Monday, August 10, 2026

Bandits of Fort Emridy: Turning classic modules into outlaw PC settings

Having lived several months on the outside of civil society, my perspective on running adventuring parties has changed somewhat. As two or three of you may know, I have been chased from my home by a pack of demons intent on tormenting me for sins against... well it all sounds rather silly when I try to explain it, so go back and read the posts I made back in January. 

As a result of my situation, my gaming compadres are also people who are on the run, either from the law or from forces far worse. These folks are not particularly interested in serving the common good, they're motivated by survival. They're also not particularly interested in being evil for the fun of it, so "clearing out" the KEEP on the Borderlands is not very appealing either. They like to think that they're doing good in their own way.

Because of this new perspective, I've been rethinking the adventuring experience, shifting the PCs to the fringes; not necessarily evil, but living outside the constraints of civilization. I'm looking at all these old modules I obsessed about over the years from this new perspective. 

Of course, the first modge to get this treatment is going to be Vill. of Homm. 

Here's the setup: After backing the wrong side in a gangster turf war in Dyvers, the party of societal renegades has fled to the outlaw haven of Nulb. Once there, they meet with the boss of the town who sees that they're a cut above the typical ruffians around Nulb and offers them a gig: a weird new cult in the swamps is seeking mercenaries to provide some advanced professional services. The cult lives in a ruined keep near a hamlet some six miles away called Hommlet. 

The PCs go to the moathouse and have to find there way through to Lareth's joint. Once there, The Beautiful One tells them the job: one of his agents in town (Hommlet) has been arrested and is being held in the tower of the New Masters. It is feared that the agent had on him a scarab that is a holy symbol of the cult and can be used to identify cult members. Lareth needs the party to enter town under guise of traveling adventurers, find a way to infiltrate the tower and retrieve the scarab and release the agent. Or silence him if that is easier.  

Here's how it turned out: the gang went to town and, after some recon, snuck into the tower while R&B were out for the evening. When they got to Rannos in his cell, he claimed that Gremag--who was not incarcerated--ratted him out. The gang took it upon themselves to show Gremag what the cult does to snitches. 

During the ensuing unpleasantries, Gremag insisted that it was Rannos who did the ratting, but it didn't go over well. Unbeknownst to any of them, the real rat was the spy Rannos hired to pose as a laborer at the castle. He had been caught snooping around by Burne's Badgers and quickly confessed to working for the traders, mostly because the pay was shit.

Anyway, that was my first time running an outlaw module, I'm working on a few more; 10 points if you can guess which classic modge is next.

 

 

1 comment:

  1. My under-developed idea....

    The Keep on the Borderlands --

    "You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy!"

    The Keep is thus an outpost of Chaos. Maybe the Chaplain is a holdover from the rule of Law. Maybe the Shrine of Evil Chaos in the Caves is a rival cult from the Castellan. Maybe the Mad Hermit is an agent of Good.

    But the keep is dangerous. Allies exist, but are disguised.

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