Goodman Games To Resurrect The Isle of Dread

At Gen Con, Goodman Games announced the second in its Original Adventures Reincarnated series. Following on from Into the Borderlands (which they say was their biggest ever release) will be X1: The Isle of Dread, including the two original publications and a D&D 5E conversion.

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"The first volume, Into the Borderlands, was the biggest release in the history of Goodman Games. The reception to it continues to amaze us, and we are thrilled beyond belief. And we are very proud to announce that the second volume in the series is…drum roll please…X1: The Isle of Dread! OAR 2: The Isle of Dread will contain scans of the two original TSR publications of Isle of Dread (orange cover and blue cover editions), plus a 5E conversion, as well as interviews with original creators and other special features! We’ve also updated the mapping style of the 5E edition, so it will now feature illustrated hand-drawn maps that bring back memories of the original TSR style. Lead writer Chris Doyle and editor Tim Wadzinski return to the project after doing such a great job on OAR 1: Into the Borderlands. Into the Borderlands is back in print and available, by the way, so check your FLGS or our online store for your copy today! And Original Adventures Reincarnated 2: Isle of Dread is currently scheduled to release in November of this year! We’ll be sure to keep you updated with news about it as it gets closer."

The Isle of Dread came out in 1981, and was written by David Cook and Tom Moldvay. It's one of the first examples of a wilderness adventure (as opposed to the dungeon crawls common previously) and had the PCs explore a tropical island replete with dinosaurs, pirates, a hidden temple, and more.

 

[Henry]

First example of a wilderness adventure, and I’d argue one of the best. True hex crawl but with tons of surprises in store. As with all “forgotten island” and “King Kong” style adventures, the portrayals of natives are pretty stereotyped, but this thing originally had everything you could want in the genre - dinosaurs, hidden ruins, weird inhabitants, you name it, the tropes were packed tight.

 

[Zardnaar]

Isle of Dread has also aged reasonably well. Also liked Paizo take on it in the Savage Tide.

B2 is not that good IMHO more average.

Anyone know the differences between the originals? We played the blue cover back in the day but the copy I have now is orange cover.

 

[BMaC]

What is the page count?

 

[Rhineglade]

Love this. Would love for all the classic modules to be converted/updated of course but Isle of Dread was a lot of fun. Bring on the phanatons!

 

[Reynard]

I ran a Return to the Isle of Dread convention campaign (6 slots all linked together over the course of the con) and it went very well. I used both old and new Isle of Dread materials, and ran it as a hexploration game that eventually turned into a pirate war. There was also the Gamma World Death Machine problem, but that's another story.

 

[EthanSental]

The first one was 384 total pages with a few adds on the last few. So maybe similar page count?

Glad to hear it's their biggest release seller so far as a company so it shows there is a market for it regardless of how many people posted why they weren't buying it

 

[Warpiglet]

I am very very much enjoying 5e, but these flashbacks and retreads make me like it more reminding me of the feelings that this game can create. I have this module in my gameroom and am going to dig it out. But count me in for buying an update. These are exciting times all around to be a D&D fan. What's new is cool and what's old is new too!

Keep these articles coming along with the dragon and white dwarf stuff. It is like opening a treasure chest as a 2nd level fighter on a an early outing!

 

[Barantor]

Instant buy for me, their Into the Borderlands book is wonderful for both the 5E adventure inside and just to read.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Looking forward to revisiting this. Back when I first saw Isle of Dread, for some reason, despite liking to read about dinosaurs in real life, I never cared for them in D&D. As a kid I was much more of fantasy purist/snob, I guess.

I'm eventually planning on getting to Tomb of Annihilation, so it might pair well added to that.