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Author Topic: Border Outposts and Border Forts  (Read 1688 times)

SHARK

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Border Outposts and Border Forts
« on: November 04, 2021, 10:52:23 PM »
Greetings!

I often find myself using Border Outposts and Border Forts a lot in my campaigns. They feature routinely. I have several basic floor plans that I use, and a few different pre-prepared garrison compositions always ready to go. I also have a set of about 25 "stock" kinds of character types I populate these places with as NPC's, from a standard kind of average soldier; an experienced veteran; a Corporal; a Sergeant; a Quartermaster; Lieutenant; Captain; Company Scout; Teamster; Blacksmith; Bowyer; Weaponsmith; Traveling Pilgrim (M); Traveling Pilgrim (F); Traveling Pilgrim Adolescent; Traveling Monk; Visiting Food Merchant; Visiting Dry Goods Merchant; Bearded Trapper; Veteran Hunter; Visiting Miner; Traveling Preacher; Preacher's Daughter; 23; Visiting Barbarian (Friendly); Visiting Tobacco Merchant; 25

Mostly composed of typical people likely to be stationed in such a place, or likely to be visiting regularly, or a likely enough local that travels through the area.

Often, just from some quick social interactions with NPC's, and a brief consulting of the area notes, and all kinds of adventures almost instantly develop.

Do you use Border Outposts and Border Forts often?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

PsyXypher

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2021, 12:29:47 AM »
Have you ever played Minecraft? Or Terraria? Or Dwarf Fortress?

I'm willing to bet the answer is no, but those games both have a theme that I think fits really well with D&D; clearing out untamed wilderness to eek out a slice of society while slaying monsters and finding treasure. In fact, clearing out wilderness was what PCs were supposed to do in AD&D 1e when they reached Name level.

There's even a sense of reclaiming a post apocalyptic world in Terraria and Minecraft, fueled on by the lack of people, the zombies everywhere and the ancient ruins littered with treasure. Not to mention the encroaching evil in Terraria that forms an overall story arc.

I think you could actually make a really awesome D&D campaign based off of Terraria. I've seen one person make one based off of Pokemon Red/Blue which actually seemed incredibly interesting. The plot would look something like this:

PCs are sent by a kingdom across the sea to reclaim a lost continent/territory. That, or maybe there was some grand disaster and they're left in a scenario like that. Since they're basically settlers, they need to do all that entails; clear forest, build a shelter, find food and water, etc. They'd also need to fight off waves of zombies and demonic eyeballs, maybe finding NPCs who can give them help (a nurse, a merchant, a weaponsmith, etc).

Let them explore caves and find artifacts and magic items. Let them stumble across a large swath of land blighted by The Corruption. Travel through frozen tundras and perilous jungles. Maybe find the remains of a Necropolis guarded by an old man who is the host for a giant skeletal monster.

This wasn't related to your original question, but I think you'd find it of some interest. Or at least I hope you will!
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Mishihari

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2021, 01:57:38 AM »
Yeah, I use them quite a lot.  It's really useful to have a safe downtime location close to an adventure locale.  Saves a lot of time on tedious walking back and forth.  There also tend to be a lot of interesting people to interact with in such a place.  And there's a certain excitement to being able to observe danger from a safe place.

S'mon

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2021, 04:32:06 AM »
I tend not to have border forts in my own stuff, since I feel a competently run border fort like the Keep on the Borderlands should obviate the need for low level adventurers. My Faerun Adventures SW Damara sandbox has a lot of small manors typically defended by a single land knight and his retainers, with a barony and a couple Dukes, one who is a lazy incompetent, the other newly established and struggling to assert legitimacy. One PC group occupied an old abandoned border fort (Fort Skulnar) - then manor (Ironwolf Manor) - after clearing it of monsters (for the second time in the campaign, it had previously been cleared by a different PC group), and are establishing their own manor centred on it.

I usually start PC groups with "You all meet at the Inn", and the Inn becomes the home base for the first few levels. Eventually the PCs tend to start seizing and holding territory. Currently one PC group holds Fort Skulnar/Ironwolf Manor, another holds the D'Ashe Festhall, a fortified border manor that is also a brothel for miners down from the mountains.  ;D

jeff37923

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2021, 05:48:15 AM »
When I have non-monster armies on the move, they make motte-and-bailey type simple wooden forts along the way for camps. These get left behind and either built up upon by civilized nations expanding after the army or get taken over by marauding monster tribes and usually fall into disrepair.

This is an example, but the hills are too tall for earthenworks thrown up in a day or so.


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KingCheops

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2021, 10:29:18 AM »
Have you ever played ... Terraria?

Woot woot!  Shout out for Terraria!

In regards to the OP whenever I'm running my own game world I always start with the fringes of the border marches with a small frontier village with a single watchtower.  Basically I always envision the early days of Conajohara from the Conan story "Beyond the Black River".  Players can stay in the region and be part of building that up and helping settlement or they can move on to other things.  But low level adventuring is generally focused on a far-flung outpost on the border so they can make their name.

Greentongue

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2021, 12:22:37 PM »
Your games sound awesome.
Using Border Outposts and Border Forts is great for a "West Marches" style game.
Having those NPCs ready to go is a great help if you have players that are not in the loot and sell loop.

Svenhelgrim

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2021, 02:49:11 PM »
Borderlands settings are one of my favorite starting regions for a d&d campaign.  When Gygax wrote B-2: Keep On The Borderlands many years ago, he got so much right with regards to what a starting campaign needs.  A home base, some monster lairs, some wilderness to tromp around in, and some outdoor encounters.  Also: undeveloped areas where the DM can add their own flourishes and content.

Even though I no longer use B2, any more, the plot stays strong.  A remote outpost needs help from adventurers.  It never gets old.

SHARK

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #8 on: November 05, 2021, 07:12:50 PM »
When I have non-monster armies on the move, they make motte-and-bailey type simple wooden forts along the way for camps. These get left behind and either built up upon by civilized nations expanding after the army or get taken over by marauding monster tribes and usually fall into disrepair.

This is an example, but the hills are too tall for earthenworks thrown up in a day or so.



Greetings!

Jeff! Very nice graphics, my friend! That is damned sweet! I especially appreciate the Dark Ages, Celtic and Slavic feel to the fort.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

SHARK

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #9 on: November 05, 2021, 07:24:17 PM »
Your games sound awesome.
Using Border Outposts and Border Forts is great for a "West Marches" style game.
Having those NPCs ready to go is a great help if you have players that are not in the loot and sell loop.

Greetings!

Thank you, Greentongue!

Indeed, through the years, I have found that having a good set of notes with all this stuff statted up and pre-organized makes everything go much smoother, and faster, too. In addition to their stats, skills, professions, all that already figured out, I also have a set of personality traits and randomized goals/missions for each of the NPC's that are on the list. This kind of extra detail and effort means that I can come up with plausible and interesting adventure hooks and plots in seconds, with like three dice rolls. The NPC's all have their own goals and missions, whatever they're doing, and the Players get to interact with them in a seamless manner.

It is a neat little sub-system that I use, as it makes it so the adventures almost write themselves. If I *don't* have something immediately prepared, these tables in my system allow for literally *weeks*of entertainment--conveniently providing me with sufficient time to do follow up work on things the Players get into,, or organize some set-piece adventures, so these kinds of details are immensely helpful, and also in the bargain, increase the campaign's verisimilitude and the Player's sense of immersion into the campaign.

I also enjoy using my system, because it embraces many interesting, but randomized features, so even *I* don't necessarily know what is going on, who exactly is involved, the direction of upcoming adventures--all of that is revealed during the discovery process.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

SHARK

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2021, 07:29:11 PM »
Borderlands settings are one of my favorite starting regions for a d&d campaign.  When Gygax wrote B-2: Keep On The Borderlands many years ago, he got so much right with regards to what a starting campaign needs.  A home base, some monster lairs, some wilderness to tromp around in, and some outdoor encounters.  Also: undeveloped areas where the DM can add their own flourishes and content.

Even though I no longer use B2, any more, the plot stays strong.  A remote outpost needs help from adventurers.  It never gets old.

Greetings!

Yep, Svenhelgrim! I also love B-2! I use Keep on the Borderlands all the time. I have a group right now that is living at the Keep! *Laughing* It has endless applicability and usefulness! I also use lots f smaller places--like the border outposts and border forts discussed here as a kind of "warm up" or prelude for the Players arriving to where the Keep is. I have a whole town set up around the Keep, where these Border Forts and Border Outposts tend to be even further out on the frontier.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

HappyDaze

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #11 on: November 05, 2021, 07:44:43 PM »
I used something like this more recently in a sci-fi/space opera setting with outposts and stations.

Svenhelgrim

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #12 on: November 05, 2021, 08:19:46 PM »
Borderlands settings are one of my favorite starting regions for a d&d campaign.  When Gygax wrote B-2: Keep On The Borderlands many years ago, he got so much right with regards to what a starting campaign needs.  A home base, some monster lairs, some wilderness to tromp around in, and some outdoor encounters.  Also: undeveloped areas where the DM can add their own flourishes and content.

Even though I no longer use B2, any more, the plot stays strong.  A remote outpost needs help from adventurers.  It never gets old.

Greetings!

Yep, Svenhelgrim! I also love B-2! I use Keep on the Borderlands all the time. I have a group right now that is living at the Keep! *Laughing* It has endless applicability and usefulness! I also use lots f smaller places--like the border outposts and border forts discussed here as a kind of "warm up" or prelude for the Players arriving to where the Keep is. I have a whole town set up around the Keep, where these Border Forts and Border Outposts tend to be even further out on the frontier.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I run a high level sequel to B2 where the bad guys won and took over the keep.  The higher level lkayers have to storm the keep which is controlled by Goblinoids, an ogre, a minotaur, and is run by the Cult of Evil Chaos with a cadre of undead troops!

SHARK

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #13 on: November 05, 2021, 08:33:51 PM »
Borderlands settings are one of my favorite starting regions for a d&d campaign.  When Gygax wrote B-2: Keep On The Borderlands many years ago, he got so much right with regards to what a starting campaign needs.  A home base, some monster lairs, some wilderness to tromp around in, and some outdoor encounters.  Also: undeveloped areas where the DM can add their own flourishes and content.

Even though I no longer use B2, any more, the plot stays strong.  A remote outpost needs help from adventurers.  It never gets old.

Greetings!

Yep, Svenhelgrim! I also love B-2! I use Keep on the Borderlands all the time. I have a group right now that is living at the Keep! *Laughing* It has endless applicability and usefulness! I also use lots f smaller places--like the border outposts and border forts discussed here as a kind of "warm up" or prelude for the Players arriving to where the Keep is. I have a whole town set up around the Keep, where these Border Forts and Border Outposts tend to be even further out on the frontier.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I run a high level sequel to B2 where the bad guys won and took over the keep.  The higher level lkayers have to storm the keep which is controlled by Goblinoids, an ogre, a minotaur, and is run by the Cult of Evil Chaos with a cadre of undead troops!

Greetings!

*Laughing* NICE! REVENGE OF THE MINOTAUR!!!!

Minotaurs are always awesome!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK
"It is the Marine Corps that will strip away the façade so easily confused with self. It is the Corps that will offer the pain needed to buy the truth. And at last, each will own the privilege of looking inside himself  to discover what truly resides there. Comfort is an illusion. A false security b

Aglondir

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Re: Border Outposts and Border Forts
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2021, 01:12:40 AM »
Greetings!

I often find myself using Border Outposts and Border Forts a lot in my campaigns. They feature routinely. I have several basic floor plans that I use, and a few different pre-prepared garrison compositions always ready to go. I also have a set of about 25 "stock" kinds of character types I populate these places with as NPC's, from a standard kind of average soldier; an experienced veteran; a Corporal; a Sergeant; a Quartermaster; Lieutenant; Captain; Company Scout; Teamster; Blacksmith; Bowyer; Weaponsmith; Traveling Pilgrim (M); Traveling Pilgrim (F); Traveling Pilgrim Adolescent; Traveling Monk; Visiting Food Merchant; Visiting Dry Goods Merchant; Bearded Trapper; Veteran Hunter; Visiting Miner; Traveling Preacher; Preacher's Daughter; 23; Visiting Barbarian (Friendly); Visiting Tobacco Merchant; 25

Mostly composed of typical people likely to be stationed in such a place, or likely to be visiting regularly, or a likely enough local that travels through the area.

Often, just from some quick social interactions with NPC's, and a brief consulting of the area notes, and all kinds of adventures almost instantly develop.

Do you use Border Outposts and Border Forts often?

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Shark,

Great post. The last adventure I ran with a keep was a one-night game of D&D for Halloween. A group of bandits had turned the ruins of an abandoned keep into their lair, accosting passengers on a nearby road. The town depended on the road for trade with another nearby down, and enlisted the PCs to solve the problem. The bandits had started a rumor that the keep was haunted, which the PCs figured was just a ruse. Much to their surprise (and the bandits as well) a ghost lived in the dungeon beneath the keep. Granted it wasn't really that deep, but everyone had a good time.

Questions:

1. In your NPC roster, what's the difference between a corporal and a sergeant? is it just a matter of rank, or do they have specialized functions?
2. Is there a noble family that owns the keep? Or is it more of a military garrison?


« Last Edit: November 06, 2021, 01:16:03 AM by Aglondir »