A classic walks among us once more: It is time to visit the legendary City State of the Invincible Overlord, a hoary relic left from the younger days of roleplaying.
Review Originally Published February 12th, 2001
Once upon a time, there was a company known as the Judges Guild. In their day they released more than one hundred “generic fantasy” (nudge, nudge; wink, wink) supplements. The quality of these supplements – easily some of the best material produced to that date – earned the Guild a reputation of excellence. But then the Guild went away and – although nostalgia granted it a place in the collective memory of gamedom – its products faded into the mists of time.
Undoubtedly the Guild’s most famous product, and the one which still holds renown twenty years later, was City State of the Invincible Overlord. This incredible volume described its titular subject with exacting detail: Every street and nearly every building is given a description, a cast of characters, and set of events – minimalist in each instance, perhaps, but monstrous in totality. Add to this the dungeon complexes of the Overlord’s castle, the Orcs of the Purple Claw, and the nearby Thunderhold (a dwarven citadel) and you have a product which was capable of acting as the epic cornerstone of many a campaign.
A few years after the Judges Guild disappeared, the City State supposedly returned in a boxed set released by Mayfair. This product was a travesty – robbing the City State of its former breadth of detail, while simultaneously failing to grant it any significant depth. It was obviously one of those horrid examples of someone trying to “save” a product which they don’t understand, and which never needed “saving” in the first place.
Imagine my surprise, therefore, a few months ago when I discovered that the Judges Guild had returned. No, not a “new Judges Guild.” Not someone who’s bought the name, nor someone who’s trying to copy the concept, but the founder himself and a crew dedicated to “bringing back Judges Guild the way it was – but better”. (As the Judges Guild website says.)
And their first product? What else besides a re-release of the revised version of their classic City State, complete with two B&W poster maps and everything which made the original a classic.
For $10.
Yup, you read that right: One of the classic products of gaming is back, and they’re only asking ten bucks for it. Ten measly bucks.
If you haven’t already left to go buy your copy yet, then it’s obvious you’re going to need a hard sell – which sounds like a cue for the conclusion of this review:
CONCLUSION
City State of the Invincible Overlord is a hoary relic left from the younger days of roleplaying… but there’s a reason it’s regarded as a classic: There’s more fodder here for the imaginative DM than the more polished products of today could hope to squeeze into twice as many pages.
Of course, let’s not pretend that the polished products of today don’t come with a lot more depth, development, and useful bits, too. They do. So, there’s a lot of fix-up you’re going to need to do – and a lot of development which is left to your own personal whim and taste: But at $10, City State is still a veritable steal.
City State is a firm foundation. And what you choose to build on it is all part of the fun.
Style: 3
Substance: 4
Grade: B+
Title: City State of the Invincible Overlord (Revised)
Authors: Bob Bledsaw and Bill Own
Company: Judges Guild
Line: Judges Guild
Price: $10.00
ISBN: n/a
Production Code: JG1999-0062
Pages: 86
I’d been hearing about the City State of the Invincible Overlord almost from the moment I joined the hobby, but I’d never even seen a copy. When I saw a copy of the Mayfair boxed set in the used section of my local game store, I instantly snatched up a copy… only to be bitterly disappointed to discover that it wasn’t the “real deal,” so to speak.
So, in 2001, this wasn’t quite the Holy Grail of Gaming for me. But it was certainly a Grail. So, yeah, when I heard that Judges Guild was back and selling the original City State of the Invincible Overlord for $10, I literally could not order a copy fast enough. It remains one of my most cherished gaming books.
If you’d like to see some tangible details about the book, its history, and its contents, check out Thinking About Urbancrawls: City States of the Judges Guild.
For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.
Bummed that this is no where to be found in 2025!
It appears that the item has been removed
What the City-state needed was more detailed maps. Same maps but with furniture and more details of the interiors, perhaps blown up to be battlemaps.
To those wondering why you can’t find it any more:
It’s because Bob Bledsaw died and his son, Bob Bledsaw II, who took over the company, came out as an anti-semite. That was the end of Judges Guild again.