The City State of the Invincible Overlord was the first published fantasy role-playing game campaign setting, designed for use with Dungeons & Dragons, and officially approved for use with Dungeons & Dragons from 1978 through 1983. A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. A campaign setting is usually a Fictional world which serves as a setting for a Role-playing game or Wargame campaign Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by Published by Judges Guild and later under license by Necromancer Games, the City State of the Invincible Overlord (a. Judges Guild is a small game publisher in the business of creating and selling Role-playing game supplements periodicals and related material most notable as one of the leading Necromancer Games is an American publisher of Roleplaying games. k. a. CSIO) was first released at Gen Con IX in 1976. Gen Con is the one of the largest Despite a recent lawsuit from Lucasfilm and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 15,
The CSIO was designed by Bob Bledsaw with the assistance of Owen, and was based on Bledsaw's own Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
The CSIO launched Judges Guild as a company, and was the centerpiece of the Judges Guild's Wilderlands of High Fantasy campaign setting, the first licensed and published Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Wilderlands of High Fantasy is a Role-playing game Campaign setting.
The City-State itself was a single city designed to be both as a base for campaigning, as well as a seed for city-based adventures. A second product Wraith Overlord explored the city's subterranean cellars, sewers and catacombs.
The City State was used as a home-base for characters created by Judges Guild in other products. Attention was also paid to synchronising the City State with broader adventure possibilities: A northern Dwarven fortress city Thunderhold with an associated "dungeon" area; and a series of four modules written to explore areas adjacent to the route from the CSIO to Thunderhold.
The City State has gone through several editions: