Module Review - B2 The Keep on the Borderlands

Title: The Keep on the Borderlands

Code: B2

Author: Gary Gygax

Rule Set: D&D

Year: 1979 and 1999

Pages:

Number of characters:

Levels: 1-3

Rating: ★★★★★

This is one of my favorites, the star rating says it all. The Keep hovers on the edge of sandbox wilderness, one that is your to explore. The Keep is the perfect place to kick off an adventure, the players can obtain all they need to fully explore the environs.

As a carryover from B1, the advice sections are present and highly valuable. There are also handy details such as gossip and the willingness of the lord of the Keep to provide the player characters with man-at-arms and magical items.

Where this module shines is in the tactics provided for each group the characters encounter. Some of them are embryonic or silly, but in keeping with the intelligence level (or madness) of the inhabitants of the Caves of the Unknown.

One of the better things about this adventure is the player mapping is logically constrained, allowing them to make mistakes, but not so bad as to create a mapping nightmare like In Search of the Unknown.  

Where to buy: DriveThru RPG

Fun Pictures at the Buffalo Zoo

Panama Rocks!

Located in Panama NY, this private park is a wonder of New York. The rock formations are millions of years old.

416 million years old to be precise. At that time, America was a part of the Euramerica supercontinent and was rotated 90 degrees so that the north of Canada was facing east and Mexico was in the west. Euramerica was located on the equator and a vast sea covered the continent from Utah in the west to deep into what would become Southern Canada in the east. The formation called Panama Rocks was a shoreline of a rocky island in the southern reaches of this inland sea.

Euramerica

Plants (and fish) dominated the Earth in this era, to the point where plants completely changed the CO2 and O2 levels, resulting in an Ice Age. Euramerica drifted north and westward and the sea dried up. Drifting east over millions of years, great upheavals and earthquakes lifted the shoreline to its current height of 1500+ feet over current sea levels. By the time of dinosaurs, Euramerica was no more. It had broken in two and formed the continents of Europe and North America, with Greenland in the middle.

Within the last 20,000 years, the last ice age ended leaving New York and Panama Rocks in their current state. What a wonder!

In modern times, the park has been in the ownership of several private groups. Approximately 100 years ago, the park was a Honeymoon getaway spot. After a period of inactivity in WWII, the park buildings and environs were renovated and improved by a series of owners. The most recent improvements occurred in 2011.

Rotary Rink - Downtown Buffalo

Rotary Rink in Downtown Buffalo is a wonderful day trip for the kids.

The rink offers skating for free and skate rentals at just $3.00 for adults and $2.00 for children. Skating is causal, but attendants make sure everyone follows the very simple rules - Skate one way, not to fast, don't bump or charge people.

Periodically, the rink closes for the Zamboni. This is a natural break point to go inside and warm up or pop over to Tim Horton's. These pictures were taken in 2013, and we decided on Coffee Culture as a resting spot. Unfortunately, Coffee Culture is no longer located there. It was a beautiful place. 

TGT-1415C-1 Embark 9 Person Tent by HKD International

For Christmas 2012, I received the HKD Global 9 Man Tent. Due to a noticeable lack of information on the web, I had wait until June 2013 to set it up to see what it looked like. UPDATE - it looks like this tent is discontinued. If you have one treat it well. If you need one, try the Embark 8 man tent. 

It’s great. I couldn’t ask for a better tent, but like all tents, the instruction sheet is poor. The condensed instructions on the inside of the carry bag are handy, but without seeing the assembled product, they are too sparse.

Setup is easy, but does require time and two people. Start by opening the bag and the cardboard box. Do not use a knife, just peel the tape away. Find the envelope with the instruction pamphlet.

The first step is to spread the whole tent out. Remember, you have both a tent and a rain fly. The tent is largely screen mesh, the fly is blue and solid. Put the fly aside for now.

Next, stake the four corners at the metal rings.  There are six rings total, you will skip two of them.

Next, find the A poles. These are long fiberglass poles with 7 sections. Assemble them and slide them diagonally into the sleeves. Next pick up the reddish orange five section B pole and slide it into the sleeve from front to back. All fiberglass poles have sleeves.

There are six plastic elbows, two red and four black. Make sure that the elbows are facing the right way by checking that the nylon strap is not twisted. As a double check, the small fiberglass poles fit into side with smaller internal diameter.

Now you will need some help. Assemble the 6 black steel poles and insert into the elbows. Metal poles do not have sleeves. The stake ring has one or more pins. Place a pin inside of the pole to secure it to the ground.

I found it easier to stand the posts up in the elbows, then work my way around the tent putting the pole on to the pin. Now use the Vecro straps to secure the tent edges to the metal poles.

Now spread out the mesh entryway and slide the last grey fiberglass pole into the sleeve and then the elbows.

Now for the grey steel poles. Insert them into the elbows and then use the remaining pins on the ground. These poles also have Vecro straps. With this step complete, work your way around all of the steel poles and snap the plastic clips together at ground level.

This is the step requires help. Lay out the fly in front of the tent and make sure this logo is furthest from the tent:

Now gather the whole fly together and lift it on to the top of the tent.

When this step is done, again check to make sure the logo is on the front left side of the tent. Next grab the remaining stakes and find the orange tie downs.

Unwind and pull the tie down into a loop using the plastic slider.

Stake them down about 2 or 3 feet from the side of the tent. Location will determine the distance. Once this is complete, use the last two stakes to secure the back and front center ground rings.

Walk around the tent and check the Velcro straps to be sure they didn’t slide on the poles. Also check the orange tie downs for tensions.

The total assembly time was about an hour for the first try. Now that I have done it once, I would expect to do it in about half the time.

Module Review - B1 In Search of the Unknown

Title: In Search of the Unknown
Code: B1
Author: Mike Carr
Rule Set: D&D
Year: 1978
Pages: 32
Number of characters: 3 to 6
Levels: 1-3
Rating: ★★★☆☆

In Search of the Unknown is a classic dungeon crawl, the true value of this module is in the open ended nature and guided tour aspect of the adventure. The DM is provided with rooms and descriptions but no monsters. The opening Notes for the Dungeon Master are masterful, great advice for every DM every when and where. The notes cover everything from background to hirelings. The last 7 pagers are for players, including henchmen, hirelings, sample characters and tips.

This is a rough module, no monsters are provided, nor are there any thematic clues as to what sort of beings should be found. This is great for someone who has a preset world, the module is ready to be plugged in. However, as a stand alone product the lack makes running the adventure cumbersome for the DM. Additionally, the upper level map is weird. It reminds me of Zork’s “you are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike”. Player mapping is often a disaster, thanks to the twists, turns and goofy angles scattered around the upper level.

All and all, this module ranks a solid 3 stars of 5.

Where to buy:
Click for DriveThru RPG

Rosewell Park

Roswell Park has been here all my life. It something you don’t think about, like the former child star living next door. Until you see it, until you need it.

Roswell Park is truly a Wonder of New York.

Fixtures of Life

If you grew up in Western New York in the 80’s, you must have visited New World Records, The Towne Restaurant, Amy’s Place, Record Theater or The Continental. Maybe all of them in one day.

I am happy to report that 3 of the five are still here and I managed to hit two of them – Record Theater and The Towne, in one day.

The food is still excellent at The Towne, the staff at Record Theater are still knowledgeable and friendly as they were in the 80’s.

Style changes, class doesn’t.