Scarred Lands DM's Screen A D20 System supplement from Sword and Sorcery Studios Rating: (4 out of 5 hearts) by Jean-Michel

Sword and Sorcery Studios printed a DM screen for their Scarred Lands product line. It is quite a fine piece of work that can nicely replace the original one, or even be used in conjunction with it if one enjoys a palisade.

The exterior artwork (facing the players) depicts images from the setting; Forsaken Elves, a Vengaurak, a Seawrack Dragon, the Titan Kadum in his oceanic torment, and the Titan Gaurak.

While the interior repeats some of the information from the "official" DM screen such as the type of Actions in Combat, Attack roll Modifiers, Turn Undead checks and a few of the same Skill Check DCs, it mostly puts different information under the DM's nose. A reference table indicates the page numbers in the three Core Rulebooks where frequently accessed information is found. A table gives the movement rates and travel speeds of characters, vehicles and mounts. Material Harness and Hit Points of objects are reorganised in a single comprehensive table that includes substances and typical objects made from them, Hardness, Hit Points and Break/Burst DC. The Jump distances table is included, as well as typical DCs for the Spellcraft, Heal, Climb and Ride skills. The best element of this screen though is the inclusion of the rules for special combat actions such as Aid Another, Attacking an Object, Bull Rush, Charge, Disarm, Fight Defensively, Trip, Grapple, Overrun, Strike a Weapon, Subdual Damage and Total Defense.

The DM Screen Companion is a forty-eight page book packaged with the screen itself. The first section details the characteristics of the PC races of the Scarred Lands. Included are the racial traits of the Mountain Dwarves, the Dark Dwarves or Charduni, the Forsaken Dwarves, the Dark Elves, the Wood Elves, the Forsaken Elves, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Halflings and Humans. The section on each race includes the regions where they are mostly found and some historical background. Little snippets of previously unpublished information sees the light (such as the fact that Urian elves are wood elves who swore themselves into Corean's service).

The second section of the Companion provides two adventures set in the Scarred Lands. Both adventures are loosely organised, free-flowing and customisable, reflecting the fact that the PC's actions are unpredictable and that a DM may need to react to a variety of circumstances.

Here is a brief summary of each adventure, preceded by the necessary platitudes about the reading of which will ruin a player's life forever:

The first adventure is called "The Shrine of Madness" and sends the PCs after a magic item, the Star of Chaos, which is found in an abandoned shrine to the chaotic God/dess Enkili, in the middle of a swamp. It is designed for a party totalling from eight to twelve levels.

The second adventure gets the PCs investigating a series of child-kidnappings from a small town in the Cordrada region. The children are being taken by a group of spider-eye goblins who exchange the children for weaponry with a group of Forsaken Dwarves. The Dwarves act under the orders of a Blood Witch who plans to sacrifice the children in a True Ritual that will open an ancient Tomb where a servant of the Titan Kadum and an artifact are resting. The adventure is designed for a group totalling fifteen to twenty levels.

This DM Screen package offers a lot of useful material and is worth every DM's attention. Of course, DMs playing in the Scarred Lands setting will find the Companion much more useful than others. Although the adventures can be tailored to anybody's needs, the NPCs have spells from "Relics & Rituals" in their lists. These spells can easily be substituted for spells from the PHB.

New Monsters: Insane Mistwalker Priests of Enkili, Monstrous Dire Frogs.


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