Goodman Games have been republishing classic TSR era D&D Adventure modules in a ‘deluxe’ hard cover format marketed as “Original Adventures Reincarnated“. These feature high quality scanned reprints of the original module releases (in some cases including 2 different original versions) that were originally for D&D Basic or AD&D 1e (1st Edition), and a modernised 5e (D&D 5th Edition) adventure conversion; additional supplementary and expanded adventure details and additional areas (intended for 5e but presented generically to provide backward compatibility with the original versions); and in some cases additional background material, articles or interviews related to the original modules and/or authors. #1 in the series is a combined one with both B1 In Search Of The Unknown and B2 The Keep On The Borderlands!
Feedback
Feedback from the D&D community is very positive and the quality of both content and production sounds good. This is not something you would order if just wanting to run the original version module in a game (far better to check out DriveThru RPG or DMs Guild for a PDF download or PoD Book); but more if you want the historical old school module in a collectible format with expanded adventure information and/or the 5e conversion already done for you, and in a format that’s great as a reference/collectible publication and/or usable to run an adventure.
My plan was to purchase a couple of the best, most historical and valued adventure-wise ones (namely #1 B1 & B2 and #6 T1 & T1-4) and add some more later, but in the end I have taken the punt and ordered copies of all 6. Current pricing is US$49.99 each, except for #6 which is a double volume set (so US$99.99). These are not available as PDFs and can only be purchased as physical hardcover books.
Value Of Original Adventures Reincarnated
Original Adventures Reincarnated #1: B1 & B2 Into the Borderlands is especially good value as it features both B1 In Search Of The Unknown and B2 The Keep On The Borderlands. And there are 2 versions of each module (the original stand alone retail one sold individually for each, and the slightly different versions included in the D&D Basic box sets: B1 initially sometime in 1978 until end of 1979 and then B2 from 1980 and thereafter); there are also articles from notable people connected with TSR at the time, and expanded wilderness areas and more.
You can order these publications directly from Goodman Games Website, or you can also find them on Amazon, EBay and ABE and similar (e.g. Noble Knight Games). The initial books came out a while ago now so there are copies to be had that are used but in good condition – but obviously some of the books (e.g. #1 with B1-B2, and #6 with T1/T1-4, and to a lesser extent #2 X1 and #5 X2) will likely only get more expensive longer-term due to their especially high value for collectability. But another big lot of kudos to Goodman Games for this project – it looks great and I am looking forward to receiving my copies in the next few weeks and updating this post with my initial impressions.
Conclusion
And hopefully they will continue the series to do a few more as I would love to see them tackle the G, D, Q series (which may require up to 6 volumes/books, or 3 sets of 2 volumes each, depending on how they grouped the original modules), and perhaps the U series too. Having done B1-2 and B4 it could also be good to have them do B3 Palace Of The Silver Princess and include both versions (the original Jean Wells orange one and the rewritten Tom Moldvay green one).
If like me you like the look of these be sure to check these publications out at Goodman Games Website as there is additional information on each, including design diaries on the process of producing each of the books, and doing the 5e conversions, etc. And also check out my post on the Judges Guild Deluxe Volumes I & II Kickstarter campaigns – more classic D&D reborn. Finally talking of B-series modules see also my post on The Two B3 Modules.
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