Planning Pathfinder/Scarred Lands Campaign, opinions?

[Niztael]

The next campaign I plan to run will be in the Scarred Lands, though I'm using quite a few alternate magic systems. Spheres of Power will be the basis for a lot of magic in the world however I'll be using Akashic and Psionics by DSP. Akashic as runecasting (requiring an item to bond to, a slight variation) and psionics will be part of Slarecian experimentation on their slaves descendants. I was looking for a place for Pactbinders from Radiance House and I was thinking the more tribal cultures, having it as incarnations of spirit and ancestor worship.

I was also looking to plug down Freeport from Green Ronin and was curious where, someone more familiar with Scarred Lands, is a good place for it. Considering Freeport kind of lends to the black powder style of play, I was trying to find a way it wouldn't reshape the continent, perhaps using Blast Rock as the propellant and making it hard to get. This would make gunslingers an almost impossible event and I'd be alright with that, unless someone wanted to play under that handicap.

True Rituals aren't that different from Incantations in effect so that shouldn't be too bad to play back and forth with. I'll be allowing DSP's Path of War in a limited fashion through the Martial Training feat tree as well, no Path of War classes. I'd be happy with anyone pointing me towards conversions or some of their own home brewed ideas.

[Psyclus]

Could you modify the Pactbinders ancestor worship to tie into constellation worship / ancestor worship? If so, you might find the orc tribes of Ghelspad a good fit (what with their focus on constellation magic).

Alternatively, the Asaatthi have a heavily into ancestral worship! So they could work well.

Freeport... hmm... I'm not as familiar with Freeport, but you could just change the names and use Shelzar, Rahoch, or Fangsfall. You could also put Freeport somewhere on the Fangsfall Peninsula, or up in Darakeene. Maybe over down in the far southeast.

Take a look in the player's guide on page 55 under unusual classes for some notes on the Gunslinger that might help you generate ideas on how to incorporate some stuff.

Does that help?

[Ian Turner]

Fangsfall feels the most 'Freeport-y' of the pre-existing Scarred Lands cities, but Freeport's design, on it's own island off to itself, makes it easy to just 'plug in' to pretty much any setting that has an ocean and ocean trade routes. And that's where it gets a little spotty. There's not a ton of sea-going trade, from what I recall of the Scarred Lands setting. The ocean's just plain dangerous, and the coastal communities don't seem to have much in the way of friendly ports to trade with, making piracy seem like a tough business to get into.

On the other hand, clearly there's *some* seafaring stuff going on, since the Carnival weirdos are shuttling back and forth from Termana to Ghelspad fairly regularly (although I'd be wary of attempting to board one of their ships for plunder...). I vaguely recall some Calastian colony (Virduk's Promise?) on Termana, as well, and some hints that the Empire of Chains, in Termana, has ties to Dunanae, on Ghelspad. If there is (or has been, in the past, since modern day Freeport isn't quite the pirate stronghold it used to be), regular enough traffic between Ghelspad and Termana, then putting Freeport and it's attending islands right smack in between them (but usefully distant from the Blood Sea) could make it a useful port for travelers between the continents, and, back in it's pirating days, a great launching point not just for raids on traffic between the continents, but for raids on coastal communities on both continents, and on shore-hugging vessels ferrying goods from, say, Calastia to Zathiske, or wherever.

There's enough empty ocean that putting it between the two continents would be the best bet, IMO. (Again, just far enough to the side to not be in the Blood Sea. It would be harder to justify Freeport not being owned by the fish-peeps (pisceans?) and / or blood sea krakens, if it was smack dab in the middle of their 'kingdoms.')

If you want to keep guns in Freeport *and* keep them (mostly) limited to Freeport, having some fallen Titan's fiery bits located in the caldera to the north of the city and used as the 'secret ingredient' to make gunpowder work could help to work that into the setting. (Thulkas or Golthagga, IIRC, would seem the most suitable to have lost a 'bit' here during the battle, perhaps having a limb hacked off in combat, or just bleeding a lot after being knocked back into the mountain and leaving behind a vast pool of blood that later crystalized, and the powder of those crystals, in tiny doses, are the catalyst to make the other ingredients, like flying lizard poop and coal and sulfur, become gunpowder.) Sutak and / or firespitter slitherin would be logical local races to work the caldera to mine the 'stuff' which they consider sacred (but not so sacred that they won't sell it!), and to perhaps replace the 'hobgoblin quarter' or heavier orc presences in Freeport, if you want to cross streams a little more (and since hobgoblins aren't really a big deal in the Scarred Lands, and orcs really don't fit as well into a civilized city / underclass sort of niche, in this setting).

[Niztael]

Thank you for all this input and I'll be pouring over these suggestions. I will surely be back with perhaps more questions, but I'm reading through the source material from Sword & Sorcery's 3.5 editions and seeing how this will all fit. Again thank you for the responses.

[Niztael]

A quick one from an earlier post about nay-theism that would apply to my campaign. What do you think "could" be a mechanic that would punish/hinder nay-theists in the Scarred Lands? I understand some people would think it unnecessary/unfair/etc... I am looking for responses other than "none" and the like, thank you.

[Ian Turner]

A quick one from an earlier post about nay-theism that would apply to my campaign. What do you think "could" be a mechanic that would punish/hinder nay-theists in the Scarred Lands? I understand some people would think it unnecessary/unfair/etc... I am looking for responses other than "none" and the like, thank you.

The setting has a type of lesser divine blessings called 'Invocations' that *anyone* can do, calling upon a relevant god for a smallish bonus (I don't remember the exact specifics, but the god of the forge and fire, Corean, gave bonuses to smithing craft rolls and to fire damage spells, IIRC). Someone who doesn't follow gods is going to miss out on these small but useful bonuses. (Particularly in the case of longer actions, like Craft skills, it's just a free bonus for a worshipper of Corean! And other gods give similar boons, such as Tanil, the archer / huntress / bard goddess giving bonuses to hit with archery attacks or music/sing Perform checks, IIRC.)

While it's not a punishment, it's definitely a free bonus that the 'nay-theist' is going to be missing out on!

Edit: And I just looked it up and was lying hideously. Apparently Invocations are only useful for spellcasters, and don't affect craft or perform skills or whatever. Corean's two Invocations buff spells that enhance items (like magic weapon) or increase the DC of fire spells, making that system not particularly relevant to a 'nay-theist' rogue or fighter or monk or whatever. Back to the idea mines!

[Psyclus]

Some invocations are more useful than others (Vangal's is a flat +1 to hit for every round you invoke). It's also worth noting that you do NOT have to worship that god to invoke him or her... but that god may come demanding a favor later. (Check out the sidebar on the Oracle in the PG to the Scarred Lands for Pathfinder: Divine Chicanery.)

Freeport being on a small island of its own: check out the Blood Sea sourcebook. Freeport could easily be on any of the islands or areas between Ghelspad and Termana. You would then also have easy access to enemies like Queen Ran and the Krewe of Waves, to throw in some Carnival of Shadows fun!