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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
DMs Guild Treasures: 5 BECMI Modules That Deserve the Big Book Treatment
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 7921388" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p>As the angry Amazon reviews will attest, the Goodman Games OAR books aren't just updates -- they're historical documents that include multiple versions of the original modules, along with essays looking at the works' histories. No one ever said they were going to be BECMI modules, which is how Expedition to the Barrier Peaks got into the mix this last year.</p><p></p><p>Their criteria seems to be:</p><p></p><p>1) These are classic adventure modules from TSR's Golden Age. If you've read Art & Arcana, you know that the company professionalized fast and the art, design and layout folks were pros by the time Ravenloft and Dragonlance were coming out. I don't think we'll see anything from that era or later. Module I6, Ravenloft, came out in 1983. So adventures before then, most likely. (The Golden Age of TSR is also Goodman Games' jam generally, as seen in both the 3E Dungeon Crawl Classics modules or in the Dungeon Crawl Classics OSR-ish RPG they now publish. The art style, tone and content are all 1977-1982 era TSR.)</p><p></p><p>2) They can't have been reprinted elsewhere in the 5E era. Ravenloft has also, of course, been revisited in Curse of Strahd. But a lot of other classic adventures have appeared in Tales from the Yawning Portal and Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Adventures from those collections, like the Giants Trilogy, Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain, seem like WotC is unlikely to license them out for conversions and, thus, cannibalization of one of their in-print books. (Which is a shame, since the G series, S1 and S2 match all the rest of Goodmans' apparent criteria.)</p><p></p><p>3) They also were huge at the time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, <em>everyone</em> played Keep on the Borderlands and many of them also played In Search of the Unknown. Isle of Dread was likewise played by nearly everyone -- whether they played D&D or AD&D, which was mostly a line in TSR's mind. And when Expedition to the Barrier Peaks came out, it was all anyone I knew was talking about -- it excited the imagination, especially for younger players who hadn't been aware of the Temple of the Frog in Blackmoor or the science-fiction/fantasy hybrids that the TSR creators loved. (In contrast, Rahasia is barely remembered. The few people who played it liked it, but it didn't make any real splash. If Hickman hadn't later created Ravenloft, it would be just a footnote.)</p><p></p><p>4) It has room for expansion. The Lost City, the Isle of Dread, multiple levels of the starship in the Barrier Peaks, most of the contents of Quasqueton, <em>all the NPCs</em> in the titular Keep on the Borderlands, were meant to be filled in by the DM. A lot of the stuff on your list doesn't have room for expansion.</p><p></p><p>5) They're interesting historically. There were sometimes significant changes between printings, whether they were art or other content. They merit OAR's historical record approach, in other words, rather than just being updates.</p><p></p><p>Of the adventures they or WotC haven't reprinted, here's what I think the short list for Goodman Games would be, based on the above criteria:</p><p></p><p>1) <strong>B3: Palace of the Silver Princess</strong>. This thing is <em>mired</em> in controversy, with massively different versions published initially and later on. From a historical record standpoint, this adventure probably merits it the most from any in TSR's golden age.</p><p></p><p><s>2) <strong>X2: Castle Amber</strong>. This was a complete 180 after the Isle of Dread, featuring the highest magic setting to date (the residents of Castle Amber are all high level magic-users and their put-upon servants and family), multiple planes of existence, oodles of new and incredibly quirky monsters and more. Goodman Games isn't scared of licenses, as a look at their website will show. They would likely be able to iron out any such issues easily. As large as the areas of Castle Amber are, there's also plenty of areas for them to expand in their 5E version. In theory, this could also include the 2E AD&D boxed set, which means the two historical versions would be very distinct.</s></p><p></p><p>Update: Castle Amber will be OAR 5, and is scheduled to be released in September 2020.</p><p></p><p>3) <strong>I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City</strong>. Only lightly sketched out, even by the standards of the era, this adventure introduced a ton of iconic monsters, including the Yuan-Ti and the aboleth, while also having player characters hack their way through the jungle to the titular city. By today's standards, it's fairly underwritten, but very evocative. Tons that Goodman, particularly with their pulp-loving pool of writers and artists, for dig their teeth into.</p><p></p><p>I don't think most of the rest are likely to get the OAR treatment. They're either not notable enough, or would be cumbersome to reprint (the entire four-part Slavers series or the four modules remaining in the GDQ series).</p><p></p><p>If Goodman does more of these, I'd bet on B3 and X2 being the next two, and I1 a (much) longer shot.</p><p></p><p>Historically, they've announced OAR adaptations in April and August, I believe, so we should hear about the fifth one, if there is one, later this spring.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 7921388, member: 11760"] As the angry Amazon reviews will attest, the Goodman Games OAR books aren't just updates -- they're historical documents that include multiple versions of the original modules, along with essays looking at the works' histories. No one ever said they were going to be BECMI modules, which is how Expedition to the Barrier Peaks got into the mix this last year. Their criteria seems to be: 1) These are classic adventure modules from TSR's Golden Age. If you've read Art & Arcana, you know that the company professionalized fast and the art, design and layout folks were pros by the time Ravenloft and Dragonlance were coming out. I don't think we'll see anything from that era or later. Module I6, Ravenloft, came out in 1983. So adventures before then, most likely. (The Golden Age of TSR is also Goodman Games' jam generally, as seen in both the 3E Dungeon Crawl Classics modules or in the Dungeon Crawl Classics OSR-ish RPG they now publish. The art style, tone and content are all 1977-1982 era TSR.) 2) They can't have been reprinted elsewhere in the 5E era. Ravenloft has also, of course, been revisited in Curse of Strahd. But a lot of other classic adventures have appeared in Tales from the Yawning Portal and Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Adventures from those collections, like the Giants Trilogy, Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain, seem like WotC is unlikely to license them out for conversions and, thus, cannibalization of one of their in-print books. (Which is a shame, since the G series, S1 and S2 match all the rest of Goodmans' apparent criteria.) 3) They also were huge at the time. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, [I]everyone[/I] played Keep on the Borderlands and many of them also played In Search of the Unknown. Isle of Dread was likewise played by nearly everyone -- whether they played D&D or AD&D, which was mostly a line in TSR's mind. And when Expedition to the Barrier Peaks came out, it was all anyone I knew was talking about -- it excited the imagination, especially for younger players who hadn't been aware of the Temple of the Frog in Blackmoor or the science-fiction/fantasy hybrids that the TSR creators loved. (In contrast, Rahasia is barely remembered. The few people who played it liked it, but it didn't make any real splash. If Hickman hadn't later created Ravenloft, it would be just a footnote.) 4) It has room for expansion. The Lost City, the Isle of Dread, multiple levels of the starship in the Barrier Peaks, most of the contents of Quasqueton, [I]all the NPCs[/I] in the titular Keep on the Borderlands, were meant to be filled in by the DM. A lot of the stuff on your list doesn't have room for expansion. 5) They're interesting historically. There were sometimes significant changes between printings, whether they were art or other content. They merit OAR's historical record approach, in other words, rather than just being updates. Of the adventures they or WotC haven't reprinted, here's what I think the short list for Goodman Games would be, based on the above criteria: 1) [B]B3: Palace of the Silver Princess[/B]. This thing is [I]mired[/I] in controversy, with massively different versions published initially and later on. From a historical record standpoint, this adventure probably merits it the most from any in TSR's golden age. [S]2) [B]X2: Castle Amber[/B]. This was a complete 180 after the Isle of Dread, featuring the highest magic setting to date (the residents of Castle Amber are all high level magic-users and their put-upon servants and family), multiple planes of existence, oodles of new and incredibly quirky monsters and more. Goodman Games isn't scared of licenses, as a look at their website will show. They would likely be able to iron out any such issues easily. As large as the areas of Castle Amber are, there's also plenty of areas for them to expand in their 5E version. In theory, this could also include the 2E AD&D boxed set, which means the two historical versions would be very distinct.[/S] Update: Castle Amber will be OAR 5, and is scheduled to be released in September 2020. 3) [B]I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City[/B]. Only lightly sketched out, even by the standards of the era, this adventure introduced a ton of iconic monsters, including the Yuan-Ti and the aboleth, while also having player characters hack their way through the jungle to the titular city. By today's standards, it's fairly underwritten, but very evocative. Tons that Goodman, particularly with their pulp-loving pool of writers and artists, for dig their teeth into. I don't think most of the rest are likely to get the OAR treatment. They're either not notable enough, or would be cumbersome to reprint (the entire four-part Slavers series or the four modules remaining in the GDQ series). If Goodman does more of these, I'd bet on B3 and X2 being the next two, and I1 a (much) longer shot. Historically, they've announced OAR adaptations in April and August, I believe, so we should hear about the fifth one, if there is one, later this spring. [/QUOTE]
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