The Inside Scoop on Gaming

A Brief Overview: The Scarred Lands DM’s Screen and Companion is pretty much exactly what one would expect if familiar with similar products. The DM’s screen itself is filled with useful (and sometimes not so useful) quick-reference information while the companion is a kind of “grab bag” of player and DM aids. As a result, I will divide up this review by three sections: The DM’s screen itself, the chapter on the races of Ghelspad, and finally the two sample adventures given within the companion.

The DM’s Screen: The screen itself is divided up into the usual four panels with impressive artwork on the outside and quick-reference material on the inside. The poster board-like material used to construct the screen appears to be relatively sturdy, but definitely not immune to rips and tears. Still, it should survive the usual antics at the gaming table; just don’t let the family slitheren get ahold of it. While I would not describe the artwork on the outside of the screen to be stunning, it is still quite impressive. I especially enjoy the picture of what appears to be a woodwrack dragon engaging in some kind of transaction with a human adventurer. I find this portrait to be especially original in that it does not depict the usual adventuring party vs. dragon in a pitched battle. Unfortunately, I am not quite as impressed with the artwork on the other three panels. While the art is a far cry from poor, it does not stand out at me as especially great either. The scene is perhaps a bit too cartoonish for my tastes; the depicted people and monsters just do not seem realistic enough. While I realize this is a fantasy game, realism in fantasy artwork adds to the immersion experience in my opinion. What I do like in the other three panels is the costuming of the depicted characters. The excellent choice of complementary colors and the layers of the characters’ clothing demonstrates the unique quality of The Scarred Lands world while remaining relatively true to a “baseline” D&D setting. The inside of the screen contains all of the usual quick-reference material that many DMs are forced to flip through the PHB and DMG to find. The best/ most useful panels are the ones dealing with combat situations. The screen manages to do an excellent job in breaking down almost all possible actions in the D20 combat system and displaying them in a method for GMs to easily adjudicate in those situations without having to pause the game to flip through a rulebook. The only complaint I have about the information presented within the inside on the screen is the section on material hardness. While admittedly this panel would be quite useful in a campaign where most of the characters have the sunder feat, I find it to be a bit too large and that space could have been used for something a bit more useful.

The Races of Ghelspad: This is, undoubtedly, the best section in the companion book. The goal of this section is to go through each of the races of The Scarred Lands setting and tailor the system in order to make each race a Scarred Lands race rather than a “generic” elf. The only race curiously missing from this section is the gnomes. While gnomes might not exist in The Scarred Lands setting, it might be useful for this chapter to contain a single line of text stating, “the race of gnomes does not exist in the standard Scarred Lands setting.” As a result, those who are new to the setting might find the absence of gnomes to be a strange hole in this chapter. Besides this small error, the rest of the section is truly fabulous. The artwork is simply excellent in terms of its quality and is some of the best black and white race portrayals that I have ever seen. Like the screen, the costuming of each of the depicted races is both interesting and fascinating without resorting to cheap “super hero” style costuming that many games utilize. Another great aspect of the artwork can be found on pages 16 and 17 where each of the races and sub-races are placed together in one picture. (only separated by gender) This is an excellent help to the GM when a player asks to see a visual depiction of the differences between each race. Plus, the portraits of the various female dwarves are some of the few I’ve seen that are not completely ridiculous. The writing/setting information about each race is also impressive. The various writers of this section did an excellent job in giving great new spins on many sub-races, while not straying so far from the basic D&D races that new players will not be lost. Each of the various races fit seamlessly into the The Scarred Lands setting, especially in terms of themes and motifs. For example, the Forsaken elves are “lost” because of their god’s destruction at the hands of the titans. As a result, this race isn’t just your “generic dying elven race,” but actually has a realistic reason for being in the decline. This is, of course, just one example; each of the races has a tale that places them within the setting. I also really like how halflings are portrayed as an oppressed and downtrodden people even though it is in their nature to be freedom-loving and care free. Fascinating stuff. In terms of system, the various races and their attribute/special ability changes do not appear to be over or under powered. While there are some minor changes, particularly in the favored multi-class areas, most of the races stay true to the baseline. I do, however, have one particular complaint in regard to the Dark Elves. Every single dark elf gets the spells blur and mirror image 1x/day. This is opposed to the standard Drow magical abilities of dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire. Obviously, as the Scarred Lands Dark Elves have access to these two 2nd level spells and the baseline ones have 1st level spells, one would think that the Scarred Lands Dark Elves would have a higher ECL. However, in this case, the opposite is true. The Scarred Lands Dark Elves have an ECL of 1 while the baseline Dark Elves have an ECL of 2. Odd, yes? Nevertheless, this peculiarity is easily solves by just tweaking the ECL. Still, it might propose a problem to GMs without an eye for that kind of thing.

Adventures in Ghelspad: The third section of the DM Screen Companion consists of two adventures: a beginning scenario for 2nd level characters and a mid-level quest for 5th to 6th level characters. So, how do these adventures stand up to other published D&D adventures? Let’s just say that the section on races is really good. Seriously though, the adventure section is unfortunately the only really disappointing section in the book. Neither adventure is particularly good nor original in terms of plotline and set-up. While not terribly bad, the ideas behind each scenario just don’t stand out as interesting. Basically, these are two adventures that even a novice GM could put together in just a couple hours (15 minutes in the case of the first one) and are therefore not really worth paying actual money for. In my humble opinion, if a book is going to include adventures, I want something very impressive that makes me say, “Ahhh… now that’s a fascinating idea.” I especially don’t want something ordinary that I could easily do myself. Another bad point to note on the first adventure is the dungeon. This is undoubtedly the worst dungeon I have ever seen in a published adventure. It basically consists of 6 rooms and a couple of encounters. While I am not a really big of the dungeon crawl style adventure, I do realize that a site-based adventure can be very fun if done right. This one, unfortunately is terrible. However, if one wanted to use the initial set-up for the adventure and took the time to make his or her own dungeon, the adventure would actually be decent if not great. Still, if you want a quick (and free) good adventure, go download The Serpent Amphora off of the Sword and Sorcery website. It’s a much better example of an introductory adventure for the Scarred Lands than The Shrine of Madness. (The first adventure in the book)

Conclusion: Overall, The DM Screen and Companion for The Scarred Lands setting is a decent supplement. While I would not say that I am awed by its gaming value, the book is still very useful for those running The Scarred Lands setting. As a result, if you are planning to run The Scarred Lands in the future or are currently involved in a campaign, you would not be wasting your money if you purchased this book. The race section alone is worth the $8.95 price for the book even if the adventure section deserves a good ol’ fashioned Dead Poets Society-like book tearing!

The Scarred Lands DM Screen and Companion
The Scarred Lands DM Screen and Companion Capsule Review by Garrett Henke on 15/02/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) The DM's Screen for Sword and Sorcery's The Scarred Lands setting is pretty much what you would expect from a product of its type. Product: The Scarred Lands DM Screen and Companion Author: Chris Campbell and Clark Peterson Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Sword and Sorcery Line: The Scarred Lands Cost: $8.95 Page count: 47 Year published: 2002 ISBN: SKU: WW8313 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Garrett Henke on 15/02/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	A Brief Overview: The Scarred Lands DM’s Screen and Companion is pretty much exactly what one would expect if familiar with similar products. The DM’s screen itself is filled with useful (and sometimes not so useful) quick-reference information while the companion is a kind of “grab bag” of player and DM aids. As a result, I will divide up this review by three sections: The DM’s screen itself, the chapter on the races of Ghelspad, and finally the two sample adventures given within the companion. The DM’s Screen: The screen itself is divided up into the usual four panels with impressive artwork on the outside and quick-reference material on the inside. The poster board-like material used to construct the screen appears to be relatively sturdy, but definitely not immune to rips and tears. Still, it should survive the usual antics at the gaming table; just don’t let the family slitheren get ahold of it. While I would not describe the artwork on the outside of the screen to be stunning, it is still quite impressive. I especially enjoy the picture of what appears to be a woodwrack dragon engaging in some kind of transaction with a human adventurer. I find this portrait to be especially original in that it does not depict the usual adventuring party vs. dragon in a pitched battle. Unfortunately, I am not quite as impressed with the artwork on the other three panels. While the art is a far cry from poor, it does not stand out at me as especially great either. The scene is perhaps a bit too cartoonish for my tastes; the depicted people and monsters just do not seem realistic enough. While I realize this is a fantasy game, realism in fantasy artwork adds to the immersion experience in my opinion. What I do like in the other three panels is the costuming of the depicted characters. The excellent choice of complementary colors and the layers of the characters’ clothing demonstrates the unique quality of The Scarred Lands world while remaining relatively true to a “baseline” D&D setting. The inside of the screen contains all of the usual quick-reference material that many DMs are forced to flip through the PHB and DMG to find. The best/ most useful panels are the ones dealing with combat situations. The screen manages to do an excellent job in breaking down almost all possible actions in the D20 combat system and displaying them in a method for GMs to easily adjudicate in those situations without having to pause the game to flip through a rulebook. The only complaint I have about the information presented within the inside on the screen is the section on material hardness. While admittedly this panel would be quite useful in a campaign where most of the characters have the sunder feat, I find it to be a bit too large and that space could have been used for something a bit more useful. The Races of Ghelspad: This is, undoubtedly, the best section in the companion book. The goal of this section is to go through each of the races of The Scarred Lands setting and tailor the system in order to make each race a Scarred Lands race rather than a “generic” elf. The only race curiously missing from this section is the gnomes. While gnomes might not exist in The Scarred Lands setting, it might be useful for this chapter to contain a single line of text stating, “the race of gnomes does not exist in the standard Scarred Lands setting.” As a result, those who are new to the setting might find the absence of gnomes to be a strange hole in this chapter. Besides this small error, the rest of the section is truly fabulous. The artwork is simply excellent in terms of its quality and is some of the best black and white race portrayals that I have ever seen. Like the screen, the costuming of each of the depicted races is both interesting and fascinating without resorting to cheap “super hero” style costuming that many games utilize. Another great aspect of the artwork can be found on pages 16 and 17 where each of the races and sub-races are placed together in one picture. (only separated by gender) This is an excellent help to the GM when a player asks to see a visual depiction of the differences between each race. Plus, the portraits of the various female dwarves are some of the few I’ve seen that are not completely ridiculous. The writing/setting information about each race is also impressive. The various writers of this section did an excellent job in giving great new spins on many sub-races, while not straying so far from the basic D&D races that new players will not be lost. Each of the various races fit seamlessly into the The Scarred Lands setting, especially in terms of themes and motifs. For example, the Forsaken elves are “lost” because of their god’s destruction at the hands of the titans. As a result, this race isn’t just your “generic dying elven race,” but actually has a realistic reason for being in the decline. This is, of course, just one example; each of the races has a tale that places them within the setting. I also really like how halflings are portrayed as an oppressed and downtrodden people even though it is in their nature to be freedom-loving and care free. Fascinating stuff. In terms of system, the various races and their attribute/special ability changes do not appear to be over or under powered. While there are some minor changes, particularly in the favored multi-class areas, most of the races stay true to the baseline. I do, however, have one particular complaint in regard to the Dark Elves. Every single dark elf gets the spells blur and mirror image 1x/day. This is opposed to the standard Drow magical abilities of dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire. Obviously, as the Scarred Lands Dark Elves have access to these two 2nd level spells and the baseline ones have 1st level spells, one would think that the Scarred Lands Dark Elves would have a higher ECL. However, in this case, the opposite is true. The Scarred Lands Dark Elves have an ECL of 1 while the baseline Dark Elves have an ECL of 2. Odd, yes? Nevertheless, this peculiarity is easily solves by just tweaking the ECL. Still, it might propose a problem to GMs without an eye for that kind of thing. Adventures in Ghelspad: The third section of the DM Screen Companion consists of two adventures: a beginning scenario for 2nd level characters and a mid-level quest for 5th to 6th level characters. So, how do these adventures stand up to other published D&D adventures? Let’s just say that the section on races is really good. Seriously though, the adventure section is unfortunately the only really disappointing section in the book. Neither adventure is particularly good nor original in terms of plotline and set-up. While not terribly bad, the ideas behind each scenario just don’t stand out as interesting. Basically, these are two adventures that even a novice GM could put together in just a couple hours (15 minutes in the case of the first one) and are therefore not really worth paying actual money for. In my humble opinion, if a book is going to include adventures, I want something very impressive that makes me say, “Ahhh… now that’s a fascinating idea.” I especially don’t want something ordinary that I could easily do myself. Another bad point to note on the first adventure is the dungeon. This is undoubtedly the worst dungeon I have ever seen in a published adventure. It basically consists of 6 rooms and a couple of encounters. While I am not a really big of the dungeon crawl style adventure, I do realize that a site-based adventure can be very fun if done right. This one, unfortunately is terrible. However, if one wanted to use the initial set-up for the adventure and took the time to make his or her own dungeon, the adventure would actually be decent if not great. Still, if you want a quick (and free) good adventure, go download The Serpent Amphora off of the Sword and Sorcery website. It’s a much better example of an introductory adventure for the Scarred Lands than The Shrine of Madness. (The first adventure in the book) Conclusion: Overall, The DM Screen and Companion for The Scarred Lands setting is a decent supplement. While I would not say that I am awed by its gaming value, the book is still very useful for those running The Scarred Lands setting. As a result, if you are planning to run The Scarred Lands in the future or are currently involved in a campaign, you would not be wasting your money if you purchased this book. The race section alone is worth the $8.95 price for the book even if the adventure section deserves a good ol’ fashioned Dead Poets Society-like book tearing!

The Scarred Lands DM Screen and Companion