Scarred Lands - beyond Ghelspad?

[ruemere]

I recently picked up a (used) copy of the Ghelspad hardcover and was pleasantly surprised--this setting is a lot nicer than I thought. But my question is, what lies beyond Ghelspad? Are there other setting books? All I've seen are locations within Ghelspad (like Mithril), but nothing beyond...although I haven't looked too hard (yet)--I thought I'd come to my friends at ENWorld!

So what's beyond Ghelspad? And are there setting books that explore it? Thanks!

EDIT: OK, I discovered the Termana and Strange Lands books. How are they? What are the best Scarred Lands setting books? And is there an online map of the world?

Have a look at general listing of Scarred Lands publications:
http://enworld.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=1_63

Generally, this is a short summary of available locales & settings:

• Blood Bayou
  Think voodoo region fantasy style with insane inhuman megalomaniac bent on infecting world with his lunacy.
• Blood Sea: The Crimson Abyss
  Ocean of water and blood, with a still bleeding great husk chained at the bottom, hordes of mutants and monstrous beings warring (and politicking).
  
• Burok Torn: City Under Siege
  Just as the title says. The defenders are dwarves (and this is their last major center), and the siege is laid by most organized militaristic human empire plus there are at least two major threats coming from below.
  
• Calastia: Throne of the Black Dragon
  The iconic evil human empire of the setting, led by tyrant who actually cares about PR and his subjects. It must be stressed that the evil is very human (xenophoby, discrimination etc), and that the evil guys apply creative tactics (for example smoking the dwarves from their underground cities by spreading plague of life-stealing vine).
  
• Edge of Infinity: The Scarred Planes
  Interesting read in the manner of 3.x Manual of the Planes.
  
• Ghelspad
  More locales, quick recap of various places.
  
• Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers
  One of the best locales ever. Think partially rebuilt Pompeii governed by magocracy of necromancers who do a splendid job of working with the living. Ah, and add mexican style festivals of the dead.
  
• Hornsaw: Forest of Blood
  Unihabitable place for adventurers.
  
• Mithril: City of the Golem
  Great city of opportunity. If you think that necromancers running successfully a city were strange, think about most uncompromising and unflexible guys administering a bigger city at the feet of mithril mech... and doing pretty good given the long odds of problems piled on their heads.
  
• Scarred Lands Campaign Setting: Termana
  Discovering Africa. And voodoo. And depraved elves.
  
• Shelzar: City of Sins
  City of 1001 Delights. Not as sinful as some would like, more like a place of thousand and one promises. With a probably last dragon in the world in the zoo.
  
• Strange Lands: Lost Tribes of the Scarred Lands
  Goodbye to the setting book. One of the most packed packages. Oriental adventures + dragon legacy + dark secrets of gods.
  
• The Penumbral Pentagon
  Shadowy organization dealing with shadows. Interesting, though - to some at least - a bit too bland. Heavy on crunchy bits for NPCs, a little lacking in some other departments.
  
• Vigil Watch: Secrets of the Asaatthi
  Aiii.... it's the lizard samurais from swamps. Hard to like, but sometimes useful.
  
• Vigil Watch: Warrens of the Ratmen
  The ratmen portrayed in all their evil glory. Recommended for a useful set of opponents.
  
• Wilderness & Wasteland
  Generic wilderness encounter tables, hazards and useful bits. Wilderness in SL is dangerous, and this little books provides many tools.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Psion]

[*]Vigil Watch: Secrets of the Asaatthi
Aiii.... it's the lizard samurais from swamps. Hard to like, but sometimes useful.

Hard to like?

I thought it was awesome... adds an interesting layer to the serpent-folk. Good enough that it made me decide Asaatthi needed to get ported to my non-SL games.

 

[Set]

Ghelspad is head-and-shoulders above the other two setting books, although Termana is also well-developed and usable on it's own. (Ghelspad has the clear advantage, as many of it's popular areas are already detailed in other products, such as Mithril, Hollowfaust, Calastia, Shelzar, Hornsaw, etc.)

Strange Lands is a strange beast, neither fish nor fowl, being more a compilation of authors notes, monsters, dieties, etc. from the two or three continents not already detailed in Ghelspad and Termana.

If you are interested in the setting, I'd recommend picking up Relics & Rituals 1 and Creature Collection 1 Revised first, and then, based on what you've read on Ghelspad, select whichever city/region books appeal to your particular fancy.

The setting is also highly usable for a more standard 3.5 style game or in the Freeport setting, etc. Some of the signature races, such as Slarecians or Asaatthi, can be swapped out for Mind Flayers or Serpent Folk with minimal flavor difference.

It's very much a 'points of light' setting, in that there are a heck of a lot of undeveloped areas overrun with monsters / titanspawn of all sorts. As one would almost expect from a D&D setting designed by the people who brought us Vampire, it's got a lot of blood and shadows and elder evils resting uneasily, which are all fun and serve to differentiate the setting from the ones that are a little safer and more civilized. Indeed the largest and most organized nation on the main continent is run by the setting's god of tyranny!

 

[Will]

I think Scarred Lands would work GREAT as an E6 setting. It'd take some tweaks, but I always felt the setting didn't sit very comfortably within the normal range of D&D leveling.

 

[jdrakeh]

On a related note, I'm actually selling most of the line in NM hardcopy as a lot over in the sales and trades forum here (and at CM).

 

[ruemere]

Hard to like?

I thought it was awesome... adds an interesting layer to the serpent-folk. Good enough that it made me decide Asaatthi needed to get ported to my non-SL games.

The depiction of cold-blooded culture was interesting, the mechanics and isolationism much less so. It's one of those supplements, which are a delight to GM, and hard to put in a typical campaign. YMMV, of course.

Anyway, Scarred Lands are an embodiment of Point of Light setting concept. It's also provides a wonderful experience of moral relatives - good vs evil, good and evil together versus ancient threat, and finally, everyone against doom of the world.

The little things like legal and lawful blood sacrifices on altairs of evil gods in a middle of paladin city, performed by good-aligned priests (rest assured, they sacrifice animals, not humans - in Scarred Lands gods are very close to mortals - the right word or prayer at the right time ma put you well ahead... but forget prayer to LG deity of smiths, and your forge may break under your next blow... that's why paladins must respect all religions, not just the good ones).

Or the beautiful idea of Morning Star order (priests, monks, paladins of NG deity) who, in order to stop spread of epidemies, instituted 3-day policy (i.e. the villagers have three days to deal with the plague themselves before the order cleanses the whole village with holy fire).

Or the elves who kindap human children because they lost ability to have their own.

And so on.



I still love the setting. And, despite numerous little problems, I do hope it comes back one day.

regards,
Ruemere

 

[catsclaw227]

This is one that I would love to see redone as a 4e campaign setting. It would take some work, but I wonder if WW would be willing to Open it for the fans. I can't imagine that they are selling many SL books these days.

[sblock]On a side note.... I always wondered what happened to Nightfall...Hmmm, banned for pimping a setting sounds kinda heavy handed, but I don't have all the facts. I did get tired of his three word posts that had nothing to do with the topic at hand, but other than that, he wasn't mean to people.
[/sblock]

 

[Twowolves]

Strange Lands is a strange beast, neither fish nor fowl, being more a compilation of authors notes, monsters, dieties, etc. from the two or three continents not already detailed in Ghelspad and Termana.

Essentially, Strange Lands was a going away present to fans of the setting. They had entire setting books planned for each of these three continents and other books describing the monsters, spells, PrCs and feats all in the works when the line was canceled. So they threw it all into one last hardcover and shoved it out the door. Which is a shame, because so much of the book is good, it deserved the full detail 3 stand-alone books could have given it, especially the Dragon Lands.

 

[Trickstergod]

Hmm. Posts about core setting books for the Scarred Lands and not one mention of The Divine and the Defeated.

That is absolutely the most important setting book for the Scarred Lands. It does rather require the Ghelspad hardcover, but the Ghelspad hardcover can also be traded out for the Termana hardcover - both give places to play the game.

Meanwhile, The Divine and the Defeated describes the very heart of the setting, as it details the gods, titans, their sects, beliefs, and so on. It goes into the Divine War and provides a glimpse into the setting's history.

I'll also chime in to say that the asaatthi book is tripe, in part for completely ignoring pretty much every other bit of asaatthi information that came before it, in part for introducing various derivative forms of asaatthi (I'm not big into subraces, particularly partially humanoid ones), along with a number of other complaints I've since forgotten.

My general recommendation is that the older books are the better ones. The first few Scarred Lands books to come out gave the setting it's own unique feel - the neutral city of necromancers, dwarves and elves with a conflict that makes some sense, a slant towards Greek mythology. Then later books diluted the setting and shifted it a bit more towards generic fantasy.

 

[Psion]

Hmm. Posts about core setting books for the Scarred Lands and not one mention of The Divine and the Defeated.

If I had taken the time to post a more proactive post, it would have been high on my list. One of the main thing a setting delivers to me is setting up the opposition that the PCs will be facing. This is where Divine & Defeated fits. It describes the state of the titan spawn and other followers of the titans and, as such, becomes useful fodder & reference for setting up campaigns in the setting.