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This review consists of my first impressions of Frost and Fur, followed by a much deeper chapter by chapter exploration of the text. Then I go over the books “critical hits and misses”, followed by a quick wrap-up.
Superficial Scan: Frost and Fur is a 240 page supplement for the Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying Game. It is written by Trar Rising Author Michael Tresca and published by Monkey God Enterprises, (the folks that brought us critically acclaimed book “From Stone to Steel”). This is a beautifully hardbound book sporting an evocative scene of a woman and her white dragon mount surveying a windswept icy wasteland on the front cover (cover art by William O’Conner). The interior art (by Andy Brase, Alan Dyson, Rich Longmore, and Fred Rawles) is black and white, but equally amazing, making for a sort of 1-e feel to the book. This is one case where I think the art takes full advantage of the black and white medium and really doesn’t lose much by not being in full color. The cover price is set at $32.95 making for a decent price-to-page ratio even if the book is in black and white. Did I mention that the art is awesome? The book is also well laid out, and the text is a little on the small side, but very readable. The page margins are thin, and each page is chock-full of material for your game.
A deeper Look:
Chap 1: Introduction: This is a short (2 page) introduction into the theme of this book It is “fluf” but its short, well written and does a good job of setting up the mood and flavor for the material that is to follow.
Chapter 2, Cold Terrains: This chapter opens up entire new worlds for exploration simply by detailing the fact that virtually ANY land type has an arctic or subarctic equivalent. Tired of your run of the mill swamp? Try a cold marsh or bog and watch the terrain get ten times deadlier due to thin ice and freezing water. Then there is the often overlooked cold desert! (yes deserts can be freezing as well as scorching.) How about adventuring in ice caves deep within a glacier anyone? Each section in this chapter deals with one of these cold terrain types and includes some handy encounter tables and ecology information.
Chapter 3, Environmental hazards: While chapter 2 had some crunchy bits, this is where the crunch really begins, and one of the sections where this book really shines. I’m amazed at how many environmental effects they squeezed into this chapter! Simple tables and well thought out mechanics are presented to cover virtually any environmental effect imaginable in a cold climate from such mundane things as the effects of cold weather to as extraordinary as the possible magical influences of aurora (the northern lights). There are detailed rules for arctic storms and blizzards, fog, sleet, windchill, dehydration, hypothermia, frostbite, snow blindness, sunburn and much, much more. Cold terrain features are also covered here rule-wise such as flat ice, glaciers, avalanches, icebergs and much, much more. The game mechanics are simple yet make for a fairly realistic feel to the game.
Chapter 4, Races: This chapter gives information on how standard D&D races function in extreme cold (your dwarf’s beard may turn into a big painful icicle if he’s not careful). New races and dwarf, elf, halfling and gnome subraces are also introduced based off of Nordic, Slavic, ice age, and Eskimo mythology (lots of material is drawn from these cultures throughout the book). The new races are well researched and the mechanics seem sound. A few of the races may be a little unbalancing in the case of extreme munchkinism, but for the most part they are well balanced with the standard races in the PHB. The Domovoi (Slavic dwarf subrace) are a bit odd… they dwell in the homes of humans, living under their stoves (males) or in their pantries (females).
Chapter 5, Classes: This is just a brief overview of the roles each class serves in an arctic or subarctic setting, and which classes are appropriate for a Nordic, Slavic, Eskimo, or ice-age campaign. The book does present new classes, but they do not appear in this chapter.
Chapter 6, Equipment: I have mixed feelings about this chapter. On one hand it’s crammed with TONS of new equipment for an arctic or winter fantasy game. Again, the majority of this material is drawn from Nordic, Slavic, Eskimo, or ice-age cultures. On the other hand, while this section is very comprehensive and well done, I think some of the items presented, many of the weapons in particular, were not different enough from standard weapons and items in the PHB to merit their own statistics.
Chapter 7, Skills and Feats: The skills section of this chapter expands on existing skills to elaborate on how they might function differently in a situation involving extreme cold. For example metal locks can be frozen and shattered, bit its harder to move silently on crunchy snow. Riding a mount through snow drifts can also be hazardous. The feats section details a number of new feats that range from excellent to uninspired. I have a bone to pick with this chapter however… it presents “Improved disarm” and “Improved draw” as if they are new feats, yet they are exactly the same as the “Improved disarm” and “Quickdraw” feats in the PHB has far as I can tell. Other than that minor quibble the new feats are an interesting bunch, and while some are useless outside a cold environment (such as “controlled shiver” and “ski combat”) most are easily usable in any type of campaign (like “fearless”, “hurl axe” and “behead”).
Chapter 8, magic: This chapter explains how many old spells and spell schools operate in a cold environment. Ever wonder what a fireball does to opponents standing waist high in snow? Necromancy spells lower the body temperature of their targets… an unimportant effect in a warm area perhaps, but this can become dangerous when it is leaching away valuable body heat in a bitter cold environment. This chapter also presents just shy of 100 new spells. Again many of these new spells draw from Nordic, Slavic, Eskimo, or ice-age cultures for inspiration. Many follow a snow and ice theme, but most could be easily used in most campaign settings. Reading through this section makes me want to create an ice-mage type character so I can try some of this stuff out.
Chapter 9, Monsters: This chapter presents over 80 new animals and monsters to populate any cold climate in your campaign. Some of these beasts are a little on the silly side such as the animated snowman, dire armadillo and golden duck, but most of these creatures are extremely well conceived and deadly opponents. As you may have guessed many of these monsters are drawn from Nordic, Slavic, Eskimo, or ice-age mythology. My personal favorites are the iron bear and the corpse shroud.
Chapter 10, Magic items: This chapter contains a number of magic items from the abovementioned cultures. Many can be used in any kind of campaign. There’s not much else to say here.
Chapter 11, Norse culture: The last four chapters delve into each of the cultures this book has previously touched on in the earlier chapters, and for me these chapters are the highlight of the book. Each of these chapters is packed with game material and have a very high crunch value. The section on the norse includes three new core classes: the Godi, the Vitki, and the Voelva. This is followed by six Nordic prestige classes including the artificer and berzerker. Next there is a table of what monsters are appropriate for a Nordic campaign, A complete system for rune casting, and another complete system for herb craft, a write-up for the Norse pantheon similar to the write-up for the D&D cosmology gods in the PHB, and finally a short list of adventure hooks for use with a Nordic campaign.
Chapter 12, Eskimo Culture: This chapter introduces the Angakoq as a new core class (sort of a shaman type character that interacts with animal spirits). This is followed by four Eskimo prestige classes, a list of animals, monsters and spelled appropriate to an Eskimo campaign, and a write-up of the Eskimo pantheon similar to the presentation in the Norse chapter. Finally there is a list of adventure hooks, and advice for running a campaign crossover with Vikings and Eskimos.
Chapter 13, Slavic Culture: Oddly enough this chapter begins with a few new races (the bogarti, the blessed, and the Triglaz) that were not included with the other Slavic races in chapter four. Why the Slavic races were split like this, I can not tell. Following the new races are three new core classes: the Cossack (peasant warrior), The Koldun (evil Slavic magic users), and the Volkov (pagan priests). As with the previous sections, this chapter continues with five Slavic prestige classes, a list of appropriate animals, monsters and spells, the Slavic pantheon and adventure hooks.
Chapter 14, Ice Age Culture: Unlike the previous chapters, which are based on good solid research, this section is sparse and based mostly on speculation. Prehistoric Ice Age culture is obviously difficult to research in a direct manner like the other three cultures presented here. Needless to say this chapter is smaller than the other three. It includes three prestige classes, a list of appropriate monsters animals and spells, and ice age pantheon, and adventure hooks.
Critical Hit: Throughout the book the material presented is well researched, the mechanics are fairly simple and well rounded, and there is plenty of crunch packed into this book without skimping on flavor. This text does a wonderful job of giving the reader inspiration for a multitude of different campaigns and adventures based off of the material it contains, a quality that too many gaming books lack these days. This is hands down the best RPG purchase I’ve made this year.
Critical Miss: My largest (but still fairly minor) disappointment with this book is the absence of a bibliography. Any book that provides material based off of researching real world cultures should contain a bibliography IMHO. My other main complaint is not in the material presented, but HOW it is presented. Since this book details several different cultures it would have been useful to have the game material for each culture sectioned off in its own chapter. Unfortunately the game material for each culture is spread throughout the book, making it a bit of a nuisance to flip through and find which pieces of equipment would be usable in an Eskimo campaign. This could have been easily remedied by an index of what culture uses which items, but I’m not finding one anywhere in the book. Instead the reader must do a little searching through the equipment lists to pull out the items relevant to each culture. However this is a relatively minor nuisance as the book is otherwise rather well laid out. I’m a little annoyed at the unexplained split in the Slavic races over two different chapters, and the virtual reprinting of two feats from the core rules. Otherwise I have little negative to say about this book.
So it all Boils Down to: If you are even considering running a campaign in an arctic setting, or even just part of one, then this is the book for you. If you want details on the above mentioned real-world cultures, their monsters and their equipment then this book is for you. I am more than satisfied with this book as it contains all I need to run a campaign in virtually any cold setting… Now please excuse me, I’m off to turn my PCs into popsicles. *evil grin*
