Scarred Lands: Ghelspad Worth It?

[rootbeergnome]

I really like running homebrew settings but, I have been thinking of buying the scarred lands setting book. It seems like a great setting even though I dont know much about it. Could I get some feedback as far as opinions and maybe a little more info about it? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
-RB Gnome

 

[Henry]

Buy the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad, for $9.95. It should give you enough flavor to knwo whether you want to include more or not. I recently purchased that myself, but I haven't had time to read it yet.

 

[Gez]

(Totally off-topic: does the "rootbeer" in your name refers to Monkey Island ?)

(Edit: I was wrong. Oops. Actually, you use voodoo rootbeer to destroy ghost pirates in MI1. Works as well as holy water.)

 

[Darklance]

Yes very. Even if you don't run it as a whole the little parts are still brilliant and you could take them for your own game if you wanted. The same goes for the city books (I have Hallowfaust and Buroktorn myself).

If you don't want to pay full price but still want a feel for SL I would suggest the Gazetteer.

 

[Hand of Evil]

As Henry said but would add the DM screen.

I like the hardback. It has a lot of information for the world, which to me as a bit more life and grit than Forgotten Realms.

 

[rootbeergnome]

about the rootbeer in my name

actually the "rootbeer" doesnt refer to monkey island, it refers to my roommate crying out "GOD, your like a...a rootbeer...GNOME or something!!" after I drank an enourmous amount of his rootbeer.
Oh, and yes I did mean that I was thinking of buying the new Scarred lands hardback campaign setting, it looks great, thanks for the feedback, still not absolutely sure though, could some of you tell me what is the flavor of scarred lands, what is your favorite things about it? thanks again!
- RB Gnome

ps. where is the "rootbeer" in Monkey Island, I have unfortunately never played it before.

 

[Lady Dragon]

Its a really great setting.If you just want a look try the gazetteer but if your serious get the Harcover Ghelspad book instead it repeats everything in the Gazetteer plus a whole lot more.Though the poster map is with the Gazetteer.

The supplements are all fantastic and could be used in another setting since most of them are cities.The best thing about Scarred lands is it is actively being supported every 6 weeks or so we get new material.

This world has opportunities for every type of gamer,it has a rich history,an lots of interesting places to go.And supposedly there is a another continent to explore that they haven't gotten to yet. Of all the settings being currently supported this is the best one both for content and support.(the others are Forgotten Realms and Kingdom of Kalamar).

They have a really detailed Pantheon with a whole book out on them,two books of critters that really compliment the setting.

Basically this world suffered a war between the gods of the current pantheon and the Titans( evil godlike nature beings)The gods won the battle but not before they destroyed much of the life and terrain on the world. Unfortunatly the gods were not able to kill the Titans outright but rather the incapcitated them in various ways. During this war both sides created creatures and spells meant to destroy the other side and most of these creatures continued to exist after the war was over.

The catch to all this of course is that the war only occured 150 years ago and the world is still bleeding from its wounds.A great place to adventure wouldn't you say.

 

[Wolfen Priest]

I have to admit all the reference books you are going to want really add up (financially as well as textually), but the books themselves are cheaper (per page) than any WotC product out there, by a lot IMO. For example, I got the huge campaign sourcebook for under $25, and you can get Warrens of the Ratmen or Burrok Torn (I believe) for around $13-15 bucks a pop. The prices alone are what keep me coming back for more stuff, even though I haven't read through everything I do have yet.

Plus, you can always do what I do and simply ignore stuff for which you don't have the supplements (in my case, Divine & Defeated). The way I run it, there is less emphasis on the gods and titans. The campaign world is so well-fleshed out that you won't ever be able to use everything in it (certainly not in a single campaign)... At least I seriously doubt it.

I mean, the slarecians and asaathi alone could be the theme of an entire campaign. Or the Calastian empire. Let the titans sleep a while, I say.

 

[Buttercup]

The Scarred Lands campaign setting book is a wonderful resource, even if you don't run a campaign in that world. I've lifted all sorts of bits from the Scarred Lands for my current campaign. But then, I've lifted stuff from Kalamar and Forgotten Realms too. Heck, buy all three of 'em! Then you will have a lifetime's worth of ideas.

 

[Nightfall]

*appears at the mention of the SLCS* Hello! Well mister rootbeergnome, I'd say YES! While it's not as "crunchy" as the FRCS, what it does give is a GREAT deal of detail and depth on the Scarred Lands. It sort of fills in the gaps that other sourcebooks only touched on. It also helps would DMs/GMs by letting them get to know the feel of the Scarred Lands. While I liked the Ghelspad Gaz, the SLCS:Ghelspad, is in my book, one of the best d20 world books out there. It is, for me at least, the standard by which others will be judged by. It has a great reference system, it talks about the culture, religion, and espeically the laws and punishments in various places. While it's not as map heavy as some would like, the cover parts and the few maps in there are CERTAINLY well worth it. Plus if you wanted to see what a TRUE aerial warrior looks, I personally recommend Aerial Caviler. But I digress. The SLCS:G has a great deal on the history, details on various plots and intrigues, and overall, a wonderful organic quality to it.

So please buy it. My quota is just a few souls short.