The whole thing passed me by, even though I started gaming in 1981. It was never sold in any of the shops I went to as a teenager, and it wasn't in the Sears catalog. I remember seeing the ads and wondering what it was, but I never bought any JG materials until the 1990's with the rise of the internet and eBay. Since then, I've used some of it in my own campaign. Specifically, Caverns of Thacia was a lot of fun for us.

I, too, have never been exposed to the JG stuff. I have certainly heard good things about their product, Wilderlands, Traci a and Overlord particularly. Now that some of these have been made available on DriveThru, I may pick them up and have a look.

Anyway, I have found that AS&SH provides a perfectly good rules platform, regardless of the setting you are using. It's definitely my system of choice. If you need demihumans, they can be pulled from old-school system of choice fairly easily.

Pandelume wrote:

Thanks for all the great comments! It's weird... I think my parents bought me my 1e DMG from that very same Sears Christmas catalogue (I had completely forgotten about that)!

When I finally found my first gaming store years later, I would scoff at the JG stuff as being cheap knock-offs and ignored it. Now that I'm older, I regret that response. There's a lot of cool ideas in their stuff that I'm mining for my homebrew, which I think was probably the point. As I get older, I'm finding that I'm attracted more and more to a certain flavor or vibe (writing style, art, Appendix N-type inspiration) that I get from certain gaming products - old or new. That certainly wasn't the case 20 years ago.

Agree about the system - I'm thinking of posting a review somewhere when I can find the time to do it justice. There are a lot of subtle, brilliant hidden gems in the mechanics that I think some of the reviews I've come across have missed (just my humble opinion). And I think it's been mentioned before elsewhere in these forums, but running this game has gotten some of my players (who are younger than me) to read the classic stories that inspired it. Being an older player from the early 80s, that alone has been my favorite part, so chalk me up as being an AS&SH fanboy...

 
Great post!  I've actually done the opposite. I have played some other systems and taken the players to Hyperborea.  Typically one shots but always returned to my regular campaign using the ASSH rule set.  I do especially like the very original classes and the sense of immersion you feel when using them.

Morgan

k2h2m3 wrote:

Where would be good places to put JG Dark Tower in Hyperborea?
 

Brigands Bay . . . Vikland . . . maybe work it in with the subterranean Kimmerians? Maybe near Nod's Chain, between the Kimmerian steppes and Gal?

My introduction to D&D involved the Wilderlands.

In the late 70s (A Farewell to Kings by Rush had just come out, so 77/78), I used to sneak down to my cousin's basement where he and his stoner friends played D&D on a ping pong table.  I never played (I was 8 or 9), but I thought it was pretty neat.  

About 10 years ago, he told me he ran CSIO/Wilderlands, using OD&D, with parts of Greyhawk and Blackmoor, and of course, the JG material.  Back in the day, he said the local hobby shop had all/most of the JG stuff as it came out, and he picked up a bunch of it.

As a result, I picked up some JG stuff, and have read through it from time to time.  It's kinda like the background radiation of D&D for me.  I can't place my finger on anything that the JG stuff has had a direct influence on my way of playing the game, but I'm sure it's there somewhere.

It's interesting to note that the same hobby shop is still open, though I don't think they do games anymore, just model railroad and RC planes/cars/boats.  It is the same hobby shop my Dad bought me my first gaming material: the Modlvay Basic set and a few weeks later, 1st ed Gamma World.