D&D General D&D products that never were

[Ath'kethin]

There were a few 2nd Edition Savage Coast products that made it as far as layout but were never officially released. They're all on Pandius now, by permission AFAIK.

The Savage Coast - Pandius

 

[Alzrius]

The Birthright campaign setting had several products that were scheduled to come out in 1998, but never did due to the Raccoon City outbreak WotC folding the line after acquiring TSR. These included the following (all information taken from the TSR Archive):

Item Code:	3100N
Type:	Accessory
Author:	Rich Baker, Colin McComb & Ed Stark
Published:	Scheduled for 1998
Format:	256-page hardback book
Notes:	Text and picture from the 1998 product catalog listing:
	"New Edition Rules Book!
	Rediscover the Birthright campaign - a land of legend - with
	this new edition. The fallen god of evil, Azrai, was sundered
	into pieces and his blood continues to empower his wicked
	followers. Prevent the spawn of evil from gathering their
	former lord's power and rekindling the bonfire of destruction!
	Updated and revised for maximum adventure."

Item Code:	3136
Type:	Adventure
Author:	Ed Stark
Published:	Scheduled for 1998
Format:	96-page perfect-bound book
Notes:	Text and picture from the 1998 product catalog listing:
	"In the first Essence of Evil epic storyline, an evil triumvirate
	opens a door into the ominous Shadow World. Hero-kings
	must unravel the tangled threads leading into dark,
	unfamiliar realms, and to an unlikely set of allies in this first
	exploration of the Shadow World."

Item Code:	3141
Type:	Adventure
Author:	Ed Stark
Published:	Scheduled for 1998
Format:	64-page book
Notes:	Text and picture from the 1998 product catalog listing:
	"Charge of the Cold Rider concludes the Essence of Evil epic
	storyline for the Birthright campaign. The Cold Rider is the
	Heart of Azrai, shattered god of evil, driven to reclaim his lost
	power from those who wield it. Old alliances are shaken and
	new ones must form to prevent the rebirth of Cerilia's most
	powerful enemy."

 

[Medic]

The DragonStrike sequel that never was - WildSpace!

 

[Sonny]

Not a published book itself, but a web enhancement that was never released. Mysteries of the Moonsea had a Phlan web enhancement that was written, but nothing was done with it. I think it was Darrin Drader who wrote it (I may be misremembering who it was).

 

[Kilimanjaro]

During 3.0 Bruce Cordell was working on a city campaign that fully utilized the material from Savage Species and The Book of Vile Darkness. It was supposedly very mature content. WotC management killed it.

 

[Parmandur]

During 3.0 Bruce Cordell was working on a city campaign that fully utilized the material from Savage Species and The Book of Vile Darkness. It was supposedly very mature content. WotC management killed it.

That sounds genuinely awful, so...good?

 

[martynq]

Wasn't there also an Encyclopedia of Forgotten Realms lore that was started to be worked, but then abandoned (presumably as it would be too expensive)? -- The Forgotten Realms Encyclopedia

 

[delericho]

My understanding is that there was intended to be a set of Companion rules for the B/X line - this was superseded by the BECMI revision instead. And Gygax did at least some preliminaries towards his 2nd Edition of the game, which obviously never happened.

There was also a 1s Edition adventure, "L3 Deep Dwarven Delve", that was only finally released many years later, as part of WotC's Silver Anniversary set.

 

[Voadam]

1980's World of Greyhawk Gazetteer (the original smaller folio, not the later 1e boxed set), written by Gygax for AD&D 1e, on page 11 referenced an upcoming City of Greyhawk product.

Greyhawk is ruled by its Lord Mayor, this individual chosen by the Directing Oligarchy. The latter body is composed of the Captain-General of the Watch (Fighter, 12th level), Constable (Fighter, 14th level), the Guildmaster of Thieves (16th level), the Guildmaster of Assassins (14th level), and various representatives of the Society of Magi, Merchants and Traders Union, Artisans League, and Clerical leaders. The total number of the Directors ranges from 12 to 18. (For greater detail see CITY OF GREYHAWK, to be published by TSR.)

TSR would eventually come out with a City of Greyhawk boxed set in 1989 for AD&D 2e, but this was long after Gary's departure from TSR and probably had as much connection to the planned 1e Gygax City of Greyhawk as 2e's 1990 WGR1 Greyhawk Ruins or 1e's post Gygax 1988 WG7 Castle Greyhawk did to Gygax's anouncements in Dragon magazine about a planned TSR publication for Castle Greyhawk.

 

[Malcolm Serabian]

I'm very curious about that Islandia campaign for a few reasons: if as the name implies it's set on a bunch of islands that would make it in part a marine-based campaign (yay!), and the lower-power focus intrigues me.

Anyone know if any of this ever saw print in other forms i.e. did the authors ever rework this into something else and release it?

As for UA II, after how underwhelmed we were with the first UA I can't say we'd have been lining up at the store for one.

The island is campaign was originally published by The Companions as a five module series: The Curse on Hareth, Plague of Terror, and Brotherhood of the Bolt is a trilogy, followed by Street of Gems, and Gems for Death, The originals are not a marine based campaign at all. They are some of the best d&d modules ever published. TSR bought them and wanted to have them published but it never came to be, They were written by William John Wheeler, and Peter Rice. They can occasionally be found on eBay but command high prices 100+ per module. If you can find and aquire them they are amazing.