Nidevellir
an unpublished campaign setting by Geoffrey Dale
 
 

I don't suppose anyone out there knows it, but back in 1980-1981 JG was seriously working on releasing Nidevellir as a campaign setting essentially identical to the various Wilderlands.  At the time Nidevellir existed at a hand-drawn colored-pencil topographic map on my dorm wall, maybe 7 feet long and 5 feet high, along with a few dungeons (like Lindoran), and a large city map (I don't recall the name of the city but it was going to be all Lycanthropes).  Over the summer of 1980 I prepared 3 large scale maps of southwest Nidevellir (the name of the largest land mass) coast and the several large islands just to the west (JG sent me blank numbered hex sheets); the entire mapped campaign area would have taken about 20 of the large JG maps.  Each map was done to the same size and scale as the 18 Wilderland maps, with the same cartographic symbols.  I also prepared various algorithms to generate hex contents to place villages, lairs, castles, ruins, and the like.  As I recall I completed hex data tables for 2 of the 3 maps but never typed them into the booklet format JG wanted.

As 1980 ended I was embroiled in discussions with JG's art director, whose first name I think was Dave (Ed note: David Sering?), about whether those maps were ready for the printers.  To be best of my recollection, the project eventually foundered when Dave left JG for parts unknown.  I wish I knew what happened to those draft campaign maps; of course I also wish I knew what happened to the originals for the unpublished Inferno Circles 5 and 6, too.