Looking for a new campaign setting

[mikep18103]

I'm looking to get into a new campaign setting. I thought of creating my own world and decided against it. I have been looking around and have narrowed my choice down to Kalamar or Scarred Lands.

I was wondering if you guys at enworld have any opinions about either world. I am a big fan of White Wolfs world of Darkness and from what I can see online Scarred Lands looks like a dark world, one of the reasons I am leaning towards that world right now. Is this true?

Just curious for your input. Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

 

[Hand of Evil]

Midnight should be out soon. It looks interesting.

Iron Kingdoms is not long away.

Scarred Lands is wonderful.

 

[Starman]

I'd go with Scarred Lands. Kalamar is nice, but SL has more flavor, IMHO.

Starman

 

[mikep18103]

I'd go with Scarred Lands. Kalamar is nice, but SL has more flavor, IMHO

It looks like that to me as well. What books would I need to start. It looks to me like the Ghelspad Campaign Setting to get a general idea of where in the world I would want to start and then maybe a city book?

Do I need the Creatures books to suppor the campaign?

 

[Ruined]

The creature books help some, but I'm sure you can wing it in the meantime. Certain of the titanspawn races, such as Slitheren (ratmen), Gorgons (evil half-serpents), and others definitely lend a distinct feel to the lands. You can survive without them for now, replacing monsters with creatures out of the books you have now. SL uses a good number of the standard creatures anyway.

The Ghelspad book is wonderful, and I use it constantly in my campaign. Beyond that, I use the Divine & the Defeated the most which lays out the pantheon, and more importantly, details major events of the Divine War - the reason the lands are 'Scarred'.

A lot of people advocate Kalamar as well. I too am a big fan of White Wolf. Once I glanced through Hollowfaust and the Divine & the Defeated, I was hooked.

 

[Enceladus]

I'd go with Scarred Lands. Kalamar is nice, but SL has more flavor, IMHO.

Starman

Well, I like Kalamar better.

Flavor?

Scarred Lands would be vanilla.

Kalamar would be Cholocate Fantasy Mint Chip Cookie Dough with sprinkles. IMHO


I should say the reasons why; its very balanced, they haven't advanced the timeline or filled in the blanks too much leaving room for you to grow with your campaign. Its a more human centered setting with acres of room to fill in your own demi race stuff (me like) and flesh out what you prefer.

All in all its a nicely balanced setting that gives the DM tons of latitude.

 

[blackshirt5]

I'd go with Scarred Lands. If I weren't so committed to doing my own homebrew, I'd definitely be running in SL(and it still has an influence on my homebrew).

The Creature Collections and Relics and Rituals books are awesome. I haven't looked at Divine and the Defeated, but I've heard that it's good.

 

[Harlock]

I was a hardcore Homebrewer for a long time. Then I had less time so had to use published stuff. Then I discovered Scarred Lands and 'lo, I kept saying, as I devoured each and every tome I could, "I should have thought of this!" Scarred Lands was exactly what I wanted from a campaign, even my homebrews, without really knowing it. Getting started is simple enough. Creature Collection 1 is being revised and released after 3.5e comes out so they have a super special at the White Wolf online catalog: Get both Creature Collections and the Ghelspad Gazetteer for $24.99 US. Normally ONE of those hardcovers retails for that price, so it's basically like getting a couple of books free. Also, for $19.99 they will send you a hardcover setting book, Scarred Lands Campaign Setting: Ghelspad with the SL DM screen and DM's Companion book. Normally the setting book is 25 bucks and the screen 9, so again, a great deal, and perfect for entry into a SL campaign. I wish I'd gotten off so cheap, but you can't win them all. After that sure, pick up a city book, the NPC book, the Encounters book, whatever floats your boat. Best of luck to you.

 

[kenjib]

Scarred Lands is good if you want a setting that sets everything up for you, fills in all the blanks, and gives you a complete package with a strong thematic hook to base your campaign on (standard, but well done, apocalypse hook). This hook can be overbearing if you want to focus on your own ideas.

Kalamar is good if you want a world that focuses on providing great detail (have you seen the Atlas?) but remains flexible enough to handle any kind of campaign you want, any kind of flavor, and any type of adventure. Instead of one big event defining the entire world (ala Scarred Lands), lots of very interesting and very different things are happening all over the world. You get lots more flexibility this way, but because it lacks a strong central theme/hook some people find it boring and harder to grasp immediately.

In all, Scarred Lands focuses more on giving you completed pre-packaged plotlines whereas Kalamar focuses more on giving you open ended tools to invent your own plotlines. I think what you choose should depend on your DM style.

Scarred Lands is a bit higher magic/fantasy than Kalamar. Kalamar is very well suited toward political campaigns, whereas Scarred Lands is very well suited toward save-the-world-from-evil campaigns. Kalamar expresses more of a moral relativism than Scarred Lands. In Kalamar it is often not clear at all who is good and evil -- in fact these terms are wholly irrelevant in most of the world's conflicts. In Scarred Lands, you are pretty much told who the good guys and the bad guys are.

 

[mikep18103]

Ok if I were going to start a Kalamar Campaign what books would I need to start up?