D&D General Jennell Jaquays Appreciation

[Yora]

Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower get all the glory, but Savage Frontier probably had the biggest and longest lasting impact by far.
The North in the original Grey Box Campaign Set is extremely sparse and broad strokes. Waterdeep had been covered before, but to my kowledge there really wasn't any specific content for the rest of the region before Savage Frontier. And since WotC took over, it's been pretty much the core region of Forgotten Realms, now with just a bit of Baldur's Gate and it's suburbs added for good measure.
And even on its own merits, The Savage Frontier is really good. A ludicrous density of actually useful content for running campaigns on such a tiny page count.

 

[Zardnaar]

Caverns of Thracia and Dark Tower get all the glory, but Savage Frontier probably had the biggest and longest lasting impact by far.
The North in the original Grey Box Campaign Set is extremely sparse and broad strokes. Waterdeep had been covered before, but to my kowledge there really wasn't any specific content for the rest of the region before Savage Frontier. And since WotC took over, it's been pretty much the core region of Forgotten Realms, now with just a bit of Baldur's Gate and it's suburbs added for good measure.
And even on its own merits, The Savage Frontier is really good. A ludicrous density of actually useful content for running campaigns on such a tiny page count.

It was the focus early 2E/Late 1E. Eye of the Beholder Games were set there for example.

Then they started pushing the Dalelands.

 

[Parmandur]

One of my first exposures to RPGs and fantasy in general was Interplay's Fellowship of the Ring computer RPG, with maps and design work by Jaquays.

 

[darjr]

I love this thread

 

[Ancalagon]

And let us not forget "Jaquaying the dungeon"! Jaquaying the Dungeon

 

[BrokenTwin]

And let us not forget "Jaquaying the dungeon"! Jaquaying the Dungeon

Wow, I've read that article multiple times, and my brain somehow never made the connection, even after reading the thread that originated this one. I only started playing in the D&D 3.5 era, I really should go take a look at some of her work...

Kinda nice to know my terminology has been honoring her work, even if I didn't know it.

 

[pukunui]

And let us not forget "Jaquaying the dungeon"! Jaquaying the Dungeon

So back in 2016, Justin got called out for deadnaming Jennell in that series of articles. He wrote a post about his thoughts on the matter of changing credits in past works and why he didn’t want to do it in this case.

Jennell actually commented on the post (see comment #8), not only asking Justin to change the way he referred to her in the articles but also pointing out that the series’ title should be “Jaquaysing the Dungeon”.

I love it!

Thought of the Day – Deadnames

Ash McAllan sent me a tweet: "Hey @hexcrawl I keep referring people to [Jaquaying the Dungeon]... but noticed you're using Jaquays' deadname? Needs updating."(For those unaware, the author of The

thealexandrian.net

 

[Shades of Eternity]

One of the first modules I ever read was egg of the phoenix.

She will always be an inspiration for that alone and that's the tip of the ice berg.

 

[cbwjm]

And let us not forget "Jaquaying the dungeon"! Jaquaying the Dungeon

This collection of articles was my initial introduction to her dungeons. I had no idea who she was before reading and, admittedly, still couldn't name any of the adventures that she's written. But, having read those articles, I can understand why she was well regarded.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Regardless of how one might feel about him deadnaming her at the start, the fact that he kept his word and changed it once she asked is a positive.

To focus on the topic: I've never actually run or read one of her modules. The Jayquaying the Dungeon article mentions three, but they don't appear to be available in PDF format (my google-fu may be failing me here).