Scarred Lands advice please.

[Inconsequenti-AL]

A quick question:

Anyone got a link to a synopsis of what Scarred Lands is all about?

Some of the hintings in this thread have got me intrigued.

Apologies for the sidetrack!

 

[Psion]

A quick question:

Anyone got a link to a synopsis of what Scarred Lands is all about?

Well, the basic idea was that, like many settings, there was a titanic struggle between divine powers.

What sets it apart is that this struggle was RECENT. Some elves and dwarves alive in the setting now probably lived to see the end of it.

Similar to Greek myth, there are titans and gods, gods being younger beings. The titans are primordial creatures with an innate connection to the world. The titans were capricious and aloof creators who were responsible for the creation of many (most?) races, but endangered all lesser lifeforms as well. The gods united (good and evil) and took down all titans but one, Denev, who sided with their cause. But the titans are immortal and cannot be truly slain, but are imprisoned in some manner.

This struggle left its mark on the lands. Landscape features and phenomena show the marks of this struggle. Races have been altered because of this struggle (the elven deity was slain and the creatures known as high elves became "forsaken elves", cursed to be unable to bear children), and races remain that were faithful children of the titans, and actively struggle to restore their masters and undermine the children of the gods.

 

[Torillan]

SL books to sell

Hey Old One, I am looking to sell off a few books, some which you might want. Most are near mint. Send me a private e-mail (see my profile) and I'll be happy to forward the list, condition of each, and price.

 

[Voadam]

Psion gave a good synopsis, but I'd add the mortal races did not so much triumph and conquer the world as survive the divine war at great cost and are rebuilding in a torn apart world filled with all sorts of hostile though mostly unorganized "titan-spawn". The main continent of the setting, Ghelspad, has lots of independent city states, such as one ruled by paladins, one ruled by LN necromancers who only make non hungry animated dead servitors to protect their city, one by dwarves, one by a LE military dictator, etc.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Psion and Voadam - very nice synopses from you two! Thanks very much!

Think this might have come along at just the right time - been thinking about writing something and this has gripped my imagination.

Anyway, I'll stop threadjacking The_old_ones thread now.

Thanks again!

 

[Set]

The Ghelspad Hardcover, Relics & Rituals 1 and the five Player's Guides are the ones I use most, although Vigil Watch: Asaatthi and Hollowfaust were both very inspiring. Mithril, Calastia, Burok Torn, Hornsaw, etc. are also good read and / or good settings.

Relics & Rituals 2 is good, but not as vital to setting the mood as R&R1 was, IMO.

Creature Collection 1 is good, but I tend to use Core beasties and sexy them up a bit to fit the setting. (Instead of separate stats for Slarecians, I just use Mind Flayers, instead of 'Unitaurs' I use Minotaurs, instead of Asaatthi I just use smarter Lizardfolk, instead of Proud, Wemics, etc., etc. No use re-inventing the wheel, IMO.).

The Termana HC is crucial if you're planning on going there, but not at all if you are going to stick to Ghelspad. Strange Lands, IMO, is even more 'niche,' although it has some fun stuff in the appendices, such as a Wizard variant focused around the Familiar feature, and a PrC that builds on that.

The only books from the setting I'd steer a non-compleatist away from would be Divine & Defeated (and only in the same way I'd steer someone away from the 3e Dieties & Demigods, which is of limited use for anyone who will never have any earthly need to know Thor's hit points...) and Penumbral Pentagon (a miss, sadly, I had high hopes for that one).

 

[The_Old_one]

I actually quite like Divine & Defeated Set. I've no use for God stats, but the extra info about their followers and the new crunch was nice. And I find that the page/heralds make pretty cool villains/allies in a campaign focused around a specific god.

Mainly though, the chapter on the Titans was very informative, taking them beyond the level of Generic Imprisoned Nasty, and filling out the personality of both the Titans themselves and the cultists who follow them. Of course, the Titan cultists are always great villains...making druids into the standard evil spellcaster for the setting was a stroke of near-genius IMO.

 

[Psion]

The only books from the setting I'd steer a non-compleatist away from would be Divine & Defeated (and only in the same way I'd steer someone away from the 3e Dieties & Demigods, which is of limited use for anyone who will never have any earthly need to know Thor's hit points...) and Penumbral Pentagon (a miss, sadly, I had high hopes for that one).

I'd recommend Divine & Defeated for anyone who wishes to run a scarred lands game.

Not because you need avatar stats, but because it contains the most information about the followers of the titans, their plots and methods. It's an adventure idea mine for scarred lands. Very much different from DDG in this aspect.

 

[Voadam]

I liked Divine and Defeated for the god stories. So that makes a third recomendation.

I passed on getting the Ghelspad Hardcover personally. The gazetteer is enough to give an overview and flavor of the various parts of the continent and I knew the HC would be information overload for me that I likely would not wade through.

 

[Twowolves]

Creature Collection Revised, while it didn't get rid of all the warts and knobs from the original Creature Collection, is still an improvement and worth considering - it all depends on how many monsters you may use out of the original Creature Collection. If many, pick it up. If only a few, it may be more worth your while to scour the web a bit for those specific creatures revisions.

The Ghelspad hardcover's good, though seeing as how you have the gazetteer, not as important. I do, however, recommend the Termana hardcover or gazetteer. These are two of the more outstanding Scarred Lands books. Lost Tribes, though...eh. Luke warm on. Maybe it's just the fact that I read fewer RPG books as of late, browsing mostly, but after owning it for a year, I still haven't read past the first ten or so pages. Furthermore, the dragon stuff in Lost Tribes has an Asiatic feel to it; this may or may not influence your opinion (for me, someone who liked the Greek/Mesopotamian feel to the initial few Scarred Lands books, it turned me off).

Relics and Rituals II, meanwhile, has a few nifty bits of setting material in it involving astrology.

If you like the way asaatthi are presented in the Creature Collection or pretty much most of the other Scarred Lands books, don't bother with Vigil Watch: Asaatthi. It pretty much disregards the original concept and makes a new monster. Of course, it's hard to argue with "free."

I just want to congratulate you on your 666th post.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Scarred Lands-themed thread.