The Dire Legacy of Good Man Games OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks By Gary Gygax & Michael Curtis

"The Grand Duchy of Geoff has called for help, asking for you to investigate a mysterious cave in the Barrier Peaks, and it's unlike any other cave in the world. In fact, it's not really a cave at all. It does however have alien inhabitants—crazed robots, eerie androids, and even stranger things—who endanger the world. The adventurers must confront these threats and navigate the unearthly interior of the wrecked starship, puzzling over and mastering alien technology to defeat their foes. If you’ve ever had the urge to zap an umber hulk with a laser rifle while commanding a robotic servant, this adventure is for you!"

So Goodman Games just sent me the latest announcement in the Original Adventures Reincarnated line of products. OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is going to follow in the wake of the other titles in that line which means that its going to be fifth edition D&D & I find myself increasingly not liking that system. If your playing Fifth edition D&D fantastic for you. But let's take a step back for a moment & think about what this module means for campaign play. Now if OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks follows in the foot steps of other titles in the OAR line then we're looking at an expanded Warden, adventure encounters, & much more. 

Now I've been reading early issues  of 'The  Dragon' magazine which covers many different early game products in the TSR line. This includes Metamorphosis Alpha first edition which I've used in the past to expand S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax. Corridors, rooms, etc. can all be switched up for more expansive play. Why? Because many players know S3 inside & out. Change the encounters up a bit or expand upon the ship using the table in Metamorphosis Alpha & things get very interesting. 

Another Metamorphosis Alpha art piece by Trampier

But let's talk about the four hundred ton gorilla in the room that nobody mentions the various alternative world versions of the Warden. The ship is a world ender & really a campaign starter across a number of D&D settings including Blackmoor, & Mystara because I personally think that the U.S.S. Beagle was or is a part of the Warden's colony fleet. The technology, the cybernetic life forms, etc. are all very similar in many respects. So who or what would be after the Warden that crashes into the Barrier Peaks? Well two vile NPC villains come to mind right off the bat. St.Stephen of the Rock & his cult of Froggies have the time, motivation, & technology to cross worlds & the Warden would be a prime target.

But then there's also Egg of Coot whose more then capable of using planar travel to get that sweet savory technology. The Egg of Coot loves to to use to enslave various peoples as minions & expand its planar  way stations & check points of its higher dimensional empire. But is it the only interested party in S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax? Sure there's the Egg of Coot but are we forgetting some one or something? Aboard the Warden there are any number of intelligent alien species & creatures that have their own agendas especially the Mind Flayers.Copyright & Trademarked artwork to Jeff Dee used without permission.


If OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks  is going to expand the encounters, monsters, and perimeters of the Gary Gygax classic then we might see that the Mind Flayers aboard the Warden not only crashed it. But they  created the planar & dimensional rift to create the various alternative versions of the ship to expand their species! This species appears in Blackmoor, Mystara, & Greyhawk but can be encountered anywhere in the planes quite literally.


Is it really the Mind Flayers behind all of the events aboard the Warden? Including dumping every last monster could be a tactic to terriform some of these world settings. The wreckage of the Warden is world altering & will continue to bleed into the Duchy of Geoff. 
What will this mean for those who live in the area? Well I've got a few ideas in this direction:

1. The Mind Flayers make contact with the outpost that they've already established on Greyhawk 
2. The reactors aboard the Warden go critical & spew weird radiations across the countryside causing all kinds of havoc. The weird radiation might cause all kinds of mutations & horrors. 
3. The confusion caused by the crash within the Barrier Peaks might be just the sort of distraction that a wizard or cabal might be waiting for to take over. 
4. There could be any number of Dark Druids waiting to grab some of these alien monsters to cause evil in various parts of Greyhawk.
5. There could be a hidden evil we've not seen within the Warden & that might be yet another unknown waiting to spring forth from the bowels of the ship. 

These are just off the top of my head & there might be some other mind blowing revelations to come out of OAR #3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks  but we'll have to wait & see.