Islandia modules
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Post Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:59 am 
 

I am a huge fan of the Islandia modules produced back in the early 80's by The Companions, along with their other products, such as Places of Mystery. I'm hoping someone can help me out with some questions I have regarding the products.

I am familiar with the fact that William John Wheeler sold the rights to some of the modules (Curse on Hareth, Plague of Terror, and Brotherhood of the Bolt) to TSR in the mid-80's. I also know that he passed away a number of years ago.

What I am trying to figure out is what the current state of the copyright on all of the products is. I would like to see them reprinted and updated to work with modern RPG systems. I would also like to see them organized better, as I realized how disorganized Curse on Hareth is when I tried running it recently. (I don't know why I hadn't noticed that when I used it before, but for some reason I missed that.)

My thought is that if I can determine the current copyright owner, I can contact them to see about purchasing the rights to the materials. Then, I could start a Kickstarter project to reprint/update the products. That would allow me to judge interest, as well as raise money to fund the process.

Any information anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated.

  

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Post Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 9:26 pm 
 

I have all The Companion products and share your love of them.  They are simply some of the best products ever made.  I wish I could help you, but all I know is there was some discussion about the products here or at dragonsfoot.org.  Not much to go on or who to contact.  I would suspect the IP rights still belong to WOTC, but who knows?  The only way it might see the light of day is just to do it as a labor of love and post your results for free.  Not much incentive but then again, it might otherwise be a lost cause.  Good luck.

  

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Post Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2016 1:35 am 
 

I could put you in touch with Peter Rice. PM me.


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Post Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 3:39 pm 
 

TheHistorian wrote in Islandia modules:I could put you in touch with Peter Rice. PM me.


So, thanks to TheHistorian, I have been in contact with Peter Rice. He is the current copyright holder for all of the Islandia material, so that answers my big question.

Based on my discussions with Mr. Rice, I'm working with a couple people to put together an update to the original modules to support D&D 5e, along with the possibility of other systems as well. Other possible features are updated art and maps, a complete reorganization of the material, etc.

If everything goes well and there is a reasonable amount of interest, we might pursue development of the unpublished modules mentioned in the originals, such as Sacrifices to the Orc Lord and Mora, Port of Danger.

But, before we put too much effort into revitalizing this 30+ year old material, I would like to try to get a feel for the interest in such a project. And, if there is interest, I would like to know what others would like to see.

Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

  

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Post Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 3:54 pm 
 

I'm interested. :)


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 3:11 am 
 

I'm interested as well.

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 7:27 am 
 

I m definitely interested.  Especially in the unpublished ones!

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:02 am 
 

Throw me in with the group of "interested" :)

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:48 am 
 

I'm interested... cool project :)


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 9:14 am 
 

I think you would get great support from most of the people here.  Count me in for buying anything you develop.  Also thanks for starting this endevor.  

Martin Britt

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:21 am 
 

I'm interested on two fronts:  purchasing anything that gets (re)printed from the Islandia series, and doing some of the work if you need extra hands.

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:23 am 
 

Sounds cool, add me to the list as well

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:40 am 
 

I would be interested in 1st edition but not 5E.


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Post Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 1:15 am 
 

burntwire brothers wrote in Islandia modules:I would be interested in 1st edition but not 5E.


Well that s a value here...  Rather than new systems,  a good OSR version would be much more appreciated...


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Post Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:26 pm 
 

burntwire brothers wrote in Islandia modules:I would be interested in 1st edition but not 5E.


Ditto.  Black Blade would also be happy to carry such products at GaryCon and NTX too, if they end up being published in print.


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Post Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 9:16 pm 
 

Would be interested in the unpublished works, have most of the original stuff and would prefer to find them over reprints, but new stuff that never was back then is always welcome, but would definitely prefer an OSR type as I have not found much interest in the newer rule sets. :)

  

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Post Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:35 am 
 

Interested in both reprints and new creations, but prefer OSR as well.

From a business perspective, I believe that you would have a broader appeal for the products if they are printed as OSR, since anyone could use them  8)


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 9:11 pm 
 

Another opportunity to develop and reignite interest in the older (and somewhat obscure outside of the US) non-TSR campaigning materials. Islandia was always somewhat open ended, in the manner Judges Guild typified, and it would have been interesting to have seen what TSR could have done with it (or even if there are any such MSs from that venture). This is one I'll watch and hope one day to see something in print and licensed PDF.


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