Heroes of the Borderlands is the best way to say “yes” to adventure. Designed to get you playing in just 20 minutes, this new starter set teaches new players and Dungeon Masters the basics of Dungeons & Dragons as the adventure unfolds—no prep required.

• Threading Together the Story
• Running the Adventure

Threading Together the Story

Inspired by B2. Keep on the Borderlands, an introductory D&D adventure first published in 1979, Heroes of the Borderlands takes an emergent approach to storytelling. While there are plots and secrets to uncover across the adventure's three settings—the Caves of Chaos, the Keep on the Borderlands, and the Wilderness—the story that manifests is the one your group tells together.

The Three Adventure Booklets

Each of the adventure's sections emphasizes a different pillar of D&D.

The Keep on the Borderlands is rich with social interaction, bringing roleplay opportunities and a host of Friendly NPCs. The Wilderness is ripe for exploration, sending the characters into the wilds of the Borderlands, where characters can experience random encounters across four unique regions. Meanwhile, the Caves of Chaos offers combat aplenty through a series of dangerous dungeon crawls.

These settings are split into three separate adventure booklets to help keep everything manageable and allow players to rotate into the DM chair.

Swapping DM Duties

This modular approach makes it easier for DMs and players to swap roles and learn the fundamentals of D&D; they don't need to read ahead, balance a web of interconnected events, or worry about spoiling major plot details or the rest of the adventure when one DM runs another portion of the adventure. It also allows us to break the adventure down into bite-sized pieces suitable for 30- to 90-minute game sessions.

Despite this approach, players and DMs alike will no doubt notice narrative threads that span the adventure's three sections, from NPCs to lurking dangers. If you'd like to weave these threads together to create an overarching plot, continue reading!

Warning! This article is intended for DMs running Heroes of the Borderlands and contains spoilers for that adventure. Turn back if you don't wish to see such forbidden knowledge.

Running the Adventure

Stacey Allan & William Doyle

Heroes of the Borderlands introduces your party to the Borderlands, a sandbox-style frontier brimming with danger and opportunity. Player characters chart their own course, deciding which areas to explore and often returning to familiar locations to rest, spend hard-earned gold, or uncover deeper mysteries.

While you can jump in from any of the three booklets, we recommend the order below for the cleanest flow. That said, you can run these sections in any order.

If something grabs your players' attention, it's okay to veer off the path and let them explore. When running adventures, it never hurts to embrace what interests your players and use that to steer the adventure in the right direction!

The links below will work for users with the Heroes of the Borderlands Digital Adventure Pack on D&D Beyond.

1. Set the Scene

If you'd like to further set the scene, you can begin the adventure by reading or paraphrasing the following boxed text inspired by the read-aloud text that introduced the original Keep on the Borderlands:

2. Start with the Wilderness Booklet

Begin in Region 1: Trail of the Wilderness Booklet. Although the booklet states that the trail location is situated to the east, between the keep and the Caves of Chaos, the encounters still make sense when approaching the keep from the south.

Run some of the random encounters from the Trail Encounters table. For a good mix of combat, exploration, and social interaction, you can run them in this order:

1. Looted Wagon: The characters discover the looted wagon and learn about the presence of bandits in the area.
2. Game Trail: The characters meet Haldryck and learn about the keep, ensuring they know where to go and who to talk to for more information about its inner workings. In later forays to the trail, the characters might encounter Mallyn the traveler and have a tale of adventure or two to share with her.
3. Bandit Ambush: The characters are set upon by Pral and his bandits. Combat with Pral and his not-so-merry band is likely, encouraging the characters to rest at the keep afterward. If Pral is victorious, he might become a recurring antagonist along the trail or elsewhere in the Borderlands.

3. Arrival at the Keep

Alejandro Pacheco

After these encounters, the characters arrive at the keep, where they are intercepted by the gate guards, Bartho and Gala, who encourage the characters to lend their services to the keep and report to the castellan and his advisers at the keep's fortress.

If the players aren't sure where to go after the outer gatehouse, direct them toward the tavern (area 9) for a warm meal and maybe a rumor or two that might aid them in a future quest. They can then reunite with Haldryck at the traveler's inn (area 8) and get some rest.

As the characters interact with the inhabitants of the keep, use each NPC's rumors (located on the back of their respective NPC Card) to pique the players' interest in stories within the keep and the untamed lands that lie beyond it. Through social interaction with these citizens and keep-based quests, you can determine what motivates each player character—be it treasure, gold, glory, or the greater good. Use that information to spur them to action, especially when they meet with Winvarle, the keep's castellan, who tells them about the Caves of Chaos.

4. Go to the Caves of Chaos

At the castellan's behest, the characters depart the keep for the Caves of Chaos. Here, the characters gain levels by completing caves, slowly working their way up to greater challenges and threats.

As the characters explore the caves, they learn about the forces of chaos that operate within, especially the evil Cult of Chaos and the source of its power: the dreaded Chaos Bell. Here are a few ways the characters might discover the cult's presence:

• The iron tome in the library (area C3) of Cave C: Nothic Lair describes the Chaos Bell and its power, along with how to destroy it.
• Oggdug the ogre mercenary (see Cave E: Ogre Lair) might tell the characters about the Cult of Chaos if they ask about either of his off-limits caves. Oggdug's brother, Zurf, was slain by the owlbear in Cave G: Shunned Caves and subsequently reanimated by cultists to serve as a bodyguard in Cave K: Shrine of Evil Chaos.
• The characters might encounter members of the Cult of Chaos in the cult barrack (area G6) in Cave G: Shunned Caves.

At your discretion, other inhabitants within the Caves of Chaos might be able to impart information about the Cult of Chaos and its wider activity throughout the Borderlands. Two options include the captured spelunker, Vinx (see Cave D: Goblin Lair), and the hobgoblin combatants in Cave F: Hobgoblin Lair.

Keep in mind that the player characters don't have to visit every cave, slay every creature, or loot every crevice in this section to progress (though they certainly can if they are having fun).

5. Move Back and Forth Between the Caves, the Keep, and the Wilderness

Alejandro Pacheco

Because they can take Long Rests only within the Keep on the Borderlands, the characters move back and forth between the keep and the Caves of Chaos. If you'd like to incorporate travel encounters during their journeys, use the ones provided in the Wilderness Booklet.

For instance, the characters might decide to travel through Region 2: Woods as a more direct route between the caves and the keep. In this case, you can use the random encounters provided in the Woods Encounters table.

These encounters and the ones in the Keep on the Borderlands Booklet present additional opportunities to foreshadow the Cult of Chaos, such as happening on cultists performing an occult ritual in the woods and learning that the previous priest of the keep's temple (area 11), Ivlis, left under mysterious circumstances.

6. Eventually, Confront the Cult of Chaos in the Shrine

Exploring the cave system will eventually reveal Cave K: Shrine of Evil Chaos, the cult's primary base of operations.

After fighting, sneaking, or convincing their way through, the characters will discover the Chaos Bell—the source of the cult's power—at K5: Altar of Evil Chaos and be able to confront the cult's leaders, Narthus and Ivlis.

7. Destroy the Chaos Bell

With the cult vanquished, the characters might want to destroy the dreaded Chaos Bell so no one else can wield its sinister power. To destroy the bell, the characters must submerge it in the Sacred Spring at night while the spring is bathed in moonlight.

If the characters missed this information in the library (area C3) of the Cave C: Nothic Lair, you can have Fazzir the temple's priest provide it to them during their next visit to the keep. (The party might want to inform Fazzir that his predecessor was an evil cult leader!)

8. Congratulations and Celebration

With the Borderlands saved, Winvarle throws a celebration in the characters' honor, as detailed in the Heroes' Return section of the keep's fortress (area 14) location.

Katerina Ladon

Onward to Adventure!

With Heroes of the Borderlands, your table has everything it needs to leap into adventure: a living sandbox, premade characters, and a quest for glory.

The Borderlands are full of secrets to be discovered, so what are you waiting for? Gather your friends, swap into the Dungeon Master's seat if you dare, and set forth to defeat chaos together.