Why is the Scarred Lands Setting so popular?

[Fenros]

I've noticed that here on the boards, that many of you mention Scarred Lands quite a bit. Actually, I've ran into many posts that seem to always contain someone saying how they prefer Scarred Lands over other published campaign settings like Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, etc.

Actually, the non-WotC created settings seem to get more applause. Like Kingdoms of Kalamar and Scarred Lands. Although I see it more with Scarred than with Kalamar.

What I'm wondering is, why is that? Now, I could go to the local gaming store and sit in the shop and read each books. But I think that's kind of odd to read a product for hours and not buy it. Heh heh.

So, could any of you Scarred Lands experts give me a run down as why you prefer this setting over others? I'm sure you'll say its creative and well written. I think that's a given, but I'd like to hear examples. Can you tell me a little bit of the world history? Is that the neat part? Well, if that takes too long to write down here, just give me little bits you found to be cool about that world. Things that made it a really fun setting to play in.

Reason why I ask is, I'm thinking about picking it up. Possibly to game in that world. Usually I homebrew, but being so busy with life both at work and after hours, it would be easier just to use something that has it all thought out for me already. But I want something good y'know?

I thought it might be Forgotten Realms. Yeah yeah....I've heard a lot of you make fun of it. But really, in my head I thought " well, people on message boards are sometimes overly critical and nit-picky....so its probably pretty cool". So I went out, flipped through it, fell in love with its presentation, read a few passages, seemed good, and I bought it. Well, I brought it home and started reading it. The more I read it, the less excited I got. At first I'd see things in it that I thought were silly. Like (when I read the history of the Faerun) during the Orcgate Wars the Egyptian gods appear. Because of my tastes, I found this rather silly. However, I thought that I could just ignore it and 'edit' whatever I didn't like as I went along. But later, I found myself editing way too much. To me, with the amount of editing I was doing I could've just went back and homebrewed. But I didn't want to do that. I don't have time.

So, I'm willing to buy another Setting book and read it. But this time, heh heh heh....I wanna hear some opinions before I slap down my money .

I thankyou for any insight, opinions, and reviews you may have to offer.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Simple: WotC markets for mass popularity or generalities, while other settings don't try to be so inclusive of everything under the sun. While WotC would seem to be more popular, there really isn't much to discuss about them, thus they appear to be less popular to 3rd Party settings since the more flavorful settings get more discussion about them.

Personally, I home-brew. I have Core material, FRCS material, S&SS material, MEG material, Bastion material, AEG material, ad infinitum it seems, to pick from at my leasure. 90% of the time, when I want to develop something to fit my world, I find myself grabbing the alternate material over WotC product just for flavor reasons alone. I also reference the SRD to find what is related to the default setting as opposed to what is related to the rules (e.g., Good and Evil are not the defining forces of the cosmos within the SRD, thus can be changed in any setting without too many rules being offset by them).

Now, if you want a rating on Scarred Lands itself, I give it high marks. While I don't play in the setting, I have yet to obtain a supplement that doesn't offer something to make my setting a better place. I probably would have enjoyed it as a setting, but I know too much "meta" information now to be able to do so.

In addition, the only DM in my immediate area is gearing up for an Oathbound game; As I'm gleefully ignorant of the setting, I look forward to it; I even got her the Monsternomicon for Christmas, to ensure that she had a good stock of critters I'm not familiar with, having about 15 more years of gaming experience, 10 as a DM, over her 6 years of playing as a PC, so I can actually be surprised and able to learn "in character".

That, I think, is the lacking of WotC settings: Too much written and available for far too long that people are just too familiar with the setting to truly be amazed by them anymore, where as most 3rd Party settings are fresh, new and full of surprises. Consequently, Scarred Lands, while a very specific and defined setting, still contains a large amount of magic which most players prefer, and thus its suppliments can be used within most settings without a hitch; Kalamar, while good, gets less applause as it's a low-magic setting and thus appeals to less people over all, being less useful within other settings by nature.

 

[Melan]

I am not a Scarred Lands expert by far, but here is my tip: IMHO the SL setting presents a world which at first looks pretty distant from the usual D&D fare. Deep down, however, it doesn't. Moreover, it does appeal to a more "modern" kind of gamer than the "traditional" settings. Add good and frequent (but not overwhelming) support and you have a decent world for your perusal.

 

[The Forsaken One]

It features Psionics all of its own. Nuff said

 

[Bendris Noulg]

It features Psionics all of its own. Nuff said

Oh, yes, there's that, too.

 

[Crothian]

It's well written and hasa very interesting and rich number of cultures and plenty of new ideas.

 

[Dragongirl]

Another reason you see more about Scared Lands, Kalamar, etc is that they are new. FR and Greyhawk have been around for 20 years so there is not much to discuss, except when a new FR product comes out.

 

[Psion]

Scarred Lands is unique, because it has flavorful background, but matches up neatly with the existing D&D tropes. Usually a flavorful D&D world means departing from several core concepts, along with the attendant loss of familiar, and less flavorful tends to be a rehash of Greyhawk. Scarred Lands walks that fine line adroitly.

 

[Nightfall]

*thanks all the usual people* Well folks the kindly old man from up North was good to me again this year. In any case a Sage's work is never done.

But to answer your question (without bias I might add) the reason I like is unlike the Realms with it's proclivity to pet NPCs, high level of magic and use of many intelligent monsters such as dragons or even beholders as just more fodder for a 9th level commoner with his +5 pitchfork, there's more meaning in the kills. Not to mention the fact that it does take traditional fantasy ideals and turn them on their heads. Not all evil you run into will outright kill you. Example, because of the divisive nature between "titanspawn" and "divine", you might have a party that has both a cleric of Vangal (the CE god of destruction, volcanoes and pestilence) work along side a paladin of Corean (one of the three ...urhm perhaps I should say FOUR gods that paladins tend to follow. Dwarves do after all have Goran. ) And they do it not just for some personal reasons but because their gods WILL work together in common cause. (But don't expect them to be drinking buddies. ) So while you could have something like that in the Realms, it's not very common. The Scarred Lands, hey it can happen if the DM is smart and plays to each character's needs. Another reason to enjoy this place, what an adventurer DOES can have a significant impact on this world WITHOUT it having to be world shattering. They can get land grants, build up a following in many different locales (not all of it has to be focused on the continent of Ghelspad. So no mega continent.) The adventurers can be adventurers. Plus the fact the division between clerics and druids make sense. It's not like "Hey I'm a cleric of a nature deity! Hey I'm a druid!" It's much more complex and interesting if you say "I'm a cleric of Tanil! I'm a druid that follows in the path of her father Hrinnruk, the Hunter!" Believe me, you have those to talk, we'll get a nice little holy war going. You mentioned too much editing and messing around with the FRCS. Well trust me, as long as you stick to "Gods and Titans don't live together" and "Arcane Magic generates heat, so few mages wear armor" you're still in the scarred Lands. Part of the charm is no matter how much tinkering people do (and if you read some of the threads by JoeKusher(sp) and Graf, you get an idea.), it's STILL the Scarred Lands at it's core. With the gods fighting for control and the Titans just itching to take back their land. Course there's other stuff too, like a city of Necromancers where they aren't all evil, and in fact they are considered something of a boon. Or how about a city where people pay homage to a golem, supposedly a sign from Corean, the god of Paladins and forgings? These are just some of the layered elements in the Scarred Lands. We have beasts so damnable wicked, that they can even run whole areas, such as the Vengaruak in the Spires of Gaurak. Or perhaps you'd enjoy the wiles and human-like qualities of our Slitheren/Rat-man. Not mere were-rats, but actual athestic (well little strong but no clerics among most of them! ) beings with their own values, sub-races, cultures and magical ideals, they are truly fearsome as well as insidious. Oh and we got our own kinds of demons, devils, and even daemons/Yugoloths! All this and I doubt I've even scratched the surface, from new ideas on spellcasting (Cabal casting) to sorcerous bloodlines, to even fighting styles, war colleges, barbarous hordes that follow Vangal, and the insidious Cult of the Ancients. Plus intrigue out the wazoo in places such as Darakenee and Calastia, home the "Evil Empire" but really it's not all evil. Just the nobility and even then it's not that bad since they have a god supporting them. (Chardun, but he's pretty generous to his blackguards! ) Phew! Well that's it for me. If you want more, just ask.

 

[megamania]

I have yet to play the world as is but I like it. I have several of it's books and I just plain like it. It has a strong history with lots of room to build on. The books released continue this pattern. There are many surprises and twisted thoughts that go with this setting. It is a darker world (reminding me of Darksun) that has gone to hell and now is trying to recover. Then the fact that is one of the first D20 non-WOTC product lines gave it a good spotlight to begin with.
It's worth looking into.