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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2009214" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Scarred Lands Campaign Setting: Ghelspad, is the sourcebook for the continent of Ghelspad in Sword & Sorcery's Scarred Lands campaign setting.At $24.95 for 256 pages, this represents excellent value for money in terms of content amount, and little space is lost between the covers in terms of font size, margin or white space (though 5 pages are lost at the back to advertising). The hardback cover is appealing, with a well-rendered map as the background to some nicely-textured title fonts. Both inside covers show the same map as hinted at on the external cover in full - the lands of Ghelspad in full colour, scaled and with compass direction. The rest of the maps, though also scaled and with compass direction, are fairly bland and utilitarian. I found the art to mainly average, with a few good pieces - all are in mono. The writing quality is a little academic and dry, whilst comprehensive and authoritative. Editing is good, especially considering the size of the book.Chapter One: History Of Ghelspad (25 pages), covers a brief history of the cyclical epochs of the world of Scarn, the Ancient Empires that have made their mark during this history, further detail on the Titanswar which changed the nature of the world, and more recent history along with a brief overview of the current situation. Within the chapter, there are also significant sidebars covering the various calendars and holidays of Ghelspad, the two moons of Ghelspad, and the languages of Ghelspad. A nice touch is the use of letters from third-party 'NPC's' which give their own biased commentary on happenings being described in the main text. This breaks up what could have been quite a monotonous chapter, though it is still heavy going at times. I also felt that the chapter did not explain the essential nature of the Scarred Lands clearly enough for those who are new to the setting - I would have liked to see an overview of the most important factors in the history of the continent, either as a timeline or as an introduction to the chapter. Sometimes it was difficult to see the woods for the trees.Chapter Two: The Gods Of Ghelspad (10 pages), begins with a useful table showing the alignment, domains and typical worshippers of the gods, demigods and titans of the Scarred Lands. Whilst Clerics worship and receive their spells from the gods and demigods, druids receive their spells from the slumbering Titans, who lay entombed beneath the earth, defeated by the gods. Each of the gods and demigods are described with a brief description of their role, alignment, domains, holy symbol, favoured weapon and, most interestingly, invocation benefits. Invocation benefits are minor bonuses granted to worshippers invoking the deity in times of dire need - the need must relate to the aspect of the deity being invoked. Titans get a more limited description outlining their influence on druidic orders who worship them and their symbol.Chapter Three: Nations Of Ghelspad (75 pages), covers 17 nations in good detail. Each nation begins with some brief listings covering population, government, ruler, capital, major cities, language, religion, currency, resources, allies, and enemies. The majority of the section covers more detailed discussions on history, geography, flora and fauna, people, culture, crime and punishment, religion, armed forces, and cities. I would have liked to have seen maps of each nation showing the general geography, cities, and locations of resources and armed forces, but you can't fault the level of detail in the text. Nations covered are: Albadia, Ankila, Calastia, Darakeene, Drifting Isle, Dunahnae, Durrover, Fangsfall Peninsula, Gleaming Valley, Heteronomy of Virduk, Karria, Lageni, New Venir, Ontenazu, Uria, Vesh, and Zathiske.Chapter Four: City-States Of Ghelspad, covers the powerful city-states of Ghelspad in much the same way as the previous chapter - though sections on Geography and Flora and Fauna are discarded as appropriate. The eighteen city-states covered are: Amalthea, Bridged City, Burok Torn, Dier Drendal, Gest Ganest, Glivid Autel, Hedrad, Hollowfaust, Khirdet, Krakadöm, Loskil, Lost City of Asaatthi, Mansk, Mithril, Mullis Town, Rahoch, Shelzar, and Vera-Tre.Chapter Five: Important Locations In Ghelspad, deals with the less populated areas of Ghelspad. Again, the format, where appropriate, is dealt with in the same manner as the previous two chapters. Most areas have limited information such as history, geography and flora and fauna only, whilst others have more extensive information. Covers Adurn's Tear, Bleak Savannah, Blood Basin, Blood Sea, Blood Steppes, Bloodrain Woods, Blossoming Sea, Celestial Shelf, Corean's Cleft, Devil's March, Festering Fields, Ganjus Forest, Haggard Hills, Hornsaw Forest, Irontooth Pass, Kelder Mountains, Kelder Steppes, Lake Repose, Mourning Marshes, Lands of Non, Obsidian Pyre, Perforated Plains, Plains of Lede, Scrub Forest, Spine Forest, Stricken Forest, Sweltering Plains, Titanshome Mountains, Toe Islands, and Urudan Desert. Chapter Six: Other Places In Ghelspad, offer 26 further places in Ghelspad. These are briefly discussed in no more than 4 or 5 paragraphs but give a number of good ideas as adventure locations. Covers The Border River, Cliffs Of Constancy, Cordrada Corridor, The Devouring Reef, Fouled Forest, Gascar Peaks, Geleeda's Grove, Gluttonous Caves, Godsface Cliffs, Hornswythe River, Inferno Gulf, Khet, Liar's Sound, Moanscar Mountains, Mounds Of man, Murmur Pass, Placid River, Sapphire Lake, Serpentine Pass, Skydeep Ruins, Sorporatra Swamp, The Spires Of Gaurak, Splintered River, Swamps Of Kan Thet, Vengaurak Vale, and Wall Of Bones.Appendix: Prestige Classes, introduces eight prestige classes for Ghelspad:* Aerial Cavalier - aerial mount fighting specialists with some diplomacy skills. The class features include an empathic link to the aerial mount and various aerial fighting manoeuvres.* Brother of the Scarred Hand - a brotherhood dedicated to healing by sacrificing his own life force or absorbing illness. Includes the ability to raise dead at later level but risks death himself in the act. No member can worship a god or demigod. The only thing I felt was missing was some discussion of ex-brothers, who have succumbed to religion.* Forgemaster - magical blacksmith with class features which aid him in his crafting of items, particularly magical weapons and armour.* Gold Knight - prerequisites restrict access to 5th level Paladins. Essentialy a paladin-type focused on healing abilities. One of the prerequisites of this prestige class is the 'remove disease' ability. One of the class features is also the 'remove disease' ability. The text of the class feature should discuss the stacking or non-stacking nature of the feature. I did not rate this prestige class very highly - it seemed mainly a way for a paladin to gain clerical abilities, avoiding the multiclassing rules restriction.* Iron Knights - knights who excel in the crafting of magic weapons and armour, and also in siege warfare. A bit similar to the Forgemaster's class features in theme, but not a bad prestige class.* Keeper of the Eternal Flame -  cleric-type prestige class (worshipping Corean or Madriel). Prerequisites restrict access to 5th level clerics and 8th-level Paladins. Gain various class features related to fire, plus stacking 'turn undead' ability (the example of stacking gives a 7th level paladin/4th level Keeper as an example even though the minimum entry level for a paladin is 8th).* Knight of the Morning Sky - a group dedicated to eradicating disease, contagion, and undead. Class features reflect the theme well with appropriate limited spell list, turning, and healing abilities.* Renewer - group dedicated to revivification of the land after the damage caused in the titanswar. Prerequisites restrict access to 7th-level druids or rangers. Class features give the powers to fulfil their aim.Conclusion:A detailed and interesting campaign setting with a breadth of adventure possibilities, and variety of cultures and settings, to rival Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms or Kalamar. A few areas which could be improved - a couple of the prestige classes and the history chapter - but overall worth checking out if you're looking for something new and detailed in terms of a campaign setting. The book itself is well presented and is good value for money in terms of amount and quality of content, though sometimes the level of detail can be almost overwhelming at times. However, this should be a boon when working with it to create adventures of your own, or as background to S&S' published adventures and setting books.</blockquote>

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