[Caveat: I worked on/did editing for the Boxed Set, so I am hardly unbiased]
der_kluge said:
I'm curious who here has it, and who plans to use it for their next campaign? I'd also like to hear about any attempts at "filling" in the blanks or other products you intend to use to flesh it out even more.
I have been using the Wilderlands since 2003. I initially used 3.0 with the suggested reduced experience chart, but eventually switched to my own "d20 light system", later merging the same with
Castles & Crusades. I have run three campaigns, actually, and am in the middle of a fourth. The first and the third was mainly based on wilderness journeys, whereas the second started as a Tarantino-inspired killing spree starring evil characters, who later ended up as the masters of a small village. The current campaign (~10 sessions so far) is more localized, as it revolves around a village, surrounding wilderness and associated dungeon type area; it is also more strategic: one of the PCs owns the place and is currently trying to root out undesirables/consolidate his power.
The world easily accomodated all three styles - the long overland treks, the frantic pace of entering towns with grandiose plans and eventually fleeing in haste (and with a new batch of gold added to your bounty), and the more strategic approach of being in charge of your own domain (which feels very empowering - even a mid-level PC can be a mover and shaker on his own scale).
I have found that you don't need to add that much to sustain a full campaign. Although I produced a fair amount of supplementary material and setting notes (including the freely available
City State of Zothay, and another work of even larger scope that is still "in production", so to speak), I usually just used the (at the time, often sparse) text of the eventual boxed set. There wasn't even a need to bother with plots for most of the time (although the first campaign was built on a "get MacGuffin premise), as the players were just eager to explore the Wilderlands and, well,
adventure - think up various schemes, including one involving guard duty and kidnapping/killing innocent citizens, whom they then presented to their employer as a proof of dispatched burglars.
Still, a lot of material, especially classic Sword&Sorcery fare, can be inserted into the world. I put
Rappan Athuk on the northeastern peninsula of the City State map, and
Tomb of Abysthor (a.k.a. the Stoneheart Mountain Dungeons) near the city of Thunderhold. I heartily recommend all Paul Jaquays modules, such as
Caverns of Thracia (low to mid level dungeon crawl),
Dark Tower (high level dungeon, a bad but affordable d20 conversion may still be available),
Book of Treasure Maps I., the adventures in the
Dungeoneer Compendium (usually available for about $6-$10 - a very good deal) and even the Runequest scenario
Hellpits of Nightfang. From the 1e TSR stable,
Tomb of Horrors,
Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan,
Keep on the Borderlands and the
Giants Series are all very fitting (although I am strongly opposed to adding drow to the setting - let's have at least one world where there are none!
), as are almost all other early 1e modules, up to and including
Oasis of the White Palm. Only the Slavers series would need some sort of re-write, since slavery is pretty much a fact of life in the Wilderlands. From 3e, a lot of Necro modules are easy to plug in (I am partial to the earlier group, such as
Crucible of Freya,
Demons and Devils and
Raise the Dead), and many Dungeon Crawl Classics are just as good.
Anyway. Although you can plug these, as well as a lot of other material in, there is something to be said about simply using the Boxed Set. Long, involved adventures can be overburdening, and it is just as fun (and quite empowering both as a DM and as a player) to sustain a campaign on the myriad of small bits the PCs explore. The Wilderlands is a mosaic of ideas, adventure hooks and weird sites. This has a feel of its own - of classic Sword & Sorcery and of Sindbad's tales, coincidentally - and if you merely create small, modular and predominantly site-based adventures, you are probably playing the world the closest to how its fullest potential can be realized. What I did was to flesh out some of the interesting spots on a few pages, such as mapping/populating an island or a temple, but usually didn't create
huge locales. In fact, I have only done so three times.
There is a mention of an ENWorld lesser race guide in the book, but I can't find it. Anyone know anything about this?
This was an ENWorld Players Journal article. As far as I know, it is not vital to running a campaign in the world, and I don't use it. BTW, I think Clark intends to offer it as a free download eventually.
Lastly, if you're using it, or intend to use it, how will you implement it? As is - with all the expansions, and the gods, and the crazy sci-fi-esque history, or will you intend to change a lot of things?
As much as I'd like to tell myself otherwise, I don't use the Wilderlands "as is". My interpretation actually does away with a lot of D&Disms, including widespread non-human races, spells above fifth level and any hint of "prestige class" (the class array I use is: Fighter [variants include Archer, Amazon, Pirate and Barbarian, but these are just minor mutations, not full fledged classes], Cleric, Magic-User, Thief, Illusionist (closest to the 1e iteration). I am venturing much closer to classic sword&sorcery, with strange and terrible gods, a social order closer to the Ancient Mediterranean, etc.
The sci-fi history is definitely in, it wouldn't be the Wilderlands without vast, nucular wastelands, laser rifles and technological ruins, would it.
Also, the weird climate (such as glaciers in the close proximity of subtropical isles) is easy to explain with "failing terraforming engines", and even the Campaign Hexagon System may be given an in-game rationale if you say it is for use with an ancient array of navigation satellites (and then you can give your players a Galtan's Precise Skullcap to actually keep measure, as I have done
).
Gods, I erased some, added some, but ultimately kept it mostly as it is. There were some systematic changes - to an extent, I integrated Runequest's religion system, where even non-clerical believers can gain one-time spells in exchange for services rendered, etc. Plus I use the "gods are physical and may be killed" philosophy of OD&D and early 1e.
I'll probably also use the ToH for extra monsters, and I want to get Monsters of Faerun for those extra monsters to flesh the critters out even further. I intend to make heavy use of Bullywugs.
The ToH is indeed highly recommended. If you have to include one extra monster for the Wilderlands, it should be
Giant Frogs, which, as all proper sword&sorcery enthusiasts know, are even more cool than
Big F*ing Snakes. I personally use the 1e MM's monster range, and with a few individual exceptions, nothing else.
I think I'd like to pick up the Judge's guild "Castles" and "treasure maps" products at DTRPG to include some extra ruins, and I picked up GR's Dungeons of DOOOM to add extra dungeons in it as well. So, I should be totally set.
Be warned that the "castles" book is essentially a collection of maps and random generation tables. It is very useful (although not
quite as useful as Island Book), but not neccessarily what you are looking for. The Treasure Maps supplement is great; the sequels not so (still passable, mind you).
...
Okay. Sorry for my long-winded rambling. Please have as much fun with
your Wilderlands as we have had with ours! It is your setting now, and don't let other people tell you how to use it!
