I finally succumbed to buying what was a highly rated boxed set. And certainly it is worth the money, with each page brimming with ideas and potential adventure.

But I'm wondering, what is the best way to use the setting, afterall, each location they travel to means referencing a new page, and reading and announcing what is there, whilst trying to tie it into an adventure.

Its quite likely that this has already been asked and answered before.

My plan is to pick an empty hex that's near some other stuff, plop MY stuff into it, and then let loose the dogs of wa- uh, my players.

I'm picking up my copy tomorrow.

Once I've had a chance to scan through I'll post my thoughts.

hexes are like, what, 5 mi. each?  (don't have the setting, but would like it!  this is based on previous threads)  just find an area of 6 hexes by 6 hexes you like, start the players off there, (on foot, no horses or carts) and take it from there.    then see which direction they're inclined to go after that.  start small--just 'cause your canvas is huge, doesn't mean you have to use all of it, right away.

Find yourself a hex you like (or, as a poster suggested, select one randomly). Put down the party on the hex. Let them know of their surroundings. Then watch what they are doing with it. Eventually, flesh out parts you like, drop in small modules, etc. But the beauty of hex-crawls can be just letting the characters run wild and get into trouble on their own.

[edit]Also, the random ruins chart, with random monster tables of your choice, is a very powerful tool in your hands. I can't count how many times a few rolls lead to fun-filled sessions.[/edit]

I would first right some notes on how you want the high level view of the Wilderlands to be run. What is your Overlord like, your World Emperor, etc. The pertinent entities are

Valon (Map 2)
Tarsh (Map 3)
Warwick (Map 5)
Damkina (Map 1)
Viridstan (Map 6)
City State (Map 5)
Tarantis (Map 6)
Antil (Map
Lenap (Map 10)
Rallu (Map 11)
Tlan (Map 13)
Tula (Map 14)

An important decision is the Viridstan Empire going to collapse in your Wilderlands anytime soon?  In my own Wilderlands it happen in 4436 when a player group knocked off the Emperor.

Understand that while it may appear that much of the Wilderlands is random locations in actuality there is a lot of low level plot going on. Many locations are connected on the local level. Pick an area and read over to get a sense of what going on in the region.

For example I have done this for Map 8, which I wrote the villages for.

http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands/map_8_overview.jpg

You may want to do a home base approach for your first campaign. Use CSIO or detail another place and have the party based out of there for a while.

Generally the northern half of the Wilderlands is more detailed than the southern half. Map 4 (Viridstan) and  Map 5 (CSIO) are the "heart" of the Wilderlands.

Finally don't neglect the possibility of sea adventures as nearly every hex with an island has a description.

Enjoy
Rob Conley

P.S. Don't forget about

http://www.judgesguild.com/downloads.html
http://www.judgesguild.com/fans.html

and my own

http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands

Quote from: estarFinally don't neglect the possibility of sea adventures as nearly every hex with an island has a description.

Yes, that's good advice. Seas and island adventures are neglected in other worlds. Ever notice how most fantasy settings are predominantly continental surrounded by seas which conveniently get cut off? In the Wilderlands, there are a lot of seas, and most of its civilisation is coastal or close to it. There are entire regions where you could set up sea-based adventuring (Oricha/Isle of the Blest, Ghinor, Silver Skein Isles to name a few obvious ones).

I recommend these three books for ideas for sea-faring adventures.

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Wine-Dark-Hellenistic-Seafaring-Adventure/dp/0765344513
http://www.amazon.com/Gryphons-Skull-Hellenistic-Seafaring-Adventure/dp/076534503X/ref=sr_1_5/102-9038180-1137738?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184679839&sr=1-5
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Land-Hellenistic-Seafaring-Adventure/dp/0765350726/ref=sr_1_3/102-9038180-1137738?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184679839&sr=1-3

What i normally do is just browse through the books and pick a community that really shouts out to me. Then i have a look at what is within about a 6 hex radius of that community for plot hooks, interesting sites etc. I set up a little hand out for my players as to the rumours circulating about these sites (and the starting community itself) and then leave them to it. They generally pick something they want to do and once you're up and running, other things will present themselves.

Also remember that if you are going to focus on one or two hexes (at least for the short term) the book suggests that there are probably 4 or 5 more significant monster lairs in each hex than is presented in the entries and 5 to 10 more ruins (most will be insignificant, i guess, but matching up monster lairs to ruins is great fun and sensible to boot).

I picked up my copy of the boxed set last week, along with the City State of the Invincible Overlord book. So far I've loved what I've read, there's just the right level of detail there for me to tailor.

The campaign structure I'm currently working with is similar to episodic tv drama. Each hex represents a "monster of the week," with an ongoing metaplot bubbling under the surface. I'm trying to keep the names, places and factions fairly qnonymous so they can be adapted to wherever the players see fit to wander. I'm ramping up the sci-fi quotient slightly, but pushing it into the background, so there'll hopefully be some cool little easter eggs for the pc's to discover and interpret if they're that way inclined.

Overall I'm pretty excited. It's a great product, and jives very well the ideas I have for True20.

Estar, once again I'm getting nothing but blank pages when I click your Wilderlands... which is a pity because I was hoping you had a decent computer-screen usable map of the City State.

RPGPundit

Do you see this? I also sent you a PM

that's pretty cool!  i especially like the busted-up bridge area in the lower left.  gives things a bit of history.

Note by original I mean both the JG version and the Necromancer version.

Other features are

upper left just below the little lake - the necropolis/graveyard.
upper left below the graveyard - a village
upper left corner of the city walls - a complex under the authority of the Overlord includes in  counter clock wise order

Silverlight Palace
Royal Guard Barracks
Senate Building
Balisica (sp?) of the Bureacracy
Low Guard Barrack
Receiving Cistern of the Aqueduct
Training ground
In the Center
The Cryptic Citadel. In the original is mounted by an autocannon taken from a crashed Mig-25.
This area is redesigned from the original.

Just above the upper right corner of the City walls is the Arena district, a low rent district containing gladiatorial schools, gambling halls, red-light distract, and slums. Between this district and the wall is the refuse yard. (The big brown area) This area is original to my campaign except for the refuse yard.

To the west of the Arena is the goblin reservation. The Overlords imported a tribe of goblins a century back to use as laborers. It's in the original as but I redesigned it when I redrew the map.

The keep on the upper right corner of the city wall is Orc Hold and is the Headquarters of the City Guard.

In the upper right is a manorhouse, and the complex of building used by the dwarves for the Glory Hole Dwarven Min.


In the Center top just below the big lake is the outlet for the aqueduct. The line running around the line is an escarpement about 30 to 50 feet high. There  is a watchtower on top and just to the west is a quarry for the City-State. The Aqueduct slopes down to the cistern mentioned earlier and it about 30' high where you see the road running underneath it. The "bumps" you see on the straight line are the stonework pylons holding up the aqueduct.

The wall features going clock wise and starting at the keep next to the docks on the west.

The Marsh Keep
Grand Gate
Silverlight Palace
Cryptic Citadel
North Gate
Orc Hold
Wizard's Keep
The Gate of the Gods
Southern Keep
End Gate

The districts are (clockwise, starting at the docks on the west)

Wharf District (western strip along the dock)
Noble District (upper left)
Temple District (center top)
Merchant District (upper right)
Thieves Quarter (lower left)
Common Quarter (center bottom)

In the Noble district (upper left) The large triangular building is the home of the Guild of Arcane Lore my City-State's Mage's Guild. In the original it is the Sage's Guild

The large park is still the Park of Obscene Statues. The first circle is the Plaza of Profuse Pleasure where high end "entertainment" can be found. The second circle is the Slave Market Plaza.

The U shaped building is the Palace of the Dragon Kings and is used by the City aldermens to run the day to day affairs of the City-State. (Municipal government).

In my Wilderlands my pantheon is greatly compressed. http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands/gods.html. City-State started out as a colony of a empire that worshiped Mitra over 1500 years ago. The big n shaped building in the top center is the Cathedral of Mitra.

The Tharian Overlords conquered City-State 400 years ago. They did not prosecute the church of Mitra. However they showed no special favor and other religions gained footholds. Finally 50 years ago the craftsmen revolted and forced the then current Overlord to back down and agreed to their demands. One of the things that Overlord did to retaliate was grant the land to the north of the cathedral to the Church of Set who built the Hellbridge Temple.

The ruined bridge was destroyed several centuries ago by a hill giant. It's former traffic has long since be routed through the Gate of the Gods.

The Southern Keep is home to the head of the Guild of Arcane Lore Paramswarm the Red. He is not pleased with the fact that the independent mage Lewellyn the Blue has been given the Wizard's Keep.

In the lower right is one of the closer manors supplying City-State with food.

The forest on the south and to the east is the Dearthwood home of the Purple Claw and other Orc tribes. Only a strip of the southern portion has been settled.

The water to the west is the head of the Estuary of the Roglaroon. It hooks around two hundred miles to eventually run north into the Winedark sea. The Estuary is one of the major reasons City-State is important as it sits on the head of navigation and serves as a trading nexus between the sea and the interior.

The Road going west from the Grand Gate is the Rorystone Road which contains City-State to the Dwarven city of Thunderhold. It is paved and a major trade route.


Enjoy
Rob Conley

Can't go into details, but what I plan to do is do an exploration-type campaign, a motivated as opposed to a purely random hexcrawl--a displaced people trying to find a new home/powerbase. So, there will be lots of free choice, but with an ulterior aim in view (besides getting rich).

All this liberally inspired by a campaign idea posted by Rob, and using one of the great Wilderlands contributuions by Melan.