Review 45 - Barkeep on the Borderlands
Sometimes, but not as often as I'd like, I host games at a local tap room near my house. Obviously, this sort of setting doesn't work for every game-- it's generally going to be on the louder side, so you're not likely to have much success creating certain moods, like horror or suspense. It definitely lends itself to a more wild and loose game that isn't worrying too much about exactitude. So naturally, a pub-crawl themed adventure is ideal. Hence, Barkeep on the Borderlands by W.F. Smith.
The credits for this one are immense as there is quite a bit of guest writing and art, so I will simply direct you to the itch page rather than type it all out here.
The general premise of this adventure is that the PCs are in town for a special festival that celebrates the events of the classic dungeon module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands which occurred in the past. The keep is now a bustling town that is naturally full of tourist traps and bars. The Monarch of the town has been poisoned, and a reward is offered to locate the antidote which has gone astray and accidentally ended up at one of the bars. I ran this with Cairn, using the included backgrounds instead of the standard ones for the system (which worked perfectly, I have to say, because each of them has starting equipment).
Getting it to the Table
This one definitely felt a little intimidating upon first picking it up; there are a lot of factions and moving parts to keep track of if you want to play it exactly as written, and I think it actually would have been easier if I had not be setting it up as a one-shot (with some players who were steadily getting tipsy alongside their PCs). That said, every moving part that is presented in here is done so in a very clear and logical way that makes it relatively easy to grok once you sit down and read through it. There is also a core "pubcrawl procedure" that helped hold everything together. In effect, every turn spent crawling between pubs, you're either getting a setback, drinking, or marking time.
The other main feature of the core procedure is that there is a timeline of events that will progress alongside the actions of the PCs. This timeline includes a variety of distractions and festivities, as well as the location of the antidote as NPCs find and interact with it. Each day of the festival, there are also rumors that can provide hints towards the movements of the antidote.
Once we get past the procedures and background, the rest of the zine is dedicated to the fantastic pubs. Each one has tables that tie to the different parts of the core procedure; these essentially equate to encounter tables for both being inside the pub and also approaching it. They've also each got their own special features that make them unique, and a cast of potential NPCs and situations that could easily take up a whole session. Most of these could be easily lifted and placed in another setting, though many of them are tied pretty closely to the conceit of being in the aftermath of B2 (for example, "The Original Tavern™" which is presented as a sort of TGI Friday's version of the tavern from B2, complete with combo meals).
Ultimately, this is a great example of a location with an interesting situation where you can simply let your players run loose and do whatever they feel like; interesting adventuring will follow.
What Worked?
- The pubs! This is honestly worth the price just for this list of incredible pubs crammed full of interesting NPCs, encounters, and stuff to interact with.
- The art! Holy crap, so many great artists in here.
- The timeline! I always enjoy a "what happens if the PCs do nothing" sort of thing, and this has the added benefit of evolving rumors that can potentially get floundering players back on track.
What Didn't Work?
- A little too much dice rolling for my taste. This is always an interesting line to walk-- on the one hand, I love having a bunch of robust tables that can be used to make an interesting game session emerge organically. On the other, I felt like I was rolling dice every couple of minutes. I was asking players to roll their sobriety die constantly. Many times when I play Cairn, there are very few rolls throughout an entire session, so this just felt a little bit roll-heavy. Still very fun though!
Final Thoughts
I will probably need to run this one again and stick to the procedure and allow it to last over a few sessions to really let it breathe. However, the one-shot version was an absolutely great time, and I highly recommend the author's blog post about potential ways to run it as such.
You can get Barkeep on the Borderlands at the Prismatic Wasteland itch page. Thanks for reading!