Bill Wilkerson's Original Known World documents
unearthed by Travis HenryBill Wilkerson, a player in Tom Moldvay's and Lawrence Schick's Original Known World (OKW) campaign (c.1976-1979), graciously met with me at a copy shop in Akron this morning, and we scanned the contents of his accordion folder.
These documents are the complete set of the Akron/Kent OD&D OKW house rules crafted by Moldvay & Schick (with some additions by Wilkerson). These scans build upon what was shared in Lawrence Schick's 2015 article at Black Gate, and James Mishler's follow-up interviews with Lawrence, and my August 2021 interviews with Bill Wilkerson and another OKW player, Ralph Wagner.
These documents were in Bill Wilkerson's folder:
-Photocopies of Moldvay's & Schick's OD&D house rules. We scanned them in three batches, which I here arbitrarily designate A, B, and C.
-Tom Moldvay's character sheet for one of his PCs: Moirrighan, a human female Fighter / Magic-User. This is an original (not photocopied) document, featuring Tom's own ballpoint-pen hand-writing.
-Bill Wilkerson's campaign prep notes, which provide further details on the Original Known World, such as the name of the continent: Imirrhos. These were his notes from when he prepared to DM in the Original Known World; though as far as he recalls, he didn't put them to use.
-"The Quest for the Sacred Sceptre" adventure. Bill Wilkerson's submission to one of the early Dungeon Design Contests held by DRAGON magazine. Set in the Kingdom of Talinor. The adventure was not selected, and the contest rules stipulated that the submissions become property of TSR. Bill wonders how the dating of his Spider Queen design relates to the dating and development of Lolth, and whether he based his Spider Queen on Lolth, or vice versa. (I looked up the International Dungeon Design Contest (IDDC): the first contest posted the list of winners in DRAGON #32 December 1979 (it says the judging took two months longer than planned); and the start of the second contest (IDDC II) was announced in DRAGON#36 April 1980. Any experts in Lolth are welcome to chime in.)
There are many gems to uncover in Wilkerson's cache. I've barely started to digest it myself. Feel free to start pulling gems out and showing them to us all!
Shannon Appelcline, D&D historian and author of Designers & Dragons (facebook)(Patreon), kindly compiled the OD&D house rules and setting into a single PDF composed of four OD&D-style booklets:
The Known World—Volume I: Men & Magic
The Known World—Volume II: Monsters & Treasure
The Known World—Volume III: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
The Known World—Supplement I: Imhirros
He did two versions: regular PDF and OCR PDF (a very large file).
Shannon writes:
Wow, Travis, amazing. Thanks so much.
I reorganized the papers into a coherent order, indexed them, removed the duplicates, and also removed the Giants in the Earth, which were from Dragon magazine and thus a copyright problem.
(I didn't include the adventure, but the three house rule files and Bill's prep notes are there.)
If you like, please feel free to copy it to your Google Doc.
I also created an OCRed searchable version, but it really bloated in size for some reason. But feel free to use that too if you like.
If you notice that I missed anything or misordered anything, let me know, it's relatively easy to revamp.
Shannon
Bill asked me to post:
"Regarding my written notes for the Known World, they were written after the date of Tom's and Lawrence's creation of the Known World. My intent with these notes was to flesh out some ideas of my own for a home brew campaign. These were intended for my own use, not for publication, and to honor Tom's and Lawrences seminal work with a home brew campaign."
From reading your interviews with Lawrence, and from my interviews with Bill, my initial understanding of the timeline was this:
1974: Tom and Lawrence pick up the OD&D boxed set.
1974-1976: T & L learn the game and build ideas for a shared campaign.
early 1976: T & L type up the house rules, as seen in these documents. These documents date from 1976. The Imirrhos wall-map (several feet long) is also constructed at this time.
Summer of 1976: Play begins at Kent State off-campus dwellings, using the 1976 type-written documents and wall map as campaign guides.
1976-1979: T & L co-DM in Kent and Akron. This is the golden age of the OKW.
February 1979: The DM registry in DRAGON #22 lists Tom (with a Kent address), Lawrence (Kent), and Bill (Akron address). At this time there are only 500 listed DMs in the world.
1979: Lawrence photocopies the 1976 OKW documents as his resume, and is hired by TSR. Bill recalls that Tom DMed for a little while on his own, while Lawrence was off at TSR. Lawrence puts the good word in for Tom, and Tom is subsequently hired.
1980: Tom and Lawrence are both at TSR in Wisconsin. The Akron group continues to meet, with Bill as DM.
February 1981: Bill Wilkerson and Ralph Wagner (another OKW player) are listed in the acknowledgements of Moldvay's Basic Rules.
1980-2000: The Akron group continues to play AD&D 1e, with Bill as DM. They never switched to 2e. Their usual meeting place is Diane Peske's house. Usually a boardgame session would be going on at the same time as an RPG, in different rooms of the house.
2000: The group switches to 3e. Boardgames continue.
2000-2022: Over the decades, the group's interest switches entirely to boardgames. (Though Bill continued to play D&D with a 5E group that met at the Malted Meeple game-tavern, and continues to play with that DM online.) This group, which Ralph calls the "the Zany, Zany Wilkersanes" (sp?) is a continuation of the Original Known World group. They are still meeting in 2022, though slowed due to Corona. (I got to play with Bill and Ralph one night during my Akron visit in fall 2021: we played the Korean boardgame Four Gardens, at Great Oaks Tavern in Wadsworth, on the outskirts of Akron.)
However, as James and others discover datable elements in the documents, I think the timeline as to when the documents were typed up can be honed and revised. I imagine it's hard for folks to remember sequences from 40+ years ago.
This could be the revised timeline (in blue):
1974: Tom and Lawrence pick up the OD&D boxed set.
1974-1976: T & L learn the game and build ideas for a shared campaign. There's no type-written documents at this time; maybe there were ephemeral hand-written notes which have been lost to time.
Summer of 1976: Play begins at Kent State off-campus dwellings. The campaign is co-DMed by T & L, and house rules evolve over the course of three years, but there's still no type-written campaign guide. However, the Imhirros wall map (several feet long) is produced at this time, or at some point in the course of actual play.
1976-1979: T & L co-DM in Kent and Akron. This is the golden age of the OKW. At some point the Imhirros wall map is produced and used during play, since Bill recalls Tom pointing to a hex on the map and telling them they need to clear the whole hex.
January 1977: Arduin Grimoire Vol. I is published. The "Boots of Banana Peel," "Hawk Helm," and the "Ring of Ruthlessness" are added to the OKW house rules.
June 1978: The AD&D PHB is published. The AD&D equipment list prices are included in the OKW house rules.
June/July 1978: White Dwarf #7 is published. The "incompetent wraith" is adapted by Bill as the Withra for the OKW.
Sometime between June 1978 and 1979: Gathering their hand-written notes and experiences from the years of play in Kent and Akron, Lawrence and Tom type up the OKW documents as a sort of "resume" for applying to TSR.
February 1979 The DM registry in DRAGON #22 lists Tom (with a Kent address), Lawrence (Kent), and Bill (Akron address). (etc.)
1979: The recently typed-up OKW "resume" works! Lawrence is hired by TSR. Bill recalls that Tom DMed for a little while on his own, while Lawrence was off at TSR. Lawrence puts the good word in for Tom, and Tom is subsequently hired.
etc.
***
Basically I'm suggesting that these type-written documents were produced as "resumes" for Lawrence and Tom's application to TSR in late 1978 / early 1979. As distillations and elaborations gathered from their years of co-DMing the Imirrhos campaign in Kent and Akron. However, there is evidence that the wall map (several feet long) may've been produced earlier, and saw actual play during the golden age of the Akron campaign. Perhaps they used the Imirrhos wall map to then make a (mail-able) 8x11"-sized hex map for the TSR resume.
Thoughts?
I like that we now have official "long form" titles for all the geo-political entites of the OKW:
Sources:
-OOC ("ORIGINS OF CHARACTERS" section)
-MISC ("Misc." section)
-BWLP (Bill Wilkerson legal pad)
Geo-political entities of the Imirrhosian Continent (aka the Continent of Imirrhos):
Thang Empire (defunct) (BWLP)
the Great Orc Confederation (defunct) (BWLP)
Empire of Thyatis (OOC, MISC, BWLP), the Thyatic Empire (BWLP): the largest power in Imirrhos. (BWLP)
Empire of Cezavy (OOC, MISC), Kingdom of Cezavy (BWLP): the third-largest power in Inmirrhos. (BWLP)
Empire of Alasiya (OOC), Kingdom of Alasiya (MISC, BWLP)
Empire of Thanegioth (OOC)
City-State of Darokin (OOC), Republic of Darokin (BWLP): the second-largest power in Imirrhos. (BWLP)
City-State of Keraptis (OOC): an "eastern outpost of the Thyatic Empire." (BWLP)
City-State of Minrothad (OOC)
City-State of Cynidicea (OOC): spelled "Cynidecia" in BWLP.
City-State of Karameikos (OOC)
City-State of Akorros (OOC): spelled "Akoros" (with one "r") in the "CITIES" page, the "LANGUAGES" page, and in BWLP.
City-State of Ierendi (OOC)
City-State of Sxodan (OOC): "the only centralized habitation left of what was once the Great Orc Confederation." (BWLP)
City-State of Nolo-Nolo (OOC)
City-State of Gugonix (OOC)
Kingdom of Dwrain (OOC), spelled "Dwyrain" in the "HUMAN LANGUAGES" section of the same page; and also in the "CITIES" page , "LANGUAGES" page, and in BWLP.
Kingdom of Gorllewin (OOC, MISC, BWLP)
Kingdom of Soderfjord (OOC)
Kingdom of Ostland (OOC)
Kingdom of Vestland (OOC)
Kingdom of Corunglain (OOC)
Tribe of Ethengar (OOC), Ethengar Clans (BWLP)
Tribe of Mnokki (OOC), Mnokki Clans (BWLP)
Tribe of Dulesmiir (OOC), Dulesmir Tribes (BWLP): spelled "Dulesmir" (with one "i") in the "TRIBES" page , the "LANGUAGES" page, and BWLP.
Tribe of Malpheggi (OOC)
Tribe of Quastog (OOC)
Tribe of Qeda (OOC)
Tribe of Mmesshny (OOC)
Tribe of Hagath (OOC), spelled "Hagith" in "LANGUAGES" section.
Tribe of Stregghon (OOC)
Tribe of Capheron (OOC)
Tribe of Kerendas (OOC)
Tribe of Heldann (OOC), Heldann Clans (BWLP)
Tribe of Atruaghin (OOC)
Freeholds of the South Coast (OOC), "S. Coast freeholds" in the "HUMAN LANGUAGES" section.
Freeholds of the Valley (OOC), "Valley freeholds" in the "HUMAN LANGUAGES" section.
Freeholds of the North Coast (OOC), "N. Coast freeholds" in the "HUMAN LANGUAGES" section.
City of Nanq-Rubbob (OOC)
City of Ylaruam (OOC), Emirate of Ylaruam (BWLP)
City of Biazzan (OOC)
City of Llyntref (OOC): spelled "Llyndref" in BWLP.
City of Mavvrand (OOC)
Geo-political groupings:
"the Heldanni kingdoms" (OOC):
-Kingdom of Soderfjord
-Kingdom of Ostland
-Kingdom of Vestland
-Note: the Tribe of Heldann is a distinct entity, since it's listed alongside the three Heldanni kingdoms in the Heldann langauge entry of the "HUMAN LANGUAGES" section. The Tribe of Heldann is Heldanni, but not a kingdom.
Thasian Confederation (BWLP):
-Corunglain
-Cynidecia [sic]
-Karameikos
-Akoros
-Selenica & Akesoli (Kingdom of Alasiya)
I talked with Bill on the phone this morning. Here's some updates:
He tried to register for the Piazza, but his YahooMail blocked it, and he is having trouble accessing his Gmail account. He said he would like to respond to questions, and hopes to untangle the registration snag at some point.
He affirmed that the wall-map was created back when they were still playing in Kent. I would've liked to have gone into more chronology questions, but we focused on some other subjects, and I forgot to go back to the chronology topic.
He found additional documents, and will photocopy these and mail them to me next week, so I can scan them too:
-He found his notes for the cancelled Lords of Creation module, Lost Atlantis.
-He found his own OKW character sheets (such as Baskins & Robbins), including also Gaddabout Higgins, his high elf Fighter/Mage/Thief.
-He found his own alternate Cleric rules system.
-He's going to photocopy where the edges of Tom's "Moirrighan" two-page character sheet got cut off in the scan.
Could y'all help point out any pages of the scan which have text which was cut off to the point where it's indecipherable? I'll send these to hopefully add to Bill's list. These are the ones I found:
-The CLERICAL SPELLS page cut off some 9th and 10th level spells.
-The top of the SOLOMON KANE stats.
-The top of the OGIER THE DANE stats.
-The top of the SHEELBA OF THE EYELESS FACE stats.
-There's one whole page of DUNGEONS WANDERING MONSTERS TABLES which is so washed out, it's mostly illegible. Can the "darkness" level be turned up all the way on the photocopier?
-The left edge of the "Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Level Dungeon Parties" page.
-The left edge of the "Seventh and Eighth Level Dungeon Parties" page.
Bill clarified that the reason the OKW "Deities & Demigods" pages were not included the scan is that he sold those pages to a D&D collector some years ago, which is where those earlier online scans came from.
I asked if there were any other pages of the Moldvay/Schick Known World-related texts which were sold. He said no; the only other things sold were:
1) Tom's self-published Fantasy Miniatures Rules, which Tom had gotten printed on cardstock. These were sold on eBay a few years ago. This relates to the OKW, since Tom ran mass battle scenarios in the OKW using these rules, such as a dinosaur battle, which (according to my August 2021 interview with Bill) may've taken place in the Valley of the Thunder Lizards in the OKW. As a side note: on the phone, Bill mentioned that Tom also wrote a standalone Dino Wars miniatures game which was published in DRAGON magazine.
I found images and overviews of *two different* Moldvay miniatures games on Worthpoint:
D&D FANTASY MINIATURES RULES (many type-written pages):
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 1809681127
The D&D rules include a campaign map of "The Land", which doesn't appear to be Imirrhos.
EPIC BATTLES (5 pages of rules printed on three 2-sided sheets of cardstock):
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 1809681088
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 1919203088
My hypothesis is that the D&D FMR are from an early date, and were used in the OKW campaign; they may've been typed up in the resume-building phase of late 1978/early 1979. But that the Epic Battles rules may be from Tom's post-TSR work, around the time he was producing things for Avalon Hill and his own Challenges Game System. Just a guess.
2) A unpublished adventure module by Moldvay which filled a 2-inch thick binder. This was sold to Allan Grohe. I suspect this is the Morandir Trilogy, which uses Tom's own post-TSR Challenges Game System: CH-1 The Morandir Company, CH-2 Seren Ironhand (published by Moldvay's Challenges International in 1986), and CH-3 The Mountain King. Grohe has posted notes here:
https://acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... 31#p249131
https://tabletop.events/conventions/tsu ... chedule/60
CH-2: https://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=14166
3) An entire manuscript novel. Bill recalls that it was not D&D, but more of an Indiana Jones-style adventure. This manuscript was sold to Allan Grohe.
That phone conversation clarified several questions. And I'm looking forward to getting some further scans to you!
Today on the phone (Jan. 23, 2022), Bill confirmed that the full-sized wall-map was used during their early Kent State era of play.
It may be noted that the 8x11" black-and-white map seen in the type-written OKW documents is not a photo-mechanical reduction of this Wall Map. The 8x11 Map was apparently drafted afterward, by transferring the contents of this wall map to the 8x11" hex paper. There are important differences between the two maps, which I'll elaborate in another post.
As for the history of the Wall Map--in my August 2021 interview, Bill, said:
"As for the map, I sold it to Alex Kammer, a serious collector. He designed a small number of modules. He is current owner of the OKW map. I was digging through boxes. The map was folded over and folded over again. Lawrence and Tom had gifted it to me. I got it out and had it framed. Allan Kammer ended up with a $1500 bid. Frank Mentzer says we could've gotten $5000. Alex is a good person to go to for further info. He organizes the Gamehole Con, each November in Madison, Wisconsin. He reframed it in a nicer frame, and displays the map at the convention for all to see."
*(Note: Alex Kammer is Convention Director of Gamehole Con, and his design work can be found at Gamehole Publishing, and in the Quests of Doom series by Frog God Games.)
These 11 photos are from Ralph Wagner, one of the players in the Original Known World campaign. Ralph writes (in the August 2021 interview):
"Well, I am Ralph Wagner, my son Adam Wagner and daughter-in-law, Lindsey Wagner, were given the task of taking of preserving, as Adam put it, “The Holy Grail of Nerddom”—the original world map. It was in a notebook that pulled out. But, I remembered Tom taking it off his front room mantel and showing us where “we” (our party) were and that we were to pacify an area. I think that it was clipped to a piece of cardboard at that time, before it was put into a book. The map was about 40 years old, that had been colored with colored pen from the 70’s. Matching those colors was hard. It had holes and missing pieces, it was brittle short-use xerox paper. It would've been too much, but we had Lindsey! Adam and Lindsey have a small graphics company—they print and install vinyl. Lindsey is the primo “weeder.” She pulled very small parts of the vinyl out to make the negative and positive of the print make a picture. She fixed the very puzzling missing parts. Next ,what glue to use? We decided to use my favorite glue that I use on framing prints. Regular “tube glue” for school. It's tacky and doesn't dry real fast, so it can be moved sparingly. A lot of very careful picking up and putting down. Finding a correct backboard was easy, but the plastic to cover the map was a tough and had to be special ordered. Adam is used to laying out vinyl jobs and he did a great job laying out the map. He cut and built the frame and supervised the plastic mounting. Our job was to make the map presentable, which we did! Our names were on the back of the frame which was probably discarded but I have pictures of the process—so many that my son got mad!"
Ralph writes: "When we first started you can see how bad it is!": (Pictured: Adam Wagner)
(Pictured: Adam Wagner)
(Pictured: Adam Wagner)
(Pictured: Bill Wilkerson)
Alex Kammer (in a facebook post) adds: "Well, the problem was that he did not use acid free and proper conservator materials. When I bought it, I had it properly restored and preserved."
Today on the phone, Bill reiterated that he's "glad the map found a good home."
There are number of significant differences between the Wall Map and the 8x11 Map:
1) The southern archipelago in the 8x11 Map is missing the northern swath of islands. The Wall Map shows a whole nother arc of islands. Another thing: the southern archipelago is called the Ubirgh Archipelago in the recent reconstruction of the 8x11 Map, but Bill Wilkerson's geopolitical write-up refers to the "Thanegioth Archipelago." Furthermore, the Wall Map shows where the city of Thanegioth is located. This city may've been the ancient capital of the world-spanning Thang Empire, since Bill Wilkerson's geo-political document implies that the ruler of the Thang Empire was called the "Emperor of Thanegioth." Hypothesis: Bill's document (in the Ierendi section) says the Thanegioth Archipelago is "mysterious" and "mist-shrouded", and that Ierendi ships which sail in that direction disappear without a trace, and they don't know why. Perhaps the Empire of Thanegioth is not on the 8x11 Map because that's a sort of "players map", and the location of the Empire of Thanegioth is a secret. (Something like the "Sith Empire" of the Original Known World.)
2) There are smaller cities which are shown on the Wall Map, but not on the 8x11 Map: Biazzan, Mavvrand, and Llyntref. They have a smaller symbol than the City-States.
3) The Wall Map has a river label: "The Streel."
4) There are about 3 other pencil labels on the Wall Map that I can't make out. Those labels are not near any city. Alex Krammer might be able to tell us what those labels say. I wrote to him just now--I'll let you know if we find anything.
If you spot more differences, let us know!
There are two earlier topics which now, in light of revelations of the Wilkerson Folio, appear to be relevant to the Original Known World:
"Black Lotus Moon" by Tom Moldvay (advertised in DRAGON magazine #43, Nov. 1980)
Bugs Bunny in Darokin (April 1981)
Both of these writings date from the early days of Moldvay and Schick's tenure at TSR, and they closely straddle the release of the B/X rulebooks in February 1981. Yet the anomalous nature of these two writings (the city-state of Biazzan, and the A.F. calendar era) suggests that they are conceptual holdovers from the OKW, rather than being set in the TSR KW as such.
Going through the notes I took during the scanning session conversation with Bill. A found a couple of more tidbits:
Q: "How do you pronounced "Withra"?"
A: (Bill pronounces it with voiceless "th" as in "breath", "bath", and "thin" [International Phonetic Alphabet: θ], not a voiced "th" as in "breathe", "bathe", and "then" [IPA: ð].)
Q: "Did your party ever meet any of the Giants of the Earth?" (The characters from other fictional worlds which Moldvay and Schick had statted up for the OKW, and then later turned into DRAGON magazine articles.)
A: "No, I don't think so. We were probably not high enough level."
Bill also commented: "I don't know how DRAGON magazine got around copyright law for those Giants of the Earth articles."
Bill Wilkerson kindly mailed me photocopies of the documents we'd missed in the original scanning session; and I got them scanned and uploaded just now. These new bundles are in the same Google Drive folder linked in the original post
Here are the new contents, which I've arbitrarily grouped into "bundles":
Bundle D — OKW Character Sheets
Bundle E — Clerical System and Social Classes by Bill Wilkerson
Bundle F — Lost Atlantis - Lords of Creation adventure outline by Moldvay and Wilkerson
Bundle G — Re-scans of unclear OKW documents from previous bundles
A few preliminary notes:
Bundle D — OKW Character Sheets: Tom's PC Moirrighan (43rd level F/MU) was included in a previous bundle, but now we have character sheets for several more OKW PCs. I asked Bill:
Q: "Of the character sheets, is Moirrighan the only one which was Tom's character? Baskin, Fallon, Chilblains, Taran the Wanderer (aka Taran of Two Weapons), Harpo, Gadabout Higgins, Barnstormer the Paladin, Sarion Skullface, and Blessumyson were all your PCs?"
A: "If you look at the handwriting, I think Barnstormer, Chillblains, and Taran were Tom's. Not 100% sure they were Tom's, but those were definitely not mine."
Wilkerson's characters:
-Baskin (LG Human MU44/T11 from Thyatis). Unfortunately, there's no extant sheet for his deceased colleague "Robbins" of Baskin-Robbins fame!
-Blesumyson (LG Human C7 from Darokin)
-Fâllon (Half-Elf MU/C 18; Alignment: Neutral-Beauty, Love)
-Gadabout Higgins (High Elf F6/Mage7/T7). Note: the term "mage" instead of "magic-user" might(?) indicate that this character is from the AD&D 2E era(?), when Bill DMed in the 1990s. 2E is when the term "mage" came to the fore. I'd want to check the other features on the sheet to see if the edition can be pinpointed.
-Harpo (Pure Stoutish Hobbit T2 from Ierendi; Alignment: Neutral-Personal Power): Note: The name is probably inspired by the comedian Harpo Marx.
-Sarion Skullface (Human T26/F20; Alignment: Chaotic War)
Moldvay's characters (they all appear to be in Tom's handwriting, and Barnstormer and Taran reappear in Tom's 1986 module M2):
-Barnstormer (Male Human Paladin 41st? level from Ethengar Tribe; Alignment: Lawful Kinship) Note: Not sure why the Paladin has parenthetic levels: "40th (41st)". Note: The RW English word "barnstormer" refers to the traveling airplane stunt pilots which toured America during the late 1920s and early 1930s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstorming
-Chilblains (LG Angel-Spawn F13/MU12/C11 from Nolo-Nolo). Note: "Chilblain" is an English word for "An itchy purple red inflammation of the skin, especially of the hands, feet and ears, occurring when capillaries below the skin are damaged by exposure to cold weather." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilblains
-Taran (the Wanderer) [of the Two Swords] (F28/T18/MU11 from Ierendi (self-exile); Alignment: High Neutral). Note: The name is probably inspired by Lloyd Alexander's Taran Wanderer character from his Welsh-inspired Chronicles of Prydain fantasy series. "Taran" is the Welsh equivalent of Gaulish "Taranis", the Celtic god of thunder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taranis
Notes:
-We see two different formats of typewritten character sheets, which might be from two different phases of Kent/Akron play.
-"Taran of the Two Weapons" is mentioned in the previously posted typewritten OKW materials as a F/T 27 (not a F/T/MU), and was once (formerly) the Dragonlord of Ierendi. He lost an arm, and fights with a sword in his left hand and a dagger set in the stump of his right!
-Taran (Neutral F33) and Barnstormer (Lawful Fighter-Paladin 33) are included as pre-generated PCs in Moldvay's 1986 adventure M2: Twilight Calling, though they have somewhat different stats than their OKW versions.
-Yet similar to his OKW iteration, 1986's Taran is described as a former "King of Ierendi" and "wandering hero". He now wields two magical swords, one in each hand...the right arm now has a magical steel prosthetic limb from the elbow down.
-The 1986 version of Barnstormer is similarly an "Ethengar Tribesman", and "he tends to interpret Lawful as what is good for the
Ethengar tribes and is therefore somewhat barbaric, although his Lawful actions are normal unless Ethengar is actually involved"...which matches his OKW "Lawful Kinship" alignment. He has a "composite bow", which is typical of cultures mentioned in the write-up for the "Ethengar Khanate" in X1: "horsemen of the central Asian steppes (Huns, Mongols, Maygars, Turks, and so on)".
-Morgana (Neutral MU33) who "was married to Taran" may be inspired by the OKW Moirrighan (High Neutral F/MU).
-The other PCs from the 1986 M2 module: Arian, Strom, and Draco, do not have clear OKW analogues. But their background info may be relevant to reconstructing Moldvay's conception of the OKW (and pre-Gazetteer KW) cultures. For example, Strom is from the "Ferret Clan of the Atruaghin tribes"; but "Strom" is a RW German name meaning "stream, current, large river." (i.e. not Indigenous North American.) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Strom
Also, Arian the cleric was raised by the "Temple of Law" in "Lantri City" and "wanted nothing more than to become a cleric", which is definitely a pre-Heardian conception of Glantri.
-I'm willing to type out any info which was written in pencil that was too light to be picked up by the scan, namely: Baskin, Fallon, Blesumyson, and Sarion Skullface.
Bundle E — Clerical System and Social Classes by Bill Wilkerson:
Breaks down the OKW Cleric into three "major types": Priests, Friars, and Crusaders.
The "Social Class" system (and "Craft" list) is similar to, but different than, the "Social Level" (and "Craft" list) seen in the typewritten OKW document.
Bundle F — Lost Atlantis - Lords of Creation adventure outline by Moldvay and Wilkerson:
This was slated to be an adventure for Avalon Hill's Lords of Creation RPG, but the RPG was cancelled after the third adventure. The Wikipedia page for LoC says that the fourth and fifth announced (vaporware) adventures were called The Tower of Ilium and The Mines of Voria, so this Lost Atlantis would presumably be a sixth adventure.
Interesting note to Mystara aficionados: the adventure features "King Chronos, Immortal Ruler of Atlantis". Note: in the 1984 adventure CM1: Test of the Warlords, "Alphatia" is explicitly said to be another name for "Atlantis", presumably during Earth's prehistoric Jurassic "Age of Magic." Also: the "Time Guardians", a "group of beings whose aim is to maintain temporal equilibrium", who seem to be evocative of BECMI's "Sphere of Time." And D&D creatures: trolls, unicorns, kelpies, red caps, korreds, among other new monsters.
Bundle G — Re-scans of unclear OKW documents from previous bundles:
Bill kindly photocopied several pages which I'd flagged from the original scans, which were unclear.
Unfortunately, we missed the page that "artbraune" pointed out which is totally washed out: the "DUNGEON WANDERING MONSTERS TABLE - Level 5 and 6" (page 56 here). (Not to be confused with the other "DUNGEON WANDERING MONSTERS" chart which also has a Level 5 and 6!)
Bill also kindly offers to read off any words which are still unclear or clipped off the edges.