Further OSR Commentary on Hacking Into the D20 Wilderlands of High Fantasy Using The Castles & Crusades Rpg - This Time 'The City State of Invincible Overlord' & Players Guide to the Wilderlands (Sword and Sorcery D20) book By Necromancer Games

"The Players Guide has details on everything Wilderlands, from key cities and geographical locations to important groups and organizations. Whether a veteran Judges Guild fan or a new player of Wilderlands you will find amazing adventures in this landmark fantasy setting."

Originally this was going to be a blog post about the City State of Invincible Overlord D20 book by Necromancer games. Then today a friend showed up with a copy of  Players Guide to the Wilderlands (Sword and Sorcery D20).  Thanks for the parting moving gifts Henry & George much appreciated! Now can we start with the fact that this is an essential book for running the Wilderlands even with Castles & Crusades. Sweet mother of God this is a dense book right outta of the gate. Even being from 2003. We get a whole package of PC races, a complete introduction to the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. And lots more! This is an essential book in my opinion. 

But why is it?! Because it dove tails right into the insanity of the City State of the Invincible Overlord D20 book with all of the Wilderlands PC races in check from Feral Dwarves to the weird birdmen of the setting. The history here is dense but approachable. All of the major wars, history, & events that shaped the Wilderlands of High Fantasy are here. This book is a must have for both the Wilderlands player & the dungeon master using the setting. I'm really glad to have this one in my collection again! An awesome book which goes right into D20 City State of the Invincible Overlord. So is this book still incredibly useful even if you're planning on using the Castles & Crusades system?! Yes! an absolute essential piece of kit. 

"Can your PC survive the mean streets of an evil city built upon the backs of the conquered? To negotiate their way safely through its labyrinthine roads, laws, and customs, your PCs had better keep their wits - and their blades - sharp!

Challenges also await adventurers beneath the city streets. Are your PCs ready for the various conspiracies, dungeons, tunnels, and creatures that lie under the City State?

Far more than just a revision, this Judges Guild classic is updated and re-imagined for v.3.5 rules. It contains a wealth of information on both the popular City State of the Invincible Overlord and on the dungeons and creatures first described in the original Wraith Overlord."

The more that as a reader I'm going through the Necromancer D20 books especially the City State of the Invincible Overlord (Revised d20) book the more it occurs to me that these books are one huge package. Everything here is keyed to actually work together & then some. The whole cloth of the City State D20 book is rife with all of the denseness that we find in the Players Guide to the Wilderlands (Sword and Sorcery D20) only magnified by 100. Its dettail after detail after detail for the 
Wilderlands of High Fantasy fan & dungeon master because this is a setting book & not a garden variety supplement. The cartography in these books is awesome & off the chain for a D20 product. Are these books useful for the Castles & Crusades DM?! Yes they are because these books  take the material in the Magnificent Miscellaneum series & cast it in a very usable light. 

Much of the D20 material is easily ported over into Castles & Crusades system & makes for a most excellent campaign. Now all of the above is workable into the supplements that are going to be coming out of the Troll Lords Kickstarter. In point of fact the video that came out the other night highlights this.  Go to the latter half of the video towards the end. 

There's be a ton of activity on the MeWe Wilderlands of High Fantasy group that I'm a member of. Some of their posts have quite literally hit the high marks in some of the City State historical events that are mentioned in the the City State of the Invincible Overlord (Revised d20) book. Taking a look through some of the Castles & Crusades Player's Hand book & some of the other system books there's a complete PC overlay here. 

But one thing I noticed right outta of the gate here is the overtones of the D20 Wilderlands of High Fantasy & The Haunted Highlands especially in the Celtic areas. 

This is the same series of Celtic campaign pivot points also appear within the Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing book. This series of mythology & legends also appears within another TSR classic era setting. 

The more deeply we dive into these various campaign settings the more we're seeing parallels to other classic era campaigns & in this case its gotta be Greyhawk. 
Now this isn't a mistake on Troll Lords part. 

Much of these developments are writer & editor nods & homages to Gary Gygax but its nods that we can take advantage of to cement a campaign rivalry between worlds. More as this develops.