Hello, everyone!

Thanks for backing City State of the Invincible Overlord. It’s great to see this project taking off.

The main purpose of this update is to show you one of the historical treasures we’ve referenced in our conversion. But first, a reminder: a portion of the proceeds from this project will be used to reimburse backers of the 2014 Kickstarter of CSIO, as run by another company. If you are a backer of that project, or if you know someone who is, please make sure to submit the request for reimbursement. You can find the full details here. (Goodman Games was not involved in that project and we have no access to the backer data, so we cannot process reimbursements without information from you.)

Now, on to one of the hidden gems of this project. City State of the Invincible Overlord really is an amazing setting. It’s the product of the imagination of Bob Bledsaw, Sr., co-founder of the original Judges Guild (with Bill Owen). CSIO has been re-published, re-compiled, and converted many times in the nearly 50 years since its first publication. The fact that it still resonates is testament to Bob Bledsaw Sr.’s genius. 

The hidden gem that makes this Goodman Games conversion special is… well, let’s just show you the photos. What you’re looking at here are Bob Bledsaw, Sr.’s original handwritten notes for what was later published as City State of the Invincible Overlord.

We are fortunate enough to be in possession of an entire binder of these notes. To our knowledge, no other publisher had access to these notes when creating their CSIO works (other than Bob Bledsaw Sr. himself, of course). Lead designer Michael Curtis has an archivist’s eye, and he has matched these notes back to where each of them appears in a published Judges Guild installment… and he’s also identified the portions that have never before been published. At least, not that we can find!

We think our conversions to 5E and DCC will be all the richer thanks to this material, which we have integrated into our own design. And frankly it’s really amazing seeing the thought process behind such an active imagination. These notes were created at “the very beginning of D&D” – when there was no real structure or precedent or standardized approach to doing what Bob Bledsaw, Sr. did. We sincerely hope our 5E and DCC conversions will do honor to his foundational work. And we appreciate all you backers who are giving us the chance to try.