Goodman Games Latest News on Into The Borderlands

Goodman Games announced at GaryCon last year a license with Wizards of the Coast to publish 5^th Edition conversions of classic Dungeons & Dragons adventures, as well as reproductions of the original first edition versions. The first two adventures up for the 5^th Edition treatment are B1: In Search of the Unknown and B2: The Keep on the Borderlands. Today, Goodman Games have revealed the preliminary front cover design for Into The Borderlands as well as an interview with Chris Doyle, who converted both the adventures to 5^th Ed.

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Into the Borderlands is expected to be a 380 page hardcover. All the writing, editing and art are completed but Goodman want to add a few extra things before it goes off to print.

The hardcover includes:

· Restored scans of two complete printings of the original B1: In Search of the Unknown. Specifically, the second and sixth printings, one featuring the original monochrome cover and the other featuring the later color cover by Darlene.
· Three complete monster and treasure assortments for stocking the dungeons of In Search of the Unknown (which are “un-stocked” in the original 1E edition).
· Restored scans of two complete printings of the original B2: The Keep on the Borderlands. Specifically the second and fourth printings. These are distinguished the change in monster stats between the two printings (Dexterity scores were included in early printings). The later printing also features six interior illustrations that were not present in earlier printings.
· A complete, “pure” 5E conversion of In Search of the Unknown, including tables for stocking it with creatures.
· A separate chapter with a few new encounters for the Caverns of Quasqueton, all inspired by references in the original work.
· A complete, “pure” 5E conversion of The Keep on the Borderlands.
· A separate chapter with a few new encounters for The Keep on the Borderlands, all inspired by references in the original work.
· Appendices with 5E stats for newly introduced monsters, hirelings and followers, and magic items.
· A chapter of introductions and testimonials.

You can read the full interview with Chris Doyle on Goodman Games site.

 

[Quartz]

Want!

 

[murquhart72]

I really want this and am painfully curious as to what modules they plan to do next!

 

[Dire Bare]

Am I nitpicking? Both of these modules were written for basic set Dungeons & Dragons. They were not "1E" modules. I will still get this book in all likelihood. However that doesn't give me a lot of faith in the conversions for some reason.

I wouldn't worry, Goodman is a company with a solid reputation for quality and they know what they are doing. In current parlance, everything that comes before AD&D 2E is "1st Edition".

 

[Akrasia]

I'm looking forward to this. But including scans of *2* printings for *both* modules strikes me as excessive.
(I'd prefer a straight-up 5e conversion, with some optional supplementary material, as I already own multiple copies of the originals. Nonetheless, I can understand including *one* scan of B1 and B2 within the product. Two just seems excessive, especially given how minor the changes were...)

 

[dave2008]

Am I nitpicking? Both of these modules were written for basic set Dungeons & Dragons. They were not "1E" modules. I will still get this book in all likelihood. However that doesn't give me a lot of faith in the conversions for some reason.

Probably, I know I use 1e to refer to both AD&D and D&D. Basically and version of D&D before 2e AD&D. Heck, we played them interchangeably back in the day. We used the BECMI books and the AD&D monster manuals, and AD&D DMG all together.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'm looking forward to this. But including scans of *2* printings for *both* modules strikes me as excessive.
(I'd prefer a straight-up 5e conversion, with some optional supplementary material, as I already own multiple copies of the originals. Nonetheless, I can understand including *one* scan of B1 and B2 within the product. Two just seems excessive, especially given how minor the changes were...)

I agree . . . I'd rather see an "updated" reprint that included changes, updates, and errata all in a document that has the look of the original, even if it isn't a direct scan/copy of one of the printings. But two near-identical reproductions for each module? Is there really a market for such a thing within the fandom? Probably is, I guess. I might go for the PDF version of this, but such a padded hardcover doesn't appeal to me.

Heck, since the 5E conversions are advertised as so close to the source material, I'm not sure I even need a copy of the actual originals at all! We already have that through the DMs Guild, don't we?

 

[SMHWorlds]

I really want this and am painfully curious as to what modules they plan to do next!

May as well go do Palace of the Silver Princess, the original version next. People would nostalgia the heck out of that I think.

 

[NeutralSebastian]

I suppose there's no way Goodman would be allowed to convert them to Dungeon Crawl Classics.

 

[BMaC]

I'm thrilled with the care and attention that is going into this book--it's an act of preservation of our shared nerd cultural heritage as much as it is a 5th edition conversion!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I hate to say it, but I kinda agree. I'm still excited as heck for the product, but two scans of the originals, plus the conversions, seems excessive. I get the need for preservation, but are the differences in the release versions that significant? Maybe I wouldn't care as much, if the product wasn't already delayed.

How the heck is the book 380 pages?

The original modules were 32 pages each, even allowing for the fact that they are reprinting the original modules (twice each), that only accounts for 128 pages. So there’s still 252 pages or 126 pages per module of additional content.

And why completely reprint the originals twice each in the book? That seems like a bit of overkill.