I want to invest in Restwell Keep. I'm having to create 'read aloud' descriptions of every zone, organize the keeps forces into detachments and stat them as groups, give NPCs descriptions and backstories and hooks, and come up with city events.

I realize that the style of play evolves over time and part of my work is to get this module sandbox ready.

At the end of the day I'm making a whole new module. And probably somebody else already has.

Can anyone here recommend a good sandbox ready keep? I don't care what system it's in. I looked at Morgansfort and ironically it takes the same format as Restwell Keep. It's the same amount of work.

Thanks in advance

It's the sort of thing I would handle on the fly. A few notes or just a sense of what I want to see, and I'd improvise it (and once something's established, I'd try to remember to make a note of it for future reference). But I know that doesn't work for everyone.

Sorry I can't be more help. But having 1000 details to keep track of just never works for me, and then I can't find stuff and I have to make it up anyway...

Yep ditto
Respectfully you’re making it a tad too hard on yourself. You wanna make it a great experience for your players but at the same time it needs to be fun for you. Let some thugs slide and rely on your on the spot imagination.

I was going to suggest Into the Wilds, but held off because I wasn't confident it was fully up to spec for what you are looking for ...

... but then saw that they are now selling it for a dollar.

For your consideration:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/12 ... rers_id=36

//H

Harley Stroh wrote:... but then saw that they are now selling it for a dollar.

Cue Robocop reference in 3....2.....1.....

Harley Stroh wrote:I was going to suggest Into the Wilds, but held off because I wasn't confident it was fully up to spec for what you are looking for ...

... but then saw that they are now selling it for a dollar.

For your consideration:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/12 ... rers_id=36

//H

Thanks for this suggestion. I did buy the material and it is indeed more inline with my needs. I also lucked out and bought 'bluffside' from nobleknight. And I got the pdf of that for only $5. It's spectacular.

Finally, I got Dice Roll Zine #2 from Hogtown games. And it contains a really cool city setting as well.

Between these three supplements I've got everything that I need.

The whole point of this is that I specifically do not want to track 1000 things. The problem with Sleepwell is that it gives you all the things you'll never need and none of the things you do. I do not care about the Bailiff's stats. What are the odds that it will ever even get used in combat? I could give a hang where the Scribe keeps his money. I DO care about tags, backstory and hooks. That IS useful and I do not always want to come up with all that myself.

I'm a low prep guy but I don't come to the table without my bag of tricks.

Thanks again

Apologies if this serves no purpose to the original poster, but perhaps it will to someone later.

I would recommend looking at Frandor's Keep for Hackmaster 5th edition. It is a level 1-5 adventure, sand box, and should be relatively easy to adapt to DCC. We spent months in our bi-weekly group going through that module and it was a blast. I highly recommend it for memorable plots, NPCs, and a developed frontier area.

Here is the Pdf on DriveThrurpg.com.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/11 ... ndors-Keep

If you investigate the publisher website, which I will not post in respect to Goodman Games, you will find a ten page preview and other resources.

Hope you found a module that suited your needs.

neg2000 wrote: Hope you found a module that suited your needs.

I will not normally promote a product but in this case I have to make an exception. I have a copy of diceroll zine #2 from hogtown games and it's what I was looking for.

So much so that when I design my own cities from now on I will follow their format.

Basically they split the city into sectors and give charts for possible locations, events, and encounters in that sector.
They provide a brief history of the city, demographics, religion, and laws.

Really, that's what I need. I think the material that I was looking at before (the keep on the borderlands etc.) is just too tactical and impractical.