After a long wait by hard-core “Scarred Lands” fans, the Scarred Lands deities’ sourcebook is finally out. As you may or may not know, the Scarred Lands are scarred due to something called the Titanswar, where the Titans and the Gods fought each other. To sum up, the Titanswar is a big part of the setting, therefore, you need information on the gods and titans in order to do a good job running a Scarred Lands campaign – which is why there has been a long wait for this book by both DMs and PCs which follow any god or titan.
If the Divine War sounds to you like Greek Mythology, you got the right idea. Another likeness to the Scarred Lands setting is the many city-states that exist, like it was in ancient Greece.
The book, a classy purple hardcover chock full of Sword & Sorcery goodness (and evilness), starts out with a Preface written by the developer who explains what role the Gods play in the Scarred Lands. He mentions that with this book, a DM can “create comprehensible gaming statistics for nearly omnipotent beings”. The book also explains how the PCs and NPCs interact with Gods, how they are worshipped, and why the Gods bother with the mortal realm in the first place. Also mentioned is that this book shows what boons a worshipper gets from his or her God.
The art is mostly good, especially the one by Jeff Holt on page 15. Here, the Titans and Gods are about to “get it on”.
Next is an Introduction written by a fictional character, which sets a frame of mind that this book was compiled for the Church of Corean. While I enjoyed the read, I had trouble believing that the church of Corean would put this book together. It would have more believable if the church of Hedrada had made it, since Hedrada is known as the God of Knowledge. Strange that this was overlooked, especially with all the authors working on this book.
Chapter One is called “History of the Gods and Titans” and is “written” by Yugman the Sage a very powerful being whose stats are within “The Wise and the Wicked”, another product from Sword & Sorcery Studios. The chapter starts out explaining what creations that each Titan was responsible for when the world was created. I liked this part the best since it help me decide which monsters to place in a temple to any given titan. The Gods are also introduced with new information about each. We are then given a detailed history of the world telling us about the Gods’ arrival, the Slarecian conflict, and, of course, the War of the Titans.
Chapter Two is called “The Divine” and deals with the Gods. In it, the reader learns how the Gods interact with the beings of Scarn and about their followers, which consist of Pages (a god’s mortal representative), Heralds (divine servants), and Avatars (manifestations of the gods projected by their will). Also within this chapter are the powers that all gods have through their avatars. There are many and they all do an excellent job showing what sets an avatar apart from an everyday monster. Also mentioned is who parented each god. I liked the Heralds the most since it the Avatars wouldn’t be brought into a campaign for a long time and the Pages aren’t that interesting when you compare them to the NPCs given in “The Wise and the Wicked”.
The Gods are then mentioned one by one. Given are statistics for their avatars, a longer description of the God than what’s been seen thus far, what benefits worshippers get, combat strategy that each god uses, special powers for each god, and descriptions of artifacts that the gods wield. After that, the Heralds are given like treatment. These are all very well done and are no corners were cut. After this the pages are given short descriptions and stat boxes. The pages are good NPCs, but, in the end, they are NPCs with nothing special about them. The information about each god ends with information on each god’s followers and manner of worship. All in all, this was a great chapter. I wish gods in other settings were covered in such detail.
Chapter Three is “The Demi-gods”. This chapter covers not only Drendari, the most popular demi-god due to the fact that its avatar was listed in “Creature Collection”, a book of monsters by Sword & Sorcery Studios, but also the others which were briefly mentioned in various monster descriptions in the Creature Collections. What’s pleasing is that they get the same treatment that the gods got in the previous chapter, although fewer pages were allotted to them. Also given are the Domains for each demigod. I am most thankful for this chapter due to the boredom I had with the setting having one god for each alignment. Another reason I think this is the best chapter is the desire I had for information on the nonhuman races’ beliefs in the Scarred Lands setting.
Chapter Four is called “Divine Gifts”. Here, the new domains given are fleshed out and new spells are given. All of them are excellent additions that make this chapter a very close second, especially since most of these domains belong to the demi-gods anyhow.
Chapter Five is called “The Earth Mother” and is about Denev. Denev was the only Titan that sided with the Gods in the Titanswar, which is why she gets her own chapter, supposedly. She is given almost the same treatment that the Gods get, which is good. Since there is no mention anywhere of clerics of Denev or her domains, I must assume that the previous mentions of her with domains must have been an error in the Creature Collection, which is just as well, since trying to have a clerical followers for a nature deity is difficult to do. However, I would have liked to see the author give it a try, although I’m sure that the decision to have no clerical worship of Denev was more likely the developer of the book, Anthony Pryor. I really enjoyed the Herald template. This gives the DM options as to what he wants to do with his campaign. The example given is excellent, don’t get me wrong, but going that extra mile by making the template deserves kudos to the author, Joseph D. Carriker. Mr. Carriker also includes rules for druid groves of Denev as well as a minor wondrous item – the Earthen Crescent.
Chapter Six is called “The Defeated” and is all about the Titans. Here, each Titan is thoroughly explained, as well as what the beings that worship them are doing to try to bring them back into power. Each titan also has a sample follower given which are about as good as the NPCs that have been given thus far in this book. Within this chapter new monsters are given - the Fang Golem and the Bloodling. Even though the art is good, I would have liked to see more monsters in the titan section – at least one for each titan. This would have been better than the NPCs by far.
Chapter Seven is called “The Legacy of the Defeated” and has more new spells given. While most of the spells in chapter four had a background dealing with the gods, the spells here deal mostly with the titans. Also included are three minor artifacts and one minor wondrous item that deal with the titans. I especially enjoyed the True Rituals that are included in this section. When I send adventurers into a temple to one of the titans, it will be cool to have a ritual going on to set the mood – especially a new one.
In the back there is a very stylish PC sheet for photocopying, an excerpt from the upcoming Scarred Lands Anthology, and a list of products from Sword & Sorcery Studios.
After reading the book, I can see that this book is definitely a must-have for any DM running a Scarred Lands campaign. Although DMs could get by without it (since we had to up until now), it would be like watching a TV without a remote controller, only worse. What I'm trying to say is that it was well worth the wait.
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