Sword & Sorcery Studios has, in my humble opinion, created one of the best mass-market game worlds for D&D ever. Known as the Scarred Lands, S&SS first hit the scene with the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad which introduced a world that had been devastated during a divine war between the brutish, cruel titans and a more traditional pantheon of gods, some of whom are just as cruel as the titans. The gods won the war, but the world which remained was torn by dramatic geographical changes?the most notable of which is a red-colored ocean stained by the blood of a titan?on which the races which worshipped the deities continued to struggle with the titanspawn for mastery. Ghelspad is one continent of the Scarred Lands and has since received excellent, in-depth treatment in the Scarred Lands Campaign Setting: Ghelspad hardcover book. The latest addition the many volumes S&SS has put out on this original setting is the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana, detailing a second continent.
When I pick up a product like this one, I am looking for three things: 1) is it an intriguing setting which I may want to use? 2) does it make me want to play in it? 3) does it give me good ideas for my own setting? While there are intriguing aspects to the setting, and it is chock-full of ideas, I did not find Termana to be nearly as invigorating as Ghelspad. In part, I have to admit, this is due to the fact that some of the more original elements of the setting were already introduced in Ghelspad and therefore do not have that newness factor here. Despite this, Termana is a highly original setting and would make an excellent location for a campaign.
For those who have the original Ghelspad Gazetteer will find that the Termana Gazetteer is very much like that one. It is a 48-page soft-cover with a poster-sized color map insert.
The Map
The fold-out map is gorgeous (a portion of it can be seen on the book's cover, depicted above), dominated by the Blood Sea on one side of the continent and the Cerulean Ocean on the other. The colors and style of the map are well-done, serving to give a sense of the fantastic while at the same time serving its functional purpose. Major terrain features are clearly delineated and easily identifiable. All of the major cities are on the map, which is one criticism of the Ghelspad Gazetteer map they have corrected this time. There is also a two-page, black and white version of the map in the middle of the book itself, which I find to be an excellent idea since it eliminates the need to have the map out while you read the book. The poster map also has arranged along the edge color versions of the coat-of-arms of the major nations of Termana.
One issue I have with the Termana map is the scale. Termana is clearly a much larger continent than Ghelspad and so the scale of the Termana map does not match the scale of the Ghelspad map which was included in the Ghelspad Gazetteer. The scale for the Termana map is 1000miles:2.5 inches. The scale for the Ghelspad map is 1000miles:11inches. This causes a serious distance distortion when looking at the maps side-by-side. The distortion is further enhanced by the fact that the Termana map is 22?x28? and the Ghelspad map is 26.5?x38.5? in size.
Another feature I think would have been useful is a small detail, either on the map or in the gazetteer, indicating the relative positions of the two continents to each other. Clearly, Termana is southeast of Ghelspad, but it would have been nice to see how far and to compare the relative sizes of the continents on the same map.
The History
The gazetteer is organized into a history section, individual entries for the major nations, and individual entries for major terrain features. In addition, there is an appendix provided, giving rules on how to play three of the races unique to Termana as PCs. The gazetteer is written as if it were a compilation of the travel journals of two very different adventurers. The use of the two different voices and the story-telling aspect of the writing are effective in conveying the facts in a fun, easy-to-read manner.
The history section provides a large number of campaign ideas revolving around the four central themes of the history. The first theme is the history of the Forsaken Elves, one of the more original elements to Termana. The elves of Termana once worshipped a deity who is now dead (and whose name has been forgotten!). He was killed during the Divine War but the elves were able to kill the titan which killed their god. Unfortunately, that titan cursed the elves so they would not be able to bear children. Likewise, the elves were left without a patron deity. As a result, they have been slowly dying off, beset by enemies and without clerical magic?though for some unknown reason, they can cast spells of first and second level. As a result, the kingdoms of the Forsaken Elves are strange places as some elves wallow in their sorrow and others turn to debauchery to enjoy the end of their world. Another interesting fact is that some elves have taken to enslaving humans who are then used as brood mares, producing half-elves in an effort to carry the race forward. These are clearly not Tolkien's elves!
Another theme is the empire-building of the Charduni dwarves. They are an evil race of slavers who once conquered most of Termana and are infamous for their vile treatment of other races, their thirst for power and conquest, their use of undead in battle, and that they have created several hundred square miles of artificial hills, known as the Skullbarrows, composed of the bones of those they have killed in battle or those slaves who have died in service to the Charduni.
The third unique problem of the continent is the Jack of Tears, a powerful and enigmatic being who rules the Blood Bayou. Just who he is and what he wants are chief among the mysteries of Termana but it should be clear to all that he is capricious and evil. The least original threat to Termana is the powerful necromancer who rules the Isle of the Dead and has at various times attempted to conquer Termana.
The Nations
The entries for the individual nations is where the Termana Gazetteer plants dozens of adventure seeds. So many, in fact, that you could build a campaign idea and outline several adventures in just one sitting with the Gazetteer. What is even better, in my opinion, is that there are so many adventure seeds that you could come up with a handful of side-trek adventures to go along with the central campaign path.
Like Ghelspad, Termana has a wide open, wilderness feel to it. The continent is shaped something like a horseshoe with the open end to the north. The nations of Termana are mostly clustered on the northwest arm and the northeast arm, with the lower part of the horseshoe dominated by a massive desert, a larger jungle, as well as open plains and desolate hills.
In the northeast, are the kingdoms of the Forsaken Elves, the rump Charduni empire, and Virduk's Promise. I have already said something of the elves and Charduni, though it should be pointed out that the five realms of the elves manage to have distinct cultures and therefore provide different adventuring ideas.
Virduk's Promise is a colony founded by an evil empire, called Calastia, from the continent of Ghelspad. The colony is somewhat isolated from the other nations of Termana and therefore does not come across as well-integrated into the whole concept of the setting. Far worse are a number of errors in the text which suggest Virduk's Promise is actually located on a different part of the continent than the map indicates (specifically where Padrinola is on the map). Other portions of the text contradict this, however. Luckily, most of these problems are easily resolved by simply altering some of the text to match the map. (Author's Note: I contacted the editor about this and he has kindly given me a list of suggested changes, which I will post below once the review is online. He also admitted these mistakes were simple editing errors.)
I like the idea of an evil empire establishing a colony on a distant continent, carving a hold out of the wilderness. Even more, I like the idea of those colonists shipped there against their will or with false promises of paradise, who find themselves faced with fens, servitude, and titanspawn-infested hills. I do not like that the colony seems to have plugged into the continent and there is little or not mention of the relations between Virduk's Promise and the other nations on Termana.
In the northwest of the continent are most of the human kingdoms as well as the Blood Bayou (which is a nation of sorts, though ruled by something inhuman and inhabited by beings twisted by contact with the blood of a titan). These kingdoms are a bit more standard fair, though they are beset by intrigues and the threats from the Blood Bayou and the Isle of the Dead and therefore provide ample ideas for campaigns and adventures. In fact, a campaign dealing exclusively with the threat of the Jack of Tears to any of the nearby kingdoms would be fascinating and original.
Another interesting idea is the Silverisle, which is the home of the order of Paladins known as the Sisters of the Sun. Much like Ghelspad has the Vigils who roam the continent doing good in order to protect the good human kingdoms, Termana has the Sisters of the Sun who have interposed themselves between the Isle of the Dead and the rest of the human kingdoms. The text makes it clear they are more active than this, however, and are likely to be found anywhere on the continent serving the cause of good.
The Geography
As I said, the rest of the continent has a wide-open wilderness feel to it. Some of the more intriguing features are the Iron Sands Desert, the Centaur Plains and the Gamulganjus Forest (which is an Amazonian-scale jungle). It is hard to pin down what is so great about this, but one of the great aspects of adventuring is exploring and the more detailed a setting the less there is for players to discover. On Termana, the different unsettled regions are well-described and yet are so huge that it leaves much for the GM to fill in.
To give an example, the huge areas of the Iron Steppes are described as inhabited by wild tribes of humans and lamia which war with one another but often unite to defeat invading armies of Charduni?and stake the generals out to be eaten by jackals! Likewise, it is mentioned that ogres, kobolds, trolls and other titanspawn infest the hills (even the dreaded tarrasque is mentioned, though I find this unfortunate). Hot and dry in the summer and ice cold in the winters, the Iron Steppes also contain gold and rare plants used as spell components. This is about all we are told. Yet, given the history of Termana, there could easily be abandoned elven or Charduni fortresses in the Steppes, as well as one would expect to find Charduni patrols on secretive missions. In other words, these small details provide a starting point from which an imaginative GM could launch an entire campaign.
Termana is also home to some creatures which are not prevalent on Ghelspad. In the Gamulganjust, for example, there are both gnomes and the Terali, a bipedal race of cat-men, some of whom are natural-born sorcerors. In both cases, they are rather primitive technologically. The third race are the gnolls and the appendix provides rules on playing all three as PCs.
Conclusion
If it isn't clear by now, I find the Termana Gazetteer to be an excellent product. There are a lot of good ideas for other campaigns and a campaign set in Termana could be one of the more original which you have ever mastered or in which you have played. There are more than enough ideas here around which to build a campaign as well as provide numerous adventure seeds. Ghelspad is one of my favorite settings because so much of the land is unsettled wilderness open to exploration. Termana, likewise, has a wide-open feel to it that I love.
Sword & Sorcery Studios clearly intended that the Termana Gazetteer would build upon the ideas they had with Ghelspad, while complementing that setting by providing new lands to discover. I think they have succeeded admirably. While I like Ghelspad more than Termana, and found the former more original than the latter, I cannot shake the feeling that some of this is simply due to the fact that I was introduced to Ghelspad first. Nonetheless, Termana builds on the concept of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world and is unique enough in its own right to provide an excellent setting or an excellent addition to a Ghelspad campaign. Termana also manages to carry on that down-and-dirty feel so prevalent in Ghelspad. Termana has the sinister (and insane?) Jack of Tears, the despair of the Forsaken Elves, the evil of the Charduni slavemasters?all of which give it a darker feel than most settings can muster.
Did the Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Termana make me want to set a campaign there? Yes, though I am not as eager as was after reading about Ghelspad. Would I steal ideas to use in other campaigns? Absolutely! Would I like to play in this setting? Most definitely! Especially if my character could hunt down Charduni slavers and stake them out to be eaten by jackals.
Style: 4.5
Substance: 4.0
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