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Hellfrost Gazetteer is the third in a series of books by Triple Ace Games for the Hellfrost setting. Hellfrost is a fantasy setting for the Savage Worlds rules. I find that Hellfrost emulates the Dungeons and Dragons style of setting well, and was much needed for Savage Worlds. The Gazetteer sticks to this idea by emulating the fluff style of D&D’s settings. It is specifically like the world description sections in a lot of Forgotten Realms campaign setting books.

The Book Itself

The Hellfrost Gazetteer is a 128 paged full color hardcover. The cover is mostly green with the center showing a scene of a bowmen firing at a Hellfrost Dragon. The interior art is for the most part superb and is entirely in color; unlike the Bestiary which had several brown and black ink drawings. I wish there was more artwork in the book. What is there is excellent and I wish there was more of it. The map at the end of the book is a very nice looking map that I really enjoy.

The Content

The Gazetteer begins with a section describing the differences in basic types of settlements. These types are single structures, steads, villages, and towns. It’s a good overview of what life and society is like for the average settlement type. The Gazetteer then goes on to describe the basic stat block setup for all of the entries in this book. The stat block includes the population, ruler, religion, imports, exports, history, government, military, geography, major locales, and current events for the region. One cool thing is that current events are not just the current goings on at the time in the region, but also small hook, line and sinker ideas for adventures in the areas. Every region gets several of these little adventure ideas and is a neat way of filling out the region without just giving it in fluff.

With the exception of one or two pages for the introduction the entire book is descriptions of the different areas of the world. It is a truly remarkable amount of setting info crammed into a 128 paged book. The layout and stat block design remind me a lot of older D&D settings books such as Forgotten Realms. The writer does an excellent job of giving the reader everything they need to know; yet, keeping it condensed to 2-4 pages per region. The setting is truly fleshed out while leaving lots of room for GM inspirations. The little current events adventure ideas leave the outcomes completely in the GM’s hands. The author does not give an official meta-plot ending; it is truly the players world once past the basics.

The book describes almost 50 different regions and each one goes into depth about its major cities. Each major city is also given some stats and described in detail. As if that is not enough, the book ends with a section detailing several “evil” organizations in Hellfrost. The evil organizations are:

• Ashen Veil – Seeker of immortality willing to do anything to find it.
• The Awakeners – A group within the Magocracy who are ignoring the bans are Golem creation and seek to relearn Golem creation.
• Cult of the Bear God – The Vendahl bear cult. Many believe it does not exist, but they do. Most believe the Vendahl are too tribal to have such a large and unified religion, they are wrong.
• The Gray League – A consortium of traders and merchants who want complete domination of Rassilon’s trade market.
• Guardians of the Wild – Elves who believe in the total collapse of human civilization.
• Iceblades – A group of pro-Hellfrost assassins who seek out clerics or mages who use fire spells as their targets. Anything that promotes the cold and denies heat and flame is their goals.
• Justiciary – Highly secret group of mage-haters.
• The Order of Twelve – A group of twelve senior heahwisards whose goal is to gain more power and depose of the Mage-King.
• Puppeteers – A secret organization that attempts to be the true power behind every person in power. They pretend to be advisors or councilors all while moving things to bolster the Puppeteers power.
• Reclaimers – A group of Anari who seek to restore their once great empire.
• Seekers of the Black Key – Lorekeepers who seek the key to the Demongate. They have been promised much when the demons have been returned.
• Sisters of Mercy – Free healthcare healers who actually are building support for the evil deity Vali.
• The Sons of Man – Cult who believe all the gods are evil. The actively try to remove the gods influences from the world.
• The Swords of Justice – Vigilantes who go above the law to do what they “think” is right.
• The Velvet Shackle – Slavers, with the monopoly on slavery in Hellfrost.

After the descriptions of these organizations we get a good index for the book, and a very nice looking map for the setting.

Overall

The Hellfrost Gazetteer is a very nice book. I wish more settings followed a similar style in detailing their setting’s regions. The book in its style and in its fluff reminds me of a mix of Forgotten Realms and A Song of Ice and Fire which for me is an extremely good thing. There is so much setting info crammed into this book it’s hard to believe it’s only 128 pages.

Ratings

Style is getting a 4. What art is in there is excellent; it could just use more. But what really knocks this book above the average is its presentation. The stat blocks and other ways the regions are presented offer a lot of information in a small space. And the current events/adventure ideas are a great addition.

Substance is getting a 5. The book is crammed full of useful setting information. Every single page is full of wonderful ideas and content. More setting books should follow this example.

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