 Cover | |
| Genre | Role-playing game |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Judges Guild |
| Media type | |
| Followed by | Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde |
| Judges Guild Product Code: [JG 48] [1] | |
Wilderlands of High Fantasy is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1977. [1] It is part of the same world as their earlier City State of the Invincible Overlord setting materials.
Wilderlands of High Fantasy is a campaign setting supplement which details the locations found on five large wilderness maps of the setting (Wilderlands Maps 1-5). [1]
The regions described are as follows: City State of Invincible Overlord (#1), Barbarian Altantis (#2), Glow Worm Steppes (#3), Tarantis (#4), and Valon (#5) [2] and are shown in full detail on the judge's maps and are roughly sketched out on the players' maps. The booklet describes and gives the location of many of the villages, castles, islands, ruins, relics, and monsters. [1]
Wilderlands of High Fantasy was written by Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen, and was published by Judges Guild in 1977 as five large maps (judge and player versions), a 12-page booklet, and a 16-page booklet. [3] Later releases included one 32-page book and (2 versions each) of five large maps (judge and player versions). [1]
Judges Guild initially operated on a subscription model to their customers, and after several other installments, they compiled their installments N and O into the Wilderlands of High Fantasy supplement, which presented the world of the City State to players. [4] : 190 A listing of cumulative sales by Judges Guild from 1981 shows that Wilderlands of High Fantasy sold over 15,000 units. [4] : 200
In June 2002 Judges Guild announced that they had formed a partnership with Necromancer Games, which would release products from Judges Guild beginning in 2003. Necromancer soon after began by advertising their plan to publish Wilderlands of High Fantasy and City State of the Invincible Overlord, ultimately publishing large collectors' editions of City State of the Invincible Overlord (2004) and Wilderlands of High Fantasy (2005). [4] : 206 The setting was then used as a locale for a multitude of modules and characters published by Judges Guild. [5]
Don Turnbull reviewed Wilderlands of High Fantasy for White Dwarf #6, and commented that "It is good, and well worth the money, particularly if you are a 'fantasy campaign' fan." [6]
In a review of the d20 version of Wilderlands of High Fantasy in Black Gate , John ONeill said "the crown jewel of the new Judges Guild was a massive and gorgeous box set, a limited-run compilation that has become one of the most collectible RPG releases of the 21st Century: the Wilderlands of High Fantasy." [7]
In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "the interesting legacy of Wilderlands in 1977 isn't its coming role as a building block for bigger campaign settings. No, whats keen about Wilderlands is all of the wonderful random tables ... These kinds of tables, of which the ones in Wilderlands are the earliest, function as tool kits for the GM, providing creative prompts and, given enough of them, a framework for creating large swaths of material for a game session with just a few dice rolls." [8]
Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) inspired by the 1972 novel Watership Down. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game centered on intelligent rabbits. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the first game to encourage players to have non-humanoid roles, and the first to have detailed martial arts and skill systems. Fantasy Games Unlimited published a similar second edition in 1982. Frog God Games published a revised third edition in 2019 from the original authors. The game was also modified and published by Steve Jackson Games as an official GURPS supplement in 1992.
Arduin is a fictional universe and fantasy role-playing system created in the mid-1970s by David A. Hargrave. It was the first published "cross-genre" fantasy RPG, with everything from interstellar wars to horror and historical drama, although it was based primarily in the medieval fantasy genre.
Fiend Folio is the name of three separate products published for successive editions of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). All three are collections of monsters.
Empire of the Petal Throne is a fantasy role-playing game designed by M. A. R. Barker, based on his Tékumel fictional universe. It was self-published in 1974, then published by TSR, Inc. in 1975. It was one of the first tabletop role-playing games, along with Dungeons & Dragons, and was the first published RPG game setting. Over the subsequent thirty years, several new games were published based on the Tékumel setting; however, to date, none have met with commercial success. While published as fantasy, the game is sometimes classified as science fantasy or, debatably, as science fiction.
Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the company was one of the leading publishers of Dungeons & Dragons related materials. Its flagship product, City State of the Invincible Overlord, was the first published RPG supplement to feature a fully developed city environment. The supplement was followed closely by numerous ancillary cities, maps, and other materials published by Judges Guild.
City State of the Invincible Overlord is a fantasy role-playing game supplement originally published by Judges Guild in 1976. It was the first published fantasy role-playing game city setting, designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and officially approved for use with D&D from 1976 through 1983. It was later republished under license by Necromancer Games.
Necromancer Games was an American publisher of role-playing games. With offices in Seattle, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, the company specialized in material for the d20 System. Most of its products were released under the Open Game License of Wizards of the Coast.
Something Rotten in Kislev is a supplement published by Games Workshop in 1988 as the fifth installment of The Enemy Within Campaign created for the fantasy role-playing game Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Although it received good critical reception, there were complaints that this product did not match the previous four installements in tone, and in a later edition of the campaign, Something Rotten in Kislev was replaced.
Greyhawk is a supplementary rulebook written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz for the original edition of the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. It has been called "the first and most important supplement" to the original D&D rules. Although the name of the book was taken from the home campaign supervised by Gygax and Kuntz based on Gygax's imagined Castle Greyhawk and the lands surrounding it, Greyhawk did not give any details of the castle or the campaign world; instead, it explained the rules that Gygax and Kuntz used in their home campaign, and introduced a number of character classes, spells, concepts and monsters used in all subsequent editions of D&D.
Dark Tower is an adventure module published by Judges Guild in 1980 for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
Robert Eugene Bledsaw was the founder of the role-playing game publisher Judges Guild.
The Caverns of Thracia is an adventure for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1979. Written by Jennell Jaquays, it was compatible with Dungeons & Dragons. A revised edition—compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition—was published in 2004.
Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1979.
Judge's Shield is a gamemaster's screen created by Judges Guild in 1977 for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, the first such screen to be published.
Ready Ref Sheets is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1977.
Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1980.
Wilderlands of the Magic Realm is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1980.
Tegel Manor is a 1977 fantasy role-playing game adventure published by Judges Guild.
The First Fantasy Campaign is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games written by Dave Arneson and published by Judges Guild in 1977.
Calandia Guidebook is a fantasy role-playing game supplement published by Mayfair Games in 1989 for the City State of the Invincible Overlord campaign setting.