Confidential information of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Do not distribute. Dungeon Module B2 The Caves of Chaos By Gary Gygax Revision by Robert J. Schwalb and Bruce R. Cordell Revision Developed by Chris Sims and Matt Sernett An Adventure for Character Levels 1–3 General Notes: This module, originally titled B2: The Keep on the Borderlands, has been the standard introductory module from the earliest boxed editions of the D&D® rules. The adventure consisted of a detailed keep, to be used as a base, and a cave complex known as the Caves of Chaos. The latter has been included here. Playtest • D&D Next Playtest: Caves of Chaos ©2012 Wizards 1 Confidential information of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Do not distribute. a great starting point for applying your creative What Is This Adventure Testing? control. Maybe the different tribes are at war, and The Caves of Chaos isn’t meant to be a hard test of the the caves are like trenches in World War I, with play balance between characters and monsters. each side of the multifront battle making infrequent That process is a continuing one as we refine the attacks and then retreating into its bunker. Perhaps rules for monsters, characters, and encounter the caves aren’t as close together as shown on the building. Although you should keep an eye on how map, and the canyon is more like a hundred miles rules interact, this adventure is intended to explore long, so that the different tribes don’t come into how well the rules support different styles of play. contact with one another as often. Alternatively, you We’ve created a fairly faithful rendition of the can collapse one or more caves to create space original adventure because we’re hoping to see how between them and cut down on the elements you players use this material. In other words, you can have to track. choose to play in the “theater of the mind” style or as a series of set-piece encounters using a grid and Looming War miniatures. The free-form nature of the adventure The cultists in the Shrine of Evil Chaos (cave K) also gives many options for play: hack-and-slash gathered an army of monsters to the caves, battles, political negotiations, cloak-and-dagger slaughtering all but one group of kobolds that had deceptions, dungeon crawls, guerrilla warfare, long occupied the ravine. The cult is planning an comedic interactions, or any mix of those elements. assault on a nearby city, and the various tribes are Do the rules allow you the freedom to play the preparing for war in the manner that best suits their DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game way you like? How talents—orcs as shock troops, hobgoblins as infantry about the adventure? What elements didn’t work and archers, goblins as sappers, and so on. The city out? What did you change to suit your tastes? leaders learned of this threat from a former acolyte who regrets joining the cult and seeks a way out. They call on the characters in hopes that a small Make This Your Adventure group can infiltrate the caves and set the fractious tribes against one another so that the army never The Caves of Chaos isn’t an adventure in the typical reaches the city. sense. It doesn’t present a single story, character hooks aren’t set, and the villains’ actions don’t Find the Heir always have obvious motivations—nor do they work The tribes took many captives from a caravan raid to a common end. and have been trading the prisoners among With this adventure, you don’t need to stress plot themselves as a sort of currency, based on each points. Characters don’t have to move through one’s ransom value. Unknown to their captors, one encounters in a specific order. You and your players of the prisoners is the heir to a nearby kingdom. So can make the adventure happen however you like. far, the other captives have kept this fact a secret, fearing that they might become disposable once the What’s My Motivation? heir is known. The king hires the characters to For some players, the existence ofPlaytest dungeons full of rescue the heir, but he or she won’t leave without monsters and treasure is reason enough to get on the others, or first wants to rescue a love interest with the adventure. If you’re looking for something held by another tribe. more, you can link these encounter locations with any story that you think works best. This section Under Evil’s Thumb includes some suggestions for what’s going on in the The various tribes of the caves are slaves to the caves and why the characters become involved. Shrine of Evil Chaos, forced to worship its power You don’t have take any of these ideas as they are; instead of their own gods. Each month the cultists change them or ignore them, and come up with demand tribute, and the tribes engage in a something you like better. competition for the best offering. The tribe that One way to create a plot for The Caves of Chaos is makes the weakest gift must sacrifice one of its to ask yourself questions when you read through members, whereas the one with the best offering the adventure, then come up with answers. For gains privileges and feasts on goods the cultists example, you might wonder why the monsters procure from nearby towns. Striving for ever more aren’t already at war. The answer to that question is D&D Next Playtest: Caves of Chaos ©2012 Wizards 2 Confidential information of Wizards of the Coast LLC. Do not distribute. wondrous offerings is driving the tribes into a both to fighting. They can lay an ambush for frenzy of raiding each month. The characters are hunting parties. (Of course, the monsters might get called in to discover the reason for the raids and the hint and start ambushing the characters in deal with the problem. return.) They might forgo combat entirely and opt for a political approach. Drawn to the Evil Eye This is your adventure. You can make it easier or The ravine was carved in ancient days when a piece harder to suit the needs of your story. of the eye that Corellon cut from Gruumsh crashed into the landscape. The various tribes were drawn Dynamic Dungeons there by the eye’s power and mined the rift’s walls One way to make the adventure more fun is to have in hopes of finding it. They continue to be held in its elements change according to the characters’ thrall—the orcs in particular seem to be in a trance, actions. If they kill some hobgoblins and then leave, breaking into bloody-eyed fury whenever perhaps they interrupt a funeral feast when they something interrupts their search. Any group that return. If their assault weakens the orcs enough, the finds the fragment of Gruumsh’s eye would have characters might later find hobgoblins in the orc tremendous power over the others. A seer who has caves, celebrating their victory. Character actions divined this danger approaches the characters with might have important and long-lasting effects. a dire warning: The fragment will be found before Clearing the kobold caves might provide a fine the next full moon. For the sake of all, the redoubt for other assaults or turn the complex into characters should be the ones who find it. a base for another, tougher group of monsters. The Devil You Know Monster Activity and Adaptation The tribes in the caves have begun raiding nearby The ravine is a living environment. Large groups of settlements after a long period of relative peace, intelligent creatures are unlikely to sit in their and the leaders of those communities ask the rooms, waiting for adventurers to kill them. Half or characters to negotiate with the tribal leaders. The more range through the countryside, hunting and citizens of the surrounding area are willing to pay foraging, or ambushing travelers on nearby roads. tribute in return for an end to the attacks and a Others might be sent to spy on a rival tribe, trade promise of mutual protection. In fact, a change of with others, raid enemy stores, negotiate with the leadership has brought about the raids: The cultists cultists of the Shrine of Evil Chaos, and so on. of Evil Chaos usurped control of the tribes from Creatures in the ravine have formed alliances their old queen, the medusa who is now held and rivalries. The goblins and hobgoblins are on prisoner in area 64. Certain factions of the various one side and orcs and gnolls are on the other, for tribes desire the return of the medusa’s rule and instance. Others are unallied: The kobolds hope to promise to leave the surrounding communities in be overlooked. Still others are everyone’s enemy: peace if the characters can arrange this event. But The bugbears bully others and pick off stragglers others have benefited from the raids and the shift in from all conflicts. If characters learn about these power. Who can be trusted? factions, with careful play, they can use this Playtestknowledge to their advantage. Free-Form Adventuring Intelligent monsters adapt their tactics to Most adventures published for the latest editions of observed conduct. For example, if the party uses the D&D game have encounters tuned for balance flaming oil in battle, surviving tribal members and a structure meant to take the characters from might use oil later in a similar way.