On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, Wizards of the Coast published Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, an updated adventure scenario set twenty years after the events of the original. Unlike the original, this module is designed for the 2nd edition AD&D rule set, and is firmly set in Greyhawk (although it would be relatively easy to convert to another setting). It is also is simply better designed and thought out than the original.

The first difference one notices is that the NPCs all have names and many have actual personalities. Even the villains have names, personalities, and goals, all of which are quite useful for a DM trying to decide what particular actions, deals, and plots would or would not interest the various actors. The Keep is also given a name (Kendall Keep) and a brief history that ties together many of the ambitions of the various NPCs.

A quick outline of the background: The Keep has fallen on hard times. Macsen Wledig, the original builder of the Keep, left many years before with the bulk of his fighting forces to fight in a war raging far away where he and his retainers were all killed. The remaining inhabitants of the Keep decided to stay and tough things out, electing Devereau, one of their former Lord's henchmen (who stayed behind because he was crippled), to lead them. Without Macsen's influence to help bring in money and supplies, the community inside the Keep has struggled, and many of the areas inside the fort have been given over to trade crafts, farming activities, and otherwise being used to house, feed, and clothe the residents. A functional, if relatively impoverished local economy is described, various NPCs are given jobs, personalities, and families, several NPCs are detailed who might throw in their lot with the PCs and become adventuring companions or henchmen, and so on.

But an adventure module is not an adventure module without a cast of villains, and Return to the Keep on the Borderlands has an extensive, well-developed cast of bad guys. Interestingly, not all the bad guys are on the same side as one another, and even those that are may only be working together out of mutual convenience. The overall villains are The Hidden Temple, villainous evil priests of a cult of two death gods who have recruited a collection of bandits to their cause and have been systematically eliminating the humanoid residents of the Caves of Chaos (by exterminating them, or pushing them out), and using the resulting bodies to bolster their undead army. They have installed their allies in place of several humanoid groups, and the remaining humanoid residents nervously wait for the Hidden Temple to turn its eye towards them. Ultimately, once they have consolidated their power, the Hidden Temple plans to attack Kendall Keep, and kill or enslave the residents there.

Towards this end, the Hidden Temple has various agents in and about the Keep who all have plot hooks that will trigger the PCs to investigate and eventually travel to the Caves to confront these villains. For example, unlike in the original Keep on the Borderlands, the bandit inhabitants of the Caves are described as engaging in commerce raiding, which can easily be used as a hook to engage the PCs. Some villainous NPCs will kidnap those living in the Keep, or blackmail them, or assassinate them, all of which can be used to trigger further adventures. In fact, I consider many of the Keep-based plots to be among the best designed parts of the module, as they are the most interesting.

Once the PCs are out and about, they have the opportunity to make allies. Some are reliable, others not so much. As the goals of the various groups are set out for the DM, the kinds of overtures that will dispose them favorably to the PCs are quite apparent, as are the kinds of activities the various NPCs will agree to engage in. Most importantly, the DM is given guidance on how far particular NPCs will go in working with the PCs, and under what conditions they might abandon or betray them. There are so many plot hooks, and so many different groups to engage with that a decent DM should have no trouble launching any number of extended campaigns off of the information provided.

The only negative I think the module has, and the only thing that keeps it from getting a higher rating from me is that some of the opposition seems to be a bit overwhelming for the character levels the adventure is supposedly aimed at. The adventure is designed for novice adventurers (as was the original) ranging in level from 1st to 3rd. However, most of the leading opponents are substantially more powerful. For example, one Keep-based subplot involves an assassin and his wizard accomplice who show up between the PCs second and third visit to the Keep and who want to kill all the inhabitants of the town. The assassin is 7th-level, while the wizard is 6th-level. This is pretty stiff opposition for a group of presumably 1st- or 2nd-level PCs. The rest of the opposition has been upgraded too: instead of an ogre, the Caves house a (much more dangerous) troll. Instead of one minotaur, the Caves now boast five. The Hidden Temple can call upon a 5th-level Necromancer and is led by a 6th-level high priestess and a 5th-level priest backed by two 5th-level fighters and an extensive army of underpriests and undead (at least 30 skeletons, 30 zombies, and 5 shadows). Unless the DM tones down the opposition, throws a bunch of side quests into the adventure to build up the PCs' levels, or does a lot of fudging, it seems almost impossible for the PCs to succeed.

However, with that caveat, there is a lot to like in this adventure. Just within the pages presented there should be hours of action, and there are so many jumping off points to expand what is in the text to an entire campaign or even multiple campaigns. The only thing that seems to have held this adventure back is that it was released in the waning days of the 2nd edition AD&D era, and thus (if you want to play it using 3rd or 4th edition D&D) the DM must convert the statistics. That said, I would consider this adventure to be well-worth the effort needed to make that conversion. ( )