D&D General Rank the Goodman Games Reincarnated series

[Cadence]

How practical are these big books during play at the game table? Do they stay open? Are they bound well for the rigors of play?

I have the suspicion that the binding will start going a bit if you leave it open flat to pages all the time. Mine is still ok, but I can definitely auto-flip to a couple of the pages now in the Borderlands one.

It has one ribbon to mark pages and I use paper for the other ones I want, so it hasn't been too bad for me to use. (No worse than the MM or whatnot).

 

[John R Davis]

I have run Castle Amber twice (and have found memories of playing the original in the days of yore). I really, really, like it. It is a great social dungeon with loads of things to chat too, find, kill, etc. The add on bits are very good.

I have run Keep twice as well. I bought cos i like shiny things. I was never a fan of the Caves Chaos, but the add on bits are very good

I'm currently running temple. Its good they have expanded Nulb and added more random encounters and stuff to explore. I really like the origin details of the module. All good so far.

I don't own the other three but im lying if I say i wont but them in the long run.

If they do X4/X5 or UK2/UK3 I will be the happiest bunny in bunny-land.

If you are an old fart like me and have the money to spend they are a very fine purchase.

 

[pogre]

I own all 6 and have run Borderlands, Isle of Dread, and am currently running Elemental Evil. They need a little work to run in 5e - but they have been a blast. The books can absolutely be a little clunky, but I do not regret purchasing them at all.

 

[Jack Hooligan]

I appreciate all the replies. Those that have run these reincarnated versions, are you using original 1e rules or the 5e conversions?

 

[Cadence]

I appreciate all the replies. Those that have run these reincarnated versions, are you using original 1e rules or the 5e conversions?

Using the 5e half of the book.
(The original printings are in there too if you wanted to use the B/X or 1e).

 

[DND_Reborn]

I appreciate all the replies. Those that have run these reincarnated versions, are you using original 1e rules or the 5e conversions?

I have the original B/X module, which I have run using B/X-BECMI, AD&D 1E/2E and with the 5E conversion by Goodman.

Of course, one of the things I like about the conversions is Into the Borderlands is both B1 and B2.

 

[MNblockhead]

How practical are these big books during play at the game table? Do they stay open? Are they bound well for the rigors of play?

For me they are for the bookshelf. I bought them for the nostalgia and the history. They are hefty tomes and most of the content is the same adventure showing different editions. They are great for those enjoy the history of the game. Even as a PDF they would be a bit annoying to use in game. I would likely use a PDF of the scans of the originals on DMs Guild and use the Goodman Games version as a prep reference for stat blocks.

 

[Lidgar]

I have all of them, and read through them all. I've only played the last one (ToEE - an ongoing campaign we started a year ago). Here's how I'd rank them.

1. OAR 6 (ToEE)
2. OAR 2 (Dread)
3. OAR 4 (Lost City)
4. OAR 5 (Amber)
5. OAR 1 (KotB)
6. OAR 3 (Barrier Peaks)

All are great. Rankings are influenced by 1e experiences, but also layout and ability to run easily (which generally gets better as they did more of them). In every case, GG adds to the 1e version, many times fleshing out areas only hinted at in the 1e versions.

And yes, I kickstarted Caverns of Thracia...

 

[DND_Reborn]

I have been thinking about getting ToEE since it was a favorite of mine in the past. Glad to hear it plays well.

 

[Lidgar]

I have been thinking about getting ToEE since it was a favorite of mine in the past. Glad to hear it plays well.

It does, with two caveats they go with all the OARs.

1. They keep the same map numbering as the 1e version, which can mean page flipping, as the numbering does not always follow the most logical exploration path of the party. TOEE definitely has some of this. Annotating a copy of the map helps.

2. Not having PDF means more page flipping to get to the monster stats. I typically print the monster manual stats ahead of time to reduce the number of books I need to have at the table, which helps. The ribbon helps as well.