How do I make a Scarred Lands campaign feel like a Scarred Lands campaign?

[dreaded_beast]

On this one, I differ. My players have yet to find a seller of a +1 ring of protection, and they are going on 14th level.
I have, through roleplaying and the general tone of my game, made it clear that they will NEVER be able to just walk into a store and buy permanent magical items, as they are just to valuable to the owners (yes, even that +1 ring).
Thus, my PCs have taken it upon themselves to create their own, or have powerful friends do it for them.

Is this due to a Scarred Land book actually stating that it should be around this way, or is this more what you feel is appropriate for your particular Scarred Lands campaign?

I'm looking for things along the lines of what is actually stated in the book, instead of what each individual DM feel is best for their type of Scarred Lands campaign.

Please feel free to come to Scarred Lands thread by Nightfall where I posted the same question. Uh, don't have the link, but it should be on the first page, heh.

 

[Nightfall]

db,

It's stated. Relics and Rituals, page 148. Now I don't know if it actually SAYS what I use, but that's how I work it. Mostly because I feel that purchasing should be an option but it's far more likely to find such a thing lying around in some very hard to reach places. Forging such items is doable, but I do admit to occasionally rolling percentages when it comes up if such an item might have a drawback.

 

[tmaaas]

db,

It's stated. Relics and Rituals, page 148. Now I don't know if it actually SAYS what I use, but that's how I work it. Mostly because I feel that purchasing should be an option but it's far more likely to find such a thing lying around in some very hard to reach places. Forging such items is doable, but I do admit to occasionally rolling percentages when it comes up if such an item might have a drawback.

Hmmm... I'd be pretty happy with the 3x rule. My DM also went the way of "can't buy magic, noway, nohow." Nobody anywhere sells magic.

Except, of course, for us. You find something useless to the group, what else ya gonna do?

 

[Nightfall]

Well that's one way to make a killing in a village that has no magic items.

 

[Fevil]

You find something useless to the group, what else ya gonna do?

My players have actually begun donating magic items to organisations they want on their side, such as the Order of the Morning Sky (the PCs went so far as handing over a Staff of Madriel to these guys, in return for certain healing concessions). This is mainly due to not being able to find buyers rich enough for the items they want to sell, or buyers that they want to have the items for that matter.

 

[Nightfall]

That works too.

 

[ruemere]

Hmm, I like this list!

Would you mind saying which books the info comes from?

And if you would like to come up with a list of more Scarred Lands "essentials" that would be good too!

Relics and Rituals (item prices), Calastia: the Throne of Black Dragon (and various others: the halfing oppression), Divine and Defeated (the bit about invocations granting +1 to +3).

Other "essentials":
7. Items with prices above 10000 are actually almost impossible to obtain (very few people can afford them).

8. Careless (read: unpriviledged) use (or research) of *shadow* spells can earn you a sneak attack of 10d6 from a Drendari's Herald.

9. Arcane spellcasters wear very little clothes under their cloaks (every arcane spell with the exception of those cast by Bards produces a lot of heat).

10. Necromancers from Hollowfaust are actually nice (though not too nice) orderly people.

11. When it rains blood or when you find yourself on a shore awash with blood, you may want to avoid drinking it (or soaking yourself with it), as it may change your forever (or drive you mad).

12. You don't want to migrate to promised land (Termana), especially if you're being invited by King Virduk press gangs or one of birdlike heron priests.

13. There are no dragons. There are only fakes (mock dragons), imitations (wrack dragons) and dead dragons. Or, if they are, they are such a rarity that people do not recognize them.

14. It's a bad idea to storm wizard towers, even if the original owner departed (Gest Ganest) or ignores you completely (Yugman).

15. When an elf with black skin and missing arm appears, RUN, don't walk.

16. When an elf with a mechanical arm (or any other part of body built of metal) appears, try to politely disappear.

17. When you find a tasty water melon, growing in a middle of a forest, the last thing you want to do (or that you possibly do) is eating it. Though you're not likely to die.

18. Kill druids on sight, ask questions later. If you see an elven druid, don't do funny things - chances are, you've met a good (nice) guy.

19. If you see a large lady with glowing yellow eyes, rough hair and black skin, RUN (or better, teleport).

20. If you see a guy in black armor with a black crossbow and the crossbow has a stylized dragon wings, you are in trouble (unless you also wear black armor and carry such crossbow).

21. When you find yourself at crossroads, and a hooded person asks you whether you wish for anything, don't answer. Get yourself lost quickly instead.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[tmaaas]

21. When you find yourself at crossroads, and a hooded person asks you whether you wish for anything, don't answer. Get yourself lost quickly instead.

Yup. We met this guy. And we still owe him... something.

RBDMs.

 

[Nightfall]

LOL! I like 8 myself.

 

[Ruined]

The big trick I like to use is reinforcement of how devastated the lands are after the Divine War. They may not always be easy to find, but some of the area descriptions in books like the Ghelspad Campaign Setting book area very distinctive. Just last night, my players almost lost two of theirs to freak winds in the Canyon of Souls. For them, it seemed much more dangerous than a room full of assassins they encountered a few weeks before.

And I do stress the religious element of the setting, of how Denev is trying to heal the wounds of the world, and how sometimes they travel paths where gods fought not that long ago. Makes everything seem larger than life.