Ghelspad

Every DM needs to have a world where things can't be simply taken for granted. Most PC's get complacent in other RPG worlds but here that's deadly thing to do. I've been using this as a campaign setting since I first bought Hollowfaust and fell in love with it. My guys love the hardcore action as it fits in well with power gamers but there's plenty to do for the role players with a minimal amount of ingenuity. From the Calastian nation to Paladin lands of Mithril to the Great Hornsaw Forest to the Towers of Gast Ganest, this setting is superior and superb. There is so much material here that my groups have enjoyed this setting since it came out. Some folks dislike the fact that the world though fleshed out leaves few pregenerated NPCs to use. This isn't FR settting folks, it's strengths lie in its savagery and rawness. The Gods recently (only 150 years ago) overthrew their Titan Forefathers/Mothers. Much of the world was shaken and deformed from it. This gives the DM tons of new ideas from which to mold new adventures, plots, sub-plots and even political intrigue. I had guys playing in FR 2nd edition and we ended that with their 5th level characters getting sucked into a magical whirlpool in the ocean (they had no idea it was coming!) and landed with all their gear on Ghelspad. Next session took time to convert 2.0 to 3.0 characters and Voila! we were off and running. They landed not far from Hollowfaust and encountered some wild undead roaming the countryside. Later they found the city and fell immediately in love with the harshness and creativity the city offers them. Now they use it as a base. Since that time, my PC's - now 21 level - have adventured far and wide and are ready to take on the menacing Towers of Gast Ganest. They've fought hags in the Hornsaw, Asaathi who viciously rule Lizard Men & have battled the evil Charduni Dwarfs (who frighten even the Duerger!) I have all of the supplements for this world and use them in conjunction with the Core Rulebooks as well as 3.0 & 3.5 editions of Forgotten Realms (FR). Plus I use plenty of game aids from other d20 systems to enrich the play for the PC's and myself. Ghelspad is the shiznitz of campaign settings IF your PC's are mature enough and capable of handling it!

This is one of the best resources for a game world that I have read, to date. There is an excellent volume of information about almost everywhere on the continent that you would like to set up a campaign. I also must prefix what I am saying about this book by saying that I am a huge Scarred Lands fan, but I also must say that I would not be such a huge fan if it were not for the quality of writing and ideas that made up this book and the rest of the series. There is ample information in here even for the most casual DM/Player/Fan of the Scarred Lands, to easily start making up their own campaign ideas, just from reading about the different countries of Ghelspad and their major cities. From the evil lands of the Dunahnae in the west, the last stronghold of the evil Charduni dwarves, to the shining home of the world's paladins, Mithril, there is something in here for everyone. I also enjoyed the addition of some new "Scarred Lands" prestige classes. A personal favorite of mine is the world specific presitge classes. I feel it adds a lot to the game and allows your players to connect themselves to the world better and get more out of it. All I can continue to say about this book is that, since this is only but ONE continent out of five in the Scarred Lands, I can not wait to read the Campaign Setting for the next continent, Termana.

The Scarred lands campaign setting is very intriquing but the ammount of information in the books is a bit daunting. I do however recomend to DMs looking for an already worked out world in which to run campaigns. There is a good section on the history of the Scarred Lands and how things became as they did. Most geographical locales are well written up with room for that essential "personal touch" that is the sign of a good DM. I do however suggest buying the other Sword & Sorcery source books along with this one to properly flesh out the campaign with the proper monsters and character classes.

This book contains much of the storyline information to run your own Scarred Lands campaign, with great prestige classes for madriel's followers and some different ones for Corean. However, not too much info regarding fangsfall, and the only map worth much use is the scarred lands map on in the back. still it has enough storyling (not gameplay) info to help any table top game in this setting, and also some good to know facts for those who play the online fangsfall chat rpg. but most of these tidbits can be picked up easy, i only reccomend this to die hard fans and collectors.