johnsemlak
First Post
Nightfall said:
According to the credits, PC (Piratecat, I assume) did the Bards section of PG: Wizards, Bards, and Sorcerors.
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What are the best books for Scarred Lands?
- Thread starter Starman
- Start date
According to the credits, PC (Piratecat, I assume) did the Bards section of PG: Wizards, Bards, and Sorcerors.
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
I hate to toot my own horn, but many people who play Scarred Lands have told me that Arcane Strife, by ENPublishing (which I wrote) works excellently with Scarred Lands.
Just drop the Shtar flavor text though.
They're brutal and cruel spells that fit the tone of Scarred Lands.
It should be available still on RPGNow.
WARNING! It is still in 3.0 format, the 3.5 version has not been released yet.
Just drop the Shtar flavor text though.
They're brutal and cruel spells that fit the tone of Scarred Lands.
It should be available still on RPGNow.
WARNING! It is still in 3.0 format, the 3.5 version has not been released yet.
Jürgen Hubert
First Post
What's the Termana (sp?) hardcover like?
Jürgen Hubert said:
Lots of really big countries with fairly little fluff to them.
Lots of really big areas with little fluff and lots of monsters in them.
A really big forest with lots of different kinds of critters living in there (makes
Hornsaw and the Virgin Woods look like a small patch of green next to it). Again not that interesting...
A huge amount of people living 10000 miles away from a Ghelspad on a, supposedly, stagnating continent. Not really believable.
It is supposed to be a continent that was fairly untouched by early and middle parts of the Divine War, but was struck fairly hard during the later period. The fluff isn't all that interesting and it doesn't contain anything that makes me want to read more about the continent. There are a few nice ideas and the elven high society is established here, along with a whole bunch of city living, conquering, evil dwarves.
There are a bunch of human civilizations with an irresistable need to hit their heads against each others' foreheads and wait for Dooms Day.
Compared to Ghelspad I found it bland and uninteresting. There's a really dangerous island to the South of the continent, but I won't touch that as a DM, if I don't want to destroy the whole continent or scar it even worse than it already is.
O' yes, I almost forgot: Titans are still openly worshipped on this continent. Um...somewhere and there's also lot of people who worship ancestral spirits and stuff like that. The last is a nice touch, but doesn't save a mediocre book. Not the worst I have seen from the Scarred Lands gameline, but if you want to DM Scarred Lands then the safe bet is to stick with Ghelspad. That continent is quite large enough and it is a whole lot more interesting, IMO.
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JoeGKushner
First Post
In terms of location books, I really dug Mithril. It's one of the oldest and it's one of the ones I've used the most, which probably accounts for my fondness of it.
It has paladins, clerics, and vigils trying to keep the city save from it's own harbors which contain hidden dens of pirates and cutthroats even as it fends off attacks from the Blood Sea.
It covers Mullis Town as well as the orc hordes that stream about the Plains of Lede and has a powerful dragon watching ancient magics begin to destroy the land.
Lot of fluff with very little crunch. Then again, this was one of the first city style books for the setting, so it is understandable.
In terms of other city books, I dug Hollowfaust and Shelzar.
For the class books... overall I felt they were "Meh." Some good stuff in them if you're playing the SL campaign and some good ideas that can be transfereed over to any setting but there are so many of those types of books that I found other varaints that I could use with any campaign easier. Still, the Paladins & Monks book gets a lot of use at my table.
It has paladins, clerics, and vigils trying to keep the city save from it's own harbors which contain hidden dens of pirates and cutthroats even as it fends off attacks from the Blood Sea.
It covers Mullis Town as well as the orc hordes that stream about the Plains of Lede and has a powerful dragon watching ancient magics begin to destroy the land.
Lot of fluff with very little crunch. Then again, this was one of the first city style books for the setting, so it is understandable.
In terms of other city books, I dug Hollowfaust and Shelzar.
For the class books... overall I felt they were "Meh." Some good stuff in them if you're playing the SL campaign and some good ideas that can be transfereed over to any setting but there are so many of those types of books that I found other varaints that I could use with any campaign easier. Still, the Paladins & Monks book gets a lot of use at my table.
Trickstergod
First Post
I easily and fully recommend the Divine and the Defeated if you're looking to get into the Scarred Lands setting. To a degree, I feel the book best represents it. Ghelspad covers the land, Creature Collection the monsters and Relics and Rituals a few of the spells, organizations and what not, but the setting is named for the aftermath of a divine war and this is the book that best describes those divinities and their various sects.
If you're curious about the Scarred Lands but not certain you want to fully invest in the setting, though, you might be better off picking up Hollowfaust. It will give you a decent taste of the setting and, if the setting itself isn't necessarily to your liking, it's modular enough that you could probably plunk it down just about anywhere you wanted - your own homebrew or another campaign setting or the like and with little modification at that. It's only fault is that one of the major antagonists in the book - the sutak - are only detailed in the Creature Collection 2: Dark Menagerie, which I'm not inclined to recommend one way or another.
Beyond those recommendations, the settings cornerstone books would also include the Creature Collection Revised and the Ghelspad hardcover; however, the Ghelspad book becomes less necessary if you happen to have the gazetteer already.
I'd look into those books before listening to many other recommendations. I'd also consider what you already have that isn't Scarred Lands. For example, if you own the Manual of the Planes, Edge of Infinity isn't particularly different from it in a number of ways. Similarly, the quality of the various Scarred Lands class books isn't particularly too much better than those produced by other companies.
As for which of the player's class guides for the setting I find to be the best, I'm with Joe: of those I've read (Clerics and Druids, Fighters and Barbarians, Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards), I found them to be kind of 'eh' all around. If I had to choose, I'd go with Clerics and Druids as being the better from a setting standpoint, and Fighters and Barbarians being a bit better when it comes to being useful beyond the Scarred Lands (however, I don't know that I'd recommend Fighters and Barbarians above the Complete Warrior; I probably wouldn't).
In regards to the Termana hardcover, I personally enjoyed it. It has a number of questionable bits in it, but it offers a different take on the setting cosmology than what's in other books yet that's still setting appropriate. It also details the lands around the Blood Bayou, which I'm certain some are bound to be interested in, and is the only decent source for the forsaken elves that really exists at all (heck, I think the original, non-revised Creature Collection description of them is another of the few good sources for them, one that later author's would have done well by to read - and one that sadly wasn't reprinted in the Creature Collection Revised). It's fairly palpable that less love went into it than the first few Scarred Lands books, but it's essentially the last quality book the setting had printed for it, in my mind.
If you're curious about the Scarred Lands but not certain you want to fully invest in the setting, though, you might be better off picking up Hollowfaust. It will give you a decent taste of the setting and, if the setting itself isn't necessarily to your liking, it's modular enough that you could probably plunk it down just about anywhere you wanted - your own homebrew or another campaign setting or the like and with little modification at that. It's only fault is that one of the major antagonists in the book - the sutak - are only detailed in the Creature Collection 2: Dark Menagerie, which I'm not inclined to recommend one way or another.
Beyond those recommendations, the settings cornerstone books would also include the Creature Collection Revised and the Ghelspad hardcover; however, the Ghelspad book becomes less necessary if you happen to have the gazetteer already.
I'd look into those books before listening to many other recommendations. I'd also consider what you already have that isn't Scarred Lands. For example, if you own the Manual of the Planes, Edge of Infinity isn't particularly different from it in a number of ways. Similarly, the quality of the various Scarred Lands class books isn't particularly too much better than those produced by other companies.
As for which of the player's class guides for the setting I find to be the best, I'm with Joe: of those I've read (Clerics and Druids, Fighters and Barbarians, Bards, Sorcerers and Wizards), I found them to be kind of 'eh' all around. If I had to choose, I'd go with Clerics and Druids as being the better from a setting standpoint, and Fighters and Barbarians being a bit better when it comes to being useful beyond the Scarred Lands (however, I don't know that I'd recommend Fighters and Barbarians above the Complete Warrior; I probably wouldn't).
In regards to the Termana hardcover, I personally enjoyed it. It has a number of questionable bits in it, but it offers a different take on the setting cosmology than what's in other books yet that's still setting appropriate. It also details the lands around the Blood Bayou, which I'm certain some are bound to be interested in, and is the only decent source for the forsaken elves that really exists at all (heck, I think the original, non-revised Creature Collection description of them is another of the few good sources for them, one that later author's would have done well by to read - and one that sadly wasn't reprinted in the Creature Collection Revised). It's fairly palpable that less love went into it than the first few Scarred Lands books, but it's essentially the last quality book the setting had printed for it, in my mind.
Nightfall
Sage of the Scarred Lands
Alright firstly as Mike said, it was a typo. PC SHOULD have been listed as doing Sorcerers as Mike did Bards, and Ethan Skemp did Wizards.
Secondly,
Yes the Wizards "revision" of class books tend to be better. (not that much better but some good ideas.) I can't say I agree with everything that's come out with from others but I know reading Quint Sorcerer, some people were more impressed with that (Psion in particular) than they were with PG: Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers.
Yes they aren't ground breaking in their movements but to me, (and until I see Complete Adventurer), I've yet to see a REALLY good Ranger's book since PG: Rangers and Rogues. Nor have I seen much in other books about paladins or monks besides PG: Paladins and Monks. (This is especially true considering the SL monk is less "eastern" minded and more "mystically" oriented, especially using the Dragon type as one idea.)
I will also agree with Trick that, yes Divine and the Defeated gives a lot more than say Deities and Demi-gods or some other books on the Divine (Complete Divine included. I still think the combined might of PG: Clerics and Druids plus that book completely outweighs most any other divinity type book but that's my opinion)
Anyway I hope to see you all tonight at 7 pm EST at the chat. I intend to be there.
Secondly,
Yes the Wizards "revision" of class books tend to be better. (not that much better but some good ideas.) I can't say I agree with everything that's come out with from others but I know reading Quint Sorcerer, some people were more impressed with that (Psion in particular) than they were with PG: Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers.
Yes they aren't ground breaking in their movements but to me, (and until I see Complete Adventurer), I've yet to see a REALLY good Ranger's book since PG: Rangers and Rogues. Nor have I seen much in other books about paladins or monks besides PG: Paladins and Monks. (This is especially true considering the SL monk is less "eastern" minded and more "mystically" oriented, especially using the Dragon type as one idea.)
I will also agree with Trick that, yes Divine and the Defeated gives a lot more than say Deities and Demi-gods or some other books on the Divine (Complete Divine included. I still think the combined might of PG: Clerics and Druids plus that book completely outweighs most any other divinity type book but that's my opinion)
Anyway I hope to see you all tonight at 7 pm EST at the chat. I intend to be there.
I know this is an old thread, but no one mentioned the Warrens of the Ratmen. I thought that was a pretty worthwhile book. I always liked skaven in WFRP. Warrens did a pretty good job of porting that over to DnD. It includes descriptions of the various clans, tactics, history and motivations, and sample adventures for both low and mid level character. This is probably a cheap buy somewhere and worth picking up.
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