REVIEW: OAR #2 Renews, Refreshes An RPG Classic

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Welcome to Musings from the Monk, a semi-regular column written by the chief archivist and comic nut who organizes Paint Monk’s Library. Expect bloviations on many topics here, from comic books, pop culture, and current events to reviews, random thoughts, and sometimes, things that are even relevant. This week’s topic is the second volume of Goodman Games Original Adventures Reincarnated, “The Isle of Dread”.)

Two years ago, I picked up Goodman Games’ Original Adventures Reincarnated #1, where I re-lived the fun of TSR’s original D&D modules “In Search of the Unknown” and “The Keep on the Borderlands”.

This month, I finally picked up OAR #2 – The Isle of Dread, and I’d like to share just how much I enjoyed this book and the work the fine folks over at Goodman put into making it a success. I’m clearly a bit behind on these reviews, as they have also released OAR #3 (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) and OAR #4 (The Lost City) since this neat little box came in the mail.

As a kid, I was never really excited about this module when it appeared with its first and second printing blue cover. While Jeff Dee may be a legendary RPG artist, his depiction of the Isle of Dread never did much for me. In addition, this was included in all of the Expert edition boxed sets, so it never really stood out to me.

But when Tim Truman put his pencils to the cover of the same module for a later (and I believe final) printing, I had to finally kick in my money and take the module home.

THE GOOD: I believe I said in the last OAR review that I’m not a player of RPGs any longer, but the memories I had as a teenager keep me perusing RPG material from time to time.

For old and former players, like myself, this book is wonderful. Not only does it reprint the first “blue cover” edition of the module as well as Truman’s later “orange” printing, but it includes interviews and columns by TSR alumni. They are informative, interesting, and shed light on the development process of both the module itself and the greater Mystara campaign setting.

For those of you who don’t know, Mystara was one of the earliest campaign worlds for D&D and the Isle of Dread module represents its first appearance physically in print.

In addition to full reprints of both editions of the original module, there is a 5E (5th Edition) conversion which expands substantially the material from the original module. Unlike OAR #1 where artwork was sparse, Isle of Dread is loaded with new artwork and beautiful new maps to detail the locales on the isle and give DMs and players alike some good ideas.

Interestingly, I’ve found some complaints online about the “price” of this book, which is $49.95. When you take into account the amount of material presented here – hundreds of pages! – and the fact that Goodman Games probably pays Wizards of the Coast a hefty licensing fee, that price is a steal and should be the least of one’s worries.

THE BAD: There’s nothing really bad I can say about what’s between the covers, and some may consider my minor concerns fairly petty. First and foremost, the binding, spine text and covers are pretty awful. The front cover is blue, like the original module, but the binding and back cover are orange like the fourth printing. Yuck! Aesthetically, this was a really poor move, especially for someone like me who wants to keep this series as a nice bookshelf reference, not a module with which to play.

The woodcut font, which is supposed to represent the original Dungeons and Dragons font, is obnoxiously large on the binding. The way the books are being printed, they’ll look overwhelming on the bookshelf.

But as I said, what’s between poorly designed cover scheme is first-rate and well worth your $50.

OAR #2: The Isle of Dread receives 5 out of 5 stars.
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