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May 19, 2013, 5:53pm

Original D&D Discussion :: Dungeons & Dragons (1971-1978) :: Judges Guild and the Wilderlands (est. 1976) :: The Wilderlands...where to start??

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robertsconley
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Re: The Wilderlands...where to start??
« Reply #15 on Nov 20, 2011, 11:10pm »

Nov 19, 2011, 9:41pm, kent wrote:

Conley's maps are remarkable versions of the superlative originals

I admit I did a lot of mapping for Judges Guild for recent projects but I didn't do the boxed set maps. Nor the City-State map although I did have a hand in proofing that map.

My own style of CSIO Maps look like this.

[image]

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http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8OhNf4idDr8/To....nomar_small.jpg

« Last Edit: Nov 20, 2011, 11:28pm by robertsconley »

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robertsconley
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Re: The Wilderlands...where to start??
« Reply #16 on Nov 20, 2011, 11:26pm »

Nov 19, 2011, 9:41pm, kent wrote:

the magic, the genius and the inspiration of the original Judges Guild Hex descriptions are not at all evident in the later edition.

I have to poke a bit of fun at this as the original was mostly single line stat blocks with ruins and islands having a sentence or two. To me the "magic" was the consistency of format over a vast area and Bledsaw correctly picking what to put in those stat lines. It was just enough to be useful and spark the imagination of thousands of referees.

I can understand the bloated comment because the moment you start expanding those stat blocks to just a paragraph the result is the size of the boxed set.

I haven't commented because the previous posters pretty said what i would have said. Look at Lenap if you like it buy the PDF. The original is good if you want to do a fair amount of work fleshing out the details.

While is not the same setting, my Blackmarsh is a more concise introduction to the format that the Wilderlands uses. Even more so than the Lenap Preview. It was designed to get people started with using Wilderlands style settings. It is small enough to have the players move off that map onto an area of the Wilderlands. The PDF is free

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=89944

It also has the outline of the town of Blackmarsh.

Nov 19, 2011, 9:41pm, kent wrote:

Let's be clear. The original Wilderlands of High Fantasy is very special just as the DMG is special. The Necromancer edition is servicible and verbose with good maps, though the original maps are even better.

I prefer the original maps over the Necromancer version. The Necromancer maps have all the same errors and misprints as the original. The originals are easier to print out than the shaded Necromancer version.

On the flipside I like the Necromancer CSIO map better than the original. Due the shading and drawing skills of the cartographer a lot of details are more easily seen than the original. And I extensively proofed it to make sure it accurately depicted the original map.

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robertsconley
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Re: The Wilderlands...where to start??
« Reply #17 on Nov 20, 2011, 11:37pm »

Nov 20, 2011, 11:45am, thetekumelproject wrote:

Who drew the original maps? I once met a guy who claimed he did - and that he still had the originals, but when I started asking questions he got all evasive (it seemed to me.)

I believe Bill Owens did, Bob Beldaw's partner.

Nov 20, 2011, 11:45am, thetekumelproject wrote:

The thing I didn't like about the set was how random the descriptions were. Orc village next to Halfling village next to Goblin town, etc.

Tell me about it. For the northern half of Map 12 (necromancer) I had to come up with explanation for three LG Orc villages. They were scattered geographically far enough that I couldn't get away with one incident for all of them.

But all and all it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I was able to come up a plausible setup for the two and a half maps I did.

This is a link to the diagram I made of Map 8 (Necromancer) Barbarian Altanis

http://wilderlands.batintheattic.com/map_8_overview.jpg

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kenmeister
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Re: The Wilderlands...where to start??
« Reply #18 on Nov 22, 2011, 7:23am »

See, I want to believe what Kent has to say on this one. A few years back I acquired the Necromancer Wilderlands of High Fantasy box set along with a bunch of other items in a gaming lot for about $40. It sat on my shelf for a year or so, and I decided - this is before I went into collector frenzy mode - that I was never going to use it. I sold it for $60. Now of course it is worth like 5 times that amount. And I think I would use it; would certainly love to read it. Ugh.

However, I've got the original Judges Guild Wilderlands stuff (except for Mines of Custalcon) now.

« Last Edit: Nov 22, 2011, 7:24am by kenmeister »

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Baron
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Re: The Wilderlands...where to start??
« Reply #19 on Nov 22, 2011, 5:27pm »

In my opinion, if you've already got the originals, there's no need to invest in the Necromancer materials.

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