RPG Print News – Goodman Games, Free League Publishing, Troll Lords Games, and More

More third party support for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition including adventures, monsters, and even pawns as well as a converted Castle Amber module. New core rulebooks and new adventures cover fantasy (including fairy tales and mythic heroes) and sci-fi. Some of the sci-fi adventures also have elements of cosmic and/or body horror to them.

D&D Castle Amber Hardcover by Goodman Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Basic D&D
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover module
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: This hardcover contains a high-quality scans of the original D&D X2: Castle Amber module, with added commentary by contemporary game designers and writers. In addition, a D&D 5E conversion of the original adventure is included which includes new adventure encounters and an expanded Castle Amber. Castle Amber was written by Tom Moldvay in 1981 partially inspired by the writings of weird fiction author Clark Ashton Smith. The original module and this hardcover feature cover art by Erol Otus.

Alien Destroyer of Worlds by Free League Publishing

• SYSTEM: Year Zero Engine
• PRODUCT TYPE: boxed set Cinematic scenario
• RETAIL PRICE: $29.99
• DESCRIPTION: Written by sci-fi novelist Andrew E.C. Gaska, Destroyer of Worlds includes a Colonial Marines Cinematic scenario for the Alien RPG. The boxed set includes a double-sided map of Ariaricus Colony on one side and the Fort Nebraska space elevator and ground base on the other, five pre-generated Marines, player maps handouts, and cards for weapons, vehicles, and personal agendas. War is hell and so are the challenges facing the PCs in this adventure. Even Game Mothers running Campaign games can benefit from the information, maps, and cards. Requires theAlien RPG core rulebook or the Alien RPG Starter Set.

Reaping Bones and Stains Upon the Green by Troll Lord Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: modules (for around 5th level PCs)
• RETAIL PRICE: $6.99 each
• DESCRIPTION: Stains Upon the Green introduces a dwarven ruin and magical portals. Surrounding dwarven ruins is the Tar Kiln, a wilderness of rolling hills and towering forests home to animals and monsters alike. Tar pits litter the land like spilled ink on parchment. The old dwarven ring fort holds secrets within its ruins. The Rings of Brass are magical portals that open to dwarven roads carved through the plains. Travel between two settings is possible from the Lands of Ursal in Aihrde to the Free City of Eskadia in the Haunted Highlands. Reaping Bones is also set in the Tar Kiln. Brian, Lord of Helliwell, has crossed his king to protect his people and that act has cost him his son. Mercenaries have spirited the boy away and Brian must confront his monarch. He must turn to others to aid his child. In this fast-paced pursuit adventure, the PCs race to rescue a boy but his captors are anything but normal mercenaries.

Tome of Beasts 2 by Kobold Press

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover monster book
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99

Tome of Beasts 2 Lairs

• PRODUCT TYPE: softcover monster lairs
• RETAIL PRICE: $24.99

Tome of Beasts 2 Pawns

• PRODUCT TYPE: 300 pawns (no stands/bases)
• RETAIL PRICE: $34.99
• DESCRIPTION: These products cover 400 monsters, 300 pawns of those monsters (no bases/stands), and twelve adventures using those monsters. Inside Tome of Beasts 2 are new dragons, new nagas, demon lords, and more for a variety of locations from the planes to cities but especially dungeons. Adventures in Lairs include House of the Worm God, (level 7), Terror at the Mountain Lotus Temple (Level 8), and Tunnels Beneath Skulltop Tor (level 9). Pawns range in size from tiny to huge and bases can be purchased from Paizo or Midwest Clerics.

Starfall by Legendary Games

• SYSTEM: Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: 58 page module
• RETAIL PRICE: $17.99
• DESCRIPTION: An adventure for 13th-level characters that merges fantasy and sci-fi with an added touch of cosmic horror. A simple rescue mission goes off planet when the PCs are great silver egg that catapults them to the stars. Onboard a crippled star-faring vessel, the PCs must deal with an enigmatic race of human starfarers, fearsome alien life, and face an ancient alien horror hellbent on destroying the ship and everyone on it.

Cypher System We Are All Mad Here by Monte Cook Games

• SYSTEM: Cypher System Second Edition
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover genre (fairy tales) book
• RETAIL PRICE: $49.99
• DESCRIPTION: Fairy tale campaign building, GMing tips, and rules, the Heartwood setting, and three adventures in Heartwood. Play a Frumious Princess who Befriends the Black Dog, a Fragmented Knight who Feigns No Fear, or a Bewitched Woodcutter who Sheds Their Skin. GM fairy tale creatures and characters - specific names from tales you know, and archetypes you can use in any fairy tale game both named and archetypes to build from. A copy of Cypher System 2E RPG: Rulebook is necessary to use the contents of this book.

Alternity by Sasquatch Game Company

• SYSTEM: unique
• PRODUCT TYPE: digest sized hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $39.95
• DESCRIPTION: This core rulebook provides rules for modern-day to far-future sci-fi roleplaying adventure. Included are six species, seven archetypes, skills, and special talents. GMs are provided with hazards, set-pieces, and adversaries to create sci-fi adventures from exploring alien worlds to struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Agon Second Edition by Evil Hat Productions

• SYSTEM: unique
• PRODUCT TYPE: hardcover core rulebook
• RETAIL PRICE: $25.00
• DESCRIPTION: Play a mighty hero for glory and to win your way back home. You play heroes returning from war who become lost on strange islands that are home to mythical creatures, deadly villains, legendary kingdoms, and people at the mercy of capricious gods. Includes rules for heroes including Glory, Divine Favor, Bonds, and Pathos. Gods, monsters, and people of the islands are detailed as challenges for the heroes. Heroes can engage in Contests of Arts & Oration, Blood & Valor, Craft & Reason, and Resolve & Spirit. The heroes need to set things right in the islands, overcome their trails, gain glory, and get home.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

Some great looking stuff !

Wonder how Goodman Games Temple of Elemental Evil book is coming along ...

 

[Chaderick]

Agreed! I've collected all five of the Original Adventures Reincarnated, but the Temple slipcase is something that I've been looking forward to all year! They've done a great job with the first in the series; I can't wait to see what they're doing with the next one...

 

[Jeff Carpenter]

Some great looking stuff !

Wonder how Goodman Games Temple of Elemental Evil book is coming along ...

I like reprint series I hope they get to do Secret of Bone Hill and a double Sentinel and Gauntlet book.

 

[EthanSental]

The Goodman games OAR books have been great. I have the first 4 and that ToEE is a must buy for me.
I believe the series is selling well....has Goodman ever said how well or an inference like a print run is 1000 books and it sold out type thing? Just curious on that front so they continue to create them.

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

I like reprint series I hope they get to do Secret of Bone Hill and a double Sentinel and Gauntlet book.

Given Len Lakofka is still around, they should really go further than just Bone Hill - do his entire L1-L5 series, cleaned up and 5e-ified!

 

[Psikosis]

Once they get through Temple and L-module series, I'd love to see what they do with Against the Giants/Descent/Shrine/Queen series. My players spent some time on the Isle of Dread. So much fun! The Ranger kept blowing his rolls to guide the party so they often took a scenic route around the island...

 

[Jeff Carpenter]

Given Len Lakofka is still around, they should really go further than just Bone Hill - do his entire L1-L5 series, cleaned up and 5e-ified!

I thought Len Lakofka passed last month? I read it on one of the sites.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I started playing in the monochrome 1E era, and I've purchased all of the OAR books (and am running Keep on the Borderlands now and am about to strand another group on the Isle of Dread), but I don't know how much longer this line will really go.

Goodman has shown zero interest in late 1E (think Dragonlance era) and later D&D, and so far, they haven't touched anything that WotC has reprinted in 5E (Tales from the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, etc.).

I think we'll likely get an announcement of Palace of the Silver Princess -- one of the few remaining modules from that era that has both an interesting history and wildly different printings -- and maybe one or two others and they'll call it a day.

This would have been an ideal series to do a Judge's Guild counterpart to. I would have loved to have a 1E/5E Dark Tower book, for instance. But unless someone raises enough money for Goodman to buy the rights to all that stuff from the Bledsoes, that seems unlikely, to put it mildly, given that the later generations of Bledsoes are not great.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Once they get through Temple and L-module series, I'd love to see what they do with Against the Giants/Descent/Shrine/Queen series. My players spent some time on the Isle of Dread. So much fun! The Ranger kept blowing his rolls to guide the party so they often took a scenic route around the island...

Against the Giants is in Tales from the Yawning Portal. Given that WotC won't let Goodman do PDFs of these adventures, I can't imagine they want another 5E version of something they have in print out there running around.

Maybe they can do the drow and Lolth sections, but it would be obviously lacking a third of the overall package.

It's a shame, too, since the simplistic treatment of the giant modules in Yawning Portal doesn't really do them appropriate justice, given how big they were in the 1E era. Ditto Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain just being tucked into a few pages with a handful of new art pieces created.