Cool! The fourth ‘Original Adventures Reincarnated’ book from Goodman Games will be The Lost City (B4).
From GG's announcement:
“First published in 1982, B4: The Lost City was designed as a stand-alone adventure for use with the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set. Author Tom Moldvay wrote the adventure with the intent of teaching novice gamemasters how to craft and run a dungeon. For that reason, many areas of the original adventure—including much of the titular city itself—are left undefined. And if you’ve read any of our earlier releases in the OAR series, you know that those areas are not going to be left blank for the Fifth Edition translation!I'm very happy with what Goodman Games did with B1-2 and X1. I'm looking forward to their treatment of S3 (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) and am thrilled that B4 is now in the queue.
OAR #4: The Lost City will combine scans of the original edition of the module with 5E conversions and new material, as we’ve done with prior books in the OAR series. The conversion is being handled by Chris Doyle and Tim Wadzinski, the same team responsible for OAR #1: Into the Borderlands and OAR #2: The Isle of Dread.
At this time, the target release date is June 2020, but we will keep you updated as time passes. And not just about the release date—we’ll also be giving you sneak peeks and behind the scenes info on the book!”
It's a bit odd, though, that Goodman Games will be lurching from the Basic/Expert (B/X) Dungeons and Dragons line to the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line for S3, and then back to B/X for B4.
[Some adventurers versus 'Zargon'. Picture by Jim Holloway]
Also, it’s a pity they're skipping B3, Palace of the Silver Princess. It would've been nice to have a reprint of the 'forbidden' version along with the 'expurgated' version! (For an interesting discussion of B3, check out “The Day the Old School Died” at the Alexandrian blog.)
[The original orange cover version of B3. Picture by Erol Otus.]
On Dragonsfoot a number of people contributed to a “Lost City Sourcebook,” or something to that effect, fleshing out all the stuff Moldvay left out and growing the ziggurat. I have it on my google drive I think. But it’s on Dragonsfoot somewhere.
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting. Thanks for mentioning it.
Deletehttp://www.pandius.com/B4_campaign_sourcebook.pdf
ReplyDeleteAnd there it is! Thanks! :)
DeleteI must confess I haven't seen either of the other entries in this series so far. Is it safe to assume that the expanded material will only be statted out for 5E and not for B/X? Because a substantial amount of new material usable out of the box with B/X is definitely intriguing...
ReplyDeleteThe new stuff in the B1-2 and X1 books is statted for 5e only, alas.
DeleteAs expected. Still a minor bummer though. But OTOH maybe this is the catalyst I need to finally investigate 5E more fully. B4 was always one of my favorite adventures to read, but I never actually ran it because it was too unfinished - those notes about the Lost City itself were extremely tantalizing and evocative but always seemed like too much work to pull off (especially since I was, like, 9 or 10 years old at the time).
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ReplyDeleteI ran B4 recently using Dungeon World, of all things, and it was a ton of fun. DW is perfect for it, since it provides mechanics to slowly build up whatever dread might be cooking below. If anyone is curious about DW--and, perhaps controversially, I think it qualifies as an OSR-variant--you could do a lot worse than giving it a spin with the Lost City.
ReplyDeleteI'd quite like to try DW someday (but preferably as a player)...
DeleteOne more reason we need to find time one of these days to hang out!
ReplyDeleteIndeed!
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