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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nightfall" data-source="post: 551962" data-attributes="member: 374">*thanks all the usual people* Well folks the kindly old man from up North was good to me again this year. In any case a Sage's work is never done. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> But to answer your question (without bias I might add) the reason I like is unlike the Realms with it's proclivity to pet NPCs, high level of magic and use of many intelligent monsters such as dragons or even beholders as just more fodder for a 9th level commoner with his +5 pitchfork, there's more meaning in the kills. Not to mention the fact that it does take traditional fantasy ideals and turn them on their heads. Not all evil you run into will outright kill you. Example, because of the divisive nature between "titanspawn" and "divine", you might have a party that has both a cleric of Vangal (the CE god of destruction, volcanoes and pestilence) work along side a paladin of Corean (one of the three ...urhm perhaps I should say FOUR gods that paladins tend to follow. Dwarves do after all have Goran. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) And they do it not just for some personal reasons but because their gods WILL work together in common cause. (But don't expect them to be drinking buddies. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) So while you could have something like that in the Realms, it's not very common. The Scarred Lands, hey it can happen if the DM is smart and plays to each character's needs. Another reason to enjoy this place, what an adventurer DOES can have a significant impact on this world WITHOUT it having to be world shattering. They can get land grants, build up a following in many different locales (not all of it has to be focused on the continent of Ghelspad. So no mega continent.) The adventurers can be adventurers. Plus the fact the division between clerics and druids make sense. It's not like "Hey I'm a cleric of a nature deity! Hey I'm a druid!" It's much more complex and interesting if you say "I'm a cleric of Tanil! I'm a druid that follows in the path of her father Hrinnruk, the Hunter!"  Believe me, you have those to talk, we'll get a nice little holy war going. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  You mentioned too much editing and messing around with the FRCS.  Well trust me, as long as you stick to "Gods and Titans don't live together" and "Arcane Magic generates heat, so few mages wear armor" you're still in the scarred Lands. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Part of the charm is no matter how much tinkering people do (and if you read some of the threads by JoeKusher(sp) and Graf, you get an idea.), it's STILL the Scarred Lands at it's core. With the gods fighting for control and the Titans just itching to take back their land.  Course there's other stuff too, like a city of Necromancers where they aren't all evil, and in fact they are considered something of a boon. Or how about a city where people pay homage to a golem, supposedly a sign from Corean, the god of Paladins and forgings? These are just some of the layered elements in the Scarred Lands. We have beasts so damnable wicked, that they can even run whole areas, such as the Vengaruak in the Spires of Gaurak. Or perhaps you'd enjoy the wiles and human-like qualities of our Slitheren/Rat-man. Not mere were-rats, but actual athestic (well little strong but no clerics among most of them! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) beings with their own values, sub-races, cultures and magical ideals, they are truly fearsome as well as insidious. Oh and we got our own kinds of demons, devils, and even daemons/Yugoloths! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> All this and I doubt I've even scratched the surface, from new ideas on spellcasting (Cabal casting) to sorcerous bloodlines, to even fighting styles, war colleges, barbarous hordes that follow Vangal, and the insidious Cult of the Ancients. Plus intrigue out the wazoo in places such as Darakenee and Calastia, home the "Evil Empire" but really it's not all evil. Just the nobility and even then it's not that bad since they have a god supporting them. (Chardun, but he's pretty generous to his blackguards! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) Phew! Well that's it for me. If you want more, just ask.</blockquote>

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