The first one feels a little too vanilla/tredded territory for me, but the second looks really nice (me likey jungles and uncharted continents).
Like the first Points of Light it is four settings with an area of 135 miles by 95 miles. The theme of this edition is "Exploration beyond your campaign's frontier". Three of the lands depict regions suited for exploration and discovery. Like the first Points of Light the fourth land is set in the outer planes and loosely ties the three together.
The lands are:
Amacui, Empire of Blood. Set in a region where where old evils and bloody empires await.
The Golden Shore, a region in the midst of being colonized from the old world.
The Misty Isles, largely unexplored the riches of the spice lures adventurers of all stripes.
The last is Mazatl the Realm of the Bat God where an evil god of blood dwells in the caldera of a ancient shield volcano.
The same loose background that was used through the first Points of Light is used here. Unlike the first points of Light all the lands are set at the same "time". However they are diverse in geography and locales. It is set during the Grand Kingdom period as depicted in Southlands. For those of you who are interested you will read about what happened to the followers of Sarrath following the civil war that ripped apart the Bright Empire.
The focus is still on being able to just "drop" in a referee's campaign. The map sizes has been expanded by two more columns, all four lands have full maps, and the page count has been increased. All of it dedicated to giving you more locales to throw in the way of your players. Another change is the two word stat block has changed to a 4th edition D&D style. Instead of Orc (1 HD) it is now Orc (Level 1, Minion).
Here are a couple of previews of what you will be getting.
From Amacui
http://www.ibiblio.org/mscorbit/images/Amacui.jpg
From Mazatl
From Misty Isles
1d4 Destination or Settlement
1. Kingsport (Grand Kingdom)
2. Fairwind (Grand Kingdom)
3. Altimar Castle (Ochre Empire)
4. Port Harren (Ochre Empire)
1d6 Sea Encounter
1. A pod of 1d12 dolphins swims to investigate the ship. They aid any character in need of rescue in the water.
2. A ship with broken masts is drifting on the horizon. When investigated, its hold is filled with supplies and tools for the settlements (roll destination), but the crew is missing.
3. A ship flying the skull and crossbones flag appears on the horizon heading towards the characters’ ship (roll settlement for origin).
4. A castle ship on patrol approaches the characters’ ship (roll settlement for origin).
5. 1d6 coracles of the Lurcon are fishing with their nets.
6. A squall line heralding a storm appears on the horizon (roll a d8 for compass direction with 1 being north).
1d6 Land Encounter
1. 1d6 jungle cats (level 2 lurker) stalk the players.
2. A patch of rare plants or herbs is found. The patch is worth 2d6 x 100 gp in component cost.
3. A red tiger (level 6 lurker) attacks the party. Its pelt is worth 100 gp.
4. A rival scouting expedition consisting of 2d6 individuals encounters the party (roll settlement for origin).
5. A rival scouting expedition is found surrounded by jungle cats (level 2 lurker). Only a handful of men (2d4, roll settlement for origin) remain.
6. A pack of monkeys follow the characters, howling at them at irregular intervals. This continues into the night, causing the characters to get no rest.
From the Golden Shore
1607 Arent Trading Post
Alec Arent founded Arent Trading Post nearly ten years ago. A minor trading family of the Grand Kingdom, the Arents have labored under the shadow of the great trading houses for decades. With the opening of the Golden Shore, the family saw an opportunity to rival
the greatest trading houses. The Arents invested much of their wealth to outfit an expedition to the Golden Shore. Bypassing Castle Williams and Porttown, they entered into Brachan Bay.
They landed on a light wooded island at the mouth of the Aldarius River, and there they built a wooden keep to act as a trading post and warehouse. The trading post is home to 150 people, all living under the watchful eye of Captain Alec Arent (Ftr5), the Lord Proprietor.
In the past decades, the Arents have built up several trading relationships with both the Ouimos and the Merkaios clans. Alec Arent has sent his sons (Alec II. and Marcus) to live among the clans to learn their culture and language. While the quantities of goods passing between the Akhaioi clans and the Arents are small, trade is growing. In the next decade, Alec plans to send
his eldest, Alec II, into the foothills of the Greyhorn Mountains to make contacts with the eastern clans.
