[Judges Guild/Necromancer] Wilderlands Player's Guide Available

[Darrin Drader]

I'll be honest. When I first heard about this, I wasn't that excited. Yes, I own practically every other Necromancer product in print. Yes the Judges Guild had a good reputation back in the day. There was something about it though that just wasn't appealing to me. I'm not quite sure what it is. Maybe its that I have a whole shelf full of different campaign settings, but still somehow keep coming back to either the Forgotten Realms or a homebrew I've had for somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years.

So now I'm thinking about buying it. Why? Well partially because it is a Necromancer Games product. I trust these guys. Second, I like the grittiness of the setting. That' something that's been largely missing from a lot of the new settings. _Forgotten Realms_ isn't this dire. _Midnight_ is very cool but in my opinion goes a little too far in that direction. _Scarred Lands is just a little weird, but not in a bad way (I may still end up using is someday, and all those hardback books they've published make good supplements for any setting, anyway). I like the fact that the Wilderlands are largely unexplored. This gives me the opportunity to drop whatever I want into the setting. It brings back the fun of exploring back into the game. When you tell a party that a specific object located in the secret valley beyond the ashenfire mountains, it really will be secret. All the fallen empires from thousands of years ago provides a perfectly valid reason for why there would be numerous dungeons riddled with monsters.

So, the thing I would ask from Orcus is how much more development will there be on this setting, and is it playable with the _Player's Guide to the Wilderlands_, or will I need to wait several months for the official campaign setting material for it to be useful to me?

 

[Grazzt]

So, the thing I would ask from Orcus is how much more development will there be on this setting, and is it playable with the _Player's Guide to the Wilderlands_, or will I need to wait several months for the official campaign setting material for it to be useful to me?

Not speaking for Clark, but here's a post he made on the NG boards about this very same question:


"You can definately run a wilderlands campaign with just the Player's Guide.

Clark"

and here's the link to the post:

http://pub123.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm42.showMessage?topicID=35.topic

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Not speaking for Clark, but here's a post he made on the NG boards about this very same question:


"You can definately run a wilderlands campaign with just the Player's Guide.

Clark"

and here's the link to the post:

http://pub123.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm42.showMessage?topicID=35.topic

Plus, I thought one of the attractions for the Wilderlands was that there wouldn't be much development. That is, there would be the basic book or two, the boxed set, and maybe some adventures, and that would be it. The whole point, I thought, was to avoid developing the Wilderlands, so as to allow it to be as customizable as possible by each individual DM, and to not cause conflict between home campaigns and "official canon."

 

[Darrin Drader]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I went out and picked up my copy today and hopefully have about an hour to start looking it over before having to leave again.

edit: egads, the map is hard to remove from the back cover!

 

[Orcus]

Boy, the good email just keeps pouring in. I'm so proud of this product, I just cant explain how much I love it. I think the passion for the setting shows in the products.

I have heard that the map is difficult to remove with the way it is gummed in, but I HATE perforated maps so I went with gumming. Fans have posted great tips on our boards about the best ways to remove any lingering gum on the map.

As for an Index, that is a common comment. I cut it for space, figuring more content beat an index. But I see that people want one. Since I have the original in Word, I will generate an index, lay it out and provide it as a free download. Sorry it wasnt included.

Regarding developing the setting, all we will do is the Boxed Set, the City State and a few modules (Caverns of Thracia for sure and maybe Tegel Manor and Treasure Vaults of Lindoran). We will make available PDFs of the old supplemental material that you can use or not use. If these products really sell we may do a city book that details the other major cities of the setting all in one book, but that isnt for sure. We will also be providing two really important things: (1) updated versions of old products as PDFs and (2) a huge fan section where people can create and send in stuff they have created. Bob Bledsaw is all about the fans. All that content, of course, is optional. Use what you want, ignore the rest. The Wilderlands has a grand history of being a DM's setting--meaning that it is up to you how the world is going to be. And I dont want to change that at all.

I want to stress this: the Wilderlands is what you make of it. You wont get 20 novels and 40 modules and 60 supplements with this setting. To some, that is bad. To many, that is a blessing. I am in the latter camp. I never wanted to run a Realms campaign because I never felt I could "run it right". There is no such "wilderlands-nazi-ism" with this setting. In fact, Bob Bledsaw, the creator, changes things around in his home campaign every time he runs a new campaign. Now that to me is refreshing. Because when you hide the staff of power in the forgotten mountains, they actually are forgotten. They havent been detailed in the latest novel or in the upcoming saturday morning cartoon.

If the Realms have become anything buy Forgotten or if you are lamenting that WotC never lived up to its promise to bring back Greyhawk and you really yearn for a gritty setting reminiscent of Conan and Fritz Leiber then the Wilderlands is a setting for you.

And we designed the products to be "a la carte." All you need is the Player's Guide. Now, I am confident that you will want the Boxed Set. But you can run a campaign right away with just the Player's Guide.

Clark

 

[ColonelHardisson]

(1) updated versions of old products as PDFs

Can you tell us what you mean by this? Is this going to be like the conversion library Eric and Morrus had, where people posted 3e conversions of TSR's old 1e and 2e modules?

 

[johnsemlak]

(1) updated versions of old products as PDFs and

Also, will PDFs of orignal JG products be available for sale (or free? ) somewhere?

 

[Orcus]

We are going to do some official conversion of the old products ourselves and make them available (Thunderhold and Modron, for instance). We will also allow fans to convert and submit them to us for posting. We will also try to make some old products available in their original form for PDF download.

Clark

 

[MythosaAkira]

There's a map?

I have heard that the map is difficult to remove with the way it is gummed in, but I HATE perforated maps so I went with gumming. Fans have posted great tips on our boards about the best ways to remove any lingering gum on the map.

I just bought my copy today, and there's no map in the back. There's not even evidence that a map was there (i.e.; no "glue stains" or anything). I talked with the owner of the FLGS I bought it at, and he said none of the copies he got in have a map in the back.

Has this happened to anyone else...?

 

[johnsemlak]

huge fan section where people can create and send in stuff they have created

I was just wondering. Does this mean a fan section of the setting itself, or some kind of fan site devoted to receiving and posting fan-created material?