Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game is one of the many OSR games out there. It is meant to recreate and modernize the so-called B/X version of Dungeons & Dragons. As I’ve rambled about at length, D&D in all its forms is not my bag. However, I’m finding compatible modules to be a handy addition to my Dungeon Crawl Classics arsenal. Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign is essentially the BFRP version of the venerable Keep on the Borderlands module for D&D, much like Monkey Isle was a reimagining of Isle of Dread.
The premise is similar. Characters arrive at a keep that is close to a wilderness packed with dangers. Morgansfort is the keep, and it’s pretty well laid out and stocked with NPCs for your PCs to interact with. The keep and the small community within should serve as a good place for PCs to fall back, rest, heal, and trade. There are three nearby locations for PCs to explore and “clear out,” The Old Island Fortress, The Nameless Dungeon, and The Cave of the Unknown. Those locations are a mixed bag.
The first two are sort of the worst of old school module design. There is very little history or background. Worse, there is no logic or sense of “ecology” in how the rooms are stocked with monsters and antagonists. If you told me the author(s) had a spinning wheel with the names of a bunch of monsters on it, and just gave it a spin for each room, I would not be surprised. One room might have a band of goblins just hanging out, while the next has a giant spider, and the next a nest of killer bees, and the next an ogre. All just waiting around, twiddling their thumbs for all eternity. Never opening a door to find the monster in the next room. Never leaving to find food. Just sitting there, waiting for adventurers to open the door. It’s one of the reasons I think so many video games seem to be based off of D&D in so many ways. It’s like video game logic. And it’s the kind of thing you don’t think about if you’re playing a first person shooter or a tactical combat game or something. But if you’re playing a roleplaying game, where you’re expecting the imaginary world to work in some sort of sensical way, it just doesn’t.
The third dungeon, The Cave of the Unknown, actually has a theme and monsters that make much more sense together. It also has enough of a story to go on. There are some orc raiders who’ve kidnapped a couple people. There’s a magic user who’s up to no good and is sort of working with the orcs. Most of the monsters in the place are directly connected to those two factions. Great. That works.
The thing about BFRP is that all the books are quite cheap. Free if you want the PDF, and pretty much the price of printing if you want physical copies. At a price like that, any problems with the book seem trivial. Even though I’m never going to run those first two dungeons as written, the maps alone are worth it. Morgansfort and the third dungeon might actually make it into my games. If I ever get around to running Keep on the Borderland, I might weave elements of Morgansfort, particularly the NPCs into it. And again, for the price, the maps alone make it well worth it, even if you’re going to replace everything keyed to them.
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Matthew J. Constantine 
I have been reading the first book, and to be honest, I do not think it makes much sense. Morgansfort is supposed to be a frontier stronghold protecting the southern flank of the territory, yet the ruins are, according to the author’s own directions, less than an hour away, with an actual road leading straight to them. And what do you find there? A war between goblins and kobolds taking place less than an hour’s journey from the local centre of power! What is the point of the fort if it cannot even control the territory immediately surrounding it?
On top of that, the fort imposes a tax on any treasure brought back. Does that not imply that expeditions to the nearby dungeon are fairly common? Strangest of all, despite the presence of goblins and kobolds — and, presumably, adventurers passing through from time to time — you still find valuables everywhere, sometimes simply lying on the floor.
It strikes me as the sort of adventure I would run for a group of teenagers who are new to the game and are not going to ask too many questions. My players, on the other hand, would start spotting holes in the logic of the story, and that would completely ruin the adventure for them.
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I wonder if some of that is inspired by the original, as it very much feels like how a lot of old TSR modules were written. I now have a copy of the original Keep module (though I haven’t read it yet) and several different takes on it from other companies. I figured I’d sort of smash them together if I ran it, taking the things I like and dropping the rest. I think my keep will have only recently been established, or re-established, and finds itself chronically underfunded/staffed. So, they’ve been more focused on securing the grounds & collecting supplies. One hour away does seem close, but I expect that’s a “gamest” choice. If it’s longer than that, it’s harder for PCs to travel there, they might find other things to get involved with.
I don’t tend to like most modules “as is.” I usually read them, then break them into a hundred little pieces, mix them with two or three others, and reassemble something more to my liking. This one certainly reminds me why, as it has a few things I like, but I wouldn’t run it right out of the book.
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You’re absolutely right: Morganfort was very likely inspired by the old TSR adventures, which often sacrificed consistency in favour of playability. I think your approach is the best one: take what works for you and ignore anything that doesn’t fit what you have in mind.
In my case, the first level would be much less generous with rewards, although I’d probably make up for that by adding a few hidden treasures. The reason for sending the PCs there could simply be that kobolds and goblins have been spotted too close to the fortress. These changes would allow you to keep many of the elements from the original supplement.
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