D&D General Rank the Goodman Games Reincarnated series

[CleverNickName]

I only own two of them: The Isle of Dread and The Lost City. And of the two, I think The Isle of Dread is best.

And now I have three! After much searching and many failed online auctions, I was able to get #1, "Into the Borderlands" for my collection. Still keeping my eyes peeled for #3 and #5.

I'm gonna spend the next few days reading it, and report back.

 

[Starmaster]

And now I have three! After much searching and many failed online auctions, I was able to get #1, "Into the Borderlands" for my collection. Still keeping my eyes peeled for #3 and #5.

I'm gonna spend the next few days reading it, and report back.

I wish you luck in getting the remaining ones you want. I've checked eBay periodically over the past months to see what the OARs are going for and it seems that they fluctuate over time. Sometimes prices on certain ones have been extremely high and sometimes the same ones can be had for a song. It seems the market is still trying to settle on what each individual book in the series is really worth. I don't think people know yet how common or rare these things are.

 

[CleverNickName]

I wish you luck in getting the remaining ones you want. I've checked eBay periodically over the past months to see what the OARs are going for and it seems that they fluctuate over time. Sometimes prices on certain ones have been extremely high and sometimes the same ones can be had for a song. It seems the market is still trying to settle on what each individual book in the series is really worth. I don't think people know yet how common or rare these things are.

Yeah, it's a waiting game for sure. Patience is key--I don't even place a bid until I've had plenty of time to contact the seller, get additional info, and follow up. And then, after all that, I usually end up getting outbid. But that's fine; sometimes that same book ends up going back on auction a week or two later because the previous bid fell through.

It took me almost two years of active searching before I was able to get #1 at a fair price. I'm prepared for the rest to take just as long, maybe longer.

 

[Stormonu]

I myself now have #1 - Into the Borderlands, #2 - The Isle of Dread, #4 - The Lost City and #5 - Castle Amber. Expedition to Barrier Peaks just never ending up clicking with me, though now that I think about it, it might be appropriate for Mutant Crawl Chronicles...and I've never liked Temple of Elemental Evil much so it's doubtful I'll ever pick it up.

I'm hoping to pick up Caverns of Thracia when it comes out, and I've been dying to get a group together willing to do The Lost City - either as 5E or preferably, OSE.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've never liked Temple of Elemental Evil much so it's doubtful I'll ever pick it up.

The OAR version won't change your mind. Seeing the d-list monsters converted to 5E for the first time made me question if I'd ever want to use them in other games, and I have a hard time picturing when that would be.

Having a deluxe hardcover Village of Hommlet is nice, but a two-book slipcased OAR is massive overkill to get that, especially since DriveThruRPG has it for between $3 and $5 in PDF and less than $12 for a paperback. Everything in the adventure can be run with monsters straight out of either 5E Monster Manual.

 

[Starmaster]

I myself now have #1 - Into the Borderlands, #2 - The Isle of Dread, #4 - The Lost City and #5 - Castle Amber. Expedition to Barrier Peaks just never ending up clicking with me, though now that I think about it, it might be appropriate for Mutant Crawl Chronicles...and I've never liked Temple of Elemental Evil much so it's doubtful I'll ever pick it up.

I'm hoping to pick up Caverns of Thracia when it comes out, and I've been dying to get a group together willing to do The Lost City - either as 5E or preferably, OSE.

I bought the original Caverns of Thracia when it was released back in the early 1980s. Bought a lot of Judges Guild modules back then since they were dirt cheap compared to the TSR modules. They held down prices by printing their products on cheap paper, but that didn't matter. Thracia was probably my favorite JG module because of the maps. It has a wonderfully complex network of interconnecting levels and sub-levels.

I pre-ordered the Goodman version of Thracia last year, and it's due to be released soon. The release date has been slipping over and over again, but that doesn't worry me. I'm not sure about the other Goodman products, but it's not uncommon for their OAR release dates to keep getting pushed back. Nowadays, I just always expect them to arrive late.

 

[Starmaster]

I keep checking for any news of an OAR# 10, but have not yet been able to find anything. It has me wondering if perhaps OAR# 9 (Thracia) will be the last book in the series. I don't expect any more TSR products to be done due to licensing (unfortunately), but there are other JG products that they could consider. Maybe they don't think any other old non-TSR material is worth the effort.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, the OAR books are clearly a passion project for Goodman, so them delaying to get it right is to be expected.

I don't think Goodman has the rights to any other Judges Guild material (Dark Tower and Thracia they bought from Jaquays herself). I still hope that at some point, the Bledsoes will sell the JG catalog to Goodman free and clear (the brands aren't getting any more valuable and the longer they're associated with the family, they're rapidly dropping in value), but until that happens, it's hard to see what else they can put in an OAR.

Goodman did Grimtooth's Traps (again), but it seems like Revolution is planning on republishing the Citybooks themselves, which otherwise would be a must-buy OAR volume.

 

[Starmaster]

Yeah, the OAR books are clearly a passion project for Goodman, so them delaying to get it right is to be expected.

I don't think Goodman has the rights to any other Judges Guild material (Dark Tower and Thracia they bought from Jaquays herself). I still hope that at some point, the Bledsoes will sell the catalog to Goodman free and clear (the brands aren't getting any more valuable and the longer they're associated with the family, they're rapidly dropping in value), but until that happens, it's hard to see what else they can put in an OAR.

Goodman did Grimtooth's Traps (again), but it seems like Revolution is planning on republishing the Citybooks themselves, which otherwise would be a must-buy OAR volume.

Thanks for the updated info.

Although Goodman runs late on their OARs, they are nowhere near as bad in missing deadlines as Ares Games (overseas company that makes "War of the Ring" board game products, etc). I've occasionally ordered limited edition products directly from them. Ares charges my card as soon as I place the order instead of waiting until the item ships, and then it takes months before the item is finally finished and shipped out. At least once, I had to wait a year and a half before they finally got the game finished and shipped it out! On the plus side, they've always done a good job of packing their stuff. It would be a real bummer to wait a year and a half for something just to have it arrived crunched.

 

[Stormonu]

Ares? They also make Wings of Glory/War don't they? If so, it's been really frustrating picking up some of their plane packs that are supposed to be being reissued I can't figure out if they're in business or not.

Anyways, Traps was another one I passed on as I had the old Grimtooth books but could never figure out how to put the traps in my game without them being utter, unavoidable deathtraps (I don't remember them having any game mechanics for the traps, just how they were set up and how they operated).

BTW, anyone who has the Dark Tower set - is it good as either the original edition or the 5E version?