Originally published on diceadventurer

The world: Scornlords is subtitled Meatlandia Book 3 and is thus part of a series. I have not dealt with the predecessors, according to the statement in the book, knowledge from books 1 and 2 is not necessary. However, here I have to say that I could not do anything or little with one or the other designation or with a few notes. Nevertheless, since Scornlords is very interesting to read, I’ll definitely take a look at the previous parts to get the bigger picture. The realm of the Scornlords is a peninsula, which is separated from the main continent by mountains and sea. In Meatlandia itself there is a storm of chaos, but it cannot harm the realm of the Scornlords, as they have a protective shield. The land is barren and marked by deserts, wastelands and canyons. The country is ruled by the seven Scornlords, superhuman beings who rule over life and death in their realm. Each Scornlord has its own territory with its own customs, rules and ideas. War is waged among one another, intrigues are forged and alliances are formed. Players will sooner or later get sucked into all of these things and have to see for themselves how they’re doing. In addition to humans, there are of course elves, dwarves and other well-known races, but the setting offers a lot more, such as the myrmeke. These huge, ant-like creatures live for their hive and tend to be more peaceful. I also find the fade very exciting, which have the property of simply disappearing from the perception and sometimes even the memory of others. Huge insects and dinosaurs are a common sight in the realm of the Scornlords and many animals are used as pack animals, a chariot pulled by raptors is completely normal. Bandits and robbers roam the wasteland, gladiators look for challenges, and cannibals hunt for their next meal. However, completely different beings and monsters also float around. My favourite are the barren elves, who don’t have any facial features. Only when they suck magic out of a victim do they temporarily take over their traits and can feel joy. That is exactly why they are always on the hunt. The Scourge of the Scornlords delivers an unbelievable amount of material, very beautiful and above all short descriptions and thus brings out the maximum of possibilities. The setting is very weird and wacky, you have to like that, but fans of a kind of Fantasy Mad Max get their money’s worth here.

The game: The Scourge of the Scornlords is written for old-school essentials, but can basically be played with any OSR. Some new mechanics are introduced, such as hydration, sandstorms, psionics, and vehicles. So players definitely have to be careful that they and their animals drink regularly, otherwise the adventure will only be very short. New classes include the above-mentioned Fade and Myrmeke, as well as the Mentalist and the Monster Honcho. The mentalist uses psionic energy, the monster Honcho gathers a large herd of monsters and animals around him. The book is packed with random tables, be it for locations, NPCs, vehicles, giant insects, and of course, encounters. You can leave a lot to chance and then no two campaigns will be the same. The system with the vehicles was one of the things that appealed to me the most and it is very simple and elegant. In addition to an armour class, vehicles have hull points that normal weapons cannot reduce (spells do 1/4 of their actual damage). Instead, you can use catapults, ballistae and flamethrowers. The generator for vehicles is very extensive and the wildest carts come out of it.

The book: The Scourge of the Scornlords is in English, is in black and white, and is just over 100 pages. It is easy to read, has a clear layout and impresses with its very coherent illustrations. Many entries in the bestiary have an illustration. The information about the Scornlords is very extensive, but also very well presented, so that you can quickly get an overview. In addition, there was an extra booklet for Backer with stats and information on various NPCs, vehicles and locations and a small pamphlet about being able to play The Scourge of the Scornlords solo. In the book, there are some possibilities for entries and for recording stats of the players, I would have liked these as a separate sheet. There are different character sheets to choose from, I would have liked a hand-painted version of the vehicle sheet so it matches with my favourite character sheet, but you cannot have everything.

Who might be interested in The Scourge of the Scornlords:

• Players and game masters who are looking for a slightly wacky setting
• People who are fans of random tables
• Players who want to roam the wasteland in their dinosaur-drawn cart

Who might not be interested in The Scourge of the Scornlords:

• Players and game masters who don’t like high mortality
• People who don’t like sandboxes
• Players who want to play heroic characters in an intact world

Amazing product. Can´t wait to play and DM an adventure in the Scorn Lands and fight the Scorn Lords!!

This is a book about how your characters are going to die in the desert, and exactly what sort of randomly generated giant insect, bizarre vehicle (say, an enormous seashell pulled by 1d4 triceratops and armed with a psionic cannon), or ancient magic-wielding wasteland overlord is going to be responsible for their demise. In about a hundred pages it offers a complete setting full of unique character classes, powerful enemies, factions, rumors, magic items, and table after table of unmitigated nonsense. Simply rolling up random villagers from the village generator tables made for a successful party game. Highly recommended for anyone who likes their b/x-style games wild and brutal.

Full disclosure I have never played a game of B/X in my life, hell I've only just got into ttrpgs just a few years ago after finnaly getting the courage to run a game for some strangers at a locat meetup. I was HOOKED! Then rona threw a big ol' stick in the world and it's been stay at home and buy cool looking stuff off Kickstarter(things are getting better here thankfully). And HOLY BEJESUS is this thing COOL! Think Mad Max but with Ray Harryhausen dinosaurs, probably some magic and a late 80's metal soundtrack!