Pyramid Review
Scarred Lands Gazetteer: Ghelspad
Published by Sword & Sorcery Studios
Written by Stephen and Stewart Wieck
48 pages; $8.95
I would have assumed that this would be a Necromancer Games production, because it fits the slogan of that company ("Third Edition rules, First Edition feel") perfectly.
Because if this book had been bigger, and come in a boxed set with another map and some transparent overlays (and had a more "fantasy middle ages Europe" feel), it could have been Greyhawk.
This is not necessarily meant in a good way (I was never a huge fan of the Greyhawk setting in my youth). It is an interesting look at the continent of Ghelspad, filling in the setting that's been dribbling out of Sword & Sorcery games in their d20 supplements. But it's not quite as complete and fleshed out a setting as has come to be the standard.
It's presented as a series of in-character documents, including a Vigilant newsletter (the Vigilants are a Prestige Class from Relics and Rituals that's much more interesting in context. They're a group of magic spies . . . a fantasy MI-6 of sorts), an intelligence report to King Virduk (the setting bad guy), and an update to the Incarnates.
It's slightly jarring to read; it seems like every power group in Ghelspad has a monthly newsletter, but the in-character format is somewhat de rigeur at this point, so it can hardly be complained about. It isn't done badly by any means, and it makes perfect sense for the Vigilants to be keeping each other up to date . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: July 6, 2001
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