So I'm thinking about buying the Necromancer Games D20 Majestic Wilderlands books/box from someone I know.  Specifically City State of the Invincible Overlord, Player's Guide to the Wilderlands, and Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

However, I'm still indecisive.  I've never played in the Wilderlands, nor have I ever DMed it.  I've never owned nor read any of the supplements over the years.  Why then am I thinking of buying the stuff?  

One reason is simply that the opportunity has presented itself, as someone I know is looking to get rid of them.  Another is that I'm looking for a new campaign world or sandbox environment to work with; something to inspire me with some fresh ideas and kick-start a new and (hopefully) longer-term campaign.  I've also heard a few good things about the Wilderlands from those who've run it, almost entirely on this board, as, like I was mentioning, I'd never even heard of it until recently.

  I checked the Review forum and didn't see anything there.  How would people here review those products?  How would you describe the Wilderlands to someone like me with no knowledge of them?

First off, good luck finding them for anything less than highway robbery.  I sold off my boxed set a couple of months ago for around $150.  

If you are playing with pre-d20 rules, you can get the old stuff in pdf form very cheaply from drivethrurpg.  It's not as nice or as complete, but its cheap and full of old school charms.

Personally, every time I look at the wilderlands I fall in love with the maps but the bizarre randomness of the locations puts me off.  I think I'd just rather get the maps and generate my own random locations and lairs.

The Necromancer details the Wilderlands of High Fantasy which is an expanded version of the original. The deal with the Wilderlands is that there is a lot of local detail but not a lot of high level details. You can pretty much come up with your own backstory. A whole kingdom on Map 3 Valley Ancients, not a problems. Think half of the entries on the Ament Tundra stinks. Get rid of them and use the rest to make an area where the tundramen hunt the local megafauna. If you like Swords & Sorcery you can the Wilderlands pretty much as is.

My own Majestic Wilderlands is an example of what happens you start with the wilderlands then look at it 30 years later. Tweak upon tweak mounted up into something different then Bob Bledsaw's version.

My opinion that either the Necromancer or original Judges Guild version saves a lot of time. It easier in my opinion when faced with generating a lot of detail to come up with explanations then make everything out of whole cloth.

yeah, wait, which are you talking about: Necromancer Wilderlands? Or "Majestic Wilderlands"? They're both pretty cool but extremely different.

RPGPundit

I was specifically talking about the Necromancer Games D20 products, although I just discovered the Majestic Wilderlands (Supplement VI) yesterday.  Is that by estar?

Indeed it is.

To even confuse you more I wrote the villages and castles for Map 5 (City-State), Map 8 (Barbarian Altanis) and the Northern half of Map 11 (Isle of Blest) for the Necromancer Boxed Set.  Plus some of my material made into the Player's Guide.

When I wrote my portion of the Boxed Set I started with the original lists and wrote all new entries drawing my experience of DMing for two+ decades. Supplement VI Majestic Wilderland in contrast is my own campaign's house rules and notes adapted for Swords & Wizardry (OD&D).

The Boxed Set has more of a Swords & Sorcery feel where City-States dot the land and Wilderness lies between them.

My Majestic Wilderlands focuses more on the clash of politics, culture, and religions that fueled so many of my campaigns.  

I played RPGs for 30 years, suffered and enjoyed many campaign guides. I wanted to make a guide that people enjoyed and found useful. Rather than something that you had to buy to understand the other products I published.

So I can answer questions about either products.

Plus I wrote the revised Thieves of Badabaskor from Goodman Games and helped with the revision of Citadel of Fire and Dark Tower. So I can answer questions about those.

The Necromancer games stuff is great, Estar's Majestic is just as good if not better.

Yes, they are very different and it depends to some extent what you want. If you want a really detailed setting, or if you specifically want something geared to D20, then Necromancer's stuff might be a better choice; but if you want one of the most absolutely kickass supplements ever written for old-school D&D, you really ought to get the Majestic Wilderlands.

RPGPundit

Sorry for the delay in responding, but I was (as I often am) away for a few days.

So, how dependant on the rules edition used is estar's supplement?  The Necromancer stuff is obviously going to be very 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder oriented, but how much of estar's Majestic is crunch?

It's been mentioned that the Necromancer stuff has a kind of Swords & Sorcery sort of feel to it...and I get the feeling it's almost like a pre-built sandbox, which I think is what I'm hoping for (saves me some prep time).  What about estar's Majestic?  More of a sourcebook feel, with descriptive information as opposed to mechanical?  Also, how doable would it be to run estar's Majestic with the likes of Labyrinth Lord or Rules Cyclopedia?  I've never played OD&D (started with AD&D and Basic), but I'd consider running under the older rules set with a good enough supplement...

Quote from: Bobloblah;397284...
So, how dependant on the rules edition used is estar's supplement?  The Necromancer stuff is obviously going to be very 3.0/3.5/Pathfinder oriented, but how much of estar's Majestic is crunch?

About half of estar's MW is 'crunch' (new rules for S&W and other versions of 'TSR' D&D).

The Necromancer box set actually has relatively little 'crunch' in it (only minimal stats) -- one would have no problem running it with any fantasy RPG.  The other Necro books include more 'crunch' (but not an overwhelming amount).

Quote from: Bobloblah;397284...
What about estar's Majestic?  More of a sourcebook feel, with descriptive information as opposed to mechanical?  Also, how doable would it be to run estar's Majestic with the likes of Labyrinth Lord or Rules Cyclopedia?  I've never played OD&D (started with AD&D and Basic), but I'd consider running under the older rules set with a good enough supplement...

estar's book provides a broad overview of the setting (a la the Greyhawk folio of 1980).  It would be a snap to use it with LL or the RC.

Akrasia beat me to it.

Half of MW is rules stuff suitable for older editions of the world's most popular roleplaying game.

The other half is a gazetteer in the style of the original Greyhawk folio. Some people found it useful as an idea seed for campaigns. It a consequence of how I expanded the Majestic Wilderlands beyond the main campaign region.

The City-State and the Wilderlands boxed set work pretty much as is for any Fantasy RPG that uses the same assumptions as D&D (orcs, elves, adventurers, etc)

The Players Guide has more rules oriented stuff for 3.0 but lot of it guidebook stuff as well.

If you want to save time get the boxed set. If you want something that dovetails nicely with S&W or older edition get Majestic Wilderlands along with it. If you are strapped for cash then look at the original PDFs and MW and develop your own version from that. If you have the cash get the City-State to use as a home base.

Above remember the various Judges Guild versions are designed to make it your Wilderlands. The Majestic Wilderlands is an example of what happens when you do that.