B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983) by Douglas Niles is a D&D adventure for character levels 1-3. While similar in certain respects to B2 "The Keep on the Borderlands" (1980), there are thematic differences between the two.
Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983) by Douglas Niles. Cover illustration by Jim Roslof.
"Horror on the Hill" was designed using the Moldvay Basic rules (cited by page number) although was published after the D&D Basic Set edited by Frank Mentzer was released.
What lives on the mysterious and distant hill beyond the river? No one knows. Rumors say a powerful and evil witch lives there - but no living adventurer has ever returned to confirm or deny that story. Only the river separates you from the answer - do you really want to know it?
from "Coming Soon..." in Dragon #80 (December, 1983)
The Hill is filled with monsters, they say, and an evil witch makes her home there. Still, no visitor to The Hill has ever returned to prove the rumors true or false. The thrill of discovery is too great to pass up, and only the river stands in the way. The adventurers' boat is waiting!
Module B5 "Horror on the Hill" (1983)
The Frontier:
The preface to the module states:
Guido’s Fort. The end of the traders' road. Perched along the banks of the mighty River Shrill, this isolated frontier settlement is the last stop on the caravan routes. The mile-wide river is all that separates the Fort from the shadowy bulk known only as “The Hill,” a land of nameless terrors and ancient legend.
There is no reference to the cosmological framework of Law vs. Chaos as presented in "The Keep on the Borderlands". Rather, the setting evokes the American frontier, with "the end of the traders' road" to the west of civilized lands.
The adventurers are not coming to a lonely outpost in a besieged Realm as warriors in the eternal struggle between Law vs. Chaos, but as explorers of the mysterious and threatening unknown, beyond the borders of civilization.
Possible Inspiration:
As with Tom Moldvay in module B4 "The Lost City", Niles may have been influenced by the writings of Robert E. Howard.
Compare the preface above to this passage by Howard :
Fort Tuscelan stood on the eastern bank of Black River, the tides of which washed the foot of the stockade. The latter was of logs, as were all the buildings within, including the donjon (to dignify it by that appellation), in which were the governor’s quarters, overlooking the stockade and the sullen river. Beyond that river lay a huge forest, which approached jungle-like density along the spongy shores. Men paced the runways along the log parapet day and night, watching that dense green wall. Seldom a menacing figure appeared, but the sentries knew that they too were watched, fiercely, hungrily, with the mercilessness of ancient hate.
Robert E. Howard "Beyond the Black River" (1935)
"Beyond the Black River" by Robert E. Howard was published in two parts, in Weird Tales (May, 1935) and Weird Tales (June, 1935)
Later in the story, the governor at Fort Tuscelan declares:
“We are wise in our civilized knowledge, but our knowledge extends just so far—to the western bank of that ancient river! Who knows what shapes earthly and unearthly may lurk beyond the dim circle of light our knowledge has cast? Who knows what gods are worshipped under the shadows of that heathen forest, or what devils crawl out of the black ooze of the swamps?”
Robert E. Howard "Beyond the Black River" (1935)
Guido's Fort:
A while back, I corresponded with Niles to ask a few questions about "Horror on the Hill". He kindly responded with the following amusing anecdote:
The name "Guido" was a masculine version of my wife's D&D character, "Guida" (a cleric.) "Guida" herself was a feminized version of a character on Saturday Night Live during the seventies, a rather rascally priest named "Father Guido Sarducci". So that's where that name came from; I used it because I thought it was kind of funny.
Douglas Niles, personal correspondence
The Hill:
I would love to see a 3D reconstruction of The Hill, and have considered building one in Minecraft (but lack the skillset) or out of LEGO.
There are 19 encounter areas, including a Killer Beehive and a Driver Anthill ("killer bees" and "driver ants" in Moldvay Basic were renamed "giant bees" and "giant ants" in the D&D Basic Set edited by Frank Mentzer).
The encounter involving two elderly sisters, Rosabella and Rosalinda,* was inspired by the witches of Morva in the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, as mentioned in this interview on the Save or Die podcast (December 20, 2010) from 04:55 to 09:05.
*the interior of the sisters' cottage appears to be an extradimensional space, as in "The Dancing Hut" adventure by Roger Moore, published in Dragon #83 (March, 1984). (I've considered substituting this or "The Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga" (1995) for the sisters' cottage.)
The Ruined Monastery:
I created a Player's Map for the ruined monastery, which I printed on a poster-sized piece of paper at Staples.
Eye of Moloch statue, created using Nomad Sculpt
The pagan deity worshipped by the monks isn't named, although I have used Moloch,* since the statue on The Hill (encounter area #7) and in the old tomb seem a subtle nod to the cover of the AD&D 1e Players Handbook.
*stats for the arch-devil Moloch are given in the 1e Monster Manual II, in which the accompanying illustration by Jim Holloway resembles the idol on the cover of the 1e Players Handbook
Incidentally, the ruined monastery and the dungeon beneath can be used as a separate mini-module, since the ruined monastery can be located anywhere (the outskirts of town, etc.)
The Dungeon:
The dungeon is inhabited by a hobgoblin king and his warriors, although there are no female or young, another point of difference between this module and the Caves of Chaos in "The Keep on the Borderlands"
This suggests that the hobgoblin king is using the ruined monastery as a staging ground for a war party of humanoids, not as a permanent lair. This also explains why the hobgoblins and their allies are poorly organized and scattered throughout the dungeon.
The kobolds and red dragon occupying the lowest level are reminiscent of the kobolds and red dragon in JG 76 The Dragon Crown (1979).
New Monsters:
Piranha Bird,* Steam Weevil,** Lava Lizard
*the stats for piranha birds and steam weevils are correct in their encounter descriptions, but were inadvertently switched in the New Monsters section
**the reader is referred to “Insect Swarms” in the monster section of the Basic rules book, although this entry was moved to the Expert Set rules in the version edited by Mentzer
Nice treatment of this classic module.
ReplyDeleteI love the old ones, more than the new, and not just because I'm of an age when these were being published. I love them, firstly, because the newest Hardcovers and Adventure Paths are polished affairs with little room for any free action by the DM or players (how could there be when it will take a year to complete those enormous adventures); and, secondly, because those first published adventures were largely inspired by the pulp fiction the designers grew up reading, and that they inspired me to do too.
Thanks!
Delete"Horror on the Hill" is often taken for a BECMI-era module, given the updated trade dress, but is actually rooted in B/X lethality, with all the attendant pulpiness. An enterprising DM can leverage this to their advantage, dialing up the pulp and horror, fairly easily, given its origins
A great, often overlooked module. Thanks for all the detail! Especially that bit about the origins of the Guido name.
ReplyDeleteYes, that was from an email exchange back in 2011! Here's what else Doug had to say about "Horror on the Hill":
Delete"The thing about B5 is, I really don't remember too much about how it came to be. I think it turned out to be a good adventure (if somewhat deadly for 1st level PCs) but it was supposed to be able to be dropped into any DM's campaign with little muss or fuss. I don't think the D&D world was more than just a concept at the time."