The Badlands Hexcrawl

When I set out to re-frame B2 Keep on the Borderlands as a pseudo-Western setting, I knew that I would keep all the original encounter areas in some form, but needed to replace the Wilderness map with something that would not only provide more adventure opportunities for my experienced players, but also put a little distance (and secrecy) between the Caves of Chaos and the Keep. 

The discovery of the existence of the caves (and the evil cult) is a big part of the early campaign, but the site is a fair trek from the Keep and the environment will limit the party's endurance on a particular foray. I also intend to bump up the difficulty level of the Caves of Chaos a bit and expand it into a mega-dungeon. The "breathing room" to explore an expanded sandbox should give the characters opportunities to earn a few experience levels and magic items by the time they find the site.

For my overall campaign, I use a world-map scale of 240 miles per hex, subdivided into regional hexes of 24 miles each (each world hex is 10 regional hexes across). I can then divide the regional hexes into 6-mile, 4-mile, or 1-mile hexes, depending on how granular I want to zoom in on a campaign or adventure map.

The section of map to the right is from my current setting of Remedios, the land in which I set most of my individual campaigns. These particular hexes lie along the southernmost border. Each of the regional hexes is 24 miles across, while just to the south of the Keep are the light-gray lines indicating the point where three world-map hexes (240-miles) intersect. 

The blue box indicates the actual area in which the Badlands campaign will occur, an isolated and rugged region approximately 36 mi. x 36 mi., or nearly 1,300 sq. mi. The prairie lands to the north and the grassy savanna to the west are mostly uninhabited and won't really come into play...all of the action should take place inside the Badlands.

I decided to use 1-mile hexes for the Badlands campaign to give me the ability to fine-tune movement rates over different terrain types, and to make even slight differences in travel speed have an impact on things like chases and tracking. The guiding principle was to facilitate meaningful player choices in terms of travel options.

Below is the granular map of the Badlands area in which the players will operate. Each of the white-outlined hexes is 1-mile across, while the 24-mile regional hexes are outlined in light blue. Any hex is traversable, but the various terrain types impose penalties to Speed (in addition to the overall penalty for difficult terrain) and have unique effects on movement, visibility, and wandering encounter odds. 

The idea for the map is that the "easiest" terrain to traverse—the literal path of least resistance—is through the twisting canyons between the hundreds-foot high ridgelines. For the hexcrawl, the canyons serve the same function as dungeon passages, a maze of natural corridors between encounter areas (rooms). The ridgelines are not impossible to get over, but they require climbing gear and ability checks, with a real danger of falling to one's death, so they make for effective "walls" between areas.

The canyons are not uniform in size or state; some are wide and flat, while others narrow and become uneven and craggy. To either side of the canyon floor, crumbling terraces ascend into the ridgelines. Falling boulders, rockslides, and sinkholes are a constant and random danger (like traps), and within the canyons, the characters might also encounter other terrain obstacles and hazards such as pine thickets or stinking bogs. Hidden trails through the ridges serve the same purpose as secret doors. Various creatures roam the canyons looking for prey.

The entire point is for the party to search the area just like they would a dungeon but on larger scale. Larger, at least, than B2's wilderness map. In reality, there is a LOT of adventure crammed into this relatively small geographic area, probably way more than a normal hexcrawl should have. That's okay, though: In my estimation, it is the very activity of the evil cult (both in the past and in the present) that has caused this particular area to be so densely packed with threats. My players get frustrated with traveling, as well, so I think this map is enough of a compromise to satisfy my sense of challenge with their tolerance levels.

There are 2-3 "big" things to do that will become obvious over time (with the Caves of Chaos being the primary one, although I don't intend to force the characters in this direction). There are another half-dozen or so "medium" things to do, but many of these will likely be resolved with just a few excursions (over multiple sessions). Then I have a list of "small" things that the characters might discover with exploration, but should only have limited impact and can likely be resolved within a session or so. To tie everything together, I built a robust list of random encounters, hazards, and discoveries to resolve what happens between areas. I'll go through all of these in upcoming posts.

And just to cover my bases, I expanded the campaign map to cover 2.5 x 2 regional hexes and jotted down some notes on additional encounter areas if the party decides to probe deeper into the Badlands beyond the map (because they probably will). Like any good dungeon setting, the things that live this far out from the Keep get more desperate and deadly, and the conditions for survival turn even more dire and strange.

Next up... Keying the Badlands Map

Adapting the Borderlands

After purchasing arms and equipment with their shares from the escort job, the party heads out the Keep gate under the watchful eye of the guards on the wall. Though it was only mid-morning, the heat was already unbearable. Returning to the spot along the north road where the other caravan was ambushed, the party discovers that Keep soldiers have already recovered the bodies of the slain merchant and his laborers. The charred skeleton of the wagon still sits off to the side of the path as vultures pick over the carcasses of the dead draft horses. 

No sign of the bodies of the goblin bandits is found, but after locating the gangs' tracks, the party follows their trail westward, off the caravan path and into the rugged wilderness. The ground becomes loose and uneven. Ledges, gullies, and cul-de-sacs make moving in a straight line all but impossible. Fortunately, the ranger's guidance helps the party make decent progress despite the treacherous terrain, and soon they enter a wide pass between a cluster of jagged hillocks to the north and an imposing ridgeline to the south. 

The southern ridges rise like the walls of an impenetrable fortress. Their serrated cliffs conceal numerous shadowy clefts and dark folds, and as the party moves through the pass, they sense eyes watching them. A tense hour later, they emerge from the pass into a stretch of broken ground that slopes gently west and then disappears into the golden savanna of the Horse Plains stretching out before them.

The tracks turn south along this fractured border, skirting the edge of the Badlands and leading the party farther away from the Keep. They have already consumed much of their water, and still have to get back to the Keep before nightfall or be forced to sleep outside without proper camping gear. Just as the party decides to turn back, however, the air fills suddenly with the angry buzz of goblin arrows... 

__________

I love wilderness areas. 

The characters in my campaigns must travel in-game to wherever they want to go, with all that such journeys entail. I always design an exterior component to my adventures, and the party typically has to find the dungeon before they can start exploring it. My players don't often like or appreciate this aspect of my campaigns, but I don't care; I do it for me. I owe this minor obsession to B2 ( and T1 and X1 to lesser extents).

The B2 wilderness area isn't even all that conducive for exploration and adventure. Any of the encounters can easily trash a group of 1st-levels. Most of the encounters are gated by an imposing river, whereas an easy-to-follow trail takes characters right up to the dungeon (the main event). The dungeon itself is so close to the Keep, it defies logic that the Castellan wouldn't immediately send his troops to wipe out the evil camp forming right on his doorstep.

But even with these gentle flaws, B2's concept of a dungeon existing within a wilderness teeming with encounters is ur-D&D for me. I don't consider a dungeon "complete" until I know something about the territory around it (and what lives there). 

When I set out to adapt B2, I knew I wanted to greatly expand the wilderness area but still use as much of the source material as I could. To prepare, I read through the original text carefully to pull out all the fun little details that Gary hides in his module-writing—details that are easy to miss if you just skim the write-up. As expected, I found quite a few things I did not remember.

The original adventure features four numbered encounter areas in the wilderness just outside the Keep walls. There is a mysterious fifth encounter marked on the map—along a "trail" that leads off the southeast edge—but no name or details are given. Instead, the module calls out the "fifth" encounter as the unnumbered but aptly-named "Cave of the Unknown," which was left up to the DM to flesh out (or not). Finally, there are the Caves of Chaos that form the module's centerpiece dungeon.

Wandering Encounters. There isn't a specific outdoor encounter table, but mention is made of "encountering monsters while hunting" for food or while "camping outdoors overnight." There are encounter tables in the rules reference section of the adventure that do not line up with the tables in the Holmes Basic rulebook, but do reflect many of the monsters found in the Caves of Chaos. 

Several of the monsters in these tables don't appear in the Basic or Expert bestiary, or in this module (e.g., draco-lizards, robber flies, thouls, white apes, etc.) It's possible some of these were intended for the AD&D Monster Manual which Gary was working on while writing this module (IIRC) but were later edited out.

Oddly, Gary specifically states that "nothing will bother the party when camped outdoors" unless they camp too close to a numbered encounter area (see below). Given that many of the creatures in the wandering monster tables are nocturnal, this seems to suggest we aren't supposed to be using wandering encounters in this area at all (which makes some sense given the presence of a heavily-armed fortification nearby).

The write-up doesn't provide any guidance for how the table encounters might interact with the set encounters in the adventure, either. For example, the Caves of Chaos descriptions clearly indicate that many of the humanoids who live there go out at various times to hunt for food. If you encounter goblins in the wilderness, does that lower the number of goblins in the Caves of Chaos? The text doesn't say.

The module also seems to suggest that the party needs to actually enter a numbered square to trigger an encounter (like a vast game of Battleship). Gary created an interesting mechanic for a nighttime "wandering" encounter with these creatures, however: If the party camps within 6 squares of a numbered encounter area, they have a 1-in-6 chance to be attacked by the creatures in that area. The chance increases by 1 for each square closer to the encounter area the party encamps (so if you set up camp next to the black widow spiders, your party WILL encounter them that night).

It's a good illustration of how to tweak the rules to personalize an adventure and create a useful tool to help quickly resolve a situation. I'm not sure why Gary limited this chance to camping overnight, but a similar encounter chance could easily be applied to a daytime roll if the party approaches too close to a numbered area.

Encounter area 1 is a muddy mound, beneath which dwells a tribe of "exceptionally evil" lizardmen. Lizardmen are neutral in Holmes Basic and AD&D (which makes sense for a lizard-brained creature). They have kids and eggs, and senior citizens. They don't seem to bother anyone who doesn't bother them first. Gary gives no reason for why these particular lizardmen are "evil" or what they do that makes them "exceptionally" so. Nevertheless, this encounter introduces a moral decision as to whether or not to kill the non-combatants (a decision which repeats multiple times once the characters reach the Caves of Chaos). Perhaps making the lizardmen evil is meant to ease the decision-making process for new players who might be confused as to how to handle this moral quandary. 

As teens, we never had a problem killing all the humanoids in the Caves of Chaos (or the giant wives and children in G1-3). I don't think any of my current players, who are all in their late 40s to early 60s, would hesitate now, either. We grew up with a tacit understanding that we were fighting irredeemable monsters bent on the destruction of humanity, and that killing them and their unholy progeny was a service to the forces of Law and Good.

I still accept that conceit, but in hindsight, I believe Gary included the non-combatants precisely to provoke the ethical question among players: Should we kill them? That's a sophisticated topic to introduce into a game, but something the fantasy genre is perfectly suited to explore. In my experience, some of the most dramatic role-playing moments have been party debates about whether or not to kill a creature. I've seen characters come to blows over it. Whatever one's personal feelings are about such things in D&D, I'm fascinated by its inclusion as a piece of intentional gameplay in an introductory module aimed at teens and young adults. People still argue about it today.

In any case, the party will only come into contact with the lizardmen if they camp in the fens at night or if they tromp on the mound during the day (and only IF the party decides to cross the river and investigate the swamp, which we never did).

Encounter area 2 is a forest grove where a pair of black widow spiders spin webs in the trees and guard a +1 shield. The adventure doesn't label the spiders as "giant" or "huge" or "large," but it's heavily implied that these are monstrous versions. They have AC 6, 3 hit dice, a bite that does 2-12(!) damage and insta-kill poison if you fail your save.

I couldn't remember whether black widow spiders were official creatures, so I looked it up and was surprised to discover that giant spiders of any sort are not in the Holmes Basic bestiary, nor, apparently, in any of the OD&D books (except for the water spider). This seems like a glaring genre omission from the early game and I'm sort of baffled how such an obvious monster-type was overlooked in the official rules. 

The black widow spider is listed in the wandering monster tables in the rules reference section of the module, along with a "crab spider" and a "tarantella spider," but none of these are given stats. And, you have a chance of encountering 1d3 black widow spiders, which begs the questions: Are these different from the ones inhabiting the numbered encounter area and, if not, where did the third one come from? It's also very possible (likely) that the woods are crawling with black widows, but the specific pair in area 2 are called out due to the treasure they protect.

Two versions of a monstrous spider are listed in both the gameplay example and the sample dungeon in the Holmes Basic rulebook. The gameplay example on p.21 details a fight with six "large" spiders that have AC 8, 1+1 HD, and a bite attack that does at least 2 damage and injects fatal poison if a save is failed. The sample dungeon contains an absolute beast of a spider (labeled as "enormous") with AC 3(!), 6(!!) HD, and a bite that does 1d8 damage plus fatal poison (with a -1 penalty to your save!!!). How many 1st-level characters have died to this monster, I wonder.

The Holmes rules indicate that a DM can/should refer to the AD&D Monster Manual for other monsters, but these black widow spiders don't comport with any of those spiders either. These are unique versions from what I can tell, and they have the casual feel of just statting a monster to the desired gameplay instead of adhering to a rigid monster template or needing to call it out as a "new" monster in its own special section of the module text. It's only called a "black widow" because that term has a built-in fear factor with players that is driven by emotion instead of mechanics. I much prefer "freewheelin'" D&D, in this sense.

Encounter area 3 is the hidden camp of a gang of dangerous men who raid the area. The raiders conform roughly to the Bandit listing in the Holmes bestiary or the Brigand in the Cook Expert rules, and are described as "chaotic fighters" who spy on the Keep from this secluded site so as to avoid patrols. The text makes no mention as to whether these fighters are allied with the evil priests in the Caves of Chaos, nor does it specify for whom the raiders spy or who they raid (presumably merchant traffic east of the Keep, although it clearly says the road leads into "forsaken wilderness," so who knows?) They're just a bunch of aggressive guys camping on a hill in the woods. Even a novice DM can make something out of that.

Encounter area 4 is the infamous "Mad Hermit," an inspired piece of encounter design made more awesome by Erol Otus' sinister illustration. It's a great example of efficient adventure writing that imparts a lot of usefulness and flexibility—including battle tactics—in just a few brief sentences. The hermit comes across as a quirky, but friendly little fellow who wants to show you something in his log home, but turns out to be quite dangerous when he can retrieve his potion of invisibility and +1 dagger. When the party lets down its guard, he strikes and then calls in his pet mountain lion to unleash a deadly ambush attack.

The whole encounter is tinged with madness and uncertainty, luring the players in by their desire for information. The mountain lion doesn't exist in Holmes Basic, but this version mostly lines up with the AD&D Monster Manual version. Gary provides it a +2 bonus to-hit for leaping out of a tree, which is in contrast to the similar leaping attack of the "enormous spider" in the Holmes sample dungeon that knocks the target down and imparts a (-2) penalty to-hit on the prone character instead. More freewheelin' combat effects to spice up the encounter, but these are the little things that can help make each D&D combat feel more organic and different than the previous fight.

Encounter area 5 is an obvious trail, although the symbol for it (a meandering line of plus signs) does not appear in the map legend. The trail's destination is unknown, but travelers on it are frequent enough that the trail forks to connect with the main road leading west to the Keep and the realm it guards, and north toward the Caves of Chaos and the "forsaken wilderness" beyond.

The Cave of the Unknown is the last notable exterior location (other than the canyon entrance to the Caves of Chaos). Appropriately-named, the cave is a blank space intended to allow the DM to expand on the mini-campaign setting with their own material or ideas. The entrance is also only about 600 yards from the Caves of Chaos and the module suggests connecting the two areas via a handy "boulder-filled passage." We never expanded on this area back in the day, but it was smart of Gary to encourage DMs to try it for themselves inside the module.

Map Scale. The area of the Wilderness map is pretty small. Each square is a mere 100 yards across, meaning the Caves of Chaos are just under two miles from the Keep as the crow flies, or not quite three miles using the road. I walk my dog farther than that in the evening, so it seems a little too close for comfort for two armed bastions of Law and Chaos. No wonder the Castellan is concerned.

While this isn't very realistic, the small scale serves the presentation of instructional materials. It doesn't make sense to throw new players and DMs into a huge sandbox with tons of options and no direction, when some simple constraints will help the learning process instead.

All of this material will be recycled in some form into the Badlands wilderness.

Next Up — The Badlands Hexcrawl

No-Artpunk Contest: Bergummo's Tower

Happy to report that I received a positive review for my adventure, Bergummo's Tower, in Prince of Nothing's "No-Artpunk 2" contest. The competition looks pretty stiff, so I'm not sure of my chances for being selected, but I'm grateful to have received a passing grade and moved on to the final round.

Here's Prince's review, as well as a list of the other entries.

Here are my playtest reports from the first time I ran it (sessions which led to a few changes in order to make things work that weren't). I wrote the adventure as an intro to 5e but in an OSR-style. The contest rules stipulated, however, that the adventure must be written in an old-school system, so I converted it to OSRIC.

Here is the OSRIC version if anyone would like to download it for themselves. I don't have the 5e version ready yet, but I'll format it and post it here soon.

Notable Personalities and Characters (NPCs)

The following morning, the party assembles outside the Tavern, taking note of a group of peasant lackeys milling about a large wooden sign, tacked up with numerous notices. The lackeys press the party for work, offering to tote gear or hold torches. Most of the party members ignore the lackeys to examine the notices.

Eager to sculpt a reputation for himself, Ban pulls a half-dozen lackeys aside and gives each of them a silver bit, which they eagerly accept. He then instructs each one to begin spreading a carefully-crafted rumor about a visiting raconteur named Ban Barlowe—famous across the land for his access to King Manfred's court, his reputation as a rakish rascal, and for his romantic (and sometimes adulterous) affairs.

Once inside the Tavern, the party discusses a plan and arrive at a consensus to return to the site of the caravan ambush and try to find and follow the bandits' tracks back to their hideout. There might be more loot there to recover, and now that they know they can take ears for money, maybe they can find some more gobbos to kill.

First, they need to purchase equipment and decide to head to the Provisioner's shop to gear up. Smitty wants better armor, so he heads straightaway to the Smithy. He enters the smoky interior through a pair of wooden doors that stand wide open. The forge sits in the center of the open room, with the heat and smoke venting through a hole in the ceiling. The walls are hung with various tools and weapons, and there, in one corner, hangs a suit of chain mail on a stand.

The blacksmith, a burly, black-bearded man, looks up from the spear he sharpens and says, "Howdy! Can I help ya?" Smitty introduces himself and expresses interest in the chain mail. The smith grins broadly and offers a grimy handshake, "Come on in...they call me 'Iron Dan'!"

 __________

In the original B2 Keep on the Borderlands, Gary Gygax didn't name the non-player characters (NPCs) who inhabit the Keep so as to help a DM adapt the module to their own campaign. He wrote each NPC in fairly broad strokes, but injected a ton of flavor and personality into each brief description.

For my Badlands campaign, I wanted to hew as closely to the original as possible, with an understanding that it's possible some of my players will figure out that this campaign is B2 in disguise, which might render some of the conflict and treachery in the module less effective. As a result, some of the NPC details from B2 are modified from the original text.

It's also possible my players may become, or are already aware of this blog, in which case I am revealing many important campaign details they are not meant to know. If this is any of my Monday night Roll20 guys, please stop reading now...

Hooks and Threads

When the party arrives at Irongate Keep, they are first questioned outside the walls by a sentry, who asks each character their name and business in the keep. Here, the merchants who hired the party as escorts sign the documents confirming their service and explain that the party members can receive the balance of their payment at the Guildhouse in the keep's village.

Passing through the curtain wall, the four party members—Smitty, a human fighter; Ban, a human bard; Thero, a wood elf ranger; and Thoin, a dwarf cleric—enter the courtyard under the gaze of several soldiers up on the parapets. They form a short queue as other keep visitors ahead of them speak with the Master-of-Stores. While they wait, a stern-eyed Sergeant-of-the-Gate strolls over with a pair of guards and converses briefly with the party. He makes some small talk and then stresses, in no uncertain terms, that the Castellan brooks no mischief or law-breaking. The Sergeant doesn't seem to give the same attention to the other peasants and merchants in line.

Soon enough, the Master-of-Stores comes over and asks each character if they have any valuables to declare for sale within the keep. Most answer "no," but Ban explains that the party recovered some trade goods from an ambushed caravan that they would like to turn in for a reward. As several lackeys take the goods into the warehouse, the Master-of-Stores speaks briefly with the party's previous employers who confirm the story. He then gives Ban a receipt for the bundle of goods and instructs him to take it to the Guildhouse. 

Ban shows him the bronze sigil taken off the hobgoblin bandit's body. The Master takes the pendant and pockets it, telling Ban that he will take care of it and "not to trouble himself over the matter." He barks at one of the young lackeys, ordering the lad to escort the party to the Guildhouse at once, and then he shuffles off to attend to other keep visitors.

They head up the ramp into the village proper, observing groups of commoners—mostly women and children—gathered outside a row of apartments, performing daily tasks: cooking, scrubbing laundry, gossiping, etc. Ban flirts with several of the maidens as he passes by, causing the girls to giggle and laugh, and the older ladies to cluck disapprovingly. The few male villagers present pause their labors to glare at the fancypants bard.

Smitty glances inside a nearby blacksmith's shop and sees the smith hard at work at his anvil, assisted by two able apprentices. He is reminded of his youth as a smith's apprentice and makes a note to come back later. At the top of the ramp, the party's escort rounds a corner by the Provisioner's shop and brings them to a prominent building—the Guildhouse. Next to the door, a wooden placard displays the merchant guild's sigil: three golden coins forming a triangle.

Inside, the Guildmaster takes possession of the recovered goods and listens intently to the party's report. He thanks them for the information and their good deed, and offers the party a reward of 150 guilders, which they gladly accept. After turning in the loaner gear from the caravan masters and their pay receipts, the Guildmaster also gives the party members their remaining wages for guarding the caravan: 150 guilders each. 

As journeyman artisans, Smitty and Thoin opt for the free accommodations at the Guildhouse. Ban and Thero decide to head for the Inn. They agree to convene at the Tavern in the morning to figure out their next steps...

____________________

At this point, the players are let loose to do what they want in the area. They each have the clothes on their back, a few personal items, and not-quite 250 guilders each to gear up and begin adventuring. In addition, Smitty gleaned some leather armor and a longsword from the hobgoblin, Ban has his dagger and a scimitar he grabbed from one of the goblins, Thero has a goblin scimitar along with his longbow and a few arrows, and Thoin has his hammer.

I'm running the campaign as a hexcrawl/sandbox with a loose background plot involving an evil cult of chaos gathering an army of humanoids to smash the keep and clear the way for an infiltration of southern Remedios. It will take some time for the cult's plan to achieve fruition, but the clock is ticking.

The center of the cult's activity is, of course, the Caves of Chaos. In this version, the caves are not (yet) known to the keep's inhabitants, and the site lies a few days' journey deep into the Badlands—in an isolated canyon where keep troops do not patrol. Part of the campaign involves the party's discovery of the caves' existence and its location, but how and when that occurs is largely up to them. The first clue is the mysterious sigil found on the hobgoblin, which is the chaos cult's sign.

Besides this underlying secret plot against the keep, there are many other opportunities for adventure in the area. To present these to players and help get them started, I created a set of rumors and public notices. Rumors are learned by interacting with keep NPCs, mostly randomized although some residents know specific rumors. Unlike the rumor list in B2, these rumors only involve either the Keep or the Badlands; there are no Caves of Chaos rumors to be gleaned here (yet).

Keep Rumors

These rumors concern the various NPCs and locations within the Keep proper (1d20).

1. The basement of the Loan Bank holds a king’s ransom. [T]
2. Ciros the sell-sword must be a friend of the Castellan; he comes and goes as he pleases. [F]
3. There’s something odd about the visiting priest of Thera, like he’s hiding something. [T]
4. Some of the new laborers are up to no good. [T]
5. The fountain is haunted by the ghost of a young girl; she can be seen on the new moon. [F]
6. The Master-of-Stores has been acting strangely of late, like something is troubling him. [T]
7. The Vizier is a half-elf mage from the city of Remedios. [T]
8. The Taverner seems like a jerk, but deep down he has a big heart. [T]
9. The Bailiff takes bribes. [F]
10. One of the items for sale at the Loan Bank is magical, but the Banker won’t say which one. [F]
11. The Guildmaster keeps an eye on those who pass through the Keep. [T]
12. The Temple guards a secret beneath the altar. [T]
13. Don’t interfere with soldiers’ business. [T]
14. The Castellan is a great man, a former adventurer and friend to the lord of these lands. [T]
15. There are tunnels deep beneath the Keep that lead to all sorts of hidden vaults. [F?]
16. The Castellan’s daughter is being held in one of the towers “for her own good.” [F]
17. The Keep is all that stands between Remedios and the orc hordes of the Red Desert. [T]
18. A disgraced knight is imprisoned in the Keep's dungeon. [F?]
19. The Jewel Merchant is stuck here. [T]
20. The Keep's Doctor is a drunk. [F?]

            [T] = true; [F] = false; [F?] = maybe (I'll decide later.)

Badlands Rumors

These rumors concern the various threats and locations in the region surrounding the Keep (1d20).

1. A tribe of lizard-men live in a marsh to the southwest. [T] (7)
2. An elf warrior disappeared investigating reports of a monster to the southeast. [T] (L11)
3. Beware the mad hermit; he lurks somewhere in the northern Badlands. [T] (2)
4. Travelers seeking shelter in the Badlands should look for the sign of Thera. [T] (T)
5. Three hill giants and their armies do battle in the east; it’s very dangerous to go there. [T] (G)
6. Giant spiders recently attacked a patrol; the soldiers escaped, but one went missing. [T] (4)
7. There’s a secret pass through a ridgeline to the southeast. [T] (3)
8. If you find a pass lined with skulls, run away or face the wrath of a fearsome ogre. [T] (6)
9. Strange activity in the south has led some to believe an evil cult has reemerged. [T] (C)
10. A vicious dragon lives in a cave to the southeast, where it sits on a huge pile of gold. [T] (D)
    
11. Bugbear raiders are harrying caravans, which is putting a big strain on keep supplies. [T]
12. Watch the skies for gigantic buzzards; they are a deadly and aggressive menace. [T] (L5)
13. The “Dire Knives” are murderous robbers who ambush travelers in the region. [T] (L12)
14. Somewhere in the hills is an ancient druid shrine that is said to control the weather. [T] (L10)
15. An evil hag dwells in a vile fen, and she eats the souls of those she kills. [T] (9)
16. A powerful sorcerer conducts evil experiments in his black tower to the south. [F]
17. A dwarf miner has struck gold to the south and it’s said to be quite the mother lode. [T] (8)
18. A clan of nomads roamed this region long ago; their burial sites can still be found. [T] (A1/5)
19. Raiders from the Red Desert have been spotted all over the southern reaches. [T] (11)
20. A hidden temple to Thera lies to the southeast and the oracle there knows everything. [T] (E)

            [T] = true; [F] = false; (# or letter) = location on regional map; (L#) = Lurid Lair

Classic illustration from B2
by the utterly-great Erol Otus

Public Notices

Keep officials and locals post bills on a large wooden board outside the Tavern (area 14). These postings are a good source to earn money and build a reputation. A few of the bills are tattered and worn, having obviously been up for some time:

 

Bounties

This permanent poster offers a reward for killing regional threats to the keep. Bounty hunters can collect at the Inner Gatehouse (area 20) by turning in “trophies” from the creatures on the list to earn a monetary reward and renown with the Keep.*

"The Castellan of Irongate Keep offers the following rewards to any men-at-arms who deliver proof of their deeds to the Upper Bailey..."

• Bugbear scalp = 5 guilders (gp)
  
• Goblin ear = 5 bits (sp)
  
• Gnoll ear = 3 guilders
  
• Hobgoblin ear = 1 guilder
  
• Kobold ear = 2 bits
• Ogre tusks = 5 guilders
• Orc ear = 1 guilder

* If the party members choose to accept payment as a group, then they can split the reward money evenly among themselves. 

I use a simple accumulative point system to track "renown"—a numeric score that loosely represents each character's standing (and the party's as a whole) with various keep factions and personalities—so any earned renown points from turning in bounties are also divided equally among the group members. I keep the scores in a spreadsheet and the entire system is invisible to players (because I don't want them "gaming" it...which they will absolutely do). It's just there as a quick-glance marker to help guide me through an NPC's interaction with a specific character.

Often, factional renown also applies to one or more renown scores for individual NPCs. For example, the bounties described above give a modest renown award to a faction: "The Keep." Not only does the award apply to the general population and soldiery who live in the Keep, but it also applies individually to the Castellan and each of the Keep's officials (such as military officers, the Doctor, and the Vizier). Renown scores can also decrease if a player breaks the law and/or does stupid things, as the party's bard is about to find out.

Nuisance Control
A wooden placard nailed to the posting board offers a reward for eliminating minor threats to local travelers and residents of the Keep (as above).

• Ankheg mandibles = 5 guilders
• Bear skin = 5 guilders
• Cougar pelt = 5 guilders
• Coyote pelt = 1 guilder
• Giant buzzard beak = 5 guilders
• Giant spider leg = 1 bit
• Stirge beak = 5 bits
• Snake skin = 5 bits

Valuable Beasts of Burden
The Trader buys unwanted mounts and certain wild animals. He advertises that he pays “top coin” for the following healthy beasts (but only pays the base price listed below +/-5% x 1d6):

• Camel = 10 guilders
• Horse, draft = 25 guilders
• Horse, riding = 35 guilders
• Mule = 4 guilders
• Ram = 10 guilders

Valuable Materials
Various locals post requests for special, hard-to-find materials.

• Ankheg acid sac = 50 guilders (Vizier)
• Bear paw/claw = 3 guilders (Trader)
• Botanical samples = var. (Doctor)
  
• Bugbear pelt = 7 guilders (Trader)
• Giant spider's poison sac = 1 guilder (Doctor)
  
• Giant spider's web gland = 1 guilder (Vizier)
  
• Needler heart = 3 guilders (Vizier)
• Precious metals/gems = var. (Jeweler)
  
• Scorpion's stinger = 5 guilders (Doctor)
• Viper's poison gland = 2 guilders (Doctor)

Wanted

These notices are typically advertisements for work, or warrants for outlaws thought to be in the area (the #/letter in parentheses refers to a location on the regional map).

• Wanted—Dead or Alive! The spy, Gregori Munn, for crimes against the crown. Reward of 250 guilders dead or 500 guilders alive to the person bringing this traitor to justice. Distinguishing marks: tattoo of a dagger on upper right arm and a long scar across right eye. (2)

• Wanted! The “Dire Knife Gang” for murder, larceny, highway robbery, and crimes against nature involving livestock. Good on ye if they’re taken alive, but it pays the same if they’re dead…50 guilders per head. (L12) 

• Hiring Diggurs! Good wage for honest work. Follow the sign of the pick to Carlos’ mine…ask for Carlos. No elves! (8)

These were the initial lot of notices posted when the party arrives. As the campaign progresses, I regularly add new notices to the board and cycle old ones out in order to present additional information and new opportunities. On Roll20, these postings are in a folder the players can access, so it's up to them to check back regularly.