Goodman Games Kickstarts Two New 5E Adventures

Goodman Games is Kickstarting "New adventures for the 5th edition of the world’s first fantasy RPG". The Kickstarter is for two adventures The Pillars of Pelagia (by Chris Doyle) and War-lock (by Michael Curtis) under its Fifth Edition Fantasy banner, of which two adventures have already been released.

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As a side-note, although Goodman Games isn't quite, as it says, "the only third party publisher to continuously support Dungeons & Dragons in every edition since 3E" , it's certainly one of the only ones. I have Goodman adventures from 3.x, 4E, and 5E.

You're looking at $20 for two softcover adventures (plus shipping), which seems a good deal to me.

Find the Kickstarter right here (or click on one of the pretty pictures).

Each adventure is between 16-42 pages, and is a standalone story designed to fit into any existing campaign or setting. Goodman Games has a repuation these days for old-school roleplaying (especially with its Dungeon Crawl Classics line), and these products often have an old-school aesthetic which can be very appealing.

Stretch goals for this particular campaign include expansions for both adventures, and a third adventure called The Dragon's Maw for Free RPG Day.

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[PeelSeel2]

Goodman Games is a top rate publisher in the Role playing industry. They have a vast amount of experience publishing under the OGL. They have not concentrated on 5e because D&D is no longer their "Bread and Butter". Much like Paizo, during the 4e era they went their own way and made their own OGL RPG (which is very successful by most measures). 5th edition was not in their wheelhouse to support at first. It would be something like Paizo coming out and making adventure paths for 5e. Except in Goodman Games case, they can exploit the 5e market. And they have decided to. Hopefully they keep it up!!

 

[Chris Stenger]

I'm getting a little tired of every 5e-related product starting a copyright discussion. People can sell all they want with regard to something that can be used with 5e, as long as they don't sell any bit of WotC's IP. You can sell a soda that fits "America's most popular minivan cupholders" without violating Toyota or whoever's rights.

 

[Evenglare]

I certainly can deny it. The OGL requires no such thing.



You'd have to ask them.

Ah, I would have guessed otherwise since almost every book that I have ever seen published under OGL has that phrase. The part where I said you can't deny refers to the working of each phrase. One word is different, but otherwise they are pretty much the same. It's clear they wanted to use the phrase to tell others that it's compatible with 5e.

Worlds First RPG
Worlds Greatest RPG

pretty much gets the message across in the same manner while technically skirting the legal side of things.

 

[Morrus]

Ah, I would have guessed otherwise since almost every book that I have ever seen published under OGL has that phrase.

You can read the OGL. It's publicly available and it's not long. You don't need to guess at it.

It's clear they wanted to use the phrase to tell others that it's compatible with 5e.

Well, yes. Obviously. Not much point otherwise. I get the feeling from your usage of terms like "technically skirting" that you disapprove?

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Ah, I would have guessed otherwise since almost every book that I have ever seen published under OGL has that phrase. The part where I said you can't deny refers to the working of each phrase. One word is different, but otherwise they are pretty much the same. It's clear they wanted to use the phrase to tell others that it's compatible with 5e.

Worlds First RPG
Worlds Greatest RPG

pretty much gets the message across in the same manner while technically skirting the legal side of things.

One reason Goodman Games along with Frog God are publishing 5E products ahead of the pack is that they are both run by business-savy guys with either good legal counsel or actual legal backgrounds (Bill Webb is actually in the legal profession iirc). Frog God is even bolder than Goodman, having produced four hard covers books including Fifth Edition Foes, Book of lost Spells and two module books for 5E, and even has a pre-existing legal agreement with WotC dating back to 3E that lets him replicate Fiend Folio monsters and other certain IP, apparently in perpetuity given that they've managed to do so now for 3E, 3.5, Pathfinder and 5E.

The question of whether or not one can publish fifth-edition compatible content isn't really an issue; this has been going on since the dawn of the hobby and the only real question is that you avoid specific branding/names/IP that could confuse your product with something from WotC.....or so I gather. Another legal-savvy publisher in the business is the hackmaster guys at Kenzer & Co. and they have said much about this before (someone linked to it earlier, I believe). What is at issue is the fact that if you can publish content under a proper OGL you gain some special benefits that might include being able to state your product is compatible with D&D or D20 games, and also allow you to use specific compatible language and formatting that matches the D&D style in a manner familiar to fans. That is a HUGE benefit to selling a third party product, and avoid the hassle for those (like myself) who want to publish 3PP content but aren't as legally savvy and prefer not to step on WotC's toes by accident. Also, once you're producing an OGL work, at least as it works for the 1.0a OGL from 3rd edition, you gain access to an immense wealth of additional content that is described as open content from all other publishers and works under that umbrella....it's a key reason the OGL persists so strongly today. So for a lot of us, a 5E OGL feels extremely important, as it will provide an edge to selling my product as a D&D-compatible book that it would not otherwise have as yet another "fifth edition fantasy" book.

 

[Agamon]

Ah, I would have guessed otherwise since almost every book that I have ever seen published under OGL has that phrase. The part where I said you can't deny refers to the working of each phrase. One word is different, but otherwise they are pretty much the same. It's clear they wanted to use the phrase to tell others that it's compatible with 5e.

Worlds First RPG
Worlds Greatest RPG

pretty much gets the message across in the same manner while technically skirting the legal side of things.

They're just different ways of saying D&D without infringing on copyright. I think the reason Joe isn't using "World's Greatest RPG" is because he probably thinks that's what his own baby is (DCC RPG).

And besides, there's only one entity whose disapproval matters, and that's WotC's. Otherwise, why not be pleased that a company with as much adventure writing acumen as Goodman Games is creating 5e adventures?

 

[DaveMage]

Frog God Games is, I believe, in the process of deciding whether or not to make more 5e compatible products. The response to their 5E kickstarters seemed to be middle of the road... Enough to do more, but not enough to dive in with abandon.

Since Goodman is kickstarting these, I'm sure they indeed want to know if the customers are there or not.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Has anyone gotten the first two? I have a bunch of 3E stuff from Goodman and overall I'm happy with all of it. The trademark/ WOTC IP dance going on with 5E makes me wonder about certain things. Do we have actual stat blocks in these? Can a third party module duplicate monster stat blocks that are in the MM but not in the basic rules?

 

[Sacrosanct]

By not infringing on any of WotC's IP rights. "The world's first fantasy RPG" isn't a term owned by anyone.

Especially by WotC, seeing as how that title belongs to Mazes and Minotaurs (1972)

 

[Morrus]

Has anyone gotten the first two? I have a bunch of 3E stuff from Goodman and overall I'm happy with all of it. The trademark/ WOTC IP dance going on with 5E makes me wonder about certain things. Do we have actual stat blocks in these? Can a third party module duplicate monster stat blocks that are in the MM but not in the basic rules?

I have the first two. They're solid adventures. Yes, they have stat blocks in them. No, you can't duplicate an MM stat block.

 

[Zaran]

As fast as this Kickstarter made it's goal, one would think that there is definitely a market for smaller adventures. People seem to want more 5e products.

 

[redrick]

As fast as this Kickstarter made it's goal, one would think that there is definitely a market for smaller adventures. People seem to want more 5e products.

The goal was only $5,000, which seems pretty modest, especially since it includes a second printing of the first two adventures that they already published. (So, spread across the 4 products, that's approximately 125 copies of each.)

It definitely seems like these are already ready to publish, and that the Kickstarter is a way to drum up some extra interest in the products.

I passed on these when the first two first came out, as I didn't have the need for low-level adventures at the time, but I'll take a look again. I'll admit that I find the cover art unappealing. I'm happy to see the content being made.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Frog God Games is, I believe, in the process of deciding whether or not to make more 5e compatible products. The response to their 5E kickstarters seemed to be middle of the road... Enough to do more, but not enough to dive in with abandon.

Since Goodman is kickstarting these, I'm sure they indeed want to know if the customers are there or not.

It wasn't too bad: the Fifth Edition Kickstarter was backed by 636 backers with about $64K raised. They put them up for pre-order by non-backers later and probably drummed up more sales (I pre-ordered my books well after the KS was done--a lot of my reason for holding off was that I was uncertain just how they could generate the books as quickly as the Kickstarter promised given that the deadline was only a few weeks after the 5E DMG was scheduled to release...so the final release in April made more sense). For contrast their Tome of Horrors Complete for Pathfinder generated $98K from 458 backers and their Swords & Wizardry KS has 532 backers with $78K raised.

To think of it another way: they managed 68K on a product comaptible for 5E with a KS that ended before the MM and DMG had even been released. I really hope they offer up another 5E product soon, as I bet they will see a stronger response on the KS this time around now that most 5E fans have the full game at hand. I personally would pay for a Lost Lands adaptation of 5E, for example.

 

[darjr]

I'd love to see 5e zero level funnel by Goodman games. Those are so fun.

 

[Kramodlog]

Frog God Games is, I believe, in the process of deciding whether or not to make more 5e compatible products. The response to their 5E kickstarters seemed to be middle of the road... Enough to do more, but not enough to dive in with abandon.

Since Goodman is kickstarting these, I'm sure they indeed want to know if the customers are there or not.

Interesting. Is there a place where someone from Frog God said that? I'd be curious to read.

Thanks.

 

[Mistwell]

I'm getting a little tired of every 5e-related product starting a copyright discussion. People can sell all they want with regard to something that can be used with 5e, as long as they don't sell any bit of WotC's IP. You can sell a soda that fits "America's most popular minivan cupholders" without violating Toyota or whoever's rights.

It's more complicated than that. Yes, Goodman can do what they're doing, but no it's not as easy as you're making it out to be. There is a lot of effort they put into careful compliance with the law - the legal services they employ do not amount to "It's a snap!".

 

[Mistwell]

They have not concentrated on 5e because D&D is no longer their "Bread and Butter". Much like Paizo, during the 4e era they went their own way and made their own OGL RPG (which is very successful by most measures). 5th edition was not in their wheelhouse to support at first.

Goodman's been supporting 5e since day 1. Literally, since the first day they could. I am not sure how much more "in their wheelhouse to support at first" they could have been than literally "It's release? OK, then here is our first adventure for it!" This thread is about their 3rd, 4th, and 5th adventures for it, not their 1st. Indeed, they were announced months ago.

 

[darjr]

They even have a 5e adventure for freerpgday.

 

[DaveMage]

It wasn't too bad: the Fifth Edition Kickstarter was backed by 636 backers with about $64K raised. They put them up for pre-order by non-backers later and probably drummed up more sales (I pre-ordered my books well after the KS was done--a lot of my reason for holding off was that I was uncertain just how they could generate the books as quickly as the Kickstarter promised given that the deadline was only a few weeks after the 5E DMG was scheduled to release...so the final release in April made more sense). For contrast their Tome of Horrors Complete for Pathfinder generated $98K from 458 backers and their Swords & Wizardry KS has 532 backers with $78K raised.

To think of it another way: they managed 68K on a product comaptible for 5E with a KS that ended before the MM and DMG had even been released. I really hope they offer up another 5E product soon, as I bet they will see a stronger response on the KS this time around now that most 5E fans have the full game at hand. I personally would pay for a Lost Lands adaptation of 5E, for example.

I'm guessing - and this is totally a guess - that they were probably hoping for more than 636 - about 1/4 of which were PDF only. However, maybe now that 5E's official release schedule is so light, it will improve sales for them down the road.

Interesting. Is there a place where someone from Frog God said that? I'd be curious to read.

Thanks.

Not specifically, but, for example, when addressing the current kickstarter they mention the possibility of doing a 5E version of Fields of Blood, but nothing has been decided. (See here - post from Bill Webb on Friday.)

 

[tuxgeo]

Again, I get that I really do. . . .
1. Can I create my own fictional stories/worlds? Check (Wizards has no claim to the IP.)
2. Can I use the mechanics from 5e? Check (because mechanics can't be copywritten) . . .

(Emphasis added.)

[begin pedantry]
That bolded word should be "copyrighted" instead of "copywritten," of course.

(It's "copy-right" -- as in "the right to copy," instead of being "copy-write" -- as in -- I don't know what; a Writ of Copacetic?
[/end pedantry]