Would you like WotC or a d20 company to publish 3e conversions of classic modules?

[johnsemlak]

Doesn't Nostalgomancer already have a corner on the market of buying up any old licenses WotC or other companies haven't deemed important enough to keep under a thick layer of dust?

Actually, my idea for this poll came from reading an interview with Clark Peterson at EN World last year, talking about all the old stuff he's brought back to 3e: Necropolis (orignally publisshed for Dangerous Journeys but IP now owned by WotC), Maze of Zayene, and of course Tome of Horrors. Plus the upcoming Judges Guild stuff. Clark talked about wanting to redo some classic TSR modules (he mentioned D1-2 in particular), but said it would be difficult, IIRC.

 

[Mark CMG]

Actually, my idea for this poll came from reading an interview with Clark Peterson at EN World last year, talking about all the old stuff he's brought back to 3e: Necropolis (orignally publisshed for Dangerous Journeys but IP now owned by WotC), Maze of Zayene, and of course Tome of Horrors. Plus the upcoming Judges Guild stuff. Clark talked about wanting to redo some classic TSR modules (he mentioned D1-2 in particular), but said it would be difficult, IIRC.

I figured as much. Been there, done that, wasn't all that great, thinking it's time to move forward not back...

 

[Frostmarrow]

The old modules would sell! There is no doubt about it. One way to assure high sales would be to announce an entire series right away and then go about publishing them one by one. There are so many people who buy everthing that looks collectible it's not even funny. My gaming group alone would buy seven copies of each. Go figure.

The good thing is that the money earned from rehashing old modules could (should) be used to publish new stuff.

 

[Golandrinel]

YAY! I can't wait to be running away from that Tyranosaurus again ... get me off of this island!!!!

 

[Mark CMG]

... get me off of this island!!!!

Actually, it's more of a peninsula...

 

[Golandrinel]

Actually, it's more of a peninsula...

Nope ... an island.

"Hundreds of miles from the mainland, surrounded by dangerous waters, lies an island known only as the Isle of Dread."

peninsula
noun [C]
a long piece of land which sticks out from a larger area of land into the sea or into a lake

LOL ... only joking

 

[Desdichado]

Absolutely friggin' not. Doing so takes time and resources away from other projects that are much more interesting they could be working on.

 

[johnsemlak]

I figured as much. Been there, done that, wasn't all that great, thinking it's time to move forward not back...

I'm in favor of going forward as much as anyone (well, most people) I certainly do want new adventures; and I do like 3e (I'm not 'old school' enough to start a 1e game going).

But I don't think moving forward has to mean we abandon the past, certainly not what was good in the past. Heck, the logical extention of that would be we all should abandon D&D in favor of something more current (which I did for a while).

Certainly, I understand not everyone would buy the adventures I'm advocating. I can even see that in my current gaming group not everyone would; but some would. That's true about any gaming product. There are some many different playing styles and different types of gamers out there. I'm not advocating we should only have classic/old school adventures and nothing else.

A lot of people seem to slam the desire for old school game products as 'nostalgia' I think nostalgia is an essential part of D&D; playing D&D relys on the players appreciating history, tradition, heritage, and so forth.

Is there enough demand for a company to produce 3e conversions of 1e classics? I have no idea. I'm certainly not an industry expert. Perhaps, it's not a viable project. I'm not advocating a d20 company produce a module that can't sell. Necromancer Games have produced some adventures that were converted from previous editions successfully, though they seem to be very careful in starting projects that make business sense, which is the right way to go. Other company's are trying the '1e feel' approach -- witness Goodman's Games recent product (anybody have that one yet?)

 

[rounser]

thinking it's time to move forward not back...

Rather than moving only relentlessly forward, I suggest publishers move sideways, diagonally, up, down, around and back a bit, just to keep things interesting. How would a creation look if it was written as a move "sideways" from Castle Amber, for instance?

Going all avant garde and abandoning strong concepts in the name of progression just for sake of being different is a questionable reason to do so, and it's all too easy to declare something "done" when the surface has barely been scratched.

With regard to re-making old modules, well, I agree that there's no reason to remake Keep on the Borderlands yet again. The tropes which made these modules appealing can be borrowed, learnt from and improved upon, though.

That said, stick a fork in dark elves, Drow are well and truly "done". Move on from them already! Oh yeah, and lay off the megadungeons, they're fattening and threaten the health of campaigns.

 

[Holy Bovine]

NO.

they've butchered the game enough without raping the classics.

Whoa - that's a little graphic!

I voted yes but really there is only one series I would like to see converted and that the G-D-Q Queen of the Spiders. I wouldn't want a direct conversion though more of a fully fleshed out adventure. the old modules were pretty sparse on the details of rooms, encounters, RP tips etc Adding stuff like this would certainly, IMO, make it more 'today'