I was wondering if anyone on these boards ever considered commissioning a new module to be written by one of TSR's Golden Age designers? I know that many on these boards have contact information for some of these designers of old. I feel that a new module from Allen Hammack, Lawrence Shick, Harold Johnson, Graeme Morris, Jim Bramba, Mike Carr, Douglas Niles, or perhaps Paul Jaquays would be fantastic. The module could be written under the OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord licenses so as to allow it to be as close to the 1st Edition AD&D or Basic D&D rules, respectively, as legally possible. Perhaps you could organize the commissioned module as was done with the new Erol Otus print. Unfortunately, being as my discretionary income is in short supply these days, I personally couldn't financially contribute, but I feel that many of the serious collectors on this website with deeper pockets would be interested in organizing such an endeavor.

Thanks for reading,
                          Alphonso Warden

Like Mars, I thought many of those names are no longer interested or involved with RPGs in any form, except perhaps computer or console variety... and then, probably not.

MetamorphosisSigma wrote:I'll defer to other's greater familiarity with the current occupations and interests of such early module writers as Hammack, Carr, Schick, Morris, and Niles, but I personally would love to see something from any of them.

Thing is, I'd classify these authors (except Morris) as one-hit wonders in terms of "classics".

Hammack - C1, perhaps A3
Carr - B1 (only module for TSR)
Schick - S2 (only module for TSR)
Niles - N1

But as above the bigger point is that none of these authors have shown any interest in writing for RPGs in the last twenty years, whereas Mentzer, Kask and Ward have been actively participating in DF for the last few years and have actually written new material in recent years.

Paul Jaquays (mentioned by original poster) at least is someone who participated in the NTRPGcon recently.

Munafik wrote:I was wondering if anyone on these boards ever considered commissioning a new module to be written by one of TSR's Golden Age designers? I know that many on these boards have contact information for some of these designers of old. I feel that a new module from Allen Hammack, Lawrence Shick, Harold Johnson, Graeme Morris, Jim Bramba, Mike Carr, Douglas Niles, or perhaps Paul Jaquays would be fantastic. The module could be written under the OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord licenses so as to allow it to be as close to the 1st Edition AD&D or Basic D&D rules, respectively, as legally possible. Perhaps you could organize the commissioned module as was done with the new Erol Otus print. Unfortunately, being as my discretionary income is in short supply these days, I personally couldn't financially contribute, but I feel that many of the serious collectors on this website with deeper pockets would be interested in organizing such an endeavor.

Thanks for reading,
                          Alphonso Warden

Frankly, I think a lot of the "new" stuff is at least the quality of the above authors, if not better (except for Paul, but I'm biased as I think stuff like Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia are some of the best modules ever written).   As stated a lot of the above people are no longer interested in the hobby or producing modules.  And, I think there is the chance you might be really disappointed....look at the reaction to Len Lakofka's long awaited L4 when it was finally published.  

Unless one of these guys had a long ago written masterpiece sitting in their back closet I don't think it's worth the effort.

BTW, we at NTRPG Con are trying to get the great Paul Jaquays to get back into the module publishing business. He's running an adventure at next year's con that may be published in the same format as the Tim Kask and Dennis Sustare adventures from last year.

Mike B.

I would be at the front of the line to get my copy. That said, I really don't think it will happen.
Simply, the logistics in putting this together are significant. Although, an adventure that is sitting in a filing cabinet would make things easier. But there are other hurdles including editing, production, marketing, art and distribution.
And then the 800 lb. gorilla in the room. Front money.
Lastly, is this really a good idea? I know someone brought up the L4 thing. I really don't want to see that again.

TheHistorian wrote:
The problem with L4 is that it had a shifting cast of parties involved with editing, cleanup, etc.  That led to delays and an ultimately disappointing product.  Fault of the writer?  Probably not.

Yes, that is very accurate. But that is the responsibility of the author. He has to take ownership of his work. Otherwise, we get L4. Asking some of these guys to devote so much time to a project may not go over so well. Certainly so if they are looking for a cash cow - which this type of project would never achieve. Not without signficant financial backing, anyway. Without TSR floating around out there, it becomes problematic.

Of course one of the small publishers could back it, but again, the financial return is small and that may not attract much love.

Badmike wrote:That is yet another item you would have to deal with upon hiring the Golden Age Great to write up or publish a new module.
Mike B.

I think "hiring" is the key word in this post. Again, I do not want to fixate on the money, but it is about the money. Maybe one of those golden age authors will do the work pro bono, but I really doubt it. Their only point of reference is selling tens of thousands of copies of their work, and getting compensated relative to those figures. I am not saying they got rich as clearly most did not. But they certainly made a nice chunk of change. Now you are talking about selling a few hundred copies of something versus 50,000.
If the author is simply the author, then his monetary return is gonna be, honestly, maybe $500 at the very high end. Maybe that is enough, I don't know. But a major author means a major illustrator (I don't see how you could justify anything else). So, unless you are going to charge $20 per module, which will dramatically reduce the sales volume, I just don't see this working. The largest chunk of the production cost is going to the actual printer and the publisher.
I am not saying this would not work. I would be on board and I would jump at the chance at being the publisher. But creating a module is vastly different than a collaborative art project - and look at how hard the Otus board had to work!
Is this a project worth doing? Yes.
Would there be some excitement? Hell Yes!
That said, a level of perspective is critical. It is going to be costly and it is going to take considerable time.

FormCritic wrote:
The real fault with L4 was the unreasonably high level expectations by the online RPG crowd.  

People have no idea how hard it is to produce any published work.

L4 is a labor of love by people who volunteered their time...and it is free.

If L4 had been produced by a game company with an intent to sell, I could understand the vitriol.  As it is, people should enjoy what they got for what it is

Whether it's free or not, if the end product has errors, then it's fair to call them out.  Of course, one can't be cheated by a free item, but expressing disappointment that something could be better is fair.

I was the sole proofreader/editor for Castle Of The Mad Archmage, a work somewhat larger than L4.  I offer no opinion on the quality of the material, think what you like, but I am CERTAIN that we achieved better overall editing and internal consistency.  I volunteered my time, and was given a small thank you by the author at the end of the project (more than a cup of coffee, less than a decent meal).  So quality material can be produced, and offered without the intent of making a profit.

FormCritic
The real fault with L4 was the unreasonably high level expectations by the online RPG crowd.  

I only agree with 50% of this - the expectation part. I don't agree at all with the unreasonably high part. This module was floated for years. It is to this date the only original TSR author-produced AD&D module since first edition was killed. I can't imagine the level of expectation would be low? Like it or not, a sequel module to any TSR-produced module is going to be extremely high. Even more so when it comes from the series author. It may sound unreasonable, but there it is. Factor in four years of waiting and the expectation level is going to be high, as well it should.

People have no idea how hard it is to produce any published work.

Yes, sir! And like it or not, it takes money. It takes good hardware, good software and talented people. In my own personal venture, I am not where I want to be yet. But I am getting there. My next project will be miles better (in a technical and presentational sense) than earlier works.