[UPDATED] WotC & Goodman Games Partner To Reprint Classic Modules for 5E

Demetrios1453 · Mar 28, 2017

Ghost2020 said:
A large chunk of them seemed to have roots in old modules.

Just what it says.
Yup. I stand by that. Not reprinting of them, but roots in the old modules. An underdark adventure, a giants adventure and then an elemental evil adventure. Like i said roots. Not reprints, but similar themes. The Yawning Portal and Ravenloft are outright updates.

Thematically, they're covering some familiar ground. Thus appealing to the grognards who have played them in the 80's when these first came out (myself included), and appealing to a younger crowd who didn't get a shot at them the first time, as having just come to 5e from 4e or Pathfinder, or just beginning altogether.
It's not terribly surprising that they chose this route as they're nods to classic D&D modules, but with new material.

There are those that would like some pushing out into a different direction, like a new campaign setting, would be nice. I would imagine we'll get a major rules update this year though.

That's all i'm saying, is that they're taking cues from the old modules for direction.

I've purchased all of the WotC material for 5e, and it's pretty decent, some books are better than others, as with any product line though.

If you're going to set the bar for comparison so low, is it actually possible, after 40+ years of modules, for WotC to produce anything that would count as original using your criteria?

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Jester David · Mar 28, 2017

This does make Tales From the Yawning Portal seem that much more redundant. If a third party can update all these classics I wonder why WotC even bothered devoted one of their rare storyline adventures to this.
Especially since they keep saying that story is key this edition, and yet TFtYP is as devoid of story as you can get.

thalmin · Mar 28, 2017

I wonder if this is going to use the adventures I played this weekend at GaryCon. There were eight different 2-hour adventures set in the Caves of Chaos, using the old maps. There was also a seperate adventure I did not play for Cave of the Unknown.

Azzy · Mar 28, 2017

Jester David said:
This does make Tales From the Yawning Portal seem that much more redundant. If a third party can update all these classics I wonder why WotC even bothered devoted one of their rare storyline adventures to this.
Especially since they keep saying that story is key this edition, and yet TFtYP is as devoid of story as you can get.

Probably because this partnership came along after Yawning Portal was already in the works. Heck, TFtYP, is probably the reason WotC/Goodman Games are doing this.

darjr · Mar 28, 2017

thalmin said:
I wonder if this is going to use the adventures I played this weekend at GaryCon. There were eight different 2-hour adventures set in the Caves of Chaos, using the old maps. There was also a seperate adventure I did not play for Cave of the Unknown.

I hope so!

I hope it's AL too.

How was it btw? Was it multitable?

Patrick McGill · Mar 28, 2017

Jester David said:
This does make Tales From the Yawning Portal seem that much more redundant. If a third party can update all these classics I wonder why WotC even bothered devoted one of their rare storyline adventures to this.
Especially since they keep saying that story is key this edition, and yet TFtYP is as devoid of story as you can get.

I doubt it's going to be re-illustrated and have a framing device. I feel like a lot of work went into Tales to update it to 5th, but that won't be the main focus for Goodman Games, who'll be using the original artwork and maps as far as I can tell.

vogless · Mar 28, 2017

Makes me wonder if the pre-orders for Tales was strong enough to justify the deal with Goodman.

No one will do a better job with these than Goodman, WoTC included.

Wouldnt it be something if Goodman got the rights to Greyhawk? Wow! Possibilities!

Jester David · Mar 28, 2017

Azzy said:
Probably because this partnership came along after Yawning Portal was already in the works. Heck, TFtYP, is probably the reason WotC/Goodman Games are doing this.

Every licence partner who has worked with WotC has said it takes a loooong time to hammer out the details. Better part of a year. If not longer.
In contrast, work on TFtYP likely started shortly after SKT was completed. So less than a year.
Plus Goodman Games must be far enough along on the project to be comfortable announcing things. This likely wasn't Day One.

I doubt very, very much that Goodman Games managed to get a licence in the three months since TFtYP was announced and started work on the updates.
-edit-
Heck, the first will be out in stores for August. It must be finished writing now and in layout stages.
They almost certainly were talking to WotC well before Yawning Portal was set in stone...

Ghost2020 · Mar 28, 2017

BookBarbarian said:
Excuse me, I'm relatively new to the hobby, but when was this flag waved? I was under the impression that most content in 5e besides the PHB, MM, and DMG would be in adventures, for example new races and spells with PotA a new background with CoS, and most new FR setting information in the Adventures themselves.

I feel like they've sold almost nothing but Adventures for the past couple years (probably an exaggeration since I forget when 5e came out) not that I'm complaining. Although some definitely are complaining, I actually like the lack of splat books.

It was quite some time ago. Previous edition(s). Obviously, not this one. That was one part of the OGL methodology back in the 3.x days. Let 3rd parties make the scenarios/modules and they (wotc) would focus on rules and splat books.

Ghost2020 · Mar 28, 2017

Demetrios1453 said:
If you're going to set the bar for comparison so low, is it actually possible, after 40+ years of modules, for WotC to produce anything that would count as original using your criteria?

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

Actually yes. They've been innovators before, but I don't feel that they are currently. They're playing it safe. They're still making very good products, just not going outside of any comfort zones.

In their defense, why would they? They're making less product, and thus with less product, each one should be something of a surefire hit and crowdpleaser. A thinner release schedule doesn't allow for a lot of experimenting.

[UPDATED] WotC & Goodman Games Partner To Reprint Classic Modules for 5E

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