So, I'm going to be GMing an 1st edition AD&D game set in the recent 3.5 edition reissue of the Wilderlands setting.

I'd like to start out in a small village or hamlet with, perhaps, a handy citadel nearby.

I'd like to concentrate on wilderness and dungeon adventures, as opposed to urban adventures. A dab of sea-faring and/or a dab of forest-faring would be nice, too. A conveniently nearby evil sorcerer/necromancer/witch would also be groovy.

Given those parameters where would the Wilderlands experts (and I know there are a few of you!) of the RPGsite recommend starting?

Thanks!

Tim

Edit: 4 players, starting at first level. We'll probably be using some sort of accelerated xp tables, since me and my group are all old and impatient.

I started with the group being the guards of a river merchant travelling the river up to Damkina in the Elphand Lands (should I better write: 2715 Damkina/Elphand Lands Sector? ).

That way they learned about the Wilderness, but finally arrived in a city. The city was something of a goal they worked for, and when they arrived there, they immedeately got caught up in Damkina politics/problems.

Damkina is nice as a starting city, as it´s:

- independent
- has many transients
- trade based
- connected to other areas by that means
- mostly good aligned
- allied to several other cities
- weak enough for the characters to matter
- fitted with a huge undercity/underwater/ruins to explore
- tied to regional conflicts (Citadel of Fire!)
- tied to Wilderlands grand history via the old Ginoran Empire
- has evil factions who plot against the king
- not too big
- has a Gargoyle problem, but very few magic weapons -> great problem solving for low level characters possible:

• observe Gargoyle problem
• research Gargoyles
• get magic weapon(s)
• organize help (King, Knights, Merchants)
• plan ambush
• find out who´s behind it
• further adventure

Hope that gets your juices flowing!

I recommend Tain north of city state on map 5. I designed it to be a frontier type place where orc hunters congregate before heading into Dearthwood to clear it for settlement under the orders of the Overlord.

Map 1 Elphand Lands and Map 2 Valon have numerous locations where forest, sea, rural, plus a nearby citadel combine.

Map 8 Barbarian Altanis and the North half of Map 11 combine into a largely rural era with jungle, sea, and various citadel within a stone throw of each other.

Here is an overview

Modron

You can download a write-up of the city, complete with maps, from the Judges Guild site.

Small, centrally located, busy port city.

A couple day's journey from the City State of the Invincible Overlord.

A plausible locale for a bunch of adventurers to meet up in.

The main faction in the city is the temple of Mitra, which makes a great patron for a good-aligned party.

Some very cool underwater adventures described in the free download.

Lots of piracy and smuggling hooks that can take you either up-river to the CSIO, or out to sea.

The Roglaroon River People (descended from Orichalan dragonlords) make useful adversaries or clients.

Close to the Dreadwood, which is full of orcs and other stuff to kill.

Great replies, guys. An actual hex number! Cool political map from the writer! Free downloads!

Let me do some research and I'll be back for some discussion.

Tim

By way of follow up, I decided to set the campaign near the Plain of Skulls, in hex 1907 of the Valley of the Ancients map.

It was a fairly agonizing decision, as all three of the areas you guys mentioned were very interesting.

In the end it was the fallen draconic empire of the Valley of the Ancients, coupled with a nearby dark forest, and the looming presence of a burgeoning necromancer-king that won me over to this particular area.