I was recently going through my (pretty extensive) collection of original Judges Guild stuff for the Wilderlands/City-State setting, pulling together some stuff for my current campaign and it had me wondering how many other people out there actively use this stuff. It was formative to the evolution of the hobby, and for me personally, and I still use it a lot. The map sets, basic 'stocking' notes and random tables in these sets are still among the most useful things you could have at your table as a DM - they are certainly a way better foundation for real play than most of the wordy, expensive hard cover campaign books cluttering up my gaming shelves.
But, I'll bet a lot of people either have never seen the originals, or have seen them but not used them, and probably (accurately) saw them as kind of absurd historical artifacts. They are weirdly organized, has terrible production values, and a lot of it is super sketchy (though, importantly, not vague! there is tons of granular detail here; it just isn't fleshed out into anything you could call a story).
So, I'm curious to hear other people's experiences of these things.
FYI, my most recent uses have all focused on poaching chunks of the Wilderness campaign and its signature adventure sites for my ongoing game being played with The Fantasy Trip. I feel like this use of a totally different game system is highly appropriate in this case. This era of Judges Guild books were written with OD&D in mind, but I don't think anyone played this campaign setting, or any other OD&D campaign, without a lot of house rules. My table version of OD&D isn't really that different, in terms of at-table experience, from just playing The Fantasy Trip.
But, I'll bet a lot of people either have never seen the originals, or have seen them but not used them, and probably (accurately) saw them as kind of absurd historical artifacts. They are weirdly organized, has terrible production values, and a lot of it is super sketchy (though, importantly, not vague! there is tons of granular detail here; it just isn't fleshed out into anything you could call a story).
So, I'm curious to hear other people's experiences of these things.
FYI, my most recent uses have all focused on poaching chunks of the Wilderness campaign and its signature adventure sites for my ongoing game being played with The Fantasy Trip. I feel like this use of a totally different game system is highly appropriate in this case. This era of Judges Guild books were written with OD&D in mind, but I don't think anyone played this campaign setting, or any other OD&D campaign, without a lot of house rules. My table version of OD&D isn't really that different, in terms of at-table experience, from just playing The Fantasy Trip.