BETWEEN TWO CITIES AT WAR, EVEN AN INN CAN BECOME A BATTLEGROUND

An inn should offer shelter.

A warm fire. Food. Drink. A locked door between the traveller and whatever prowls beyond the walls.

On the borderland between two cities at war, even these modest comforts cannot be taken for granted.

Tales of Gor Sidequest: The Inn on the Borderland places the player characters in contested territory, where rival powers struggle for advantage and everyone has something to gain, lose or conceal.

Travellers, warriors, merchants and opportunists pass through the inn. Allegiances are uncertain. Honour has a price. Coin can purchase loyalty—but perhaps only until somebody offers more.

The characters are about to become involved in matters of intrigue, survival and profit.

Whether they become heroes, victims or merely another complication is up to them.

WELCOME TO THE BORDERLAND

The border between two hostile cities is more than a line upon a map.

It is a place of patrols, raids, divided loyalties and shifting authority. A traveller may leave the protection of one city without ever reaching the protection of the other.

Between them lies uncertain ground.

Merchants still need to move goods.

Messengers still need to carry information.

Soldiers still need food, shelter and entertainment.

Criminals, spies and deserters find opportunity wherever law becomes confused.

An inn within such territory can become neutral ground, meeting place, refuge, marketplace and trap—sometimes all within the same evening.

The Inn on the Borderland draws the player characters into this unstable situation and asks them to decide what matters most:

• Honour

• Loyalty

• Survival

• Profit

• The interests of one city

• The safety of those caught between them

• Their own continued possession of an unpunctured skin

Every faction may have a reasonable argument.

Every reasonable argument may conceal a knife.

INTRIGUE, HONOUR, SURVIVAL AND COIN

This is not merely a matter of finding an enemy and applying steel until the problem stops moving.

The characters must navigate competing interests, uncertain motives and the pressures created by war.

Who can be trusted?

Whose cause deserves support?

What obligations must be honoured?

How much is a promise worth when circumstances change?

A warrior may place honour above survival.

A merchant may insist that coin is the only loyalty that can be measured.

A spy may tell the truth because it is more useful than a lie.

A supposed ally may be entirely sincere—and still lead the characters towards disaster.

The adventure can be approached through negotiation, investigation, caution, intimidation or violence. The choices made by the characters determine not merely whether they survive, but what their survival costs.

AN INN FULL OF POSSIBILITIES

An isolated inn is one of the most useful locations in fantasy role-playing.

It gathers strangers beneath one roof and gives each of them reasons to remain there. Outside lies danger, darkness or war. Inside, grudges and ambitions are forced into close proximity.

The inn can become:

• A temporary refuge from the conflict

• A meeting place for representatives of the rival cities

• A centre for rumours and intelligence

• A market for legal and illicit goods

• A hiding place for fugitives or spies

• A neutral ground whose neutrality is beginning to fail

• A base for expeditions into the surrounding territory

• The starting point for an entire borderland campaign

Even after the immediate sidequest is concluded, the inn and the disputed territory around it can remain useful.

Allies made here may return.

Enemies may remember an insult.

The balance between the two cities may shift because of what the characters chose to do—or refused to do.

CREATE AND RUN SETTLEMENTS

Alongside the adventure, the book includes rules for creating and running settlements.

A settlement should be more than a collection of buildings placed conveniently beside a road. It has people, resources, loyalties, weaknesses and reasons for existing.

Settlement rules help Games Masters develop communities that can serve as:

• Homes and bases for the player characters

• Sources of employment, supplies and information

• Political prizes contested by rival powers

• Vulnerable communities requiring protection

• Centres of trade and local influence

• Recurring locations that change over time

• Foundations for sandbox campaigns

The characters may visit a settlement briefly, become responsible for its survival or find themselves entangled in its disputes.

Success can bring prosperity, security and influence.

Failure can bring hunger, occupation, revolt or a suspiciously sudden vacancy in the local leadership.

These rules extend the usefulness of the book beyond the immediate scenario, supporting the creation of further settlements and conflicts throughout a Tales of Gor campaign.

ERRATA FOR TALES OF GOR

The book also contains a collection of errata for Tales of Gor: Gorean Roleplaying, providing clarifications and corrections for use alongside the core rules.

This makes The Inn on the Borderland both an adventure and a practical supplement for Games Masters running continuing campaigns.

A SIDEQUEST WITH LASTING CONSEQUENCES

This adventure is described as a sidequest, but that does not mean its consequences must be minor.

The characters are entering a region where two cities are already at war. Any decision they make may strengthen one side, weaken the other or create an entirely new source of instability.

They might earn coin and move on.

They might acquire enemies in both cities.

They might become respected intermediaries, notorious troublemakers or reluctant defenders of those trapped between rival powers.

A sidequest is only a distraction until the players decide it matters.

Then it becomes part of the campaign.

FOR TALES OF GOR

The Inn on the Borderland is designed for use with Tales of Gor: Gorean Roleplaying.

Use it as a standalone scenario, a diversion during a longer journey or the foundation for an extended campaign involving settlements, border warfare and the struggle between two rival cities.

You can find additional adventures and setting material in the Tales of Gor collection.

This is the PDF electronic edition. A printed edition is also available from Lulu.

Two cities are at war.

The inn stands between them.

Everyone wants something.

And now the characters have arrived.

Ta Sardar Gor!