I've been running this in 5e and converting it on the fly. It's a great sandbox for both players and DM to get introduced not just to D&D, but to the whole idea of a "scenario" rather than a "story." There is no overarching plot to Keep on the Borderlands, just caves full of monsters and descriptions of how they relate to each other.

The reason I didn't give the module five stars is that the importance of not simply having all the monsters attack the first person to set foot in their lairs isn't really brought out. A novice DM may just run this as a slaughterhouse, which will make it a boring drudge right away. When running this module, it is essential to treat it as a living world and have the mosters behave in plausible, meaningful ways, rather than have them just sitting around, waiting to get into a fight.

As is often the case with these old modules, you will find a lot more content herein than its page count would lead you to believe. This is one of the very first module I ever played and therefore, my rating might be biased, but I think that no matter the rule set you are using, this is a good example of an adventure adapted to beginner GMs.

The first part of the module provides guidelines on how to run the adventure and how to add your own material (end of the book). The second part presents the Keep, the place where the characters can resupply and gather information as well as hire help to explore the Caves of Chaos. The third part is a description of the Caves of Chaos and its inhabitants.

The adventure is pretty straigthforward and does not necessarily contain surprises, but it is a solid classic in which new players can learn how to play the game and veterans reminisce some of their first experience. I really enjoyed reading it one more time!

This was the very first module I ever played, my introduction to this wonderful hobby was the Basic (magenta) box set. I still consider this the greatest module of all time, unforgettable, with so many great lairs, layouts and encounters...it's almost a mini-campaign setting. The perfect module for beginners.

This module is certainly a classic that many of us older players remember fondly and was actually the first one I ever owned. My biggest criticism of the module is that there really isn't any plot. There are maps, monsters, and treasure but unless the DM makes something up there's no rhyme or reason for it all to be blended together into the great adventure smoothie it is. It's reasonable priced but any DM is going to have to put in a little extra work to make this more than a dungeon crawl.

My friend at school DM'd this back in the day. 33 years later I bought it from this excellent website (excellent scan), printed it so I can now DM it for my son 33 years on! Its amazing how much you remember- incredible.

This is where the 'mad hermit' made his first appearance (every adventure we played after this seemed to have a mad hermit in!) Love the back cover picture too Highly recommended.

I once read that more people have played through the Keep on the Borderlands more than any other adventure. Of that I am sure. I have run scores of new players through it myself including a new generation of gamers.

The module hardly needs an introduction and it really is almost immune to review. Who cares that the Caves of Chaos look like some sort of Monster Condo where all these different creatures live together until those meddling humans show up from the Keep.

Going to the Caves is rite of passage. It is the hallmark of a real honest to Pelor adventurer. If you don't have it you can't really call yourself a D&D player.

Just remember, "Bree-Yark" means "I surrender" in goblin. Yell it out really loud.

As of 02-20-2013 WotC has re-scanned a new map, which is clean, and complete!

If you are a fan of the Moldvay (1981) version of D&D, you must buy this adventure module!

When I began to play D&D, this is was the standard for all other modules to follow... and the model for many of my own adventure modules.

Buy it! Play it! Rack-up some XPs!

The map is missing information. I paid $4.99 for a module with an incomplete scan. UNSAT!

My favorite module ever. I DM'd this back in the 80's at least a half a dozen times. I've got a near mint copy of the original at this is a very good scan. My only comment would be to put the inside cover maps right after the cover instead of at pages 34+35 right before the back cover.

One step forward, two steps back...

I bought the original scan of Keep On The Borderlands from DrivethruRPG years ago, and I was really looking forward to the release of a higher quality version. While the new scan is indeed better in some ways, it’s worse in others, and overall I’m disappointed. On one hand, the interior pages of the module that contain the descriptions of The Keep and The Caves are much higher quality then before. The fonts and layout were all over the place in the old version, and the maps of The Keep and the surrounding countryside were darker and blurrier. It’s great that WOTC cleaned up the main part the module, but unfortunately, the front cover and maps are much worse in this version. For some reason the front cover was cropped sloppily, and if you enlarge the preview thumbnail above, you can see that the letter “F” in “FOR DUNGEONS & DRAGONS BASIC SET” is missing from the upper left corner (By the way, there’s a similar issue with the covers of C2, T1, and G1-2-3). The cover image itself is a bit fuzzy and suffers from compression artifacts, which is unfortunate because even though the file size of the new PDF is about six times bigger than the old one (23.1 vs. 3.5 megabytes), it’s still a small file in the age of broadband internet. So as long as file size wasn’t a concern, I wish they would have included higher quality cover art and maps. Unfortunately, the map of the Caves Of Chaos from the inside cover is the new scan’s biggest problem. It’s really yellowed and stained compared to the clean white pages of the module itself, and three rooms on the left side have been marked with pen. Worst of all, part of the map is missing! It’s split in half over two pages, and a narrow but important section has been lost from the middle. Cave entrances “C” and “F”, room 41 from the bugbear lair, and room 20 and area “g” of room 21 from the goblin lair were all on the missing part of the map. The Keep On The Borderlands deserves a five star rating for it’s content, but the sloppy presentation of this PDF really bothers me, and I don’t think I’ll be buying more of the re-released D&D PDFs until I can be certain that they don’t have these kind of problems.

You can't say you've played D&D until you've played B2. A great introductory module and an enormous amount of fun to play, regardless of how experienced your players are. Do not hesitate to purchase this product.

Some of the reviews below refer to an old version that was up for sale years ago. This version is complete and has all the maps.

Ah, The Keep on the Borderlands. For many, this was the adventure that helped launch the lifetime hobby of Dungeons and Dragons. Here we have the classic D&D setup; a home-base for the PCs near a complex filled with monsters. It has become a cliche in adventure design, but here is one of the originals. There is no plot, no elaborate backstory, and not a lot of "fluff" to bog things down. What you do have is a really fun adventuring environment that's complete enough to run as-is but open-ended enough to fit into almost any campaign. It's also a great piece of nostalgia.

There are a few elements of this adventure that you may see as either good or bad, depending on what you're looking for in the product. First, the large cave complex filled with monsters is not very "realistic" from real world standpoint. If you think too hard about the logic of all these hostile creatures living like neighbors right next one another, it begins to fall apart. On the other hand, the caves are very well designed as a game element. The "dungeon" is non-linear, meaning that the players are free to explore it and face its perils in different ways; There is no railroading here, just a free-form area full of monsters, traps, and treasure.

Another aspect of the module that may bother some readers is the bare bones design of the Keep itself. While most of the NPCs are given stats and a job title, none of them have names or descriptions. To me as the GM, this was a feature rather than a bug. There is great fun to be had in giving names and (random) personality traits to the residents of the Keep! Your mileage may vary, though, and certainly if you're looking for an adventure where all the work is done for you, you'll be disappointed here.

It's also worth mentioning that the module contains a bit of advice for new Game Masters. While none of this is ground-breaking stuff, it's concise and well-written and, overall, offers good tips on running any classic-style D&D adventure. If you're looking for an introduction to classic Dungeons and Dragons, or want an easily portable adventure that makes up for its lack of realism with a really fun design, you can do worse than the Keep on the Borderlands.

Note: The scan of the module is fair and seems to print out well. Wizards cleaned up the flaws present in the older version and the maps that are included are easy to read. While the initial offering lacked the maps for the Caves of Chaos, the publisher quickly corrected the problem. Great job!

NOTE: This product is no longer missing maps. A quick email to customer service and they promptly fixed the problem.

B2 The Keep on the Borderlands is iconic to say the least. For many gamers this adventure was our first foray into the world of Dungeons & Dragons and it enthralled us with all the potential the game had to offer. Even more important the adventure has withstood the test of time and works just as well for the modern gamer as it did all those years ago. As either a one-shot game or a mini-campaign this module has enough material to provide DMs and their players with plenty of material to fill game night. Enjoy!

An absolute classic must-have for ALL novice D&D players! This along with B1 are an essential part of a roleplayer's education. Scan decent, but the content is solid gold. If I could give it ten stars, I certainly would!

This scan of the module is greatly improved over the descriptions I have read about the previous copy. All maps are included in this scan, including the map of the Keep itself. Everything is crisp and clear, which is amazing considering how old this module is.

The stats for this module are for Basic D&D. This product should not be confused with the 25th anniversary module "Return to the KotB" for AD&D second edition.

Likes: A classic module written by the master himself. (EGG) The setting is loosely defined as being "Somewhere off the map" so you can put it anywhere you wish.

Dislikes: There are two spots in the module where it looks like someone used a high-lighter to define the location of a creature stat block. It shows up in the scan as a light gray box. A niggling detail, but some people do get annoyed by these things. (I am not one of them, however.)

Quality of the scan: good Value for the price: very good