A review of the Judges Guild and Necromancer Games Wilderlands Campaign setting for the d20 system

The Judges Guild Wilderlands Campaign Setting

 Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Judges Guild was producing a fantasy campaign world called the Wilderlands.

It was an area around 1000 miles tall by 700 miles wide and included many types of terrain.  It was originally designed for Dungeons and Dragons but became part of their Universal Fantasy System when they lost the licence from TSR.

In the late 80s Judges Guild closed down and the only remains of the Wilderlands were what could be found in the second hand pile in Games stores and eventually on ebay when it appeared.

The d20 licencing changed all that and Judges Guild returned.  Along with Necromancer games they started to bring back the old Wilderlands campaign.

They produced three products to cover the Wilderlands Campaign world and the City State of the Invincible Overlord, their most famous product.  Other modules were also reproduced in the d20 system.

The production values on these items is excellent, unlike the original Judges Guild ones.  The City State of the Invincible Overlord is a well produced hardback book, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy is supplied in a stout box and the Maps are large, glossy and clear to read.

Players Guide to the Wilderlands

Produced in 2003, this is a paperback of 128 pages and included a large colour map of the Wilderlands.  It contains a lot of information that Players need to adventure in the Wilderlands.

It details the History that was available to the players, the Races that exist in the Wilderlands and some new Character Classes along with descriptions and pictures of how the races looked.  There were many different types of Humans of quite a variety of skin colours.

Also a map and descriptions of the 18 regions of the Wilderlands, along with a large Colour Map.

It describes the Cities and City-States of the Wilderlands and a brief overview of many of the Villages and Towns and the main Geographic features of the Wilderlands.

There is a slightly more in depth chapter on the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

The Gods and Deities of the Wilderlands are described and finally there is a section with stats for various unique monsters and NPC races of the Wilderlands, with options to use them as Player Characters.  Obviously these stats are for the d20 system.

Overall it's a book packed with information to set the scene for the players and a must for Players and Dungeon Masters alike who are using the Wilderlands as their campaign.

It is still relevant in the 5th Edition era, all the background information can easily be re-used, just the stats of the NPC's need to be changed and half-elves and half-orcs changed to Elves and Orcs respectively.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy

Produced in 2005, this is a box set of two paperback books and 9 double sided large maps.

The information in this boxed set was originally provided in several Judges Guild Modules with only the barest minimum of details, this single product pulls all these together and describes the Wilderlands and the lands and people within it.

This boxed set contains 18 greyscale maps of the wilderlands at a 1 hex to 5 mile scale.  These were updated versions of the original heavy cardstock maps that Judges Guild produced.

Also in the box are two paperback books that describe the Wilderlands from the DMs point of view.  They also give a brief idea of what lies off map to the North, South, East and West.

It has a much more accurate History with things the Players were not supposed to know.

It also has a description of every Citadel, Castle, Village, Town and City in the Wilderlands.  Each has a description of what resources were available, who the authority figure is and who the important characters were.  It also describes the Technology level and main product of the location and had a brief description about the NPC's motives and any problems in the area.  It also suggests some fixed encounters in various hexes.  Most of this was taken from the Original Judges Guild Products, but each and every Village etc was expanded with local characters and some flavour text that gave local adventure hooks.  The original Judges Guild offering merely had lists of places and a brief note of who ran the place.  Castles and Citadels didn't even get a name. Every Castle and Citadel in this new version has a name and full details. That is pages and pages of NPCs, Adventures and Monsters, a truly monumental product.

However, and you knew there would be a however, the proof reading left a lot to be desired.  An awful lot!

Spellings of some of the place names varied between the books, the Maps and the Players Guide.  Some were Typos, others just wrong (Several Woods on the maps were called Forests in the text etc.)

New Human(oid) races were added that were not described in any detail the text, or the Players Guide, just a few brief lines unlike the original material.

A few villages also had no descriptions, they were on the map, but not in the text.  Also I found a couple of Villages that were described in the text, but did not exist on the Maps.

New Gods were added with again no descriptions in the text or Players Guide.  They just appeared as names of deities in the Town and Village descriptions.  Who were they?  What were their goals and requirements?  Nothing.

Randomly labelling Villages as Hamlets with no rhyme or reason. A Hamlet was called a hamlet if it was just a collection of buildings with no infrastructure.  E.G. no Village Hall, no Shops, no Inn and no Church.  Also, hamlets often made their living from Orchards and not Fields.

But one of the worst failings is that all the way through the text it refers to Rivers as flowing from the sea into the land.  Rivers would branch off and bring water to various inland areas. What!  What buffoons decided that? Basic Geography tells us rivers take fresh water from the highlands downhill to the sea, not the other way round.

Another pet peeve, but one I am used to because I am British, is that it is full of American spelling.  Armor not Armour, Travelers not Travellers etc.  Minor, but on top of all the other minor problems it's just a bit annoying.

OK, these all these are really minor niggles and this set does provide the Dungeon Master with a superb background to set their adventures in.  The maps are very well detailed, and there is enough information to create ideas for adventures all over the land.

Again these are still useful books in the age of 5th Edition.  They provide a ready made world with plenty of adventure hooks and roleplaying.  Many commercial and home made Adventures can be fitted into the world easily.  I have run the TSR B1 & B2 5th Edition reprint Into the Borderlands by Goodman Games in the Wilderlands. 

City State of the Invincible Overlord

Produced in 2004, this is an impressive 283 page hardback book with a large pull out map of one of the Six Great City-States in the Wilderlands, The City-State of the Invincible Overlord.  I have always liked the City State of the Invincible Overlord as it is a massive city with detailed shops, houses and taverns.  It was the first City to be detailed for Dungeons & Dragons and the first Judges Guild product.

This is based on the Judges Guild Original and is again heavily enhanced.  There are plenty of small plot hooks in most of the business locations in the city.

It is actually two products in one, The City State of the Invincible Overlord, which details the City and the inhabitants, and Wraith Overlord, which describes various underground tunnels and mini dungeons beneath the streets.

It has a section about general life in the City and includes a section on Social Level for when dealing with the upper echelons.  

Again this is a huge bag of information and plot hooks for the Dungeon Master.

But to use it for 5th edition will require converting all Half Elves and Orcs to Elves and Orcs and using 5th edition stats.  The Characters and Places can be used straight out of the book.

However, yes another however, it is not without its failings.

It does not show or explain where adventurers fit on the Social Scale.  So a nice to have feature is a bit useless.

The Original City State had a Five Level Dungeon that came with maps but no contents, that was for the DM to add.  There is a space for it on the new Wraith Overlord maps, but no dungeon maps are provided.

The Original City State had a map and details of the Dwarven City of Thunderhold to the North, including two dungeons.  This product does not.

And very sadly, whoever drew up the Social Level table for the nobility had no idea how the European title system worked.  For Example a Count and an Earl, in the social level table a Count is SL 10, and an Earl SL 14, but in reality these titles are the same! Earl is the British equivalent of the European Count.  Also their Count has a Lower SL than a Viscount, and their Duke is lower than an Earl, which are both the wrong way round.  There is no real excuse for this as there is a pretty good table of Titles in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide 1st Edition, Page 89 which was produced in 1979!  And I am sure this information was available on the internet when this product was produced.

I would say these are only minor gripes, but to miss out one of the major parts of the original product, the Dungeon, is a bit of a travesty.  I adventured a couple of times in that dungeon and got down as far as the 3rd level!

There is a lot of work to do to bring this back to the completeness of the original, but if you don't want to do it, just ignore the dungeon, Thunderhold and even the Town of Haghill between the City State and Thunderhold.

Overall I do think that this is worth getting hold of as the wealth of information provided saves a DM hours of upgrading the old Judges Guild version.  And I do think that this City is the best one ever produced for a Fantasy RPG.

Overall

Three good products to provide a DM with a ready made Campaign World and a major City to start or end up in.  There is work to be done to use them, but a lot of the hard graft of drawing maps, inventing  places and characters has been done. And If nothing else it provides a plethora of Character and NPC names rather than just "Fred the Smith".

These do occasionally surface on ebay but are very expensive.  Sadly since the fallout between Judges Guild and Goodman Games who were updating a lot of the old material, their like may never be seen again.  The original Judges Guild Wilderlands Campaign Guides do still turn up on ebay, as does the City State of the Invincible Overlord and I would recommend the setting.