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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2011085" data-attributes="member: 1129">In 2002, Sword & Sorcery Studios came out with the campaign setting Ghelspad. A 256 black and white hard cover that sold for $24.95. In 2003, the next part of the Scarred Lands comes out, Termana. This is a 224 page black and white hard cover that sells for $29.95. Ah, welcome inflation where you get double dipped, once on page count and once on price. That's okay though, in all honesty, Ghelspad was very underpriced but in hindsight, it's going to be one of the most complained about issues as it wasn't that long ago.The book uses standard two column formatting for most of the details but occasionally breaks off smaller sections for hand written notes, maps, and game information. The funny thing about the maps is that the interior maps of the country are far superior to the full color map on the interior cover. The names aren't as big, giving you more detail of the landscape. The bad part about the maps is that there aren't enough of them, which is a shame since it could've been used to cover the glaring white space.The book is broken up into four chapters with an appendix, making things fairly easy to find. Chapter one and two, cover the overall history and religion of Termana. The interesting thing here is that they introduce spirit worship, which is also hit upon a bit in the clerics and druids player's guide, but then fail to explain in a satisfactory manner why it's not in other lands. “Could the gods... be so jealous that they bend their efforts to ensuring that yet another competing religion ever arises there?” Well, since its not stated, I guess we'll never know. One thing that's interesting in all this is titans are given another look, this time as beings who were once good or at least indifferent, who became corrupted by their own power.The bulk of the book takes place in chapters three and four, Nations of Termana and Other Locations of Termana. Now I really don't get the difference between the two in some instances. In the fourth chapter, we see the Tepuje Cities, a group of independent city states where psionics can be introduced, could've easily fit into the Nations section or the Blood Bayou, where a certain Jack of Tears lives, could've been snuck into the earlier chapter.Those looking for pure game mechanics will get some new totem feats, poisons and prestige classes, but racial information is still found only in the Gazetteer for this part of the Scarred Lands world.So what did I enjoy about this book? I like the fact that two of the bigger power players here aren't human empires. The elves who suffered a crushing curse when Chern, titan of diseases died, have numerous empires and kingdoms here. Some of them are bound and determined to go on fighting till the last elf, or half-elf drop, while others have given up to their more base desires and have given up all pretense of the fight. I was a little disappointed that the vents of the trilogy of novels weren't even touched on here, but assume that's because there is a separate sourcebook for those details. The forsaken elves main enemy is the dwarf lords who worship Chardun, the Great General, and are lead by the One in White. While at some times it seems silly that these empire spanning conquerors were able to almost claim all of Chelspad without being able to overwhelm those in their own backyard, the fact that dwarves are evil and powerful, as opposed to noble and in decline, make a great change of pace.Other bits that I enjoyed were the variety of evil elements going on here. Some of these are subtle and not to be lightly trifled with, perfect for players hungry for role playing opportunities. The Jack of Tears and his whole region and their goals are left mainly alone, allowing the GM to customize (at least from this book) and expand them without many issues. This material has seen support in monster form from various Creature Collection books, as well as a sourcebook on the Blood Bayou itself. For those more interested in monster hunting, they have to content with the Ghoul King. A popular enemy of fantasy campaigns, the undead have quite a presence in this setting and while things aren't bad now, the GM can turn a few knobs and twist a few levers and boom! It's a whole new undead invasion.Now some don't like psionics or psychic powers and I can respect that. Apparently the writers can too, for although there are new lands here that use psionics, the GM has the option to completely ignore that and use standard druids and sorcerers in the place of psionics.For those looking for something different, the land does have several races that feature prominently here that aren't as big in other parts of the Scarred Lands setting. This includes gnolls, centaurs, gnomes, yuan-ti, steppe trolls, terali (leopard-men) and a few others that I've probably missed. Each has their own range and home, allowing the GM to pit his players against foes they may not be familiar with. The steppe trolls for example, are more civilized natives of the Iron Steppes, while the yuan-ti rule over the yellow jungle. While there are more game mechanics here than in the previous campaign setting, they're still very player focused. The prestige classes help provide some flavor to the setting and expand the concepts that players may have of what's standard or to be expected of the region. The bad guys have some PrCs for the GMs too. My favorite would be the Death-touched, individuals who've tasted the power of the Isle of the Dead and who gain undead based powers including high hit dice, bonuses with social skills with the undead (at a penalty to living creatures), necromantic energy that can be used in different manners.  The One in Black, a Chardun worshipper with some spellcasting ability similar to a paladin, also has some necromantic abilities as well as abilities to craft rods, in emulation of the war scepter that the Great General himself uses.Of course no section would be complete without some PrCs aimed at players. One thing I like is the High Magus. See the elves have various schools or orders that they follow, each one getting it's own class skill in addition to standard class skills. These individuals master specialization in both abjuration and illusion schools, can cast two spells of those schools a round (as long as the spells levels do not exceed his own High Magus levels), and even break through magic resistance. It's a powerful class but most players won't be qualifying for it until 7th level making it on edge with other 8th-18th level characters. I personally would've enjoyed more maps, the one place the book was very weak in. While it was nice to have a few cities drawn out, the huge amounts of blank space show that there was indeed room for such information. The strange thing is that many kingdoms have actual capital information, but no maps to reference the points of interest. I would've also enjoyed more details on the independent city states where psionics are possible with some more characters and ideas thrown in.Overall the book is a worthwhile investment for those looking for something different for their Scarred Lands campaign or who want to change some details and add another land to their standard campaigns. One of my biggest gripes with standard campaigns like the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk is that often these are super continents with everything connected physically and those landmasses that aren't, so far away and so different, that there's no point in using them. With Termana, there are several elements that players may be familiar with on the surface, like the Chardun dwarves and forsaken elves, but will discover the differences as they go further inland. In that aspect, Termana succeeds where few d20 supplements have.</blockquote>

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