About the same time that Judges Guild released City State of the Invincible Overlord Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owen introduced the hobby to yet another hobby standout product, Wilderlands of High Fantasy. The Wilderlands mapped out a good portion of the fantasy world in which the City State was located and like the City state of the Invincible Overlord, the product had a very catchy title. Wilderlands consisted of 5 sets of maps, one each of the referee and player copies and 2 sixteen page guideline books. Player copies of the maps had less detail, but both player and referee copies were full size (17" x 22") and printed on the enchanting pebble-grain tan paper that gives Judges Guild maps the feel of quality and antiquity. The maps all have a numbered hex grid printed on them in a manner that doesn't detract from the beauty of the cartography, but does allow for quick reference. Such hex grids have often appeared on cardboard chit and paper map wargames starting well before the 1977 publication date of Wilderlands. The guideline booklets contain descriptions of some of the numbered hexes, but not nearly all of them. The entries are brief and mostly intended to act as inspiration for the referee's imagination. Many entries are suggestive of plot hooks and with improvisation or more careful detailed design on the part of the referee could become the adventure of an evening or two's play. I have never owned Avalon Hill's (noted publisher of those paper map wargames) Outdoor Survival, but it is my understanding that it has a wilderness map, presumably with a hex grid, and can be used as described in the White Box to provide a setting for wilderness adventure. My friends and I did have access to Judges Guild Wilderlands of High Fantasy and spent many gaming sessions exploring the world maps hex-by-hex in a style of White Box play that is now termed hexcrawling. The Wilderlands of High Fantasy setting was one of somewhat isolated city states separated by tracks of wilderness where monsters ruled and adventure was possible in each hex on the map. There was not much history of the world provided so each referee was therefore encouraged to make the Wilderlands their own setting by inventing what wasn't provided in the brief guideline material. The Wilderlands of High Fantasy is therefore very much in keeping with that do-it-yourself theme that is so prevalent and I think appealing in the White Box game.
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