Goodman Games is an American game publisher best known for the ''Dungeon Crawl Classics'' series of adventure modules and role-playing game, the ''Dragonmech'' role-playing game, and the ''Etherscope'' role-playing games. The company produced licensed adventures for ''Wicked Fantasy Factory'', ''Judges Guild'', ''Xcrawl'', ''Iron Heroes'', ''Castles and Crusades'', and ''Death Dealer''.

History

Joseph Goodman started Goodman Games in 2001 and took advantage of the new d20 System license by publishing his first RPG, '' Broncosaurus Rex''. Goodman Games released a series of ''Complete Guides'' beginning with ''Complete Guide to Drow'' (2002), and another 10 books after that, several of which focused on unusual races that were not being covered by other publishers, such as ''Complete Guide to Doppelgangers'' (2002), ''Complete Guide to Rakshasas'' (2003), ''Complete Guide to Treants'' (2003), and ''Complete Guide to Wererats'' (2003). Despite success with ''Broncosaurus Rex'' and then moving to fantasy

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

s, Goodman did not hire any in-house game designers and continued to work with

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

creators. With the

Dungeon Crawl Classics ''Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game'' (DCC RPG or simply DCC) is a role-playing game published by Goodman Games using the Open Game License (OGL) and System Reference Document (SRD) version 3.5 to provide legal compatibility with the revis ...

label, Goodman intended to publish intelligent dungeon crawl adventures and to serve the growing

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

of older gamers. Goodman Games expanded into a wide range of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

role playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal a ...

(RPG) supplements, mostly for the d20 license; which meant adventures compatible with the 3rd edition of

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

ruleset. Their card games include ''Geek Wars'', ''World Championship Dodge Ball'', and ''Scavenger Hunt''. In 2018, Goodman Games released ''Mutant Crawl Classics'', a post-apocalyptic role playing game compatible with the ''Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game'' ruleset.

Dungeon Crawl Classics role playing game

In May 2012, Goodman Games released an original OGL-based

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

named after their earlier series of D&D-compatible adventures called

Role Playing Game (DCC RPG). The design intention was "to create a modern RPG that reflects D&D’s origin-point concepts with decades-later rules editions."

Community activity

In July 2009, Goodman Games held a contest to award a Game Store with the award of "America's Favorite Game Store". The award went to Yottaquest.

Reception

Goodman Games won the 2006 Gold

Ennie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

for "The Grognard Award". Goodman Games won the 2013 Silver

for "Fans’ Choice for Favorite Publisher".

Notes

{{Reflist ENnies winners Game manufacturers Role-playing game publishing companies