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.

 

[Daniel Johnson]

Loved this module since I got the Expert Rules box back in 86. When it got revived in the 5e playtest I had to give it a run. I dropped it into Eberron and I've been running it on and off since.
The game revolves around an ancient elven empire versus the uprising of demonic forces from Khyber that rise up through volcanoes. Having the Isle coexist on the Shadowfell and the Feywild makes for some really cool variations of the map.

 

[smbakeresq]

The DM needs to be fully prepared, but that doesn't mean the area itself needs prepared. Lots can be done with well designed encounter, event and location tables. Some of the best games I have ever run relied 90% on random charts.

Also, I am not sure what you mean by "the PCs to over-level for the rest of the game."

All the adventures with hexcrawls only account for the PCs having just a few encounters and gaining a modicum of experience. If you have the hexcrawlers have many encounters and treasures they will have XP then planned by adventures.

In the first reboot of this, Savage Tide, our group gained a few “extra” levels just by tooling around the island and surrounding islets and considerable treasures also.

 

[Zardnaar]

I had a plan to set a game here earlier in the year and the PCs pick up roughly after the Savage Tide. I put another 3 colonies on the Island and the PC were gonna take the place over.

Was gonna tie it up with X8 and the Kron adventure. Create an island empire.

 

[MNblockhead]

I'll be buying this. The first book is great for the bookshelf and fun to read through. But it is unwieldy for in-game use. It would be nice to have a slimmer volume with just the 5e conversion.

 

[PyroArrow]

They need to put out a PDF Version eventually! So we can print out the maps and artwork and work with the text descriptions for Roll20 or at the tabletop as handouts.

It would also be nice if Goodman Games could put out a Virtual Table Top pack of the artwork and maps along with realistic maps and have tokens for all the monsters and the pre-gen characters!!!

 

[coyote6]

I wish Goodman Games and WotC could work out a way for them to have PDF versions of the adventures. Or electronic versions on D&D Beyond, maybe.

 

[MNblockhead]

I wish Goodman Games and WotC could work out a way for them to have PDF versions of the adventures. Or electronic versions on D&D Beyond, maybe.

The ideal for me would be something like Tales from the Yawning Portal, but with the essays and artwork sections from the Goodman Games books. Then make it available on D&D Beyond and the major VTTs. I could not care less about PDFs and I doubt WoTC will allow publishing in PDF format anything for the current edition.

 

[coyote6]

The ideal for me would be something like Tales from the Yawning Portal, but with the essays and artwork sections from the Goodman Games books. Then make it available on D&D Beyond and the major VTTs. I could not care less about PDFs and I doubt WoTC will allow publishing in PDF format anything for the current edition.

That's what I thought, but then they released the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron in PDF. Preliminary or experimental or whatever it is, it's still a PDF WotC is selling for $20.

 

[MNblockhead]

That's what I thought, but then they released the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron in PDF. Preliminary or experimental or whatever it is, it's still a PDF WotC is selling for $20.

Good point, and further, they will update the PDF when "finalized."

I bought it on DnD beyond, but it is true it is on PDF.

 

[catenwolde]

I welcome the reprint, but I have to admit that I was under-whelmed by their 5e translation of The Keep. I was expecting something that threw in a bit of variation in encounters to account for 5e's power levels and monster mix, and also adjusted the treasure amounts and types to fit with 5e's expectations.