The original City State of the Invincible Overlord (CSIO) was one of the very first third-party products ever released for Dungeons & Dragons. Originally released in 1976 by Judges Guild, CSIO was a campaign setting that was constantly expanded for years. The products were initially available in a “modular” format via mail order subscription, and inspired TSR to release “adventure modules” for the first time. The original Judges Guild releases were credited to Bob Bledsaw, Sr. and Bill Owen, the co-founders of Judges Guild. We believe it was the third campaign setting ever released for D&D, after Blackmoor and Greyhawk, and it was the first urban fantasy setting released for the game. It is not an exaggeration to say that CSIO changed the course of D&D.

This project does not reprint any original material. All content is adapted for either DCC or 5E, depending on the edition. There are some introductory essays explaining some of the historical aspects of the project.

The Goodman Games release does not reprint any original Judges Guild material, but does adapt and convert many of the original Judges Guild releases. Our edition contains material from Installments I, J, and K, City State of the Invincible Overlord Revised Edition, and Wraith Overlord. We don’t use everything from each product as some of it is redundant or too dated. For those not familiar with the specific product installments noted above, this includes the City State of the Invincible Overlord content, Thunderhold: Castle of the Dwarven King, Sunstone Caverns, the overland map known as City State Campaign Map One including capsule descriptions of important towns, castles, and monster lairs, Haghill, and Wraith Overlord, plus nine dungeon levels comprising City State Dungeon and Thunderhold Dungeon, originally published as blank maps now fully stocked and detailed for your gaming pleasure. In addition, the lead authors had access to Bob Bledsaw Sr.’s handwritten original manuscript for CSIO, which contains some material that has never before been seen. As far as we know, no other CSIO publication has ever had access to these notes. This newly revealed source material has been integrated into our 5E and DCC conversions.

This project does not have any stretch goals. The contents are fixed.

The max funding target for this project is $851,300, and we will try to adjust pledge availability to land as close as possible to this target. The final print run will be determined based on number of copies pledged when this project ends and/or when it reaches $851,300. We anticipate this being a high-side print run of between 4,200 and 4,700 copies (for both DCC and 5E combined), and potentially lower based on how the math works out on certain factors. If the crowdfunding does not reach $851k and the target value is achieved post-crowdfunding with distribution copies, the print run will be adjusted.

There’s a pretty good chance this entire project will be a crowdfunding exclusive! It all depends on how fast we hit the “full refund threshold” as explained below.

Backers are limited to 3 printed copies of the DCC boxed set, and/or 3 printed copies of the 5E boxed set (i.e. no more than 6 copies max).

PDFs are available for a charge during this campaign. PDFs will not be available on DriveThruRPG after the campaign.

We will print to the number of copies pledged, plus contractual requirements for contributor copies, a slight overrun to account for a typical rate of lost or damaged copies during fulfillment, and typical printer’s terms. It’s likely we will have a few copies left over after all fulfillment. These copies will be used for charity auctions, warehouse sales, and other miscellaneous uses. If the crowdfunding falls short of the $851k goal and there are a significant number of copies remaining, the remaining copies will be sold through distribution to achieve the full refund threshold.

Goodman Games is a separate company from Judges Guild. This product is based on the original City State of the Invincible Overlord by Bob Bledsaw, Sr. as published by Judges Guild. This product is produced under license from Judges Guild.

Goodman Games was not involved in any way in the previous 2014 Kickstarter for City State of the Invincible Overlord for the Pathfinder edition, as run by Judges Guild. We were not involved operationally, legally, financially, or morally. We are committed to using some of the proceeds of our crowdfunding to refund backers of that previous project, because we want those backers to feel comfortable pledging to this project. We have no access to the original project data.

Goodman Games is using some of the proceeds of our crowdfunding to refund backers of that previous project. We will also provide a 10% discount on our project to backers of that previous project. The 10% discount only applies to one copy. You will be asked to provide screen grabs of your original pledge information to document your claim. You can find a full explanation of the refund process, with an additional FAQ specific to that process, on the Goodman Games web site at this URL: https://goodman-games.com/instructions-for-claiming-a-refund-on-2014-city-state-of-the-invincible-overlord-crowdfunding/

Goodman Games and Judges Guild have agreed to create an escrow account to receive royalties from this project. This escrow account will be used to refund backers from the earlier failed 2014 City State of the Invincible Overlord project for the Pathfinder edition as run by Judges Guild. Goodman Games will match royalty payments with a donation to charities that supports inclusivity and diversity.

Goodman Games is a company founded on principles of diversity and inclusivity. We absolutely condemn any forms of bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism.

We anticipate all copies being claimed by end-consumer backers relatively quickly. If there are additional copies remaining while we are still inside the “full refund threshold,” we will offer them to distribution channels.

We are unable to offer refunds on this project under any circumstances after the pledge payments are processed. We will be printing “to-order” on this project, so if you pledge and cancel, you are “taking up” a copy of a limited print run that someone else could have used. We are unlikely to have backup distribution channels on this project, so we do not anticipate being able to reliably resell any unsold copies. If you need to cancel for any reason, we invite you to instead receive your pledge as promised and then resell it on eBay or a related channel.

Shipping will be charged during the pledge manager phase, after the fundraising campaign is completed. Shipping charges are not included in the basic pledge levels.

In general we will have international-friendly shipping. EU/UK shipments will originate from a UK-based shipping point. AUS/NZ/SEA shipments will originate from an AUS-based shipping point. CAN shipments will originate from a CAN-based shipping point.

This project does not contain any VTT-specific products. The maps are being created with a uniform digital grid so you may import them to VTT platforms as you see fit.

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