Overview
Sword and Sorcery's Scarred Lands Campaign Setting: Ghelspad, is a standard generic fantasy rpg campaign book. Those familiar with the Scarred Lands should be quite satisfied with it, and even those who do play non-d20 fantasy rpg's may consider it. It has a variety of areas suitable for most adventures, including published ones. Closer to Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms than Dark Sun and Hollow World, Ghelspad is not a dramatically different campaign setting.
This world has a cohesive theme. In ancient history, the titans were cyclical forces of nature. But in the last cycle, gods were created. During the Titanswar, they overthrew their masters. The titans have still left their mark, through both fantastic wilderness and devoted followers. The gods are beneficial to their followers, yet the end of the titans means the end of the natural cycles. The Scarred Lands will never heal.
From a game design point of view, this backdrop allows potential conflict, yet the writers have made sure this conflict does not force a GM to change a conventional fantasy campaign. Druids, for example, wish to restore the cycles, and thus are in some areas seen as villains. Yet they also heal the scarred forests, so are accepted by some cultures.
This history also provides a framework for a GM to tie in almost any standard fantasy adventure. The Titanswar has affected regions differently, allowing for such areas as an undead-infested forest; isolated elves (for they allied with Denev, the earth Titan); and corrupted marshes. The Scarred Land also has its own nonhuman races, such as the serpent-men asaathi, the lion-centaur proud, and aquatic piscean, are described. (Stats are missing, and I would have liked to see an appendix of these races.)
Where this campaign book especially shines are the distinct cultures of the nations and city states. Almathea's residents are obsessed with ancient culture. Vesh is a bard's paradise. Hedrad tolerates followers of all religions -- but smile in public, and you've committed a crime. It's a shame that cities and cultures play a small role in most rpg games. A tourist-like "Around the World in 80 Days (Months? Years?)" campaign would be very well suited for Ghelspad.
Most of the text is "spoiler free" (ie. no dark secrets GMs should hide from players), so a GM can hand the book over to a player and let him read a section. Likewise, the Appendix (which adds eight new prestige classes) is the only d20-specific chapter. (The chapter on the Gods is d20-heavy, but needs fleshing out regardless of what system you use.)
The artwork and layout is in black-and-white, and are the same professional quality of Sword and Sorcery products. Much of the art is a standard group shot of three to five professions or races mentioned in the accompanying text. Crests of nations and birds-eye views of major cities are included. The map of the continent is in vivid color, and located in the interior covers and facing pages. If you're familiar with the art of Mark Smylie, creator of the comic book, Artesia (seen in Dork Tower), you'll be happy to find out he's one of the illustrators of the book.
Unfortunately, no index is included and the text does not point out where a location is on the map. Of course, you'll need to browse through the book if you're looking for a particular style of culture.
The Swords and Sorcery site has some support and previews: The Scarred Lands Gods, The Titans, the Official Scarred Lands Map, and the Scarred Lands Calendar.
Scarred Lands web support:
http://www.swordsorcery.com/scarredlands
Chapter One: History of Ghelspad.
About 20 pages long, this chapter begins with the Titanic Epochs of ancient history. Presented as secret lore, each cycle describes the birth and death of a titan, and its effect on the land. But in the last epoch, the titan-spawned god rebelled, and now the gods rule, perhaps not for the better. The chapter continues with a summary of the Ancient Empires; the Titanswar, in which the gods united to bring down the titans; The World Remade, describing how the gods recreated the world; and A State of Affairs in Ghelspad, which summarizes the current events -- and published Scarrred Lands adventures! -- in Ghelspad.
The chapter also includes a list of the languages of Ghelspad. Ledean is the "common" tongue, but regional human languages exist, some overlapping demi-human tongues. Common is now a European tongue, not an American one. Unfortunately, a map visually showing which languages are spoken where is not included.
Chapter Two: Gods of Ghelspad
A short 12 pages long, this chapter introduces Ghelspad's gods, demigods, and titans. Each alignment has but one god and the neutral alignment only has the titan, Denev, the Earth Mother. Each god receives about a half-page writeup. Since the gods are active in daily life, followers of a god receive invocation benefits, typically 1 on a die roll relevant to the god. Titans receive a short two-paragraph description, and demigods none at all. Considering the amount of information in the other chapters, I found the short writeups of the deities somewhat lacking. In particular, some of the demigods are followed by common PC classes and races (eg. Drendari, Mistress of Shadows, is followed by thieves and rogues; Goran, the Dwarven God is the demigod of Dwarves). Some domains refer to The Divine and Defeat book.
Chapter Three: Nations of Ghelspad
At 60 pages long, this section describes each nation of Ghelspad. A short stat block (Name, Population, Government, Ruler, Capital, Major Cities, Language, Religion, Currency, Resources, Allies, Enemies) is followed by a longer History, Geography, Flora and Fauna, People, Culture, Crime and Punishment, Religion, Armed Forces, and list of important Cities. As said, the Culture sections particularly add flavor to the nation.
The currency is a nice touch. Each nation has their own version of the generic gold, silver, etc. piece. A GM may thus make moneychangers more important for travelling PCs (for information and depriving PCs 10% of their money!). Finding old currency of another culture in a treasure can provide adventuring clues.
Crime and Punishment is quite specific. For example, in Calastia, Petty Theft (30 gp or under) requires hard labor for one month, with harsher penalties (scarring and maiming) for repeat offenses. So much for PCs blantantly disobeying the law!
Cities typically highlight specific important locations, and sometimes include a bird's-eye level map. The information obviously isn't enough for city adventure, but should be enough for an outsider NPC to describe the city to a player. I found it odd that cities which mentioned specific locations did not have a background for the city itself.
Chapter Four: City States of Ghelspad
At about 60 pages long, this section follows the same format as the nations.
Chapter Five: Important Locations in Ghelspad
This chapter is about 40 pages long. The wilderness entries, follows the same format as the nations, when relevant. Unique races inhabit some of these lands (the interior illustrations become much more interesting in this chapter!). Other lands have are more generic, suitable for dropping in a published adventure with little modification. As said, all areas are tied into the titanswar, but not to the point of forcing a GM to change standard fantasy conventions. Some of the information borders on knowledge PCs would not find out, but a GM can easily change information into rumors.
Chapter Six: Other Places of Note in Ghelspad
This short 10 page chapter describes other, much less known, areas of Ghelspad. Each area has a description of a few paragraphs.
Appendix: Prestige Classes
An appendix features eight prestige classes, all religious-based, and most following the Lawful Good deity Corean. These prestige classes reflect the color of the campaign world, as much as add kewl powerz. The GM should enjoy NPCs from these classes. Nothing like a patrol of Aerial Cavaliers landing **around** the PC to make an impression.
Conclusion
If you're shopping around for a generic fantasy campaign -- d20 or not -- add this to your list of candidates. GMs interested in worlds with different cultures should definitely look at this book. And, of course, if you've been picking up products related to the Scarred Lands, definitely purchase this book.
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