The Keeper Geoffrey Merrick ✭ (Reliable)

In the pantheon of early role-playing game villains, few are as notoriously lethal or surgically terrifying as . Featured in Geoffrey Merrick’s 1982 module The Caves of the Norka , the Keeper represents a shift from the high-fantasy tropes of elves and orcs into something far darker: clinical, sci-fi body horror wrapped in a fantasy dungeon crawl.

Enter Geoffrey Merrick.

Geoffrey’s hand trembled as he reached for his ledger. His pen scratched across the page.

He also redefined what a "keeper" is. A keeper isn't a gatekeeper who locks people out. locked the developers out so that the public could stay in. Hikers still hike Looking Glass. Climbers still climb. The only thing missing are the "Private Property" signs and the McMansions.