So, the other day I had the second session of my Into the Borderlands campaign. Three of the four original players returned (the fourth does intend to return, as far as I know, but had mentioned that she had a big trip coming up on the date of the session). I'm using the pregens that Goodman Games published on their website to use with this module (which, in turn, were based on AD&D 2nd edition characters that appeared in the 2E adaptation, Return to the Keep on the Borderlands that was part of D&D's "Silver Anniversary" series). Anyway, I have a whole set of available pregens (mostly very traditional races and classes - no dragonborn or tieflings or warlocks or anything, but mostly humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings, and pretty basic classes like clerics, fighters, wizards, rogues, etc.). Once a player has taken a character, that character will only be used by that player - new players have to choose from the remaining characters.
The party consisted of a human fighter named Third (who doesn't speak Thyatian Common and communicates with the party by means of gestures - also, kind of a variant human who has the ability to see in the dark), a dwarven paladin named Manu, and a halfling rogue named Mouse as the returning characters, as well as a half-elf bard named Myrna and an elven ranger whose player changed their name to Athanasios. All characters are still first level.
At the beginning of the session, there was a debate about which leads to follow. The three returning characters wanted to return to the Cave of the Unknown/Quasqueton, while the bard's player suggested investigating the disappearance of a local merchant in the Keep, and the ranger's player, somewhat out of nowhere, suggested, "Let's go investigate the swamps and fens to the south!" The bard's player then said, "I'm fine with investigating the Cave of the Unknown," so they decided to pursue that lead.
The party fought their way past the guardian living statues (figuring out that they had resistance to slashing and piercing weapons, and that blunt bludgeoning weapons were most effective). Two characters were severely injured, but the bard's healing spell and paladin's lay on hands ability saved them. They looted the corpses of some other adventurers who had died in the Cave of the Unknown/Quasqueton, and explored some of the massive complex - they found a kitchen and dining room.
Upon return to the Keep, I noted that there were no real plans to divide up loot - each character just kept what they personally found, except for some cookware looted from the kitchens that was sold off for 25 gp and divided up for 5 gp each. There were some efforts to gather more information and rumors (so I gave them some more rumors from the rumor tables for their successful checks). XP was divided to 67 points each - which means the three returning characters each have 117 XP each, and the two newer characters have 67 each. XP gaps are very possible running this kind of West Marches sandbox, and I welcome the disparity. Some characters will advance more quickly than others, and that is OK! One player, who had more experience with 5E than the others, commented that they had only used milestone leveling before, and had never really had to deal with tracking XP before. So that's going to be a fun new experience, I hope - a chance to highlight the virtues of more Old School style gaming!
