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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gambler1650" data-source="post: 2010206" data-attributes="member: 11033">In my reviews I rarely give 1's, just as I rarely give 5's. While production qualities matter, the content is what determines a final rating. Good pictures or unique ideas won't save a product from a poor review, but it might push a good one slightly higher. Functionality first, then the flash if you please. Price is also generally taken into consideration. A quick summary of my personal ratings: 1 - Lazy, incomplete, shoddy effort. So disgusted I'm likely only to open it again to review it. 2 - Below average. Not completely unhappy I bought it since it probably has some good ideas. 3 - Average/Good. I got approximately what I expected in terms of content and quality. No major flaws and useful. 4 - Very Good. I got more than I expected. Inspired me enough to think about using it down the road. 5 - Excellent. The cream of the industry. I immediately want to use it somewhere. Excellent production values. As in the case of the Ghelspad campaign setting, I waffled a great deal on the final score to give this product.  In some ways it's almost perfect, especially with regards to the prose and editing.  A few minor nits drag it down from the perfect rating however.   .PRODUCTION QUALITY: The production quality of this sourcebook is quite good. The cover is a brilliantly colored, glossy picture of a group of creatures within the Hornsaw.  There's little in the way of artwork in the interior (at least compared to some D20 products) but I find this a good thing.  The artwork that's there ranges from below average to very good, but most of it fits right about at average on my scale.  The use of white space, font, and sidebars is excellent.  There are 128 pages, 4 of which are advertisements, for $17.95 which is quite in line with the very nice price to page ratio of Sword and Sorcery products, and even improves over some of its other supplements (Mithril was the same price for 24 less pages).Production Quality Rating: 4 CONTENT:  There's very little in the way of crunchy bits in this sourcebook, except for a few new monsters, encounter tables, spells, prestige classes, subraces, and societies.  All of these however are nicely done and evocative of the setting, especially the magical tattoos that the Hornsaw elves use.  The rest of the book is primarily flavor in the form of history and description of the current state of the Hornsaw.  This really emphasizes the effects that the taint of Mormo has on the land, especially in stark contrast to what the Broadreach Forest was like before Mormo's sundering.   Additional focus is given to the natural hazards of the Hornsaw and the societies within it.  One of my beefs with the sourcebook was that there're two groups with more or less the same goal (to resurrect Mormo) with clearly defined roles they expect to play when she's reborn.  There's no hint of cooperation between the two groups, and little explanation as to why not.  You don't really get the impression that they're against each other, but it's fairly obvious that unless  they work together, or one group is eliminated, that Mormo won't be resurrected by either one separately.  I suppose this fits with the way the Titans always behaved on Scarn.. Another group is mentioned as working with one of the above two societies, but not the other, and little explanation why.  I would have liked more information on what the evil societies think of each other and whether or not they work together and why or why not.  As it is, these groups feel somewhat shallowly sketched.  Another nice feature of this book, like some other of the area sourcebooks in the Scarred Lands, is the Adventure Hooks section.  Rather than just giving a paragraph or two for each hook idea, there's one well detailed, if small, adventure followed by shorter concepts that can be expanded on.  The detailed adventure is more or less a small dungeon crawl, but with a distinctly Hornsaw forest flavor.  A lapse in editing occurs here though, as when you reach one of the last rooms in  the key, it tells you that the mage that the characters are seeking is being held prisoner there.  This is the first, and only time, this mage is mentioned! Content Rating: 4 (The secret societies could have used more information in them)  CONCLUSION: This is a very nice sourcebook, and one I would have loved to give a rating of 5 to, but I just didn't get enough of a sense of the evil societies to make them real to me, in spite of the fact that the Hornsaw forest setting itself really comes to life through the flavor text.  The new "races" (Hornsaw Elves, and wood dwarves) are nicely done, though only the elves really seem unique with their new tattoo magic.  The writing itself is very well done, and the area itself is one that an entire campaign could be based upon.  It's not perfect, but it's one of the better sourcebooks available for the Scarred Lands.Overall Rating: 4</blockquote>

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