Scarred Lands: Ask the Sage (Going into Triple OT Folk!)

[Trickstergod]

I'm not sure a lot of people pay attention to that rule.

It may just be an explanation for scantily clad ladies, but it's a rule I use in my Scarred Lands game.

And Forge, Creature Collection Revised was supposed to have Monster Manual info in it about how those beasties fit into the Scarred Lands, but it got cut. For space reasons, if I remember right. If not then, then possibly because the information was never entirely finished, at least in time, or the remote possibility that they were using non-OGC stuff, and were given a thumbs down on it (not likely, because later products have used yuan-ti and mind flayers, but possible, in light of a few non-OGC gaffes I recall here and there in older books...).

 

[Nightfall]

Trick,

They said space reasons. I believe it. But like you I do use this rule a lot. Course I haven't had to use it since none of my players wear any armor.

Werner,

Think maybe they should submit one of the Player's guide. I nominate Player's Guide to Rangers and Rogues!

 

[Wishsong]

What is Renewer's Nature's Vengence? I can't find any description of this ability.

 

[Nightfall]

It's a typo. It's just a Favored Enemy bonus run amok.

 

[Crothian]

Nightfall, can you e-mail me please? cgath@insight.rr.com

Thank you.

 

[Nightfall]

Huh. Guess they disable emailing too eh? Oh well. nighttfall@yahoo.com Crothy.

 

[shady]

I'd be interested in knowing what kinds of campaigns people are playing in SL, and which are the most important books. I have Ghelspad (the bigger one), CC2, CC1Rev, Div&Def, R&R1, R&R2, maybe some other ones (the wilderlands book, come to think of it ...) but have been raiding them sporadically for stuff for my own campaigns rather than actually running SL ...

Is there something I might need to actually run an SL campaign? And as I say, what kind of thing (plot, tone) is popular in this setting?

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

I'd be interested in knowing what kinds of campaigns people are playing in SL, and which are the most important books.

I don't know if our game is typical...probably not, but hey, you asked:

Our characters are nearly a standard-issue adventuring company based out of a largely homebrew version of Shelzar; basically, we take jobs like "go find this place out in the Mounds of Man and bring back this tablet for me," and collect a fee as well as whatever other loot we acquire. Mix in some personal plots for when we're back in Shelzar, add a little intrigue (we bump into all kinds of factions and end up getting twisted into their plans in one way or another), and that's pretty much our game. Most recently, our GM adapted the Banewarrens module by Monte Cook to fit into the Scarred Lands (mostly by changing the opposing factions involved in it and putting it out in the Ukrudan desert); it worked very well, and got us some very interesting new enemies to deal with. So overall, I'd say it's about 40-50% dungeon delving, 30-40% conversations and scheming, and the rest is weird, unclassifiable events.

As far as tone goes, everything outside Shelzar is fairly grim and unfriendly, while Shelzar is more like a big carnival, with extra backstabbing and higher prices. Perhaps in reaction to this, our characters are all a bit more lighthearted and heroic-minded than our usual run of PCs tend to be. We're also more interested in politics and in faction-specific power struggles than usual, maybe because our SL campaign is more closely focused on those things.

We're still using 3.0 rules, mostly. Our GM tweaked the skill system to allow for higher and more varied skills among the party (cross-class only affects the maximum number of ranks, not the cost of a rank, and each character gets one free skill point added to a "spotlight" skill determined at creation). It helps to make the party feel more well-rounded, and lets us do more interesting things in cities. He also added a very fast-and-loose contact system (everyone gets one major contact, plus one more for every rank in Gather Information); this was before the Rangers & Rogues book came out, and it turns out that it suits our style of play better than the more byzantine system described there.

--
mostly because our gm wants us to make and keep lots of npc contacts
ryan

 

[dead]

What is the title of the Scarred Lands core campaign book?

Is it all you need to play Scarred Lands?

Does it show a map of the ENTIRE globe? If not, have the designers produced a map of the entire planet in some other SL book?

Who are the creators of Scarred Lands and what other well-known books have they produced in the past? (This doesn't have to be d20/D&D.)

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Is there something I might need to actually run an SL campaign? And as I say, what kind of thing (plot, tone) is popular in this setting?

I've started my group out using the Serpent Amphora series, it has helped me and the players get a good sense of the Scarred Lands. From here I am hoping (if the players don't go off and completely screw me) to keep them in the Vesh/Calastia region with some jaunts to Mithril for the party Paladin. I'm going to play with the tension between Calastia and Vesh, and then I'm hoping to twist it up by having a resurgence of Charduni on the continent. Will the players work with Calastia against the Charduni? Will they try and foment greater tensions between two powers under Chardun? Will they try and stop both, risking a two front war? Its a major work in early progress and I'm quite convinced that the players will manage to thwart all of my efforts.