Why is the Scarred Lands Setting so popular?

[Fenros]

Darius101 wrote:

The best advice I can give you is look at the Northern Journey campaign for forgotten realms and see how WOTC messed it up.

Northern Journey campaign? What's that? A published module for FR? Or some story line thing from the WotC website? So where do I read this?

Thanks.

 

[Azure Trance]

Me too. The setting sounds really interesting, and support like this is always a great sign. Oddly enough one of the main things that sticks in my memory is from an older thread; a DM had an evil NPC which the PCs had to deal with in a SL setting. She was an evil druid and did all sorts of horrible things, like drown someone a party member consistently in a pool of life until he admitted she was superior, etc. Though she was a druid (apparently a good thing in SL?) and the partys only 'ally' for quite a distance in any direction in that particurlar region.

-=-

The crappy part about this is I can't jumble all this stuff together in my disgustingly tacked on homebrew. I love finding new things and using the best parts of it. It started with a generic Greyhawk-FR world, modified once by Swashbuckling Adventures (now it's psuedo *European*), second by Privateer Press Monsternomicon (Steamtech; Corvis, Wargolems *Hmmzt*), and thrice by Bluffside (their new nearby base of operations). I haven't recieved Book of the Righteous yet but I assume when I do that will be plugged in as well (x4) for the standard religions; and perhaps, if possible, to tie in Engel with it for Heaven & Hell on Earth for a x5*. Unfortunately the SL setting couldn't be a 6th change, because it'd wipe the slate clean. If only I could find a way to tie SL in though ... well, at least the crunchy bits are still useful.

* Read below if you wish to know how!

What? In renassiance steamtech Europe? Neva! And that's true, it would be difficult. If too difficult, I'd just ditch it. Buuut if it could work there'd be a superior Io-esque God that can act as the Catholic Church. It'd also change it to post-apocalyptic, but with Steamtech around pre-flood technology wouldn't be as impacting; why not consider them the same as magical items? The vestiges of future civilizations such as skyscrapers and hive cities could still exist in ancient cities that were once capitals of an Empire, if not still. Worst case, just stick it 1000 miles to the South and wait for the party to sail down there.

 

[Sanackranib]

where to start

And today...a package arrived (a day late for Christmas), but I was happy to find within 18 Scarred Lands supplements, novels, and hardbacks. Considering all I've read in this thread, I'm looking forward to reading them.

However, I'm at a loss on where to start. Can anyone suggest a good place to start reading? Should I begin with Relics & Rituals or with the Gazateer? Or should I start off by focusing on one area like Mithril?

Lucky bastard! (sombody REALLY loves you!)
I would start with the Gaz or Ghelspad then relics and rituals then the devine and defeated (if you have it)

 

[Sanackranib]

tie it in

-=-

The crappy part about this is I can't jumble all this stuff together in my disgustingly tacked on homebrew. Unfortunately the SL setting couldn't be a 6th change, because it'd wipe the slate clean. If only I could find a way to tie SL in though ... well, at least the crunchy bits are still useful.

why not start with the SL and work theother stuff in? that is basically what I am doing

 

[Adlon]

Okay, so maybe I'll give this setting a shot. Where do you start? Is there an over-all world book? Like the way Forgotten Realms has one? And then they go into area specific books? Which book is the core book? Or the first book?

To get a good, inexpensive look into Scarred Lands, I strongly suggest the Ghelspad Gazeteer. IT's a 9$ mini-world book, and is one of the best buys around. IT will give you a good solid look at the campaign setting as a whole, and you WILL get an in depth feel for how the CS works.

After that, as you can see, there is a plethora of sourcebooks/suppliments for the CS, including the Hardbound main campaign setting book.

 

[Sanackranib]

Doh!

thanks Aldon, I missed the Gaz, probably because I only heard of its existance reciently and don't have it yet.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It is the dirt and the grit, SL has a feel and taste to it that does come across in your games.

It is also the detail, the realms are nice but they are a happy meal, for the masses and have been wrote to appeal to them. SL is darker and more fantasy.

 

[Sanackranib]

scarred lands

one of the big things too is that its "new". but so far I really like it and so do my players. one of them even came up with an SL Calander, which has proven to be quite usefull

 

[teitan]

Sacrred Lands is probably the best setting for 3E because everything actually has a place (well, monks still seem iffy) and doesn't seem to be thrown in like the FRCS with the addition of Sorcerors and the not too well thought out addition of monks. They didn't even make an attempt to use the Salvatore monk ideas that actually made sense. The Scarred Lands was designed for 3E rules and the rules fit like a glove, even without the optional rules from the R&R series etc.

I think what makes it best is that they are just different enough from standard DnD to be interesting and similar enough to keep a DM from getting confused. Drow are not spider worshipping freak jobs, nah, they are cooler than pooh in the Scarred Lands and have the best greeting since Transformers the Movie. I love the Charduni.

The monsters reek of evil, they are dastardly forces from the bowels of Hell and most of them smell funny too.

I also like that alignment seems more real without being restrictive. Evil and good work hand in hand to defeat a greater, more sinister evil. Like was said earlier, they aren't necessarily drinking buddies, but they will do what is necessary to survival.

The setting is not overwhelming either. The Realms just seem overwhelming in their detail and that can intimidate a DM, especially when a player knows more about the setting (and I don't mean just the novels, we don't read them and I have a player that gets pissed off because I changed some aspects of Scardale Town and other things).

Price. Most of all the price of the books makes the Scarred Lands great. They are not overpriced books. I like the Forgotten Realms books, I DM in the Realms, but I prefer the Scarred Lands immensely. The Realms books are the same price as the hardbacks though and too me that is just not easily overlooked. I feel shafted. If they were hardback at 30 bucks I would feel that I paid a good price. Were the hardbacks 10 dollars more at the same size, I wouldn't feel that 30 was too much, but when I see BoVD beside the Lords of Darkness and they are the same size, full color etc and both are around the same price but one is paperback... eh. Scarred Lands all the way baby, excellent for the money and excellent in design.

 

[Nightfall]

I have R&R2 and CC2; nothing on the setting itself. Just the crunchy bits. So on a somewhat related question, when will the revised CC1 come out?

Late Janruary, early Februrary Azure.