Treebore
First Post
I am reposting this under my Treebore user name rather than my old "grimaryl" user name. Mods please delete the "grimaryl" version rather than this one, since Treebore is my active account..
This $23.95 softbound book of 128 pages (including OGL page) is a new (old) world setting. It is old because it is part of the first campaign world ever created for role playing games way back when. The only big compliant that I have about this product is that it does not have a Table of Contents.
Chapter 1, after the 2 page introduction, which you should also read, is the chapter covering the history of the WL (Wilder Lands). It covers the calendar system as well as the overall histories. they also give you names of the five day week and the names of the 19 months of the 365/366 day year. It also gives you a table (on page 6) telling you the average temperature of each month and the name of the major festival of that given month. The rest of it is reasonable in depth history of the world that takes up to page 15 of the book. The nicest thing i liked about this chapter is that it broke down history into a variety of DC's for your history buff to know anything about a specific period of history.
On page 16 the Characters chapter begins. There is a lot of info in this chapter. This is where most of the campaign specific game mechanics occurs, assuming you decide to use them. Essentially, this chapter breaks down the human races by region, giving them stat bonuses and minuses based on how thier culture would effect them. The are also several non-human races, but they are in the last chapter on monsters. They also give the same treatment to the other "standard" races of a D&D game, such as the varieties of Dwarves, Elves, gnomes, etc... On page 26 they give you an alternative xp system they suggest using if you want to slow down character advancement, which is something that appealed to me.
On page 28 the Character chapter gets into chracter classes in the WL that are not standard classes of D&D. They have the Alchemist, Amazon Warrior (females only), Sage, and Witch. They seem to be well balanced within the context of WL, if you do not use the WL, they will probably be over powered. This is because the checks to the powers of these classes, namely the Amazon Warrior, is the cultural limitations and barriers such a character would have to face. This also is the case with several of the human races earlier in the chapter. So do not judge the power of the classes or races solely on their specific write-ups. You need to look at how thier power is countered by the social stigmas they would face if the campaign is used in its entirety. They also have some nicely explained skills, such as poisonmaking and knowledge skill checks on pages 39-41. They also have a number of feats the reminded me of how the Forgotten Realms were done. But don't hold that in favor or against this book. Just check them out and see how they fit your style.
On page 45 there are two handy tables showing how bonus languages are available by region as well as where you would run into which of the various spoken languages and their respective alphabets.
On page 48 the Map Overview chapter begins. This is a short chapter that covers the 18 regions in a very brief manor. There is plenty of info to let you start a game in any of the regions though. The real reason this chapter is so short is because of an 18 map boxed set that should be coming out in the next 5 or 6 months. They don't want to repeat any material between the two products. I know this from visiting their (JG and Necromancer) websites. There are also some very nice downloads available on the JG website that supports this campaign setting. The map in the back of this book is available as a poster on Necromancer's website under one of their product links, I don't remember the exact name of the link, sorry.
The next chapter begins on Page 54. This chapter covers the main cities of the setting in some detail. They even have a Technology Level rating table on Page 55. It lists the city name, population, tech lvl, racial composition, overall alignment, resources, Allies, enemies, etc... A very useful chpater if you do end up using this setting, or you can use it to flesh out cities in your own campaign worlds. This chapter runs to page 65.
On page 66 the Geographic Features chapter begins. It gives you exactly what chapter title tells you. The biggest thing i got from this chapter was a couple hundred adventure ideas. Read it.
On page 82 you get a Traveler's Guide to The City State. There is a map of the City State of the Invincible Overlord on page 84. The chapter revolves around giving location descriptions within this city, much like other city supplements. It is a lite going over. Probably due to their future release based on this city. It is also a good read for ideas and campaign flavor.
On Page 90 is the chapter on Gods and Deities of The Wilderlands. I really liked their discussion about deities on pages 91-92. They even discuss the cosmology of the gods in the WL. Basically, you can have as many or as few deities you want in this world. As written they have 1000's of deities ranging from gods of specific locations or natural events up to Greater Gods. This chapter really brought home to me the desire of this books authors to take what they have written in this book and make it your own.
The last chapter of this book is on monsters and races unique, more or less, to the WL's. There are at least 22 monsters in this chapter, including templates. There is the winged ape, the hawk people, the dragon-headed ogres, and many others.
My overall feeling for this book is that I am a kid locked in a candy shop. This book is the first I have read in a long time that awakened the excitement I felt when i first started playing this game of D&D about 20 years ago. That alone was worth the price of this book. This book is full of all kinds of alternative ideas on human races, monster races, plus elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. There are similiarities to a lot of other product ideas, however, they come together very well to make the world of WL's feel unique, vivid, and just full of a lot of creative energy. Read this book from cover to cover. I hope you become infected with the same bug I have. Also check out the websites. I think this book, and the future products, are well worth buying.
I give this book a 4.5. Not a 5.0 because it is missing a Table of Contents and an Index, both of which I like my sourcebooks to have. Otherwise this book is everything I want in an introduction to a new camapign world. Plus it gave me countless ideas and loads of inspiration. Excellent job Judges Guild and Necromancer games!
This $23.95 softbound book of 128 pages (including OGL page) is a new (old) world setting. It is old because it is part of the first campaign world ever created for role playing games way back when. The only big compliant that I have about this product is that it does not have a Table of Contents.
Chapter 1, after the 2 page introduction, which you should also read, is the chapter covering the history of the WL (Wilder Lands). It covers the calendar system as well as the overall histories. they also give you names of the five day week and the names of the 19 months of the 365/366 day year. It also gives you a table (on page 6) telling you the average temperature of each month and the name of the major festival of that given month. The rest of it is reasonable in depth history of the world that takes up to page 15 of the book. The nicest thing i liked about this chapter is that it broke down history into a variety of DC's for your history buff to know anything about a specific period of history.
On page 16 the Characters chapter begins. There is a lot of info in this chapter. This is where most of the campaign specific game mechanics occurs, assuming you decide to use them. Essentially, this chapter breaks down the human races by region, giving them stat bonuses and minuses based on how thier culture would effect them. The are also several non-human races, but they are in the last chapter on monsters. They also give the same treatment to the other "standard" races of a D&D game, such as the varieties of Dwarves, Elves, gnomes, etc... On page 26 they give you an alternative xp system they suggest using if you want to slow down character advancement, which is something that appealed to me.
On page 28 the Character chapter gets into chracter classes in the WL that are not standard classes of D&D. They have the Alchemist, Amazon Warrior (females only), Sage, and Witch. They seem to be well balanced within the context of WL, if you do not use the WL, they will probably be over powered. This is because the checks to the powers of these classes, namely the Amazon Warrior, is the cultural limitations and barriers such a character would have to face. This also is the case with several of the human races earlier in the chapter. So do not judge the power of the classes or races solely on their specific write-ups. You need to look at how thier power is countered by the social stigmas they would face if the campaign is used in its entirety. They also have some nicely explained skills, such as poisonmaking and knowledge skill checks on pages 39-41. They also have a number of feats the reminded me of how the Forgotten Realms were done. But don't hold that in favor or against this book. Just check them out and see how they fit your style.
On page 45 there are two handy tables showing how bonus languages are available by region as well as where you would run into which of the various spoken languages and their respective alphabets.
On page 48 the Map Overview chapter begins. This is a short chapter that covers the 18 regions in a very brief manor. There is plenty of info to let you start a game in any of the regions though. The real reason this chapter is so short is because of an 18 map boxed set that should be coming out in the next 5 or 6 months. They don't want to repeat any material between the two products. I know this from visiting their (JG and Necromancer) websites. There are also some very nice downloads available on the JG website that supports this campaign setting. The map in the back of this book is available as a poster on Necromancer's website under one of their product links, I don't remember the exact name of the link, sorry.
The next chapter begins on Page 54. This chapter covers the main cities of the setting in some detail. They even have a Technology Level rating table on Page 55. It lists the city name, population, tech lvl, racial composition, overall alignment, resources, Allies, enemies, etc... A very useful chpater if you do end up using this setting, or you can use it to flesh out cities in your own campaign worlds. This chapter runs to page 65.
On page 66 the Geographic Features chapter begins. It gives you exactly what chapter title tells you. The biggest thing i got from this chapter was a couple hundred adventure ideas. Read it.
On page 82 you get a Traveler's Guide to The City State. There is a map of the City State of the Invincible Overlord on page 84. The chapter revolves around giving location descriptions within this city, much like other city supplements. It is a lite going over. Probably due to their future release based on this city. It is also a good read for ideas and campaign flavor.
On Page 90 is the chapter on Gods and Deities of The Wilderlands. I really liked their discussion about deities on pages 91-92. They even discuss the cosmology of the gods in the WL. Basically, you can have as many or as few deities you want in this world. As written they have 1000's of deities ranging from gods of specific locations or natural events up to Greater Gods. This chapter really brought home to me the desire of this books authors to take what they have written in this book and make it your own.
The last chapter of this book is on monsters and races unique, more or less, to the WL's. There are at least 22 monsters in this chapter, including templates. There is the winged ape, the hawk people, the dragon-headed ogres, and many others.
My overall feeling for this book is that I am a kid locked in a candy shop. This book is the first I have read in a long time that awakened the excitement I felt when i first started playing this game of D&D about 20 years ago. That alone was worth the price of this book. This book is full of all kinds of alternative ideas on human races, monster races, plus elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. There are similiarities to a lot of other product ideas, however, they come together very well to make the world of WL's feel unique, vivid, and just full of a lot of creative energy. Read this book from cover to cover. I hope you become infected with the same bug I have. Also check out the websites. I think this book, and the future products, are well worth buying.
I give this book a 4.5. Not a 5.0 because it is missing a Table of Contents and an Index, both of which I like my sourcebooks to have. Otherwise this book is everything I want in an introduction to a new camapign world. Plus it gave me countless ideas and loads of inspiration. Excellent job Judges Guild and Necromancer games!
