News: City State of the Invincible Overlord returns
Update: following the reaction of fans, Goodman Games released two official announcements on their website (first, second). More details available on EN World topic.
Apparently Goodman Games shared the following at DungeonCon:
The implication is that the legendary Judges Guild module City State of the Invincible Overlord will be re-released by Goodman Games as part of the Original Adventures Reincarnated line. That is a deluxe line that reprints classics in letter-sized hardbacks, includes historical commentary, and conversion for either D&D fifth edition or Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Judges Guild produced some of the best material that hasn't been surpassed—Wilderlands of High Fantasy, City State of the Invincible Overlord, Ready Ref Sheets, just to name some—but was ultimately an unsuccessful company. They spent most of their company life lingering and licensing out their most attractive IP. That is how we got Wilderlands of High Fantasy boxed set by Necromancer Games, and then later two deluxe compilations by Goodman Games. Bud Judges Guild got cancelled hard when son (Robert Bledsaw II) and grandson (Robert Bledsaw III) of the original owner, Robert Bledsaw, went all anti-Semitic on social media. Due to this Judges Guild was removed from DriveThruRPG, and everyone in the industry broke ties with them. Goodman Games reached a special agreement to finish the second deluxe set without paying any royalties to the living Bledsaws. But all of that was in 2020. See here, here, and here for more details.
We know that Goodman Games later acquired all Judges Guild IP tied with Jaquays (see OAR7 Dark Tower, OAR9 Caverns of Thracia, and OAR9.5 The Hellpits of Nightfang), but it is unclear if that is the case with Wilderlands material as well. According to Aaron James Bledsaw, Goodman Games has licensed multiple Wilderlands IP:
We don't know much more since Goodman Games still hasn't announced anything yet—at least not officialy. Perhaps Bledsaws will use the money to refund backers they delivered nothing to.
As a big fan of Wilderlands, I must say that I am a bit surprised by including the Invincible Overlord on the cover. That tells me Goodman Games (or rather, the person responsible for the project) doesn't understand what City State of the Invincible Overlord is about. I hope they will reprint the original as they have done so far. But then again, they decided not to reprint the originals for OAR8 Grimtooth's Old School Traps and OAR9.5 The Hellpits of Nightfang, breaking the promise behind the line. I was not impressed by how OAR9 was done, nor with all the bloat that came with it. City State of the Invincible Overlord is about the map and terse key. I hope they reprint the original map in addition to whatever else they create. Either way, I will be backing this in order to get high-quality digital version of the originals.
Whatever happens in the end, the more Judges Guild material we manage to preserve, the better. I am looking forward to the official announcement from Goodman Games.
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