The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set

[Messageboard Golem]

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set, the first campaign setting for D&D that predated even Greyhawk, covers the entire Wilderlands Campaign from Judges Guild in extraordinary detail. The boxed set contains 18 full sized maps (matching the original set) as well as two soft cover books: the first a Campaign Book, providing details on how to run a campaign in the Wilderlands, more extended background material, prestige classes, new monsters and items; and the second a Map Book detailing all of the contents of the 18 Wilderlands maps in expanded and updated format.

 

[der_kluge]

Ok, bear with me on this one. This will take some 'splaining.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy is a boxed set. It contains two softcover books, and 9 maps.

The maps are b/w maps with a lot of detail. The maps themselves fold twice to be 8.5x11 inches. Thus, folded out, an individual map is the size of 4 pieces of paper sideways, or 16" tall, and 22" wide (in a landscape format). Each map is two-sided. The maps are also numbered, and named. Map one has map two on the back. Each map covers a specific region of the Wilderlands, and each map is intended to connect to another map. The "grid" of these maps in total are 3 maps wide, and 6 maps tall. So, if a single map is 16" tall, and 22" wide, all 18 maps put together, and laid out as they should be would be 8 feet tall, and 5 and a half feet wide. You couldn't actually do this unless you bought two boxed sets, since the maps are two sided. At best, you could create half of this grid, or just the evens, or just the odds, or some weird arrangement. In other words, both maps 1 and 2 couldn't both be up, since you could display either one or the other, obviously.

The entire "world" has a variety of features from mountains to water to deserts, to some arctic regions (or near arctic) to islands, to plains to swamps. Well, you get the idea. The entire area, if viewed on the whole is sort of like a vast archepelago with numerous islands and peninsulas. It's just ripe for a big seafaring game, but there is enough solid land mass to never even make it to the ocean. It's all there.

But allow me to back up for a moment. The Wilderlands is a repreint (and update) of the original Judge's Guild products by the same name printed in the early 70s. This boxed set is a collection of numerous Judge's Guild products. There is also a separate product (a book) called City State of the Invincible Overlord, which details a principal city within the Wilderlands environment (map 5). The text indicates that a "vast majority" of information from numerous JG products are included in the boxed set: Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde, Wilderlands of the Magic Realm, and Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches, City State of the Invincible Overland (presumably, most of this makes it into the book, not the boxed set, but that's just a guess), Wraith Overlord (again, I think this is mostly in the City State book, not the boxed set; but again; speculation), City State of the World Emperor, Tarantis, Modron (a city, not a box with arms), Tegel Manor, Mines of Custalcon, Spies of Lightelf, Pirates of Hagrost, Shield Maidens of the Sea Rune, Witches' Court Marshes, Treasure Book I, II, and II, and Pegasus Magazine "City State installments".

Let me state now that I am not personally familiar with any of the Judge's Guild products. My exposure to Judge's Guild products is this: I have heard of Judge's Guild, and that's about the extent of it. I was about 1 years old when this stuff came out.

This gets me back to the product itself. So, it's a bunch of maps, and a couple of books, right? Well, yea, but there's a lot in there.

Getting back to the maps for a second, first, though. Each map is comprised of small hexes. Each hex covers an area 5 miles across. Each map is 52 columns wide, and 33 or 34 hexes tall (hexes are staggered, after all). Each map covers an area "170 miles by 260 miles". (273 kilometers by 418 kilometers). Take that in for a second. The entire map is 780 miles wide by 1020 miles tall, approximately the size of the Mediterranean Sea. For comparison, it's 600 miles from Indianpolis, IN to Washington D.C.

Each hex is numbered. This is a 4-digit number, and the first two-digits correspond to the column (01-52), and the second two-digits correspond to the row (01 to 33 or 34). So, the hex in the NW corner of every map is 0101.

Which gets me to the books. The books are, by and large, descriptions of each map (one chapter per map), and many of the individual hexes are detailed in some way. More on this later. Allow me to back up once again, and talk about the first few chapters in book 1.

There are two books. The first book is 216 pages long, and the second is 232 pages long. There are 20 total chapters - 18 official "chapters" and an introduction, and a "using the map booklets" chapter which are chapters 1 and 2. Each numbered chapter corresponds to the map of the same number.

Let me state right now that these books are huge. The text is dense, and there is not a large amount of interior art, so there's just a ton of text here. Also, let me state for the record that I have not read most of this product. I'm doing this review mainly to illustrate what the product is. I also believe that if the rest of the product is anything like what I have read, then I don't really need to read all of it to get a good feel for the product in its entirety.

The first chapter, "introduction" covers a lot of what I have just covered. It includes a lot of solid, down-to-earth information about the product. There is also a blank hex map which is like a mini-version of the larger map, except inlaid with one large hex over all the small ones. Permission is given to photocopy this page, and a blank copy can be found online as well. This map is intended to be used to detail one specific hex on the large map, should have have a desire to do so. Furthermore, it can represent a 5-mile hex, or it can represent 0.2 mile hex (where each small hex is 42.24 feet wide) if you want to go down to that level of detail, you can.

The world has no overarching metaplot, or theme, per se. If there is a theme, it is travel and adventure (do you really need any more?). There is a hefty "refresher" on the overland movement rules from the PHB which cover how far a person can travel, and different terrain modifiers. It's assumed that, if you're using this product as intended, your players will be doing a fair amount of travel. There's a lot of world to see here, after all. There's also a big section on encounters, and not monster encounters - like random things you can find in the wilderlands. Ruins, castles, temples, just various things, and modifiers for each, like you could roll "corroded and eroded ruins of a city partially covered by vines, guarded by lycanthropes". That's just one example of many.

Next up, the chapter covers the power centers, including most of the major cities and other populous areas. Next it covers special materials (things like adamantium, but different), climate and weather, and the currents (in the water).

Next, the history of the Wilderlands is covered. This is presented exactly as it was in the original product, and it prefaces the history with some explanation. Essentially, when the product was released, the line between sci-fi and fantasy were blurred. As such, the "history" of the Wilderlands appears somewhat cooky to those of familiar with products nowadays. Suffice it to say, it involves aliens landing, areas affected by some radiation, a lot of turmoil, some magical gates, and cavemen. Ok, that doesn't really do it justice, but it's obviously an optional history, but it is fairly detailed (it covers 5 pages).

The second chapter "Using the Map Booklets" explains the maps as I have done. Each hex and area is defined through some standard types which more or less gives a high level description of the area. For example:
Ancients, Valley of the (Sparse Forest, Hot; EL 16+)

Not all have an EL, but many do, and most entries have an encounters list at the end of the entry like "Encounters: bugbears, frost giants, mammoths, mountain lions, sheep, snow leopards", for example.

Cities and towns have a fairly detailed stat block which includes alignment of the controlling forces, a tech level (1-10) which establishes what kinds of things can be bought, major players, and other pertinent information.

This chapter also covers all the various races that are available (just a brief description). The Player's Guide to the Wilderlands has the statistical information on most of these, and obviously they are all optional anyway, since the product encourages you to just do your own thing with the city if you want to. There are no gods detailed in this book, they are covered in the Player's Guide, I believe (I don't own, and really have no intention of owning it), and it also covers the basic player classes - again, just a description, the details are in the player's guide.

The rest of the books are the details for each of the region maps. These chapters are broken out into a couple of major sections. The first section covers the area in general, and lays out the basics of the area. Secondly, "Geographic Features" covers the prominent features of the land. These are typically things larger than a single hex, like rivers, or mountain ranges, etc. Each has it's own descriptive block, for example:
Giants' bog (Moor/Swamp): A footprint-shaped marsh of terrible reputation. Hill giants from the surrounding area sometimes make their home here, but the main inhabitants are feral humans. Encounters: hill giants, feral humans

The rest of the chapter is devoted to "Specific locations" and covers individual hexes. Some of these descriptions are of very tiny things like a curious hut, or a tree, or even a ruined wall with some treasure, or unusual feature. Others are larger detailing a small lake, or a grove of trees, or the ruins of some ancient thing. Each is evocative, and descriptive - just enough to give you an idea of what's there, and leaves most of the details up to the imagination. As I read them, I'm instantly transported from place to place. Where appropriate some actual monsters are listed if they are present in the area, and in some cases the treasure it might have (or just the treasure, if there is no monster). A lot of the locations have a CR, but many do not. The EL can range quite a bit. I don't know what the highest is, but I have found an EL 24 area, and an EL 1 area. Certainly everything in between can be found, though I suspect there may be areas higher than 24, I just haven't found them yet, but that's part of the joy.

Synopsis:
I think that should give you an idea of what the product is, and what it is not. It's a mountain of detail and campaign ideas, and even if you didn't use the maps, or the history, or anything about "the Wilderlands", you could still use the specific locations for any game, and mine them for ideas for just about forever.

The product sells for $70 - a bargain in my opinion. The quality is superb, and I haven't seen a single error yet in my reading. The art is consistently good, though not overly abundant (it doesn't need to be). It took Necromancer 4+ years to make this product. Clark Peterson stated at Gen Con "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done it". They put a TON of work into this product, and it shows. It's truly a labor of love.

I should also point out that there is a ton of online downloads (the book includes a password for online stuff), and a color map, and tons of other stuff online. This, along with the stuff online is more game than even the most prolific DMs could shake a stick at.


I would be remiss if I didn't list negatives about this product. There are not many.
First, each book has the same cover art (the same as the box) by Frank Frazetta. While this isn't a bad thing necessarily, it does mean that both books look identical. If you need to refer to book 2, you could easily grab book 1 by mistake and not realize it, since it looks exactly the same. In fact, the only difference is a small "book 1" or "book 2" in the bottom corner of the back cover. I would have preferred to make the cover art smaller, and in big bold letters on the front write "book 1" or "book 2".

Secondly, actually having 18 maps would have been awesome. That way, I could display the entire region on my wall, and piss off my wife. Perhaps Necromancer should consider selling a bundle of just the maps so that I could purchase a second set? The maps themselves would be a great resource in and of themselves, actually.

Third, the interior map of the entire region is hazy, and water and land is the same color, so iit's almost impossible to tell where the land ends and the oceans start. So, that could have been better, but there's a color map online, so it's not that big of a deal.

Obviously, most of those negatives are fairly minor things. I believe there is a limited number of this boxed set available, so don't delay in getting yours. It's truly a mountain of great game ideas that you'll cherish and use for a long, long time.

 

[MonsterMash]

Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set

Wilderlands Boxed Set
Necromancer Games/Judges Guild
$69.99

The background, this was the first setting published for D&D predating Greyhawk. It was published in a number of parts with the City State of the Invincible Overlord and Wilderlands of High Fantasy coming first followed by a number of other areas such as the Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde, City State of the World Emperor and detailed settings like the Shield Maidens of Sea Rune. It is a classic Sword and Sorcery setting with sci-fi elements which can be easily modified or ignored by the GM, think in terms of Howard, Leiber, Clark Ashton Smith and Edgar Rice Burroughs as the inspiration.

This is also the first setting I used as a GM, or Judge as it should be with Judges Guild products, and I freely admit to having a bias on this score which meant this review was always likely to take the form of a rant or a rave. Read on to find out which.

I actually class this as a part playtested review as I have been using the Rorystone Road download for my campaign, and I doubt you could manage to finish all of this in a lifetime. If you want a sample there is a chapter download for Lenap available at the Judges Guild .com website.

Content
Opening the box you find 18 maps (double sided unfortunately) and two books. The first book contains the Introduction, which has what rule content is needed, largely advice on wilderness movement, creating the judge's own encounter tables and a set of tables for random ruins and relics. The introduction also includes the judge's history of the Wilderlands.

The second chapter covers using the map booklets, and has some cross referencing to other Judges Guild and Necromancer products. Each numbered chapter describes the map of the same number. Descriptions of settings which are inhabited have a Technology Level as an addition to the standard DMG description, with a note on the important individuals for that location and a brief description that often gives an immediate adventure hook. The main resources for a village or town are also noted. The levels of NPCs are generally low compared to 3e expectations and it would often be recommended that a Judge used slower than standard levelling to avoid the PCs overwhelming a particular area, there are some very high level NPCs, but these are figures like the World Emperor that players are unlikely to directly encounter.

Judges are encouraged to change, add or delete material to suit their campaigns with it being noted that each 5 mile hex contains many more encounters or locations than the ones detailed in the two map booklets, which is why the random ruins table is provided and the Judge is encouraged to create their own encounter tables. The area covered is around the same as the mediterranean sea so is large, but not a complete world, but given move distances is not excessively large or small.

The feel is old school where sites are as they are not tailored to the party level so there can be an EL2 encounter in one hex and an EL15 encounter in the next, players need to use gather information to be forwarned and be prepared to run where necessary. The setting is also far from PC as there is slavery as a common factor and there are the lightly dressed amazon warriors and some locations are also noted as having brothels.

Chapters
Introduction
Using the Map Booklets
1. Elphand Lands
2. Valon
3. Valley of the Ancients
4. Viridistan
5. City State of the Invincible Overlord
6. Tarantis
7. Desert Lands
8. Barbarian Altanis
9. Ebony Coast
10. Lenap
11. Isles of the Blest
12. Isles of the Dawn
13. Sea of the Five Winds
14. Ghinor
15. Silver Skein
16. Ament Tundra
17. Ghinor Highlands
18. Southern Reaches

A sample entry follows

5124 Blackspell(Village): Conventional; AL N; TL 4; 200gp limit; Assets 5,375 gp; Population 860 (Able bodied 215); Mixed(halfling 66%, human 20%,wood elf 10%, gnome 2%, noble elf 2%); Resources: Market.Authority Figure: Culwane the Winged, male halfling LG Ftr3. Important Characters: Frudoc, male halfling CN Rog3 (boatwright); Rego Gamblas, male halfling NG Ftr2/Rog2 (pearl merchant).
Located on a bluff overlooking the bay, the village of Blackspell has grown since the first group of halflings settled here many generations ago. The natural shelter provided by a small harbour has allowed it to prosper as a centre of trade and the nearby forests have provided an excellent source of shipbuilding material over the years. In recent years some of the sailing vessels traveling this region have reported seeing large expanses of sea weed in certain areas where the winds grow still and the waves settle down.

1332 Monkey Isles (EL varies): These islands are overrun by bands of roving monkeys who attempt to steal all small items they can get their hands on. Searching an monkey nest reveals an average of 2d20gp, 1d4 gems, 1d4 mundane items and a 5% chance of a random magical item. The only thing keeping the monkey population upon the isles in check are scores of boring beetles.

0732 The Gnomes of the Skull (EL 9): The ruins of a tower covered by earth can only be entered by a 3-foot diameter tunnel. Eight gnome fighters (Ftr3; CR 3; hp 19 each; masterwork short sword, small wooden shield, chainmail, small leather pouch containing 50 sp and a piece of amethyst [50 gp]) are bowing to a golden skull worth 2,300 gp.

Some of the content does have a few typos, but in product of this size and complexity it is inevitable. Different writing styles can also be noted as a large number of different contributors not only wrote the originals, but also did the updates so many hands will not have quite the same unity as a single author. This occasionally means that some things will not seem to fit together well, but the answer is if you're using it change it so that it fits your campaign and make it your setting not anyone elses.

Layout and art
Page numbering for the books is continuous so that book 2 starts at page 217, the layout is clear with about 95% of the page used for text with a narrow border down the outer edge of each. There is not a lot of art in the books due to the sheer volume of content. The art is generally very good with the illustrations usually matching the area where they are placed. There is a Frank Frazetta picture used for the cover of the box and both books, which is a great fit for the feel of the wilderlands setting. The booklets are in black and white with matte paper used internally and colour glossy covers.

The maps are clearly laid out, but have been noted as containing a number of mistakes which are being detailed in the errata thread on the Necromancer Games message boards. Cities, villages and towns, and citadels and castles are shown on the map, but other types of setting are not (Lairs, ruins and relics). Each map has an adjacent area on the reverse. Each hexagon is numbered and this is used as the key for linking the maps to the booklets. The maps are folded twice and are printed in black and white on glossy paper.

The box appears to be sturdy and is completely filled by the maps and booklets so there is no space to store other products in there. It is better quality than the old TSR boxes used to be.


Using it with other products
You do not need the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands or City State of the Invincible Overlord to use this product, but they are useful. Pretty much any module or city could be slotted into one or more of the areas, with there being threads on the Necromancer Games boards discussing this.

Pluses:

• Setting in sufficient detail to run games, but not prescribe a GM's options
• Adventure hooks everywhere
• Easy to integrate other products
• Clear layout with little wasted space
• Frazetta cover

Negatives:

• Sources for all the creatures are not clearly indicated
• Some entries do not match between the maps and the books
• Double sided maps

Downloads:
There are players and judges maps, support documents and adventures available from the Judges Guild website.

Overall
I think this is the best campaign setting I have seen published, ever, including such good ones for previous editions such as Al-Qadim, Mystara, etc. Highly recommended. I give it a 9.5 out of 10 rounding to 5 stars.

 

[Ryan Henry]

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set
Sword and Sorcery/Necromancer Games/Judges Guild
$69.99 US

Disclaimer 1: I have written a module for Necromancer Games, but I had no part in the development or production of this product, The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set. These are my own opinions as a gamer and not as an agent of Necromancer Games.

Disclaimer 2: This review is partly based on playing experience using this product; however, I have not used all of it (perhaps I can write that review in 2015).

Why I'm Reviewing This Product

This item is a shrink wrapped boxed set, so it's difficult for curious gamers to get a feel for what this product is about, what it contains, and the quality of material. I'm attempting to give readers a look inside the box. (There is substantial preview information available on the Wilderlands Boxed Set forum at www.necromancergames.com as well as a sample chapter of Lenap available for download at this link http://p096.ezboard.com/fnecromancergamesfrm42.showMessage?topicID=73.topic)

My Experience With Campaign Settings

The first campaign setting boxed set I purchased was the Ravenloft Campaign setting in 2nd edition. I used that for a time until my group got tired of playing in Ravenloft, so then I purchased some Forgotten Realms boxed sets, including Waterdeep: City of Splendors and the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (both 2nd edition). A tidal wave of other products came out for the FRCS, and I felt overwhelmed both mentally and financially to keep up with all the new information presented in monstrous compendiums, ecology manuals, regional sourcebooks, and ficticious travelouges. Finally I abandoned all purchased campaign settings and developed a fairly generic homebrewed world to place my adventures. The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Boxed Set (WoHFBS) is the first campaign setting I've purchased since 3rd edition's release.

My History With the Wilderlands

Normally, I wouldn't provide this type of information in a review, but based on the nature of this product, I thought this might be helpful. I started playing AD&D 2nd edition in 1990, long after the heyday of the Wilderlands. Even so, I knew little of such third party products, my exposure being limited to the scant selection of TSR products at my local bookstore. Thus this was not a nostalgiac purchase for me, and this review is not going to be viewed through the rose-tinted glasses of a nostalgiac gamer. I did, however, own several 3.x products published by Sword and Sorcery/Judges Guild (The Players Guide to the Wilderlands, The Caverns of Thracia, and the City State of the Invincible Overlord), and I was curious to see how everything fit together.

Physical Presentation

WoHFBS is presented in a heavy black box, made of seemingly sterner stuff than the TSR boxed sets of the 2nd edition era. The cover art depicting a flail-wielding barbarian is by famous fantasy artist Frank Frazetta and is duplicated on the two books within. The contents of the boxed set include 9 double sided black and white poster maps, each detailing an area of the campaign setting. The two books detail in chapters the environs and inhabitants of each map. (A more detailed description of the maps and books follow.)

The Maps

Each of the 18 maps are divided into 5-mile hexagons, which are numbered. These numbers correspond to paragraphs in map books. Many of these numbered hexagons contain no information, allowing the DM (or Judge) to detail as necessary. The maps are black and white. This can lead to some confusion as the seas and other bodies of water look about the same as forests. There is also a missing dynamic - it's just not as breathtaking as it could be. The double-sided printing can pose problems for DMs who want to link up the various map areas. You'll have to flip the map over to continue. However, the maps are more than functional: they can also be inspiring.

The Books

Wilderlands Map Book One: Elphand Lands to Tarantis

This 216 page, softcover, black and white book is densely packed with text and has a few illustrations. Discerning readers may be off-put by large amounts of unused white space at the end of some chapters, but I think this layout is preferable to other options (including starting a new chapter mid-page or filling it with unnecessary clip art).

Introduction

This chapter introduces the WoHFBS product and the Wilderlands Setting. It provides a small overworld map that shows how the various poster maps link up. It discusses the hexagon mapping system. As wilderness travel is such a vital part to the campaign setting, it expands the rules for overland and sea travel. The book gives suggestions about creating random encounter charts and provides a large chart for generating random ruins, which seem to dot the landscape of this campaign setting. There are brief mentions of the Power Centers of the Wilderlands, which provide some small detail about larger towns and powerful wizards and martial groups. Following that are a few paragraphs about climate and weather; this isn't as detailed as an ecology manual, but it should suffice. It then describes two new substances: carbelium and magicum. These have various uses including weaponsmithing and storehouses of magical energy (respectively) and contain some interesting drawbacks.

The Introduction closes with a lengthy Judges History that details the history of the setting dating from a very strange and science fiction inspired Pre-History up to more modern times, though the details of modern events are listed only in a separate product, The Player's Guide to the Wilderlands. At the risk of giving too many spoilers, I won't get into the details of this history, but suffice it to say that if you and your group prefer a more traditional fantasy campaign setting, you'll have to do some tinkering with the Wilderlands.

Using the Map Booklets

This section tells the reader how to use the entries within the books. It describes terminolgy such as different types of terrain and climtates. This section also introduces a new descriptor called tech level. This ranges from the Stone Age to a High Renaissance level of sophistication. Next it describes the races. There are a dozen varieties of human, 5 dwarves, 9 elves, 4 gnomes, and 3 halflings. It lists and briefly describes 25 other humanoid races. To use this section, you really need the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, which presents important game rule information about these classes; otherwise, all you have is the flavor. The following section lists 6 different core classes, prestige classes, and NPC classes; game rule information, again, is in the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands.

Map descriptions fill the remaining 418 pages of Book One and Book Two with the exception of two pages for the Legal Appendix. Here is a list of the titles of the chapters.

Book One
Chapter One: Elphand Lands
Chapter Two: Valon
Chapter Three: Valley of the Ancients
Chapter Four: Viridistan
Chapter Five: City State of the Invincible Overlord
Chapter Six: Tarantis
Book Two
Chapter Seven: Desert Lands
Chapter Eight: Barbarian Altanis
Chapter Nine: Ebony Coast
Chapter Ten: Lenap
Chapter Eleven: Isles of the Blest
Chapter Twelve: Isles of the Dawn
Chapter Thirteen: Sea of the Five Winds
Chapter Fourteen: Ghinor
Chapter Fifteen: Silver Skein
Chapter Sixteen: Ament Tundra
Chapter Seventeen: Ghinor Highlands
Chapter Eighteen: Southern Reaches

Each chapter describes one of the eighteen maps. It begins with an introduction of the map, with mentions of climate, centers of power and civilization, and other notable features. The Geography section describes general areas such as deserts, rivers, and mountains, providing average Encounter Levels if appropriate. Following that is a list of some of the numbered hexes. Here are some brief paragraphs describing towns and castles, animal lairs, bandit fortresses, and more. None of the information is provided in completion; it is up to the DM to flesh it out appropriately to fit his campaign. This is not a complaint, as the DM gets over 1000 such areas. For DMs with vivid imaginations and the desire to turn his group lose in the untamed wilderness, this can be a blessing.

Describing each chapter in detail is beyond the scope of this review. Truly there is more here than any group can realistically play for more than a decade. If you want to sample one of these chapters, please look at the Lenap chapter by following the link above. This is a good sample of what type of information you will find in the map booklets.

Running the Wilderlands

My experience focused on Map 5 and Map 8, the City State of the Invincible Overlord and Barbarian Altanis, respectively. I decided to drop my small group of 3 PCs into the heart of Adderwood, a forest located a couple days from the infamous City State of the Invincible Overlord (CSIO). Two PCs had been taken prisoner and were enroute to the CSIO to be sold as slaves when a tribe of orcs attacked the slave caravan. The 2 PCs escaped with the help of the third, who was a ranger in the Adderwood. Together they pursued their capitors into the forest.

As the party moved, I tracked their southwestern progress on the map. As the story unfolded, they hit numbered hexes that included a magical tower run by clerics of an evil god and an orc town. Following the details listed in the appropriate paragraphs, my players were able to unravel a plot about a slave trade and decided to pursue it into Barbarian Altanis.

This setting was good for me. I ran this with very little preparation. It gives the players complete control to carve out their own experiences based on hundreds of plot hooks. The DM just has to be adaptable to run with it.

The Wilderlands Flavor

An important part of a campaign setting is finding a tone and theme that both the DM and his players will enjoy. Ravenloft, for example, is not good for those not wanting to play a horror campaign. Similarly, you wouldn't want to play Forgotten Realms if you were wanting a low magic, non standard fantasy world.

The Wilderlands flavor is pretty unique to the modern gaming industry. It is not typical fantasy. Instead, it is Sword and Sorcery. It is more Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber than Robert Jordan and J. R. R. Tolkien. It combines elements of science fiction, technology, and horror in the tradition of old pulp stories. It is also a gritty setting, where evil controls much of the world, civilizations have crumbled (leaving lots of ruins to explore), and slavery is commonplace in many areas.

The authors make it a point to tell you to make the Wilderlands your own without the fear that later sourcebooks will change your campaign. Things are truly left so vague that a DM can change or create details.

Summary

The WoHFBS contains a lot of information that DMs can use for catalysts for adventures without the specific level of detail that bogs down gameplay or restricts the creativity of gamers. The sheer size of the product provides an almost limitless array of plot hooks. While the black and white, double sided maps are not as beautiful as some other products' and can create some confusion, they are functional and should not hinder gameplay. To get full use of this product, it is highly recommended that groups purchase the Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, which details gods, new classes, and character races; this added expense may irritate some players. The non-typical flavor can turn off some gamers desiring a more traditional fantasy campaign.

Ryan Henry