Deal of the Day - How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox

Another great Deal of the Day, this time from our very own Rob Conley / Bat in the Attic. I've known Rob for over 15 years, and the quality of his work consistently amazes me.

Rob's 'How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox' is Today's DTRPG Deal of the Day, for just $6 (usually $14.95, so 60% off). I have my copy in Print plus PDF, or I'd be all over this :)

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox!

Starting in 2009, I wrote a series of 24 posts on the Bat in the Attic Blog covering the different aspects of creating a hexcrawl formatted setting. Now that the blog posts are completed, I have combined and rewritten these posts into a single book. In addition to advice about creating your setting, the posts flesh out the Isle of Pyade into a small setting that you can drop into your own campaign.

What is a Hexcrawl formatted setting?

This type of setting starts with a hex grid placed over the map, with each hex numbered. The hex locations of the various locales, such as lairs, are noted and arranged into an index. This format provides a convenient way to reference detailed local information within the setting.

You can look at the map, see the hex number of the location, and then look it up quickly in the book. It works in reverse as well. You can read about a location in the book, with its hex location noted in the text, and then look up where it is on the map quickly. This format allows easy access to dozens of detailed locations scattered across the setting map.

Hexcrawls and Sandbox Campaigns

Sandbox campaigns are distinguished by the fact that the players drive the campaign forward by their choices. In a sandbox campaign, the players may decide to head west instead of east in pursuit of their goals. The ease of looking up locations makes the hexcrawl formatted setting a valuable tool for the referee trying to keep ahead of their players while running a sandbox campaign.

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox will teach you how to make a hexcrawl formatted setting and explain which details are essential to include to handle the different types of sandbox campaigns.

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Kickstarter - Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northern Marches (By Rob Conley)

Alright, let me start this by saying Rob is one hell of a great person, and I'm proud to call him a friend. Some people talk about giving back to the gaming community, but Rob walks the walk. Look at Rob's hexcrawl, BlackMarsh. Not only is it free to download, but it is free to use in your own projects. Rob simply "gets it."

Now, let's take a look at Rob's latest Kickstarter, Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms, the Northern Marches.

Now it's time to expand the frontier once more with The Northern Marches, and to reveal more of the world that Blackmarsh belongs to: the Majestic Fantasy Realms.

Each regions of the Northern Marches brims with ancient ruins, forgotten magic, and factions fighting to shape the future. The Ring Islands, the Forsaken Desert, the forest of Les Gigantov, the Great Glacier, the Black Marshes, the underwater realms of the Grey Sea, all await adventurers willing to brave their dangers and plunge into their mysteries.

Together, the Northern Marches span over 100,000 square miles, divided across four 12" by 18" maps overlaid with a numbered hex grid for easy reference. Its factions, characters, histories, ruins, lairs, and cultures form a rich tapestry, creating a living world that players can visit as their characters while seeking adventure.

And yes, Rob is releasing the new setting material to the gaming community under the CC-BY 4.0 license, to be built upon as needed.

This Kickstarter funds the art and editing for the following. 

• A 200 page Guidebook - A detailed reference to the Northern Marches in the hexcrawl format. It covers the region’s history, religions, cultures, and locales, along with a brief overview of the larger world of the Majestic Fantasy Realms. 

• Travel Rules and Encounter System - Included in the guidebook is an expanded version of the travel rules originally presented in How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox. It adds greater detail to overland journeys, caravan travel, sea voyages, and adventuring in the underwater realms of the Northern Marches. 

• Five 12" by 18" Referee Maps - Four maps depict the major regions of the Northern Marches: the Great Glacier, the Wild North, Blackmarsh, and Northport. Each includes settlements, terrain, islands, ruins, and lairs. The fifth map combines the corner areas where the four regions meet. 

• Five 12" by 18" Players Maps - These maps show the geography of the Northern Marches, but only include settlements and locations commonly known to the public, perfect for use at the table without revealing hidden details. 

• Two 12" by 18" Overview Maps - The two maps combine the four individual maps into a smaller overview of the entire Northern Marches. One for the players and one for the Referee. 

• Setting Reference Document - Text and markdown documents with the text and maps of the guidebook will be released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC-BY 4.0) for use in your own projects and worlds.

I'm backing at 60 myself, and I backed one minute after it went live, and I'm only backer #8 ;P

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Free OSR - Blackmarsh (Sandbox Setting by Rob Conley)

Truth in advertising - I've known Rob Conley for over a decade and consider Rob a close friend. Blackmarsh is an OSR Sandbox and one of the finest sandboxes ever written. Coming in at less than 40 pages, it packs a campaign worth of adventuring within its relatively sparse pages. It should be noted that Blackmarsh is also available in soft-cover for 6.99 and hard-cover for 11.99.

In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the sky turned to ash and down fell the fiery mountain onto the land. The world tore open and the grey waters rushed in. Those who survived the impact were lost as boiling clouds rushed out in all directions leaving a wasteland in its wake.

The Mountain That Fell left a gift; magic. Near and far, those of learning and strong of heart discovered new powers to shape the world. In the desolation around the Smoking Bay the adventurous found viz, magic in physical form. And there was more, scattered amid the landscape were strange artifacts and stranger creatures that survived The Mountain That Fell. For a time men, dwarves, orc, goblins, and other races braved the dangers and fought each other in the wastelands. Then the elves came into Blackmarsh expelled the feuding races, drove the monsters out, and healed the land.

In the present day, many come to Blackmarsh to harvest viz, kill monsters, or seek the strange artifacts left by The Mountain That Fell. The only force that stands against the wilderness is the Blackmarsh Rangers. Anyone who is willing to defend the land and its people are welcomed into their ranks. Powerful kingdoms outside of Blackmarsh are beginning cast a covetous eyes toward the land's riches. Will the adventurers of your campaign become wealthy and powerful? Or will their bones join the many that have sunk into the swamps?

Blackmarsh is a complete, ready to run setting for your campaign. It can be run as its own setting or an expansion of your existing world. Contained in Blackmarsh are 17 geographical entries, 78 described locales, and one detailed town; Castle Blackmarsh. Each entry provide one or more adventure hooks to use in your campaigns.

Rob's Note: If you can afford it the hardcover print option comes with two blank pages in the front and three blank pages in the back that you can use for handwritten notes. The inside covers are also blank. The printing process for hardcovers wraps a heavy paper protector between the covers and the first and last pages of the book.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Rumble or YouTube - Tenkar 

Deal of the Day - How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox

I've got to say, I own everything Rob Conley / Bat in the Attic has published. Rob understands the OSR at a depth like few do.

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox was a recent Kickstarter from Rob, and it is an Electrum Seller on DriveThruRPG (it will be Gold shortly, of that I am sure. Normally How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox is priced at 14.99, but as the current Deal of the Day, until tomorrow morning How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox is on sale for 3 bucks. Yep, 3 bucks - I kid you not!

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox!

Starting in 2009, I wrote a series of 24 posts on the Bat in the Attic Blog covering the different aspects of creating a hexcrawl formatted setting.  Now that the blog posts are completed, I combined and rewrote these posts into a single book.  In addition to advice about creating your setting, the post fleshs out the Isle of Pyade into a small setting that you can drop into your own campaign.

What is a Hexcrawl-formatted setting?

This type of setting starts with a hex grid placed over the map with each hex numbered.  The hex locations of the various locales, such as lairs, are noted and arranged into an index.  This format provides a convenient way to reference detailed local information within the setting.

You can look at the map, see the hex number the location is in, and then look it up quickly in the book.  It works in reverse as well.  You can read about a location in the book, with its hex location noted in the text.  Then, look up where it is on the map quickly.  This format allows easy access to dozens of detailed locations scattered across the setting map, if not hundreds. 

Hexcrawls and Sandbox Campaigns

Sandbox campaigns are distinguished by the fact the players drive the campaign forward by their choices.  In a sandbox campaign, the players may decide to head west instead of east in pursuit of their goals.  The ease of looking locations up makes the hexcrawl-formatted setting a valuable tool for the referee trying to keep ahead of their players while running a sandbox campaign.

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox will teach you how to make a hexcrawl-formatted setting and explain what details are essential to include to handle the different types of sandbox campaigns. 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Free OSR - Blackmarsh (Setting)

When I found my way back to active gaming, it was initially as a player. It wasn't long before our then-current DM for the 5e Early Beta playtest felt he was burning out, and asked me to take over the DMing reigns. I was nervous, as it was well over a decade (at the time) that I had run a game session, let alone a campaign, but I dove into it eagerly. My ruleset of choice was AD&D 1e / OSRIC and my setting was the excellent sandbox, Blackmarsh. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the days when man knew only the working of stone and fought for their existence against the orc and the goblin, the sky turned to ash and down fell the fiery mountain onto the land. The world tore open and the grey waters rushed in. Those who survived the impact were lost as boiling clouds rushed out in all directions leaving a wasteland in its wake.

The Mountain That Fell left a gift; magic. Near and far, those of learning and strong of heart discovered new powers to shape the world. In the desolation around the Smoking Bay the adventurous found viz, magic in physical form. And there was more, scattered amid the landscape were strange artifacts and stranger creatures that survived The Mountain That Fell. For a time men, dwarves, orc, goblins, and other races braved the dangers and fought each other in the wastelands. Then the elves came into Blackmarsh expelled the feuding races, drove the monsters out, and healed the land.

In the present day, many come to Blackmarsh to harvest viz, kill monsters, or seek the strange artifacts left by The Mountain That Fell. The only force that stands against the wilderness is the Blackmarsh Rangers. Anyone who is willing to defend the land and its people are welcomed into their ranks. Powerful kingdoms outside of Blackmarsh are beginning cast a covetous eyes toward the land's riches. Will the adventurers of your campaign become wealthy and powerful? Or will their bones join the many that have sunk into the swamps?

Blackmarsh is a complete, ready to run setting for your campaign. It can be run as its own setting or an expansion of your existing world. Contained in Blackmarsh are 17 geographical entries, 78 described locales, and one detailed town; Castle Blackmarsh. Each entry provide one or more adventure hooks to use in your campaigns.

Rob's Note: If you can afford it the hardcover print option comes with two blank pages in the front and three blank pages in the back that you can use for handwritten notes. The inside covers are also blank. The printing process for hardcovers wraps a heavy paper protector between the covers and the first and last pages of the book.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

Kickstarter - How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox (Bat in the Attic)

A book that teaches you how to create a hex crawl-formatted setting for a fantasy sandbox campaign.

Rob Conley writes about "How to make a fantasy sandbox." Need I say more?

What is a Hexcrawl-formatted setting?

A hex grid is placed over a map of the setting with each hex numbered. The hex location of the various locales such as lairs, are noted and arranged into an index.  This format provides a convenient way to reference detailed local information within the setting.

You can look at the map, see the hex number the location is in, and then look it up quickly in the book. It works in reverse as well. You can read about a location in the book, which will have its hex location noted in the text. Then look up where it is on the map quickly.

This allows for easy access to dozens if not hundreds of detailed locations scattered across the setting map. 

Hexcrawls and Sandbox Campaigns

Sandbox campaigns are distinguished by the fact the players drive the campaign forward by their choices. While there are many types of sandbox campaigns, one common type is where the group arrives at a location on the map and begins exploring the region.

Regardless of the type of sandbox that is being run, the possibility exists that the players will decide that they need to head west instead of east in pursuit of their goals.  The ease of looking locations up makes the hexcrawl-formatted setting a useful tool for the referee trying to keep ahead of their players while running a sandbox campaign.

How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox will teach you how to make a hexcrawl-formatted setting and explain what details are important to include to handle the different types of sandbox campaigns.  

Rewards

This project is offering three rewards:

• How to Make a Fantasy Sandbox (Digest PDF/Book, 150+ pages)
• The Isle of Pyade Setting (Digest PDF/Book, 50+ pages)
• Blackmarsh Revised Layout (Digest Book, 39 pages)

 The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar    

Rob Conley / Bat in the Attic Games Announces Impending End of Their Judges Guild License

You can read Rob's full articles at his Bat in the Attic Blog, where he breaks everything down. https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2022/08/concerning-judges-guild-to-all-things.html

Long story short, if you have an interest in Rob's amazing Wilderlands maps and remakes or his Majestic Wilderlands setting, you have about 2 weeks to pick them up. I strongly recommend you do so.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Advance (repost from Bat in the Attic)

Rob Conley asked me to share the following, as it is very useful for the self publishers among us. You can read Rob’s original post here: http://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2020/06/covid-19-economic-injury-disaster-loans.html

The Covid pandemic has caused severe economic disruption which impacted businesses across the United States including those involved in publishing the tabletop roleplaying industry. Particularly hard hit are those of us who make a lot of our sales from conventions. I am personally am out a significant amount of money as result of Garycon being cancelled and North Texas Con being held on a restrictive basis. But my plight isn't hard as others impacted by Covid-19.

During the early days of the pandemic, Congress passed a bill that made the entire United State eligible for disaster relief. This includes small businesses. You can read for yourself the various options the small business administration has for disaster relief here.

One of the things offered is the ability to apply for a emergency grant and a loan. When I saw this being made available in March I immediately applied. Then I didn't hear anything for a long time until the middle of April. The Small Business Administration approved my grant and sent me a $1,000. Which was slightly more than I was asking for. As near as I could tell the SBA simply looked at how many people were involved and multiplied it by $1,000. In my case that was one. The SBA will approve grants of up to $10,000.
Keep in mind these are grants not loans that have to be paid back. It not free money either. You have to have filed taxes either as a corporation or using a Schedule C profit or loss from business attached to your personal income tax form.

Now I didn't write about this because shortly after I received the money the SBA closed the application process for all business other than agricultural. Apparently the flood of applications was so great they they fear the program would run out of money without fulfilling the ones they had.

The good news they reopened the program for all small businesses.
If your publishing or game business was impacted you can apply here.

The process doesn't end with the grant. Eventually they will send you a loan offer. Again appears to be based on the number of people involved. However this is a loan that has to be paid back over 30 years at 3% interest. So keep that in mind if you get into this part of the process.

Hope this help and stay safe. I wasn't expecting much and was pleasantly surprised to have received the grant. I feel this will help many of us who have lost sales as a result of the pandemic.

Sale - Wilderlands of High Fantasy Maps Reduced in Price

Originally shared at Bat in the Attic. Reshared with permission.

note: below is from Rob Conley

Given what happened recently with Judges Guild I have not been promoting my products even though I still offer them for sale. Still, I have been getting a steady stream of sales and I thank everybody who purchased one of my products.

With problems caused by the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) many companies been offering various products for free or at a reduced price.

I am offering the PDFs of the first set of maps for Wilderlands of High Fantasy for half off and reducing the price of the print version by $5. Remember the PDF of the guidebook comes with the maps so you only need to buy the guidebook for $5.99 if you want a print copy.

Rob's Note: Offering a combo map/book product was also an experiment. You can't bundle them due to the fact that OneBookshelf has two different printing services for posters/cards versus books. I thought I would make the map the primary product and the guidebook the add-on.

In hindsight, this would have been better if the guidebook was the primary product with all the PDF including those of the map. And the poster product was the add-on. The PDF option for the poster would be free and be a promotional brochure. I will talk more about this when I release the Wild North.

As for the Wild North, I am in the midst of drawing up the towns. There are five important towns in the setting. The major difference is that Russian houses are built on lots and have fenced-in yards. So it is more open than a traditional medieval city. Of course, at the center is the kremlin or citadel. Most of the town at this point in the history of the Wild North only has wooden kremlin.

Those are affiliate links above. Affiliate links keep the taps cold and the heat on at The Tavern.

Deal of the Day - Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Color Maps

Note that buying the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Color Maps will get you the Guidebook PDF as well. There are 18 maps to the Wilderlands divided into four sets of guidebooks and maps. This deal is for the first set of five maps including the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

The guidebook has an introduction and map commentary by Rob Conley. Each map in the guidebook is detailed with the following listings: Villages, Castles & Citadels, Idyllic Isles, Ruins & Relics, and Lurid Lairs. Any statistic or rule is compatible with Swords and Wizardry and various classic editions of the original roleplaying game. (Borrowed from Rob's Bat in the Attic post)

Normally 9.99, as the current Deal of the Day it is on sale for 4.99

Product Description

In 1976, Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen went into business as Judges Guild. Their initial offering was centered on a magnificent 34" by 44" map of the City State of Invincible Overlord. First appearing at Gen Con IX, it was sold literally out of the trunk of a car during the convention.

This map launched Judges Guild which began working on even more ambitious project, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. This became an ambitious project of 18 22" by 17" maps covering a total area 800 miles from west to east, and 1,000 miles from north to south. Each individual map was divided into 5 miles hexes covering an area of 260 miles west to east, and 170 miles from north to south.

Now forty years later those maps have been redrawn in full color. These maps preserves the original detail and applies known errata and corrections. Each was drawn as part of single 6 foot by 8 foot map encompassing the entire Wilderlands then subdivided and cropped.

These maps are not a scanned images of the original but have been redrawn from scratch. The guidebook is also not a scanned image but has been relaid out from the original text with errata and corrections applied.

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook
This product contains a 24 page Guidebook for the five maps of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. The books has an introduction and commentary by Robert S. Conley who has used the Wilderlands as his main fantasy campaign for nearly forty years. Each map is detailed with the following listings: Villages, Castles & Citadels, Idyllic Isles, Ruins & Relics, and Lurid Lairs.

This product contains
5 PDFs of the following 22" by 17" maps: City State of the Invincible Overlord Map One, Barbarian Altanis Map Two, Glow-Worm Steppes Map Three, Tarantis Map Four, and Valon Map Five.
1 PDF of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook.

The print option adds the following:
Ten overlapping full scale maps of each half of the maps.
There is a separate print product avaliable for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook if you want a print copy of the Guidebook. Otherwise the PDF for the guidebook is included in this product.

This product is a authorized Judges Guild release for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Note: That is an affiliate link above. I thank you in advance.

Journey's End (for now), the Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches has been released! (Reposted from the Bat in the Attic Blog)

The following was first posted over on Rob Conley's Bat in the Attic Blog. All the following words are Rob's. Affiliate links are The Tavern's. Keep the beer cold and the lights on at The Tavern via our affiliate links :)

I (Rob) am pleased to announce the release of Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches. This is the fourth of four products covering the eighteen maps that encompass the Judges Guild Wilderlands setting. This product covers four of the maps as detailed below. The four sets combined will cover a region equal in size to Western Europe providing years and decades of adventuring for you and your group.

Unlike many setting products, the Wilderlands sketches out the overview and history in light detail. Then presents a comprehensive list of local detail in a compact format that is customizable. This eliminates much of the tedious work involved in creating a setting and allows the referee to focus on the campaign and the grand adventures the players face as their characters.

This is presented as two products both in PDF and Print on Demand.

The first product is a 44-page guidebook containing a brief overview of and commentary on Maps Fifteen to Map Eighteen of the Wilderlands along with lists covering details on Villages, Castles, Lairs, Ruins, and Islands.

Due to the extensive use of monsters from the supplements to the original edition, this release details 7 monsters and provides full statistics suitable for use with Swords and Wizardry and similar RPGs.

The Guidebook for the Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches also includes charts, tables, and rules concerning the Triumphant Grand Tactical mapping system used by the Wilderlands, how to build strongholds, and establishing baronies. In addition, information has been added on the demographics of the Wilderlands along with new rules governing pastoral and nomadic cultures. Because Tula, the City of Wizards, plays a prominent role in this region, rules for potion and magic item creations has been included. Finally, as the Isle of the Blest straddles the corners of four maps, a combined map and list has been added as a bonus chapter. This includes the background originally written by Scott Fulton in Pegasus #3.

Included with the Guidebook are a letter-sized blank map of the Wilderlands that can be used to take notes during a campaign. A PDF with the map legend. A letter-size black and white guide to the placement of each of the 18 maps within the Wilderlands.

Finally a giant-sized preliminary version of the master map that I used to crop the individual maps from. With the right printer, this can be printed as a full-scale map 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. With the PDF you can selectively copy out regions as complete maps that overlap the borders of the 18 maps. After the release of the final set of maps this file will be updated as a layered PDF allowing for custom maps of the Wilderlands to be copied or created.

The second product is a set of four maps:  Isles of the Dawn Map Fifteen, Southern Reaches Map Sixteen, Silver Skein Isles Map Seventeen, and Ghinor Highlands Map Eighteen. When ordered via print on the demand they are printed in two overlapping halves each on a 12" by 18" poster. In addition, each map is presented as a 22" by 17" PDF file.

The maps have been redrawn from the original in a color style. Instead of the distinct symbols of the original maps, the terrain has been drawn as a transparent fill and vegetation represented by colored areas. This allows both terrain and vegetation to overlap. Representing more accurately the complexity and diversity of the Wilderland's geography.

This release is the final book in a series of four covering the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

A preview PDF

The Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches Guidebook

The Wilderlands of the Fantastic Reaches Map

Bundles

I now offer bundles of all four sets of guidebooks and maps at 25% off buying separately. There are four bundles two sets of print or PDF for the guidebooks, and two sets of print or PDF for the maps. DrivethruRPG doesn't allow maps and books to be mixed in the same bundle (or order).

Wilderlands Guidebook Bundle (PDF)
Wilderlands Guidebook Bundle (Print)
Wilderlands Map Bundle (PDF) 
Wilderlands Map Bundle (Print)

Wilderlands - Rob Conley Announces the Release of the Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde (Judges Guild)

I'm sharing this from Rob Conley's Bat in the Attic blog with his express permission. Linked products have affiliate links that support The Tavern. This was shared by Rob last night. Tenkar

I am pleased to announce the release of the Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde. This is one of four products covering the eighteen maps that encompasses the Judges Guild Wilderlands setting. This product covers five of the maps as detailed below. The four sets combined will cover a region equal in size to Western Europe providing years and decades of adventuring for you and your group.

Unlike many setting products, the Wilderlands sketches out the overview and history in light detail. Then presents a comprehensive list of local detail in a compact format that is customizable. This eliminates much of the tedious work involved in creating a setting and allows the referee to focus on the campaign and the grand adventures the players face as their characters.

This is presented at two products both in PDF and Print on Demand.

This product is a 38 page Guidebook for the five maps of the Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde. The books have an introduction and commentary by Robert S. Conley who has used the Wilderlands as his main fantasy campaign for nearly forty years. Each map is detailed with the following listings: Villages, Castles & Citadels, Idyllic Isles, Ruins & Relics, and Lurid Lairs.

Included with the Guidebook are letter sized blank map of the Wilderlands that can be used to take notes during a campaign. A PDF with the map legend. A letter size black and white guide to the placement of each of the 18 maps within the Wilderlands. This guidebook covers the City State of the World Emperor Map Six, Desert Lands Map Seven, Sea of Five Maps Map Eight, Elphand Lands Map Nine, and Lenap Map Ten.

Finally a giant-sized preliminary version of the master map that I used to crop the individual maps from. With the right printer, this can be printed as a full-scale map 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. With the PDF you can selectively copy out regions as complete maps that overlap the borders of the 18 maps. After the release of the final set of maps, this file will be updated as a layered PDF allowing for custom maps of the Wilderlands to be copied or created.

The second product is a set of five maps: City-State of the Invincible Overlord, Barbarian Altanis, Valley of the Ancients, Tarantis, and Valon. When ordered via print on the demand they are printed in two overlapping halves each on a 12" by 18" poster. In addition, each map is presented as a 22" by 17" PDF file.

The maps have been redrawn from the original in a color style. Instead of the distinct symbols of the original maps, the terrain has been drawn as a  transparent fill and vegetation represented by colored areas. This allows both terrain and vegetation to overlap. Representing more accurately the complexity and diversity of the Wilderland's geography.

Links:

Preview PDF (Free)

The Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde Guidebook  4.99 PDF / Print plus PDF 6.99

The Fantastic Wilderlands Beyonde Color Map  9.99 PDF / Print plus PDF 14.99

The First Five Maps and Guidebook for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy is Available for Sale

Rob Conley, in association with Judges Guild, has just released the first five maps and guidebook for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. If you backed the Kickstarter, check your email for a project update with backer links.

Now, this release is available in both PDF and Print on Demand.

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Revised Guidebook is $4.99 in PDF, $5.99 in Print plus PDF

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy, Color Maps is $9.99 in PDF, $14.99 in Print plus PDF (note: The PDF for the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook is included in this product. You only need to buy the separate guidebook if you want a print copy of the guidebook.)

There is a FREE Preview PDF that gives a sample map and some tables from the full releases. Download the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Preview PDF here. If you do nothing else, snag the preview. It is well worth your time to peruse. Heck, you basically get one of the 5 maps and all the charts to go with it.

Prior Release: City State of the Invincible Overlord, Color Map is $7.99 in PDF, $9.98 in Print plus PDF

In 1976, Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen went into business as Judges Guild. Their initial offering was centered on a magnificent 34" by 44" map of the City State of Invincible Overlord. First appearing at Gen Con IX, it was sold literally out of the trunk of a car during the convention. 

This map launched Judges Guild which began working on even more ambitious project, the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. This became an ambitious project of 18 22" by 17" maps covering a total area 800 miles from west to east, and 1,000 miles from north to south. Each individual map was divided into 5 miles hexes covering an area of 260 miles west to east, and 170 miles from north to south. 

Now forty years later those maps have been redrawn in full color. These maps preserves the original detail and applies known errata and corrections. Each was drawn as part of single 6 foot by 8 foot map encompassing the entire Wilderlands then subdivided and cropped.
These maps are not a scanned images of the original but have been redrawn from scratch. The guidebook is also not a scanned image but has been relaid out from the original text with errata and corrections applied. 

The Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook 

This product contains a 24 page Guidebook for the five maps of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. The books has an introduction and commentary by Robert S. Conley who has used the Wilderlands as his main fantasy campaign for nearly forty years. Each map is detailed with the following listings: Villages, Castles & Citadels, Idyllic Isles, Ruins & Relics, and Lurid Lairs. 

This product contains: 

5 PDFs of the following 22" by 17" maps: City State of the Invincible Overlord Map One, Barbarian Altanis Map Two, Glow-Worm Steppes Map Three, Tarantis Map Four, and Valon Map Five. 

1 PDF of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy Guidebook. 

The print option adds the following: 

Ten overlapping full scale maps of each half of the maps. 

You can read Rob's post at Bat in the Attic here.

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