''Keep on the Borderlands'' is a 2001 fantasy novel by

Ru Emerson ''Ru, ru, or RU may refer to: Russia * Russia (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code) * Russian language (ISO 639 alpha-2 code) * .ru, the Internet country code top-level domain for Russia China * Rù (入), the entering tone in Chinese language ...

, set in the world of

Greyhawk Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for ''Dungeons & Dragons''—Dave Arneson ...

, and based on the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

'' role-playing game, specifically the adventure B2 ''

The Keep on the Borderlands ''The Keep on the Borderlands'' is a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' adventure module by Gary Gygax, first printed in December 1979. In it, player characters are based at a keep and investigate a nearby series of caves that are filled with a variety of ...

''.

Plot summary

The main characters are predominantly human or elven, leaving out

halflings Halflings are a fictional race found in some fantasy novels and games. They are often depicted as similar to humans except about half as tall, and are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves. Similar to the depiction of hobbits in the w ...

and dwarves. Eddis, a woman mercenary, is the primary protagonist and point of view character. The novel was also set in the World of Greyhawk with scant references to its location.

Development

In 2001,

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

published ''Keep on the Borderlands'', a novelization by Ru Emerson for the Greyhawk Classics series.

Reception

James T. Voelpel for mania.com comments: "With ''Keep on the Borderlands'', what you see is what you get, and what you get is pulp fantasy. That being said, it is decent pulp fantasy, with Emerson giving us a steady flow of adventure and conflict, monsters and magic. The characters are somewhat one-dimensional, but more fleshed out than what this genre is used to. In keeping with the Wizards of the Coast "Greyhawk" series, the book feels more like an adventure module than a novel. For fans of this type of writing, this is what they want - less talk more magic. ''Keep on the Borderlands'' delivers what it promises - action and adventure, with better than average character development and motivation. Sure, this isn't Tolkien or even Eddings, but if this type of fantasy is your forte, give it a chance."

References

{{D&D topics 2001 novels Greyhawk books Novels based on Dungeons & Dragons