On My Bookshelf: Sacred Ground

In this inaugural edition of "On My Bookshelf", I will take a look at Sacred Ground, a soft-covered black and white book published my Atlas Games under the Penumbra line. The book is still available and sells for $19.99. It was published in 2003 and contains 3e stats. Look for it at the Atlas Games website.

At first glance Sacred Ground is a book that details four different holy sites. Each location comes complete with character history, motivation and stats at various levels of the hierarchy. There are detailed maps, new magic items and monsters.

But more than that, the book is well written filled with great ideas, locations and plotlines. I have gone back to Sacred Ground a number of times when looking for clerical intrigue, temple layouts or unique characters. I’ve even run Summer’s Barrow in my current campaign, making it a long-abandoned temple protecting an ancient artifact in its underground labyrinth.

It's not my only clerical resource and there may be other definitive resources, but when I'm stuck on a game element, it's usually the first place I browse. There are enough detailed character that it's easy to see how church politics or personal goals can overshadow an NPCs actions.

The writing is an easy style that isn't overly sappy or at the other end, too packed with facts. The book is presented in an easy-to-read style that isn't hard on your eyes.

The mapping is good but I would love to see them in color. Not all the rooms are detailed or described but that's fine with me since I usually tweak them when I use them. The Necropolis maps are huge but with few details. I plan to make it the final blowout location in my campaign arc.

I won’t go into all the details of Sacred Ground because this is meant to be a quick overview. A sampling of the book can be found on the Atlas Games website at www.atlas-games.com/pdf_storage/SacredPreview.pdf. For further details on the book you can This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it me with questions.

"On My Bookshelf" is an occasional series that looks at books I own and use as resources for my own campaign needs. These are books I keep going back to again and again for gaming ideas. I recommend each of these books regardless of the game system you are using.

I should first make it clear that I’m an idea man. I read an adventure and certain elements of the story just seem to resonate me. It can be any game system since the ideas are important, not the stats. That’s what makes a good resource for me. And those are the books I will be recommending.

If you’re the type of person who runs an adventure out of the box with few adjustments, then the books on my shelf probably aren’t for you. If, on the other hand, you can read the latest Harry Potter and pick out elements that could work great in your Ravenloft campaign, then you’ve come to the right place.

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is the online identity of Bil White, a freelance writer from Montreal. Contrary to his wife’s wishes, he is always eager to add new volumes to his bookshelf. Please email him with your comments and suggestions.

Comments (1)

1  Written by kepli, on 31-10-2007 02:57 When you first told me about this book I thought "I really should get this". Well ... I forgot ... But that doesn't mean I won't get it now   Thanks for the review

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