Help me get a feel for the Scarred Lands setting?

[adndgamer]

I just bought the Scarred Lands Gazetteer today, and haven't had a chance to do much reading (nor will I be able to sit down and read for a while yet -- lots of homework to finish up tonight). Can anybody give me a gist of what it's about? I've read the intro part, about how the tragedy came about. But is it a high or low magic setting? At first glance, the sentence, "Divine blood spilled across Scarn, warping the entire land." would lead me to believe that it has more magic than normal.. Or perhaps is moderately magical in nature.

Just looking for some quick info on it.

Thanks!

 

[Reynard]

I would place Scarred Lands squarely in the "Moderate Magic" category -- assuming that you consider the guidelines set forth in 3e "moderate". More than any other setting, Scarred Lands is a D&D, rather than d20, setting -- all the races, classes, toys, and tricks are there in full force. The way the setting is designed I tend to liken to Greyhawk more than the Forgotten Realms; that is, there are lots of baddies in Scarred lands, and not so many Drizzt's and Elminsters. this is a good thing, i think, as it underscores the importance of the PCs as the heroes.

On a side note, i suggest you pick up more than just the Gazzeteer. At least get the CC and R&R, and if you have any desire to use the gods and titans to their full advantage, get Divine and Defeated as well. The game screen is useful (although it is folded wrong!) in that it includes Scarred Lands specific racial rules and a couple of solid low-mid level adventures. I don't have any of the city supplements yet, and I have yet to buy Vigil Watch (which looks damn fine) but the Wise and the Wicked (NPC book) is lots of fun, particularly for giving you a flavor for the setting through its characters (plus it has stats for some of the truly epic bad guys of the Scarred Lands).

The theme that seems to run through all Scarred Lands products, it seems to me, is that PCs are meant tostruggle against great odds and reap great rewards for doing so. The enemies are powerful, often very much so, but relics, true rituals, and powerful prestige classes are presented to balance this. It seems like it works well enough for both hack-n-slash style games and more storytelling (but still action oriented) campaigns.

 

[adndgamer]

Thanks a ton!

I've read more now, but your post gave me more of a feel than the reading did. Thanks again

 

[Ysgarran]

I've a fair amount of Scarred Lands stuff, the latest being Barok Torn. I'm very tempted to use this land for my next campaign (but that will probably be a ways off, our campaigns have a tendency to move slowly).

While most of the NPCs seem to fall within the DMG guidelines some of the other aspects of world are definately high fantasy. For example, the dark elf city described in Barok Torn is guarded by a large number of lead golems. There are other large magical features to the world. Whole oceans poisoned by the blood of a titan, giant mithral golems, etc. etc.

One aspect I like is that the world is not a monochrome of good versus evil. There are shades of good and evil. Good is not always 100% in the 'right'. There is definately a hierarchy of evil where if the Titans threatened to return that the gods, both good and evil would co-operate to prevent that.

 

[Piratecat]

Scarn is a land with a high amount of magical creatures, a whole lot of ruins, and some highly magical landscape effects. That being said, there is not the plethora of magical items that you would expect to find in a high-magic world. I'd put it in the realm of high fantasy, moderate magic.

You have politics, specifically in the form of the Calastian government and its imperial agenda. You have war, in the form of both Calastia and many, many armies of titanspawn that either are gearing to attack human settlements or who recently have done so. You have major divine influence and religious wars, all over ~ from the cannibalistic druids of Khet trying to take Amalthea and the followers of Denev, to almost any other God/titan combo you could mention. And you have racial hatred, with a variety of fun races who can't stand each other.

I love the place!

 

[galaga88]

I noticed a Scarred Lands book at Barnes & Noble the other night. That was unexpected, but it would probably help get something of a feel of the setting.

 

[Drew]

Another small point:

Most D&D worlds have a major cataclsym between the gods sometime in their ancient past. In the case of the Scarred Lands, the even took place in fairly recent history. The result is a world with both a very high magic and post apocolyptic feel.

Drew

PS: Pirate Cat's Avatar just winked at me. That's creepy.

 

[Nightfall]

Well I'd add more but everyone has given such lovely descriptions (have to thank PC and Reyard especially), what I will add, get Champions of the Scarred Lands. It's a good anthology AND will help give you some idea about the land, if that's any help.