We are thrilled that our Original Adventures Reincarnated line has been such a big hit. The fan reception to Into the Borderland and The Isle of Dread has been nothing short of amazing. And at Gary Con we announced the next volume in the series, Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one of the most iconic adventures in D&D history, and we want to make it better than ever. This exciting volume is slated for release later this year and is a must-have for every fan of Dungeons and Dragons.
We recently released the video for our Gary Con seminar, “What’s New With Goodman Games”, where you can hear Michael Curtis discuss the hardcover and what’s in it. It’s a great way to get an overall feel for what the writer did with this classic adventure.
But that’s not all….
Today we’re excited to provide a little more detail about what’s in the book—not just the design components that Michael has already discussed, but the other features that will round out the volume. Here are a few things that have been lined up for Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, which were not previously announced!
- The volume starts with an introduction written by Tony DiTerlizzi, the New Yorks Times best-selling author and illustrator—and a familiar illustrator for anyone who played D&D in the 90’s. Tony is a long-time fan of Barrier Peaks and tells us more about it in this introduction.
- Legendary TSR artist Erol Otus has agreed to paint a new image for the endsheets of the hardcover. This oversized image will be printed at the 11”x17” dimensions of the endsheet and is a new illustration of one of the original scenes in the module—the same adventure that Erol illustrated more than 30 years ago when he worked at TSR! In addition, Erol has provided an article detailing the step-by-step process he uses to paint his images.
- We’ve included an extensive interview with David “Diesel” LaForce, the prolific staff artist and cartographer whose illustrations appear in dozens of TSR modules. Diesel talks about his early work on Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, how he developed the cartographic notations used in D&D maps which we now all think of as “standard,” any many other aspects of the early TSR experience. We have also uncovered an unused illustration by Diesel, more than three decades old, that was originally slated for inclusion in TSR’s edition of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, which Diesel helps identify.
- The volume will include complete scans of two different printings of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and discuss the differences between them. Did you know the handout art changes, and the handouts are renumbered in later printings? If you have a copy of the original TSR edition, look at illustration #41 in the handouts book. Do you have the version with the Jeff Dee illustration for handout #41, or the version with the Erol Otus illustration for #41? The art for handout #41 changes between printings—as do other things!
- Here’s some interesting bits of trivia that were uncovered in the course of creating this volume. Did you know the elevator tubes don’t line up properly in the original 1E maps? Our 5E maps will fix this. And did you know the room layout of one level forms E. Gary Gygax’s initials, if you turn the map upside down? We’ll show you where to find it.
Original Adventures Reincarnated #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is nearing the end of the editing phase and will be entering layout soon. Once the book is ready for the printer we will announce a release date and begin offering pre-orders. Until then we encourage you to look for additional updates as we finalize this awesome next volume in the Original Adventures Reincarnated series!
